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Bachmann: I lost my insurance
Rep. Michele Bachmann says she is one of the people who lost their health insurance because of Obamacare and she won't go shopping on a health exchange until it's fixed.
"Are you kidding? I'm not going to waste an hour on that thing," the Minnesota Republican said when Wolf Blitzer asked her on CNN on Thursday if she'd signed up on the exchange website. "I lost my health insurance under Obamacare. And so now I'm forced to go into the D.C. health exchange. I'm waiting until they fix this thing. I'm not going to sit there and frustrate myself for hours and hours."
Bachmann was referencing the continuing problems that have plagued the rollout of many of the health care exchange websites since they launched on Oct. 1. The White House has pledged it will be working for most users by the end of the month.
( Also on POLITICO: Obama's messy breakup with insurers)
Blitzer pressed Bachmann on when she would sign up, given the Dec. 15 deadline for anyone who wants coverage to kick in on Jan. 1.
"At some point we're going to have to figure it out. I have a husband with very significant health issues. We have to have health insurance. So we will get it figured it out," Bachmann said.
Appearing with her on the "Situation Room," Democratic strategist Paul Begala seized on her comments about her husband's health issues, saying she should be thankful for President Barack Obama's health care law.
"Actually, we were just fine before," Bachmann said.
Bachmann did not explain what about Obamacare caused her to lose her health insurance. The health law technically requires congressional staff go on the D.C. exchange, but it's up to the individual congressional office to determine who qualifies as "official office" staff, so many Republicans have placed their aides on the exchange while Democrats have been split.
Bachmann's office did not respond to a request for more information about how the congresswoman lost her insurance.


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|When the movie first came out I used to throw myself on rocks like that all the time, pretend I had a mermaid tail, and belt out "Part of Your World" Hey, I was about five years old. And, no, I never sounded as good as Ariel.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Guest Posting at A Backwards Story!
7 comments:
Haha, my friends and I used to play The Little Mermaid in the pool, and I always bullied them into letting me be Ariel because I had long red hair mwahaha.ReplyDelete
LOL! I think we all wanted to be Ariel :)ReplyDelete
Yeah well, I used to walk around in a shell bra, looking for my own prince Eric.
- AnonymousJuly 9, 2011 at 11:38 PM
I love that scene from the little mermaid :) I shall head the way of your guest post!ReplyDelete
I don't know a single girl who didn't want to be Ariel. Secretly when I'm swimming I imagine being a mermaid...guess I'll never grow up.lolReplyDelete
I always play-sing that bit that goes "ah-ah-ah, Ar-i-el." Love that movie!ReplyDelete
Belle, Haha, lucky you! I so desperately wanted long red hair. All the cool characters had it. Alas, mine is brown.ReplyDelete
Nic, She was so cool! Tie for me between Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle.
Missie, Ha, you win. Shell bra trumps rock serenading.
Alex, Hope you like it!
Holly, Haha, me too! Though I'm a very ungraceful mermaid :P
Logan, Me too!!
It's all about friendly conversation here at Small Review :) I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Be sure to check back again because I do make every effort to reply to your comments here.
Because I am absolutely terrible about following through with blog awards, I can't in good conscience accept any more. Thank you very much for thinking of me though!
Spam WILL be deleted. Attacks on myself or other comments WILL be deleted.

subset: commoncrawl


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This exhibition examines Stevens's career through the great number of stage productions that Stevens presented or fostered indirectly, for example, through the NEA. His achievements manifest Stevens's deep commitment to raising the quality of life for all Americans and his special place as one of the nation's foremost cultural leaders.
Connecting Kids: You can continue to enjoy the richness of the Library's collections by going to this suggested link that will be of special interest to kids and families!
- American Variety and Stage


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|Mohabbatein (English translation: Love Stories)
|Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Uday Chopra, Jugal Hansraj, Jimmy Shergill, Shamita Shetty, Kim Sharma, Preeti Jhangiani, Anupam Kher, Archana Puran Singh, Amrish Puri, Shefali Shah & Helen
|Print Date
|37.5″ x 28″ inches (Standard movie poster size or single sheet)
|★★★★ Near Mint
|Art Studio
|YRF – Design Cell
|Glossy Paper
|Not included
|Rolled into unbreakable tube
Classic Bollywood poster of the blockbuster Hindi movie Mohabbatein (2000) for sale.
This is an actual surviving classic Bollywood poster of the 2000 Hindi film written and directed by Aditya Chopra that featured the "King of Bollywood," superstar Shahrukh Khan in the lead role. The greatest actor in Indian cinema, superstar Amitabh Bachchan played a supporting role in the film.
Mohabbatein is the first film to feature superstars Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan together, making this Mohabbatein Hindi movie poster highly collectible!
Printed and circulated during the original first release of the film somewhere in 2000, this Mohabbatein movie poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.
Produced by Yash Chopra, Mohabbatein was Aditya Chopra's second directorial venture after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Filmed partly in the UK, Mohabbatein also starred six young debutantes Uday Chopra, Jugal Hansraj, Jimmy Shergill, Shamita Shetty, Kim Sharma and Preeti Jhangiani. Aishwarya Rai also made a special appearance in the film.
Stunning close ups of superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan are seen on the top of this Mohabbatein movie poster. A photographic still of the six newcomers appears at the bottom. An announcement at the top when translated reads "Some love stories … live forever."
The film was a massive commercial as well as critical success. Shah Rukh Khan won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his role as music teacher "Raj Aryan Malhotra" in the film, while Amitabh Bachchan bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of headmaster "Narayan Shankar."
The soundtrack of Mohabbatein was composed by Jatin-Lalit, while the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi. Songs like "Humko Humise Chura Lo," "Chalte Chalte Yunhi Ruk Jaata Hoon Main" and "Aankhein Khuli Ho Ya Ho Band" are fondly remembered and played till today.
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Whether it's the condo where you will live out your greatest professional ambitions, the single-family home where you will raise your children or the suite where you will live the hotel life every day, Brigil is with you at every phase of your life, providing you with a full range of residences. 10,000 households accommodated over the past 30 years, on both sides of the Ottawa River, from downtown to the suburbs.
Up to 2 months free!*
*Some conditions apply, on selected units only,
subject to change without notice.


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Nigeria presidency has frowned at those, especially in the National Assembly, asking President Muhammadu Buhari to make a broadcast to the nation on the coronavirus pandemic, saying that such call is populism and cheap politics.
In a statement today, March 19, senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu said: "populist advocacies such as the one accusing the President of "complacency" simply because he has not made a television address by ranking members of our respected parliament are cheap and sensational. These are not the times for populism and cheap politics."
Garba Shehu said that every other country around the world is now dealing with the unexpected and unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that the Buhari administration has taken some steps to mitigate the effects on the Nigerian people.
"To prevent the spread of cases imported into Nigeria, the President has already ordered the restrictions of travel from 13 countries, each with more than 1,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. Government has also suspended visas issued to nationals of these countries. The restriction will take effect from March 20 and will remain until further notice. While Nigeria delights in welcoming the world, the safety and protection of our citizens and land must take priority.
"The various agencies of government including Media owned by the government have embarked on vigorous campaigns promoting hygiene measures. There are, currently, very stringent regimes of checks at the points of air and sea entry into the country. The effort Nigeria is making as is well known, has already received the commendation of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
"The Presidency wishes to assure Nigerians that government is on top of the situation. There is no cause for panic. So far measures put in place are working efficiently. What this country is doing has been recommended as a template.
"The President trusts the relevant Ministers in his cabinet and the officials of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who are providing him with constant updates and professional counsel. These officials have a track record of competence.
"The President instructed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to reduce the pump price of fuel. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a crash in the global price of crude oil, and the President decided that every Nigerian should benefit from this. Subsequently, the NNPC announced a 20 naira deduction, and the pump price of fuel has now been reduced from 145 naira per litre to 125 naira per litre.
"The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday announced a credit relief of N1.1Trillion Naira to businesses affected by the pandemic. The Bank has also established a facility for household, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and announced a reduction of interest rates for loans from 9% to 5%.
"We do not want to create panic. But we will continue to update the Nigerian public with relevant information. We plead with every Nigerian to cooperate with the government in the fight against Covid-19 and obey all instructions from the NCDC. We have a high level Presidential Coordination Committee chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). This body should be allowed to carry out its duties.
"We also plead with Nigerians not to see this most peculiar of times as one to be politicised or seen as an opportunity to regurgitate grudges against the government or the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). North, South, East, and West – all Nigerians must unite to fight this plague, irrespective of religious or ideological affiliation.
"President Buhari thanks all those at the forefront of the fight against the deadly disease."


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Your First Year
Coming to college can be both an exciting and daunting experience. In your first year and throughout your time at TUS, we will do all we can to help you feel welcomed as part of a warm and supportive community of staff and students.
If you are coming to TUS through the CAO or transferring from another 3rd level college, you will receive a registration pack in the post with details of how to complete your registration process. Once you have completed on-line registration, you should retain your new student number as you will use this during Induction to complete processing of your new TUS Card, access email and other college resources.
We recognise that your first 2 months of term are often the hardest. Settling in, getting used to a new routine, making friends, finding your way around, balancing time between your studies and social life, struggling with your finances – it's not easy! We have developed a tailor made 7-week programme of events and supports called 'TUS Connect & Engage' to help you get off to a flying start in your first few weeks here. Sometimes it's nice to hear from other students who have been in your shoes so you can follow your faculty student led social media accounts for useful tips and more, and feel free to ask questions as they are happy to help and point you in the right direction (see QR code in your Induction timetable and on Connect & Engage Leaflet). Check out the TUS Student Resource Centre and the TUS Students' Union on Instagram and Facebook to hear more about what is in store. We are looking forward to getting to know you and help you make the most of your time
Even with the best laid plans and intentions, things can sometimes go astray. Unexpected life events can throw you off balance, whether you're in your first term, or a more established student. It is part of the ethos of our friendly, tight-knit community to offer our students the best support we can. Never be afraid to reach out to your TUS community — you're not alone — we've helped countless students navigate their way through personal, financial and educational difficulties to reach their full potential to Connect and Engage with all TUS has to offer.


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The solar neighbourhood
|Jupiter's cloud bands with Io passing above and casting a shadow.
Hubble's high resolution images of the planets and moons in our Solar System can only be surpassed by pictures taken from spacecraft that actually visit them. Hubble even has one advantage over these probes: it can look at these objects periodically and so observe them over much longer periods (years) than any passing probe could.
Hubble has observed all the planets in our Solar System, apart from Earth and Mercury. Earth is far better studied by geologists on the ground and specialised probes in orbit. Hubble can't observe Mercury as it is too close to the Sun, whose brightness would damage the telescope's sensitive instruments.
Our dynamic Solar System
|The asteroid Vesta, captured by Hubble. This reveals details as small as 40km across.
Regular monitoring of planetary surfaces is vital in the study of planetary atmospheres and geology, where evolving weather patterns such as dust storms can reveal much about the underlying processes. Hubble can also observe geological phenomena such as volcanic eruptions directly.
The asteroid Vesta is only 500 km in diameter and was surveyed by Hubble from a distance of 250 million km. The resulting map of the surface shows a strange world with possibly ancient lava flows, as well as a gigantic impact crater. Hubble has even able to capture the asteroid's changing appearance as it rotates.
|Impact site of one of the fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
In comparison with probes that have to travel vast distances and require years of planning to visit the planets Hubble is also able to react quickly to sudden dramatic events occurring in the Solar System. This allowed it to witness the stunning plunge of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter's atmosphere during the period 16-22 July 1994.
Hubble followed the comet fragments on their last journey and delivered incredible high-resolution images of the impact scars, from which important new information on conditions in the Jovian atmosphere was obtained.
The consequences of the impact could be seen for several days afterwards, and by studying the Hubble data astronomers were able to gain fundamental information about the composition and density of the giant planet's atmosphere. Since the impact of Shoemaker-Levy 9, Hubble has continued to study impacts, events and changes on Jupiter, improving our understanding of the Solar System's largest planet.
Hubble also observed the spectacular break up of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 as it visited the inner Solar System, the asteroid collision P2010/A2 and a mysterious disintegrating asteroid.
"We conducted an intensive series of observations of Pluto with Hubble followed by advanced data processing on the ground. We saw surface features emerge for the first time in history on our screens. For me, personally, it was a memorable experience to be able to show this image to the original discoverer of Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh, and in this way let Hubble pay a tribute to his great discovery."
Rudi Albrecht
The Aurorae of Jupiter and Saturn
|In early 2009, Saturn was visible side-on from Earth, letting Hubble capture this unique image of aurorae at both poles.
Hubble's extremely high resolution and sensitivity have made unique observations of objects within the Solar System possible - amazing images and rich amounts of data about the nature of these objects have been obtained. Hubble has seen unprecedented detail in Jupiter's aurorae. These aurorae are similar to those seen above the Earth's Polar Regions, but are almost 1000 times more energetic and much more complex. Aurorae can be seen at both Jupiter's poles - but only in ultraviolet light, so they could have not been observed with any ground-based telescope.
Astonishing images of Saturn's auroras were also taken in ultraviolet light and reveal exquisite new details. The spectacular auroral curtains of ultraviolet light that encircle Saturn's north and south poles rise more than a thousand miles above the cloud tops.
Long distance, long term observations
|Pluto and its moon Charon.
Hubble's high resolution images are naturally surpassed by pictures taken from planetary probes that actually visit the planets, but Hubble has the advantage of being able to carry out long-term monitoring and can return to look at these objects periodically. This is crucial for the study of planetary atmospheres and geology.
Hubble regularly observes the global seasonal dust storms on Mars, producing astonishing high resolution images.
Unlike the planets in our Solar System, the dwarf planet Pluto has not yet been visited by a probe, but in 1994 Hubble made the first clear images showing Pluto and its moon Charon as separate objects from a distance of 4.4 billion kilometres. In addition Hubble discovered several new moons as well as a dwarf planet beyond Pluto, which led to the discussion of Pluto being a planet.
Related images and videos
- Hubblecast episode 27: What has Hubble taught us about the planets?
- Images of Neptune
- Images of Uranus
- Images of Saturn
- Images of Jupiter
- Images of Mars
- Images of Venus
Related news releases
- Hubble provides spectacular view of comet breakup (2006)
- Saturn's aurorae offer stunning double show (2009)
- Hubble captures rare Jupiter collision (2009)
- Hubble finds that a bizarre x-shaped intruder is linked to an unseen asteroid collision (2010)
- Hubble discovers new Pluto moon (2012)
- Hubble witnesses an asteroid mysteriously disintegrating (2014)
- The shrinking of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (2014)
- Hubble observes chaotic dance of Pluto's moons (2015)
- Vivid aurorae on Jupiter (2016)
- Hubble discovers a unique type of object in the Solar System (2017)
- Hubble sees `Oumuamua getting a boost (2018)


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NumisWiki For the New Collector
Ancient Greek Coin Collecting 101
|Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Greek Coins| ▸ |Geographic - All Periods| ▸ |North Africa| ▸ |Numidia||View Options: | | |
Numidia was an Ancient Berber kingdom in what is now Algeria and a smaller part of Tunisia, in North Africa. It was bordered by the kingdoms of Mauretania (modern-day Morocco) to the west, the Roman province of Africa (modern-day Tunisia) to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Sahara Desert to the south. The long-lived King Masinissa ruled c. 203 -148 B.C. He was succeeded by his son Micipsa. When Micipsa died in 118, he was succeeded by his two sons Hiempsal I and Adherbal, and by his illegitimate grandson, Jugurtha. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed, which led to war with Adherbal. Rome declared war after Jugurtha killed some Roman businessmen aiding Adherbal. Jugurtha surrendered and received a highly favorable peace treaty, which raised suspicions of bribery. The Roman commander was summoned to Rome to face corruption charges. Jugurtha was also forced to come to Rome to testify, where he was completely discredited. War broke out again and several legions were dispatched to North Africa. The war dragged out into a seemingly endless campaign. Frustrated at the apparent lack of action, Gaius Marius returned to Rome to seek election as Consul. Marius was elected, and then returned to take control of the war. He sent his Quaestor Lucius Cornelius Sulla to neighboring Mauretania to eliminate their support for Jugurtha. With the help of Bocchus I of Mauretania, Sulla captured Jugurtha. In 104 B.C., after being paraded through the streets of Rome in Marius' Triumph, Jugurtha was executed.


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There are great reasons, as a nonprofit, to look for long-term, sustainable sources of revenues, to build a business model that brings in earned income or investor capital. Philanthropic funds are so hard to come by and often so expensive to raise.
But I also see a lot of intellectually appealing arguments made by founders about not being a traditional nonprofit, when what's really going on is that they're just not willing to get out and fundraise. I've seen missions contorted and organizations drifting far away from their original purpose because a founder has decided "I'm not a fundraiser."
The best part is: all of the best fundraisers I know also say "I'm not a fundraiser."
(except for one, Jennifer McCrea, who is putting the mojo back into fundraising.)
Here's the thing. Most people aren't fundraisers. Most people find it petrifying at first. Most people fail at first, feel like they are hitting up their friends, even feel a little bit ashamed.
But the part I really, truly don't get is how you could be willing to devote years of your life to a project but not be willing to ask people to fund it. And I don't mean write grant proposals, I mean ask people who are philanthropically active to write a check to help make your dream possible.
So here's my pitch: this thing that you're willing to devote your life to? Take one month and get out of the building, knock on every door you can, and promise yourself that you won't stop until you're actually rejected 100 times. Keep track of the 100 rejections so it's real and you're making progress.
Because I'm positive you can survive 100 rejections.
Because I'm positive that even if you get rejected 100 times, your idea will get stronger by virtue of talking to all of those smart people.
And because I'm sure that if you set out to get rejected 100 times you'll raise the money you need long before you hit 100.


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Millions of people around the world come home to four legs and a wagging tail, and many spend some of their time together playing. While dog-dog play has been studied extensively, dog-person play, which takes on a different form and appears to have different rules, has not attracted nearly as much scholarly attention. At the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab in NYC, we are investigating the different ways people and dogs play together and the behaviors they use. And, we need your help (well, you and your dog's help).
Play behaviors arise early in a dog's life. From three weeks onward, puppies show behaviors like wrestling, rolling over, biting, rearing and reciprocal chase.
Social canids, like wolves and dogs, play earlier in life than those who are less social, like coyotes. For an uber-social animal like dogs, play appears to help them learn social skills such as bite inhibition, and they are practicing the behaviors they will use throughout their lives.
Since play incorporates behaviors also found in aggressive interactions—tackling, chasing and nipping—dogs need a way to let other dogs know that it is play time, not fight time. If you have ever seen a dog appearing to emulate a seesaw, rump high in the air with forelimbs pressed into the ground, you were looking at a play bow—one of a number of behaviors that signal a dog's playful intent. Other play signals include a dog bounding over to another dog in an exaggerated manner, an "open mouth display," and a bowed head.
Dog-dog play is more similar to an episode of the Three Stooges than you might have imagined. During play, dogs use particular behaviors to get the attention of another dog. When one dog is not paying attention, or when there is a pause in play, a dog will present any number of attention-getters such as "bite", "paw", "bump" or "exaggerated retreat." And if the first attention-getter does not work, a dog will up the ante, like Hardy giving Laurel a bop on the head.
But dog-dog play is only half the story. Dogs living under our roofs look to humans for any number of things: reaching a ball that's waaay under the couch, opening doors and cupboards, and of course, play time!
From prior research, we know that our play with dogs is nuanced and intricate; it can be anywhere from fast and furious to slow and methodical. It might incorporate balls, silly ways of walking, chasing or tugging and, of course, deceptive maneuvers.
We talk to dogs (a lot) during play, but our phrases and word choices tend to be repetitive, similar to how we talk to infants: "Bernie, come! Give me the ball. Drop. Get it. That's it! Come! Give me the ball!"
During play, objects become interesting to dogs when they are held by a person, which is one reason it might be hard for a dog alone in the yard to just play with a ball. Tugging games with humans seem to be about keeping the game going, not about possessing the object. And when humans use play signals like bowing and lunging, dogs respond in kind, and play can increase.
But with our handy opposable thumbs, tug, chase and fetch is just the beginning of the wide world of dog and human play. The Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab is cataloguing all the ways—traditional, original, or creative—people play with their dogs. We are asking dog owners to submit short videos of their own dog-human play. Project: Play with Your Dog is open to anyone, in any country. If you live with a dog, we want to see you play.
To participate, find or make a 30-60 second video of you and your dog playing in whatever way you like to play together, and then upload the video to the study website and complete a short survey. You are also invited to add a picture of you and your dog to our Wall of Contributors.
The play between you and your dog might look very different from the play between your next door neighbor and her dog. This is an opportunity for dog lovers around the world to get involved in scientific research into dog behavior.
Thank you for playing!
Details on joining the study: www.DogHumanPlay.com (Website no longer active).
*** This study ended in early 2013. Thank you to all the dog and owner contributors from around the globe!! ***
Bekoff, M. 1974. Social play and play-soliciting by infant canids. American Zoologist 14:1 323–340. http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/1/323.short
Horowitz, A. 2009. Attention to attention in domestic dog (Canis familiaris) dyadic play. Animal Cognition 12:1 107–118. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10071-008-0175-y?LI=true
Mitchell, R.W. & Edmonson, E. 1999. Functions of repetitive talk to dogs during play: Control, Conversation, or Planning? Society and Animals 7:1 55–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853099X00167
Rooney, N.J., Bradshaw, J.W.S. & Robinson, I.H. 2001. Do dogs respond to play signals given by humans? Animal Behaviour 61:4 715–722. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2000.1661
Rooney, N.J., Bradshaw, J.W.S. & Robinson, I.H. 2000. A comparison of dog–dog and dog–human play behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 66:3 235–248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(99)00078-7
About us:
The Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab in NYC is run by Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, author of Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know and On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes, out January 8, 2013. Our Lab conducts treat-based, behavior studies exploring the cognition of companion dogs. Past research investigating the "guilty look", understanding of fairness, olfactory discrimination and intraspecific play signals. This is our first crowd-sourcing, citizen-science project. www.DogCognition.com. Stay in touch on Twitter or Facebook.
Find the Play with Your Dog project on the Scientific American Citizen Science page.
Images: top: HDCL (Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab) used with permission; middle: Cheerful Monk (CC BY-NC 2.0), bottom: HDCL used with permission.


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Nike+ Running x Spotify delivers new ways to motivate more runners through music
Nike+ Running partners with Spotify to develop a game-changing experience that unites the tracking of the Nike+ Running App with the world's largest music streaming service.
When it comes to running, music is motivation just ask the earbud-wearing athletes pounding sidewalks, tracks, treadmills and tree-lined trails. Likewise, an ever-growing body of research has confirmed music's performance-enhancing effects: it can reduce a runner's perception of exertion and fatigue as well as increase happiness and excitement.
Nike+ Running's newest app update, developed in partnership with Spotify, integrates these findings and builds upon the success of the Nike+ Run Club playlists already on Spotify by enhancing runners' overall in-run music experience. Notably, the update introduces Nike exclusive Pace Stations, which invite users to input their pace goal and musical preference. This data then informs a target BPM (beats per minute), which in turn creates a personalized 100-song playlist designed to push the runner's pace. The first-of-its-kind instructive experience then guides runners to their goals when they step in-beat to the prescribed songs.
"Since our launch as the original running app in 2006, music has always been core to the Nike+ Running experience" said Adam Roth, Nike VP, Global Running Brand Marketing. "Our partnership with Spotify takes that experience to a new level, leveraging personalized music as motivational fuel every run, for every runner."
The update, which debuts July 20, allows users to stream Spotify's 30-million-song catalog directly from the Nike+ Running app.
Spotify music is also an integral part of the Nike "Find Your Fast" challenge this summer. An eight-week program developed by expert Nike+ Run Club coaches, the challenge includes workouts, tunes and expert tips to help all runners, whether they are completing their first mile or realizing a personal best.
"Nike and Spotify are combining forces to create the ultimate motivating experience for runners," said Erin Clift, VP Consumer and Partner Marketing, Spotify. "Nike+ runners now have access to millions of tracks through Spotify to help them achieve their personal goals and find their fast this summer."


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No need to speculate anymore. FIFA has ruled that Luis Suárez's most recent biting episode, wherein he chomped into Italian center back Giorgio Chiellini's shoulder, was, in fact, a bite. To punish him, they brought down the hammer.
They opened disciplinary proceeding against the Uruguayan striker on Tuesday, and minutes ago, reports abounded that FIFA have banned Luis Suárez for nine official national team matches. Uruguay play Colombia in the Round of 16 on Saturday, but Suárez's World Cup is over.
They've also slapped him with a four-month ban from all soccer-related activity, which includes activity with his current club, Liverpool, and fine of 100,000 Swiss francs.
There are plenty of transfer rumors swirling around Suárez, who established himself as England's Premier League's best player last season after missing the start of the season for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanović. FIFA has recently clarified that he would be able to transfer in the summer window. If he stays with Liverpool for the upcoming season, however, the earliest we'll see him is the day after Halloween, away to Newcastle.
Photo Credit: Getty Images


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BOSTON – The Boston Bruins turned back Toronto's comeback with a rally of their own.
Trailing by three goals in the third period and still by two with less than 90 seconds left in their season, the Bruins scored twice in a span of 31 seconds to tie it and then eliminated the Maple Leafs on Patrice Bergeron's goal at 6:05 of overtime to win 5-4 in Game 7 on Monday night.
"It was one of the crazy ones I've been part of," said Bergeron, who assisted on Milan Lucic's goal with 1:22 in regulation and scored to tie it with 51 seconds left in the third. "We found a way, not necessarily the way we would have liked to play the whole game."
Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots for Boston, which led the best-of-seven series 3-1 before the Maple Leafs won two in a row to force a seventh game.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Bruins are the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 after trailing by three goals in the third period.
The Bruins will play the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, starting the series at home; the NHL has not announced the dates.
Toronto opened a 4-1 lead in the third period of the decisive game, but Nathan Horton cut the deficit to two midway through the third period and then Lucic and Bergeron scored in the final 1:22 with Rask on the bench for an extra skater.
"Anything can happen," Lucic said, "and that's exactly what happened."
Cody Franson scored twice, and former Bruin Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist for Toronto. James Reimer made 30 saves for the Maple Leafs.
But it was the one he missed that left him sprawled in the crease, face down, while the Bruins celebrated.
"I was trying to be pretty even-keeled," said Reimer, who was teary-eyed in the locker room after the game. "There was time left, they could come back and they did. When you're up 4-1 you'd like to be able to hold onto that lead."
Toronto hadn't been to the playoffs since 2004, but some of the players had: forward James van Riemsdyk was on the Philadelphia team that rallied from a 3-0 deficit to eliminate the Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals.
This time the comeback fell short.
"It's tough to stay composed," Franson said. "Any type of playoff experience will help us (next year). But unfortunately we've got to live through this the whole summer. Anytime you get knocked out of the playoffs, it hurts."
The win completed a whipsaw of a weekend for Boston, which won Games 3 and 4 in Toronto last week to put the Maple Leafs on the brink of elimination, but failed to clinch at home on Friday and again in Game 6 when the series returned to the Air Canada Centre.
The Bruins found out during the game that their plane had mechanical difficulties, so they returned to their Toronto hotel and flew back to Boston on Monday morning, just hours before the game.
"They had us on the ropes and we're glad we're done with them," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Drained is obviously the key word. The emotions of this game had us going in all directions."
The Bruins appeared tired in the early part of the game, spotting Toronto a 4-1 lead on Nazem Kadri's goal at 5:29 of the third period.
But Bergeron flicked one in with 51 seconds left, then ended it when he picked up a rebound to Reimer's left and put it over the sprawling goaltender to send his teammates pouring over the boards and the crowd into a frenzy.
Or, at least, those who stayed: Hundreds if not more had left in the third period, then begged security to get back into the TD Garden after the Bruins rallied.
Bergeron, who had only one goal in the first six games, had two goals and his first assist of the playoffs. Lucic had a goal — his second — and an assist, and Tyler Seguin had an assist for his first point of the postseason.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead 5:39 into the game when Franson, against the boards in his own zone, flicked the puck back between his legs right to Matt Bartkowski.
But the Maple Leafs defenseman made up for it when he tied the score four minutes later, backhanding a loose puck into the net off a rebound.
Franson gave Toronto the lead at 5:48 of the second when, then Kessel made it 3-1 two minutes into the third when he tapped in a rebound in the crease.
The announcement of Kessel's name brought a chorus of boos from the Boston fans, who feel he never reached his potential after the Bruins picked him fifth overall in the 2006 draft.
But mostly the fans booed their own team before turning around late with chants of "Let's Go Bruins!" and "U.S.A.!"
Notes: The only time Toronto won a series it trailed 3-1 was in the 1942 Stanley Cup finals against the Detroit Red Wings. The Maple Leafs actually lost the first three games then. ... Boston's top regular-season goal scorers, Brad Marchand (18 goals), and Seguin (16), had no goals and just two assists before they both assisted on Bergeron's game-winner. ... Rookie Boston defenseman Matt Bartkowski appeared in his second playoff game, replacing Wade Redden. Another Bruins defenseman, Andrew Ference, missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. Ference also missed Game 2 on a one-game suspension for hitting Mikhail Grabovski in the head in Game 1. ... Dennis Seidenberg, the Bruins' No. 2 defenseman, played only 37 seconds before limping off following a leg-on-leg collision with Matt Frattin.


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We have been delving into the dirty secret behind our food, which is that it comes from bacteria, primarily, with considerable assistance from a social network of fungi, nematodes, micro-arthropods and soil-dwelling microbes of various descriptions, many of which make the Star Wars café scene characters seem tame. Most people, asked what plants eat, answer something like, "sunlight, water and dirt." Water and sunlight play an important role, for sure. Using the energy of photons from the sun, sugars and carbohydrates are constructed from carbon dioxide and water, discarding oxygen. But the real denizens of the deep are bacteria.
Thanks to O2-generating bacteria at work for a billion years, Earth is now habitable for oxygen-loving creatures such as ourselves.
In general terms, the strategy for solar energy utilization in all organisms that contain chlorophyll or bacteriochlorophyll is the same. Here is how some of our ancestors, the purple bacteria, do it:
- Light energy is captured by pigment molecules in the light harvesting or "antenna" region of the photosystem, and is stored temporarily as an excited electronic state of the pigment.
- Excited state energy is channeled to the reaction center region of the photosystem, a pigment-protein complex embedded in a charge-impermeable lipid bilayer membrane.
- Arrival of the excited state energy at a particular bacteriochorophyll (BChl), or pair of BChls in the reaction center triggers a photochemical reaction that separates a positive and negative charge across the width of the membrane.
- Charge separation initiates a series of electron transfer reactions that are coupled to the translocation of protons across the membrane, generating an electrochemical proton gradient [protonmotive force (pmf)] that can be used to power reactions such as the synthesis of ATP.
If your eyes glazed over at that explanation, don't worry. Much of photosynthesis still remains a mystery. Over the past several decades scientists examining oxygenic bacteria known as prochlorophytes (or oxychlorobacteria) have discovered a light harvesting protein complex. The intriguing thought arises, given how much of the bodies of plants are actually made up of bacteria (as also are our own), of whether photosynthesis is actually dependent on bacteria at one or more of the steps in the process.
Recently Drs. Jianshu Cao, Robert Sibley and three MIT graduate students studied purple bacteria, one of the planet's oldest species, and discovered a special symmetry. Ring-shaped molecules are arranged in a peculiarly faceted pattern on the spherical photosynthetic membrane of the bacterium. Dr. Cao says, "We believe that nature found the most robust structures in terms of energy transfer." Only a lattice made up of nine-fold symmetric complexes can tolerate an error in either direction.
Spinning Photon Nets
Another discovery (by Sabbert et al. in 1996) is that in order to optimize sunlight, the nine-fold symmetric lattice has to spin. Moreover, it has to spin quite fast — nearly 100 rpm. We know of some bacterial flagella that spin at high rpm. Might spinning flagella propel the photon-capturing process? Too soon to say, but its an intriguing idea, and yet more evidence for quantum entanglement of all life, big and small.
The Encyclopedia of Applied Physics (1995) says:
The amount of CO2 removed from the atmosphere each year by oxygenic photosynthetic organisms is massive. It is estimated that photosynthetic organisms remove 100 x 1015 grams of carbon (C)/year. This is equivalent to 4 x 1018 kJ of free energy stored in reduced carbon, which is roughly 0.1% of the incident visible radiant energy incident on the earth/year. Each year the photosynthetically reduced carbon is oxidized, either by living organisms for their survival, or by combustion. The result is that more CO2 is released into the atmosphere from the biota than is taken up by photosynthesis. The amount of carbon released by the biota is estimated to be 1-2 x 1015 grams of carbon/year. Added to this is carbon released by the burning of fossil fuels, which amounts to 5 x 1015 grams of carbon/year. The oceans mitigate this increase by acting as a sink for atmospheric CO2. It is estimated that the oceans remove about 2 x 1015 grams of carbon/year from the atmosphere. This carbon is eventually stored on the ocean floor. Although these estimates of sources and sinks are uncertain, the net global CO2 concentration is increasing. Direct measurements show that each year the atmospheric carbon content is currently increasing by about 3 x 1015 grams. … Based on predicted fossil fuel use and land management, it is estimated that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere will reach 700 ppm within [this] century. (references omitted)What needs to happen, quickly, to reverse our rush to a climate from which there can be no near-term recovery, and to avoid Earth becoming as uninhabitable as Venus, is to accelerate photosynthesis while decelerating carbon emissions. Our allies in this are bacteria and fungi, as they were billions of years ago. They will do the heavy lifting if we just give them a little support. They need good growth conditions (like heat and moisture, which we should have in increasing abundance this century), nutrients, and space to breathe. Lose the antibacterial soaps and sprays, please.
Planting gardens and tree crops is a start. Ecological restoration, where damage can be slowly unwound by greenery, is another step. Living roofs, tree-lined hardscapes, earth-sheltered homes: all of these are both adaptive and mitigating strategies for a recovering climate stasis. But there is something even more powerful.
Tea from a Firehose
This week we asked Joey "Mr Tea" Thomas to come dose the Ecovillage Training Center with his eclectic brew of liquid compost. Mr Tea's recipe is as good as any batch of Biodynamic Preps or EM (Effective Micro-organisms) you might already be using. It is inestimably superior to MiracleGrow® or other commercial, bagged soil amendments.
In a large stainless steel tank retrofitted with aerating pipes, Mr Tea combines de-chlorinated warm water and…
- Kelp
- Humates
- Folic Acid
- Fish Oil Emulsion
- Bat Guano
- Feather Meal
- Virgin Forest Soil
- Deep Pasture Topsoil
- Composted Animal Manure
- Composted Kitchen Scraps
- Composted Poultry Litter
- Worm Castings & Liquor, and
- Biochar
The kelp, fish oil, and most of the composts provide rich food for the microbes while they brew. The humates are million-year old deposits with diverse paleobacteria. The bat guano is drawn from distant caves rich in trace minerals and packed with still more varieties of exotic bacteria. The two kinds of soil contain a complex of two discrete living microbiomes, one the fungally-rich virgin forest and the other a bacterially dominated grasslands. The fine biochar particulates provide enough soil structure to retain water – about 10 times the volume of the biochar itself — and aerobic conditions, while providing a coral reef-like microbial habitat. The animal manures, worm castings, feather meal and compostables all contribute to the biodiversity of available microfauna.
In the world of bacterial epigenetics, dictated by the particular demands of diverse members of the web in different seasons and weather conditions, this is a supermarket of genotypes that allow the bacteria to switch up and morph into whatever might be needed for soil health and fertility, capturing passing genes and unlocking regions of their DNA and RNA to provide new or ancient solutions to current conditions.
Bandwidth permitting, you can watch this video that's so sexy it should be x-rated. This is a revolution disguised as organic gardening. The sex is going on right in front of the camera, you'd just need a microscope to see it. Use your imagination.
If we want to stop global climate change while still surviving unpredictable and changing weather patterns, we'll need to hold more water, nutrients and carbon in the soil. We can do that with a good diversity of healthy microorganisms and their byproducts.
We're trying to increase the retention time of carbon in its solid form in the land for as long as possible, as opposed to allowing it to become gaseous, because that's when it becomes dangerous to our future.
That is what climate farming, or what my friend Darren Doherty calls regrarianism, is all about. Its about improving the soil to heal the atmosphere.
As we say in the clip, this is agriculture that builds rather than mines the soil and can transform our beloved home back into a garden planet.


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shoe4africa - make the difference!
Dear friends and family,
November 2023, I will be running for children who can't. I will be running the 52nd anniversary race of the TCS New York City Marathon to raise funds for East African children born into poverty and diagnosed with cancer. Nine out of 10 of these children will not survive (as compared to 1 out of 10 in the United States).
The charity I am running for, Shoe4Africa, is committed to building the 1st children's cancer hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015, they opened the 1st public children's general hospital in East Africa which treats 400+ patients a day. Please help me reach my fundraising goal. Donations are tax deductible, and 100% of the funds raised will go directly to making this hospital a reality.
Many thanks


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Sync contacts between Microsoft Dynamics 365 and IMMOWARE24 with sync.blue®
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Stoic Somnus 15
An ultralight summer sleeping bag that sleeps warm.
Brand: Stoic
Model: Somnus 15
Your summer destinations tend toward the high, cold, and wet, but you still want an ultralight summer sack? This is your bag. "Even on damp, near-freezing nights, I found myself stripping down to a T-shirt and boxers after only a few minutes," says our warm-sleeping, 6'1" Alaskan tester, who used the 800-fill down Somnus for four soggy nights while humping up Anderson Pass in Denali National Park.
He raved about the Pertex Quantum shell, which repels light rain and mist while maintaining superior breathability. "I climbed in soaked and woke up just barely damp—a huge accomplishment in Alaska," he says. Also welcome: A half-length center zip made venting and midnight escapes a breeze, and vertical torso baffles prevented down from shifting on side-sleepers. And our plus-size testers loved the dimensions: The shoulder area is wider than average (66 inches) and roomy enough to fit a football player, but the lower bag tapers quickly so it warmed up fast for narrower testers, too.
The roomy hood offers good coverage even for melon heads, and cinches down to a circular face opening that doesn't gap. A zippered pocket at the foot of the bag holds a hot water bottle or chemical packs, but testers were split on the utility. "I prefer my hot water bottle inside my bag, where I can shift it around to where it's most needed," says one tester. "I don't like things floating around my bag, so I loved parking my bottle in this pocket," says another. The long size (good for guys up to 6'6") crunches down to volleyball proportions in the included compression stuffsack. $269; 1 lb. 7 oz.; 30°F


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Danny Bland's debut novel In Case We Die hits shelves in September. The book and jacket were designed by our guru Jacob Covey. Dig those silver & day-glo inks. Some of Danny's music-scene compadres have already read the book and had this to say about it:
"Our anti-hero is floating in a tiny lifeboat made of heroin, graveyard shifts & rock music. His companions are two fabulous women; a bombshell who robs banks & a beautifully pale rock violinist who can barely dodge suicide. ICWD is much funnier & more satisfying than any other junkie rock'n'roll tragedy." – John Doe (X)
"Bland is a brutally funny and bravely honest writer. A perfect guide through the bloodshot streets and desperate bedrooms of the underground wilderness." – Dave Alvin (Blasters)
"In Case We Die is a poetic and elegant journey … straight to the gutter." – Wayne Kramer (MC5)
"Beautiful, literary redemption." – Exene Cervenka (X)
"A great piece of work — full of filth and heart." – Steve Earle
"A suitably Peckinpah finale. Bravo. It has been like a traveling dream state and sometimes familiar look into the abyss." – Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs)
"I am a believer in what Bland has to say. He writes with eloquence, candor, darkness, and humor….the good stuff!" – Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses)
We'll be making a few sample chapters available for you to read soon. And hey, if you pre-order the book from us, when the book is released you'll receive a code for a FREE download of the audiobook from Local 638 Records, with chapters read by a mind-blowing all-star lineup of music and cultural luminaries, including some of the folks above. Stay tuned for more details about this exclusive offer — all pre-orders are eligible, so there's no reason to put it off!


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Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
before we get demo boards I'd say we check the sdk conditions. If we have to sign NDAs and manage a private closed source branch for it, I'd pass. But I fear there might be no other license option in that area. The moko guys tried hard to get a chip with open 3d specs. Maybe there is sth from Intel, they have their PXA/.. stuff and a good GPU with open drivers..br, Hari
i'm still telling you guys, the omap with ti's DSPs may be the right fit here. See the BeagleBoard.. http://www.beagleboard.org/-Thom
Googleing, I found this thread: http://markmail.org/message/cav3xyrlanfuu773 - Way over my head, but maybe helpful tidbits of information.
Should we not look to target a board that can deliver 1080p?


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Every so often a developer realizes a concept so simple and fun that for as long as games are made, other developers will replicate and modify its formula again and again. Sokoban is one such game, and 1001 Crystal Mazes Collection is one such replication. Not that copying a classic design is inherently bad; Windows users of old will recall the delightful Chip's Challenge, which innovated the puzzler into a fun and addictive adventure game.
This was 1989. Twenty-one years later, you'd think that we'd have progressed farther, but Crystal Mazes is clear proof that some are content with simply replicating the original source material. While a bit stale and not everyone's cup of tea, the thirty year old Sokoban is still very much a winner and, if done well, one could still craft quite the entertaining experience around its classic framework. Unfortunately, this title does squat to breathe new life into it. The goal is to push a set of objects - here, crystals - onto the same amount of specially colored tiles. One fails by getting one's jewels stuck against a wall or another tight spot, as pulling them back out is not an option.
As the title suggests, the selling point here is bulk. So, if you love Sokoban in its simplest form, how could you not be satisfied with this expansive collection of puzzles? Well, you'd better really love Sokoban, because the game basically contains two difficulty levels - fairly easy and ridiculously difficult. Hardly any of the mazes fall anywhere between or outside of these two classifications. It's an arduous task to avoid all of the mazes' tight spots, and you will inevitably trap yourself and your stones time and time again. Thankfully, the game includes an undo and a redo button, but when your incorrect turn was many moves ago (which happens quite frequently given the complexity of many of the levels), you'll have to do a whole lot of undoing to trace your steps back to that fatal moment.
The mazes are split up into seven collections: Relaxed (read: fairly easy, usually), Challenge, and Diabolical, as well as the four arbitrary classifications of Classic and Bonus 1-3. Again, there's very little variation in their oft exhaustive difficulty, so splitting them up like this does little to inform one's choice. The game keeps track of how long it took to conquer each puzzle and lets you preview them before playing, which are a few nice little features. Of course, after you've solved a stage, you can go back in and try to beat it again in fewer steps.
The presentation of Crystal Mazes is absolutely ridiculous. The profile creator greets you with a bizarre illustration of a Brendan Fraser look-alike and his Barbie-esque companion. Brendan suavely rests his arm on his knee while Barbie leaps for joy and stares ahead with dead eyes. Enter your name and select a circle with a small picture of either his or her visage inside, and this little face becomes your protagonist. During each level, the top display shows the maze at hand with photographs of scenery in the back – a quite unimpressive stylistic choice. The bottom screen is even more bizarre, adorned with cryptic symbols and a big purple orb in the middle (although after a look at the instruction manual the symbols make a lot more sense). Included among these tools are buttons to restart the puzzle, to choose next, previous or random levels, arrows to direct your character and the very useful undo and redo toggles. Also featured is a scale with which to change the view to close, medium, or far away. Holding L and R shows you the entire stage when the farthest perspective isn't your default. The music is a bit catchy but quite repetitive, and you'll probably end up muting it in the end. Aesthetically it all feels a bit mish-mashed and imperfect. In a game that needs all the charm it can get, 1001 Crystal Mazes has none.
A Sokoban clone at its simplest won't cut it with most puzzle fans thirty years after the original's creation, especially when most of the levels are as difficult as these. Those looking for a simple yet challenging experience will be happy with this collection and will have over a thousand unforgiving challenges to keep them busy. This quantity, however, won't matter to the majority of players, who will likely get too frustrated to continue after about ten or so.


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Uncertainty is here to stay. By imagining multiple destinies and working back to the present, companies can prepare for anything.
When members of Lowe's Innovation Labs first began talking with the home improvement retailer's senior executives about how disruptive technologies would affect the future, the presentations were well received but nothing stuck.
"We'd give a really great presentation and everyone would say, 'Great job,' but nothing would really happen," says Amanda Manna, head of narratives and partnerships for the lab.
The team realized that it needed to ditch the PowerPoints and try something radical. The team's leader, Kyle Nel, is a behavioral scientist by training. He knows people are wired to receive new information best through stories. Sharing far-future concepts through narrative, he surmised, could unlock hidden potential to drive meaningful change.
So Nel hired science fiction writers to pen the future in comic book format, with characters and a narrative arc revealed pane by pane.
The first storyline, written several years before Oculus Rift became a household name, told the tale of a couple envisioning their kitchen renovation using virtual reality headsets. The comic might have been fun and fanciful, but its intent was deadly serious. It was a vision of a future in which Lowe's might solve one of its long-standing struggles: the approximately US$70 billion left on the table when people are unable to start a home improvement project because they can't envision what it will look like.
When the lab presented leaders with the first comic, "it was like a light bulb went on," says Manna. "Not only did they immediately understand the value of the concept, they were convinced that if we didn't build it, someone else would."
Today, Lowe's customers in select stores can use the HoloRoom How To virtual reality tool to learn basic DIY skills in an interactive and immersive environment.
Other comics followed and were greeted with similar enthusiasm—and investment, where possible. One tells the story of robots that help customers navigate stores. That comic spawned the LoweBot, which roamed the aisles of several Lowe's stores during a pilot program in California and is being evaluated to determine next steps.
And the comic about tools that can be 3D-printed in space? Last year, Lowe's partnered with Made in Space, which specializes in making 3D printers that can operate in zero gravity, to install the first commercial 3D printer in the International Space Station, where it was used to make tools and parts for astronauts.
The comics are the result of sending writers out on an open-ended assignment, armed with trends, market research, and other input, to envision what home improvement planning might look like in the future or what the experience of shopping will be in 10 years. The writers come back with several potential story ideas in a given area and work collaboratively with lab team members to refine it over time.
The process of working with writers and business partners to develop the comics helps the future strategy team at Lowe's, working under chief development officer Richard D. Maltsbarger, to inhabit that future. They can imagine how it might play out, what obstacles might surface, and what steps the company would need to take to bring that future to life.
Once the final vision hits the page, the lab team can clearly envision how to work backward to enable the innovation. Importantly, the narrative is shared not only within the company but also out in the world. It serves as a kind of "bat signal" to potential technology partners with capabilities that might be required to make it happen, says Manna. "It's all part of our strategy for staking a claim in the future."
Planning must become completely oriented toward—and sourced from—the future.
Companies like Lowe's are realizing that standard ways of planning for the future won't get them where they need to go. The problem with traditional strategic planning is that the approach, which dates back to the 1950s and has remained largely unchanged since then, is based on the company's existing mission, resources, core competencies, and competitors.
Yet the future rarely looks like the past. What's more, digital technology is now driving change at exponential rates. Companies must be able to analyze and assess the potential impacts of the many variables at play, determine the possible futures they want to pursue, and develop the agility to pivot as conditions change along the way.
This is why planning must become completely oriented toward—and sourced from—the future, rather than from the past or the present. "Every winning strategy is based on a compelling insight, but most strategic planning originates in today's marketplace, which means the resulting plans are constrained to incremental innovation," says Bob Johansen, distinguished fellow at the Institute for the Future. "Most corporate strategists and CEOs are just inching their way to the future." (Read more from Bob Johansen in the Thinkers story, "Fear Factor.")
Inching forward won't cut it anymore. Half of the S&P 500 organizations will be replaced over the next decade, according to research company Innosight. The reason? They can't see the portfolio of possible futures, they can't act on them, or both. Indeed, when SAP conducts future planning workshops with clients, we find that they usually struggle to look beyond current models and assumptions and lack clear ideas about how to work toward radically different futures.
Companies that want to increase their chances of long-term survival are incorporating three steps: envisioning, planning for, and executing on possible futures. And doing so all while the actual future is unfolding in expected and unexpected ways.
Those that pull it off are rewarded. A 2017 benchmarking report from the Strategic Foresight Research Network (SFRN) revealed that vigilant companies (those with the most mature processes for identifying, interpreting, and responding to factors that induce change) achieved 200% greater market capitalization growth and 33% higher profitability than the average, while the least mature companies experienced negative market-cap growth and had 44% lower profitability.
Looking Outside the Margins
"Most organizations lack sufficient capacity to detect, interpret, and act on the critically important but weak and ambiguous signals of fresh threats or new opportunities that emerge on the periphery of their usual business environment," write George S. Day and Paul J. H. Schoemaker in their book Peripheral Vision.
But that's exactly where effective future planning begins: examining what is happening outside the margins of day-to-day business as usual in order to peer into the future.
Business leaders who take this approach understand that despite the uncertainties of the future there are drivers of change that can be identified and studied and actions that can be taken to better prepare for—and influence—how events unfold.
That starts with developing foresight, typically a decade out. Ten years, most future planners agree, is the sweet spot. "It is far enough out that it gives you a bit more latitude to come up with a broader way to the future, allowing for disruption and innovation," says Brian David Johnson, former chief futurist for Intel and current futurist in residence at Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination. "But you can still see the light from it."
The process involves gathering information about the factors and forces—technological, business, sociological, and industry or ecosystem trends—that are effecting change to envision a range of potential impacts.
Seeing New Worlds
Intel, for example, looks beyond its own industry boundaries to envision possible future developments in adjacent businesses in the larger ecosystem it operates in. In 2008, the Intel Labs team, led by anthropologist Genevieve Bell, determined that the introduction of flexible glass displays would open up a whole new category of foldable consumer electronic devices.
To take advantage of that advance, Intel would need to be able to make silicon small enough to fit into some imagined device of the future. By the time glass manufacturer Corning unveiled its ultra-slim, flexible glass surface for mobile devices, laptops, televisions, and other displays of the future in 2012, Intel had already created design prototypes and kicked its development into higher gear. "Because we had done the future casting, we were already imagining how people might use flexible glass to create consumer devices," says Johnson.
Because future planning relies so heavily on the quality of the input it receives, bringing in experts can elevate the practice. They can come from inside an organization, but the most influential insight may come from the outside and span a wide range of disciplines, says Steve Brown, a futurist, consultant, and CEO of BaldFuturist.com who worked for Intel Labs from 2007 to 2016.
Companies may look to sociologists or behaviorists who have insight into the needs and wants of people and how that influences their actions. Some organizations bring in an applied futurist, skilled at scanning many different forces and factors likely to coalesce in important ways.
Do You Need a Futurist?
Most organizations need an outsider to help envision their future. Futurists are good at looking beyond the big picture to the biggest picture.
Business leaders who want to be better prepared for an uncertain and disruptive future will build future planning as a strategic capability into their organizations and create an organizational culture that embraces the approach. But working with credible futurists, at least in the beginning, can jump-start the process.
"The present can be so noisy and business leaders are so close to it that it's helpful to provide a fresh outside-in point of view," says veteran futurist Bob Johansen.
To put it simply, futurists like Johansen are good at connecting dots—lots of them. They look beyond the boundaries of a single company or even an industry, incorporating into their work social science, technical research, cultural movements, economic data, trends, and the input of other experts.
They can also factor in the cultural history of the specific company with whom they're working, says Brian David Johnson, futurist in residence at Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination. "These large corporations have processes and procedures in place—typically for good reasons," Johnson explains. "But all of those reasons have everything to do with the past and nothing to do with the future. Looking at that is important so you can understand the inertia that you need to overcome."
One thing the best futurists will say they can't do: predict the future. That's not the point. "The future punishes certainty," Johansen says, "but it rewards clarity." The methods futurists employ are designed to trigger discussions and considerations of possibilities corporate leaders might not otherwise consider.
You don't even necessarily have to buy into all the foresight that results, says Johansen. Many leaders don't. "Every forecast is debatable," Johansen says. "Foresight is a way to provoke insight, even if you don't believe it. The value is in letting yourself be provoked."
External expert input serves several purposes. It brings everyone up to a common level of knowledge. It can stimulate and shift the thinking of participants by introducing them to new information or ideas. And it can challenge the status quo by illustrating how people and organizations in different sectors are harnessing emerging trends.
The goal is not to come up with one definitive future but multiple possibilities—positive and negative—along with a list of the likely obstacles or accelerants that could surface on the road ahead. The result: increased clarity—rather than certainty—in the face of the unknown that enables business decision makers to execute and refine business plans and strategy over time.
Plotting the Steps Along the Way
Coming up with potential trends is an important first step in futuring, but even more critical is figuring out what steps need to be taken along the way: eight years from now, four years from now, two years from now, and now. Considerations include technologies to develop, infrastructure to deploy, talent to hire, partnerships to forge, and acquisitions to make. Without this vital step, says Brown, everybody goes back to their day jobs and the new thinking generated by future planning is wasted. To work, the future steps must be tangible, concrete, and actionable.
Organizations must build a roadmap for the desired future state that anticipates both developments and detours, complete with signals that will let them know if they're headed in the right direction. Brown works with corporate leaders to set indicator flags to look out for on the way to the anticipated future. "If we see these flagged events occurring in the ecosystem, they help to confirm the strength of our hypothesis that a particular imagined future is likely to occur," he explains.
For example, one of Brown's clients envisioned two potential futures: one in which gestural interfaces took hold and another in which voice control dominated. The team set a flag to look out for early examples of the interfaces that emerged in areas such as home appliances and automobiles. "Once you saw not just Amazon Echo but also Google Home and other copycat speakers, it would increase your confidence that you were moving more towards a voice-first era rather than a gesture-first era," Brown says. "It doesn't mean that gesture won't happen, but it's less likely to be the predominant modality for communication."
How to Keep Experiments from Being Stifled
Once organizations have a vision for the future, making it a reality requires testing ideas in the marketplace and then scaling them across the enterprise. "There's a huge change piece involved,"
says Frank Diana, futurist and global consultant with Tata Consultancy Services, "and that's the place where most
businesses will fall down."
Many large firms have forgotten what it's like to experiment in several new markets on a small scale to determine what will stick and what won't, says René Rohrbeck, professor of strategy at the Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences. Companies must be able to fail quickly, bring the lessons learned back in, adapt, and try again.
Lowe's increases its chances of success by creating master narratives across a number of different areas at once, such as robotics, mixed-reality tools, on-demand manufacturing, sustainability, and startup acceleration. The lab maps components of each by expected timelines: short, medium, and long term. "From there, we'll try to build as many of them as quickly as we can," says Manna. "And we're always looking for that next suite of things that we should be working on." Along the way certain innovations, like the HoloRoom How-To, become developed enough to integrate into the larger business as part of the core strategy.
One way Lowe's accelerates the process of deciding what is ready to scale is by being open about its nascent plans with the world. "In the past, Lowe's would never talk about projects that weren't at scale," says Manna. Now the company is sharing its future plans with the media and, as a result, attracting partners that can jump-start their realization.
Seeing a Lowe's comic about employee exoskeletons, for example, led Virginia Tech engineering professor Alan Asbeck to the retailer. He helped develop a prototype for a three-month pilot with stock employees at a Christiansburg, Virginia, store.
The high-tech suit makes it easier to move heavy objects. Employees trying out the suits are also fitted with an EEG headset that the lab incorporates into all its pilots to gauge unstated, subconscious reactions. That direct feedback on the user experience helps the company refine its innovations over time.
Make the Future Part of the Culture
Regardless of whether all the elements of its master narratives come to pass, Lowe's has already accomplished something important: It has embedded future thinking into the culture of the company.
Companies like Lowe's constantly scan the environment for meaningful economic, technology, and cultural changes that could impact its future assessments and plans. "They can regularly draw on future planning to answer challenges," says Rohrbeck. "This intensive, ongoing, agile strategizing is only possible because they've done their homework up front and they keep it updated."
It's impossible to predict what's going to happen in the future, but companies can help to shape it, says Manna of Lowe's. "It's really about painting a picture of a preferred future state that we can try to achieve while being flexible and capable of change as we learn things along the way."
Dan Wellers is global lead of Digital Futures at SAP.
Kai Goerlich is chief futurist at the SAP Innovation Center Network.
Stephanie Overby is a Boston-based business and technology journalist.


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By Orhan Coskun, Sarah Dadouch and Stephen Kalin
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Jamal Khashoggi believed he was safe in Turkey.
Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi journalist and newspaper editor, had lived in exile in Washington for more than a year, writing a column for the Washington Post in which he regularly criticized his country's crackdown on dissent, its war in Yemen and sanctions imposed on Qatar.
He said he could write freely in the United States in a way that was impossible at home, according to friends and colleagues, but he was increasingly worried that Riyadh could hurt him or his family.
In Turkey, though, Khashoggi had friends in high places, including some of President Tayyip Erdogan's advisers. So when he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, he hoped the appointment would be brief, a simple bureaucratic task that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancee, whom he had met four months earlier.
"He said the safest country in the world for Saudi Arabians was Turkey," said Yasin Aktay, an Erdogan aide and close friend of Khashoggi.
Friends and family have not seen him since.
Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi, 59, was killed inside the consulate.
Saudi Arabia has strongly rejected the accusation. The kingdom's ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, said reports suggesting Khashoggi went missing in the Istanbul consulate or that Saudi Arabia had killed him "are absolutely false and baseless" and a product of "malicious leaks and grim rumors."
"Jamal is a Saudi citizen who went missing after leaving the Consulate," the ambassador said in a statement. Saudi Arabia has sent a team of investigators to work with Turkish authorities and "chase every lead to uncover the truth behind his disappearance."
In interviews, Turkish officials provided new details of their investigation into the missing journalist.
Two senior Turkish officials revealed the existence of an object that may provide important clues to Khashoggi's fate: the black Apple watch he was wearing when he entered the consulate. The watch was connected to a mobile phone he left outside, they said.
Investigators are also focusing on 15 Saudi men who entered the consulate around the same time as Khashoggi and left a short time later. These men had arrived hours earlier from Riyadh, most of them by private plane, the officials said. By the end of the day, they were on their way back to the kingdom.
Turkish newspaper Sabah said on Wednesday it had identified the 15 as members of a Saudi intelligence team. They included a forensic expert. A Turkish official did not dispute the report.
And investigators are trying to trace a vehicle that left the Saudi consulate at the same time as two cars destined for the airport, one of the officials said. This vehicle didn't turn toward the airport, but set off in the opposite direction.
This story is based on interviews with Turkish officials, Khashoggi's fiancee and more than a dozen of his friends, who gave insight into the columnist's state of mind in the days leading up to his disappearance, and explained why he went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, not the embassy in his adopted home of Washington.
The case threatens to drive wedges between Saudi Arabia and Turkey and between Riyadh and its western allies. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 9 he plans to speak with Saudi Arabian officials about Khashoggi's disappearance. The mystery also threatens to undermine Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's drive to attract foreign investors and new high-tech business to a country that is too dependent on oil revenues.
Khashoggi met his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who is 23 years his junior, in May at a conference in Istanbul, according to Cengiz and a close friend of the Saudi journalist.
Their relationship quickly evolved, and Khashoggi spoke about wanting to start a new life with her. By August, the couple had decided to marry in Turkey, where Cengiz lived, and spend much of their time there.
"Jamal bought an apartment in Istanbul and we were furnishing our new home," Cengiz told Reuters on Oct. 9. "We were planning to marry this week before Jamal flew back to Washington."
The decision to marry in Istanbul, whose mosques reminded Khashoggi of his hometown Medina, set off a paper chase that ultimately ended in Khashoggi's disappearance.
Turkish law required that Khashoggi, who was divorced, provide proof that he did not have a wife. He asked if he could get the document from the Saudi embassy in Washington, according to a friend in Europe, but was told the consulate in Turkey was better placed to help.
Cengiz said Khashoggi wouldn't have applied for the document in Istanbul if he could have avoided it. Asked to comment, a Saudi official said it was "not accurate" that Khashoggi was told to go to Istanbul.
The friend recounted how he warned Khashoggi against getting the paper in Istanbul for fear the Saudis might arrest him if he set foot in the consulate. "He told me there is no solution except to arrange for this paper with the consulate in Turkey," said the friend, who was in frequent contact with Khashoggi in the days before he disappeared. Khashoggi reassured him, he said, that his good connections in Turkey meant "no one can do anything to harm me in Istanbul."
Khashoggi visited the consulate without an appointment on Friday, Sept 28. Cengiz waited outside. That first meeting went smoothly. Khashoggi told Cengiz and several friends that officials in the consulate had treated him politely. They explained the paperwork would take time to prepare.
Khashoggi exchanged phone numbers with a consulate official named Sultan so he could call and check on progress, according to three friends. Sultan said the document would be ready early the following week. Reuters has not been able to locate Sultan or confirm his role at the consulate. The consul declined to comment on who Khashoggi spoke to.
"He came out smiling. He told me 'inshallah (God willing) I will receive this paper after I come back from London,'" Cengiz said.
Confident he would soon have the paperwork he needed, Khashoggi flew to London later the same day to attend a conference. He was asked there by colleagues about the threat he faced from the Saudi authorities for his work, according to some of those present.
"One of my colleagues at dinner asked if he saw a possibility that his citizenship would be withdrawn," said Daud Abdullah, director of Middle East Monitor which organized the conference. "He discounted that – he didn't think the authorities would go that far."
An exiled Saudi dissident who spoke to Khashoggi in the days before his disappearance said his friend was worried that he might face interrogation by the Saudis, but nothing more.
Another friend, British-Palestinian activist Azzam Tamimi, who saw Khashoggi during that trip to London, said he "didn't seem scared at all. The opposite. He was relaxed and calm." Tamimi saw Khashoggi off at the airport in London.
Khashoggi flew back to Istanbul from London on Monday evening, Oct 1. The following morning, he spoke again with consul worker Sultan, who told him to collect the document at 1 p.m the same day.
Outside the consulate, a low rise building at the edge of one of Istanbul's business districts, Khashoggi handed Cengiz his two mobile phones, the fiancee told Reuters. He left instructions that she should call Aktay, the Erdogan aide, if he didn't reappear. Khashoggi was wearing his black Apple Watch, connected to one of the phones, when he entered the building.
A senior Turkish government official and a senior security official said the two inter-connected devices are at the heart of the investigation into Khashoggi's disappearance.
"We have determined that it was on him when he walked into the consulate," the security official said. Investigators are trying to determine what information the watch transmitted. "Intelligence services, the prosecutor's office and a technology team are working on this. Turkey does not have the watch so we are trying to do it through connected devices," he said.
Tech experts say an Apple Watch can provide data such as location and heart rate. But what investigators can find out depends on the model of watch, whether it was connected to the internet, and whether it is near enough an iPhone to synchronize.
When Khashoggi did not emerge quickly, Cengiz said she at first hoped he had got the document and was talking with consul staff. "But when time passed and employees started leaving the building and he still wasn't out, I panicked," she said.
She called Aktay, the Erdogan aide, around 4.30 p.m and told him her fiance was missing. As soon as he received the call, Aktay told Reuters, he contacted Turkish security forces and intelligence officials. "Of course I also called the office of the president, who was in a senior party committee meeting at that point," Aktay said. "After about half an hour, everybody was informed and ready to take the measures needed in this case. And of course then, a long period of tension and expectation started."
Local and international media reported Khashoggi's disappearance the next day, Wednesday, Oct. 3. Turkish authorities said there was no evidence to suggest Khashoggi had left the building, and they believed he was still inside. Saudi authorities countered that their citizen had left the consulate and that they were investigating.
Two Turkish security sources told Reuters that security camera recordings showed Khashoggi had not left the consulate by either of its two exits.
They said that 15 Saudi men had entered the building at around the time Khashoggi went in, having flown into Istanbul earlier in the day, most of them on a private aircraft from Riyadh and some on commercial flights.
The men left after "some time" in two cars and returned to the airport, the sources said. They said a third vehicle left at the same time but turned in the opposite direction. Investigators are trying to trace its route by analyzing surveillance cameras. The Istanbul consulate referred questions about the 15 men and the vehicles to Saudi authorities, who did not respond to a request for comment.
"It is a very mysterious situation. Diplomats that came in private jets, stay in Turkey for a few hours, and leave. It is also very easy for them to pass through security due to their diplomatic immunity," one of the security sources said.
According to Flight Tracker, an online flight tracking system, a private plane that brought nine of the men in the early hours of Oct. 2 was registered to a company called Sky Prime Aviation Services. A company official confirmed that Sky Prime Aviation owned the plane and that it was in use on Oct. 2, but gave no further details. He said the firm was owned by a private company registered in Saudi Arabia. Two industry sources said the firm belongs to the Saudi government. The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment.
The other six men arrived on commercial flights, the security source said. The 15 men checked in, briefly, to two hotels, the Movenpick and Wyndham, which are close to the Saudi consulate. The hotels declined to comment.
As pressure built on Saudi Arabia to locate their missing citizen, Saudi officials in Istanbul showed a Reuters reporter around the consulate on Saturday, Oct. 6, opening cupboards and inviting him to inspect the ladies' bathroom. A few hours later, Turkish authorities said they believed Khashoggi had been killed.
A Saudi source told Reuters that British intelligence believed there had been an attempt to drug Khashoggi inside the consulate that culminated in an overdose. He said the information came from a British intelligence source. Contacted by Reuters, British intelligence did not comment. Asked about this account, a Saudi official said: "This death is not true."
Khashoggi's message in his columns for the Washington Post was one of reform, not revolution.
He often championed political change but did not question the Saudi monarchy as an institution. He criticized the royal family for misusing Saudi's oil wealth and questioned specific policies, such as the war in Yemen and the arrests of Saudi intellectuals and activists.
His bumpy relations with the Saudi authorities and the clerical establishment predated the rise of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. In 2003 he was fired as editor-in-chief of reform newspaper Al Watan, less than two months into his tenure, after publishing columns critical of the growing influence of the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia.
In 2007, he was named editor-in-chief of Al Watan for a second time but was forced to resign three years later after publishing an article that challenged some elements of Salafism, a branch of Sunni Islam.
Khashoggi was also the consummate insider, as an adviser to former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal and a confidant of billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Yet by early 2017, he was feeling the heat again. The authorities ordered him to stop writing and tweeting, then he watched as other writers, including several friends, were detained in a crackdown on dissent in September, 2017. "He was outside (the country), so he didn't return," said his friend, Tamimi.
In the United States, he felt he could speak freely. Karen Attiah, his editor at the Washington Post, said it was as if he had rediscovered journalism. "When he was in the newsroom, when I brought him the first time, he became energized. He took a selfie and said, 'I miss this. I miss being in a newsroom.' We spoke about editing and what it was like to talk to writers. He just lit up," she said.
An acquaintance said Khashoggi was considering launching new projects from Washington. One idea focused on bringing attention to political prisoners in Saudi Arabia and promoting democracy in the Arab world, said the acquaintance.
Attiah, the global opinions editor of the Washington Post, said Khashoggi rarely expressed fears for himself but he was "really torn up" about the pressures on his family. "I did worry about Jamal," she said. "I just thought, 'Who would be so brazen to go after him?'"
(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Janet McBride and Nick Tattersall)


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New Law Would Put 17-Year-Olds In Juvenile Court
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has signed into law a bill placing 17-year-olds accused of crimes under the jurisdiction of the state's juvenile courts.
Currently in Massachusetts, 17-year-olds are treated as adults, regardless of the circumstances or severity of the offense.
Thirty-nine other states and the federal government use 18 as the age of adult criminal jurisdiction.
In cases of violent crimes, juvenile court judges would have the discretion to impose an adult sentence. The law also means 17-year-olds won't receive an adult criminal record.
Patrick said the new law will give young people the chance to rehabilitate their lives while holding the most violent offenders accountable.
Supporters of the change say in almost all other legal matters in Massachusetts — including voting, entering into a contract and serving on a jury — 18 is the age of adulthood.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.