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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Desk Decor: Erasable Notepads and Message Boards
Most of us keep some kind of note-taking device close at hand in our offices — either a computer or some other electronic device, or some sort of paper. But there's another option: erasable tablets or boards, designed for the tabletop. And these same tools could also be used to keep a few critical bits of information front and center.
Many of these seem to be ceramic, such as the ceramic notepad from Yoyo Ceramics, shown above. There's also one shaped like a speech bubble. [via EcoSalon]
You can also get a ceramic memo board, in a slightly different style, from See Jane Work or Sorting With Style. [via Swiss Miss]
And a third ceramic option, this time a message board, comes from Gracious Goods and can be found on the Neiman Marcus and Horchow web sites — and through Iron Accents, too.
Don't want ceramic? How about the desktop bamboo tablet (large) or to-do board (small) from Three by Three?
And there's always the blackboard — again, in a tabletop or desktop size. Restaurant supply vendors are a good source of tabletop message boards.
But for something really cool, how about a blackboard globe — like this eye-catching Idea Globe from Richard Ryan Anderson? This was made from a classroom globe, chalkboard paint, and a few other supplies. You can find people selling blackboard globes on the web, or you could make your own. [photo from Flickr; used with Anderson's permission]
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 10:56 PM 1 comments
Labels: green alternatives, organizing products
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
7 Ways to Keep Those Little Scraps of Paper in Plain Sight
Are you one of those people who needs to keep a few pieces of paper in front of you at all times — not files, but individual little notes? Is a wall-mounted bulletin board not going to work for you? The perhaps one of these desktop products will suit your needs.
Let's start with the Morris memo holder, available in five colors and sold many places, including here and here.
Oversized paper clip memo holders have been around for a while - but they don't usually look as beautiful as the hand-carved ones from DA Woodworks, which sells them on Etsy. Update on Dec. 12, 2012: DA Woodworks still has a store on Etsy, but doesn't seem to be active there any more.
And then there are the clip-style holders. Some of them are sort of cheesy looking, but this pewter armadillo memo clip looks pretty wonderful. Update on Dec. 12, 2012: Sadly, I'm no longer finding this product.
Magnetic Desk Dots are another idea — but not if you have small children around. I found them through the always-interesting Uncommon Goods. Update on Dec. 12, 2012: This is a discontinued product — so if you want some, get them now while some vendors still have them in stock.
Ballard Designs has a tabletop message board. Update on Dec. 12, 2012: Ballard Designs no longer carrries this product.
Desktop business card holders could also be used to hold other small pieces of paper.
And for those with somewhat larger papers to keep handy, a repurposed toast rack — available in many styles — can work well, too. They don't have to be anywhere near as expensive as this lovely sterling silver toast rack.
Related Post
Now Where Did I Put That Note?
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 11:34 PM 6 comments
Labels: organizing products
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Making Ideas Happen
Scott Belsky is a compelling speaker. When I heard him at an organizing conference earlier this year, I was so impressed with him — and with what he had to say — that I briefly thought about trying to get a job at his company, Behance. That's an idea that didn't happen, for many reasons — but when I read through my notes from his talk a few days ago, I decided to get his book and learn more.
Belsky is concerned with helping "creative professionals" — the ones who have lots of ideas — bring those ideas to fruition. His book talks about the three important components in doing that:
1. Organization and execution.
2. The forces of community.
3. Leadership capability.
While all three sections have great ideas, I'm going to focus on just the first one: organization and execution.
Sometimes this section reminded me of David Allen and his book, Getting Things Done — even the book titles have a similar ring. But there are plenty of differences, too. And some items reminded me of the things I learned in my corporate days.
The way Belsky recommends we handle organization and execution is what he calls the Action Method, which "begins with the simple premise that everything is a project." A project could be the kinds of things you might think about: preparing a major presentation, for example, or doing your taxes. But there are also projects like "the stuff you do to advance your career" which become a "career development" project.
And each project has three primary components: Action Steps, References, and Backburner Items.
Action Steps are "the specific, concrete tasks that move you forward: redraft and send the memo, post the blog entry, pay the electricity bill, etc." We need a way to capture these anywhere they happen: at the office, surely, but also "when you are reading an article, taking a shower, daydreaming, or getting ready for bed."
Each Action Step "must be owned by a single person" because "an unowned Action Step will never be taken." This was a familiar idea to me, but what was new to me was Belsky's insistence that we not have one person take notes of all the Action Steps agreed to in a meeting, and send them around. "Each person needs to 'own' their Action Steps," he says. "When tasks are written in your own handwriting, in your own idiom, they remain familiar and are more likely to be executed." He also notes that "Some teams take a few minutes at the end of every meeting to go around the table and allow each person to recite the Action Steps that he or she captured. Doing so will almost always reveal a missed Action Step or a duplication on two people's lists."
Given that we're dealing with the Action Method, it's not surprising that Belsky says: "Taking and organizing extensive notes aren't worth the effort. We have found that notes are seldom used and can actually get in the way of capturing and following up on Action Steps."
Which brings us to References — all those things you may want to refer back to that are not actionable: handouts, manuals, web sites, etc. Belsky says many of us were trained back in our early school years to write everything down, and now have well-developed habits of doing so — but that for many of us "this habit of recording and organizing everything has become a time- and space-consuming behavior with no real payoff." Furthermore, "the more energy you spend on scribbling down notes, the more liable you are to miss the opportunity to capture valuable Action Steps."
Belsky provides suggestions for easy ways to store the References we keep. But he says we should ask ourselves "For what purpose would I refer back to this at some point?" — and if we can't think of anything, there's no need to keep it.
And then there are Backburner Items — the "things that are not actionable now but may be someday" — which reminded me of David Allen's someday/maybe list. Belsky mentions the need for a "Backburner ritual" to "periodically revisit and curate the Backburner as time goes on" and he suggests doing this monthly. Some items will become Action Steps, some will have become irrelevant and can be eliminated, and others will stay on the Backburner.
Belsky also dives into prioritization, recommending that we place all our projects on an Energy Line "according to how much energy they should receive." His sample line has five categories: extreme, high, medium, low and idle. At first, there's often a tendency to put too many items on the extreme end of the line; doing this exercise may force us to make tough decisions. "Energy is a finite resource that is seldom managed well," Belsky says, and going through the Energy Line exercise can help.
There's much more in this section, including many ideas about processing your email and the notes you take during the day, and many ideas about making the most of meetings. ("Most meetings are fruitless," he says.) Belsky quotes Seth Godin on the importance of shipping — getting your product, whatever it might be, out the door — and Jesse Rothstein on the importance of follow-up. There's also a mention of the importance of selecting good tools; Belsky says, "The aesthetics of the tools you use to make ideas happen matter."
As you can tell from how long I've nattered on here, I found a lot of worthwhile ideas in this book; I'm glad I read it. Now I need to go distill the Action Steps and Backburner Items I'm taking away from my reading; the book itself is my Reference, and it's one I'm going to keep.
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 7:50 PM 0 comments
Labels: books, GTD, productivity
Friday, August 26, 2011
Support Your Local Non-Profit Thrift Store
Don't want the hassle of running a yard sale? Looking for a good place to donate things you no longer need? See if your community has a thrift shop that's used to fund local community programs.
I just dropped off some of a client's items at the Senior Coastsiders Thrift Store in Half Moon Bay, and got a warm thank-you as well as a tax receipt for my client. The store provides 25-30% of the budget for Senior Coastsiders, which offers a wide range of valuable services.
Some of the items donated don't meet the needs of the store, but very little goes to waste. Some of those items go to another non-profit thrift store further down the coast in Pescadero. And once a week, Goodwill sends over a truck to pick up a bunch of stuff; Goodwill certainly has more resources than my little local store for handling a wide range of donated items, and making sure as much as possible gets reused.
Of course, you'll want to check with your thrift store to learn when it accepts donations, and what items it's prepared to take; my local store won't accept microwaves or televisions, for example. But there's a lot it does take, providing me an easy one-stop drop-off for clothes, jewelry, linens and much more.
Related Posts:
Thrift Stores Could Sure Use Your Stuff
What Happens After You Donate that T-Shirt?
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 11:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: donating and recycling
Thursday, August 25, 2011
David Allen: Avoiding the Gnawing Sense of Anxiety
I've long been a fan of David Allen's book, Getting Things Done. So when KQED's Forum ran an hour-long hour-long interview with Allen, I downloaded the podcast to my iPhone, and listened in the car. (Ignore the host calling this a "new book"; he was confused.) Allen covered many of the GTD basics, but he also had some ways of putting things that I hadn't heard before. I thought I'd share some of my favorite snippets.
Allen talked about "the GSA of life — the Gnawing Sense of Anxiety — that somewhere out there I ... could/should/ought to be doing something, and it might be more important than whatever I'm currently doing; oh damn." His answer to avoiding GSA starts with having a written inventory — on paper, or electronically — of all our commitments.
Allen noted that we're dealing with an awful lot of these to-do type items — and to make things more complicated, "life changes a whole lot." One of the biggest changes in recent years, he said, is "how frequently we need to recalibrate" — so he advised that we not try to over-structure our days. More specifically:
Most people have between 30-100 projects — what I call projects, things that take more than one step to finish, that they can finish within a few weeks or months: get tires on my car, the next vacation, hire this person ... stuff like that. ...Allen also spoke about how, if we don't have good systems for managing our commitments, we wind up being "at effect" of all that stuff coming at us — so we're "driven by latest and loudest" versus "consciously making good choices." The host asked:
You need a list of what you've got to do that day ... that's what I call the hard landscape. ... But then all the other things, which actually happens to be the vast majority, is the "as soon as I can get to" list. ... So you look at the hard landscape and say, "OK, that's what I got to" and then if you have any discretionary time at all, then you have the list of all the other things to do — and by the way, most people have over 150 of those other things they need to do, if they actually sat down and had integrity about keeping track of the inventory.
Isn't it easier to be in charge of your life if you're in charge of your company, or your organization, as opposed to being way down on the list and taking orders from the boss?Allen's answer stressed taking control of the things we can control:
Oh, well, we're all at effect of the weather and our bosses and a lot of other things, so we start with well, let's at least handle the 10 acres that you're in — make sure that's under control.Allen also addressed the ongoing maintenance issue that comes up with any such system:
I empty my in-basket and do regular reviews and keep all this current for the same reason I brush my teeth and take showers: If I don't, the scuzz factor gets too high.And while Allen always advocates tools that are simple to use, including paper tools like the notebook he uses to capture ideas, he did admit:
I like things small, black, high-tech and expensive.
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 10:47 PM 5 comments
Labels: GTD
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Stylish Toy Storage, from Cute to Sophisticated
You don't need a specialized "toy basket" or "toy crate" to store the toys — any appropriately-sized container that's also child-safe would work fine. But let's look at some of the products marketed for toys — because some of them are delightful, and because they may also give you ideas about other ways to store the toys. (For toy boxes and chests — the lidded type — see yesterday's post.)
Let's start with the storage bins from 3 Sprouts — the same company that makes the cute wall-mounted organizers I mentioned recently.
This toy basket comes from Lilliputiens in Belgium; you can buy it at Jolena.
Én Gry & Sif makes toy baskets from felted wool; you can find them at Danish Bohemia. And for those in other parts of the world, I also found one basket at The Praying Mantis in New Zealand, and two at Elegant Roots in the U.S.
Another style of toy basket comes to us from Corban & Blair. It's widely available in Australia, including at PVQ — and Corban & Blair does ship internationally.
Restoration Hardware Baby and Child has a rattan toy basket, and liners for that basket.
The Nua Bubbles from RED Edition are made from bamboo and have a lacquer interior. [via Swiss Miss and Famille Summerbelle]
And finally, let's admire the personalized toy crates from Plantabox, available in your choice of eight colors.
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 9:33 PM 0 comments
Toy Boxes for All Tastes
Big toy chests or boxes can get overused; they don't work well for small toys, or toys with small parts, since those small things get lost in a large box. But they do have their uses for larger items — and some toy boxes are small enough to still be useful for smaller items.
Let's look around, starting with the charming Leka Trojan Horse — a combination toy, stool and storage item. Leka suggests you use it for storing things like blocks. You can buy it here.
The Empty Box Company sells toy boxes in two sizes and a huge range of designs.
The toy boxes from Childs & Co come in three sizes and eight colors — and they use "a clever wooden hinge to stop little fingers being trapped." [via Baby Gadget] Update on Feb. 25, 2015: The toy boxes from Childs & Co now come with lids that lift off.
For a more traditional toy box, take a look at those from Pintoy — available many places, including Amazon UK.
And I've mentioned the modular ViaBoxes before — but it was a long time ago, and they deserve another look.
Related Posts:
Tantalizing Toy Boxes and Bins
Beyond the Usual Suspects: Toy Storage Solutions
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 5:46 AM 0 comments
Monday, August 22, 2011
Tackling the Reading List
I read a lot of other blogs. I'm subscribed to about 190 blogs, which publish about 500 posts/day. Fortunately, I use Google Reader, which makes it easy to skim through those posts and decide which ones I really want to read; I only read a very small percentage of those 500 daily posts! But sometimes I'll scan the posts and "star" those I want to read later, rather than reading them right away.
And that's a fine strategy — except the number of starred items I had was approaching 950, which felt seriously out of control. So I had a project this past weekend to finally clear up my Reader.
And, like any organizing project, this meant I was making decision after decision. Do I still want to read this item, or watch the associated video? Do I want to keep this post for future reference?
And I found I hit the same kind of stumbling blocks we often find in other decluttering situations.
1. No clear "home" for something I want to keep.
I "store" my posts in a big list of bookmarked sites, organized into many bookmark folders. And I found that many of the items that lingered in my "starred" list were things where I wasn't sure where to file the post — where my filing system for bookmarked sites wasn't working for me. So I did some reorganizing of my filing structure, until everything I wanted to keep had a logical home.
2. A tendency to let time-consuming items linger on my list forever.
That might be a long post, or a pointer to a long video. I need to be sure to set aside time to read and watch these items — or let them go.
3. A tendency to keep things I really won't ever refer to again
When I see something neat on the web — whether it's an organizing-related product, some place I'd like to visit, or just something that makes me laugh — my first tendency is to bookmark it and file it away.
But when am I really going to go back and look at that post about some Italian furniture that, while cool, isn't something I'm likely to blog about, or recommend to a client? That might be a really cute photo of Paul Krugman and his cats — but do I really need to keep it? And that might be interesting information — but could I easily find it again, if I ever really wanted it, just by using Google? I had to stop myself, over and over, from keeping stuff that I just don't need.
But now I'm down to 13 starred items — and I'll get the count down to zero, except I wanted to take a break and write this post first. And I'm pretty darn pleased with myself!
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 3:29 AM 6 comments
Labels: Jeri gets organized
Thursday, August 18, 2011
4 Unusual Wedding and Baby Gift Registries
I used to hate the idea of gift registries; I wanted to surprise the bride and groom, or the parents-to-be. But over the years I've realized that getting people what they really want is a good idea; who wants to create clutter for someone else? And you can always personalize the gift, as barnone notes on MetaFilter:
One way to be both personal and on target is to base a gift off the registry, and add a little something extra. ... If she registered for a coffee pot, get that, a set of filters, and a pound of artisanal coffee.But what do you do if you're the person creating the registry, and you don't really want the traditional household gifts? I've already mentioned charity registries like the I Do Foundation. But a bride-to-be was just asking me about registries, and I found some more appealing ideas.
1. Foodie Registry
It's only in four cities right now, and the list of restaurants is a bit sparse in some — but I sure like the idea of registering for gift certificates from nice restaurants.
2. Sound Trading Co.
If you live in Seattle, this might work for you. Sound Trading Co. allows you to select items made locally from environmentally sound materials — for example, plates made from recycled glass. You can also get things like a membership in a CSA, and a "wine trail experience." For babies, you'll find things like an infant-sized hoody, made from recycled designer adult sweaters. There's also a birth doula package; since that's expensive, you can buy just a share of the package cost. [via Seattle Bride Magazine]
3. nAscent Art
This site lets you register for the gift of original art "by the best emerging artists in New York City." [via Springwise]
4. Alternative Gift Registry
I love this site, which lets you register for traditional gifts such as housewares — and enter a note explaining why you selected that item, as you can see in the sample wedding registry. But you can also list things like museum memberships or a state/national parks pass. Here are some other samples I've seen.
From Jeremy and Jessica: Arts and Crafts.
So many of my friends are such brilliant artists! I would really love a work of theirs, maybe a painting or a drawing or a framed photograph.From Jackie: Local wines, cheeses and other food items.
From Heidi and Liz: Donations to favorite charities, and a subscription to the New York Times — and help with their upcoming move!
And on the baby gift front, I love how Rebecca and Chris asked for bibs: "Handmade, hand-me-down, or new." Similarly, one of the items Katherine asked for was second-hand clothes. Another item on her list was "lunch or dinner the first few weeks."
Have you given or received any non-traditional wedding or baby gifts? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments!
Related Post:
Wedding Gift Registries: Choose Wisely and Avoid Clutter
[Photo by terriseesthings, found on Flickr, licensed through Creative Commons.]
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 9:16 PM 9 comments
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Does Your Refrigerator Door Need Some Cool Magnets?
Where do you use magnets? I'm a traditional refrigerator-door person myself, but some use magnetic boards or put their magnets on metal file cabinets — or any number of other metallic surfaces. And if you use magnets, wherever they go, they may as well be magnets you love. The one above is part of a marvelous collection of magnets made from recycled soda cans, sold by apmemory on Etsy.
Boulder Pass Metalworks makes a variety of nice magnets from heavy-gauge steel, with a "natural rust finish that has been sealed."
Fans of the Saturday Night Live "More Cowbell" skit — such as organizer Janine Adams — might like this magnet, available from the NBC Store and Patina. Update on June 24, 2014: I'm no longer finding this magnet.
And for those with different musical tastes, here's another magnet, this time featuring Mick Jagger - found at the National Portrait Gallery web site. Not surprisingly, the gallery's store also has magnets with portraits. Update on June 24, 2014: I'm no longer finding this magnet.
Ballard Designs provides us with this set of 12 city magnets. Update on June 24, 2014: Ballard Designs no longer has these magnets.
This royal magnet comes to us from Peleg Design in Israel; you can buy a set of three from Animi Causa.
I found these "flag magnets" on a site called Not in the Malls.
Pari Design provides pure wool magnets in some stunning colors - you can choose from 18 color options.
Carolyn Graham of The Mosaic Garden makes magnets from "mini hand-painted ceramic tiles." There's a wider range of products available on The Mosaic Garden's Folksy site, where you can find Carolyn's Union Jack magnets in a range of colors. These puffin magnets are available on both sites.
Cat lovers might like this Wonder Cat magnet set from Cathy Peng. [via Moderncat]
Finally, I'd like to re-acquaint you with the animal magnets from Papillon — which I've mentioned before, but not in a magnet-focused post. From the elk to the sheep to the hedgehog shown above, they're all wonderful.
Related Posts:
A Multitude of Magnets
More Magnificent Magnets
Yet More Magnets: Magnetic Clips
6 Magnets That Made Me Smile
I Just Can't Resist a Good Magnet
Refrigerator Door Magnets: An Organizing Choice
Magnets To Brighten Your Day - and Adorn Your Fridge
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 7:42 PM 1 comments
Monday, August 15, 2011
Return of the Wall Organizers
Since I last wrote about using the walls for storage — a whole day ago — I've found a bunch of new options!
The hanging supply pocket organizer shown above comes from Unique Craft Creations on Etsy. It's made with felt, and you can order it with your choice of colors. Update on Feb. 27, 2013: Unique Craft Creations no longer makes this product.
This is the football wall organizer from Lollipop Design, which makes a number of other designs, too. Update on Feb. 27, 2013: I'm no longer finding this product.
Wesco makes two styles of wall organizers: the Modulo series with zippered bags and the Visio series with bellows-style pockets. You can get them with three, six, nine or twelve pockets; sites selling them include Brodart and The Library Store. Update on Feb. 27, 2013: I'm no longer finding this product at The Library Store.
Don't need so many pockets? Reisenthal has this Big Eye Singlepocket. It's widely available, and I've been pleased with the other Reisenthal products I've purchased in the past. Update on Feb. 27, 2013: Reisenthal doesn't seem to make this any more.
Now let's head over to Land of Nod for a different type of wall pocket. While the store calls these magnetic magazine pockets, they can obviously hold things other than magazines. It's available in red, silver and white in addition to green.
And here's another type of wall storage: the number cubby shelf from Pottery Barn Kids. Update on Feb. 27, 2013: This product is no longer available.
Pamela of Pamela Quilts takes salvages from her quilt-making and makes these buckets, which have loops to make it easy to hang them from the wall.
Klara of Granatina also makes fabric baskets you can mount on the wall. Through the wonders of Etsy, you can easily get her products, even though she lives in Budapest.
These fabric pockets — each one one-of-a-kind — could also be wall-mounted. This is a set of nine; you can also get a set of four. [via babygadget]
And for those of you with the do-it-yourself skills I lack, here are some instructions for making hanging fabric storage baskets.
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 10:34 PM 0 comments
Labels: green alternatives, organizing products
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2015 Empire State Classic Jr. Peewee Bracket Image
Posted by Pierre Davis on Nov 10 2015 at 12:12PM PST in 2015 Season
The full bracket for the Junior Pee Wee Age Group is posted to this announcement. You can download the bracket to save it or just come back to this site to view it as we will continuously update it throughout the tournament. Please note the calendar with links to fields will also be updated as games (complete with opponents) are scheduled. Feel free to load pictures to the site from any games to help make the site better!
Best of luck to all participants!
There are no comments for this announcement.

subset: commoncrawl


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Motorists hit with largest weekly increase in fuel prices since January
The average cost of a litre of petrol and diesel rose by 1.2 pence last week to £1.18 and £1.20 respectively, according to data published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
This has left pump prices at a four-month high.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams told the Press Association the price of price has "sadly shot up" as a result of Storm Harvey disrupting oil refining in Texas, whereas the hike in diesel prices is more down to a two-dollar rise in the price of a barrel of oil over the past week.
He said: "This is bad news for drivers who have had two consecutive months of pump price rises and now face a third.
"On a more positive note, the wholesale price of unleaded dropped on Monday so this may bring some much-needed relief on the forecourt.
"This is as a result of the damage to the oil infrastructure in Texas caused by Storm Harvey proving to be less extensive than had been feared and the fact many refineries are now coming back online."


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Thought Starters provides me with a chance to review and highlight some of the more important or interesting research and opinions that I've read over the last week or so. This edition looks at Google and Apple at a crossroads, England's property market and questions over the rate of innovation among other things:
Whilst many technological and social indicators point to the lead that Western Europe and North America has over the developing world, there are cases where incumbent infrastructure slows down the introduction of new technologies. An example of this from the World Economic Forum is the lead Sub-Saharan Africa has in mobile money accounts, aided by the lack of traditional financial services infrastructure:
Interesting benchmark figures from Pew Research on the use of online services by the American population. There's obviously plenty of opportunity for growth still across many different categories:
Google I/O developer conference happened on Wednesday which saw the launch of new virtual reality, mobile messaging, smart home and virtual assistant platforms and updates for Android, Android Wear and Android Auto. It's worth checking out The Verge's coverage of the leading announcements if you're wanting more details on what to expect in the coming months.
Ben Thompson has an interesting follow on to the conference pointing to Google's technical process but also suggesting that other factors at play are likely to hamper the organisation's success:
The problem is that as much as Google may be ahead, the company is also on the clock: every interaction with Siri, every signal sent to Facebook, every command answered by Alexa, is one that is not only not captured by Google but also one that is captured by its competitors. Yes, it is likely Apple, Facebook, and Amazon are all behind Google when it comes to machine learning and artificial intelligence — hugely so, in many cases — but it is not a fair fight. Google's competitors, by virtue of owning the customer, need only be good enough, and they will get better. Google has a far higher bar to clear — it is asking users and in come cases their networks to not only change their behavior but willingly introduce more friction into their lives — and its technology will have to be special indeed to replicate the company's original success as a business.
Another company that's had a strong run but for which the future is harder to anticipate is Apple. Marco Arment has been a valuable commentator and proponent of Apple and its broader ecosystem and his concerns about Apple's long term health should definitely be taken seriously:
But if Google's right, it won't be enough to buy Siri's creators again or partner with Yelp for another few years. If Apple needs strong AI and big-data services in the next decade to remain competitive, they need to have already been developing that talent and those assets, in-house, extensively, for years. They need to be a big-data-services company. Their big-data AI services need to be far better, smarter, and more reliable than they are. And I just don't see that happening.
As a venture capitalist, David Pakman has a vested interest in a more entrepreneurial music ecosystem. That being said, I do believe he has a strong point talking about how major record labels are squeezing some of the innovation out of the music sector:
In my mind, it would have been in the long-term best interests of the recorded music business to enable the widespread success of thousands of companies, each paying fair but not bone-crushing royalties back to labels, artists and publishers. But the high royalty rates imposed upon startups, even after clear signs over the past 19 years that the strategy killed companies, prevented a healthy ecosystem from emerging. It's a bed the music industry made for itself, and now it is left to lie in it.
Whilst there's a been a lot of talk about the polarisation of incomes in the West, research from Walter Frick points to a similar polarisation in corporate performance with leading firms galloping ahead of everyone else:
Donald Trump's nomination for the Republican party is pretty much a given now, and I'm glad to see more and more commentators coming out to express their opposition to his candidacy. Robert Kagan's is definitely among the more eloquent, let's just hope the US population listens to reason:
And the source of allegiance? We're supposed to believe that Trump's support stems from economic stagnation or dislocation. Maybe some of it does. But what Trump offers his followers are not economic remedies — his proposals change daily. What he offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo, a boasting disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture that he claims, and his followers believe, has produced national weakness and incompetence. His incoherent and contradictory utterances have one thing in common: They provoke and play on feelings of resentment and disdain, intermingled with bits of fear, hatred and anger. His public discourse consists of attacking or ridiculing a wide range of "others" — Muslims, Hispanics, women, Chinese, Mexicans, Europeans, Arabs, immigrants, refugees — whom he depicts either as threats or as objects of derision. His program, such as it is, consists chiefly of promises to get tough with foreigners and people of nonwhite complexion. He will deport them, bar them, get them to knuckle under, make them pay up or make them shut up.
The UK referendum on whether the country chooses to leave the European Union is fast approaching leading to some scaremongering from the pro Brexit camp. Providing a rather different perspective is research from Philippe Legrain who points out the economic benefits potentially provided by the influx of refugees to Europe:
Refugees who arrived in Europe last year could repay spending on them almost twice over within just five years, according to one of the first in-depth investigations into the impact incomers have on host communities.
Refugees will create more jobs, increase demand for services and products, and fill gaps in European workforces – while their wages will help fund dwindling pensions pots and public finances, says Philippe Legrain, a former economic adviser to the president of the European commission.
Over the following decade, England's population rose by 4.1m while its housing stock rose by only 1.7m, something which any economist will tell you is going to cause some problems. This shortage is exacerbated by disparities between local authorities as The Economist recently mapped (click through for the interactive version):
A further indication of the overheated nature of certain parts of the UK housing sector can be seen in the fact that the average first time buyer in London now earns £85k and has a deposit of £123k according to the ONS figures:
Frans de Waal has taken a critical look at economics, pointing to its vision of the self interested human being rather different from how societies developed or currently operate:
Economists should reread the work of their father figure, Adam Smith, who saw society as a huge machine. Its wheels are polished by virtue, whereas vice causes them to grate. The machine just won't run smoothly without a strong community sense in every citizen. Smith saw honesty, morality, sympathy and justice as essential companions to the invisible hand of the market. His views were based on our being a social species, born in a community with responsibilities towards the community.
In short, the sheer number of ways a person can be in touch with others, and consume information or entertainment, has exploded, and the price has collapsed.
This is the area in which human life has changed the most in the last 46 years. We live and travel much as we did in 1970. We eat more variety of foods. Products of all types keep getting a little safer, a little more efficient, a little better designed.
But the real revolution of recent decades is in the supercomputer most people keep in their pocket. And how that stacks up against the advances of yesteryear is the great question of whether an era of innovation remains underway, or has slowed way down.
One innovation I am expecting to see much more of in the coming years is augmented reality with its fusing of the virtual and real life. Keiichi Matsuda provides a rather dystopian view of the world we might face in years to come:
The featured image is from eko.


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The Long Life Puja Fund for His Holiness the Dalai Lama offers annual long life pujas to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The long life puja purifies the relationship between teacher and disciple, and creates the karmic cause for the teacher to remain among us.
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A light and groovy reggae track. With spare arrangement for an easy mood. For many things like travel videos, slideshows or waiting loops.
Of course VIDEOHIVE AUTHORS can use all the preview tracks in their video items. Please set a link and send us an email. Then we can complete our item descriptions. Thank you.
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Adjustable Cuffs
Dual buttoning on cuff giving optional fastening for extra comfort.
The surface of the fabric is treated to reduce the possibility of pilling.
Auto Lock Zip
A small spring is built into the zip to stop it from sliding down.
Cooltex Plus
Our new fabric is knitted from multi-channel fibres that speed moisture to the outer surface, maximising evaporative and cooling performance. This high tech fabric allows the body to regulate its core temperature to keep the wearer cool and comfortable whatever activity.
Combed Cotton
Yarn is combed at the spinning stage in order to draw out dead fibres.
Comfort Finish Cuff Seams
Cuff seam is sewn flat for added comfort.
Drop Tail
The garment is longer at the back to ensure it stays tucked in when required.
Double Roll Tip Collar and Cuffs
The collar and cuff edge is knitted with double thickness in order to retain a neater shape.
Double Folded Seams
The seam edge is folded twice sealing the seam for added strength.
Easy Iron
A special finish to the surface of the fabric which reduces creases and minimises ironing.
Mitred V
Collar is shaped before inserting into the garment to form a flat V shape at the centre of the front neck.
A shaped fit both feminine and sleek enough to be worn under a jacket.
Flat Knit Collar
Individually knitted to size, will not fray or curl.
Flat Lock Stitching
Decorative top stitching.
Fused Collar
An interlining is fused into the collar to help retain its shape.
Half Moon Yoke
Styling detail sewn on to the back neck of the garment.
Hanger Loop
Small fabric loop on back yoke for hanging the garment. This is also an additional styling point.
Lap Fell Seams
The seam edge is folded twice sealing the seam and adding strength.
Peach Finish
Fabric is lightly brushed to give a softer handle.
Reinforced Shoulder
Tape inserted into the seam giving extra strength.
Self Fabric Bound Neck
The fabric is passed through a folder to neaten the neck edge ensuring improved neck shape and comfort.
Semi Fitted
Garment features soft tailoring to the waist and hips for easy layering.
Side Vents
Small opening at the base of side seam for a comfortable sporty look.
Slanted Placket
Corner of placket is slightly tapered to prevent curling around the collar.
Superwash® 60°
A hi-tech fabric that allows the garment to be washed up to 60° for the removal of stubborn stains without affecting shape or colour.
Taped Back Neck
Self fabric tape attached to the neck giving a smooth and comfortable finish.
Taped seams
Tape heat sealed onto all seams to make garment fully waterproof
Taped Side Vents
Side vents are sealed with woven tape for extra strength.
Twin needle stitching
Two rows of stitching at key seams for strength, style and neatness.


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If you're old enough to have used a dial-up modem we'd bet you can do an imitation of the sounds it made while connecting. Those not-so-beautiful sounds heralded the dawning of a technological era. But few actually know what each of those distinct sounds were doing. Now's your chance to learn. This post explains each step in the dail-up handshake process.
This may be the most useful infographic we've ever seen. Normally we just seem them as gimmicks, but [Oona Räisänen] really put together something special with this one. Her blog post includes an audio clip so that you can play back the full handshake sounds. The main box on the graphic shows the audio spectrum from that clip, with an explanation below it. But you'll also want to read through her full write-up for a more narrative description.
The part we found the most interesting is that these modems needed to disable the echo suppression used by the telephone system in order to operate at full-duplex. Apparently land lines disabled the speaker while you were talking so that you didn't hear your own voice. This was a problem if the modem was trying to send and receive at the same time.
[via Reddit]


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The war of words between Microsoft and Google over Office 2010 and its entry into online, cloud-based applications heated up today as both companies again took shots at each other.
One analyst said Microsoft was publicly arguing with Google both to preserve its current position and its future in the enterprise application and collaboration markets.
Yesterday, a Microsoft executive hammered Google for a Tuesday sales pitch that urged Office users to put off upgrading to Office 2010 and instead add Google Docs as an online complement to older versions of the suite leader.
Calling Google's claims "simply not true," Alex Payne, director of Microsoft's online product management team, countered a Google director's pitch that Google Docs, the search company's online application suite, "makes Office 2003 and 2007 better."
Today, the companies traded new blows.
"It says a lot about Microsoft's approach to customer lock-in that the company touts its proprietary document formats, which only Microsoft software can render with true fidelity, as the reason to avoid using other products," Google said in a statement e-mailed to Computerworld by a company spokesman.
Google was talking about Payne's argument Tuesday that only Office 2010 and its accompanying Office Web Apps online components were able to handle so-called "round-tripping" -- a phrase that describes moving a document from Office on the desktop to an online app, then back again -- without losing important document formatting or content.
"We've made a lot of progress with our new editors to improve the experience importing Office documents into Google Docs, and there's more to come soon," promised Google, referring to its plans to integrate technologies from DocVerse, a maker of Office plug-ins for online, real-time collaboration. Google acquired DocVerse in early March.
Microsoft didn't take Google's counterpunch without swinging back.
"This is about how Google has chosen to implement features, not file formats," argued Payne in a e-mail today. "Microsoft supports multiple ISO standards for file formats, and they are fully and openly documented, [but] Google simply chooses not to implement certain features, which results in poor document fidelity."
Yesterday, Payne said Microsoft's Office Web Apps have what he called "high fidelity" when documents are moved from the desktop to online, and back.
"This underscores that they do not understand the needs of businesses and cannot deliver on their claim that Google Docs make Office better," Payne concluded today.
"Microsoft's concerned that if an Office alternative like Google Docs could get a critical mass in some companies, then those companies would no longer license Office across the board for all workers," said Rob Helm, an analyst with research firm Directions on Microsoft. "Companies might be more likely to tactically deploy Office only to some users."
Even more important than today's bottom line, Helm said, is Microsoft's future, which increasingly hinges on SharePoint, the server-based software that he called the company's "hub for its entire collaboration effort."
SharePoint last quarter posted a 30% increase in revenues, climbing to account for $1.3 billion of Microsoft's sales, and is key to the future of Office, said Helm. "Microsoft's doing this to protect SharePoint's position," he said. "It wants to make it clear that it has the collaboration solution for the enterprise, not Google."
Like most analysts, Helm believes that Google has a hard row to hoe.
"All I can say [to Google] is 'good luck,'" said Helm. "Google is just the latest pretender to the Office throne. IBM has been chasing Office for years with Lotus, OpenOffice has as well. Office is very hard nut to crack."
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld . Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is email@example.com .
Read more about cloud computing in Computerworld's Cloud Computing Knowledge Center.


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This is truly an edifying story of the very best type of social activism by priests.
In September of 2008 a group of Catholic Priests began praying every week at Rockford's abortion mill special prayers of the Church that the abortion mill be cleansed from evil. Immediately, the pro-life women who sidewalk counsel at this abortion facility noticed a dramatic decline in the numbers of mothers coming for abortions and a tangible rise in the numbers of mothers who choose life at the abortion mill driveway..
An unofficial count of mothers entering the mill within a month of these devout Priests praying showed the abortion totals to be cut at least in half. This is also when signs started appearing in the mill windows attacking Catholic Priests.
On Friday May 29th, the abortion mill sank to a new low even for them. As a Priest was quietly praying the prayers of the Church accompanied by a seminarian, [And here it comes…] someone inside the building that houses the Northern Illinois Women's Center put a sign that clearly stated, "F…. Your Perverted Priests." - Finish reading here.
Sounds like Planned Parenthood needs an exorcist. This is some of the best evidence I've read yet which demonstrates Satan is in charge of the abortion industry. Hopefully many priests will note this and have more courage to publicly and prayerfully oppose anti-Catholic social activism in all of its forms.
Let's continue to pray very much for priests. The power of the priesthood is beyond our comprehension.
Dear priests, "tend the flock of God in your midst, (overseeing) not by constraint but willingly, [...] be examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:2). Hence, do not be afraid to lead to Christ each of the brothers that he has entrusted to you, certain that every word and every attitude, if stemming from obedience to the will of God, will bear fruit; know how to live appreciating the merits and acknowledging the limits of the culture in which we find ourselves, with the firm certainty that the proclamation of the Gospel is the greatest service that can be done to man. In fact, there is no greater good in this earthly life, than to lead men to God, reawaken faith, raise man from inertia and despair, to give the hope that God is near and guides personal history and that of the world. - Pope Benedict XVI
Thanks to Fr. Z for posting the Rockford story.


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Nashville is only a short 3 hours from Memphis and I am actually there a lot for different things, but I've never really gone to Nashville with the intent of having a fun girls weekend and trying out local restaurants, and that's exactly what we did last month. Nashville is so hot right now, seriously, it feels like the LA of the south. There are tourists everywhere and people out and about at all hours of the day. Nashville is having a moment and I'm here for it because I love stopping in for shopping, restaurants, and to get my hair done (yes, I get my hair done in Nashville, lol). There are so many different things to do in Nashville if you're a tourist – from Broadway to the Country Music Hall of Fame to checking out East Nashville or Franklin area, there's just so much to see and take in. It can be stressful trying to figure out where to stay and where to eat since there are so many options.
If you are going to Nashville with a group of girls, a house is totally the way to go. Trying to pay for a cramped hotel room is stressful and with a house you can have so much more space (if you're going solo or want a hotel I highly recommend Noelle or The Bobby). We stayed at one of the cutest and well-decorated houses called Hotelette. It was located in East Nashville and seriously had everything we could have ever needed for our girls weekend. The house had 4 bedrooms but could easily sleep 10 girls because one of the rooms had a twin bed in with the queen. The house was located near everywhere we wanted to go – a quick 10 minute car ride had us downtown, or if you wanted to walk from the house you could easily be in Five Points in a few minutes. Basically it was the perfect location and the perfect house for our girls weekend.
Honestly, we did a lot of walking around and taking in the sights. We drove down to the 12 South area and just perused the local shops and restaurants. We would wake up, go somewhere cool for coffee (Barista Parlor was my favorite), walk around and look at shops, grab lunch, walk around some more before heading back to the house to get ready for dinner. Our trip was mainly centered around food as we wanted to try some new places and really take in the culinary experiences of Nashville. Read below to see where all we ate and our experiences.
1110 Caruthers Ave, Nashville, TN 37204
Did you even go to Nashville if you didn't get a cronut at Five Daughter's Bakery? This bakery has cronuts galore (basically a mix between a croissant and a donut), and I always opt for the Strawberry Fields cronut. There is ample outdoor seating if you want to take your cronut out there to eat. Five Daugthers is located in 12 south so there is so much to do and see around this area. I actually like to park in the Five Daugthers parking lot and get a cronut and walk around.
2317 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37204
After our cronut experience we walked around for a bit and then we were starving for lunch. Taqueria del Sol is also located in the 12 south area and dare I say it has the best Mexican food ever? We got an entire table full of enchiladas, burritos, sides, chip and queso and everything was so tasty and fresh.
2407 8th Ave. S Suite 105, Nashville, TN 37204
I love a good biscuit and when I saw that Holler and Dash's tagline is "biscuit house", I was all in. We got a lot of options here to try and my favorite was by far the avocado toast which was topped with watermelon slices! You won't be disappointed with this place for breakfast or lunch.
807 Clark Place Nashville, TN 37203
230 4th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37219
Do you have a trip to Nashville planned in your future? Have you been before? Let me know in the comments!


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Coal India
Coal India is the government-owned coal mining company.
The World Coal Institute states that "almost all of India's 565 [coal] mines are operated by Coal India and its subsidiaries, which account for about 86% of the country's coal production. Current policy allows private mines only if they are 'captive' operations, i.e. they feed a power plant or factory. Most of the coal production in India comes from opencast mining, contributing over 83% of the total production. Coal India employs some 460,000 people and is one of the largest five companies in India."[1]
Coal India reports that its annual coal production has grown from 79 million tonnes in 1975 to 360.9 million tonnes in 2006-2007.[2] Coal India produced 431.3 million tons in 2010, accounting for 81 percent of the nation's output, according to its annual report. In September 2011, Coal India said it plans to use its $9.2 billion of cash to increase output and pay more dividends to investors, spending 370 billion rupees ($7.5 billion) to raise annual production by 250 million metric tons by 2017.[3]
Major Coal Mining Subsidiaries
On its website Coal India Limited (CIL) states that it operates as a holding company with seven wholly owned coal producing subsidiary companies. These are:[4]
- Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Dhanbad, Jharkhand
- Central Coalfields Limited Ltd which operates in Bihar;
- Eastern Coalfields Ltd which operates in Bihar and West Bengal;
- Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd which operates in Orissa;
- Northern Coalfields Ltd which operates in Indian Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh;
- South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. which operates in Madhya Pradesh;
- Western Coalfields Ltd. which operates in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra; and
- Coal India Africana Limitada, Mozambique
It also lists North Eastern Coalfields as a "small coal producing unit operating in Margherita, Assam is under direct operational control of CIL."[4]
Domestic coal mines
Coal India accounts for over 85% of domestic coal production, and recorded an output of 431 million tonnes in fiscal year 2010. CIL operates 470 mines, including 164 open cast, 275 underground and 31 mixed mines.[5]
It was reported in July 2012 that the ministry of environment and forest gave conditional approval to 15 mines operated by PSU coal miner Coal India.[6]
Potential mine closures
Due to environmental concerns, in August 2011, the pollution control board of Jharkhand state in the eastern part of India ordered the closure of 22 open cast mines operated by India Coal subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Limited: Phularitarh, Muraidih, Shatabdi, Govindpur, Gajlitarh, Mudidih, Tetulmari, Senara, Bansjora, Gondudih Khas, Khushanda, Ginagarha, Bahra South, Gopalichak, Murlidih, Dahibari and Bahra North. Bharat Coking has as many as 69 coal mines in the state and made major technological changes to enhance coal production which, according to the state pollution control board, violated green norms. Some mines in Jharia belong to a subsidiary of Bharat Coking Coal and account for a fifth of output. After an appeal by Bharat, who said the closure would affect other business like Steel Authority of India, the Jharkhand court ordered a status quo till August 30, 2011. The closure action, if initiated, would have resulted in a production loss of 40,000 tonnes per day. Out of Coal India's 2010-11 production of 424.50 million tonnes, Bharat Coking contributed 29.29 million tonnes.[7]
CIL operating mines without clearance
On September 7, 2011, India's accounting watchdog - Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) - said state-run Coal India is running 239 mines in its seven coal producing subsidiaries without environment clearances, including 48 open cast mines, 170 underground mines, and 21 combined mines. CIL management said that production was increased to meet the energy needs of the country, including supply crisis in power plants, and to make up for the shortfall in production in some collieries.[8]
In July 2012 Coal India reported that they planned to import up to 30 million metric tons of coal in 2012 in order to meet rising domestic demand and mitigate power shortages.[9]
Proposed projects
Environment Minister approves sixteen coal projects
On February 11, 2011 India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh approved a total of sixteen new coal projects that were on hold due to environmental regulations. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal stated that the environment minister's okay of Coal India's proposed coal mine projects was due to pressure from higher levels in the Indian government. The Coal Minister also stated that environmental regulations are one of the reasons why the growth of Coal India – which produces 80 percent of the country's coal – dropped to 2 percent in 2010, compared to 2009's figure of almost 7 percent. However, the Coal Minister said the areas off limits to coal mining would remain off limits, despite the likely increase in the country's coal use.[10]
On March 10, 2011, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said his ministry had received environment clearance in writing for 14 Coal India projects. Elaborating on the project, an official with the ministry said of the 14 projects, five are from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and three each from Eastern Coalfields Limited and Western Coalfields Limited. Two are from Bharat Coking Coal Limited, and one is from South Eastern Coalfields Limited.[11]
Coal India identifies 142 possible coal projects
In April 2011 it was reported that Coal India and the U.S. are considering encouraging equity partnerships with offtake in expansion projects, long term offtake arrangement and equity in new projects. Coal India has identified 142 new projects, comprising 35 under ground and 107 opencast, for ultimate capacity of 380.22 million tonnes, with an estimated capex of $7.7 billion. The alliance, they said, is crucial to tackling reserve constraints in India's exploration of coal.[12]
Power generation
Coal India had formed Mahanadi Basin Power Ltd in December 2011 as a special purpose vehicle to set up a 1,600 megawatt (MW) project in Odisha, the Hemgir power station. In May 2015 Coal India said its plan to diversify into power generation looked uncertain, as the government wanted the company to focus on securing coal for companies in India.[13]
Overseas coal mines
In August 2011, an India Parliamentary Panel asked the coal ministry to fast-track the acquisition and tendering process by Coal India (CIL) of coal mines overseas, such as Australia, USA, South Africa,and Indonesia, and asked the government to constitute a CIL "dedicated team" to expedite the process of dry fuel production from overseas mines. CIL has earmarked Rs 6,000 crore for acquisition of mines abroad.[14]
Coal India in Discussions with U.S. Companies
It was announced in November 2011 that Coal India was in talks with Peabody Energy and Massey Energy about acquiring two of the companies' mines. Coal India has budgeted $1.2 billion to buy assets in the U.S., Indonesia and Australia during the year ending March 2011 as it battles a widening gap between domestic coal supply and demand.[15]
In May 2011, Coal India said it wanted to buy a stake in Massey Energy Co.'s Sidney Underground Mines, and is awaiting a response from the U.S.-based company's new management on the potential deal. Talks on the deal stopped after Massey reached a $7.1 billion cash-and-stock deal in January 2011 to be acquired by Alpha Natural Resources. Some environmental issues related to the operations of the underground mine also led to the halt in discussions. As of end 2007, Sidney Underground Mines had proven and probable coal reserves of 73.06 million tons and 54 million tons, respectively, according to Massey's website. In addition to Massey Energy, Coal India is in talks on buying stakes in coal mines, among others, with Peabody Energy Corp. and Indonesia's PT Golden Energy Mines. For now, its only overseas reserves are two coal blocks in Mozambique.[16]
In January 2011, it was reported that Coal India plans to import 10 million metric tons of the fuel from Mozambique in the next five years, where the company has prospecting rights to two blocks in the northwest of the country measuring 225 square kilometers (87 square miles). If viable deposits are found, the company intends to invest $400 million and employ 3,000 people to extract them. Coal India also wants to secure rights in five other exploration blocks, and export the coal to India through the port of Beira and perhaps - after 25 years - the Nacala port.[17]
In August 2012 it was reported that Coal India had set aside 350 billion rupees ($6.4 billion) to acquire coal assets abroad and to "develop" its two coal blocks in Mozambique."[18]
Coal India has been in discussions with Indonesia's Golden Energy Mines for a possible 30% stake purchase in its assets.[19]
South Africa
In January 2012, Coal India said it will sign an agreement with the Limpopo government in South Africa to receive mining rights on various coal blocks in that province. The mines will be developed in partnership with the government of Limpopo which, through a state-controlled corporation, will retain a 26% interest in the mines.[20]
Coal terminal
According to a July 2010 company statement, Coal India plans to invest in its first port terminal to handle imports to help meet increasing demand for the fuel. The company intends to build a terminal in a venture with Visakhapatnam Port Trust in southeast India by 2013 with a capacity to import as much as 6 million metric tons annually. Coal India also intends to form a joint venture with NTPC, Asia's second-largest power utility by value, to buy the fuel from overseas.[21]
Coal India to use GPS to stop pilferage
It was announced in November 2011 that Coal India would use satellite technology to prevent shipments from being hijacked amid a shortage that has hit supplies to thermal power projects in the country. It is estimated that at least a quarter of 431 million tonnes of coal was stolen in transit.[22]
Going public
In the largest ever initial public offering on the Indian stock exchange, Coal India offered 10% of its shares to investors at home and abroad in November 2010. Coal India's prospectus, crafted with the help of big-name investment banks, did not mention climate change once in its 510 pages. Investors responded, and the offering was oversubscribed 15 fold, with the stock soaring on the first day of trading, November 4, valuing Coal India at $49 billion. Those ending up owning stock included 484 foreign funds, 195 mutual funds, 44 insurance companies, and many banks. Many of these investors were using ordinary citizens' money - people mostly allowed no say in where their pension funds, insurance premiums, and banking deposits are invested.[23]
Major financiers
The 2011 report, "Bankrolling Climate Change: A Look into the Portfolios of the World's Largest Banks" by Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and BankTrack, researched the coal financing of 93 large banks and found that 24 were involved in financing Coal India, providing the company with over 1.8 billion Euro from 2005-2011. The top financiers of Coal India were Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.[24]
The 2013 Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report, "Coal India: Running on empty?" notes that, in 2001, "the State of India abandoned the standards used by Coal India Limited (CIL) to derive its estimates. There remains significant uncertainty about the true extent of CIL's extractable reserves." Citing company mark-downs in its coal reserves, and repeated inabilities to meet production targets, the report argues that "[a]t targeted growth rates, CIL's extractable coal reserves could be exhausted within 17 years. This is within the lifetime of Indian power plants recently constructed, and those currently under construction/approval. India has 90,000 MW of power plants (predominantly coal) under construction and aims to add another 69,000 MW of coal-fired power by 2017." The report argues this means CIL will either have to expand its exploration funding for more difficult to access coal, or rely upon costly coal imports.
Contact details
10 Netaji Subhas Rd, Kolkata,
W.B-700001, India
Phone: 033-2248-8099
Phone: 033-2243-5147
Fax: 033-2243-5316
Email: telecil AT cal2.vsnl.net.in and cil AT wb.nic.in
Website: http://www.coalindia.in/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Articles and Resources
- ↑ "India", World Coal Institute, undated, accessed June 2008.
- ↑ Coal India, "Raw Coal Production", Coal India website, accessed June 2008.
- ↑ Rajesh Kumar Singh, "Coal India to Use $9.2 billion Cash to Increase Output, Dividend" Bloomberg, Sep. 22, 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "About Us", Coal India website, accessed February 2012.
- ↑ "CIL operates 239 mines without environmental clearance: CAG" NBC, Sep 07, 2011.
- ↑ "15 Coal India mines may get conditional green ministry nod" Raj Kumar Sahu, NDTV, July 30, 2012.
- ↑ Shivom Seth, "Coal mines in India, China face closure" Mine Web, Aug. 26, 2011.
- ↑ "CIL operates 239 mines without environmental clearance: CAG" NBC, Sep 07, 2011.
- ↑ "Coal India May Import Up to 30 Million Tons This Year" Saurabh Chaturvedi, Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2012.
- ↑ "Coal Minister speaks on Jairam's green nod to 16 coal projects" NDTV.com, February, 15, 2011.
- ↑ "Written clearance for CILs 14 projects: Jaiswal" The Economic Times, March 10, 2011.
- ↑ Sanjay Jog, "India, US pursue sustainable alliance in coal sector" Business Standard, April 16, 2011.
- ↑ "Coal India may drop plans to expand into power generation," Live Mint, May 19, 2015
- ↑ "Parliamentary panel asks CoalMin to expedite acquisition abroad by CIL" The Economic Times, Aug. 21, 2011.
- ↑ "Coal India in talks for Peabody, Massey mines" Erika Kinetz, Forbes.com, November 12, 2010.
- ↑ Saurabh Chaturvedi, "Coal India Eyes Massey's Sidney Mines" Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2011.
- ↑ "Coal India to Import 10 Million Tons of Coal From Mozambique Over 5 Years" Bloomberg, Jan. 9, 2011.
- ↑ Rakesh Sharma, "Coal India Sets Aside $6.4 Billion for Acquisitions, Mozambique Blocks," Dow Jones Newswires, August 23, 2012.
- ↑ "Coal India seeks govt nod for 30% stake in Indonesian mine" Business Standard, July 26, 2011.
- ↑ Jan de Lange, "Indian coal giant buys SA rights" fin24.com, January 8, 2012.
- ↑ "Coal India to plan first terminal for imports" Infodrive, July 22, 2010.
- ↑ "Coal India to use GPS to stop pilferage" Ruchira Singh & Utpal Bhaskar, LiveMint.com, November 7, 2011.
- ↑ Jeremy Leggett, "Coal India IPO shows the mountain we have to climb" The Guardian, Nov. 9, 2010.
- ↑ "Bankrolling Climate Change: A Look into the Portfolios of the World's Largest Banks" Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and BankTrack, 2011.
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If you saw 'Heaton!' the show at the People's Theatre, you'll remember the opening film sequence and would probably love to see it again. If so or if you missed the play, you're in luck: it is presented here alongside three short films made as part of Shoe Tree Arts' and Heaton History Group's 'Brains, Steam and Speed' project.
The films give insight into the lives and psychological make-up of three of the characters from 'Heaton!', all engineers associated with our area who children from local schools studied and were inspired by to produce the artwork featured in the project's exhibition at the People's:
Lord Armstrong (1810-1900), world-renowned hydraulics and ballistics engineer and also local benefactor, whose gifts to the city of Heaton and Armstrong Park and Jesmond Dene we still enjoy today.
Ove Arup (1895-1988), Heaton-born structural engineer, most famous for Sydney Opera House and Kingsgate Bridge in Durham, as well as for his huge and still successful international company.
Sir Charles Parsons (1854-1931), world-changing inventor of the steam turbine-generator and founder of Heaton company, CA Parsons Ltd. The film also pays tribute to Katharine, his wife, and Rachel, his daughter, who co-founded the Women's Engineering Society.
The other inspirational mathematicians, scientists and engineers were: Charles Hutton and David's Sinden and Brown of Grubb Parsons.
The schools involved in the project were: Chillingham Road Primary School, Cragside Primary School, Hotspur Primary School, Ravenswood Primary School, Sir Charles Parsons School.
The 'Brains, Steam and Speed' project was funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, the Joicey Trust, Heaton History Group.
The films were made by Peter Dillon, Tessa Green (members of Heaton History Group) with students from University of Northumbria. See full credits on each film.
Watch all the films here: https://vimeo.com/album/5310574


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Mega Millions 'Winner' on Misplaced Ticket: 'I Haven't Looked in My Pants Yet'
"World's most famous McDonald's employee" Mirlande Wilson—who claims she has Maryland's winning Mega Millions ticket but hasn't decided whether or not she'll accept her winning yet—almost definitely didn't win the lottery. But, damn, she has totally won the lottery-centric news cycle. Check out the latest nonchalant multi-millionaire quotes she gave to The New York Post about her supposedly winning ticket:
"I'm still looking for it. I haven't even looked in my uniform pants yet," the flaky single mom of seven admitted. "I'm still looking everywhere to find it, in my purse, everywhere."
Keep in mind "it" refers to $105 million.
Even if Mirlande doesn't care about "it," her children apparently do:
"I wanted to look for it, I was crying. She wouldn't let us. It's a lot of money," lamented her disappointed daughter Stephanie, 15.
That took an unexpectedly dark turn. Good material for a twisted novel about emotionally fraught multigenerational "inheritances" that alludes heavily to the concept of original sin and the Parable of the Prodigal Son, though. [NYPost, image via AP]


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Dog Trainer – An Ideal Career For Animal Lovers
Dog Trainer – An Ideal Career For Animal Lovers
Needless to say, the ideal job, the one we are all dreaming of, is the one we do for pure pleasure, that makes us feel fulfilled as individuals. In other words, it is a gratifying job both financially and personally. So is dog training career: dog trainers are lucky to get the two things they want at the same time: money and dealing with dogs. What does a dog trainer do?
First of all, he offers training classes at dog owners' request and gives owners valuable advice, teaching them all they need to know for properly looking after their dogs. He also teaches them fundamental obeying orders.
He instructs dogs how to "socialize" with other dogs or unknown persons. In addition, he prepares that kind of dogs used in rescue or search missions, as well as dogs taking part in any type of contests. Finally, they evaluate how dogs evolve during trainings.
How profitable is this kind of profession? Always ask yourself this kind of questions, because viability is an important issue before starting a business. Actually, dog training career has proved to be quite advantageous, if you take into account the number of owned dogs in the USA : around 61,000,000.
If you ever thought about starting this type of business, don't hesitate! There are lots of training requests and you won't need a big sum of money to begin. What you will need are skills, good knowledge and the ability to gain your clients' trust in order to succeed.
Generally, you have no reasons to worry for your earnings. If you didn't know, dog trainers are some of the best paid professionals. So you will be two times lucky: you will do what you most enjoy and earn enough money.
Read the rest of this entry »


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Texas Straight Talk
A weekly column
Secession: the Ultimate States' Right
Last week the governor of Texas ignited a media firestorm for his remarks involving the idea of secession. He did not call for Texas to secede from the United States. He merely pointed out that the federal government was treading heavily on the sovereignty of the states and that this can not continue indefinitely without a breaking point.
The reaction to Governor Perry's statements has been nothing short of hysterical. He has been called treasonous for making this obvious point and opening up a discussion. I am not calling for secession either, however there is nothing wrong with a healthy and open discussion of this issue.
America was born from an act of secession. When King George's rule trampled on the rights of the colonies, we successfully seceded from England. It took a war, but we were well within our rights. We applauded when former soviet states seceded from the USSR and declared their sovereignty. And hopefully the United States will eventually secede from the United Nations. We pay most of the bills of the UN, yet do not have the commensurate votes, so someday we will wake up and realize that membership, for these and other reasons, does not serve our interests.
On a personal level, contracts you enter into can be terminated if one side unilaterally changes the terms. If a credit card company jacks up your interest rate, you have every right to fulfill your obligations and close the account. Imagine if you were forced to stay with a credit card company forever no matter what just because you previously signed up! The principle of self-determination applies to political unions as well. In the cases I mentioned above, governing organizations transformed into much more overbearing entities than originally agreed upon. Several state constitutions originally had clauses explicitly allowing them to opt out of the Union down the road if they so chose. I doubt our country would have ever come together if this were not the case. Just because the north successfully kept the union together by force with the Civil War does not mean that enslaving the states is a legitimate alternative.
Secession is the last resort of states whose sovereignty is over-ridden by an overreaching federal government. The federal government has only itself to blame for this talk. Recently, some states have enacted laws allowing for the medicinal use of marijuana, yet these laws are basically voided by the continuing raids by the DEA, sanctioned by the administration. The federal government is also strong-arming states with stimulus money, forcing them to expand programs they know they will not be able to afford in the future, at a time when many states' budgets are already in the red. This is not a new problem. No Child Left Behind burdened the states' education systems and forced them through many hoops designed by federal bureaucrats in distant Washington DC rather than allowing communities to tailor education to their children's unique needs. There are numerous other examples of the erosion of state sovereignty and many governors are frustrated, not just ours in Texas. Without the right to secede, state's rights are meaningless.
A republican form of government should also be as close to the people as possible, which means the decisions of local governing bodies must be respected. Where the decisions of local governments are disregarded, the voice of the people is also disregarded. The more that happens, the more frustrated and angry the people will become.
Posted by Ron Paul (04-27-2009)
On The Web: www.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,tx14_paul,blog,999,All,Item%20not%20found,ID=090427_2851,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml


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When Information Technology came of age, Ross Perot's EDS was among the world leaders. Ask almost anyone at the Plano based company, they'll tell you there was pride that went with employment there and that hard work was rewarded with good salaries and benefits.
In 2008, EDS was bought by corporate IT giant, Hewlett Packard, also known as hp. After the transition, EDS employees are no longer singing the same tune about where they work.
"The community needs to know what's happening to an outstanding company," said an employee who wished to remain anonymous.
That employee has worked for EDS between 12-20 years, climbing the corporate ladder but still firmly in the middle class. Last week he received an email which informed him his base salary would be reduced effective Sept. 1.
"We don't know what we're going to do. We don't know," the man told NBCDFW, as tears streamed from his eyes.
Employees were prepared for salary cuts between 2 1/2 percent to 5 percent. Last Feburary, former EDS employees had their salaries sliced by hp by 2 1/2 percent. In April, more cuts with salaries slashed another 10 percent, that 10 percent figure was restored a month later but the email received by the employee this time indicates nothing surgical in the wage cut.
"My pay is being reduced a total of 29 percent, 20 percent effected Sept. 1, the additional 9 percent effective Sept. 1, 2010," the man said.
The latest news from around North Texas.
That's nearly a 32 percent salary cut for one employee in two years time -- more than one-third of his base salary. The cuts push him back to the salary he earned working the same job in the same building more than 10 years ago.
Other former EDS employees said that under Hewlett Packard, they've experienced salary cuts of between 10 percent and 47 percent.
A spokesperson for Hewlett Packard said not all former EDS employees face wage cuts and that the salary realignment," enables hp to effectively drive its pay for performance strategy with a consistent job-based foundation for rewards, development and organization planning," said an hp spokesperson.
HP also says CEO Mark Hurd took a 20 percent cut on his base salary of nearly $10 million dollars a year, however when reminded that Hurd also made an additional $23.9 million in bonus pay, the spokesperson said, "You're comparing apples to oranges," and said Hurd was paid his bonus for meeting certain business expectations set out by hp over a three-year period.
Former EDS employees also said only U.S.-based employees are suffering the massive salary cuts under Hewlett Packard and that foreign-based employees are not seeing reductions in their salaries. Hewlett Packard would not comment on this or if there are any plans to outsource jobs overseas.
The employees said in the end it's customers who'll suffer, customers who signed on with EDS before the company was bought by hp. They describe the mood of the employees as dismal, discouraged and defeated. Those who haven't gotten letters or emails warning of salary cuts expect them and one employee describes spending part of the day doing his job and part of his day looking for a new job.
As for the man who decided to speak up first, he's worried about having a job tomorrow. Even with a third of his salary gone, it's still a job in the same office he's had for more than a dozen years. Unless he can find a new one quickly, his only option is to show up for work.
"It's a slap in the face. That's the only way you can take it, is that it's a slap in the face," the man said.


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Ania Studio 12/17/12 - PROOFS
To Download a Photo: 1. Select photo from thumbnails on the left so that it appears in the large pane to the right. 2. Hover mouse over large photo until the fly in window appears from the right. 3. Click on the 'Save Photo' icon to save full resolution of the file. *This is the proper way to download images as opposed to the traditional right click and save method. By doing a right click you will only download the 64 pixel thumbnail.Read More


text: DAL-2007-22, HOU-2007-19, May 4, 2007 (Updated 5/10/07 to add Denton County) (Updated 5/23/07 to add Atascosa County) WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced tax relief for Texas taxpayers in the Presidential Disaster Area that was struck by severe storms and tornadoes April 21-24, 2007. The disaster area consists of the following counties: Atascosa, Denton, Maverick, Moore and Swisher. Deadlines for affected taxpayers to file returns, pay taxes and perform other time-sensitive acts falling on or after April 21, 2007 and on or before July 2, 2007 have been postponed to July 2, 2007. In addition, the IRS will waive the failure to deposit penalty for employment and excise deposits due on or after April 21, 2007 and on or before May 7, 2007, as long as the deposits were made by May 7, 2007. If any affected taxpayer receives a penalty notice from the IRS, the taxpayer should call the number on the notice to have the IRS abate any interest and any late filing or late payment penalties that would otherwise apply during the period from April 21, 2007 to July 2, 2007 (April 21, 2007 to May 7, 2007 for failure to deposit penalties). No penalty or interest will be abated for taxpayers that do not have a filing, payment or deposit due date (including an extended filing or payment due date) during this period. New Procedure IRS computer systems now automatically identify taxpayers located in the covered disaster area and apply automatic filing and payment relief. Taxpayers within the covered disaster area no longer need to self-identify by writing on their returns or using the disaster designation in their tax software. Affected taxpayers who reside or have a business located outside the covered disaster area will be required to call the IRS disaster hotline 1-866-562-5227 to self-identify for disaster relief. Covered Disaster Area The Texas counties listed above constitute a covered disaster area for purposes of Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(d)(2) and are entitled to the relief detailed below. Affected Taxpayers Taxpayers considered to be affected taxpayers eligible for the postponement of time to file returns, pay taxes and perform other time-sensitive acts are those taxpayers listed in Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(d)(1), and include individuals who live, and businesses whose principal place of business is located, in the covered disaster area. Taxpayers not in the covered disaster area, but whose books, records, or tax professionals' offices are in the covered disaster area, are also entitled to relief. In addition, all relief workers affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization assisting in the relief activities in the covered disaster area are eligible for relief. Grant of Relief Under sections 6081, 6161, and 7508A, the IRS gives affected taxpayers until July 2, 2007, to file most tax returns (including individual, corporate, and estate and trust income tax returns; partnership returns, S corporation returns, and trust returns; estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax returns; and employment and certain excise tax returns), or to make tax payments, including estimated tax payments, that have either an original or extended due date falling on or after April 21, 2007, and on or before July 2, 2007. The IRS also gives affected taxpayers until July 2, 2007, to perform other time-sensitive actions described in Treas. Reg. § 301.7508A-1(c)(1) and Rev. Proc. 2005-27, 2005-20 I.R.B. 1050, that are due to be performed on or after April 21, 2007, and on or before July 2, 2007. This relief also includes the filing of Form 5500 series returns, in the manner described in section 8 of Rev. Proc. 2005-27. The relief described in section 17 of Rev. Proc. 2005-27, pertaining to like-kind exchanges of property, also applies to certain taxpayers who are not otherwise affected taxpayers and may include acts required to be performed before or after the period above. The postponement of time to file and pay does not apply to information returns in the W-2, 1098, 1099 or 5498 series, or to Forms 1042-S or 8027. Penalties for failure to timely file information returns can be waived under existing procedures for reasonable cause. Likewise, the postponement does not apply to employment and excise tax deposits. The IRS, however, will abate penalties for failure to make timely employment and excise deposits, due on or after April 21, 2007, and on or before May 7, 2007, provided the taxpayer make these deposits by May 7, 2007. Casualty Losses Affected taxpayers in a presidentially declared disaster area have the option of claiming disaster-related casualty losses on their federal income tax return for either this year or last year. Claiming the loss on an original or amended return for last year will get the taxpayer an earlier refund, but waiting to claim the loss on this year's return could result in a greater tax saving, depending on other income factors. Individuals may deduct personal property losses that are not covered by insurance or other reimbursements, but they must first subtract $100 for each casualty event and then subtract ten percent of their adjusted gross income from their total casualty losses for the year. For details on figuring a casualty loss deduction, see IRS Publication 547, "Casualties, Disasters and Thefts." Affected taxpayers claiming the disaster loss on last year's return should put the Disaster Designation "Texas Storms/Tornadoes" at the top of the form so that the IRS can expedite the processing of the refund. Other Relief The IRS will waive the usual fees and expedite requests for copies of previously filed tax returns for affected taxpayers who need them to apply for benefits or to file amended returns claiming casualty losses. Such taxpayers should put the assigned Disaster Designation in red ink at the top of Form 4506, "Request for Copy of Tax Return," or Form 4506-T, "Request for Transcript of Tax Return," as appropriate, and submit it to the IRS. Affected taxpayers who are contacted by the IRS on a collection or examination matter should explain how the disaster impacts them so that the IRS can provide appropriate consideration to their case. Taxpayers may download forms and publications from this Web site or may order them by calling 1-800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676). The IRS toll-free number for general tax questions is 1-800-829-1040. Link: Tax Relief in Disaster Situations


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Gideon Falls #1 Preview (Image)
Here's a short preview of Gideon Falls #1 by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino, on sale March 7th, 2018 from Image Comics.
Story: Jeff Lemire
Art / Cover: Andrea Sorrentino
Variant Cover: Jeff Lemire, JOCK
A brand-new ongoing series from the acclaimed bestselling creative team of Old Man Logan and Green Arrow!
The lives of a reclusive young man obsessed with a conspiracy in the city's trash, and a washed-up Catholic priest arriving in a small town full of dark secrets, become intertwined around the mysterious legend of The Black Barn, an otherworldly building that is alleged to have appeared in both the city and the small town, throughout history, bringing death and madness in its wake. Rural mystery and urban horror collide in this character-driven meditation on obsession, mental illness, and faith.
U.S. Cover Price: $3.99
Published: March 7, 2018
Diamond ID: JAN180576
Age Rating: M


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Attar becomes first Saudi female track Olympian
Sarah Attar finished last at the women's 800 meter race but she received a standing ovation from the audience at the Olympics Stadium in London. The crowd that filled the stadium to capacity kept cheering for her until the end.
Before the race began, a beaming Attar waved to the crowd as the announcer said her name. Wearing a white headscarf, a long sleeved green top and black leggings, Attar finished the distance in 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
Attar became the first female track and field athlete to represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympic Games.
Few days ago, her countrywoman Wojdan Shaherkhani made history as the first Saudi female athlete ever to compete at the Olympics when she competed at the +78kg event. But unlike Shaherkhani, who comes from Mecca, Attar never lived in Saudi Arabia.
"It's an incredible experience," Attar, who has dual United States citizenship and is a student at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, told reporters after the race.
The 19-year-old was born and raised in Escondido, California to a Saudi father and an American mother. The college student's representation of her father's native country at the Olympics came at the last minute. The International Olympic Committee had been negotiating with Saudi officials for months to ensure female participation from the country.
In the few minutes following the race, Sarah Attar's name was trending worldwide on Twitter. As Saudis watched her run the race, many of them posted their reactions on the social network site.
"In a long time, I feel proud of being Saudi," tweeted Yara Basharaheel. "Thank you, Sarah Attar."
But not everyone felt the same. Many religious conservatives made it clear that they do not approve of her participation. The Saudi state sports television channels did not air the race.
"Do you think that those cheering for you are doing this because you achieved something great?" asked former Saudi footballer Faisal Abuthnain, who frequently appears on television to analyze local football league matches. "They are happy because you went against your society and the teaching of you religion."
Attar said before the Games that she hoped that her participation at the Olympics would inspire Saudi women to get more involved in sports.
On Twitter, a girl named Tahani posted a message to Attar: "You are a role model, thank you for what you did."


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Real Hussars
(Fisdan cradles your nakedness in his arms licking slowly at your neck, while at the same time, his sheathed cock begins to pulse ever so slightly.)
So these comments appear in the activity stream too? Is nothing private anymore?!? Guess this isn't a good place to cyber.
Beach Bum
Senior Member
Dhe'nari Sorcerer
Between the Bars


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Empire Games are held in Auckland, 4-11 February 1950
The cup above was produced by Crown Lynn as a souvenir of the Auckland games, which 590 athletes from 12 nations attended.
New Zealand came third in the medal tally with 54 medals: 10 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze. Golds were won in boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, swimming, weightlifting, and athletics.
Yvette Williams won a gold medal in the long jump. Two years later at Helsinki in Finland, she became the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
The Empire Games were first held in Canada in 1930. Since then they have been held every four years, although there was a 12-year gap gap after 1938 due to the Second World War. They are now called the Commonwealth Games and sometimes 'The Friendly Games'.
The countries that compete in the games are members of the British Commonwealth, previously known as the British Empire. New Zealand, as a member of both, has been present every time the games have been held.
The bronze medal above was awarded to swimmer Noel Crump at the second games held in London in 1934, when he came third in the 100 yards freestyle event.
New Zealand hosted the tenth Commonwealth Games in Christchurch in 1974. These games were televised and reached a wide audience who enjoyed colour on their tv sets for the first time. There was also an official Games pop song, 'Join Together', which reached no. 2 on the pop charts.
The distinctive games logo was created by Wellington designer Colin Simon. It cleverly referenced NZ, X (the Roman numeral for 10), and the Union Jack (Britain's flag). The logo appeared on official team uniforms and souvenirs alike.
Auckland hosted the Games again in 1990. These were New Zealand's most successful, in terms of the number of medals won.
The 1990 games were part of New Zealand's sesquicentennial. This was the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which saw New Zealand become a colony and part of the British Empire.
Read more about New Zealand and its relationship with the British Empire in Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa.


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Previous Lesson
Complete and Continue
Pivot Your Event To Digital
MODULE ONE Introductions & Foundations: digital event business models
Welcome: objectives, value proposition and what makes your event special (VIDEO) (10:30)
Types of online business events, the shibboleth of online events & business models (VIDEO) (14:58)
Interview with Julius Solaris Editor EventMB (VIDEO) (25:48)
Monetizing Virtual Events (VIDEO) (19:07)
MODULE TWO Digital Event Framework
William interviewed by Event Industry News (VIDEO) (43:31)
Taking advantage of digital to enhance objectives and KPIs (VIDEO) (6:37)
Retaining DELEGATE revenue
Retaining EXHIBITOR and SPONSORSHIP revenue (VIDEO) (31:36)
Pricing matrix, up-selling, team, group and company ticket options (VIDEO) (7:45)
Recommended reading links
MODULE THREE Designing for Digital
Less about events and more about digital transformation (VIDEO) (5:35)
Introduction to the 3 Pillars of Your Online Event (VIDEO) (5:38)
Designing your digital event road map (VIDEO) (7:30)
Developing and deciding areas to recreate or not to recreate as a digital product (VIDEO) (9:06)
10 platforms for hosting your event (VIDEO) (12:19)
6 ways to extend the life span of your event
End of module 1,2,3 webinar (VIDEO) (17:46)
MODULE FOUR Platforms
What are you likely to need to deliver great events (VIDEO) (4:07)
Case study TECH USED for a 300 person two day conference (VIDEO) (11:33)
Platforms Meetingplay. William interviews CEO (VIDEO) (32:51)
Your online events team
Choosing the right platform/s
You have your broadcast platform - now what? (VIDEO) (10:36)
MODULE FIVE Designing content for digital
The role of the moderator in helping deliver engaging content (VIDEO) (4:56)
How to structure great online content - a five step approach (VIDEO) (14:14)
Intro to designing content for digital (VIDEO) (4:49)
Understanding the texturisation of content (VIDEO) (12:19)
Case study - the future assistant conference (VIDEO) (10:40)
Case study - Collision At Home (VIDEO) (5:56)
Introduction to live, semi live and pre recorded content (VIDEO) (13:42)
How much content is too much content and online fatigue (AUDIO)
Great examples of online content (VIDEO) (4:01)
MODULE SIX Supporting speakers to deliver great content
Guidance to help speakers construct great content (TEMPLATE)
How to create a memorable online conference session (SPEAKER GUIDANCE)
10 formats for digital events (SPEAKER GUIDANCE)
Simple meeting design
Content QUIZ taking place on Kahoot
MODULE SEVEN Designing connections for digital
Short intro to the connections pillar (VIDEO) (3:32)
13 connections that a good online events platform should allow you to do (VIDEO) (6:03)
Online networking and Peer to Peer examples that work (VIDEO) (7:52)
Creating connections before and after your event
Creating Connections for your Sponsors and Exhibitors
MODULE EIGHT Designing coverage for digital
Extending the life cycle of your event (VIDEO) (4:27)
Wide ranging interview with Pierre CEO of SpotMe (VIDEO) (27:59)
Interview and course summary with Toby, CEO The Live Group (VIDEO) (45:20)
12 ways to ensure coverage for commercial partners
The online value proposition for sponsors and exhibitors guiding principles (VIDEO) (20:40)
MODULE NINE Onboarding
Frustrated with online events?
Tailoring and preparing guidance and guidelines for all speakers (TEMPLATE / GUIDANCE)
Onboarding attendees
Onboarding sponsors and exhibitors
Onboarding sponsors and exhibitors (CASE STUDY)
Onboarding events staff
Participant Pack (TEMPLATE)
MODULE TEN Creating an engaging online event
The role and the art of moderating (VIDEO interview) (29:07)
Introduction and some ideas (VIDEO) (55:23)
21 ways to build engagement into your event
Recommended reading
MODULE ELEVEN: Creating an interactive digital event
BEST PRACTICE How to run an interactive session (VIDEO) (51:10)
It is ALL about interaction - debate (VIDEO) (47:15)
The importance and role of interaction is NOT to be underplayed (VIDEO) (9:54)
Using the three pillars to guide your interaction
MODULE TWELVE: Marketing your event
How different is marketing a virtual event and how do we do it? (VIDEO) (23:20)
Promotion/marketing your digital event
A virtual event/online training business case (TEMPLATE)
End of course webinar (36:52)
Guidance to help speakers construct great content (TEMPLATE)
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Give your kitty the Shire-luxury it craves with a Hobbit hole litter box. Yes this is exactly what it sounds like.
Meet Microsoft's New Surface Laptops
Created by If Industries, the images here are just concept art for future cat litter box sculpture. The Hobbit hole is inspired, and we hope it takes off. The Eye of Sauron box can't be too far behind!
We didn't even know we wanted a Hobbit-themed litter box until we heard it existed. Now we can't imagine our without it. We'll be sure to let you all know when this bad ass box is available for purchase.
[via Geekologie]