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The average listing price on SpeedList for this year, make, and model is $23,536.
This vehicle has been on SpeedList for 116 days.
Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned (CPO): There's $2,066 of Added Value in Every Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle. Selecting a Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicle is a confidence-inspiring choice. Why? Because Hyundai CPO vehicles come with a ma...
Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned (CPO): There's $2,066 of Added Value in Every Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle. Selecting a Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicle is a confidence-inspiring choice. Why? Because Hyundai CPO vehicles come with a manufacturer-backed warranty, are high quality, and in like-new condition. That means there's less to worry about now and down the road. In addition to the striking design, human-focused technology, and uncompromised workmanship found in all Hyundai vehicles, a Hyundai CPO vehicle comes fully-equipped with the following suite of benefits valued at $2,066: A 10-Year/100,000-Mile Powertrain Limited Warranty plus the remainder of the 5-Year/60,000-Mile new vehicle limited warranty; A Comprehensive 150-Point Inspection; 10-Year/Unlimited Mileage Roadside Assistance; Rental Car & Travel Interruption Reimbursement for covered repairs3-Month of No-Charge SiriusXM Radio All Access Trial; And the peace-of-mind provided by a complimentary CARFAX Vehicle History Report.$2,066 represents the national value of benefits included in the purchase of a Hyundai CPO vehicle as compared to a non-certified used Hyundai. Since $2,066 represents an average for all Hyundai CPO vehicles sold nationally, individual value received may vary. See dealer for program benefit details.From original in-service date and zero (0) miles.154-Point Inspection for Sonata Hybrid; 166-Point Inspection for Equus.Priced below KBB Fair Purchase Price! Odometer is 10904 miles below market average! Certified. Gray Cloth. Quartz White Pearl 2016 Hyundai Sonata Sport FWD 6-Speed Automatic with Shiftronic 2.4L I4 DGI DOHC 16V ULEV II 185hp 38/25 Highway/City MPG Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned Details: * Vehicle History * Powertrain Limited Warranty: 120 Month/100,000 Mile (whichever comes first) from original in-service date * Limited Warranty: 60 Month/60,000 Mile (whichever comes first) from original in-service date * Transferable Warranty * Roadside Assistance * Includes 10-year/Unlimited mileage Roadside Assistance with Rental Car and Trip Interruption Reimbursement; Please see dealers for specific vehicle eligibility requirements * Warranty Deductible: $50 * 150+ Point Inspection Awards: * 2016 KBB.com 10 Most Awarded Cars * 2016 KBB.com 16 Best Family Cars * 2016 KBB.com 10 Most Comfortable Cars Under $30,000 * 2016 KBB.com 10 Best Sedans Under $25,000 * 2016 KBB.com Best Buy Awards Finalist * 2016 KBB.com 5-Year Cost to Own Awards
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Jules Denel signs to Exocet Boards
- 27 January 2009 | Windsurfing
Jules Denel is the latest addition to the Exocet international windsurf team. Exocet have signed several new riders over the winter period, though Denel is far and away the youngest signing at just 18 years old.
It seems fitting that the French board manufacturer have turned to their own shores to snap up their new young gun, who already has a solid reputation on the French national circuit.
Having already dominated the youth scene, winning both the French youth wave and slalom titles, Denel is looking to turn his focus to the international stage, and more specifically the PWA World Tour. He gained his first taste of the highly competitive PWA circuit in 2008, notably placing 29th in the Cabo Verde World Cup.
Pledging his next 10 years to windsurf competition, this future talent looks to have all the ingredients to make a major impact on the PWA World Tour. We wish him the best of luck in 2009.
Jules Denel is sponsored by Exocet Boards.
Source: PWA

subset: commoncrawl


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It's Monday morning, and the challenge of filling a nearly blank computer screen is as formidable as ever. But my task is nothing compared to that Albert A. Frink Jr., a California business executive, has agreed to take on.
In his new position of assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing and services, Frink will be responsible for reversing the decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs. Some believe Frink's success could help determine whether his boss serves another term in the White House.
The nominee should be no stranger to job losses. Frink is the founder of Fabrica International, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based company that manufactures carpeting. He has also served on a federal advisory panel on textiles, the manufacturing sector that has been hit about as hard as any.
Industry officials estimate that 337,000 or 32 percent of all U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing jobs have disappeared since China joined the World Trade Organization in January 2001.
"Mr. Frink's extensive background as a manufacturer makes him a great candidate to serve in this position because he has walked in their shoes and knows firsthand the barriers," said Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, who introduced Frink during a tour of a plant in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
The California executive is the second person picked for the post after it was created last September. The first, the CEO of a Columbus, Neb.-based manufacturing company, withdrew from consideration after reports said his firm had laid off 75 workers while announcing it was building a plant in China.
Although it's scrambling now to rectify the problem, this administration has been slow to catch on to the depth of feeling over the movement of American jobs to China, India and other countries.
The chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisors made the headlines a few weeks ago when he said that the out-sourcing of computer-programming jobs in places like India was not necessarily bad for the U.S. economy. Other officials have created flaps with similar comments since then, but the White House is trying to get back on track.
The issue is becoming especially heated in states like North Carolina, which has lost an estimated 100,000 jobs to textile mill closings and layoffs. Even the state's Republican congressmen have been asking the administration to do more to stem the tide of Chinese textile imports and other foreign goods.
In recent days, Erskine Bowles, former Clinton chief of staff and a candidate for the open Senate seat in North Carolina, has promised to not vote for new trade agreements unless existing trade rules are enforced.
His opponent, Rep. Richard Burr, R-N.C., accused Bowles of flip-flopping on Clinton's pro-trade stances. A Bowles spokesman says his candidate hasn't changed his views. "He has always believed in free trade and fair trade, but what we see now is neither," the spokesman said.
If both sides would take that message to heart in the next few months, maybe Frink's challenge would be less formidable.
e-mail: email@example.com


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|2012-04-10, 21:16
|Link #81
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2009
There are different types of Moe tho...
in K-ON's case, Mio is the main Moe for being the "clumsy tsundere moe", while Yui is just "clumsy moe".
There's no real "purest form"
What Moe means is "something that's interesting to a person to the point of passion"
like "Maid Moe" means cute people dressed in maid dress.
Nekomimi Moe (very very common)... as you can probably tell, "Cat Ear Moe"
|2012-04-11, 01:24
|Link #82
Critical fanboy
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere with anime and anime discussion is fine
|2012-04-13, 09:10
|Link #89
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Dai Korai Teikoku
|2012-04-14, 03:18
|Link #91
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: California
The jokes and punchlines were a miss for me, but Tsukimi is moe enough to give me type II diabetes in just the first episode episode. Basically this is what Acchi Kocchi is in a nutshell.
|2012-04-14, 08:08
|Link #93
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv168
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 32
This series will definitely turn me diabetic at this rate, considering the moe overflow
Anyway, a pleasant and relaxing series, no doubt. It isn't really common to have that much moe, with characters having that much of chemistry together. Having all the 5 main characters having roughly the same spotlight (albeit Io and Tsukimi do have the lead ) help a ton as well.
Also, for a 4koma, the transitions are smooth, so it doesn't feel particularly disjointed.
And to think I thought they would be fine with ep1, ep2 make other references to SF (lol Zangief and dudley's move )
Gotta be a keeper for this season :]
Last edited by Klashikari; 2012-04-14 at 08:24.
|2012-04-14, 14:38
|Link #95
Guess what time it is?
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Age: 33
The OP makes me want to drop napalm on the moe home world, but absolutely everything else sends me into a giggling happy "d'awwwww" trance for 20 consecutive minutes. I love this show, even if I never live it down.
Hime's derp-face is funnier every time I see it. Io is pretty tremendous in his own way too; in spite of being unflappable, he comes off as very genuine, which is refreshing in this sort of gag show. Is Miiko angling for Io's affections too, or was Sakaki just messing with him?
|comedy, manga time kirara, seinen, slice of life
|Thread Tools


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A new era of innovation
The belief among US executives that innovation is a critical tool for growth and market differentiation is stronger than ever. 2015 Accenture research— the third in a series of surveys we first conducted in 2009 and again in 2012—confirms that today's companies are increasingly embracing innovation as a tool to drive their businesses forward over the long term. They need to focus on the complex challenge of making it successful. The discipline of innovation is maturing and key principles, such as two-speed innovation and collaborative innovation, are emerging to help companies achieve a competitive edge.
2015 US Innovation Survey: Clear Vision, Cloudy Execution
US executives are unrealistic in believing they have the capabilities they need to achieve their bold innovation goals. The truth is that most struggle to generate the returns they seek from their innovation investments. To execute effectively, they need to adopt new approaches to innovation, learn from their past mistakes, and set reasonable goals that they can actually achieve.
Proof that companies are investing more in innovation can be found in the management systems and tools they are putting in place to enable and accelerate a change agenda:
74 percent of our respondents have now established formal processes—up 10 percentage points since 2010 and 12 since 2012.
Utilities (90 percent), insurance (86 percent) and retail (82 percent) companies are the leaders when it comes to formalizing their approaches. This is not entirely surprising, since these industries also have a particularly keen interest in using innovation to create entirely new product and service categories. In addition, both the utility and insurance industries typically lack the innovation culture and heritage of their consumer goods or high tech counterparts. It is likely, therefore, that utilities and insurers see a more pressing need to establish a formal process to drive innovation.
The number of such appointments has grown by 9 percentage points since 2009. Retail companies, which operate in a highly dynamic market, are leading the charge. The momentum around executive appointments demonstrates companies' growing recognition that innovation is a c-level issue. However, if companies feel that appointing an executive is the only action they need to take, they will fail to address the core challenges of innovation. As our research shows, superior innovation performance requires more than c-level oversight. It demands engagement from all levels of the organization.
90 percent apply emerging technologies to improve or add new features and/or functionality to products and services, and 86 percent apply capabilities such as analytics to optimize their product portfolios.
Nearly as many use new technologies to support the innovation process (see sidebar). It's clear that business leaders believe digital technologies have a role in all aspects of innovation. But these enabling technologies can do little on their own. They need to be part of a clear innovation strategy and support well-defined innovation processes to be most effective.
Hitting the innovation wall
Many companies do not have the execution capabilities they need to achieve their innovation goals.
Executives we surveyed claim to be less interested in incremental iterations of existing products. Instead, they are aggressively pursuing innovation opportunities they feel will generate significant value (see Figure 4). The near doubling of interest in "silver-bullet" innovations since 2012 is surprising, given how much we have learned about how difficult it is to launch these types of initiatives. One possible explanation is the media and business communities' belief that "disruption" is a necessary prerequisite for growth and profitability. That thinking is certainly consistent with the fact that nearly a third of our survey respondents are counting on innovation to disrupt their current markets by enabling them to introduce new processes or business models—something that has been notoriously difficult for incumbents to do.
Additionally, 47 percent of our respondents want to use innovation to create new product categories. The enthusiasm for this type of innovation is well founded. Forty-four percent of respondents acknowledged that their most successful innovations over the past two years have involved new product and service introductions. Yet, 72 percent admit that such innovation opportunities often languish because they have no organizational "home" to nurture them.
It is also interesting that the perceived success of product and service introductions has been declining since 2009. The success of smaller-scale innovation programs aimed at improving existing products, on the other hand, has jumped 10 percent. That may help explain why executives' stated desire for transformational change is at odds with their actual record: 72 percent of respondents indicated that their organizations tend to pursue product line extensions rather than develop totally new products or services.
Why are companies' stated intentions to pursue "big" innovation not materializing? Our survey results indicate it's not due to a lack of enthusiasm, confidence, or investments in formalized programs. It is due, rather, to how they innovate. Specifically, we found that 82 percent of respondents do not distinguish how they innovate from how they go about achieving incremental performance gains. A single approach to managing small, incremental improvements and large-scale changes to business models and product categories rarely delivers the innovation outcomes that leaders seek. Distinct approaches, on the other hand, make it likelier that companies will generate more value from their innovation investments and stand apart from their peers as innovation leaders.
Flexing the innovation muscle
Successful innovation requires new thinking, new collaboration models and new approaches to execution.
While many companies are creating the building blocks of successful innovation, few have assembled those foundational elements in a way that drives the change—and generates the investment returns. To get more from their innovation programs, companies need to fundamentally change how they approach innovation and execute their innovation initiatives. The first step, which we believe is also the hardest for many companies, involves taking an honest look at their innovation goals, their innovation capabilities, and the financial performance of their existing innovation programs. Such an assessment will help companies understand what is working, what is not, and what they can do to more effectively align their innovation abilities with their innovation ambitions. Armed with those insights, companies can focus on boosting the value of their innovation programs. We believe three actions are particularly important:
View innovation through new "lenses"
Break down industry barriers
Build a two-engine approach


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A Torrance strip mall on Hawthorne Boulevard, considered one of the most prestigious and profitable retail areas in Southern California, has sold for $4.5 million, according to brokers representing the seller.
The sale price works out to $1,064 per square foot, the highest price for a multitenant strip center property in the county this year, said Kevin T. Fryman, a vice president with Irvine-based Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors.
He represented the seller, an unidentified private Torrance investor, in the deal for the building, which was built in 2005.
The 4,229-square-foot property is fully leased by a 7-Eleven convenience store and a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf location at the southwest corner of Hawthorne and Del Amo boulevards.
"7-Eleven and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (building) was seen as a true trophy property due to its high-profile location, corporate leases and the quality of construction," Fryman said.
Torrance municipal officials have said previously that many chain retailers have some of their highest-grossing locations along Hawthorne Boulevard.
The sale price could have been even higher; the original asking price was $4.62 million.
"With a sales price over $1,000 per square foot and multiple all-cash offers, this sale demonstrates the investment community is willing to pay a premium for `A' properties," said Carlos J. Lopez, a real estate adviser at Hanley, who co-represented the seller with Fryman.
The buyer was an unidentified private overseas investor.
Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors is a boutique retail investment firm with a transaction track record of more than $3 billion.
Follow Nick Green on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/nickgreen007


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Calling all ChucK'ers, SuperColliders, Max and PureData patchers, CSounders, Fluxites, Overtoners, and all other tongues of creative coders. We welcome you to attend the third edition of the Creative Music Coding lab at STEIM.
In the past years STEIM has hosted regular SuperCollider and Max meet-ups for musicians and sound artists to gather and share their experiences. This year we have decided to break open these groups into a new experimentation platform welcoming all artists who use code as a medium for making music.
Why the change in format? We believe that coding as a fundamental practice is not necessarily language specific. All musicians who use code as a medium essentially share a common creative process, one that favors highly personal, DIY methods for music making. This being the case, the processes we draw from and fundamental techniques we use can be inspiring to all. By sharing our working methods and allowing an environment for cross-code fluency we will learn so much more.
The CMC lab is an autonomous zone to try out sonic experiments as a group. And an opportunity to leverage the expertise of the group in realizing new artistic tools and processes through the medium of code. Many of the founding members of the group are indeed experts in their favorite languages, but we come from all technical levels of proficiency and enjoy helping one-another out.
DATE: Wednesday, 24 APRIL 2013
LOCATION: STEIM Concert Space, Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134 Amsterdam ( map )
Please let us know if you plan to come (mail marije [AT] steim [DOT] nl ), so we have a rough idea who to expect.
What ARE the goals for the lab?
- a place for creative music coders to show work in progress, regardless of programming language or platform
- a place to discuss and question techniques with fellow computer musicians
- an informal stage for playing with others, livecoding sessions, jamming, and other fun experiments
- an opportunity to meet like-minded artists, share talents, and start new collaborations
- an opportunity to be exposed to new languages and improve cross-language fluency
- a way to discover lesser known and emerging creative programming paradigms
- a place to to discuss interconnections between programming environments
- an environment for discussions on cultural contexts surrounding coding in the arts
We encourage members of the group to use this as a platform for exploring ways in which we might be able to create and play together. Proposals for creative group investigations of hardware, software, and coding as process are welcome.
As always, entry is free, tea and coffee will be provided.


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Celebrity Birthdays for December 10 – Bobby Flay, Meg White and More
Here's a look at some notable birthdays being celebrated today:
Bobby Flay
Age: 47
Occupation: Chef, Restauranteur, and Television Personality
Known For: Being the owner and executive chef of 12 restaurants from coast to coast, hosting seven Food Network television programs, being an Iron Chef on the same network, and being featured on the 'Great Chefs' television series
Meg White
Age: 37
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter, and Musician
Known For: Being the drummer in the popular Detroit rock duo known as The White Stripes, and her former marriage to the band's frontman Jack White
Susan Dey
Age: 59
Occupation: Actress
Known For: Playing Laurie Partridge on the 1970s sitcom 'The Partridge Family,' and playing California assistant district attorney and judge Grace Van Owen on 'L.A. Law'
Kenneth Branagh
Age: 51
Occupation: Actor, Screenwriter, and Director
Known For: Oscar nominations for 'Henry V' and 'Hamlet,' and roles in other films including 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,' 'Valkyrie,' 'Thor,' and 'My Week with Marilyn'
Age: 26
Occupation: Actress and Singer
Known For: Appearing on 'The Cosby Show' as Olivia, starring in the highly successful Disney Channel series 'That's So Raven,' roles on other TV shows such as 'State of Georgia,' recording several solo albums, and roles in films like 'Dr. Dolittle' and 'The Cheetah Girls'


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January 04, 2005
Baked Ziti
For the sauce*:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
28 oz canned whole, peeled tomatoes (I used fire roasted, but any is okay)
1 shallot, chopped
1 handful of fresh basil
Sprig of fresh basil
black pepper
For the ziti:
1 lb pasta (ziti or other small tubular pasta)
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided
1 pound fresh mozzarella, ½ lb cubed, ½ lb sliced
For the sauce:
In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Add garlic, onion and shallot and sauté for about 3 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Add the tomatoes and crushed red pepper flakes and bring to a low boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add basil. Stir to combine and add salt and pepper to taste.
For the ziti:
In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the sauce, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and the cubed mozzarella pieces. Add salt and pepper if needed. Pour into a greased 9- x 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheeses. Bake at 350 until just browned and bubbly hot, about 30 minutes.
*This sauce good even with out making baked ziti. Just toss with fresh pasta. Or make and freeze it up to 3 months.
Key Words: cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, recipe
6 comments:
made the ziti. loved the ziti.ReplyDelete
i think i need your phone # so i can call you when i have recipe questions!
- AnonymousApril 07, 2008 9:41 PM
you don't specify the oven temp!ReplyDelete
What happens to the sliced mozz?ReplyDelete
High on life & Marco- read the recipe carefully.ReplyDelete
I've made this recipe bunches of times now, so delicious!!ReplyDelete
Thanks Rachel :)
I've made this recipe bunches of times now, so delicious!ReplyDelete
thanks Rachel :)
Thank you for visiting Coconut & Lime! I read and appreciate each one of your comments.
If you have a specific question or want to discuss something unrelated to this post please e-mail me directly.
All recipes, photographs and text are for private, nonprofit use only and may not be reproduced without permission.
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1. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Adobe Muse FAQ Mar 29, 2012 10:35 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
Muse will be sold only by subscription because it will allow the Muse team to improve the product more quickly and be more responsive to your needs.
Traditionally Adobe builds up a collection of new features over 12, 18 or 24 months, then makes those changes available as a major upgrade. New updates of Muse will be released much more frequently, probably quarterly. New features will be made available when they're ready, not held to be part of an annual or biannual major upgrade. This will enable us to stay on top of browser and device compatibility issues and web design trends, as well as enabling us to respond to feature requests and market changes in a much more timely fashion than with a traditional purchase model.
2. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Marian Driscoll Apr 4, 2012 10:26 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
The problem with this model is that customers do not really have control over their own work. This is new for any Adobe product.
Because Muse is not designed to work with other web design programs (such as Dreamweaver) a Muse user will only be able to edit and build upon their own creation if they pay Adobe to continue to use the Muse HTML generator.
It is a terrific lock-in that really only benefits Adobe.
(cough... are not read-only FAQs ideal?)
3. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Apr 24, 2012 5:54 PM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
Actually this is not a good model at all. It is purely a marketing "ruse" by Adobe to ensure a steady income stream. Updates and patches have worked just fine and still continue to. So to say "New updates of Muse will be released much more frequently, probably quarterly. New features will be made available when they're ready, not held to be part of an annual or biannual major upgrade" is pure nonsense. I have been using GoLive (and still continue to use it) since it first came out. It works perfectly well under Win7 VM. That is over 5 versions which translates to $1000 in upgrads saved on my end. Over the years Adobe has gotten paranoid and greedy (to say the least). Proof of this? Their new policy of upgrade qualifications. The new policy and direction of "Cloud" is absolute nonsense and purely a way to control the way you work even more. Adobe needs allow their customers to decide which version is best for them and when to upgrade. Their prices are high enough. Let's see... How about if Apple and Microsoft do away with "boxed versions" and make every one subscribe to their OS. Would you like that? I think not. Leave the choice to the people and offer all your software as stand alone products. This Cloud stuff is pure nonsense.
4. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Apr 24, 2012 5:56 PM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
Oh, and one other thing. I have Muse downloaded on my computer right now as a stand alone program. So tell me again... Why is it Cloud only? Hmmmm
5. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?ColinLeger Apr 27, 2012 6:48 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
If this is true that I need to pay again for a software to make an update a year later... I'm out! next step, uninstall Muse.
6. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Paper Sculpture Apr 30, 2012 6:12 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
Subscription based Muse is a bad idea. If you cannot purchase it as a stand alone product, use another product.
7. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Daniel Bevis Apr 30, 2012 7:55 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
This is an off-shoot musing / rant derived from my current inability to purchase the Month-to-Month sub for Muse and a boxed copy of Illsutrator CS6 [just keep getting a system error at the Checkout stage], but it allowed me to look at the Year sub against the Month-to-Month one. It made me realise, what's the difference between the two when both are set to auto-rew [very ugly business practice I think] anyway?
I mean. I know I can turn it off for the Month-to-Month deal, if I so please, but I don't know why I should have to from the offset.
8. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Apr 30, 2012 8:58 AM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
What Adobe is doing is conditioning the "youth" of the business not to expect a "boxed" version that they can use for however long they want (a.k.a. skip the rediculous yearly "upgrades" which contain minimal improvements). I expect and demand that if I am paying top dollar of hard earned money for a product, I will choose if and when I will upgrade or subscribe. It's bad enough we were forced to trash a good amount of perfectly fine hardware and software to upgrade to Win7. Now Adobe is going to make us their software slaves? I don't think so. Imagine car dealerships not selling but only leasing cars!
We need to stop this preposterous practice dead in it's tracks by people speaking out (and not purchasing "subscriptions") before it's too late.
9. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Lukey Poop May 3, 2012 5:42 PM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
I'm advising my 1000+ seat establishment not to get involved with Muse until at least version 2, which is likely at least 18 months away, Adobe are being hopelessly unrealistic by releasing it commercially in the state it's currently in. You think these forums are bad now, wait until Joe Public gets their hands on it and can't figure out why 1) a lot of stuff doesn't work or is buggy, and 2) why basic common-sense features (align/distribute panel, layers/z-order panel, @font-face) aren't implemented.
But for those complaining about the subscription model, the majority of Adobe's clients are corporate organisations like mine or larger, and the subscription model actually makes a lot of sense to a purchasing manager that answers to a board and CFO. Adobe doesn't care about the opinions of individuals, to them you are like ants.
10. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Marian Driscoll May 4, 2012 7:43 AM (in response to Lukey Poop)
That's an interesting and self-conflicting point of view. Adobe is truly selling to ants. Muse and Business Catalyst are aimed at the SMB market, not large corporations.
11. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?wattsun May 11, 2012 12:58 PM (in response to Marian Driscoll)
Its pretty obvious that most major software developers are eventually going in this direction because of piracy.
12. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?jdhughen May 13, 2012 7:37 PM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
"Traditionally Adobe builds up a collection of new features over 12, 18 or 24 months, then makes those changes available as a major upgrade. New updates of Muse will be released much more frequently, probably quarterly. New features will be made available when they're ready, not held to be part of an annual or biannual major upgrade. This will enable us to stay on top of browser and device compatibility issues and web design trends, as well as enabling us to respond to feature requests and market changes in a much more timely fashion than with a traditional purchase model."
This is total BS. This is an out right money grab. Muse (and egde) should be part of the master collection at a min and most feel it should be part of web premium also. once any major release is out, there is nothing to prevent the muse team from putting out dot releases every month if they want to. So the idea that they have to have a subscription model in order to keep it current is just not true. I have a small freelance shop and we currently use master collection seats and update them regularly. we will not be updating CS5.5 MC until adobe includes muse and edge. Everyone knows that flash is on the way out and html5 is the furture and Adobe is just trying to force us into the lame subscription model it came up with that offers the user nothing but permanent addiction. Sunscription models in an of themselves aren't all bad but this one is a no win for the end user. We use 3dmax here also and do use the 3dmax subscription model, it's about $500 a year and provides us with constantly updated version of 3dmax with new features avaliable thoughtout the year and a major update on disk about every 12-18 mo. But the BIG difference is, 1 they ship us disk with all the major updates, lastest releases and 2, if at any time we decided not to renew the subscription we still own and can use what we have. The big problem with the adobe subscription model is; 1 say you subscribe for a couple of years, then you decide you don't want to subscribe any longer, then youv'e got ZIP, nada, and none of your current projects will open in your older software. 2 After getting everyone "hooked" on the subscription model you can't leave without losing everything, and adobe knowing this has less of an incentive to provide more an better updates and just starts putting that money in their pockets. This Model is a VERY bad idea from day one. If they want to sell me a subscription similar the the 3dmax model I would entertain that idea, but the MASTER collection should included EVERYTHING period.
13. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com May 14, 2012 5:20 AM (in response to jdhughen)
Exaxtly what I said!
14. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?jdhughen May 14, 2012 7:30 AM (in response to wattsun)
I really don't see "piracy" being the driving issue here. With adobe's subscription model you still download and install the software and run it locally, it's just constantly phoning home to check your subscription status (basically the same process it does now to check your license "activation", only more often) so it's still there for a pirate to "crack" etc so I don't see it effecting pirates at all. While there is a lot of pirated software out there and people that use pirated software, the number of pirate software users that would actualy go out and buy the software if they couldn't get it pirated is not that significant compared to total sales. The issue here is an additional money grab from honest users pure and simple and a slap in the face to current CS collection owners.
15. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Marian Driscoll May 14, 2012 9:16 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
Here's one more issue with subscriptions:
From the license we claim to have read before running the software:
1.5 Adobe may change the Terms at its sole discretion. If we change the Terms, then we will make a new copy available at http://www.adobe.com/go/terms. Your use of the Services is subject to the most current version of the Terms at the time of such use.
Statements like this are often accompanied by some allowance for the other party to opt out of the new terms, although often by voiding/cancelling the service contract. Adobe is not saying that they will alert us when they change terms.
Adobe can't really change terms on traditional perpetually-licensed "boxed" software. Those terms are set once when we buy the box. As subscribers, we get no guarantees what the future holds. If we find the changed terms to be disagreeable, we can simply discontinue our subscription and be left with MUSE files that we can no longer open/edit. That is a terrible way to lose control of our creations.
16. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Sean Boone May 14, 2012 9:28 AM (in response to Marian Driscoll)
I agree, subscription is not a very trusting way for designers and artists to control their work. Sorry Adobe, I feel you're sliding on this one.
17. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?ocolere Jun 1, 2012 9:14 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
You are fooling us. Now I can not buy Muse, I have to pay each month and I have to pay more if I dont want it in english. Hey, wake up Adobe. For years we buy and work with adobe. We feel cheated with the new politics. In Switzerland, like a lot of countries, because of restricted licences, I have to work with a CS in german, I am francophone in the german part of Switzerland, I am not allowed to switch the language, with a multiple licence, all have to speak the same language, here, everything is mixed, I write many times, I call many times, each time I am in front of a bureaucraty, in a labyrinth of understanding. Pay and shut up!
What do you think about that, am I alone or what?
18. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jun 1, 2012 10:20 AM (in response to ocolere)
No ocolere, you are surely not alone. We just need to keep making noise about this to bring to light what is actually happening here. It's a shame that Adobe feels the need to "take hostages" to get what they want. Tell your friends to post their displeasure. Unfortunately the only thing that Adobe understands now is the almighty "greenback". They have lost their sense of artistic community and common sense and are purely a bureaucratic establishment now. It's a shame to see what they have become from what they were.
19. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Biglazy3021 Jun 25, 2012 11:35 AM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
This was a bad decision by Adobe... There are products out there that are just as easy to use and a lot cheaper. No body cares about how fast you can develop features that are all ready on stand alone products. Stop trying to justify a reason to milk customers dry. Disappointed to say the least. $179.00 a year vs $99.00 one time shot from another great web design product (no names) but I will stick with that software program.
20. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jun 25, 2012 12:10 PM (in response to Biglazy3021)
I would love to know that $99 program that matches muse. I don't think adobe would mind . If you won't post it here...email me please.
21. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?DAndrews1969 Jun 28, 2012 2:02 AM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
If I go along the subscription path for Muse, If I later choose to upgrade to the full Creative Cloud, will my muse subscription be incorporated in the payment I make for CC or will I receive two charges a month?
22. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jun 28, 2012 7:35 AM (in response to DAndrews1969)
I would seriously re consider a subscription at this point. Here's why:
I am working on 3 new/updated sites for my businiesses. I completed and posted one site. It used simple navigation (by simple I mean one top nav menu with no dropdowns) and I am very pleased with it. Once I had a solidified outline it took me less than a day to complete it.
Upon building my second (and most important) site I ran across a "deal breaking" bug:
When you use iframe to embed .swf content, any menu (in my case dropdown with multiple links) is obscured by that iframe content. In my case this means that 3/4 of my dropdown menu is covered, thus rendering it un-viewable by clients using Chrome and IE. I tried everything. Chatting with Adobe, googling... nothing works. I researched and tried inserting "wmode" value="transparent" at the end of the url in the iframe with no luck at all.
Adobe is quite aware of this issue. What gets me is they are marketing this software as "Design and publish unique HTML pages that adhere to the latest web standards without writing code..." and I have to search high and low (with no luck) for code to insert to get the site to display properly in 2 major browsers?!!! That is what you (I have not subscribed yet) are paying for. It to actually work!!! Sure I could redesign the page(s) but that would ruin the aesthetics of the page(s) and I shouldn't have to.
How can I post a site where the navigation is inaccessbile by the client using Chrome or IE? Firefox is reportedly fine according to Adobe Chat.
I truely think MUSE has the potential to be a great program, however simple things like described above make it almost unusable for anthing but a simple site with simple navigation. Adobe needs to seriously get their act together especially if they are asking the end user to subscribe to a product that is incomplete.
23. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?jdhughen Jun 28, 2012 7:42 AM (in response to DAndrews1969)
Don't do it, don't be tempted by the dark side. It's a slippery path from which there is no return.
24. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jun 28, 2012 7:50 AM (in response to jdhughen)
25. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Zak Williamson (Adobe) Jun 28, 2012 11:16 AM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
rogersphoto.com, I wasn't able to find a thread here on the forum where you asked about wmode=transparent?
If it's specified correctly in the embedded HTML then other content can appear both on top and behind the Flash (or other browser plug-in drawn content).
One example of where the wmode="transparent" needs to be places can be seen by placing a SWF in Muse and then exporting the HTML and looking at it. For a SWF placed in Muse, Muse automatically generates the correct wmode settings.
Here's what it looks like for a placed SWF. Exactly where it needs to go and how it would appear for HTML from an arbitrary source would depend on the specific HTML. It's possible the source for the embedded HTML doesn't support wmode="transparent" (in which case the layering of content on a page for something like a submenu wouldn't work with it regardless of whether you're using Muse or hand-coding):
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="100" height="100" id="u184_media">
<param name="movie" value="images/redcircles.swf">
<param name="quality" value="high">
<param name="swfversion" value="18.104.22.168">
<param name="wmode" value="transparent">
<param name="expressinstall" value="Scripts/expressInstall.swf">
<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="images/redcircles.swf" width="100" height="100">
<param name="quality" value="high">
<param name="swfversion" value="18.104.22.168">
<param name="wmode" value="transparent">
<param name="expressinstall" value="Scripts/expressInstall.swf">

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

26. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?Zak Williamson (Adobe) Jun 28, 2012 11:18 AM (in response to DAndrews1969)
I believe you'd want to contact Adobe Customer Support in order to cancel your Muse subscription, at which point your Creative Cloud Subscription would enable you to continue using Muse.
27. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?cre8tivefocus Jun 28, 2012 1:01 PM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
As an Adobe user for the last 20 years I have watched them become more and more greedy....they buy up perfectly good software, and either completely destroy its usability or kill it...they have turned the design software market into a monopoly we with very very little other options than their software. I want control over my software...I want to be able to NOT upgrade if I don't want to - some of my printers are 2-3 versions back for their equipment...and I do minimal web work and I really like Muse and if it was "box" copy I would snap it up, but I can't see paying a subscritpion fee every month in perpitude to do my website and maybe 1 more a year! Love the software HATE subscriptions...so Adobe...why alienate your market?? basically your just saying we arent doing free patches now you have to pay for everything...and I thought Microsoft was the devil...Adober I think you have knocked them off the throne.
Customers should react as users of Netflix did...revolt...refuse...they change their minds really quick when things start effecting their bottom line and they get bad press.
28. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?MikeV1234 Jun 30, 2012 5:27 PM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
I'm paying the $15/month right now but I'll be cancelling soon.
What if stock market crashes and Adobe goes bancrupt???
I still have disks for my other programs, not depending on someone else for 100s of websites is important to any real designer.
29. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jul 1, 2012 6:44 AM (in response to Zak Williamson (Adobe))
Thanks for the reply. I think I may have not phrased my frustrations about swf content embedded in muse not correctly displaying and completely misunderstood the "wmode=transparent" thing.
The code below is what I have embedded (cut & pasted) into muse according to muse instructions:

Now the actual gallery appears just fine in all browsers however there is no way (that I can find) to have my dropdown menus appear on top of that content. As you can see I have (wrongly?) placed the "wmode=transparent" in the iframe after the url.
I don't design anything using "flash" as I don't need to therefore my flash vocabulary is quite limited. And although I am not a coder (I am a photographer) I can understand enough html to tweak anything that need to be tweaked.
My absolute MUSE problem is the fact that when: I place embed an iframe containing .swf such as the one above, MUSE will not write the correct code to have my meunus be on top of the content!
Curiously I do not have this problem at all when I embed an .mp4 from say "Animoto.com" In this case the menus appear as they should; On top of the content.
I would really appreciate guidance on how to correct this as I would love to be able to incorporate muse into my work flow (despite the absolutely horrible, dictatorial, Adobe subscription policy).
After all, Adobe advertises MUSE as Code Free web design and want's users to subscribe for that "privlidge". Shouldn't they live up to their claims? And if Adobe can't get it right or at least fix this bug with all their resources and (subscription) $$ how am I supposed to? It's like driving a car with the visor stuck down (you can only see half the road in front of you). Can you help me put the visor up please?!!!
Email me or post here. I just need a fix!
30. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jul 1, 2012 6:52 AM (in response to MikeV1234)
Very good point Mike! Or how about if Adobe get's acquired/taken over and the new owners decide to discontinue? What then? Your site(s) is useless! I can't think of one logical and supportable reason why Adobe will not sell this software outside of greed. It's a dictatorial policy unbecomming of a reputable company. They didn't even try to "package" this software for sale.
31. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?cre8tivefocus Jul 1, 2012 9:56 AM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
and their big reasoning is that they want to have updates every few months....well that is fine...I get updates every few months with lots of apps and Mac OS....they are all FREE...maybe do packages of extras that can be added on for a small cost....not main features some of which are still missing...like say lists!! but say you add more widgets you could release a widget pack for $15 or something...I would much rather pay a fee like that to get some new useful addons if I wanted them...but knowing that I have the software as my own w/o a subscription. PLEASE Adobe....you finally got something close to what probably a lot of designers like me whos eyes roll back in their head when they look at code can actually get excited about...I think your shooting yourself in the foot by alienating all the would be potential users w/ this stupid subscription scheme
32. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?topelovely Jul 1, 2012 9:59 AM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
The CEO has spoken read:
Narayen, speaking at the Robert Baird Growth Stock Conference Tuesday, outlined Adobe's transition to become a cloud company. He said that the Creative Cloud showed it could bring in new customers in a pilot in Australia. He expects the Creative Cloud—a Web-based roll up of Creative Suite 6—will bring in new customers and diminish piracy.
He said:
We have taken a very measured approach. We will offer perpetual (licensing) in order to enable people to experience the Creative Cloud offering and get comfortable with the amount of innovation that is happening.
So unlike other companies who have had to make business transformations, you can think of this as an augmentation of the business model rather than a complete left shift. So I think that could give you as investors and us comfort that we are doing this in a measured way.
We do think that the Creative Cloud with the new offerings that we have is certainly going to be long-term the preferred way, both for Adobe as well as for our customers.
What we tell investors is, if you believe that everybody is going to stay on the perpetual model, then you can look at CS6, which we think is one of the strongest releases we have released in a long time; and you should get comfort from the fact that people are going to want to upgrade to the new version. If you believe that the subscription offering is going to be a more compelling offering, then what that means is that over time we are certainly making our business more sticky. And we are attracting customers to our platform.
We can now all see where all the subscription stuff is coming from and where it might be heading to.
33. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?cre8tivefocus Jul 1, 2012 10:32 AM (in response to topelovely)
hmm you have to wonder what the "attracting new customers" is...because honestly if you are an artist, designer, web developer or photographer how are you not using adobe products somewhere? if they showed an increase you have to wonder if it was people who needed it for a specific purpose...say they had a big project and hired 5 contract workers...they license CS so those contract workers can use it in the office on their rented computers...and then at the end they just stop their subscription....that is what I see as the usefulness of the whole subscription model...letting smaller businesses use contract or freelance people and not have to pay for a whole new CS....
The whole "Cloud" thing might be great for large places that do a lot of sharing....but its useless to those of us who are 1 person studios...I don't share my stuff...I don't need asset available everywhere...there should be extra offerings like a Cloud package for companies that do work that way...I have never used Adobe Bridge or any of the other "sharing" management bits already in CS...Cloud will do nothing to improve my user experience....and anyway what happens when your on a deadline at 3am and ur internet goes down because your service provider is doing work on the lines OR Adobe servers go down and you need sometihng from your cloud....yea...I don't want to be relying that heavily on an internet connection to do my work....
The whole piracy issue is just a nice excuse...they ran the numbers on a subscription service and saw that they can basically hold their customers hostage....I know I ran the numbers and it was way more expensive for me....which means they are making more. I have talked to a lot of colleagues and other designers and they all feel the same...Adobe is being greedy not innovative.
34. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jul 1, 2012 6:12 PM (in response to cre8tivefocus)
I just downloaded Joomla (Adobe will probably edit or delete this) and it looks like a nice, FREE and somewhat easy alternative to Muse with quite a few free "plugins" too. I happened across this on somebody elses site and it looked nice and clean.
Best of all, you actually get to download the software package and don't have to worry about a subscription and loosing the ability to edit your site if you choose not to subscribe anymore!
If Photoshop ever goes the way of total subscription I will go back to using Corel Photo Paint which is what I used decades ago (It was an awesome program).
35. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?buccigraphic Jul 4, 2012 4:20 PM (in response to topelovely)
what if you're in a region where you can't connect to the internet for 'verification'?
36. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?7thheavengtr Jul 6, 2012 1:15 AM (in response to Adobe Muse FAQ)
So because Adobe can't balance money, you have to tax us by using a BS excuse of update frequency... really??? For the short time it was avail. as a beta I didn't see tons of updates. As a loyal adobe customer for years, I think this new biz model is by far the WORST idea I have ever seen Adobe do. The next was killing GoLive, but that's another issue. It's painfully obvious that all of us are not going to purchase this program with these kind of buying options, so why don't you LISTEN to your CUSTOMERS? You do realize the longer you ignore customers, the more chance you will have to loose them to other options, which will soon be built by some college kid who has passion and cares to LISTEN.
In closing, if money is the issue here, then put a price on muse that is high enough that you can pay your developers to keep updating the software, charge a small fee for updates and make the price low enough that the consumers are happy. I can't believe leadership there lacks the ability to understand basic business fundamentials!!!!
37. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?7thheavengtr Jul 6, 2012 1:19 AM (in response to 7thheavengtr)
38. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?rogersphoto.com Jul 6, 2012 7:48 AM (in response to 7thheavengtr)
7thheavengtr wrote:
I don't think you were supposed to "leak" the real name.
39. Re: Why is Muse sold by subscription only?buccigraphic Jul 6, 2012 9:12 AM (in response to rogersphoto.com)
its not $99, but its a fine program - http://www.softpress.com/products/freeway-express.html


text:
Events Calendar
GVSU Downtown Toastmasters
Date and TimeThursday, March 21, 2013
7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
- DeVos Center » 107C - University Club
Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. Our membership is 280,000 strong. These members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending one of the 13,500 clubs in 116 countries that make up our global network of meeting locations.
Membership in Toastmasters is one of the greatest investments you can make in yourself. At $36 every six months, it is also one of the most cost-effective skill-building tools available anywhere.
Elaine Benoit
This event also occurred on 2/14/2013, 2/21/2013, 2/28/2013, 3/7/2013, 3/14/2013, 3/28/2013, 4/4/2013, 4/11/2013, 4/18/2013, 4/25/2013 and 87 others


text:
Earth : Europe : France : Southeastern France : Rhône-Alpes : Haute-Savoie : Chamonix
Chamonix is a famous resort in the French Alps at the foot of Mont Blanc. Also it is credited with hosting the First Winter Olympic games in 1924.
Get in
Chamonix is connected to the valley by a highway and a small railway line. It is also connected to Courmayeur in Italy by road via the tunnel under the Mont-Blanc [13], and Martigny in Switzerland by road and rail.
In the winter there are TGV lines that go directly to St. Gervais-les-Bains (Le Fayet), where you can switch to a small local train to ride up into Chamonix. There is also a TGV that leaves directly from Charles-de-Gaulle airport to Lyon, and you can transfer to St. Gervais-les-Bains (Le Fayet) from there. Via St. Gervais, sleeper trains to Paris are also easily accessible.
The Chamonix valley can be considered everything between Servoz and the Swiss border, or the towns of: Servoz, Les Houches, Chamonix, Les Praz, Argentiere, and Vallorcine.
If you plan to fly to Geneva and hire a car, the route to Chamonix is relatively straight-forward, covering a distance of 88 km. Chamonix is located 80 km southeast of Geneva, Switzerland, and driving time is about one hour via the Autoroute Blanche (A40) motorway. Chamonix is 226 km from Lyon and 612 km from Paris.
Geneva is the most convenient and accessible airport for tourists traveling to Chamonix. Chamexpress.com [14] run a timetabled daily service to Chamonix from Geneva Airport every 45 minutes throughout the winter and summer seasons at 25€ per person. Alternatively Alpybus [15], which is based in Geneva offers a high frequency shuttle service to Chamonix with fares at 23.50 euro per person.
If you consider taking the more than one cable car trips for sightseeing or skiing, you should seriously consider buying Mont-Blanc multipass [18]. You have passes for 1-10 days at very good prices. Also, the website provides very good information on possible activities and hikes from the cable car stops.
Take the telepherique to the top of a nearby peak. Hike down, it's easy! Or try hikes between two telepheriques, for example:
Get a fantastic view on both the Mont-Blanc/Aiguilles de Chamonix range, and the ribbon of the Fiz limestone range:
Several great glacier hikes exist. Even if you can't get right up to the glaciers and touch them, you can still get close enough to get some amazing views.
The first three could feasibly be done in one day if you are up early and have a car, but Bionnassay will require a half-day.
It's France. The food is all good, though it can be quite expensive in the touristy places. Open a can of Ravioli from the supermarket and eat it with your freshly purchased Swiss Army Knife. If you've been hiking all day, it'll be the best meal you've ever had.
Other regional specialties (Quand meme!)
If you find you've had a bit more cheese that you would really like, there's a very nice Japanese restaurant, Satsuki.
For trendy, 'nouveau French', try these restaurants:
Drinking in Chamonix is relatively expensive. Expect to pay around €6 in most places for a beer, though most places will sell pitchers for less. There are many happy hours during the late afternoon. The Microbrasserie de Chamonix (MBC) has different kinds of microbrews, in an American/Canadian ambiance (serves onion rings and hot wings, for example). Otherwise, most places serve standard pilsners, such as Heineken or 1664. Just ask for 'un demi pression' for tap beer, or a 'demi panache' for a mix of half beer, half Sprite, a refreshing alternative with less alcohol. A pint is called a "serieux" or for better value, order a "pitcher".
Chamonix and its surroundings are stuffed with hotels, lodges and campings, ranging from basic and cheap to very luxe and expensive.
Stay safe
Climbing the Mont Blanc is popular among alpinists. The climb should however not be attempted by people lacking mountaing climbing experience and equipment, even using the easiest route (voie royale).
More generally, all high mountain hiking, climbing, and skiing, is potentially dangerous. Bad weather may turn an otherwise easy hike into a strenuous and possibly fatal journey ; weather in the mountains can change at short notice and you should always inquire about the latest forecast. Always carry a cell phone, should you need to call for rescue, though there is no guarantee it will work everywhere. Keep it turned off unless needed, so as not to drain its batteries needlessly.
After snowfalls, in some areas, avalanches can be expected — either natural or triggered in order to prevent further avalanching. Always inquire about avalanche hazards before embarking in hikes in the snow or off-track skiing. Even if you do not fear for yourself, please show consideration for the people who may be underneath you.
Altitude sickness may also be an issue. Using aerial lifts, one may get very fast to high altitude areas. For instance, when going up the Aiguille du Midi, you get lifted from around 1000m altitude (Chamonix) to 3840m in a very short time. You may experience shortness of breath and other symptoms.
Get out


text:
October 2009
Tales of Plunder & Exploits
normally I enjoy reading stories about the villains of the recession, those unscrupulous cads who prey on people's debts and desperations. Tales of their exploits and comic-book capture have a redemptive, gotcha quality. But I felt something different when I read about an insidious wave of "career marketers"—scam artists who are taking advantage of the newly unemployed by collecting huge fees, then doing little more than rewriting their résumés. (One guy's bill was $8,250. Must have been an amazing résumé.) What I felt as I read all about it was shame. Because I once was that man. The evil one. It lasted two and a half days, and shaped the rest of my life.
Since this recession is full of shysters confessing their sins, I offer my tale as a (way) belated apologia.
I was fresh out of college, in debt and in need of a job, and the country was pulling itself out of a different recession when I responded to an alluring classified in The Washington Post. The ad was seeking a young "writer" and "self-starter." I thought: I can write! I can totally start my self! I pictured my boss as a genial lover of literature, the sort who might brush past my desk at five and ask, "How's that novella going?"
What the ad led me to was the sprawl of Rockville, Maryland, land of carpet emporiums and cheesecake factories, and to the shoddy, carpet-stapled offices of an "employee consulting" firm—basically a glorified résumé-writing operation. I was hired on the spot, which I suppose is an encouraging sign from a company hawking access to jobs. And sure, if you want to get all technical about it, I was doling out career advice before I'd ever had a career. Our office was tucked away in a strip mall, directly across from an Arby's, which lent the place instant credibility. Never far away? The curled promise of roast beef.
My boss—it was just the two of us—was a chubby, subhygienic cheesecake eater whose stained jackets carried the crumbs and fallen memories of eight meals a day. (Years later, when I would read A Confederacy of Dunces, I would recognize him as Ignatius J. Reilly.) Ignatius tutored me on the philosophy of job consultation: These people who come to see you are desperate and hurting. You are here to give them hope. That, and to sell them on the best "package" you can. Package 1, The Career Starter, simply involved rewriting their résumés, using words like "dynamic" and "actionable." Cost to the consumer: $550. Package 5, The Ecutive Care Package, was the delu treatment—said résumé to be printed on much better paper and trumped up with formal letters and follow-up notes to would-be employers ("Thank you for almost meeting with me today. I found the working environment at your offices extremely dynamic"). Grand total: $1,450.
The first day, I sat in and watched Ignatius work his magic—one Ecutive Care Package sold to a big-dreamin' retail manager by noon. Ka-ching! By Day Two, I was on my own, with Ignatius hiding in the next room, supervising, and mostly eating Twizzlers.
Soon, a middle-aged man came in and silently plopped in the chair next to me. I was terrified.
"You people got any jobs?"
"Well," I said, maybe a little too perkily, "we don't have any jobs per se—"
He just glared at me. "What the f*** is purrrsay?"
Clearly he did not enjoy my dynamic nature.
"Well, it's a Latin phrase meaning 'intrinsically' or 'in and of itself.' But if you're look—"
He was already gone.
Ignatius came out of hiding in a disappointed waddle. "Not so great," he said. "You scared him off!" He pointed to the door meaningfully. Was I getting fired? On this, my second day?
We strolled across the parking lot, and, over a three-course midday supper, Ignatius tried to teach me how to sell: "Don't intimidate. Don't try to be so...smart-y. You can do a lot with your eyes."
I don't know if it was Ignatius, his eyes, or the tantalizing pressed-beef sandwich, but I came back to the office ready to kill.
The next morning I got my chance.
A morose bear of a guy named Mike shuffled in with his wife, and together they told me his sob story. He'd been laid off as the manager of a carpet store. Couldn't find work, couldn't sleep. She said some nights he'd been driven to tears, and it was hard for her, too. I explained the power of The Career Starter and let my eyes do the work, conveying empathy and the exciting opportunities awaiting Mike's signature.
"I feel pretty confident we can help you get back in the game."
I heard Ignatius cough. This was a sign to go in for the kill.
"Have I told you about The Ecutive Care Package?"
Man, I pushed that package like I believed it would not only save them; it would ignite my own self-starting life. I must have been channeling Ignatius—I was on fire. The guy bought the damn thing, too. Acted like we were doing him a favor.
Somewhere in the cosmos there walks a man named Mike to whom I owe a whopping $1,450.
It was left to Ignatius to close the deal, to drum up the letters and dream up the adjectives. I took an interminable lunch break that Dark Wednesday that caused me to drive very, very far away. In fact, I could not bring myself to return to the office. I won't go back to Rockville, and I like to think I'm still on that lunch break.


text: The VB-C500D high-performance network "mini-dome" camera is ideally suited for a wide variety of applications where discreet high-quality surveillance over a network is important. It is the perfect choice for monitoring tight spaces such as ATM's, elevator lobbies and building entrances, as well as larger sites such as offices, retail stores and shopping malls. Featuring an 82°-wide horizontal field-of-view and exceptional low-light performance, this versatile mini-dome camera maintains outstanding image clarity throughout the entire field of view, in a variety of lighting conditions. Canon's exclusive DIGIC NET technology ensures high image quality and high-speed communication. An advanced pivoting axis lets you position the camera at exactly the angle you need, while genuine Canon optics ensure the sharpest, most color-perfect images possible.


text:
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Aikido in Amsterdam, Terry Lax style...
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How it came to be...
At age 23 lived in Belfast Northern Ireland and coming from a military background, having no real education or life skills to show, I ventured into the security business, thinking this would be quite "up my alley". I did not count on all the different types of situations I would find myself in. Some of the more violent situations that I more often than I wanted found myself having to deal with was with i.e. shop lifters, drunks, tramps, and people with mental problems.
With the job came a weekend training in self defense and we were sent to a place and shown different techniques from a style of martial art called Aikido. I had never seen many martial arts and this was my first time ever having to try it for real and was instantly hooked. The way that your technique surpasses any physical strength was just amazing to me.
After this weekend my confidence was heightened and I set off looking for a dojo to train in Aikido and found a place in Belfast called the Aiki no Michi Dojo (Belfast Aikido Circle). This was an Aikikai based style which was a little rougher than I expected. However it was a small group and, since I prefer this, I ended up training with these guys for around three years.
Almost every day I made use of the techniques I had been taught, and on the street defending myself against hockey sticks and drunken aggressive young men who where out for nothing more than a fight.
In my time there I also studied the Philosophy of Aikido and the many other different types of styles that are out there. What I was studying at Belfast was an Aikikai based style which is a more recent style: a little more circular and soft, less tradition as it is Japanese. There is Tomiki which is a more sporty style with competition and different colored belts and the likes; this is also a little controversial as Aikido renounces sport and bishido. Then there is Ki Aikido which deals with the more mystical and magical side with use of internal powers. This is also a little controversial as "foreigners" are not supposed to know these things. Then there is Yoshinkan, very hard, very direct and a more "man's, man" type of style.
You can find some more information about some different styles in the attached information sheet.
How it continued...
After moving from Belfast to Amsterdam and not training for quite some while, I once again felt the urge to train, since it felt as something was lacking. I was missing a piece of my life. I scoured the papers and magazines for Aikido Dojo's and stumbled upon the Amsterdam Aikido Dojo run by Erik Louw.
This was a more gentle style of Aikido [Aikikai], was very nice and sometimes even a little fake to the point that you had to hardly touch you opponent to make him/her fall to the floor. I trained in this style for a little over one year or so. I enjoyed my time with Erik, yet found myself constantly searching for that style that I was used to the feeling that I once had where if I was not trained my body would still fill itself with adrenaline because this was what my body is used to doing, I continued to scour Amsterdam.
One evening whilst leaving the dojo, I stumbled on a little flyer with Aikido on it. Being very plain and very inconspicuous it aroused my interest. I took it home and looked at the web page that boasted that the head practitioner is Toshiro Obata, a famous martial artist and movie star from Japan who worked beside the late and great Brandon Lee (Bruce's son) and who has been in many movies like Demolition Man. I decided to e-mail the Sensei for the Amsterdam Dojo and arranged a meeting.
I arrived at the Dojo the following week and we greeted by his head student who told me that this was a hard style and is the same as Yoshinkan. Yoshinkan is a very old style of Aikido which has very strong movements and is very direct in its throws and the joint locks are very heavy and hard.
I was intrigued as this is the only Dojo that has this in Amsterdam and is run by an English speaker (American Brent Hire). The lesson started out very energetic and was very group orientated. Everyone participates in the warm-up, all counting out loud in Japanese. Then all rolling, falling and tumbling exercises together so I got a very nice sense of community and oneness about this little group which I had not felt in the last group, which was nice. The lesson was very dynamic and looked much fun with a seriousness about it that made me want to just run onto the mat and join there and then.
How it is now...
After this meeting, I had decided to take up my Aikido training at this Shinkendo Dojo, seeing that it more fit my personality and seemed to fill the void I had while training at the Amsterdam Aikido Dojo. The Dojo is taught by Brent Hire Sensei.
He teaches four different Martial Arts, which consist of Aikibuken, Shinkendo, Jiu Jitsu and Bojitsu. All these are taught on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and his students range from white to black belt in each and every one of the styles.
Brent Hire Sensei likes to call all his groups his Martial family and this is what you feel when you join. He also likes to give each group a taste of the other group just to show what other Arts there are. He also believes that theres always something to learn from others and other Martial Arts.
The training in Aikibuken is a physical style, but after a while this builds up with your physical frame and state of mind. I myself have now been training for five months and have recently been tested for my skills and found this to be quite a beneficial experience for me. This because testing helped me build up a different type of thinking, as you need to know all the basics by heart, and dont just copy things, but KNOW things. It forces you to also DO things instead of thinking about them first, making it more of an automatic behavior. Also the stress I received by having to perform to the best of my abilities in front of every one, pushed my abilities and thoughts a step beyond from what I knew before.
One thing I do find different about Brent Sensei over my previous Senseis is that he becomes this father figure out of the Dojo and I do not mean this is a negative way.
I mean this in a good way as he offers to help and guide you, steer you in what ever direction you want to go. At the last Dojo party we had, he showed us he has an extensive Martial Arts library of books, videos and DVD's. He allows you to borrow them, as long as you bring them back. He likes to cook for every one and show his sword collection, tell stories of his past experiences and also answer any questions you have. Yet back in the Dojo he completely changes to a serious man who pushes you to your limit and asks "Show me what you have when you have nothing left".
This is exactly what I plan to do
Aikido Styles
Aikido was originally developed by one man, Morihei Ueshiba O-sensei (Great Teacher). Many students who trained under O Sensei decided to spread their knowledge of Aikido by opening their own Dojos. Due, among other things, to the dynamic nature of Aikido, different students of O Sensei interpreted his Aikido in different ways. Thus different styles of Aikido were born. The more common are listed here along with a brief explanation of what is different about the style.
Each style has its own strengths and weaknesses, but all are firmly rooted in the basic concepts which make Aikido the unique art that it is. None should be considered superior or inferior to any other, but rather an individual must find a style which best suits him or her. Outside factors such as geographic location may of course limit one's options.
No matter which style you choose, you are going to be taught that particular instructors interpretation of it, and you yourself are going to develop your own particular Aikido. One might say that there are as many different styles of Aikido as there are practitioners.
Since this list is going to be challenging enough without looking for extra work, we'll restrict our definition of Aikido to mean styles that clearly trace their lineage to Ueshiba O Sensei. The classification into categories is fairly arbitrary.
The "Old" Schools
Here we'll list the schools that developed from the pre-war teachings.
This is the name given to the art O Sensei was teaching early in his development. It is very close in style to previously existing Jutsu forms such as Daito-ryu Aiki-jutsu. It is considered to be one of the harder forms of Aikido.
Most of the early students of O Sensei began during this period and much of the early practice overseas was in this style (e.g. Abbe-sensei's teaching in the UK in the 50s).
This form was developed by Minoru Mochizuki, who was an early student of O Sensei and also of Kano sensei at the Kodokan. This style includes elements of Aiki-Budo together with aspects of Karate, Judo and other arts.
This is the style taught by the late Gozo Shioda. Shioda-sensei studied with O Sensei from the mid-30s. After the war, he was invited to begin teaching and formed the organization known as the Yoshinkan. Unlike many later organizations, the Yoshinkan has always maintained friendly relations with the Aikikai both during and after O Sensei's life.
The Yoshinkan is a harder style of Aikido, generally concerned with practical efficiency and physically robust techniques. It is taught to many branches of the Japanese Police.
The international organization associated with the Yoshinkan style of Aikido is known as the Yoshinkai, and has active branches in many parts of the world. In recent years, there have been a number of offshoots of this style, usually developing for political reasons.
The "Modern" Schools
This includes most of the variants taught today. Most of these "styles" are taught by various senior students of O Sensei, with the divergences coming after the death of the Founder. Most would claim to be teaching the art that O Sensei taught them - and this is probably true even though some have little in common with others! Taken together with O Sensei's notorious obscurity in teaching style, the story of the elephant and the blind men may give us some clue as to how this could have come about :-) .
Most of us have our biases and preferences amongst the various styles but can recognize that all have their strengths and weakness and we all have something to learn from all of them.
The "Traditional" Schools
The Aikikai is the common name for the style headed by Moriteru Ueshiba, O Sensei's grandson, as taught under the auspices of the International Aikido Federation. Most regard this school as the mainline in Aikido development. In reality, this "style" is more of an umbrella than a specific style, since it seems that many individuals within the organization teach in quite a different manner. The Aikido taught by Ueshiba Sensei is generally large and flowing, with an emphasis on a standard syllabus and little or no emphasis on weapons training. Other teachers within the auspices of the Aikikai (like
Saito Sensei) place much more emphasis on weapons practice.
The style taught by Morihiro Saito, based in the Iwama dojo, is generally considered sufficiently stylistically different from mainstream Aikikai that it is named individually, even though it still is part of the Aikikai. Saito Sensei was a long time uchideshi of O Sensei, beginning in 1946 and staying with him through his death. Many consider that Saito Sensei was the student who spent most time directly studying with O Sensei Saito Sensei says he is trying to preserve and teach the art exactly as it was taught to him by the Founder. Technically, Iwama-ryu seems to resemble the Aikido O Sensei was teaching in the early 50s mainly in the Iwama dojo. The technical repertoire is larger than in most other styles and a great deal of emphasis is placed on weapons training.
The "Ki" Schools
One of the most noticeable splits in the Aikido world occurred in 1974 when Koichi Tohei, then the Chief Instructor at the Aikikai, resigned from that organization and founded the Ki no Kenkyukai to teach Aikido with strong emphasis on the concepts of Ki. Since that time, there has been little interaction between the traditional schools and the Ki schools. All of these arts tend to refer to themselves as Ki Aikido, even though there is little contact between some of the styles.
Shin-shin Toitsu Aikido
The style founded by Koichi Tohei - Aikido with Mind and Body Unified. Tohei Sensei places a great deal of emphasis on understanding the concept of Ki and developing this aspect independently of the Aikido training for application to general health and daily life.
This style is one of the softest styles of Aikido and is characterized by soft movements that often involve the practitioner jumping or skipping during the movement. Most schools are not concerned with practical application of the techniques, considering them exercises to further develop Ki.
In recent years, Tohei Sensei has been moving further and further away from Aikido and has devoted himself almost exclusively to Ki training. The latest news is that Ki no Kenkyukai has started an initiative to make Shin-shin Toitsu Aikido into an International Competitive sport.
The "Sporting" Styles
One of the other big breaks in Aikido history occurred during O Sensei's life when Kenji Tomiki proposed "rationalizing" Aikido training using Kata and Competition. Since that time, there has been little commonality between the Tomiki schools and the mainline Aikido schools. In recent years there have been a number of offshoots of Tomiki-ryu that have abandoned the idea of competition.
Founded by Kenji Tomiki, an early student of O Sensei and of Judo founder Jigoro Kano. Tomiki Sensei believed that a "rationalization" of Aikido training, along the lines that Kano Sensei followed for Judo would make it more easily taught, particularly at the Japanese Universities. In addition, he believed that introducing an element of competition would serve to sharpen and focus the practice since it was no longer tested in real combat. This latter view was the cause of a split with O Sensei who firmly believed that there was no place for competition in Aikido training. Tomiki-ryu is characterized by using Kata (prearranged forms) in teaching and by holding competitions, both empty handed and with a rubber knife.
There are no 'styles' of Aikido. It is like cheese cake. You can cut it in
wedges or squares or just dig in with your fork but it is still cheese cake!
Did any one read this?
No coments? Nothing?
I read it, what do you want to discuss?
Peter Goldsbury
Did any one read this?
No coments? Nothing?
Yes. I have two comments.
(1) Your experience of training at Erik Louw's dojo in Amsterdam is clearly different to mine. Unless you are a total beginner and have not mastered ukemi, you fall because you are thrown.
(2) Though you call Aikikai an umbrella, it seems pretty clear from your description that for you it is a style, rather than an organization. I think this is inaccurate.
Yes. I have two comments.
(1) Your experience of training at Erik Louw's dojo in Amsterdam is clearly different to mine. Unless you are a total beginner and have not mastered ukemi, you fall because you are thrown.
Well, quite honestly, aikido in Holland isn't a real hardcore :D I did a LOT of practice in different dojos/federations and must say..................hmhm......................" it's a lot like dancing" :p
Peter Goldsbury
Well, quite honestly, aikido in Holland isn't a real hardcore :D I did a LOT of practice in different dojos/federations and must say..................hmhm......................" it's a lot like dancing" :p
I mentioned Erik's dojo specifically, as did Mr Durden, and I am not interesetd on other groups in Holland except the one I look after.
Paul Kerr
I also come from N.I. and trained under Erik Louw from 1994 until 2000 when I lived in Amsterdam. I now live and train in Den Haag. When did you train there?
"Tanking" as uke was certainly a big no-no when I was there and I'm sure it's no different now.
Well, as a citizen of the (rather cold right now) Netherlands and a practisioner of aikido I must say that indeed a lot of the dojo's have a pleassent way of practice :)
The dojo where I practise does this also and I must say that I sometimes like that and sometimes not. This does not keep me from practising and teaching the mondayclass there. In this class there is a emphasis on martial spirit and the people who show up do have it in them.
Now to make my point: if you look at the meaning of aikido and the way O Sensei saw it at the end of his life you can see you don't have to be vigorous to be a good aikidoka. It is what the people make of it. Lots of times when practise is harsh there will be competition, something Morihei did not approve off.
On the other hand; he spent a lifetime of hard practise before it became softer and people now try to grasp this softness at once while it took the founder all of his life.
So, who is doing it right? I don't know. Maybe I will after a long time from now, I'll let you know... ;)
Arjan de Vries
Itokan dojo Amersfoort
I mentioned Erik's dojo specifically, as did Mr Durden, and I am not interesetd on other groups in Holland except the one I look after.
One day I did seminar with Kanetsuka sensei in Erik's dojo. 4 hours suwari waza. 4 hours!!!!
After a seminar Erik gave small presentation of Koryu. Very nice.
Paul Kerr
One day I did seminar with Kanetsuka sensei in Erik's dojo. 4 hours suwari waza. 4 hours!!!!
Yeah - that seminar is legendary :).
People still shudder at the memory.
Hi Terry,
Are you still at Sykes?
Brad Avrich
4 hours of suwari waza is absolutely incredible. Just reading that I have to go ice my knees now.
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In this lesson students investigate the effects of black carbon on arctic warming and are introduced to a mechanism of arctic warming that is not directly dependent on greenhouse gases in the atmosphere: black carbon deposition on Arctic snow and... (View More) ice. It can also be used to introduce the concept of albedo. Prerequisite knowledge: students understand the concepts of absorption and reflection of light energy. This lesson is designed to be used with either an Earth/environmental science or chemistry curriculum. It may also be used as an enrichment activity in physics or physical science during a unit on energy. Includes suggested modifications for students with special needs and low technology option. Requires advance preparation, including freezing ice samples overnight. (View Less)
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Hi can someone proofread my dialog?
It is meant to be a radio talk
Hello zoologist may i know your name?- This sounds strange. I wouldn't use someone's job as a way of addressing the, except for established ones like 'Doctor'. Also it should be 'I'
Lets visit the African Gray Parrot- Let's
It is probably the best talker over all birds because it is easily learning hundread of words and sounds.
probably the best talker of all birds because it easily learns hundreds ...
Looking to the right are the frogs area- is the frogs' area
Well they surely aren't visible to see- delete to see, or better say 'we can't see them'
Whoa the horses were first domesticated by people?- Whoa?????
Their yelling seems scary.- Lions roar, and I'd probably say 'is' not 'seems'
There are many commas missing- after 'now', 'yikes' etc.