text:
Tools You Can Use
The American College of Nurse-Midwives Healthy Birth Initiative™ has created several tools to support and promote the value of healthy, spontaneous labor and birth. They are:
CLICK HERE to download a printable handout describing the American College of Nurse-Midwives Healthy Birth Initiative™e resources to share with colleagues and friends (color and black in white options included).
CLICK HERE to view a fact sheet about the ACNM Healthy Birth Initiative™.
More about the American College of Nurse-Midwives Healthy Birth Initiative™
In 1996, the World Health Organization called for the elimination of unnecessary intervention in childbirth.Yet, nearly 20 years later, there are few resources to assist women and maternity care providers in achieving this goal.
Throughout 2012, the National Priorities Partnership, a partnership of 52 major national organizations, discussed strategies to reduce elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks gestation and reduce the cesarean birth rate in low-risk women to 15%. Concurrently, a 2012 consensus statement from ACNM, the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), and the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), explicitly identified key benchmarks to support safe, healthy, and normal physiologic childbirth.
After the release of the 2012 statement, ACNM convened a task force to use that historic document to maximize the opportunity to promote physiologic birth to several key audiences. The resulting Healthy Birth Initiative Task Force (previously known as the Normal Birth Task Force) consisted of 3 subcommittees: the Toolkit Subcommittee, charged with creating practical tools for clinicians to initiate change at the grassroots level; the Consumer Subcommittee which is creating materials to promote physiologic birth among women and their families; and the Maternity Care System Subcommittee, translating the value of physiologic birth into quality measures.
The American College of Nurse-Midwives Healthy Birth Initiative™ is led by ACNM with representatives from leading maternity care organizations including MANA, NACPM, AWHONN, Lamaze, Childbirth Connection, a program of the National Partnership for Women & Families, and Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA).
For more information, please contact the ACNM Department of Professional Practice & Health Policy at (240) 485-1840 or [email protected].


text:
ROME, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Retiring Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday he will be "hidden in the world" after he steps down at the end of February.
The pope made the declaration during his final visit with local clergy at the Vatican, ANSA reported.
"Even if I step down now I am always close in prayer and you will all be close even if I remain hidden to the world," he said.
Saying he would be with the clerics in spirit, Benedict added: "Let us hope that the Lord will help us. I, retired in prayer, will always be with you. And we will go forth with the Lord in the certainty that the Lord will conquer."
The priests could not hold back their tears as Cardinal Agostino Vallini introduced the pope.
Benedict received resounding applause as he thanked them "for your affection and great love for the pope."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
What more can we say about Max Payne? The dude is badass, and the game is singlehandedly responsible for the introduction of bullet time. Now, you can get the original Max Payne in all its glory on your Android device, for the stupid-low price of $2.99. Of course, there are some optimizations to be had if you own a Tegra device (most notable on Tegra 3), so you Tegra-toting Android owners out there are in for a treat.
Fair warning; you'll have to download an additional 1.3GB of game data prior to actually being able to play Max Payne, so we recommend you connect to a WiFi connection prior to downloading. Once the download's away, you will be presented with a Rockstar-made mobile version of the game we've all come to know and love over the years.
Seriously, why haven't you downloaded this yet? Do it, NOW!


text:
Here's a few sample quotes that went along with her several posted videos, only 1 of which that was constructive education:
"I started a Facebook page called "Share the Road – Share the Tickets. Go to Share the Road to become a friend. Many cyclists are often rude, crude and think that they are above the law." (Example of mode bias, you can easily replace the word cyclist with driver here.)You know the usual ignorant comments we cyclists put up with on most any internet forum. However one might hope someone charged with public safety might know a little better. I've seen a lot of bike rides of all shapes and sizes and I've never seen anyone chuck a water bottle outside of offloading at a bike race in the feed zone (where it is sanctioned practice before picking up a new bottle). On the other hand I have while riding and entirely unprovoked, been grabbed by a car passenger, hit with egg, had trash thrown at me, and watched a beer can sent flying out of a car at my wife (then girlfriend, and luckily their aim was a little off). One of my friends was hit with a slushy once. I think Ms. Tellem is a little misguided about who the real road ragers are.
"Hate Critical Mass - another example of coddling." (Followed by a link to NBC story on the recent successful critical mass ride in L.A. partnering with LAPD)
"Some how bicyclists think that they own the road instead of sharing it. They ride three abreast, give the finger to motorists, throw bottles at people and in general break every traffic law but riding through red lights and not stopping at stop signs."
"Mr. Quartz: It is obvious you do not want to work together to make the roads safer for everyone based on your inaccurate letter to the editor. You cannot legally impede traffic on PCH, or ride side by side and you must ride as far right as safely possible. If you get a ticket and come to court in Malibu for any of these infractions, you will lose every time." (She later admitted California law does not expressly prohibit riding 2 abreast but seems to misunderstand the meaning of when it is safe to do so)
As someone who has ridden PCH quite a lot to enjoy the coast and ride it's surrounding canyons, I found the adversarial language of her comments, her ignorance of traffic safety issues, and the vehicle code, quite alarming. PCH through Malibu is the only route along the coast, and is part of the CA Pacific Coast Bicycle Route that long distance cyclists use to tour the State. Cyclists will always ride PCH, in spite of how poorly the infrastructure is designed and the attitude of the drivers who drive on it, and so it is imperative any effort to promote safety on PCH involve the cycling community. It does not bode well for such a relationship if a safety commissioner is making it a personal crusade to vilify vulnerable road users like cyclists while motorists are the ones doing the killing and the maiming on PCH, making it one of the most dangerous highways in the state.
I'm not suggesting that cyclists should in any way be exempted from law enforcement, we can be ticketed under the law and do get them. The one time I have been ticketed though, the officer misunderstood the law, I was legally in the right, and the ticket thrown out by the court. However it's hardly surprising that the overwhelmed law enforcement that does patrol PCH would spend most of it's time ticketing motorists, since there are more of them, they break laws in abundance, and are the ones responsible for the carnage we see every year on PCH. Last time I checked cyclists weren't the ones running down children at the side of the road. Since it's aparent to anyone who rides through Malibu that speeding and general recklessness are common amongst PCH drivers, it would also seem they are not able to give out enough tickets to drivers, which would surely not be helped by putting extra emphasis targeting cyclists with their time.
Really I think the situation has most to do with the general neglect of Caltrans to design the Malibu portion of PCH with the unique needs of the area in mind. Independant Sources has a great post that Ted from BikingInLA referenced, outlining with photos some of the terrible infrastructure design and constant poorly marked blockages of shoulder space. Where there are centers of pedestrian activity, and lots of cyclists, there needs to be special design considerations. Traffic should be slowed, something that can be accomplished more successfully with engineering than depending on police tickets. There needs to be safe and visible places to cross that are spread closer than miles apart from each other, prompting people to try and dart across like deer chased by wolves. Given the popularity of cycling on the route and the road width available, a deticated bike lane seems like an obvious way to reduce conflict. On portions of PCH in other cities across the state, there exists some bike lanes in areas not nearly as popular for cycling as Malibu. I don't recall precisely where, but having ridden PCH all up and down the coast of California, I remember at least one portion where a bike lane was not only available, but it had a decent buffer space as well to reduce conflict with the faster moving traffic.
I'm a strong supporter that we do need better cycling education, and that while motorists are really the ones responsible for the road carnage, cyclists have a responsibility to stay safe and look out for their own mortality. Contrary to the beliefs of Tellum that are supported more by hear say than facts or experience, most cyclists do a pretty good job of riding safe. The D.C. group Wash Cycle has a great post on debunking the myth of the scofflaw cyclist. There are however a minority of cyclists that we tend to all be lumped in with, who really ride in odd ways and often break the rules and violate rights of way, but I think the only way to truly get at the issue is a concerted effort at cycling education. Counting on police tickets first to be education is not effective. Police are not roadside teachers, while on patrol they don't have enough time, and some of them are barely familiar with cycling laws if at all, and often have no road cycling experience them self, let alone sufficient knowledge to be instructors.
If Malibu is truly interested in promoting safety on PCH, I suggest their safety commission drop the bike hate, and extend an invitation to the cycling community to be involved in the process. Since as far as I know, this anti-cycling internet media campaign is purely a product of Tellum, I would like to see from her an apology, to take down the facebook page or replace it with one focused on solutions and not name calling and finger pointing. She insisted the page has nothing to do with the Malibu safety commission when pressed on Malibu specific issues, but as a safety commissioner looking after and representing the public interest, she ought to expect public scrutiny for these actions. The original page is rendered useless of it's original intent anyways, as cyclists are used to facebook bike hate mongering groups forming, and we promptly co-opt them until the group is more cyclists than haters and it turns into a jumbled mess of mixed messaging (see example "There's a perfectly good path right next to the road you stupid cyclist!").
I'm going to give Tellum the benefit of the doubt and say she was simply misguided in her approach to a complex problem, and hope that she does the right thing. She's obviously a caring person, being a big supporter of tortoise rescue efforts, a worthy cause and one I firmly believe in. I know several people and different cycling groups who I'm sure would love to be involved in promoting a safer PCH, but we have to feel welcome if we are to collaborate, and so far the message from the quotes I've read by the Malibu safety commission, is that cyclists are not welcome in Malibu. If an apology is given, and the facebook group removed or changed, I'm certainly willing to forgive and forget. So lets do this over again, with a clean slate and a real solutions focused effort without the cheap shots and baiting comments that invite divisiveness.


text:
Migration to Symmetrix VMAX
VMAX customers have choice and flexibility for migrations in both open systems and mainframe environments. By enabling customers to perform migrations at the host or array level depending on their specific requirements, EMC offers the broadest set of migration options to help customers rapidly realize the performance and efficiency benefits of the VMAX family in the virtual data center. The migration options to migrate to the VMAX are as follows:
- Open Replicator for Symmetrix – Heterogeneous, open-systems array-based migration
- Federated Live Migration (FLM) – FLM using Open Replicator non-disruptively migrates workloads and redirects/hosts to the VMAX
- z/OS Migrator – Non-disruptive migration for mainframe environments at the volume or dataset level
- SRDF/DM – High performance Symmetrix to Symmetrix migration
- Open Migrator – Host-based open systems data migration


text:
Wednesday 9am-11am
Venue: Ospital ng Binan, Laguna
Ospital ng Binan, they enjoyed the gifts coming from all of Chummy Chum supporters.
2:57 PM - Aldrin Bula - 0 Comments
Many children all over the world are deprived of the joys of life. Some of them are from poor families, others are orphans, or victims of child abuse or have been abandoned by their parents. There are many more who are mentally or physically sick, and sadly there are those that are terminally ill and will not be with us for so long.My mission is to spend everyday of my life bringing joy and happiness to all these special children. My time is spent visiting them. To sing and dance and tell them funny stories . I bring them toys and dolls, and pop corn and cotton candy and all the things little children love and enjoy. We play games and have a lot of fun during these precious moments that we are together. I love to see their happy smile and the twinkle in their eyes. Without end, I will continue to do this day after day, month after month, year after year because they are our special ones..


text:
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
I'm just waiting and waiting until they got some usable version (i.e 3D acceleration and network), so I could dump Vista and become free...
Unfortunately ReactOS is the only viable option to a Windows (TM) user, since Linux is a useless crap and FreeBSD has even a worse position on the desktop.
No one will free us without losing all Windows-based SW except ReactOS... if they only could find an investor so they'd accelerate their progress... oh well...
I've -1 Trolled you because of the tone of your post and the following facts you were grossly inaccurate about:
* Linux already has 3D accelleration and network drivers (so it can already run many Windows games better than ReactOS)
* ReactOS already has ethernet network drivers - not tried wireless, but then I find even Windows to be buggy with WiFi with many cards. So I'm really not quite sure what you're on about when you mention ReactOS's lack of "network".
* Ignoring games for a moment: Given ReactOS is BASED on a *nix app (WINE), it's safe to say that Linux/BSD runs not that much less Windows apps (via WINE) than ReactOS does. So there already are workable alternatives to Windows (not that I want to discurrage this project either mind).
* and finally: Millions of people world wide already use Linux/BSD as their desktop OS (including myself). So clearly it is a viable desktop OS.
Sure, Linux/BSD maybe a different way of working to what you're used to (package managers and different software suites as opposed to randomly downloaded untrusted EXEs and running Microsoft branded bloatware), but to argue that these differences make Linux/BSD useless is pure ignorance and trolling.
* Linux already has 3D accelleration and network drivers (so it can already run many Windows games better than ReactOS)
At the moment, yes, but I suspect that when ReactOS gets 3D acceleration working it'll be a better alternative for gaming than Linux. Atleast I get subpar performance with WINE, and usually crashes or other issues. None of the games I want to play are playable under Linux on my machine. Atleast on ReactOS you wouldn't need to translate Direct3D to OpenGL which should lead to better performance and you could use Windows-native graphics drivers which usually support more functionality than the open-source ones.


text:
Smoothing The Way To Fine Commercial Floors
A breakdown of the benefits from following the concrete polishing process to achieve lustrous floors.
By Wade Christensen
PLEASE GO TO; http://www.janiservu.com/ for similar articles!!
Advantage Cleaning Services Does Business Cleaning In Corning, N.Y. 14836!!
From warehouses to showrooms and from office building to malls, approximately 80 percent of American commercial flooring is concrete.
For facilities managers experiencing problems with aging and wearing floors — or for those with new floors who wish to minimize costs — an effective, economical solution is concrete polishing.
Concrete Polishing Is Beneficial
Most contemporary commercial buildings are erected on concrete slabs.
Grinding and polishing an existing concrete floor produces a high-quality surface that doesn't require covering; equally important, it's a floor that lasts.
Traditional coverings such as carpet, hardwoods, tile and finishes, sealers and other coatings must be periodically removed and replaced with resulting costs in material, transportation, labor and disposal.
However, properly maintained polished floors can deliver five to 10 times the life expectancy of tile.
Polished concrete is also incredibly strong, even in high-traffic areas.
Its abrasion resistance is excellent, and a high coefficient of friction (COF) ensures that polished concrete is not slippery.
Wet or dry, polished concrete floors meet and often exceed U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards for slip resistance.
And, the highly-polished, resin-free surface virtually eliminates tire marks from vehicles and fork trucks, creating less drag on tires and floor cleaning equipment.
When it comes to environmental compatibility, polished concrete floors are both green and sustainable.
Polishing produces a floor that qualifies for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credits as a green construction alternative to traditional floor coverings.
Moreover, the polishing process is not harmful to the environment: Once it's in place, polished concrete reduces dust mites and allergens and is not conducive to the growth of bacterial molds.
These features make polished concrete an ideal flooring choice for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, laboratories and foodservice operations.
Polished concrete floors require minimal maintenance compared to traditional coverings that demand frequent stripping, sealing, finishing and occasional replacement or repair.
Sweeping and scrubbing to remove dust and debris from the surface are the only maintenance functions that must be routinely performed.
Depending on the type and degree of traffic, polished concrete requires only periodic re-polishing or buffing to maintain its original luster.
The refinishing process is efficient and economical, requiring little to no commercial downtime.
The durability and minimal maintenance needs of polished concrete are complemented by its aesthetic appeal.
For a new floor, the finish options can range from matte to a highly reflective, glossy surface similar to polished marble, terrazzo or granite.
The finish on existing polished floors is determined by the natural aggregate in the original concrete; however, a topping slab may also be added that offers the same finishing options as a new floor.
Highly reflective finishes offer the added benefit of increased light levels, reducing costs for artificial lighting, while creating a safer working or retail environment.
The Concrete Polishing Process
Just like other cleaning and maintenance tasks, achieving shiny, slip-resistant concrete floors requires a process.
To turn your dull concrete floors into coverings that exhibit aesthetic appeal and offer sure footing, consider the following four-step process:
1. Floor preparation
The first step in the process is to completely remove the existing floor coating or covering and prepare the concrete for grinding.
It's a critical step toward ensuring a sound surface for either re-coating or polishing.
Machines required for the initial step include industrial scrapers, shot blasters or grinders.
The size of the machines and their fuel types can be matched to the specific requirements of a building, facility or campus.
Propane, electric and battery-powered equipment is available in walk-behind and riding designs; machines that can fit into elevators and be used in hard-to-reach areas are also available.
According to Mike Trotta, national sales manager of Niagara Machine Inc., distributors of a full line of concrete cleaning, polishing and maintenance equipment, the floor preparation phase is determined by the specific floor covering and the thickness of the substrate.
"For tile removal, we recommend using a riding or walk-behind tile scraper followed by a grinder," says Trotta. "If you are removing a heavy mil coating, we recommend a scraper followed by a concrete grinder or a shot blaster. Thin mil coatings can usually be removed with a shot blaster alone."
2. Surface and joint repairs
The second step in the process — an often overlooked but critical step — is repairing surface defects such as cracks, pop-outs, gouges and joints.
Unrepaired surface defects or open joints not only detract from the finished appearance of a polished floor, but such defects can also compromise the floor's safety.
Open joints or cracks can create slip-and-fall hazards and bacteria collection points that can lead to food safety concerns.
When selecting repair products for a polished floor, a number of issues need to be considered, including the durability, cure time, safety and color stability.
"We work every day with clients in retail and commercial settings to provide repair materials tailored for specific repair scopes," notes Scott Metzger, president of Metzger/McGuire, a manufacturer of concrete repair products. "It's a different kind of scenario from just providing 'standard gray' concrete repair materials. We need to look at color match, surface appearance and the finish of the material we provide."
3. Grinding
The third step in the process is to hone floor surfaces, which requires heavy-duty machines using diamond-impregnated pads or other coarse disks.
During the grinding process, tools are gradually replaced with finer grits that help eliminate the scratches from the more aggressive steps to achieve a smooth floor.
The quality of the diamonds and bond material are vital in achieving the desired surface.
It's important to note that grinding and polishing can be done without moving existing shelving, as edging machines are available that can remove material in extremely close proximity to permanent shelves and walls.
When equipped with dust collectors, grinding can be done during normal working hours — even while the facility is inhabited.
"Concrete polishing equipment has come a long way in a short period of time," proclaims Nikolay Nikolaev, president of Superabrasive, a manufacturer of concrete grinders and polishers. "In the last few months, Superabrasive has introduced remote-controlled and self-propelled machines. One of our remote-controlled models actually uses gyroscopic technology that helps maintain the machine's working path.
According to Nikolaev, the industry has come a long way from the time when the only option was to stand behind a machine and push.
"It's a great thing to be able to offer these kinds of solutions to our customers," adds Nikolaev. "A remote-controlled machine, for example, increases productivity while also reducing labor costs."
4. Polishing
The third step in the process, final polishing, is actually an extension of the grinding process.
The finest grit abrasives are employed in polishing, and a compound may also be applied to remove any residue remaining on the floor to produce the desired final sheen.
In addition to the mechanical polish achieved by diamond abrasives, fast-drying, water-soluble densifiers may be applied to close the surface pores of unpolished concrete, resulting in a denser, less porous finish that is hard, strong and water-resistant.
Don't Overlook Proper Maintenance
An important guideline in polished floor care is matching the cleaning and maintenance solution to the substrate.
"Concrete is a reactive material," declares Trotta. "People often use a highly alkaline or highly acidic cleaner that can actually damage the surface. Periodically cleaning the floor with the correct detergent preserves the finish for years."
Even in the infrequent cases when a polished floor requires resurfacing due to extraordinarily high traffic, the process entails only simple polishing without the costs or downtime associated with restoring other types of floor coverings.
"We actually recommend not applying a cleaning agent to a polished concrete floor; it's not necessary and can even be counterproductive," proclaims Nikolaev. "Diamond pads, for example, clean and maintain a polished concrete floor's shine with only water. It's a simpler, less expensive and a much more environmentally friendly way to maintain polished concrete."
Maintenance requirements, environmental compatibility, aesthetics and service life are key criteria in making decisions about retrofitting or installing new polished concrete floors.
Reputable suppliers of concrete polishing equipment can be extremely valuable resources for information.
Some distributors offer training and certification classes taught by experienced instructors with in-depth knowledge of the polishing process, an understanding of the proper equipment selection and familiarity regarding their operation.
"Finding a trusted manufacturer and distributor is an important key to the success of any concrete polisher," concludes Nikolaev. "Reputable companies offer support through many different avenues — product training, customer service, in-depth product knowledge and experience in the market."
Trust your suppliers and distribution partners to help smooth the way to appealing, functional commercial floors.
Wade Christensen is the vice president for Niagara Machine Inc. He can be reached at email@example.com. Niagara Machine carries the top brands in the industry and has tools and equipment available for purchase or rental. Plus, Niagara also offers training and equipment repair services both in-house and on-site. For more information on the complete line of shot blasters, scrapers, grinding machines, polishers and abrasives available to help you achieve high-gloss, slip-resistant concrete floors, please visit www.NiagaraMachine.com.


text:
05 September 2012
The sixth stop for the DMCC series took place at the Autodrome St Eustache, just north of Montreal, over Labour Day weekend. Two-time DMCC champion, Matt Waldin came out to the event to stir things up, but sadly, on Sunday, his engine let go ending it early. As bad as it was, it would have been nice to see him battling it out in the top 16. Matt was not the only one to suffer engine failures. Francis Tasse and "Paco" both had their engines blow during practice leaving the field already three drivers down.
Aside from the engine failures, practice went great as a lot of the drivers were putting in some really crazy runs. Before the end of the first day it was time for the qualification runs. Pat Cyr put down two solid runs and got the third spot. Mike "Magic" Pollard put down a really good first run; his second looking crazier however, as he was transitioning into the final turn, his car over rotated and spun backwards into the wall with what looked like a devastating blow. However, the car was fixable and his first pass was good enough solidify the second qualification spot. The number one spot went to Marc Landreville, the current championship race leader.
The next day after a quick practice session the top 16 started with the top placed drivers getting by runs. One epic battle in top 16 was Babu going against Simon Schaffner. On Babu's lead run he smacked the wall blowing a tire clean off his wheel, but that did not stop him and he finished on three tires! As crazy as that was, Simon was giving the win.
The Top 4 broke down to Marc Landreville, Pat Cyr, Mike Pollard and Tommy Boisvert Bellemare. Marc beat Tommy and Pat beat Mike, leaving Marc to face Pat for first place. Tommy faced Mike for the 3rd spot and despite his efforts, Mike pulled out the win snagging third on the podium. During the final battle, Pat pushed a bit too hard on his follow run and went off course. As good as his lead lap was, it was not enough to overcome his mistake giving the win to Marc. Marc is still in the lead for the championship, but with a second place finish, Pat has now moved up to the second place overall in the championship. Mike Pollard took home the NOS Energy Fastest Entry Award with a record speed in DMCC.
The next and final event is only a few weeks away and it should be a crazy one. For more info, check out www.dmccdrift.com.


text:
JC Staff: Studio discussion, speculation, and whatnot.
I saw a Gonzo & KyoAni thread, so I guessed why not make a thread discussing JC Staff?
JC Staff seems to make both really god and really bad animes.
For every Azumanga Daioh, Toradora!, Excel Saga, Bakuman, Index/Railgun and Ookami-san, you'll also get Eiken, Ikki Tousen and Puni Puni poemy.
JC Staff basically will adapt any manga or light novel into an anime. And whether that's good or bad actually depends on the hardwork they put for a series.
But to me, JC Staff's hardwork seems to be all over the place.
I mean, Ikki Tousen gets FOUR SEASONS!
Why? Nobody demanded it, and the last time i checked, not many people bought the DVDs. And they're planning to make another season of Ikki Tousen!
I mean, what's up JC Staff? Why are you making more seasons of that? I don't mind seeing a second season of Maid-sama or Ookami-san, but another season of ikki tousen? Seriously?
Anyways, what are your thoughts on JC Staff along with their current and future output?
J.C.STAFF only worked on the first season of Ikkitousen (2nd and 3rd seasons by ARMS, 4th season by TNK).....At any rate, it sells quite well on DVD, and that's why the series has gone on for so long.
from the sales thread
Spoiler for snip:
Also, I'm sure what anime gets a new season isn't in the hands of the studio itself, but the sponsors decision.
What do I think of the studio itself? I don't know a whole lot about it to really make a judgment about it. I a good number of what they produced, Shana, Toradora, and Azumanga Daioh being some of my all time favorites, but other than that I don't really feel strongly for them. If I hear their name attached to an Anime, it would have a good early impression on me.
edit: ninja'd on the ikki tousen bit :P
But yeah, even with the DVD sales, it's one of the least deserving animes to have a sequel.
While I agree that JC staff has made some atrocious stuff, like the cited Eiken (*shiver running down spine), I don't think it's anywhere near the 50-50 ratio that is implied. I like the vast majority of their shows. They're not all masterpieces, but the majority of them range from decent to awesome.
I actually think Ikki Tousen is one of the better shows that employ "shameless" fanservice; it's actually interesting at times. It's not great, but it's mindless fun. Ironically, I commend JC Staff for their involvement, as the first season is much better than any of the sequels. (Though that tends to be the case with most works, so it's not necessarily their involvement that was the cause.)
In short, they make a lot more good than bad, and like Arabesque mentioned, their name is likely to make a positive impression on me, and make me a bit more likely to pick something up.
Shana III ASAP please! :)
I can understand it getting four seasons (as the first three sold decently well), but this anime has run its course (commercially), imo.
I'm not a fan.
I think they are ok , but nothing really special , all the stuff made by them is decent.There are a few exceptions of good shows , but that's it.
They're best work is Honey and Clover. Great anime , definetly worth watching.
My favorite anime that were produced by them are Nabari no Ou, Nanaka 6/17, and Aoi Hana.
If they made Azumanga Daioh, they're good for life. Need to make more of that good shit.
Some of their best titles:
- Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Excel Saga
- Azumanga Daioh
- Shakugan no Shana
- Honey and Clover
- Nodame Cantabile
- Toaru Majutsu no Index
While there are indeed 'better' studios like the Kyoani and Bones etc. I would consider JC Staff my favorite because more often than not, their choice of series usually clicks with me the right way.
Shana, Index, Kaichou, Zakuro, Ookami, ZnT (what 2nd and 3rd season? No such thing!), all of them just feels right for me :) Plus they do awesome parodies! I'll be looking forward to their new series in winter!
That being said, it could be that XX was poorly received due to the quality of the show itself? I haven't watched anything past mid-Dragon Destiny so I wouldn't know if that played a factor in that.
On the thread's original topic, I have a question regarding something I've been seeing mentioned regularly on topics about anime's produced by the studio (specifically Bakuman and Index II) where the drop of quality of these shows is related to the problems with their outsources. Is there any information about this matter?
...But yeah, I'm crossing my fingers for the next [Shana-tan vs Index-tan] showdown ever since I saw the first one :heh:
The cameo's are pretty nice, though I don't really count them as jokes. I did think it was hilarious that one scene in Ookami :heh:
But the specials are the best parts for me. The Shana ones are always funny (the Index are also pretty good, I especially liked how they explained Schrodinger's cat lol :heh:)
Kinda sad that there wasn't a Railgun-tan though :(
[While I don't know if this is related, competition for work amongst animators has become pretty fierce given the decline in the number of projects. Consequently, people (and perhaps animation assistance companies) are trying to line up lots of work ahead of time, sometimes double booking. If so, I wonder if this can explain unexpected resource shortages or schedule delays.]
Going forward, studios might want to rethink how they plan and coordinate projects to prevent such issues.
I... um don't like most of their shows. Except Shana, that's pretty decent. Excel Saga was pretty funny from the little I saw of it.
In terms of genre diversity, JC Staff is the greatest example of them all. However, they don't get exposed by Hollywood unlike Madhouse or Gainax. Which is kind of a shame.
It's like... You can look at a Light Novel, and KNOW if it's going to be a JC Staff Anime in the future :heh:
The only real outstanding shows I've seen from J.C Staff have been Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ alongside Honey and Clover. Bakuman has been pretty great so far as well.
They seem to have no problem making popular shows, but on the flip side they also seem to be rather inconsistant at making good shows too with just as mediocre to decent and solid stuff.
But i think JC Staff has problems in terms of marketing their shows. I mean, unlike Gainax, KyoAni & Madhouse which has full on PR & Marketing power to appeal to the West, JC Staff tends to ignore those. When was the last time a JC Staff anime has a huge billboard in Akihabara that is usually occupied by KyoAni/Gundam/Shonen animes?
|All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:49.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2018, vBulletin Solutions Inc.


text:
April 4, 2013
Formerly of Marlboro, NY
Patricia Louise (Henry) Peaslee, age 72, of Gainesville, FL and formerly of Marlboro, NY, passed away at Haven Hospice on April 4, 2013, surrounded by her loving family. Patricia was born in Newburgh, the daughter of the late Ross Henry and the late Viola (Martini) Henry. She was predeceased by her siblings: Ralph Henry, Peter Henry and Beatrice Babcock.
She is survived by her husband, Gibson Peaslee of Gainesville; sister, Betty Riley of Marlboro; son, John Bellucci and daughter-in-law, Barbara Bellucci of Marlboro; son, Vincent Bellucci Jr. and daughter-in-law, Lisa Bellucci of Sarasota, FL; son, Michael Bellucci of Gainesville; and daughter, Alicia Peaslee and partner, Jason Matiacio of Gainesville, FL. She has four grandchildren: Lance Bellucci, Nick Bellucci and his wife, Kitrina Ricci Bellucci, Amber Cheek and her husband, Kyle (and their expected child), and Erik Bellucci; many nieces and nephews and family pets: Tess, Brody, Abby and Roxie.
Patricia worked for the Bank of New York and the University of Florida in the Finance and Accounting department until her retirement. Patricia loved volunteering at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church daycare facility in Gainesville.
Memorial and services were private.
Donations in Patricia's memory may be made to Haven Hospice of Gainesville: E.T. York Hospice Care Center, 4200 NW 90th Blvd., Gainesville, FL 32606.


text:
< Live Victims Trapped In Bangladeshi Rubble
Apr 26, 2013 07:05
Category: General News
Category: General News
Congress Moves To Mitigate Flight Delays
WASHINGTON (AP) — It shouldn't be too long before travel delays caused by air traffic control furloughs are a thing of the past. Legislation to end the furloughs and delays for millions of travelers is headed to a House vote after getting late-night Senate approval. House officials indicated they'll waste no time moving the bill to a vote.


text:
|[Gentoo Linux Home] [GLEP Index] [GLEP Source]
|Portage Management of UIDs/GIDs
|2004/05/29 14:31:58
|Mike Frysinger <vapier at gentoo.org>
|Standards Track
|29 May 2004
The current handling of users and groups in the portage system lacks policy and a decent API. We need an API that is both simple for developers and end users.
Currently the policy is left up to respective ebuild maintainers to choose the username, id, shell settings, etc... and to have them added in the right place at the right time in the right way. When the addition of users was found to often times have broken logic, the enewuser and enewgroup functions were designed to remove all the details. However, these functions still suffer from some fundamental problems. First, there is no local customization. Second, maintainers still use the functions improperly (binary packages have suffered the most thus far). Third, the functions are not portable across non-linux systems and not friendly to cross compiling or other exotic setups. There are other reasons, but these listed few are enough to warrant change.
A new directory will need to be added to the rsync tree to store the files that define the default values for new accounts.
portage/profiles/accounts/ user/<username>.xml group/<groupname>.xml accounts.xml
The files are named with the respective user/group name since they need to be unique in their respective domains. For example, the file detailing the ntp user would be located accounts/user/ntp.xml. Each username.xml file will detail the required information about each user. Certain account features that exist on one class of systems (Linux) but not on others (*BSD) can be tagged as such. Each groupname.xml will follow similar guidelines. The accounts.xml will be used to describe global account defaults such as the default range of 'valid system' ids. For example, if the UID 123 is already used on a system, but the ntp user defaults to '123', we obviously cannot just duplicate it. So we would select the next available UID on the system based upon the range defined here.
Following the tried and true style of custom local portage files being found in /etc/portage, this new system will follow the same. Users can setup their own directory heirarchy in /etc/portage/accounts/ that mimics the heirarchy found in the portage tree. When portage attempts to add a new user, it will first check /etc/portage/accounts/user/<username>.xml. If it does not exist, it will simply use the default definition in the portage tree.
Ebuilds that wish to add users or groups to the system must set these variables. They are both space delimited lists that tells portage what users/groups must be added to the system before emerging the ebuild. The maintainer of the ebuild can assume the users/groups they have listed exist before the functions in the ebuild (pkg_setup, src_install, etc...) are ever run.
Any developer is free to add users/groups in their ebuilds provided they create the required account definition files.
When this script is run, all the users/groups that have been added by portage to the system will be shown along with the packages that have added said users/groups. Here they can delete accounts that are no longer required by the currently installed packages (and optionally run a script that will try to locate all files on the system that may still be owned by the account).
This is for the people who never want portage creating accounts for them. When portage needs to add an account to the system but "noautoaccts" is in FEATURES, portage will abort with a message instructing the user to add the accounts that are listed in EUSERS and EGROUPS. This is obviously a required step before the package will be emerged.
Developers no longer have to worry about how to properly add users/groups to systems and worry about whether or not their code will work on all systems (LDAP vs local shadow vs cross compile vs etc...). Users can easily override the defaults Gentoo has before dictated. The default passwd and group database can once again be trimmed down to the barest of accounts.
Handled in similar fashion as other portage rollouts. When using the new account system, add a DEPEND for the required version of portage to the ebuild.
This document has been placed in the public domain.


text:
NESPELEM Colville Business Council Chairman Michael O. Finley is running for the first vice president post with the National Conference of American Indians.
Voting will be during the group's 70th annual convention Oct. 13-18 in Tulsa, Okla.
"This creates a wonderful opportunity to represent the Colville tribes on a national level," he said.
He ran for the same post in 2011, but lost to the incumbent 51 percent to 49 percent.
The council is supporting Finley's candidacy.
The conference was formed in 1944 and is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities, the group's website said.
Finley has a campaign page on Facebook.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.


text:
Author Notes: We've been enjoying the apple and manchego salad at Jose Andres' Jaleo restaurants in DC for years. This was inspired by that combo of the apple, cheese and a vinaigrette. The beauty of the salad is that the peeled apple and Manchego are hard to distinguish, so you get a surprise in each bite. I learned how to cook wheatberries properly from Lorna Sass' Whole Grains - soak, simmer then steam. They come out chewy and tender this way. - healthierkitchen —healthierkitchen
Food52 Review: Healthierkitchen's salad has enough character to stand alone as an entrée but also has no qualms about holding its own next to a big piece of meat. I should know. I ate it for lunch solo, and again at dinner with a grilled pork chop. Wheatberries give it an overall nutty, chewy mouthfeel while the apples and Manchego alternate complementary crispy-sweet and softer, salty bites. The dressing doesn't overpower the salad's elements, but rather melds into a balanced background. —cheese1227
Serves: 4 - 6 as a side dish, 3 or 4 as a light lunch
cup wheatberries
tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 1/2
teaspoons whole grain mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons
teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika (pimenton de la Vera)
couple of pinches
salt, plus more to taste
couple of grinds
black pepper, plus more to taste
cup olive oil
cup diced red onion
1 - 1 1/2
tart apples. Granny Smith are fine, but Suncrisp would be stellar
1/3 to 1/2
pounds Manchego cheese
2 -3
ounces arugula
cup dried tart cherries, roughly chopped if large
- Soak the wheatberries overnight in water to cover by a couple of inches. When you're ready to cook them, drain and place in a medium to large saucepan with three cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Begin checking them at 30 minutes - you want to see the endosperm appear at one end and they should be a little chewy but not tough. Drain the wheatberries and then immediately place back into the hot pan and cover and let steam off the heat for another ten minutes. Transfer cooked wheatberries into a medium sized bowl.
- In a small bowl, add the ingredients from the vinegar through the salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Then stream in the olive oil while whisking.
- Add the red onion into the vinaigrette and stir a little so that the onions are submerged.
- Peel, core and dice the apple and add to the wheatberries.
- Dice up the Manchego cheese and add that to the bowl as well.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the wheatberry/apple/Manchego mix in the bowl and stir to coat all the ingredients. Check for salt and pepper.
- Either individually plate or serve over bed of arugula. Garnish with the dried cherries.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe with Dried Fruit
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe for Lettuce-Free Salad
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Portable Side
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe with Vinegar
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Salad with Apples
More Great Recipes:


text:
Young adults who use the social networking site Facebook may feel worse about themselves as a result of doing so. This is the suggestion of a new study from the University of Michigan, which revealed a person's satisfaction with life and general sense of wellbeing may be impacted when they regularly visit sites such as these.
|Scooped by Dr. Amy Fuller


text:
#7384 - DODGE STRATUS BODY (AERO 2) (190mm)
1/10 Touring Car Size (190mm)
Available soon from HPI Racing are our new Dodge Stratus Aero 2 190mm and 200mm bodies. The culmination of months of detailed testing, moulding and re-testing by HPI body engineers and test drivers around the world, the Stratus Aero 2 is our highest performance race body ever. The 190mm body includes both a 190mm and a 175mm wing; both are reinforced for strength with built-in side dams and Gurney flap, plus the wings are easy to adjust on the body for more or less rear grip.
The 200mm includes two 200mm rear wings that have been reinforced for strength, with built-in side dams and Gurney flaps for stability and efficient downforce, plus the wings are easy to adjust on the body for more or less rear grip. Here are the many new features of the Dodge Stratus Aero 2:
- Track-tested, tuned and refined by championship-winning HPI test drivers
- Front end reworked for more steering
- Rear end designed to help prevent sliding in hard cornering manoeuvres
- Improved balance for better control
- Designed to enhance straight-line stability with increased cornering abilities
- Maximized dimensions and cutlines to conform with all international 190mm and 200mm touring car body rules
In addition to the above details, the Dodge Stratus Aero 2 has the same standard features of all HPI bodies:
- Photorealistic die-cut premium vinyl decals include window frames, headlight, grille, taillights and more, plus official logos!
- Overspray film and pre-cut vinyl window masks make painting fast and simple
- A decal instruction sheet is included for decal placement
- The body has dimple marks for body post and antenna mast drill locations
- Two realistic racing wings with adjustable mounts are provided with the body
- Moulded from 0.030" clear polycarbonate plastic for durability and long life
- This is an officially licensed replica.
Officially licensed:
|Officially licensed replica model
|ROAR legal (190mm) - www.roarracing.com/products/sbody.htm
|BRCA legal, 1/10 Electric Circuit Competitions 190mm
EFRA legal, 1/10 IC Track 200mm Class, EFRA
number 2004
|Pactra paint colors used: True Blue Pearl, Flourescent Orange, with Alclad Chrome


text:
Who considers us their Main Rival?
So, TV during the game the announcing crew mentioned that Iowa's seniors were trying to go 4-0 against their "main rival." They did mention that it is not mutual, which, duh, but this was news to me none the less. I also figured Iowa viewed Wisconsin or Iowa State or some other corn school their rival (not Nebraska since they havent played much until recently). In terms of teams I know of, and assuming the announcers are correct, the teams that consider us their #1 rival are:
And then Notre Dame generally views USC as their main rival, although my coworkers (many ND alums) did mention that lately they've hated Michigan much more because of the nature of the 2009-11 wins.
Aside from those 4 teams, what other teams consider Michigan their "main rival" if any? Is there any other team in college football that is seen as the main rival of FOUR teams? Two I can understand, but 4-5 (depending how you view ND) seems absolutely ridiculous. Why on earth would Iowa/Illinois try to hitch up to Michigan when its clearly never going to be a legitimate rivalry?


text:
Help keeping Secret Maryo Chronicles alive, support our work with a donation. Many games for kids and adults require a payment of at least 5$ to be completely playable and are never released freely. Buying even one of these games is not possible for most people in developing countries.
Secret Maryo Chronicles is Open Source software and free for everyone. Financial aid will help us to put more time into the project. Make a difference to people in both rich and poor countries by supporting our work.
If you have a major credit card like Visa, MasterCard, American Express or a PayPal account, donating is easy. Just click the button to get started.
Donor list


text:
Sorry! This item is unavailable.
But we found some similar items...
26.2 Hoop Mug Gift Boxed (choice of ten colours)
Great gift for marathon runners.
Can be personalised (additional £5) - see personalised listing.
To order please add to basket and leave a note with the colour of your choice (see below). Made to order - if you would like more than one please contact us and let us know.
Available in Pink, Light/Duck Egg Blue, Dark/Navy Blue, Light Green, Dark Green, Lilac, Coffee, Yellow, Orange and Red.
Entirely made in Stoke on Trent, England. A half pint (300ml) fine bone china mug, decorated with silk screen transfers printed and hand applied by ourselves using traditional techniques.
Coloured hoops/stripes around the top and bottom with a message printed in black on both sides.
Gift boxed in a natural brown kraft box hand tied with string.
Shipping & delivery
This item is made-to-order and will be posted to you by The Pot Bank within 5 days of receiving payment.
|Shipping destination
|Additional items
|United Kingdom
Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey
|USA and Canada
|Rest of the World
Returns Policy
This is a custom-made item and cannot be returned unless faulty.


text:
|NOTE: Data provided by Secretary of State's Election Division. Maps and Reports are posted as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. To view PDF files, you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Adobe also provides free accessibility tools for screen reader access.
LCC-GIS Office · 55 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155 · firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Fort Hays State University > Online Learners > Virtual College > About the Virtual College > Employment
Virtual CollegeHammond Hall 201600 Park Street
Hays, KS 67601
Phone: 785-628-4291
Toll Free: 800-628-FHSU
Fax: 785-628-4037Email: email@example.com Request Information
As a leader in distance education, the Virtual College at Fort Hays
State offers prospective instructors exciting academic opportunities to
teach and mentor students. For over 100 years, FHSU has provided
students from around the world a high quality education at an
affordable price.
To assure our students the best possible learning experience, the
decision to hire faculty to teach courses offered through the Virtual
College is made by the academic departments. However, the Virtual
College accepts and forwards applications to the appropriate
departments from individuals interested in teaching through FHSU's
Virtual College.
If you wish to be considered for an adjunct position, submit an application.
Resources:Fort Hays State University's Faculty Handbook Current Employment Opportunities Technologies
Hays, Kansas, is a university community of just over 20,000 people
serving as a regional center for education, health care, professional
services, shopping, culture, and recreation for the western half of
Kansas - serving a population of nearly 400,000. The community has
award winning public and private schools. Hays Medical Center employs
more than 1,000 people. Hays Medical Center is the home to the DeBakey
Heart Institute of Kansas and is one of the top rural medical centers
in the United States. Community assets include the Chestnut Street
District in Historic Downtown Hays with its unique shopping, galleries,
and eateries. The Hays Arts Council is the oldest local arts agency in
Kansas and has successfully fostered a strong and nationally notable
arts community. The Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center on the Fort
Hays State University campus is home to the Encore Series, the Hays
Symphony, university events and other national and world caliber
performances. Fort Hays State University athletes compete on the NCAA
Division II level. Hays boasts excellent recreational facilities
including the comprehensive Center for Health Improvement, Hays Aquatic
Park, Smoky Hill Country Club, Hays Municipal Golf Course, an extensive
recreational program, and excellent opportunities for walking, running,
and biking. Hays is within 45 minutes of two large lakes providing
boating and other water sports. The Hays Municipal Airport provides
connecting service to both Kansas City and Denver with several flights
in each direction daily. Multiple high-speed Internet service providers
service Hays, and the community has consistently been a national leader
in connectivity. Web site: http://discoverhays.com
Notice of Non-discrimination--Fort Hays State University does not
discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion, national origin, age,
disability, Vietnam era veteran status or special disabled veteran
status in its programs and activities. The director of affirmative
action, coordinator of Title IX, Title VI, Section 504 and ADA
regulations, may be contacted at 600 Park Street, Hays, KS 67601-4099,
(785) 628-4033.


text:
Life Is a Gift
The Zen of Bennett
by Tony Bennett (Harper)
If you teared up at Tony Bennett's "God Bless America" in San Francisco during the baseball playoffs, this one's for you. It's a gentle read — maybe the equivalent of easy listening — filled with vignettes from the great crooner's life and lots of stories on his showbiz pals — Sinatra, Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong Count Basie and, more recently, Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga. An exception: Bennett's war stories — liberating a concentration camp, just escaping death by a sniper. These moments, the 86-year-old Astoria native says, are why he became a pacifist.
Life Among Giants
by Bill Roorbach (Algonquin)
A controversial quarterback gets more ink than Tim Tebow in the latest novel from Roorbach ("Big Bend" and "Summers With Juliet") — this one about the "giant" forces of celebrity, death and sports. At 17, 7-foot-tall David "Lizard" Hochmeyer has a football scholarship to Princeton and promising future when his parents are murdered in what looks like a mob hit. Lizard's life then takes a turn that includes an affair with a famous ballerina who lives with a rock star, a stint as a celebrity chef, time as the QB for, not the Giants, but the Miami Dolphins — and the quest for revenge.
The Disappearance of Darkness
Photography at the End of the Analog Era
by Robert Burley (Princeton Architectural Press)
Canadian photographer Burley offers a wistful look at film photography as its era comes to a close. Using a 4-by-5 film camera, he shows us the implosions of giant Kodak factory buildings in upstate Rochester; conversion of Waltham, Mass., Polaroid buildings to retail and offices; destruction of film factories in Canada and Europe; as well as stores such as Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kan., which received film from around the world after announcing Jan. 19, 2011 would be the last day it developed Kodachrome.
A Drop of Chinese Blood
by James Church (Minotaur Books)
Maybe this author could teach Gen. Petraeus a thing or two about keeping secrets. Described as "a former Western intelligence officer with decades of experience in Asia," the writer known as James Church has kept his real identity under wraps through five mystery novels about North Korean police officer Inspector O. In the new book, we meet O's nephew, Major Bing, the Chinese state security chief. We also meet Madame Fang, the most beautiful woman in the world, as she disappears over the North Korean border. Enter Uncle O.
The 2012 Presidential Campaign in Verse
by Calvin Trillin (Random House)
Following his success with "Deciding the Next Decider," about the 2008 election, New Yorker writer Trillin has put his stamp on the just-concluded campaign. If your longing for the days of Herman Cain ("Although his patter in debates could tickle/Cain's pool of Knowledge seemed less pool than trickle") and Michele Bachman ("Michele, our belle/Thinks that gays will all be sent to hell"), you'll enjoy this. And remember, it could always be worse: The campaign could still be going on.


text:
|Expellents is a Scrabble word. Scrabble point value for expellents: 19 points.
|Expellents is a Words with Friends word. Words with Friends point value for expellents: 19 points.
Above are the results of unscrambling expellents. Using the word generator and word unscrambler for the letters E X P E L L E N T S, we unscrambled the letters to create a list of all the words found in Scrabble, Words with Friends, and Text Twist. We found a total of 121 words by unscrambling the letters in expellents. Click these words to find out how many points they are worth, their definitions, and all the other words that can be made by unscrambling the letters from these words. If one or more words can be unscrambled with all the letters entered plus one new letter, then they will also be displayed.
|Definition of "expellents" found in the Merriam Webster dictionary
|Definition of "expellents" from The Free Dictionary
|Definition of "expellents" from Dictionary.com
|Words that start with expellents
|Words that end with expellents
|Words that contain expellents


text:
When we finally got to Atlanta Friday, the drive felt like it took forever, we ate at Genghis. It is honestly one of my favorite places to eat. I love it! It was a late dinner so when we got to the hotel we got our room assignments and headed up to go to sleep. The lucky winners to be in my room were Ashley Anderson and J.J. Nelson. Oh J's just listening to that girl talk for 30 seconds will make you wonder what exactly goes through her head.
We had breakfast at 7:20 a.m. left for the field at 7:50 Saturday. Our first game we played Appalachian State. We lost 4-0 but we didn't have a lot of time to worry about that loss because we played Georgia State right after. We won that game 4-0. We all noticed a difference in the second game, we just had more energy and more spunk I guess you can call it. We need to have that all the time every game. The team had dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse where Shelby Cunningham showed everybody her dance moves. She likes to flex. Ha, ha. Sorry shelbs.
Sunday we played Memphis first. It was really cool that we got to play them because one of my good friends from home pitches for them. She actually threw against us. Two California girls playing each other all the way in Georgia. It was nice to see her. We lost that game 1-0. We didn't play bad but you can't win if you don't score. We had a long break in between our games so after getting lunch we had a team meeting. Basically we decided to revamp everything about our team: new pregame, new chant, new cheers, everything. I think it worked for us. We looked like two different teams in between the first game and the second game. After trying out our new pregame chant on Coach Ryman, she was fooled that we all had so much energy for the whole seven innings. We beat Georgia State 4-2 in the second game and that was a good win for us.
Next weekend we are heading down to Alabama to play in UAB's tournament. We are looking to take the same energy and enthusiasm with us down there to pick up more wins.
On the way home to Nashville our bus broke down somewhere in Kennesaw. We sat in an empty parking lot playing "catch phrase". A cop, who was driving way, too fast in the parking lot, stopped and asked if we needed a tow truck...for a charter bus. We blew an air line and that controls the doors, hydraulics, oh and the brakes. Our bus driver, who we love by the way because he's awesome, got in touch with the person who owns Wise Coaches to see what our options were. We could wait for a bus from Nashville to come get us, or Alan Wise was trying to see if a bus in Atlanta could come get us and take us back to Nashville.
After 2 hours of "catch phrase" we made a little trip to the gas station at the corner and got our candy. And now we are back on the bus discussing our first impressions of each other, ha ha the upper classmen's impressions of J.J. are priceless. And the thing I love about our team is we do not hold back. I swear we are as close to sisters as it gets and I love it! We decided on watching Inception, after this movie the bus from Nashville should be here and that would be at about 1, which means we'll get back around 5... Perfect!
Vanessa Medina is a red-shirt sophomore first baseman who is writing a weekly blog for Lipscombsports.com during the 2011 season.


text:
Choosing the Right Management Style
for Corporate Clients
Dealing With Client Buy-In
Coverage of
hot topics, shuffles, shindigs, attaboys and word on the wire.
|FEATURE: Choosing the Right Management Style for Corporate Clients
|When working to achieve buy-in across a large corporation, managers must overcome indifference that often exists between different operating silos. In most cases, the key to success will rest on your ability to define the stakeholders within the corporate environment. These are the people who will have an impact on the projects outcome. Once the stakeholders are defined, it is your job to craft a message to show the tangible benefits and meaningful opportunities that will be realized with their department's involvement. Finally, you must carefully select your tactics. There are many battles in a project's life and not all are planned for in the same fashion.
BACK TO BASICS: Dealing With Client Buy-In
As a search engine optimization service provider, we see clients of all sizes and complexities. One and two-man operations are just as likely as large international corporations to begin a project with us, and each needs to be serviced with the same level of attention and concern. Every client is different; each has a unique structure and a unique way in which things get done. But across all these clients there is one very important component that never changes, the need to get buy in.
Hot Topics
Deceitful or the Greatest Piece of Link Bait Ever?
On May 9, the reputable Money.co.uk Web site posted a story titled 13 Year Old Steals Dad's Credit Card to Buy Hookers. To date it's received more than 2,500 Diggs and was picked up by mainstream news outlets like FOX News, News.com.au, The Daily Telegraph, and many, many others (the stories have all been removed). It's received hundreds of links and thousands of visitors.
The problem is the story posted wasn't true. It was a hoax, or what we in the SEO community refers to as link bait. Lyndon Antcliff, the SEO responsible for the fake story, was so impressed with his ability to fool the mainstream media that he wrote about his accomplishment (the original post has since been removed) on this blog.
This was the first time that many people were made aware that the story in question was not true, and that it was simply the work of an SEO trying to game the search engines and get links for a client's Web site.
The SEO Community Responds
Lyndon's bragging caught the eye of the SEO community and the post was quickly the center of a very lively discussion on social networking site Sphinn. While some members applauded Lyndon for his efforts and social media success, others worried that Lyndon was setting a bad example for SEOs.
Ken Jones, specifically, questioned the ethics of what Lyndon did, while Jonathan Crossfield wrote an in depth piece looking at all sides of the situation. To add even more fuel to the fire, Google engineer Matt Cutts commented on the Sphinn thread that a fake news story falls under what Google calls "deceptive practices" and may warrant some type of penalty or filtering.
From there, Search Engine Land declared that if you're doing a fake news story, disclose or face the wrath of Google. Matt's comment combined with Search Engine Land's coverage had everyone talking about whether Google has a right to decide what is true or false on the Internet.
Bruce Clay's Lisa Barone chimed in and said that while she doesn't agree with link bait at any cost, she also doesn't agree that it is Google's job to play truth seeker. Prominent search marketers like Nick Wilsdon, Michael Gray, Jill Whalen, and Jonathan Crossfield expressed their own varying opinions.
Defining Link Bait.
Again Shortly after, Rae Hoffman issued her two cents in a post over at Search Engine Land titled Don't Call Me Link Bait. Rae warned the community about calling a con "link bait". In her opinion, what Lyndon did wasn't link bait. It was a fake news story that appeared on a reputable Web site. His client may have been rewarded in the short-term with links and attention, but the long-term effects could still be negative if they've now lost authority in the eyes of its readers.
The spectacle that erupted over the past few weeks was a good reminder that link bait can come with a cost. If you're not acting in an ethical way, all the links and traffic in the world won't help you win over a customer that has lost faith in you.
Yahoo Director Edward Kozel resigned, while Yahoo executive Ira Kurgan also left to join the Fox Broadcasting Company.
Chark aka Char joined Google's Search Quality Team and will help answer questions in the Google Webmasters Help Group.
In corporate launches, mergers and acquisitions: Google launched Google Health. Microsoft released Social Bookmarks to compete with Yahoo's Delicious, killed off its Live Search Books and Live Search Academic programs, and launched the Cashback program in an attempt to steal advertisers and consumers from Google.
Yahoo opened up its developer platform Search Monkey to everyone. AOL joined Open Social, the initiative hoping to standardize applications for social networking Web sites.
comScore paid $44.3 million for mobile research first M:Metrics. Search Engine Land launched a Spanish edition.
TechMeme integrated a search function into its tech news aggregator site. CondeNet bought Ars Technica.
In redesigns Reddit released a new site design, as did John Battelle's Searchblog.
Last week, Bruce Clay Australia attended the CeBit conference in Sydney to exhibit, while Jeremy Bolt was also on call to speak. You can read all about the event over at the Rambling Thoughts Blog.
Next week SMX Advanced hits Seattle on June 3-4. We'll have several team members in town and Bruce will be speaking on Tuesday's Creating Value In Your SEMJ Businesses panel with Sean J. McMahon from EngineWorks and Matt Naeger from Impaqt.
We'll also be sending Bruce Clay writers Lisa Barone and Virginia Nussey to provide full liveblogging coverage of the event. You can find their liveblogging schedule on the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog. Virginia will also be conducting interviews for Bruce Clay Inc.'s SEM Synergy radio show, so be on the lookout for that, as well.
After Seattle, SES Toronto will take place on June 16-18 (be sure to check out the SES Toronto party guide), the WidgetWebExpo lands in the Big Apple June 16-17, BlogHer hits San Francisco on July 18-20, and Jim Boykin will take the SEO Class to Edinburgh, Scotland on June 23-24.
Search Engine Strategies has announced additional SEO training opportunities throughout June and July.
Programming Note: The Bruce Clay, Inc. UK SEO Training class originally scheduled for November has been rescheduled to September 9-11. These are the confirmed dates, so if you're hoping to attend, make sure to reserve your seat today. Bruce Clay's SEO training in the States will take a break in June but will be back in full swing on July 14-18. Seats are going fast, so register early!
Google help webmasters take a more informed look at their search algorithm with their post Introduction to Google Search Quality.
With a little help from Google, Wikipedia grew its traffic 8,000 percent over the past five years.
The Great Place to Work Institute put Google at the top of their 50 best workplaces in the UK.
MySpace took a cue from Facebook and limited the amount of applications users can insert within their profiles.
Word on the Wire
John Furrier repeated speculation that Microsoft and Yahoo were bunkered down in a Palo Alto Hotel working out the final stages of a transaction. A little later in the month, BusinessWeek also jumped on the ongoing rumors between Yahoo and Google/Microsoft, writing that Yahoo was within days of making a deal with either Google or Microsoft.
Meanwhile, over at Marketing Pilgrim, Janet Meiners says that Microsoft was ready to forget Yahoo and would instead pay $15-$20 billion for Facebook.
Vanessa Fox wondered what cool stuff LinkedIn was launching when she came across a magical service message. After some serious forum chatter, Search Engine Roundtable asked: Is Microsoft & Siemens Teaming Up In Europe Against Google?
If you
have any questions or
comments on any of the
articles above or if
you would like to
suggest topics for
future search engine optimization articles, please
contact us at Bruce Clay,
Print the full SEO Newsletter


text:
Just a few weeks ago, we presented part of the series "In Pieces" by LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya and hyper-real photographer Dean West. As luck would have it, we got the chance to sit down with both artists to talk about the project and their upcoming show at New York City's Openhouse Gallery beginning Thursday, February 28th. Take a look below for the full interview.
How did you two end up working together?
N: It started out when Dean initially contacted me with the idea of using LEGO. This was all via Skype because Dean was in Australia and I was in New York so I was just waiting to see where this was going. I didn't really know if this was leading anywhere so I said well if you really believe in this, why don't you come to New York? We'll have a meeting and see what we can do together. And wouldn't you know it, a week and a half later Dean was sitting in my art studio, and that kind of showed you know, he's committed to it. So I sat down and started talking to him and that's how it all began. We really just took it from there.
So it all progressed relatively quickly?
N: Well from there it took 3 years to actually get it to this point. So, you know, Dean – jump in, you were there too!
D: Yeah that's right, about two weeks after I spoke with Nathan I was in New York – meeting with Nathan in the studio and we already had a lot to work on because it's quite a process to get to know somebody and understand how they work. So basically Nathan and I worked for a little bit, then I went back to Australia and three months later I moved to North America, and we kind of started working on the project in September 2009.
By then, Nathan and I had talked about enough that we were heading in a specific direction with references that we were drawn to and images, styles, and aesthetics that we both agreed on. Then we kind of just embarked on this journey across America, starting in Los Angeles, and that's really the beginning of how the whole project began.
And the journey across the States was to find these locations featured in the series?
D: Yes that's correct. We knew that we were looking to capture iconic landscapes of America, but it was also a feeling out process for Nathan and I, to get to know how each other work. Nathan got to see how I approached photography and how we made that happen along with a lot of conversations about what Nathan was going to build and how we were going to integrate everything. And so there was a lot of going back and forth across the desert just to get to know each other because it's quite a collaborative process.
What did the creation process consist of?
N: It started off from a point where we were coming up with general concepts and there were a lot of mornings where we just sat over a cup of coffee. We'd go to a diner in New York when Dean was in town, or if I was in Toronto, we'd just sit and sketch out ideas on napkins, and kind of just come up with a concept. Part of that, of course, was what Dean was referring to: concepts coming to life while driving across the country and just seeing locations.
So it was an interesting project from a collaborative stance because almost everything I'd done before that was all just out of my own mind, working alone, so here was a chance to really bounce ideas off of someone and get a strong reaction immediately. For me it was an interesting journey and it obviously worked out really well.
What was the dynamic like between the post-production work on the computer and the physical construction of the sculptures?
D: They definitely do compliment each other and it's surprising that in comparison to the size of the project, very little of that time was actually spent on the computer. By the time Nathan and I sketch out ideas, photograph the background, and Nathan builds the sculptures, the post-production happening on the computer is really just the very last stage. It's really just the product of months and months and months of scouting, idea creation and photography, and just knowing exactly what things should be placed first. So the computer stage which probably does come forward as a strong presence in imagery is really just the vehicle at the very end of a long ordeal of events.
Could you elaborate on the idea behind the series of identity as a cultural creation becoming commercialized and manipulated?
D: Well basically this whole project started when I approached Nathan and we talked about imagery that was about identity – how people construct their own beings, their own lives, and how they end up in a specific place. We realized that both of our processes really did have a lot of creation from scratch.
My modern photography techniques also fit seamlessly into Nathan's sculptures. The narrative and aesthetic, and basically the way he constructs a sculpture, is very similar to the basic construction of a digital photograph. The identity construction is really just showcasing these awkward moments of self-awareness where the subjects appear frozen and they're in that moment where they're thinking "Who am I? How did I arrive here?"
N: When I build a sculpture, it's layers and layers of bricks, and these photos are layers and layers as well. Of course we're using a very commercial product, the LEGO brick, so right away this very well-known toy brand becomes a medium as part of this project.
And with what Dean was referring to about how my scultures work with modern photography, I think one thing he might be touching on there is the pixelisation when you look at the LEGO sculptures. They do seem a bit pixelated because they're made out of these tiny little squares and rectangles, but when you back away, you see the curves. So that is a little bit about how modern photography works, that pixelisation.
Was there a certain image or feeling you were looking to evoke?
N: We were referring a lot to the early American postcard which probably refers more to the coloring when you think about the pastels like the blues and the warm yellows.
D: That's what's been great. As we travelled, we came across a lot of locations that referenced the North American landscapes we had in the back of our mind – the American postcard which were basically frontal-style street scenes; really basic, unvarnished locations.
Any plans to continue working together in the future?
N: We've talked about continuing the series. We're getting such strong responses from people on it so far that we probably want to continue and develop an 8th image.
In the same sort of style and aesthetic?
D: Yeah I think so. We did have some success with several of the images that raised some more interest for us to possibly create more from the same kind of style and aesthetic. So it will have the same kind of aesthetic because it is part of the same series, but I don't know how many we're going to create. We're considering doing one more at the moment, it depends, we'll see how the show goes hey Nathan? And we'll see how many more we can create.
N: Exactly.
"In Pieces," presented by Avant Gallery, will show at Openhouse Gallery in SOHO from February 28th to March 17th.


text:
Robert OrTov Ltd245 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
An established Electrical Company offering all aspects of Electrical services. Professional, Friendly and Reliable Services at Competitive Prices. All our work is carried to the highest standards by fully qualified engineers NICEIC Contractors, and is fully guaranteed and...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By robert60173 on 17th Dec, 2018
Abreu Electrics44 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Abreu Electrics. Domestic and Commercial work. Member of NAPIT. Trading since 1993.
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By geoff_h_68 on 7th Aug, 2016
OCD Electrical34 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
OCD Electrical is John Wootton and I am a City & Guilds qualified and Part P compliant electrician. I provide a range of electrical services to domestic customers around the Home Counties area. All work is carried out in accordance and complying with the 17th Edition...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By ivan15236 on 20th Nov, 2018
Mema Electrics26 Feedback reviews, 96% positive
House rewires specialist with many years of experience and qualified to the latest standards. I pride myself on offering honest advice, a fair price and an exceptional standard of workmanship that fully complies with the latest regulations.
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By sorin_84 on 10th Sep, 2016
Wirelec22 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I am a fully qualified NICEIC approved contractor who specialises in all aspects of Domestic, commercial and industrial Electrics including AV systems. I have devoted the last 15 Years to understanding the Building regulations that relate to Electrical installations in your...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By izzy_79 on 26th Nov, 2017
Harvey Mellish Electrical Services18 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I believe in customer satisfaction, with no job being too small, If you need advise please contact me for a chat or a free estimate
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By tradesmen_97 on 13th Apr, 2016
VB Electrical Contractors17 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
As an electrical contractor with 35 years experience including both commercial and domestic installations I pride myself on being conscientious, profressional and always completing jobs to a high specification.
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By debra_148 on 16th Oct, 2017
Safe check electrical ltd41 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
We are a NICEIC/ Elecsa approved electrical service provider covering all aspects of domestic & commercial installations . We Have over 20 years of experience between us in the trade and we make sure all of our work is carried out to a high standard. Work we undertake ranges...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By ella_298 on 18th Dec, 2018
D Cookman Electrical24 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
I have been in the electricial industry for 18 years, I trained as an apprentice to the standard of an 'Electrical Technician' the highest grade possible to achieve for an electrician specialising in domestic and commercial work. I am fully registered with Elesca on the Part...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By ssapsford on 30th Nov, 2018
COI Electrics21 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Part P approved contractor accredited by the NICEIC and qualified to City & Guilds level, with up to date knowledge of current regulations including 17th edition. Being honest, reliable & competitively priced with high standards has meant most of my work comes from repeat...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By sarahjames_54 on 5th Oct, 2018
JMT-Electrical.com25 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Experienced electrician, Part P and Periodic Inspections, trustworthy and is vetted by the Police Service. All work to a high standard. Consumer Units, Re-wires, Lighting, Inspection and Testing, New Builds, Additional Sockets or Lights. Works weekends to suit those...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By albanhouse on 11th Feb, 2016
Sensor Electrical Services30 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
We are an Electrical Contracting Company based in Watford, Hertfordshire. We are registered with and regulated by the NICEIC, this makes us a ''Part P'' registered company and the full scope of our work comes with a 6 year insurance backed warranty.
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By phil83 on 11th May, 2015
ELSYS ELECTRICAL11 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Quality electrical electrical services, house rewire, fault finding, electrical repairs, fuse box replacement, electrical testing and inspection. We have been rated by our customers to be "professional in approach, reliable and very reasonably priced" and also that our "work...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By tcarter2312 on 19th Sep, 2016
LC Building Services13 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Highly Skilled&confident multiskilled Tradesman,No. of yrs experience as a Carpenter with Blue CSCS Card & fully City&Guilds qualified NICEIC approved Domestic Part P registered Electrician & also Registered as a Gas Safe Engineer .We carried out all...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By mccarnegie on 21st Oct, 2018
Edwards Electrical Installations9 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
Hello welcome to Edwards Electrical Installations, we offer friendly and professional electrical services. We pride ourselves on the high standard of work we carry out. All work is carried out to the current version of the IET Wiring Regulations BS7671:2015 AMD...
Latest Electrical feedback review:
By nmearing on 3rd Jun, 2016
Need a tradesman?
Post a job on MyBuilder to find a quality, local tradesperson.
How MyBuilder works
1. Post a job
First, create a job listing for your electrical project. It's quick, easy and free - the first step to finding recommended electricians in HP4, Berkhamsted.
2. Hire a tradesman
Having met our recommended electricians in HP4, Berkhamsted and read customer reviews, you're ready to decide which electricians to hire.
3. Leave feedback
After your project is successfully completed, you can leave a review for your electricians. This review helps you and future MyBuilder users.
What our customers say
- "I have had 7 responses, what a great site! I tried another website and got no responses at all... Well done!"
- John Harries
Tradesmen in HP4, Berkhamsted
- Architectural Designers
- Bathroom Fitters
- Bricklayers
- Carpenters & Joiners
- Carpet Fitters
- Chimney & Fireplace Specialists
- Conservatory Installers
- Conversion Specialists
- Damp Proofing Specialists
- Demolition Contractors
- Driveway Pavers
- Electricians
- Extension Builders
- Fascias, Soffits and Guttering Specialists
- Fencers
- Flooring Fitters
- Gas Engineers
- Groundworkers
- Handymen
- Heating Engineers
- Insulation Installers
- Kitchen Fitters
- Landscape Gardeners
- Locksmiths
- Loft Conversion Specialists
- New Home Builders
- Painters & Decorators
- Plasterers
- Plumbers
- Restoration & Refurb Specialists
- Roofers
- Security System Installers
- Stonemasons
- Tilers
- Tree Surgeons
- Window Fitters
- All Tradesmen