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A technologist at heart, Progress Chief Executive Officer Yogesh Gupta is passionate about how technology can make life simpler—both in the workplace and at home. He brings an infectious energy to work each day, defining company strategy and direction, gaining alignment and ensuring each team has what it needs to execute. His goal is for Progress to be a powerful voice in fueling marketplace transformation.
Yogesh blends his experience as a developer, marketer, CTO and CEO into a unified whole, and has led organizations ranging from start-ups to public tech companies. Yogesh understands the importance and value of agility at scale, making him uniquely qualified to lead Progress into the future. He comes to Progress from CEO roles at Kaseya and FatWire Software, and rose through the ranks to CTO while at CA. Yogesh also loves mentoring entrepreneurs, where he gets as much as he gives by nurturing the next generation of tech innovators. From monitoring both marketplace trends and customer needs, Yogesh keeps Progress a step ahead in building innovative products that customers want, driving both revenue and shareholder value.
A recognized expert in emerging technologies and industry trends, and a published author, Yogesh holds a patent in the field of neural networks. He earned a Master's Degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor's Degree in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
As Chief Financial Officer of Progress, Paul is the steward of the company's finances, with primary responsibility for the company's finance and accounting, financial planning, treasury, tax and investor relations functions. Paul joined Progress in August 2012 as its Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Paul has built and promoted a finance organization with outstanding breadth and depth of knowledge.
Paul has over thirty years of experience as a finance executive in public and private software companies ranging from Picis, a provider of healthcare software solutions, to multinational corporations such as Keane, Genuity and Verizon. A results-oriented financial professional, Paul has tremendous depth of expertise in accounting, SEC reporting, financial planning and analysis, performance management, mergers and acquisitions, and building high performance teams.
Paul received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Southern New Hampshire University and is a Certified Public Accountant (Inactive Status).
As Senior Vice President of Core Products, John oversees Progress' core portfolio, including OpenEdge, DataDirect, Sitefinity and other products. John is responsible for engineering, product management, product marketing and technical support. A driven leader with a proven track record of managing large mission-critical product lines, John's focus is on strengthening our core products and helping our customers and partners succeed working with Progress.
John has worked in the enterprise software industry for over 25 years, with extensive experience in engineering, presales and product management. Prior to joining Progress, he held positions of increasing seniority at CA Technologies, the most recent being Senior Vice President of Engineering Services. In that role, he was responsible for delivering horizontal engineering services to CA business units and product teams across the company's entire product portfolio. In other roles at CA, John was responsible for various R&D initiatives, including roles with CA's offshore development center and served as SVP for a number of large and diverse product lines core to CA's business.
John graduated from Coventry University in the UK, with a degree in Computer Science.
Ask Steve Faberman what he does as Progress Chief Legal Officer, and he'll tell you that he's the conscience of the company, always working to spur a forward trajectory for Progress as it executes on aggressive growth strategies. His team navigates legal plumbing to keep Progress fully compliant, transparent and above board in all it does. Steve is passionate about answering the "how" questions behind Progress success: how it builds, buys or partners to extend its market leadership position.
A Red Sox loyalist who boldly voices his fandom for Bruce Springsteen, Steve has seen the "The Boss" in concert over 20 times. Steve's personality perfectly matches his profession. His innate commitment to honest decision making is an ideal fit for his role as Progress Chief Compliance Officer. Steve's quick-witted humor is a true asset, and one frequently refined on the Progress executive team.
Steve brought a wealth of experience to Progress from his early days as a partner at Bingham McCutchen, to his Vice President, Corporate Counsel experience at Heritage Property Investment Trust. Steve has long led teams in corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, intellectual property, real estate, litigation and more. Steve earned his J.D. degree from Boston College Law School, and holds a B.A. degree in History from Tufts University.
As Chief Marketing Officer, Loren is responsible for driving Progress' global marketing and strategy, applying her strong strategic, analytical and go-to-market skills to propel new growth for the business. Loren is excited by the opportunity to build on the company's strong commitment to its core business and to capture and deliver on the emerging market for the business applications of tomorrow.
A growth-stage CMO, Loren's passion is to develop and execute on winning strategies for driving the next phase of growth for companies. Loren brings an impressive track record to her work at Progress. Most recently as Chief Marketing Officer at Acquia, she drove creation of a predictable and scalable demand generation model, launched new positioning and accelerated Acquia's leadership position with analysts. As CMO of Kaseya, Loren built a global marketing team focused on digital marketing and high-velocity demand generation. At FatWire, leading both Marketing and Product Management, Loren drove redefinition of the company's positioning and product direction, doubling the size of the business and leading to a strategic sale to Oracle. Earlier, Loren also held leadership positions at CA Technologies, Oracle and American Express.
Loren holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA from Yale University.
As Chief Information Officer, Tony will drive the transformation of our business processes and systems and lead the development and implementation of our overall technology strategy for all internal systems and business processes. Focused on making our organization more effective both in terms of our interactions with our customers and partners, as well as our employees, Tony will oversee Enterprise Applications and IT (networking, collaboration/email, help desk, data center infrastructure and services), Business Applications (front-, mid-, and back-office applications), and Information Security.
Tony came to Progress from Stratus Technologies where he led global IT since 2014. Prior to that, he provided global IT leadership for Acme Packet, a public tech company acquired by Oracle in 2013. Tony brings 25 years of experience in the creation and execution of IT strategy. His career spans multiple industries and regions and includes companies ranging from startups to global public companies.
Tony completed his graduate studies in computer science at Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland. He holds a BA in economics and history from Maynooth University and is currently pursuing his MBA at Bentley University.
As SVP of the Core Field Organization at Progress, Gary Quinn is responsible for strengthening our core business and go-to-market strategy. With a strong track record of fostering growth and improving customer relationships in the technology space, Gary's expertise will enable us to further build upon our install base—especially our flourishing ISV community. He is a key member of our executive leadership team and will play a pivotal role in planning and executing upon our goals.
Gary brings an incredibly successful career as a field-facing enterprise software executive to his role at Progress, with extensive experience leading partner-driven go-to-markets. Gary was previously the CEO of FalconStor, where he delivered dramatically enhanced customer relationships, a go-to-market strategy and a technology roadmap to enable growth. His work rejuvenated customer and investor confidence, resulting in a share price increase of over 100% in 18 months. Prior to FalconStor, Gary spent 20 years at CA Technologies, where he held a series of increasingly responsible executive field-facing roles, including EVP of International Sales and North American channels, and EVP of Global Channels.
Gary graduated from Hofstra University in Uniondale, New York, with a degree in Computer Science.
As SVP & GM of the Developer Tooling Business, Faris is responsible for driving the overall success of this business for Progress, ensuring the company continues to deliver best-of-breed tools for developers. His responsibilities include running engineering, product, support, sales and marketing for these product lines.
Boldly tackling software development challenges for over 19 years, Faris was previously the Chief Technical Officer for Telerik, where he led technical direction for the company until it was acquired by Progress in 2014. This admitted tech-gadget guy loves basketball almost as much as a good political or religious debate. Yet, much of his work and technology ethic was shaped by his 10-year tenure at Microsoft, working on the core team that built the first versions of .NET, and his former start-up, ArtOfTest, where he experienced technology innovation, go-to-market and building teams from scratch from the vantage point of a start-up.
All of which came after he earned his Bachelor's degree in computer engineering from Purdue University.
Progress Chief Talent Officer Dimi Taslakov leverages the strategic skills of the number one Progress asset—its people—to help employees find an optimal path for themselves and the company. This ensures Progress makes a positive impact for customers, employees, shareholders and the many communities the company serves.
Dimi played a vital role at Telerik for more than 10 years, prior to its 2014 acquisition by Progress. Among his many contributions, he served as General Manager for Telerik Americas, Global Sales Lead and Chief Talent Officer, where he secured top talent and promoted a unique corporate culture across four continents.
As someone who learns by doing, Dimi makes his dent in the universe by embracing new challenges as opportunities to stretch the boundaries of what's possible. His passion is working with people who believe they can change the world, and channeling that energy into action that gives Progress a competitive edge.
As CTO, Dmitri Tcherevik leads Progress' vision and technology strategy for cognitive applications across its product portfolio. As a core member of the Progress executive team, he not only executes upon Progress' technology road map, but leads future technology efforts including incubation projects, technology M&A and strategic alliances. Dmitri is an industry innovator with a proven track record of creating and evangelizing game-changing technology strategies. He's at once a hands-on engineer, strategist and practical go to market expert, with exceptional skills in devising and implementing technology strategy for emerging technologies.
Dmitri is a serial entrepreneur, having founded two successful technology start-ups—MightyMeeting and Infostoria (acquired by Fatwire in 2007). Dmitri served as CTO at FatWire, where he helped to define the market around Web Experience Management, until its strategic sale to Oracle in 2010. Prior to FatWire, Dmitri led emerging technology development at CA. He carries specialties in the areas of mobile apps and platforms, cloud services, collaboration, web experience management and enterprise application integration. He also has a background in machine learning, having contributed to development of a groundbreaking AI engine used in chess programs and economic forecasting software.
Dmitri majored in applied math and intelligent systems design at the National Nuclear Research University, Moscow, where he graduated with honors.
Jack Egan is currently managing partner of Egan-Managed Capital, a Boston based venture capital fund he founded in October 1998 that specializes in technology and early stage investments. From October 1986 until September 1998, Egan served in a number of executive positions with EMC Corporation, including Executive Vice President, Products and Offerings, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Executive Vice President, Operations and Executive Vice President, International Sales. Egan ceased to be an employee of EMC Corporation in 2002.
Egan also serves on the Board of Directors for other publicly traded and privately held companies, including EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), where he has served on the Board of Directors for almost twenty years; VMware, Inc.(NYSE: VMW); and NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT), where he serves as Lead Director, as well as Verint Systems (NASDAQ: VRNT). Egan also serves in a variety of leadership roles within the Board of Directors of several privately held technology companies, including HighRoads Corporation, Platform Computing Corporation and Healthrageous, Inc. Egan holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Computer Science from Boston College.
Paul T. Dacier is currently the General Counsel of Indigo Agriculture, Inc., a Boston-based agricultural technology start-up company that specializes in products designed to maximize crop health and productivity, which he joined in March 2017. Previously, Mr. Dacier was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) from 1990 until September 2016, when EMC was acquired by Dell Technologies. He was responsible for the worldwide legal affairs of EMC and its subsidiaries and oversaw the company's internal audit, real estate and facilities organizations, sustainability and government affairs departments. Mr. Dacier also currently serves on the Board of Directors for AerCap Holdings NV (NYSE: AER), the world's largest independent aircraft leasing company, and GTY Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: GTYHU), a technology holding company.
Dr. Rainer Gawlick currently serves on the Board of Directors of Proto Labs, Inc. (NYSE: PRLB), a leading online and technology-enabled quick-turn manufacturer of custom parts for prototyping and short-run production. Dr. Gawlick also serves on the Board of Directors of ChyronHego Corp., a private company specializing in broadcast graphics creation, playout and real-time data visualization, NewForma, a private company providing leading collaboration and project information management platform, and Meltwater, Inc., a private software-as-a service company that develops and markets media monitoring and business intelligence software. He is also an advisor to Vector Capital. Previously, Dr. Gawlick was President of Perfecto Mobile, Ltd., a leader in mobile testing, from July 2015 until September 2016. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President of Global Sales at IntraLinks, Inc., a computer software company providing virtual data rooms and other content management services, from April 2012 until July 2015. From August 2008 to April 2012, Dr. Gawlick served as Chief Marketing Officer of Sophos Ltd., a computer security company providing endpoint, network and data protection software. From April 2005 to August 2008, Dr. Gawlick served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Strategy at SolidWorks Corp., a CAD software company. He also has held a variety of executive positions in other technology businesses and was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Dr. Gawlick holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Charles Kane is a Senior Lecturer in Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management Group and also in the Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Kane serves as the audit chairman on the Progress board of directors.
Kane is currently chairman of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Foundation and was formerly the president of OLPC, a nonprofit organization that provides technology to enhance education in less developed countries. Prior to OLPC, Kane was a founding investor and CFO of Global BPO Services Corp., a Special Purpose Acquisition Corp. that acquired Stream Global Services.
Prior to Global BPO, Kane was the CFO of RSA Security (acquired by EMC); CFO of Aspen Technology; president and CEO of Corechange, Inc. (acquired by Open Text Corp.); and CFO of Informix Software (acquired by IBM). He has also served in financial executive positions at Stratus Computer, Prime Computer, and Deloitte.
Throughout his career, Kane has been involved in developing and executing sophisticated financial strategies in globalizing corporations and mergers and acquisitions. He is a frequent speaker and writer on these topics, as well as other international financial topics and social entrepreneurial ventures. Besides Progress, Kane is the audit chairman on the boards of Carbonite (CARB); Demandware (DWRE); RealPage (RP), and Photobox LTD.
He also served on the Boards of Applix (acquired by IBM); Borland Software (acquired by Micro Focus LTD; and Netezza Corp (acquired by IBM). Kane is also on the Board and a founding member of the Hult Global Challenge which is now part of the Clinton Global Initiative. He is a certified public accountant and has taught international finance at the business schools of Boston College and Babson College. Kane is the coauthor of the book, Learning to Change the World—the Social Impact of One Laptop per Child.
Kane holds a BBA in accounting from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in international finance from Babson College.
Sam King is Senior Vice President, General Manager and Chief Strategy Officer of Veracode, the application security business of CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA). In her role as leader of Veracode, which CA Technologies acquired nearly a year ago, Ms. King is responsible for all functions of the Veracode business unit. Over the past decade, Ms. King has held roles of increasing seniority at Veracode including Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Product Management and Marketing, GM of their Mobile business from 2012 to 2015, and Senior Vice President of Product Marketing from 2009 to 2012. Prior to Veracode, she led the development of security-as-a-service offerings at VeriSign, and held leadership roles in product management, product marketing, professional services and customer relationship management at the company. Ms. King received her Masters of Science and Engineering in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania. She received her BS in Computer Science from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.
David Krall currently serves as Strategic Advisor and a member of the Board of Directors of Universal Audio. Prior to Universal Audio, Krall was president and chief operating officer of Roku, Inc. and now serves as a strategic advisor. Prior to Roku, Krall served for one and a half years as president and CEO of QSecure, and now serves as executive chair of the QSecure Board of Directors. Before joining QSecure, Krall served for seven years as president and CEO of Avid Technology, Inc., a leading tools provider to the media and entertainment industries, based in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Under Krall's leadership, Avid doubled its revenues to just under $1 Billion annually, introduced groundbreaking new products in its core businesses, and expanded into new markets through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.
Krall brings over 20 years of invaluable strategic and tactical management experience to Universal Audio from his leadership positions in the professional audio, video, digital media, and technology industries. Krall has experience working in companies ranging from small startups to public companies with thousands of employees serving worldwide marketplaces.
Angela Tucci, a highly experienced enterprise SaaS executive, is Chief Executive Officer of Apto, the leading web-based software for managing customer relationships, properties, listings, deals and commissions for commercial real estate brokers. Prior to Apto, which she joined in 2017, Ms. Tucci was the General Manager of the Agile Management Unit of CA Technologies from 2015 to 2017. From 2014 to 2015, she led a 300-person global sales, consulting services, and marketing team as the Chief Revenue Officer of publicly-traded Rally Software, which CA Technologies acquired in 2015. Ms. Tucci originally joined Rally Software as Chief Marketing Officer in 2013 and was promoted to Chief Revenue Officer in 2014. Ms. Tucci previously held positions as Chief Strategy Officer at Symantec and NEON Enterprise Software. She received an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University.
Copyright © 2019 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
Progress, Telerik, and certain product names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries. See Trademarks for appropriate markings.


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Same Night Lays are advanced. Just a handful guys in the world can consistently approach a high quality woman (not a drunk, stumbling one) with real confidence, generate attraction effortlessly, and build such strong sexual tension that sex naturally happens that very night.
The average guy goes to a bar or club and is happy to get a girl's phone number so he can "call her and hang out sometime." But what if you want more? Enter Simplified Natural. It's possible to learn how to escalate and sexualize things extremely quickly in a way that's fun and genuine for both of you. No manipulation involved. Rather, sex becomes a culmination of intense attraction and a heated sexual environment that you've created. It's all done in a manner that is completely natural and normal. That's a Same Night Lay done right.
Social rules and norms aside, men and women have been going to bars and clubs for years hoping the night will end in a sexual encounter. Most guys have probably had a one-night stand at some point in their lives, but there's a distinct difference between "getting lucky" and having the confidence and natural attraction to consistently pull Same Night Lays with high quality women. Bottom line? If you really want to be among this small handful of men, this seminar is for you.
Do you want to become the kind of guy who exudes a sexual aura that women find irresistible, comfortable, and fun? The Same Night Lay seminar teaches you what 95% of men don't know when it comes to taking a girl home the night you meet her.
So now you know what it takes, what about what you get out of the Simplified Natural (formerly "Game 3.0") Same Night Lays Seminar? Here are just a few things you'll internalize during the experience:
These are just a few of the things you'll learn during the Same Night Lays seminar. If you're at the point in your life where you just want to enjoy being single in a way that's not sleazy, this is an experience you can't afford to miss. Sign up today!

subset: commoncrawl


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This casserole is made for dipping.
It's spicy with a bit of Spanish rice flair and falls on the healthy-ish side.
I know it's not the prettiest meal, but it tastes so good.
Usually, my healthy experiments don't go so well.
However, this casserole is an exception.
I was able to use brown rice, nonfat sour cream and less oil than the original and it still tastes fab.
The cheese is the one caveat to this mostly healthy dish.
It's optional, though, if you have a no-cheese eater in the fam like we do.
The salsa you pick has everything to do with the "heat" of the casserole.
I always go for the hot type, which makes for a spicy dish.
The sauteed chicken makes it a main meal, but I swear, this casserole is a dippable dinner.
Tortilla chips are almost required.
Mexican Chicken Casserole
adapted from Allrecipes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2-3 large breasts), cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms
- 4 cups cooked rice (I use brown but white works just fine)
- 3/4 cup non-fat sour cream
- 16 oz (about 2 cups) prepared salsa (I use the hot stuff)
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, optional — see note
- Taco seasoning (I use a blend of cumin, chili powder, black pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flake)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
If you haven't done so already, prepare rice according to package directions. (I prefer the slow-cook kind, which takes about 45 minutes, but instant works just fine.) You will need 4 cups of cooked rice. Set aside.
Place 1 teaspoon olive oil in large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breast pieces and season with taco seasoning or your own Mexican season blend. Stir and cook until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Set aside.
Place 2 teaspoons olive oil in a small saute pan over medium heat. Saute mushrooms until they release their liquid and darken in color. Set aside.
Add cooked chicken, mushrooms, cooked rice, sour cream, salsa, black beans and cheddar cheese to the baking pan. Stir everything together until all of the ingredients are well-combined and the casserole is a fairly uniform color.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until casserole bubbles around the edges. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream and salsa, if desired.
Note: If you're looking to avoid cheese, you can decrease it or skip it altogether. I've made it without the cheese and found that it wasn't as creamy, but it still had good flavor. Also, on a veggie note, the recipe is versatile. I've added steamed corn and red bell pepper to mix in the past.


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The seventh in a series on the Ten Critical Components of Special Finance Success
Special Finance involves Ten Critical Components. We have spent the last six articles detailing the steps necessary to build a foundation for the department and to process customers through the door. It is all for naught if we can't structure the car deal to maximize the opportunities for gross profit. Gross profit makes the world go 'round. You can't spend a "unit," a "deal," or any other measurement—it all revolves around the gross. What then, does it take to earn that gross, and what exactly should our target be?
First, a sidebar. When discussing gross profit, remember all references are to general ledger gross profit. You must add back in any soft packs (amounts added to the true inventory cost of the vehicle to reduce commissions payable) to determine these. General ledger gross profit is the number actually reported on the financial statements.
Next come the targets. For franchise and independent dealers, the target for front-end (vehicle) gross profit is the same, with $2,625 being the 75th percentile guide. For Special Finance dealers, average is $2,008. On the other hand, because independent dealers have fewer finance companies available, the guides for back-end (finance and insurance) gross profit are not the same. The guide for franchise dealers is $785, while it drops to $740 for independents.
So, how do we reach and exceed these targets? There are five steps to follow after the appropriate finance company has been determined during the sales process.
Step number one, you must expect and believe you can attain these gross profits. Don't set your standard for a "bell-ringer" deal at $3,000 or $3,500. Instead, set it for $5,000, $6,000 or more. Don't rationalize smaller numbers. I assure you these are very real. The guide is based on the 75th percentile, which by definition means that one in four dealers is performing even better, while three in four do worse. I have worked with many dealers that would be sorely disappointed to settle for these targets.
In step two, we begin to calculate the deal. Think "Bottoms Up!" No, that does not have anything to do with consuming something purchased in the form of a six-pack (although there are times when short deals might lead someone to doing so). Bottoms Up simply means starting the deal at the bottom rather than at an advertised price.
For example: After reviewing the customer statement and credit information, you feel certain that your buyer will only qualify through a finance company that will advance 115 percent of invoice or NADA trade value for the vehicle, and 135 percent of the NADA trade including tax, tags and after-sale products. Additionally, the finance company will cap the payment at no more than 15 percent of the buyer's monthly income. This isn't a problem if you are aware of it in advance, but if you have a customer sold on a vehicle and need to finance MSRP or more, you are obviously in big trouble.
First, we must determine the maximum monthly payment allowed by the finance company. We simply multiply the buyer's monthly income by 15 percent, and we immediately know what the largest monthly payment will be.
Time to involve step three—inventory. It is important to ensure that the vehicles you suggest will work within both the buyer's and the finance company's budget. Metaphorically speaking, don't try to put size 13 feet into size 10 shoes. You want to select vehicles that can be sold at full-maximum gross profit, as opposed to one where the finance company will cap the sale price due to advance or maximum allowed monthly payment. You should have your vehicles already booked out and sorted by monthly payment (or should be using software that performs that function quickly). This allows you to know which vehicles will (at full-gross-profit opportunity) fit into applicable payment range.
Once the buyer has selected a vehicle, the maximum advance available on that vehicle from the chosen finance company is determined by using the NADA book and multiplying the Average Trade Value by 115 percent (the maximum allowed by the finance company in this example). Adding the available down payment to the maximum vehicle advance provides the maximum sale price available. This will give you the maximum vehicle gross profit that can be financed by this finance company. Since this is the maximum allowed, you wouldn't want to negotiate a deal resulting in a higher sale price, as you know in advance that the finance company would not fund it.
Finally, multiply the same book value by 135 percent. This amount will be the maximum amount that can be advanced for the entire deal. To determine how much room there is for back-end product, we subtract the 110 percent amount from the 135 percent amount, then any monies required to cover tax, title and tags (since we have to record perfect a lien). The remainder is the amount of money available to sell a service contract, GAP, credit life or any other back-end product.
Using this process, you have now a structured a deal that when contracted will fall within the finance company's guidelines and provide the maximum gross profit available on the deal. It also staves off the dangerous situation requiring you to bring the customer back to the dealership and re-contract, which always has the potential to unwind the deal…or worse.
Time for step number four—down payment. When it comes to down payment, you simply must not be afraid to ask for it. The highest grossing Special Finance dealers consistently average higher down payments. The reason this is important is when working deals from the bottom up, down payments become additional gross profit. If you start a deal using the finance company's minimum required down payment to make a deal, it will be difficult to raise it during negotiations. As a result, you will be leaving significant gross profit on the table.
Step number five involves good relationships with the finance company and the "art" of rehashing deals. Most finance companies have "wiggle" room, which will give them some flexibility to help put deals together. Don't be afraid to ask for a rate concession or reduced discounts on deals already approved, signed, sealed and delivered. Just keep in mind, "Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered." Don't be too greedy.
The process and deal structure can be summarized by a few simple but vital steps. To maximize gross, make sure that you work the deal backwards, have the customer directed toward the proper inventory, obtain as much down payment as possible and rehash deals, when possible, with your finance companies.
For one in 10 dealerships, this is a routine process that is an everyday occurrence. The other nine out of 10 should give it a try. It will be an opportunity to add both additional deals and significant gross profit to the bottom line.
Next month we will discuss the eighth critical component, Marketing and Advertising. Until then, Good Selling!
Vol 5, Issue 7
Nissan Gets Aggressive on Leasing
Nissan made the Sentra America's most affordable lease vehicle in January and lowered the average cost to lease a new Altima by 20%.


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We are organising a session on Git to keep track of your source code. The meeting will be in-world, in the Open Wonderland Community Server and we are still trying to finalise the times.
Possible dates are being tracked down here. Write your name down if you want to participate.
The session will be very simple, all from scratch, and will focus on how to use Git and github.
Hope to see you there!
UPDATE: The session happened on the 8th of October but it will be repeated soon, so get in touch if you want to participate!


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Dear United States, Welcome to the Third World!
It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation, and we here at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of states in desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are delighted to respond to your Treasury Department's request that we undertake a joint stability assessment of your financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors willing to perform an emergency overhaul of your entire government.
As you know, some outside intervention in your economy is overdue. Last week -- even before Wall Street's latest collapse -- 13 former finance ministers convened at the University of Virginia and agreed that you must fix your "broken financial system." Australia's Peter Costello noted that lately you've been "exporting instability" in world markets, and Yashwant Sinha, former finance minister of India, concluded, "The time has come. The U.S. should accept some monitoring by the IMF."
We hope you won't feel embarrassed as we assess the stability of your economy and suggest needed changes. Remember, many other countries have been in your shoes. We've bailed out the economies of Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea. But whether our work is in Sudan, Bangladesh or now the United States, our experts are committed to intervening in national economies with care and sensitivity.


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Please take a moment to review our site. Our next meeting will be held Thursday, September 13, 2018 at the IBM Chicago Technical Exploration Center (TEC) located in the Hyatt Center, 71 South Wacker Drive, 6th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606.
Click here to register for the 3rd Quarter Meeting - September 13, 2018.
Walk-ins are welcome for only $35.00 daily fee applicable to a full year membership.
MWDUG c/o Technical Registration Experts, Inc. (TREX)
303 West State Street
Geneva, IL 60134
Phone: 630-578-3991
Fax: 630-262-1520
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
New Contact: Jeffrey Miller or Sue Reed
Website: http://www.mwdug.org
The Learning Optimizer: an Overview of IBM Db2 AI for z/OS
Robert Catterall, IBM Corporation
Choosing the optimal access path for a query, and doing that in a few milliseconds or less, is no easy task. Even with the most sophisticated query optimizer on the market (IBM invented cost-based SQL optimization), Db2 for z/OS doesn't always choose the best-performing access path for a query. Why? Largely because Db2 has had to act without information - specific to YOUR environment - that is critically important with regard to effective access path selection. Up until now, that is. The brand-new IBM Db2 AI for z/OS is going to fundamentally change the access path selection story in a positive way. This session will provide an overview of what IBM Db2 AI for z/OS is, how it does what it does, and its potential to substantially improve query execution performance in diverse Db2 for z/OS environments.
Michael Cotignola is a Principal Software Consultant supporting BMC's DB2 Mainframe Solutions. In this role, he helps his clients maximize the value they receive from BMC's DB2 products. Michael has worked in IT since 1975 in numerous IT disciplines, including operations, application development, and database administration. He has been working with DB2 since version 1.1. Prior to joining BMC Software in 1996, Michael was a Managing Consultant for a large telecommunications and technology firm in Canada. Michael was president of IDUG and continues to be involved with IDUG in several capacities, and nominated as an IBM Analytics Champion for 2018.
Jim Knisley is currently an zAnalytics Architect with IBM in the Financial Services Sector. He works with many of IBM's largest banking and insurance customers to develop analytics solutions on z/OS. Prior to joining IBM 6 years ago, during his 30+ year career, he has been an application developer, database administrator, and system programmer for Db2 z/OS and IMS for various companies in manufacturing, defense, banking, and insurance. He began his Db2 career on Db2 Version 1.3 and IMS 3.1.
Robert Catterall is a Senior Consulting Db2 for z/OS Specialist with IBM. He started his IT career with IBM in 1982, and worked throughout the 1990s as a member of the Company's DB2 for z/OS National Technical Support team. From 2000 to 2007, Robert worked as a database technology strategist for CheckFree (now part of Fiserv). After working for three years as an independent DB2 consultant, he rejoined IBM in 2010. Robert is a past President of the International DB2 Users Group (IDUG), and a member of IDUG's Speakers Hall of Fame. He presents frequently at conferences, and blogs about DB2 for z/OS at http://robertsdb2blog.blogspot.com/


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Look at what I found at my almost-local (45 miles away) Re-Store:
Love the autumn leaves, but not loving the brass handle/stem, plus the finish was worn. Thankfully, it all came apart!
|I think this was Oneida Premier
Since this was metal, I figured automotive primer would work well:
|It looks better already
But I thought this might look even better:
Yep - Oil Rubbed Bronze with those little metallic flecks. Love!
One more pic:
Can't have any of those cookies - I ate them all. No, not in one day! Jeez - it took three days - I'm watching my waistline
This was something that someone drilled and put together - anyone know if they still sell those handle/stem thingees still? I still want to make my own...
Here's a sneak peek into some projects I'm working on:


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Part of the digital literacies discussions that I've been following of late have centered on the long-discussed (but not always applied) potential associated with using comics for intertextual, heavily visual, narrative formats through which kids can explore cultural themes, literature and learning. It's a fascinating idea that draws on the long history of comics, picture books, and transmedia intertexts within children's culture...while tapping into children's actual leisure practices in a way that transcends the usual boundaries between cultural categories (high/low culture, literature/entertainment, etc.) and gives some serious consideration to the value and possibilities contained within the re-emergence of comics as a literary form.
Not that comics have ever really gone anywhere, but they've certainly resurfaced within the mainstream in a big way these past few years -- a way that hasn't really been seen since, well, i'm not really sure when! (golden age? silver age?). I remember that Scholastic initiated a big push toward graphic novels and comics a number of years ago (e.g., click here to find out more about the launch of their Comix line back in 2005). And certainly, the emerging research on kids' reading habits within digital games and online environments is relevant to this discussion as well (e.g., Jackie Marsh's work on kids reading and writing in virtual worlds). Obviously, there are many more connections between this body of work and the research I'm doing on kids' games, and some cool possibilities of merging the two areas...not just thematically (which has been done before), but "ludic"ally as well. I still have a lot of catching up to do, and until my PhD is "in hand," this is definitely on the back-burner. But as a former comicbook collector and current reader of graphic novels (well, TPBs in my case), this whole realm definitely draws my attention.
Some neat places to start for finding out more about the kids' "comics space," and exploring its increased presence within both educational curriculum and kids' digital culture:
James Bucky Carter's En/Sane World - a repository of info and resources on "Sequential Art Narratives in Education (SANE)". His site includes lots of links and ideas for educators, as well as a variety of sources on "multigenre, multimodal, or otherwise "New" literacies."
The Online Visual Literacy Project - not just about comics, but appears to have some interesting background literature.
A short but sweet archive of comics-related posts on Media Macaroni, which includes a list of comics that the "cool kids" read and a great post about (as well as my first introduction to) Babymouse.
This excellent reading list of kids' comics posted by Jonathan Liu on GeekDad, in which he provides some great "off the beaten path" alternatives to the usual big name titles put out by Marvel and Disney (and yes - it was written in response to their partnership announcement this past summer).
Some of my own favourite kid-friendly titles (which I also posted in the comments section on GeekDad), that I would love to see more of within kids' digital culture:
Ted Naifeh's Courtney Crumrin (think Harry Potter meets Hellboy meets Angry Little Girls)
Mike Kunkel's Herobear and the Kid (actually anything by Astonish Factory is unique and all ages)
Jacob Chabot's The Mighty Skullboy Army
And, although not always for kids, I really like the artwork and concept behind Roy Husada's Opera Manga, which he creates for the Vancouver Opera as a way of communicating/summarizing the storylines of upcoming performances to audiences. Very cool.
Of course, the renewed academic/press interest in comics, visual literacies and interactive storytelling is also in part being driven by kids themselves. For example, according to an article published last August in Publishers Weekly by Ada Price, web comics are being produced/created by younger and younger artists and writers, who are in turn benefiting from online distribution systems and exposure to land publishing deals with traditional book publishers. Again, nothing exceedingly new here...but the increased access (to younger age groups) and viability (in terms of potential for creators to actually generate an income from their artistic labour) are certainly keeping the topic relevant. I wonder how many actual "kids" are getting in on this, and I want to find out where they distribute their UGComics, and what the audience or community is like. I'm glad to see that this topic hasn't faded away and in fact appears to be gaining momentum. More links to come as I find them.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Kids' Comic Space
Posted by Sara M. Grimes at 10:31 PM
Labels: kids' media, literature, resource
1 comment:
- Shaping Youth said...
You have the greatest stuff, Sara...now if I can just wiggle in my solo, quiet time to sit still and READ it to digest each morsel! ( I don't know about you, but after being in front of a screen all day, I long for tactile, tangible books-n-blankies. ;-)
Babymouse, eh? Gotta check that one; have a ratty rat here that's taken up residence at our shoreline offering comic relief of a diff. sort.
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Dec 25, 2015
South Korea to Sign Contract on KF-X Next Week
The Defense Acquisition Procurement Administration plans to ink the deal with Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd.
South Korea hopes to produce its own fighter jet to replace the aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s by mid-2020.
Last month, KAI secured Indonesia's assurance that it will pay for 20 percent of the total cost expected to reach $15 billion.
Under the contract between the DAPA and KAI, six test planes will be manufactured by 2025.
The KF-X project received a boost from the U.S. pledge to transfer some of its jet technologies. But South Korea faces a daunting task of finding an alternative as the U.S. made it clear that four core technologies will be excluded.
Those are the active electronically scanned radar, infrared search-and-rescue system, electro-optical targeting pod and radio frequency jammer.
Etiquetas: F-4, F-5, INDONESIA, KAI, ROKAF, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED STATES, USA
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Above is a show reel of my animation work. It contains clips from my second year and third year films at Calarts as well as shots I animated for class assignments and a piece I animated interning at Open the Portal. The song used in the video is: A Bouquet of Roses by Dj Quads.
My name is Blake Derksen and I am an animator. From a young age I have enjoyed experimenting in a variety of art forms from drawing to origami. After discovering stop motion, I have enjoyed bringing a variety of media to life with the animation technique. Now I am studying experimental animation at Calarts where I continue to grow and experiment with stop motion and mixed-media.


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Is that food really organic? How much radiation is present? What's your ideal climate? We discovered the Lapka Personal Environment Monitor and—in the name of sublime science visualizations—had to crown it as Inspirational Design of the Week. Via Uncrate:
The various components that make up the Lapka Personal Environment Monitor are useful — they can individually test for radiation, whether food is organic or not, electromagnetic fields, and climate — otherwise known as temperature and humidity. And yes, they connect to your iPhone using nothing but a simple headphone cable. But what's really impressive is how they manage to be so stylish while being so unbelievably small.
The device is highly sensitive and responds to the invisible world of particles, ions, molecules and waves, so it can analyze your surroundings and smartly combine the results into guideline values for your comfort.
The Lapka is coming later this year ($TBA) and the company says that "the experience of being able to take precise measurements and the beautiful visualization of what's beyond our perception are inspiring and addictive". We can't wait!
What are your favorite apps for visualizing or applying science in our everyday lives?
We're always on the lookout for cool DNA developments! Did you catch this story via Science Now?
When it comes to storing information, hard drives don't hold a candle to DNA. Our genetic code packs billions of gigabytes into a single gram. A mere milligram of the molecule could encode the complete text of every book in the Library of Congress and have plenty of room to spare. All of this has been mostly theoretical—until now. In a new study, researchers stored an entire genetics textbook in less than a picogram of DNA—one trillionth of a gram—an advance that could revolutionize our ability to save data.
A few teams have tried to write data into the genomes of living cells. But the approach has a couple of disadvantages. First, cells die—not a good way to lose your term paper. They also replicate, introducing new mutations over time that can change the data.
To get around these problems, a team led by George Church, a synthetic biologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, created a DNA information-archiving system that uses no cells at all. Instead, an inkjet printer embeds short fragments of chemically synthesized DNA onto the surface of a tiny glass chip. To encode a digital file, researchers divide it into tiny blocks of data and convert these data not into the 1s and 0s of typical digital storage media, but rather into DNA's four-letter alphabet of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts. Each DNA fragment also contains a digital "barcode" that records its location in the original file. Reading the data requires a DNA sequencer and a computer to reassemble all of the fragments in order and convert them back into digital format. The computer also corrects for errors; each block of data is replicated thousands of times so that any chance glitch can be identified and fixed by comparing it to the other copies.
Do you dig DNA as much as we do? Check out our DNA portraits, where art meets science.
Image: Scientists have found a way to store an entire textbook in the code of DNA. (John Goode/Flickr)
Light painting is a photography technique that involves moving a hand-held light source while the camera shutter remains open, and Brian Matthew Hart is a master of it. We loved these unique portraits for their modern yet hieroglyphic feel. Via Colossal:
Hart created a number of mosaics using individual exposures, the largest hand (below), part of an unfinished diptych, is made from 324 photographs! …check out his website for plenty more.
Given we're big fans of fingerprint art, we're all over this series of hand prints. We love the details on the fingertips and the uniqueness of each piece. Hart modelled these light paintings after real-life subjects, however the portrait below is simply called "right hand".
What's the best gift for the co-founder of Apple's 62nd birthday? DNA Art from DNA 11, of course!
Steve Wozniak's surprise birthday party was the hottest event in San Francisco last night. Woz spoke to the crowd alongside his present — the DNA Portrait we created for him. His DNA art was also transformed into a birthday cake thanks to our digital download feature.
How was Steve Wozniak's DNA Portrait created? DNA 11 extracted his DNA from a simple cheek swab, then ran it through a gel and a process called electrophoresis in our lab. Smaller pieces of DNA move faster than larger pieces through the gel pores, so the result is a series of DNA strands separated from one another based on size, with the largest strands on the top of the gel and the smallest bands at the bottom. This process ensures the unique DNA extends into a unique order.
Fusion-io, where Woz is chief scientist, planned the surprise party. Guests secretly invited to the museum received pink boas, noise makers and a chance to test their skills on Tetris.
It was a real honor to create his portrait. Happy Birthday, Woz!
Photos via AllThingsD.com.


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Budget Stretchers
22 Gifts Under $25
Home Page > Behind The Maps > Population Map > Contributors > Bob Abramms< Previous Page
In the 1970�s Bob Abramms founded ODT, Inc. which offered
consulting and training to companies wishing to develop and
honor diversity in the workforce. Among the many
mind-expanding tools that Bob used in presentations and
workshops were a variety of maps, finding that they were
excellent devices for showing different perspectives.
Eventually, ODT began selling those alternative maps, and
today most of the company�s business is in the publishing
and distribution of products that offer "different ways to
see the world."
Bob served as projector director for the Population Map.
He began the project in the spring of 2001. He had seen
various cartogram representations and felt that they lacked
the full power that the current map could convey. He
networked via the internet with Fred Pearce in the UK for
the historical population figures and with Bill Yoder in
Arizona for the GIS cartograms of the data that became the
thumbnails at the bottom of the map. Paul Breding was the
natural choice for the cartography on the main map, as he
had done an earlier version.
Bob Abramms is the founder of ODT.
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KUCHING: Traders are being told to separate Golden Churn Creamery Butter from other halal dairy and cold storage products, and place them in the non-halal zone with immediate effect.
Failing to do so will see a whopping fine amounting to RM100,000 or three years of imprisonment under the Trade Description Act, said Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry state director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman.
He said his enforcement officers would be carrying out checks on all supermarkets and shops statewide to ensure that this would be done accordingly.
"Golden Churn Creamery Butter needs to be placed with other non-halal products in supermarkets and shops and traders need to clearly inform consumers that the product is not halal. This is regardless of whether the butter comes from a different batch of stock and not from the ones tested to contain pig DNA.
"Since there are doubts on the halal status of the product, it's best to generalise all are not halal even if some stock from a different batch was certified halal. This is to reduce confusion among consumers," he told reporters here yesterday.
Ahmad said the Golden Churn Creamery Butter supplier had been instructed to make special stickers to cover the halal logo printed on the product's packaging.
"We're very glad that the supplier is very cooperative," he said.
He added that there was no need to dispose of the product as it could still be sold to non-Muslim consumers.
Ahmad said since Thursday the department had formed four teams to carry out checks on Sarawak layered-cake or kek lapis manufacturers' premises to ensure they were well informed of the butter's status.
To date, they had visited six premises and more would be inspected in the coming days throughout the state, he said.
"All four kek lapis manufacturers and bakeries inspected on Thursday namely Mira Cake House, Dayang Salhah Enterprise, Afifi Kek Lapis Sarawak and Norjas Bakery showed that they never used Golden Churn Creamery Butter," he said.
He said his men also carried out checks at Di Wannie Cake and Rabiah Amit Enterprise here yesterday.
"Di Wannie Cake which used the brand previously has carried out samak to purify its kitchen appliances and premise.
"Rabiah Amit also used the brand at her old factory in Jalan Astana which was burnt down about two years ago but not anymore at her new factory in Demak Laut," he explained.Shops that do not separate Golden Churn from halal products face whopping fine


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Technology is going so fast that you can't imagine even in dreams. Due to energy crisis the scientists making efforts to discover new and less expensive ways for running the vehicles. At the end they discover a wonderful concept to use the energy of Sun light. This concept is called Solar Energy.
Scientists are making new cars which will be called Solar Powered Cars, which are designed totally on solar concept. These will be best performance and used the sun light as fuel.


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From GEAR Software Knowledgebase
You can get a 60-day trial for GEAR Pro Unix from our website.
As a CD/DVD recording and pre-mastering software package that supports various phases of compact disc and DVD authoring and production, GEAR PRO UNIX 5.0 now offers you the following:
- Improved Graphical User Interface for the creation of CD and DVD projects.
- Creation of DVD-ROM and DVD-Video volumes (DVD-5 and DVD-9 dual layer) and formatting into ISO/UDF, pure ISO or pure UDF, with Rock Ridge extensions and Joliet extensions.
- Recording to CD-R(W) drives and media, and recording to DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R and DVD-RAM drives and media up to 4.7 GB. DVD+R-DL (double layer, DVD-9) support is included.
- Creation of DVD-Video projects (DVD-4, DVD-5 and DVD-9 dual layer) and importing DVD-Video files (VOB files) using the 'Import VIDEO-TS' function.
- Creation of CD volumes for CD-ROM ISO-9660, ISO/UDF, UDF, Rockridge, CD-ROM XA, CD Audio and Mixed-mode formats. File names up to 256 characters for Rockridge and up to 64 characters for ISO-9660. Directory nesting up to 24 levels. Rock Ridge support for links, pipes, device special files, etc with permission and group handling.
- Besides disc-at-once and track-at-once recording, GEAR now supports incremental packet writing with variable packets on recordable media and fixed packets on rewritable media, using UDF formatting (up to UDF version 2.01).
- Support for IDE-SCSI converter cards. This will allow you to use IDE/ATAPI recorders on your Unix System with SCSI interface. In particular, the GEAR PRO Unix INTERFACE CARD in combination with GEAR PRO UNIX allows the seamless use of IDE/ Atapi recorders including: CD-RW, DVD-R(W), DVD+R(W) and DVD-RAM.
- For Solaris Sparc systems, GEAR now provides IDE/Atapi drive support to directly interface with IDE recorders on the bus, without the need for a IDE-SCSI converter card (Solaris version 2.8 and higher). USB devices are also supported in most cases.
- Powerful virtual image building requiring less than 5% of total CD /DVD image size to record. Allows recording directly from the virtual image.
- Write a compact disc on any available CD/DVD recorder from Sony, Philips, Pioneer, Panasonic/Matsushita, Plextor, Ricoh, Mitsumi, Teac, Sanyo, JVC, Yamaha, and almost every OEM recorder. The CDs you produce with GEAR will be fully compatible with standard CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives.
- New automatic drive detection feature providing support for new CD/DVD drives without applying patches or driver updates. GEAR automatically obtains the supported features from the drive, if available.
- Powerful recorder configuration: track-at-once, disc-at-once, test write, Burnproof, Justlink, manual fixation, multi-session and verify after write. Separate read and write speeds for DVD-R/+R, DVDRW/+ RW, CD-R and CD-RW.
- COPYCD button including direct 'drive to drive' copy, for easy copying of CD and DVD media. Raw copying (with subcode) for CDText and CD+G discs is supported.
- Appending data to multi-session CDs with session selection. Full Orange Book multi-session support. Appending to multi-session DVD-R and DVD+R media is supported.
- In most cases GEAR will now also be able to recognize your CDROM/ DVD-ROM drive for operations like DISCINFO, READTRACK, READCD and COPYCD.
- GEAR supports the importing of foreign physical images as tracks, the use of track list files.
- Support for batch files for unattended operation and ability to generate log files that can be reused as batch files.
- Support for a variety of jukeboxes and media changers from Pioneer, K&S/Grundig, ASM, DSM, JVC, etc. to write multiple copies of CD/DVD discs automatically or to control the place of CD/ DVD media in the jukebox
- Pre-master tape output in DDP (Disc Description Protocol) format for professional mastering CD and DVD titles destined for mass replication. Option to create DDP images on the hard drive from a GEAR project or from and existing CD or DVD disc, including DVD- 9 (dual layer).
These articles describe how to use and troubleshoot GEAR PRO Unix
Pages in category "Unix"
The following 14 pages are in this category, out of 14 total.
R cont.


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ILR policies governing the following appear on this page:
- Office Hours
- Class registration policies
- Class cancellation policies
- Weather closings
- Name tags
Office Hours
The ILR office staff opens the office from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on days when VBHEC is open. During these hours, at least one of our two part-time staff members will be in. If you need to visit the office, it is best to call ahead.
The office is closed for ODU holidays and VBHEC campus closings.
Class Registration Policies
How to Register
Members register in classes using the registration form sent out quarterly. Using this form members:
- Indicate the classes they will attend
- Calculate the total cost of the chosen programs
- Return the form and check for the amount of the selected programs
- No registrations are taken over the phone
Registration Processing
The administrators process registration forms in the order received. Registrations for a class that is full are placed on the class waiting list.
The Waiting List
When a program's registrations exceed the program's capacity, excess registrations are placed on the program's waiting list. The waiting list functions as follows:
- A waiting list is maintained for all classes and social/travel events.
The waiting list is based on the principle of "first come, first served."
- Members are encouraged to make their class selections and return their registration forms promptly to prevent being "wait listed."
Incomplete Registration Forms
The processing of incomplete forms is a time-consuming and burdensome job. Please assist us by making sure your membership and registration forms are accurate and complete. This includes including the "tear-off" information strips for activities.
Members always have priority to attend any of our functions. Guests are welcome if there is space available. If an activity becomes full, guests will be removed to make space for members. Call the office to check. The applicable class or activity fee must be paid for the guest.
Class Cancellation Policies
Member Cancels
If a member cancels a program at least 4 days in advance, they will receive a refund voucher (minus a $2 administrative fee).
If a member cancels a trip, the cancellation will be processed as described in the trip cancellation policy.
ILR Cancels
If ILR cancels a class, the members will receive a full refund voucher for a class.
If ILR cancels a trip, the members will receive a full refund check for a trip.
Weather Closings
Campus Closing
Old Dominion University and ODU Virginia Beach Higher Education Center follow a common inclement weather closing policy. ILR does not have access to the building so ILR must cancel events held at the VBHEC when the university is closed.
Late Opening
If there is a 1-2 hour delayed opening, any ILR morning class is cancelled, but any afternoon class will go on, unless we notify members by phone and/or email.
Closing and Delay Information
For up-to-date ODU closing and delay information:
- Check local radio and TV stations (3, 10, and 13). The ODU home page also shows ODU closings.
Call the ODU main campus info line: 683-3000 (has a recorded message)
- Check our home page. If at all possible, we will update it to indicate program cancellations.
Name Tags
A name tag is issued to all members. We request that you wear it to all class meetings and special events. It is useful for meeting new friends. You may fill out the back of the card indicating any health information in the event of an emergency.
Address all mail to:
1881 University Drive, Rm 125
Virginia Beach, VA 23453


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10 January 2012
Gibson Guitars: Ted McCarty's Golden Era: 1948-1966
Gil Hembree
352 pages, GH Books (February 1, 2007)
"Gibson Guitars: Ted McCarty's Golden Era" is a long overdue book that covers the world's greatest period of guitar manufacturing. As CEO of Gibson Guitars from 1948 to 1966, "Ted McCarty" presided over the production of nearly one million instruments and amplifiers. 1950s "Gibson Les Paul Standards", "Flying Vs", "Explorers", and "ES-335s" are considered to be some of the most valuable fretted instruments in the world. This book is "Ted McCarty"'s first and only complete biography, and a book that gives us a glimpse into a golden era of his factory and his loyal employees who made some of the world's most desirable guitars. It features over 100 photographs, some from Ted's personal archives and never before published. "Ted McCarty was the architect of a Golden period in Gibson's history. During his 18-year tenure, he helped to reestablish the company's historic leadership in the industry through a number of musical innovations that still resonate today". Gibson Chairman and CEO Henry E. Juszkiewicz
In 1948, Gibson hired music industry veteran "Ted McCarty", who was promoted to company president in 1950. During his tenure (1950–1966), Gibson greatly expanded and diversified its line of instruments. The first notable addition was the "Les Paul" guitar. McCarty was well aware of the strong sales of the "Fender Telecaster". In 1950, Gibson decided to make a solid-body guitar of its own according to its own design philosophy despite the fact many other guitar manufacturers were contemptuous of the concept of a solid-body guitar. Designed by the guitarist "Les Paul", it was released as his signature model in 1952. The "Les Paul" was offered in several models, including the Custom, the Standard, the Special, and the Junior.
In 1958, Gibson introduced the ES-335T model. Similar in size to the hollow-body Thinlines, the ES-335 family had a solid center, giving the string tone a longer sustain.
In the late 50s, McCarty was aware the Gibson was perceived as a "conservative" company, generally making traditionally shaped instruments. He decided to change that.
In 1958, Gibson produced two new designs: the eccentrically-shaped Explorer and Flying V. These "modernistic" guitars did not sell initially. It was only in the late 1960s and early 70s when the two guitars were reintroduced to the market that they sold very well. The Firebird, in the early 60s, was a reprise of the modernistic idea, though less extreme. In the 1950s, Gibson also produced the Tune-o-matic bridge system and its version of the humbucking pickup, the PAF ("Patent Applied For"), first released in 1957 and still sought after for its sound.
In 1961 the body design of the "Les Paul" was changed, due to the demand for a double-cutaway body design. "Les Paul" did not care for the new body style and let his endorsement lapse, and the new body design then became known as the SG (for "solid guitar").
The "Les Paul" returned to the Gibson catalog in 1968 due to the influence of players such as "Keith Richards", "Eric Clapton", "Jeff Beck", and "Peter Green". Both the "Les Paul" and the SG became very popular with rock and roll and blues guitar players.
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London Street Photography – Part 1
People are intriguing , our postures, facial expressions, our ability to go into a trance even in the most hectic of places. We are full of habits and emotions . Sometimes busy in our own lives we forget to take a minute to just observe, to study the going-ons around us. I am always surprised when doing street photography by the amount of ' walking-by stories' going on, everyone has their own unique story. I have seen people dancing in the streets! people arguing, throwing stuff at each other in an uncontrolled fit. I am always amused by people falling asleep on the trains in London, particularly people at lunchtime! have they missed their stop? People make me laugh with their loudly spoken " secret" phone calls , cryptic name-drops and put downs. Whenever I go out their always seems to be an old man or a small group of old men, chilling out watching the world go by, always happy to speak to me and find out what I am up to. The pigeons weave their way around the people, their lives seems so much more simple then ours.
Bexhill Old Station- Eras of Style – Part 1
Lake District – Money growing on trees ?
So while on a walking trip to the Lake District there was one thing that puzzled and fascinated me, money growing on trees !….. Ok, so not really growing off the trees as such but there were coins embedded all over the branches of felled trees. I had my suspicions that these money trees were some kind of local tradition to bring luck or help romance, a bit like tossing a coin in a fountain for good luck or maybe like the phase ' touch wood ' for luck. However it turns out that people have been leaving coins in trees for years, since the 1700's. It seems the coins are embedded into the trees to bring luck or to help a sick person, however I did read that if the coin is taken out ( not sure this is possible anyway ) the person will become ill or lose their luck…. think I will just keep that 5p and put it towards a nice chocolate bar … well it is needed after my long walk 😉
Eras of Style
Last week I visited Eras of Style Antiques in Bexhill to take some photographs of their fabulous interior space. The shop was previously an old train station, which is commemorated with a special ' Waiting Room' vintaged themed coffee lounge, serving teas, coffee and yummy homemade cakes. There is a 'platform' food hall, that sells locally sourced fine foods, I spotted some amazing looking cheesecakes! The rest of the old station is a labyrinth of walkways filled with quirky finds, connecting to more rooms filled with unusual antiques.
Each room has a different feel to it, from 1950's american memorabilia to victorian oddities.
The only problem with this place is that you end up walking in and spending ages here because there is so much to look at !
Fantastic Mr Fox ! The ' Cook' store which was busy when I was there with people buying their curries, cheesecakes and cheeses. My favourite pieces were two bell jars filled with collectable hair pins, which made striking one-off pieces of art.
Vintage maps can be found here. These would look great displayed in a box frames.
If you like the look of this place, you can visit @
The Old Station Stores, Bexhill West Station, Terminus Road, Bexhill, East Sussex, TN39 3LR
Squirrels designs , here and there and everywhere !
So its January and I am ready to start a new year ! whoop whoop. I have about 100 new year resolutions ( none of them as elaborate as Mark Zuckerberg's ) stuff like; make time to do my hair nicely and paint my nails before they start to chip and look like a 2 year old painted them! I have also promised myself to start a yoga class, I have promised self this every January for about 6 years , but i will do it….tomorrow 😉 . Also I have put more time aside to do more social stuff, like going to the cinema and swimming ect, basically its all about doing fun stuff i like and trying to be more positive, I can be a little stressed out and busy ( hence the yoga ) .
Also the results for my Christmas card designs are in ! ….. The card that sold the most in shops is …… Hastings Fishing Huts !. I thought it might be popular, so next year I will be adding Brighton and London scenes to my list of designs. Any other ideas let me know 🙂 .
me after lots of hair spray , my hair looked good for about half an hour, then returned to normal!


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GLENDALE — Two former Glendale park naturalists have filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming they were wrongly terminated when they complained about a manager's misuse of city resources.
Russell Hauck and Eric Grossman claim in separate lawsuits filed July 29 in U.S. District Court that they were laid off only after they raised concerns about Dave Ahern, the former capital projects administrator for the city's Community Services & Parks Department, and his alleged use of a city-owned vehicle and public employees for his own landscaping.
"It is unfortunate when a city such as Glendale fails in its legal obligation of oversight, and as alleged in the complaint, allows one of its supervisory employees to freely retaliate against a subordinate employee for complaining of the supervisor's unlawful behavior," said their attorney, Solomon Gresen.


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On September 15, 2016, The Orlando Regional Realtors' Association (ORRA) reported, "Sales of homes in Orlando experienced a year-over-year increase of 7.3% for the month of August. The jump occurred amid yet another double-digit decrease in inventory, which continues to Continue Reading
Archives for September 2016
Five Homes Open in Live Oak Reserve on September 11, 2016
On Sunday, September 11, 2016 from 1 PM to 4 PM, we are holding five four homes open in Oviedo's Live Oak Reserve. 1650 Copperleaf Cv - Oviedo, FL 32766 http://1650CopperleafCv.JeanScottHomes.com 1662 Copperleaf Cv - Oviedo, FL Continue Reading
Live Oak Reserve Nosy Neighbor News for September 2016
Live Oak Reserve is located on the east end of Oviedo, at the edge of rural Seminole County, and is one of the area's most desirable communities. It includes a community pool, club house, sports center, and a field for football or soccer, all for the exclusive use of its Continue Reading


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public relations
Browse all Marketoons for the public relations category.
Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.
Browse all Marketoons for the public relations category.
"7 Types of Marketing Personas" - new cartoon and post on how marketing personas sometimes say more about the marke… twitter.com/i/web/status/10971…
Tom Fishburne is the Founder and CEO of Marketoonist, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons.
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How To Cook Broccoli
Best Tips on How to Cook Broccoli
As one of the healthiest vegetables we can consume, everyone should have the knowledge of how to cook broccoli. Called by many a "miracle food", all of us should be eating adequate portions; however, many shun this delicious vegetable.
For many years, overcooked and limp broccoli stalks stared back from the plate to the dismayed diner's eyes. Mushy and unappetizing, this background has many people believing they just don't like broccoli. The truth is, they likely have never had the opportunity to delight in the many wonderful and delicious recipes that exist nowadays.
Broccoli is such a nutritional benefit to our diets that it is shameful to not find a method of cooking the vegetable in a manner that is pleasing to the palate. High in vitamin C, folic acid, potassium and fiber, the vegetable has been found to combat various types of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease and arthritis. It is even believed to slow the aging process!
Eating broccoli raw is a great way to capitalize on absorbing all of the nutrients in the vegetable, but many people simply do not enjoy raw broccoli. Learning how to cook broccoli in a way that captures the nutrient qualities as well as making it flavorful is easy once you know how. The first step is preparing the vegetable for cooking. Broccoli is a stalk vegetable, and both the stalk and the florets are edible. The thinner stalks holding the florets will be naturally tender and good. Separate these from the large stalk and set aside, leaving just the large stalk. This part needs just a bit of work. Peel away the outer layer of the large stalk and then cut the inner part into strips or cubes. Some of the larger florets can be cut in half, leaving part of the stalk for each, while the smaller florets can be left as is. You are now ready to cook the broccoli, using one of the following methods.
Steaming. Steaming broccoli is one method of cooking the vegetable so that it retains the valuable nutrients. Using a steamer basket on the stovetop is the best way to do this. Add only enough water to cover the bottom of a large pan, but not so deep as to rise above the steamer basket when placed inside. Arrange the broccoli on the steamer basket and cover. Cook over high heat for about 5 minutes until tender. Take care when lifting the cover from the pan; lifting the lid away from your face as the escaping steam could cause burns. When serving, a cheese sauce will add a great deal more flavor as well as entice even the most reluctant vegetable eater.
Stir-Frying. This method of cooking vegetables is a Chinese tradition. Add a small amount of oil to a large frying pan or wok; place over high heat. When the oil is hot, add broccoli and any other raw vegetables desired, such as onion, mushrooms, slivered carrots, zucchini or spinach. Sauté until vegetables are crisp tender.
Broccoli can also make a delicious entrée or soup. Several casseroles using rice, pasta or breads along with cheddar or Swiss cheese make a perfect showcase for the tender, delicious broccoli. Meats can be added if desired, but the casseroles will be just as tasty as a vegetarian meal. Cheddar broccoli soup is a hearty meal as well as a great way to serve broccoli to your family.
When considering how healthy broccoli is and the benefits it has for our overall health, it just makes sense to ensure that it is a regular part of our diets. This miracle food could very well be the ticket to keeping your family healthy.


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Discovering the Caring, Fatherly Love of God
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28 Nov, 2017
"God of Mercy" Retreat (Spanish), Hemet, CA, Nov.28, 2017
''God of Mercy'' Retreat - Discovering Your Freedom in Christ (Spanish). Life transforming retreat, inspired by the Unbound Prayer Model. Where: Holy Spirit Church, Hemet, CA, When: Nov. 28, 2017.
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"Unbound Ministry Training" offered by Abba Father Institute, speaker Tomas Herrera-Mishler
This training is for anyone who has completed Unbound Basic Ministry Training and who wants to grow in effectiveness as a prayer leader, intercessor, trainer, or ministry leader.
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Please, join the San Diego Catholic Adult Community for the talk "Examinations of Conscience versus Examinations of Consciousness" by Cort Peters from Abba Father Institute
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''God of Mercy'' Discovering Your Freedom in Christ Inspired by the Unbound Prayer Life Transforming Music Retreat June 17, 2017, 1pm-4pm (Registration starts at 12:30pm) St.Teresa of Calcutta Church 34750 Whisper Heights Parkway Winchester, CA 92596 Fee: Free will offering About the Retreat: "God of Mercy" is a spiritual retreat and journey of faith inspired by the Unbound prayer model that is experienced in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The experience features:


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About PC Direct
Skaware Computing CC trading as PC Direct Online was established in January 2007 as a Technology sales company offering a wide range of IT products direct to the consumer.
In 2009 we entered the online market and changed our business model to online ecommerce. Moving to the online environment has enabled us to reach a wider buyer audience ALL over South Africa.
If you have an internet connection or a telephone - we can supply you with a host of products right to your front door. We offer a safe and secure online shopping experience.
We have sourced 1000's of leading brand products on our catalogue lines, giving you a wider choice of products, all in one easy to use shopping website, with speedy delivery and easy payment options.
We pride ourselves as having one of the widest ranges of quality technology brands on the market, competitive pricing and excellent service levels.
Contact us on 0861 10 20 60, our call centre is open Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm (exluding public holidays), or email email@example.com
To all of you, from all of us at PC Direct - happy online shopping!


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Sharing villas and houses in Dubai and UAE
It is common for single people, couples, and even families to share a villa, apartment or other residential accommodation, in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and other emirates. Strictly speaking this is probably falling afoul of rules that say unrelated men and women should not be in the same room (or car) together but generally that's not a concern, at least not in Dubai, and probably not in most other emirates except for Sharjah. As with unmarried couples living together in Dubai, don't draw attention to yourselves and there's less chance of problems. More than one family in a villa, and large groups of bachelors (with 10 or 20 per room) became the focus of a Dubai Municipality "One Villa One Family" campaign during 2008 to move the bachelors out of villas, and reduce the number of families sharing villas. Some groups of singles sharing villas with one or two people per room were also affected but as of February 2009, that policy looks like it might become redundant, thankfully. The Municipality villa sharing rules do not apply to villas and apartments in freehold areas of Dubai as far as we know.
Note for those newbies coming to Dubai where the word "villa" conjures up images of palatial mansions with pool decks and panoramic views over the Mediterranean, a villa in the UAE is just what many expats would call a house, townhouse, terraced house, etc in their home countries. A bungalow is not really equivalent since it is rare to see a single storey unit in the UAE. Of course some villas really are somewhat grand, and it is common to have much larger rooms and more bathrooms than many expats are used to (more so for Europeans than North Americans).
Rental costs for shared villas
A room in a villa in Dubai can vary from 2000 to 7000 dhs per month but below 3k per month is not going to be much of a room. In the more popular villas in Jumeirah and Umm Suqueim areas of Dubai, 5k-7k is a typical rate and you may even get an ensuite bathroom with that. During 2007 and 2008 it became more difficult to find something as the cost of renting skyrocketed but from the end of 2008 and into 2009, rental costs are starting to fall and availability is increasing. It is usual to pay for villa shares on a monthly, bi-monthly, or tri-monthly basis, which is another factor that appeals to residents who aren't able to stump up the 1 year's rent in advance often asked for by landlords (although that's rapidly changing in 2009).
Much cheaper sharing arrangements are available in more run down villas in less popular areas. Sharing a room with one (or more) other tenants is also a way to find cheaper accommodation (and more aggravation). There were reports that one undesirable effect of the shortage and high cost of accommodation in Dubai in 2008 was landlords offering a sharing arrangement to young females that was more horizontal in nature, in return for discounted rent rates. As the supply of units increases in 2009 these special offers should diminish.
Finding a villa share in Dubai
As with flat or villa share arrangements in other countries, the most common way to find a room to let in a Dubai villa share is through the classified advertisements - either online or in one of the UAE newspapers. Supermarket noticeboards are also a possibility, and occasionally online discussion forums. The irony of a local newspaper permitting classified ads for an illegal activity such as private tutors in Dubai, private taxi services, or villa shares sometimes leaves new residents scratching their heads for a while but after a few months of living in Dubai it's possible to read those sections of the newspaper without blinking too much.
Newbies to the UAE may be excited at the prospect of sharing a villa with a variety of different nationalities, and learning about all sorts of interesting cultural quirks and foibles. Unfortunately, just like living with a partner, friends, or family, those quirks and foibles can become enough to make you wonder what you ever liked about your flatmate or housemate in the first place. Over time, people learn what and who they can and cannot live with but if you're new to the game of shared accommodation, then start with as much familiarity as you can find (and try not to breed too much contempt).
Living, washing, cooking, eating, cleaning arrangements are as varied as the number of different nationalities living in Dubai and the UAE. The residents might all muck in and cook together or live entirely independently. It's quite common to share the expense of a maid to deal with cleaning if the inhabitants are mostly single and professional workers. Large numbers of laborers sharing villas are less likely to spend their hard-earned salary on the luxury of a maid. Families sharing villas are more likely to have segregated sections, each with its own kitchen, and make their own cleaning and cooking arrangements.
One Villa, One Family
During 2008, many families, and a few singles and couples, were chucked out of their villa sharing arrangements as a result of the Dubai Municipality's "One Villa, One Family" campaign. In 2009 that started to change to a "One Villa, maybe more than One Family" rule if villa sharers applied for a licence and gave money to the DM (but not for singles).
Last update Saturday 24-Oct-2009
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Video‐making and video distribution can introduce significant new risks to vulnerable participants and communities, and can exacerbate others.
These risks may be caused by not speaking to participants about risks and options to remain anonymous, or through a lack of planning for the safe storage, sending or receiving of digital files.
In order to ensure your initiative practices safety and security, efforts should be made to carry out and respond to a careful risk analysis.
Video for Change practitioners can face risk as they:
- expose stories and perspectives that are marginalised or hidden, and therefore have the potential to shift power dynamics within communities and societies
- work with and within under-represented communities who are facing discrimination and prejudice by more dominant groups
- work with survivors and victims of human rights abuses to capture their stories and their struggles
- produce videos that highlight social injustices and inequalities
- build capacities among marginalised communities to enable them to share their own stories and experiences
- confront established beliefs, norms and practices.
Different Video for Change approaches deal with different risks. For a full overview have a look at the various Video for Change Approaches we have identified in our research.
The risk of a Video for Change initiative varies depending on context and objectives. In high risk situations you must develop a coherent risk mitigation plan to minimise dangers to yourself, the communities you work in, and everyone involved in your initiative. At the very least, you should ensure you don't exacerbate the issue you are seeking to address with your video project.
Understanding Risk in Order to Mitigate it
Risk is defined in multiple ways:
- exposure to danger
- the possibility of something unpleasant or unwelcome happening
- the possibility of harm as a result of an action.
Embedded in the understanding of risk are:
- Threat: anything, anyone, or any event that can cause a negative effect.
- Vulnerability: a flaw or a weakness that can make the threat a reality, or the likelihood that a threat will happen.
- Impact: (in this context) how severe the negative effect is.
- Capacity: existing strengths that will allow you to minimise the chances of the threat happening.
At the heart of this is the safety and security of people – yourself, your team, the participants in your video and the members of the community.
There are multiple risk assessment frameworks you can use to better understand risk in the context of your Video for Change initiative.
You can use any model or framework to assess risk, what matters is that you have a way to understand the risks you face in making your initiative. Being able to understand – and prioritise – is the first step in mitigating risk.
The next step is taking action. You have different options in mitigating your identified risk:
- You can accept it because consequences of the risk is minimal, or you may accept that the risk is great, but the issue is so important that it's worth it.
- You can reduce the risk, by working on threats, vulnerabilities and capacities.
- You can share the risk, by working with other people in the community that are supportive of your initiative.
- You can choose to avoid the risk, by stopping your activities or changing your approach to reduce potential threats.
Identifying threats, vulnerabilities and impacts in order to determine risk will be based upon your project's context. So will your mitigation tactics. Your tactics will change over time, so it's important to consistently assess your risks throughout the duration of your initiative.
Risk Areas for Video for Change Initiatives
Risk areas change depending on context, they also change over time. It's important to revisit these risk areas throughout your initiative to keep your assessment current and to better ensure that no harm can come to you and the people involved.
|Risk Area
|Risk Factor
|Your Video
|What and who are you exposing in your video?
|The specific issue you are exposing and who is shown in your video.
|Issue dependent. In order to determine the risk factor you will need the context of the issue.
|Will the perpetrators/violators/oppressors of the social injustice be clearly identified and named?
|Yes, named clearly/No, not named at all/No, not named but referred to.
|The risk factor here increases the more you specifically identify the perpetrators/ violators/ oppressors.
|Will they be able to take any action against you?
|If yes, high risk. If no, lower risk.
|What kinds of actions will they be able to take against you?
|List down what actions they can take against you. Possible answers: legal, harassment, physical violence, verbal threats.
|Determining the risk factor depends on your judgement. The more physically violent the action is, the higher the risk factor. The more actions they can take, the higher the risk.
|Are there interests that directly oppose what you are exposing?
|Yes, higher risk. If no, lower.
|Which groups can take action against your video?
|Groups and sectors in the community who will oppose your video and can take action against you.
|The more groups or sectors you list, the higher the risk.
|What actions can they take to stop your video from being produced or screened?
|List down what actions they can take against you. Possible answers: legal, harassment, physical violence, verbal threats, starting rumours.
|Determining the risk factor here depends on your judgement. The more physically violent the action is, the higher the risk factor. The more actions they can take, the higher the risk.
|Your location
|How long will you stay in that location?
|Number of days/hours/weeks/months.
|The longer you stay, the greater the risk, though the development of strong local relationships may assist in mitigating this.
|Do you need permission to capture footage in that location?
|If it's required, having permission minimises the risk. It may also be an act of courtesy. Note that depending on the cultural context what looks like permission to you may be very different in the community you are working. If you don't have permission, then you must take extra risk mitigation strategies to keep yourself and your team safe.
|Do you have trusted contacts in that location to assist you?
|Having trusted contacts in that location minimises the risk, especially if you don't have permission to shoot in that location.
|Will the groups who directly oppose your film or video be in that location?
|Having the groups who are negatively-impacted by your Video for Change project in the location, increases the risk.
|The subjects
|What are the risks that they themselves face?
|List down the risks that your video subjects face as a result of the issue your video is about.
|The more risks you can list down, the higher the risk factor.
|Do they still have contact with the perpetrators/violators/oppressors in your video?
|If they still have contact, then the risks are higher.
|What further harm will come to them if the groups who oppose your video see them in the video?
List down the possible negative impacts of the opposing groups seeing the subjects on the video.
Possible answers: legal, harassment, physical violence, verbal threats, rumours.
|Determining the risk factor depends on your judgement. The more physically violent the action is, the higher the risk factor. The more actions they can take, the higher the risk.
|Are the subjects in your video already activists in the issues that you are tackling?
|If they are already activists, they might be more aware of their risks inherent in the issue, and therefore the risk factor might be less for your project.
|Your audience
|How will you present your video to your audience?
List down the ways in which you will distribute your video.
Possible answers are: private screenings, public screenings, online distribution and social media.
List as many as you can.
Note that the more ways you present your video, the more public your video becomes – you will have to consider the risk factors for each way.
Note that high levels of publicity may also help protect you.
|Will the groups/people who are responsible for the social injustice in your video be able to watch your video?
|If it's likely they will see the video, then the risk factor increases.
|What kind of action can they take against you, your team and the people in your video?
List down the possible negative impacts of the opposing groups seeing the subjects on the video.
Possible answers: legal, harassment, physical violence, verbal threats, rumours.
|The more actions that they can take, the higher the risk factor.
Mitigating Risk and Informed Consent
On mitigating risk and informed consent Sam Gregory of WITNESS comments:
"We focus heavily on informed consent because it is such a critical element in an ethical practice of Video for Change. We emphasise an idea of informed consent that is not about paperwork or signing-off on a document but about an individual understanding the risks and benefits of appearing on video and making an informed decision on whether to do that and what safeguards they need (for example, blurring someone's face, no identifying name). In a digital world, anyone's image or words can be copied, shared, and seen. One good starting point is to begin with the 'worst case scenario' of who might see the video – which is quite likely if the images have reach and impact – and then discuss consent and protection on this basis."
Informed consent is the process of ensuring that a person identified in a video fully understands the purpose and intended use of the recording, as well as any unintended consequences of their participation. With this awareness, the person must voluntarily give his or her permission to be identified and for the recording to be used . That decision is not necessarily permanent; someone who grants consent may revoke the decision due to increased security risks. It's important to respect the fact an individual's decision around consent may evolve over time .
Informed consent is a key ethical principle for any activist, citizen journalist, and media maker seeking to create positive social change. Informed consent ensures those who appear in your video, such as survivors of human rights violations or those suffering from social injustice, don't suffer further abuse or violation or become re-victimised as a result.
It's all the more necessary for you to undergo a risk assessment of your Video for Change initiative, so that you'll be able to clearly inform those who appear in your video (or its credits) of the potential negative consequences of their participation.
Informed consent is a legal and ethical obligation of human rights defenders to protect the safety, security, and dignity of their interviewees. There are four main elements:
The use and purpose of the interview must be fully explained. This helps protect the interviewee's safety and maintains an honest relationship between interviewer and interviewee.
The interviewee must voluntarily give their permission for the interview to be used and express whether he or she is willing to be identified by name.
The interviewee must fully comprehend the implications of the interview and the intended distribution, including potential consequences of online distribution. They have the right to revoke their permission for future use of the footage – however, ensure they understand it's not possible to permanently remove materials from the internet. Provide an example of a worst case scenario.
The interviewee must be able to comprehend the implications of his or her participation. This is an especially important issue with special populations (e.g., children, people with mental disabilities, people who have suffered significant recent trauma).
Additional Resources
- Secure My Video (version 2.0). A guide produced by EngageMedia to help video makers keep themselves safe at the different stages of the video production process.
- Security-in-a-Box. Everything you need to know about keeping your internet communications secure and safe. This is especially useful for Video for Change initiatives that have a strong online component to them.
- Informed Consent Template by Witness. A useful document you can download for free and use.
- Ethical Wednesdays: Minimizing Risk to Those Filmed. An excellent blog-post by Madeleine Bair on how filmmakers can minimise the risks of those filmed.