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So Shopkick is apparently profitable, driving hundreds of millions of new sales to merchants--remember them? The in-store retail check-in app?
And Belly? They just had their millionth Point of Sale loyalty check-in.
What do they have in common? They're making real business progress towards bringing retailers together with customers. In the face of "software eating the mall" they're helping make the retail shopping experience better for the hundreds of millions of humans who still walk around outside and occasionally go into physical stores.
And they're not alone. Nomi just raised $3mm to help retailers understand their customers--the ones that are actually in the store, by using analytics around their mobile devices.
Today, at Demo, SocialSignIn launched to "solve the problem of businesses knowing more about their online visitors than those standing in their physical location." (Disclosure, I have a business relationship with the company.) They enable a merchant or venue to provide free wifi access in exchange for basic customer data and a continuing digital relationship. No more captchas or struggling to tweet a pic of your favorite desert because you can't get coverage.
This could mean loyalty, or something more creative. Personally, I'm rooting for Foot Locker to allow me to pick the sneakers I like online, and then bring them to the counter when I sign in at the store. I can't tell you how much I hate chasing down a customer rep who is on their way "to the back" to get someone else's shoes. "WAIT WAIT... Got these in a 12??"
This is
There are a bunch of trends at play here. Three years ago, in "the Foursquare post that launched 1000 VC's" I wrote:
"Being able to connect web advertising, recommendations, and social media buzz to an actual person walking into your store has long been the holy grail of the advertising world."
I still believe that, whether or not Foursquare has come through on that promise yet (glad they got an extended life to help try to make that happen through Foursquare for Business, though). I still walk into stores. They still have no idea who I am or what I'm there to buy--but I feel like we're getting closer.
Here's what else I believe:
- Bandwidth will continue to be an issue. You can't connect with your customer in-store if they can't connect to their network. Wifi and offloading the traffic to the pipes in the ground is going to play an absolutely major role. Verizon and others know this and will undoubtedly encourage as many mobile devices as possible to get out of the tower bandwidth and into the fiber on the ground.
- Identity is important. When wireless networks were first built, they were built with the expectation that you were using this at home with your laptop. You didn't need an identity layer because you weren't walking around with your wifi enabled mobile device. For security, trust and even business reasons, this needs to get solved. You want your friends to be able to login to your home wifi when they come visit you, but you don't want your neighbor to mooch off your wifi--or maybe you do, but just not during peak times. You want to treat your best customers even better. Om wrote about this in his "Data Darwinism" post. Not only does he want to get treated like a whale when the data says he is, but "some of the nicest people in real life turn into a baboon's backside once they are online and are anonymous". Identity and mobile is going to need to become a mutually beneficial tradeoff if mobile is ever going to improve our experience of the outside world.
- Router companies are going to see this as a way to climb up the stack--and the space is going to get very acquisitive very quickly. If I'm Cisco, and I just spent a billion on Meraki, I'm going to look for more and more ways to generate cash from my installed base of physical hardware--and that's going to mean smart software in the router and various services around it.
- Knowing where you are indoors is going to be important. Apple bought WifiSlam to help triangulate your location and Floored (one of my investments) is scanning indoor spaces with cutting edge 3D tech.
Thoughts? Opportunties? What am I missing? What are you excited about?
Read more posts on This Is Going To Be Big »


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When I was growing up, my grandmother had a pretty good record collection. She owned all the albums you'd expect from a former party girl-Hollywood starlet-blonde bombshell who liked her mixed tropical drinks: Yma Sumac, Chaino, Esquivel, Julie London and of course every Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman and Les Baxter you could find at the May Company on Wilshire and Fairfax. And when I got little older, I dug a little deeper and conveniently found all her stag party albums on Fax Records featuring cover art of lovely and beautifully naked women, and at age eight discovered the musical charms of Terri "Cupcakes' O'Mason! … but I digress! The best records she owned, that for me have stood the test of time, were the Tom Lehrer Albums.
Music historian, record geek and novelty song guru, Dr Demento, has called Tom Lehrer "the best musical satirist of the 20th Century". Even Mr. Lehrer, a Harvard Graduate, who taught mathematics at UC Santa Cruz until retiring in 2001, has been somewhat amused by the longevity and impact of his music career, though he retired from that vocation back in the Sixties. He'll be the first to point out that his 'career' consisted of 109 live shows and the writing of 37 songs in a twenty years span! But these aren't just any old songs! Songs like "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park", "I Hold Your Hand in Mine", "The Masochism Tango" and "The Vatican Rag" are all timelessly classic, (at least in my interpretation of the construct called the space-time continuum, being three-dimensional and timelessness plays the role of the fourth dimension-- actually I should just ask a mathematician about that…)


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text: Northside registered some memorable moments this year, from Kitty Pryde living the meme at Knitting Factory to a sold out Cameo Lounge for Stereogum's showcase (hat tip to Guards, for winning the night — and the fest's — breakout act honors). Photographer wagz2it roved the north Williamsburgian terrain and assembled a spread of photos for your perusal. Click above for shots from Jens Lekman, of Montreal, the Thermals, Iceage-spinoff Vår, Wymond Miles, and a whole bunch more.


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Photo of Emma Golen courtesy of Gil Talbot.
Women's Basketball in the Community
Harvard dives into Ivy League play with a road trip to New York state to take on Columbia and Cornell. The Crimson looks to extend its longest win streak of the season.
Last Time Out
Harvard downed Seattle, 69-55, Saturday afternoon at Connolly Center thanks to four Crimson players scoring in double digits. The Crimson battled back from a 10-point-second half deficit to earn its third win in a row.
Miriam Rutzen recorded her first collegiate double-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists – all career highs. Brogan Berry tallied 16 points and led the team with four steals. Victoria Lippert and Emma Markley joined them in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Home Sweet Home
The Crimson, which is 5-1 at home this season, posted a 12-1 record at Lavietes Pavilion in 2009-10, which was the best home record since going unbeaten in 1997-98.
Harvard and the Ivy League
Harvard is 298-152 all-time against its league foes. The Crimson holds the lead in all seven conference series with the closest series record coming against Dartmouth. Brown and Dartmouth have both won 31 games against the Crimson.
Harvard vs. the New York Ivies
Harvard holds a 98-13 overall record against Columbia and Cornell, including a 57-2 mark at Lavietes Pavilion. The Crimson is 47-2 all time versus Columbia and is 51-11 against Cornell.
The Columbia Series
Harvard holds a 47-2 lead in the all-time series that began in 1980. The Crimson and Lions split the series in 2008-09 with each team winning away from their home court. Harvard's two losses (the other Feb. 12, 1999) were both at Lavietes Pavilion.
The Cornell Series
Harvard has more wins against Cornell than any other school it has faced. The Crimson is 51-11 all-time against the Big Red. Harvard, who has won four straight and nine of the last 10, is unbeaten at home against the Big Red.
League Play
Harvard played its 450th conference game against Dartmouth (Jan. 15).
Won't Happen Twice
The Crimson has not lost back-to-back regular season Ivy League games since the 2003-04 season.
On the Verge of a Milestone
The Crimson is two wins away from recording its 300th Ivy League victory. Only Dartmouth has surpassed the 300 mark with a 301-131 mark against it Ancient Eight foes.
On the Line
Christine Matera has started 43 games in a row for the Crimson. Brogan Berry has a streak of 58 straight games with at least one assist. She has one or more hand outs in 72 of the 73 games she has suited up for. The Beavercreak, Ohio native has 62 straight games with at least one point.
Victoria Lippert has scored in 45 straight games.
Streak Broken
Emma Markley had a streak of starting 45 straight games heading into Harvard's game at Seattle. The senior came off the bench against the Red Hawks after an illness earlier in the week limited her availability.
Make it 100
Christine Matera played in her 100th game in a Harvard uniform against Dartmouth Jan. 15, while Emma Markley made her 100th appearance in a crimson and white uniform against Seattle Jan. 22.
Crashing the Top-10
Emma Markley is one rebound away from cracking the top-10 in rebounds at Harvard. She has 575 boards thus far and needs 576 to make the top-10.
Moving On Up
Brogan Berry is seventh on the all-time career assists list with 333 handouts. She is 11 away from tying Elizabeth Proudfit '96 who is sixth with 344. Jennifer Monti '02 holds the program record of 558.
Lighting Up the Scoreboard
Entering the week, Harvard was first in the Ivy League in scoring offense, putting up 74.2 points per game, 3.5 better than second-place Princeton.
The Crimson ranks 30th in the nation in scoring offense as well.
The Right Touch
Four of the top-10 scorers in the Ivy League standings don the crimson and white. Brogan Berry is third (14.5 points per game), Victoria Lippert and Emma Markley and are tied for sixth (12.9 ppg) and Christine Clark is 10th (11.6 ppg).
Breakout Performance
Miriam Rutzen went 6-of-7 from the field for 16 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out five assists (all career highs) in Harvard's win at Seattle. She also blocked two shots and collected two steals in 37 minutes of action.
Must Have Been the Jetlag
Harvard struggled in the first half against Seattle scoring just 19 points and committing 18 turnovers in 20 minutes. But the Crimson rallied in the second stanza with 50 points and just three turnovers.
Stellar Free Throw Shooting
Berry is 29th nationally, and second in the Ancient Eight in free throw shooting. She has converted 51-of-59 attempts, good for 86.4 percent.
As a team, the Crimson is shooting 76.1 percent from the free throw line, best in the Ivy League and 17th in the nation.
Going Deep
The Crimson leads the Ivy League in three-point field goals made per game, averaging 7.2 per contest this season.
Unbeaten When...
Harvard is unbeaten when allowing between 50-59 points, when it has more assists, when it is shooting 35 percent from downtown, on Friday nights and against the America East.
Arch Angels
The Crimson drained 14 three-pointers against NJIT, just two shy of the program record for trifectas in a game.
How Can I Assist
Harvard handed out 25 assists on 30 baskets against NJIT. Nine players had at least one helper, while Brogan Berry (6) and Christine Clark (4) combined for 10.
Emma Says No
Emma Markley leads the league and is 43rd in the nation in blocked shots. She averages 2.0 per game.


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Working in an old mill in Saxonville, the guys who call themselves FireSeed Arts will be bringing a giant xylophone built from scrap wood, a 30-foot whale made of 6,000 old CDs and eco-friendly whimsy to the Nines Festival kicking off Saturday in Devens.
Working in an old mill in Saxonville, the guys who call themselves FireSeed Arts will be bringing a giant xylophone built from scrap wood, a 30-foot whale made of 6,000 old CDs and eco-friendly whimsy to the Nines Festival kicking off next Saturday in Devens.
The festival's creative producers, Dan Balter and Patino Vazquez, are working with more than a dozen area artists to infuse New England's newest "boutique music and arts'' event with their vision of "art with a re-purpose.''
For two years they've been "planting the seeds'' of new environmentally conscious art that transforms "locally harvested trash'' into "higher-value objects of beauty and contemplation.''
Running from noon to 11 p.m., the Nines Festival will offer 10 bands, a Stitch Comedy Tent with six local comedians, an Arts Garden and exhibits, and a beer garden for those 21 and older.
Balter and Vazquez will be working with some of the area's edgiest artists at the Nines to bring funky work to the Arts Garden. "I can assure you the Nines is going to be colorful, spontaneous and full of surprises,'' said Vazquez, strumming on a guitar made from a countertop. "It's gonna feel very different from other festivals.''
Co-organized by 3Rivers Arts and Great Northeast Productions Inc., the daylong festival will bring nationally known indie bands, popular comedians and locally produced art to Willard Field off Rte. 2 in Devens.
Co-producer Monica Hinojos, executive director of the Ayer-based 3River Arts, said she had "a crazy idea'' to organize "a festival in a new format that hadn't been done before.''
"I want people to discover this is a region where we have world class artists in a place where creativity and high tech merge,'' she said.
After studying in Texas, Hinojos envisioned a central Massachusetts incarnation of the popular South By Southwest festival in Austin that fuses cutting-edge music with performing and visual arts. So she enlisted as co-producer Great Northeast Productions, a 25-year-old company founded by Dave Werlin that specializes in organizing, promoting and coordinating special music and arts events and mass gatherings.
Ben Jaehne, vice-president of operations, said Great Northeast has brought in 10 artists and bands chosen for their "eclectic'' appeal for audiences with more interest in original sounds than "head bashing'' music.
While Explosions in the Sky, an instrumentalist quartet from Texas, is being called the headliner, Jaehne predicted lots of folks in the audience "will be surprised'' by the quality and range of the musical acts. "They might come in for one performer,'' he said, "but I think they'll hear someone new that they'll like.''
Performers and bands like Shuggie Otis and Kid Koala, Delta Spirit and Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys will appear on separate stages to provide 10 straight hours of non-stop music.
Host Rick Jenkins and six comics will provide laughs in the Stitch Comedy Tent from 1:45 to 8 p.m.
Balter, Vazquez and visiting artist Steve Brook will be organizing an Arts Garden which will showcase work by more than a dozen local artists, including Catherine Evans of Maynard, Bryan Gaskins of West Boylston, and Marlene Stemple of Boxborough.
For the gang from FireSeed, the Nines Festival will provide a stage to share their ideas and "create communities that support art'' in a new festival they believe will become a regional institution.
Over the last two years, Balter and Vazquez have been collaborating with other area artists to create original work from "repurposed material'' others have discarded.
To nurture public awareness, they established an Eco-Art Lab at the Wayland Landfill Transfer Station to create art from scavenged material. And they started an initiative they call No Wood Left Behind that re-uses old furniture and construction scraps for new arts projects.
Working with artist Juan Flores at the Wayland landfill, they constructed Moby Disc, a 30-foot sculpture from 6,000 CDs and landfill junk including an old bed frame and a lawn mower handle.
For the Nines Festival, they've been collaborating with Tom Malone, who teaches music at UMass Lowell, to build the world's biggest xylophone, based on an African model, from scrap wood which will be featured in the Art Garden.
Balter's and Vazquez's Saxonville studio combines elements of a high school industrial arts class, a mad scientist's lab and MacGyver's workshop.
They've painted portraits they call "egg heads'' on disposable painter's palettes because the thumbhole leaves an oval space. An old gas station rag bucket sits on the floor waiting to be re-born, maybe as a drum.
Balter and Vazquez said their organization's name reflects their mission to get people thinking differently about trash and art.
"The word fire suggests the idea of creativity and rebirth,'' said Balter. "We feel like we're planting seeds. We're celebrating the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one.''
The Nines Festival
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 10, noon to 11 p.m.
WHERE: Willard Field, Devens
TICKETS: $55; kids under 10 free. $115 Patron of the Arts (VIP) tickets provide premier parking, fast lane entrance to the festival and admission to the private Cloud 9 Lounge.
INFO: 1-800-653-8000; www.theninesfestival.com


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Monday Open Mic
- When
- Event has passed (Mon Dec 9, 2013 - Mon Jun 30, 2014)
- Tags
- Music, Live Music Cafes
DescriptionCome on down to the Red Rock Coffee Company as they host what has become a Downtown Mountain View tradition for the last 15 years. Open Mic night encourages anyone and everyone to get up and show off what they can do. Each participant gets a 10 minute time slot, enough time for a couple of songs, a few poems or even a stand-up routine. The more unique and original, the better. If you would like to participate, be sure to show up by 6:30pm to sign up, as slots can fill up quickly.
More Info
- Link
- http://www.redrockcoffee.org/
- Call
- 650.967.4473


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Kings will lean on experience for Game 7 vs. Ducksby Corey Masisak
LOS ANGELES -- Darryl Sutter isn't a big believer in many of the narratives that seem to be popular at this time of a hockey season.
Does home-ice advantage matter in a Game 7? Nope. In his mind, if there's a Game 7 it is because the teams are too close for it to matter.
Does momentum carry over from one Stanley Cup Playoff game to the next? Nope. He believes in momentum from shift-to-shift, but each game is its own entity.
Is a Game 7 different than other elimination games? Nope. Sutter feels every playoff game is of the elimination variety.
The Los Angeles Kings coach does believe in what he sees from players at this time of the season. He believes that experience matters, and the veterans he has have earned theirs.
Thirteen of the 19 Kings expected to be on the ice Friday in Game 7 against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS) played in every game of Los Angeles' march to the Stanley Cup in 2012. Three others played in at least 12 of the 18 playoff games last season.
It is an experienced group, one that will lean on that experience Friday.
"It's confidence. When you've done special things together, you have the confidence no matter what happens to do that again," center Mike Richards said. "That's a big thing in playoffs. When you're down in a game, down in the series, you've been through comebacks and good things with the guy beside you, it is a good thing to lean on. It's a nice feeling to have that you have confidence in being able to do whatever is needed to win."
The Kings are one win from reaching the Western Conference Final for a third consecutive season. This is the ninth playoff series with Sutter in charge, and the only one they've lost was to the eventual champion Chicago Blackhawks last season when nearly half the roster was either injured or playing through an ailment.
Sutter took over midway through the 2011-12 season, and a few months later the Kings were Stanley Cup champs. That run was a surprise to many people because Los Angeles was the No. 8 seed, but the Western Conference was loaded (the Kings had 95 points), and they were one of the best teams in the League from near the NHL Trade Deadline to the end of the regular season.
Nothing that has come since has been surprising, even if Sutter wants his team to be considered underdogs because of Anaheim's regular-season record.
"I don't it know if [the team] changed after you win the Cup. I think you get to know them through the playoffs," Sutter said. "You get to know guys who thrive in situations or want the challenge. It's a tough hill to climb. Every game becomes tougher as the playoffs go along. That's what happens. It sorts out your leadership group. It sorts out where your young players are at.
"We continue to do that. That's what sort of ... out of place a bit [so far in 2014]. We put a lot of young guys. Everyone says, 'Well, you won the Cup three years ago,' We did but you're putting a lot of young guys in or playing them differently where you see if they can handle it or can't handle it. That's where you see ups and downs in their game."
The Kings are short two veteran defensemen, Willie Mitchell and Robyn Regehr. They will have to play a Game 7 away from home against a California rival for the second straight series after defeating the San Jose Sharks in the first round. They will have to win a sixth straight elimination game (the traditional definition, not Sutter's).
There is little difference in the overall quality of these two Southern California franchises. The regular-season series was tight. Each team has scored 13 goals in this series.
The players in the Los Angeles dressing room believe if there is a tiny edge to be gained from their previous experiences, that will be the difference for them.
"When you've been to the top of the mountain, you have that inner arrogance that you know what it takes to win," forward Justin Williams said. "That's something not a lot of teams have. That's something we need to harness [Friday]."
There can be a robotic quality to how the Kings prefer to play. There's rarely a lot of emotion when players are speaking to the media. Athletes and coaches talk about wanting to not get too high or too low all the time, but that just seems to come naturally for the Kings.
It's the way coach coaches and the leadership group leads. It's a symbiotic relationship, and it forms an identity for the team, even if they don't need to talk about it all the time.
"We get each other. It goes both ways, the communication," center Jarret Stoll said of the relationship with Sutter. "Just knowing what he expects of us. He can be hard. He can be both ways. But we know what he expects and what he needs us to bring. We also know that amongst the group and amongst teammates and friends and best friends. And we trust each other a lot. We've been through a lot. We've said that before. A lot of teams have. A lot of teams have their group together for a while.
"But when you win together and you've been through huge games together, I think that elevates it a little more. You can lean on guys and you know what to expect. I know what to expect from all my teammates tomorrow night and I'm sure they all know what to expect from me and I'm sure that's a good thing to have happen."


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The shrinking shutdown
The longer the government shutdown goes on, the smaller it seems to get.
Tainted raw chicken prompted the CDC this week to bring back about 30 furloughed employees. The CIA has started restaffing its covert and counterintelligence operations. Most of the Pentagon's 350,000 furloughed civilians got marching orders to return to their posts this week to keep the Defense Department humming.
Story Continued Below
Make no mistake: The shutdown lives on. Nearly a half million federal workers remain furloughed — although the White House would not give precise numbers — national parks are closed and veterans may soon be without their benefits.
But there's another reality emerging from a steadily shrinking shutdown, one that has scrambled Washington's political calculus in the name of good government.
( POLITICO's full coverage of the government shutdown)
Emergencies involving food, weather and transportation have prompted government lawyers over the last two weeks to constantly redefine an "essential" employee, leading to more and more recalled workers whose mission involves protecting public safety or government property.
Even the insult of being told to work without pay is on the verge of disappearing. The Senate is expected to pass a House-approved bill promising back pay to all federal employees, including the "non-essential" workers stuck at home since Oct. 1. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said Wednesday that with that bill near the finish line, he sees no reason why he shouldn't call back his thousands of furloughed workers — even as the shutdown remains unresolved.
"I feel like I'm living in a [Joseph] Heller novel. This is just crazy," said Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.)."I didn't get it from the beginning, and it makes less sense day by day."
It's a Catch-22 that also confounds President Barack Obama.
During a stop Monday at FEMA's Washington headquarters, the president thanked the 200 employees who recently came back to work without pay for Tropical Storm Karen's Gulf Coast landfall and other severe weather threats, including tornadoes in the Mid-Atlantic and a blizzard that hammered the Great Plains. But now about half of them must rejoin about 3,500 other FEMA workers who never got the call to come back from furlough.
( Also on POLITICO: Reid won't rule out nuke option)
"That's no way of doing business," Obama said.
Scott Lilly, a former Democratic staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, said the on-again, off-again furloughs are the byproduct of federal agencies "grappling with a very soft concept" of who's essential.
"What is necessary to protect life and property one day may not be sufficient on another," Lilly said, noting that attorneys at the Office of Management and Budget and each federal agency have had to keep "revising their views" during the last two weeks to address each new situation.
"No one wants to advocate an expenditure that would put his boss in violation of the Antideficiency Act," he said, referring to the 19th-century law that underpins the shutdown rules prohibiting certain types of work without an appropriation. "But no one wants to be responsible for withholding resources that caused death or major property loss."
( POLITICO reports - Shutdown week two: who to watch)
This legal reasoning means that hundreds of thousands of federal workers are reporting for duty this week, the bulk of them from the Defense Department. Pentagon lawyers spent a week studying an 11th-hour law signed by Obama to pay the troops before determining it meant that civilian workers who "focus on the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of military members" could come back to work.
Most civilian faculty and staff at the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy returned this week too. So did Coast Guard civilians, with acting Homeland Security Secretary Rand Beers pledging Saturday to "significantly reduce — but not completely eliminate" furloughs. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also appeared to tamp down a high-profile shutdown consequence Wednesday by announcing an agreement with the Fisher House Foundation to fund the benefits for family members of troops killed while on duty until the government reopens.
CIA Director John Brennan also said Tuesday that some furloughs would end this week for employees who work on the agency's core missions of "foreign intelligence collection, all-source analysis, covert action and counterintelligence."
"I have made this decision because of the potential adverse cumulative and unseen impact on our national security from the now week-long furloughing of a significant portion of the CIA workforce, as keeping our staffing at the dramatically reduced levels of the past week would pose a threat to the safety of human life and the protection of property," Brennan wrote in a memo to employees, noting that they would be returning for now without a guarantee of getting paid.
Food safety concerns drove the CDC's decision to recall about 30 furloughed workers after the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert for a Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak linked to raw chicken products produced by Foster Farms at three facilities in California.
( Also on POLITICO: Worst-case scenario: Salmonella outbreak)
The FAA also cited public safety issues with its Monday order to bring back more than 800 workers. That includes safety inspectors who oversee the major airlines, engineers and inspectors who watch the production of aviation parts and products and physicians and support staff who administer drug- and alcohol-testing programs for air traffic controllers.


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The 10th annual Sandhills Poker Run is slated for Sunday, May 5.
The event will start at Riverside Park with registration from 9 to 10:30 a.m.
Participants may leave any time after registration.
The event will conclude at Buchanan Welding and Construction on Highway 34 near the east edge of Fort Morgan.
The run will take place rain or shine.
Stops will include A.J.'s in Goodrich, West Side Custom west of Fort Morgna, the Club Tap Room in Fort Morgan, Open Season in Hillrose, Henry's Pub and Club in Sterling, Dolittle's in Akron and the Corral in Brush.


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When you train with Michael, he doesn't just plan individual workouts meant to help you reach your goal, he plans a program for you.
He knows where you start and how to get you to where you want to be.
Brenda Champaign
I can confidently say there is nothing even comparably close to what this gym has within a 2 hour radius or more.
This is the real deal gym where dedicated athletes go to get high-performance results - the people who are looking for that extra 10%.
Brian Shelbyville
Michael is the best trainer in central IL.
I have been training with Michael for 5+years.
My goals change, new equipment is added and Michael continues to research which keeps my training sessions fresh, challenging and always fun.
Brenda Timmons Urbana
I have worked out with Michael for over 7 years.
The strength gains from his workouts were enormous.
As an athlete, not only did I become fit, I became stronger in all of my weak point, especially my core.
Charles Burton Champaign
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If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices.


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Lena Dunham Denies She Didn't Vote in Presidential Election
(NEW YORK) -- Lena Dunham was a vocal supporter of President Obama during his most recent presidential campaign. Now, the Girls creator and star is speaking up to deny a report claiming she didn't vote in the election.
The political website Room Eight, citing a "New York City's voter file," made the allegation on Wednesday.
Dunham -- who appeared in a pro-Obama video last year that compared voting in an election for the first time to one losing his or her virginity -- addressed the report Thursday on Twitter, writing, "Hey kids, some people on the Internet are saying I didn't vote. Some of them are still mad I used a sexy metaphor re: voting."
The 26-year-old actress continues, "I did vote. I tried to get an absentee ballot but, because our nation's voting system is a steampunk cornmaze, it didn't arrive. So not to be a martyr about it but I flew to New York to vote. I wasn't sure if my change of address had officially been registered so I went to my old polling place with my dad, where they let me vote by affidavit ([which] was totally allowed.)"
Dunham concludes, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, "Obviously I voted for [Mitt] Romney. I hope everyone has a nice day."
A rep for the New York State Board of Elections tells E! News that Dunham's record could not be found in the state database. However, some New York residents who voted have not been not been placed in the database to date for various reasons -- for example, if they were displaced by Hurricane Sandy and they cast their ballot outside their district.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


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OziRacer necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 20 diseños de 6 diseñadores freelance.
TearAway books includes a new range of colouring books where the pages can be coloured in torn out and then turned into envelopes, ready to send off to friends and family..
I need a modern, easy to use Home Page that will attract parents and retailers to purchase on-line (no coding needed just the template) so set up home page and explain how you see it clicking through to a payment and other screens.
TearAway Books - Design your way with TearAway
We want this website to be the gateway for on-line orders of mums & dads purchasing individually, as well as a site to attract retailers to purchase in bulk on-line for baby stores ect.
I need the Homepage to follow with the design we have chosen already in the books. I have Logos, product images, Header cards, book covers ready to email, please email firstname.lastname@example.com and I will forward these to you.
TearAway books is part of a growing family of kids products. We look at whats old and through innovation try to re-create that product to something new and interesting. We also own http://www.tootntinkle.com and would like you to review this site to see a potential layout and style...
What I want:
- I want the logo and existing corporate branding used on our books cover to feature in the website. I can email this.
- With our main feature being 'TearOut' pages, it would be cool if the home page plays on this feature, could look like a book or a page curling.. I will leave it up to you.
- This website is aimed at parents with children so it needs to have a mix of 'grown up' features as well as using icons to attract children (check out cover for style we are chasing)
- It would be great to have images of the product and children using the product on the home page (Children colouring in)
- Please use same font for heading as logo (Porky's version I think)
- On the home page we want an area to post a video/animation to show a demonstration of how the books work, see http://www.tootntinkle.com for ideas
- We want an banner area on the home page to run promotions. We will set this up so it can be changed at the back end of the website, so an area for an image, a heading and test see http://www.tootntinkle.com for ideas.
- With the navigation buttons lets have Home, Products, Testimonials, Fund Raisers, Retailers, Free stencils.
- I want cool icons that say 'Buy Now' or Post Code finder…
- please include PayPal/visa/T&c's/ disclaimer icons and links at bottom as well (see tootntinkle.com to understand what I mean).
- Be as creative as you can.. I don't want a boring website, I want one that is relevant to the product and how unique it is.


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Hilton Beach Volleyball Exhibition Match set to take place in November
Lausanne, Switzerland, September 13, 2013 – Preparations are underway for the Hilton HHonours Beach Volleyball Exhibition Match scheduled to take place from November 16 to 17.
The exhibition match will take place in Honolulu, Hawaii and will include a main draw of three teams in the men's and women's competition.
Current women's beach volleyball world champions Chen Xue and Xi Zhang are expected to take part in the event as are the US' new pairing of Kerri Walsh and April Ross. It is also expected that Canada's Sarah Pavan and Heather Bansley will be making their way to Hawaii to take part in the event.
In the men's competition Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal are expected to participate in the event as well as Canada's Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk.


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Independent senator Nick Xenophon is pushing for a minimum floor price on cigarettes to counter a tobacco giant's "cynical" move to sell discounted packets.
British American Tobacco Australia has launched what it claims is the cheapest legal packet of cigarettes on the market at $13 for a 25-pack.
It is blaming federal government policy for the move, saying it's simply seeking to remain competitive as sales of cut-price cigarettes soar.
Xenophon has accused the tobacco giant of circumventing laws to discourage people from smoking.
He plans to introduce a resolution in the upper house next week to seek a minimum floor price for all cigarettes sold in Australia.
"We need to outsmart big tobacco in terms of what they've done with this price-discounting and loss-leading campaign," he told ABC TV on Monday.
Xenophon will consult with public health experts on the most effective disincentive price but wants to see a minimum of $20 for a 25-pack.
It was the best option to combat a "deeply cynical" campaign aimed at boosting the ranks of younger smokers, he said.
Xenophon also dismissed "exaggerated" industry claims that plain packaging laws and large excises were driving up black market sales.


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You may have an option to purchase your vehicle at lease-end
for a specified price, if you choose. Or you may be able
to use the car as a lease
trade-in on a new car. Otherwise, you can simply return
the vehicle to the leasing company and walk away. Be careful,
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Making the best decision about what you do with your vehicle
at lease-end returning it to the leasing company, buying
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look at each option carefully and evaluate the tradeoffs.
Canadians should particularly make sure that the lease
contract specifies a lease-end purchase option, if you think
you'll want it. It's not automatically in the contract.
Copyright © 2019 LeaseTrader.com. All rights reserved.


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Google Street View traveled into the future to a post-apocalyptic, dystopian Australia to catch Mad Max and his Pursuit Special V8 Interceptor at the Silverton Hotel in New South Wales, Australia.
The Mad Max Pursuit Special V8 Interceptor was really a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT, an exclusive Australian ride, that came equipped with a hearty 351 Cleveland V8. We're wondering if the nerdy, little Google Street View car was jealous or something because this movie gem seems a bit off the beaten path, even for the Land Down Unda. (Hat tip to Salguod!)


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(AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn's latest plan to pay off the state's monstrous bill backlog is targeting income tax incentives that benefit Illinois corporations as a way to raise nearly half-a-billion dollars a year.
But a governor's loophole is often a business executive's job-creator. Business leaders call the plan a tax increase on corporations in a state they say is already woefully inattentive to the needs of employers.
As part of a $62.4 billion budget proposal laid out last week, Quinn proposed temporarily ending three tax breaks that would pump an estimated $454 million into the treasury. The money would go toward making a significant dent in $9 billion in overdue bills owed to providers of goods and services, the governor's aides say.
Quinn told a joint session of the General Assembly that he plans to reduce the $9 billion deficit by 20 percent before the June 2014 end of the upcoming budget year. Assistant budget director Abdon Pallasch said the tax loophole money would be a savings on top of the $2 billion Quinn called for in reducing the overdue bills. That money Quinn plans to wring out of spending throughout the budget and growth in tax revenue.
"It is no time for corporate tax loopholes when the state of Illinois has bills to pay," spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said. "Suspending these loopholes until the backlog is paid down will ensure vendors are paid faster, which is good for the economy and the budget."
But the economy and budget also get a boost when employers are hiring taxpayers and making money, said Todd Maisch, vice president for government affairs for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
The elimination of tax loopholes "is just one more way in which Illinois is the leader of the pack of doing things that employers will shake their heads and say, 'When are these guys going to figure it out, that you've got to help us and not continually have an agenda that whacks us on the head?'" Maisch said.
It's a philosophy that Quinn has espoused previously. Just over a year ago, he signed legislation providing $100 million in incentives to prevent Sears and the corporation that runs the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade from leaving the state.
On Sunday, he told The Associated Press that those breaks were different, because they saved thousands of jobs. But suspending tax breaks now is "the way to go," he said.
How temporary the proposed tax-break suspension would be also is a question, given the enormity of the state's financial problem.
Incentives can be a blessing or a curse, said Josh Goodman, a senior associate focusing on state tax incentives for the Pew Charitable Trusts. He said it's crucial for states to conduct a "rigorous analysis" of their economic-development tax breaks to see if they're doing what they're supposed to.
The biggest chunk of money from Quinn's plan — $320 million — would come from an Illinois tax on foreign profits paid as dividends to U.S. parent companies of multinational corporations. But it would also tax dividends paid by U.S. subsidiaries of companies doing business in Illinois and business leaders say it would be a penalty because the companion companies would pay tax on profits twice.
In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated taxing foreign dividends by ruling that Iowa was not taxing domestic dividends the same way. But Quinn's plan would put a tax on domestic dividends, too — even from subsidiaries within Illinois. Maisch said that is even worse, because an Illinois subsidiary would pay tax on its profits, then pay tax again when it turns over some of that profit in dividends to the parent company.
In a second measure, Quinn would raise $100 million by eliminating a link between the state tax code and a federal law that allows tax deductions for "production activities" that Illinois-based companies move to other states. The business community argues the law encourages job creation in the U.S.; Quinn administration officials ask why Illinois tax revenue should suffer for production that occurs elsewhere.
The third proposal would require companies that have companion businesses to file a combined tax return, even if the companion is in the finance, insurance, or transportation fields, which are currently fall under the "non-combination" rule. Quinn argues that rule allows sophisticated companies to avoid taxes. Such companies include General Motors Co. and financing arm GMAC; or printer R.R. Donnelley and its affiliated third-party logistics services for warehousing and transportation
"The governor's plan would suspend these unnecessary loopholes until the bills are paid down," Anderson said. "This is a commonsense proposal that would be good for the economy and help return Illinois to sound financial footing."
Goodman, of the Pew Charitable Trusts, said a study of tax programs in Connecticut found that some were bringing in revenue and jobs even after accounting for such factors as whether lost state revenue would have done as much if spent by the state on employees or programs, or whether a company using a tax break and creating a job wouldn't have hired someone anyway. Other times, states have found the programs aren't doing what they were supposed to, Goodman said.
"Incentives are often part of this competition between states for jobs and investment," Goodman said. "But on the other hand, incentives come with a cost and a lot of states, including Illinois, are still dealing with significant budget problems, so that's why it's so important for states to really do rigorous analysis to make sure the dollars they commit to incentives are dollars well spent."


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From beginners to professionals we have golf clubs for you. Becoming a good golfer is a mix of practice and having the right golf clubs. There are many different type of golf clubs you can use depending on the distance or area in which you are hitting from.
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Jason Sudeikis is one cute funny man.
He announced this week that he'll be leaving Saturday Night Live, and we're super bummed, but this means he'll probably be doing a lot more movies. Hot Jason on the big screen? Yes, please. Additionally, we're so jealous of his fiancée Olivia Wilde. Not only does she get to have Kenyan marathon runner-like sex all the time with him, she probably has a sore stomach from laughing at all of his jokes. Here are pics of Jason looking his best as well as our fave moment of him from SNL.LONG LIVE RED JUMPSUIT JASON.
Want more from Dara? Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @dadeeyo.
Photo: NBC/FameFlynet


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MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012 Rubber Feet
Partes que funcionan con MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2012:
MacBook and MacBook Pro Unibody Plastic Feet
Replace the black plastic feet on the lower case of your Unibody MacBook or MacBook Pro.
Info de Dispositivo
The Mid 2012 version of MacBook Pro 13" Unibody is virtually identical to the Late 2011 model with a CPU and graphics upgrade. It features an Ivy Bridge quad core Core i7 processor with PC3-12800 RAM. In addition to the Thunderbolt port and SDXC card slot it now features two USB 3 ports.
The most common repairs with the MacBook Pro 13" Unibody for Mid 2012 are replacing a dead battery or upgrading the hard drive or RAM. The MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Memory Maxxer RAM Upgrade Kit includes all the parts and tools you need to upgrade to 16 GB of RAM.
The MacBook Pro 13" Unibody for Mid 2012 requires a Tri-point Y0 Screwdriver to remove the battery. The battery kit includes all the needed tools.
Once you've bought your parts and tools, check out iFixit's MacBook Pro 13" Unibody for Mid 2012 repair guides for step-by-step instructions on how to make the fix.


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Hidden Jewels: Roman Forum
One of the great things about living in Rome is that you frequently discover something new in a nook or cranny of the city that you think you know inside and out. A good example is the Roman Forum, a place I've visited dozens of times over the past 20 years. I first started visiting the Forum before the fencing was erected around all of the monuments. You could walk all over the Basilica Julia, pound the Augustan pavement of the square, and admire the blobs of melted bronze on the floor of the Basilica Aemilia, possibly the remains of coins knocked to the ground during Alaric's sack of Rome in AD 410. There was also that golden period, between 1998 and 2008, when the Forum was open to the public for free all day long, acting as just another way to get from Via dei Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum valley.
So I thought I'd seen everything, including—thanks to my position at AIRC—many special structures and ongoing excavations closed to the public. A couple of weeks ago I was surprised to learn, while reading a recent book about the Forum, that the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, which occupies the Temple of the Deified Antoninus and Faustina, is open to the public, but for only two hours a week (Thursdays 9-11). After kicking myself for never having thought to investigate that possibility, I visited the church on the next Thursday and was received by a very formal but friendly gentleman from a bygone era who gave me a rapid tour of the artistic treasures housed in the church (as well as an earful about its increasing isolation in the archaeological zone) and then turned me loose at the old doorway facing out onto the Forum, now a balcony floating about 25 feet above the ancient levels. Although the view is obscured by the columns of the porch, the experience is nevertheless a feast for the eyes, offering a fresh and fascinating perspective on the temple itself, the Forum, and the Palatine hill. In Rome, fortune really does favor the bold. And the curious.
~Hidden Jewels is a monthly series by Albert Prieto, AIRC Associate Director of Archaeology, as he investigates the hidden secrets of Rome that are right in front of us. albert[at]romanculture.org
Mortar and Murder: Looking Back at the 2013 Dig #archaeology
As we seek relief from Rome's sweltering triple-digit (F) temperatures, it's a good time to look back at six weeks of fun, hard work, and intensive learning. Here are a few things that struck me, in my capacity as Project Coordinator, about the experience.
Low injury rate. During the course of a typical season we see a handful of cuts or scrapes that require on-site medical attention, as well as a lot of first-week blisters that exhaust the supply of band-aids in no time. This year we had only one cut, thankfully, and not even one band-aid was used.
Plot twists. We started out assuming that the Roman mausoleum in Area B was, at some point after the end of antiquity, transformed into a baptistery, which was subsequently re-worked to accommodate six tombs in the Middle Ages; two bodies were duly found in one of these tombs in the fall exploratory campaign. In the summer not even one additional burial was found in the tombs, while a series of burials was revealed just below the ground surface around the edge of the mausoleum. Proof that, in archaeology, assumptions are made to be modified and abandoned.
Gastronomic adventures. This year everyone looked forward to lunch, which was prepared and served at La Fraschetta del Borgo in Ostia Antica, a stone's throw from the site. Solideo and the staff served up 23 tasty and abundant lunches, catering to all dietary needs, including prosciutto with cantaloupe, cold cuts and cheese, rigatoni all'ammatriciana, frittata (omelette), pizza, sausage with chicory, and chicken cacciatore with potatoes. The daily dose of gelato was especially popular.
Language lessons. Every edition of AIRC's Summer Archaeological Field School involves bilingual staff, so you can always hear both Italian and English spoken on-site. This year's Babel had a particular feel to it. There was the lilting British accent of our Welsh topography intern, Tim Penn. There was archaeologist Larisa ("Larry") Criscenti's elegant and studied English. There were the participants' gung-ho attempts to learn Italian from field director Michele Raddi's colorful diction. My favorite moment was the attempt to explain to our Italian colleagues the subtle acoustic distinction between "mortar" and "murder." Two very different concepts, but both very useful in a Roman archaeology field school.
Life in the Trenches: Week 5 at the Dig
The last week of excavation at Parco dei Ravennati was a bipolar mix of calm instruction and frenzied activity: though it was declared that we were officially finished with the actual digging, many tasks still remained to be done. After a lecture on different types of pottery and marble, we assisted Julia Elsey in the monumental task of cleaning, labeling, and recording every shard we had found this past season. Additionally, the guest lecturer Alessandra Ghelli came to give an enlightening talk on a field we all have little experience with – Marine Archaeology. (more…)
The Next Great Travel Writers Contest by @goabroad
Can't stop talking about your study abroad experience? Put it in writing for the GoAbroad.com"Next Great Travel Writers Contest" and show your friends your words are worth a lot.
Ostia Antica Press Conference/Invito Stampa
La Soprintendenza speciale per i beni archeologici di Roma, con l'American Institute for Roman Culture, presenta i risultati delle più recenti ricerche effettuate nel Suburbium di Ostia antica. L'appuntamento con gli archeologi e con gli studenti di archeologia di 14 università del Nord America è fissato per venerdì 19, alle ore 10.00, all'angolo fra via dei Romagnoli e via della Stazione di Ostia antica (v. mappa).
Please join the Superintendency, along with the American Institute for Roman Culture, in the presentation of the findings of the most recent research of the Suburbium of Ostia Antica on Friday July 19 at 10 am. The conference will be held at our dig Parco dei Ravennati in Ostia Antica, via dei Romagnoli and via della Stazione di Ostia antica, see maps below. (more…)
Life in the Trenches: Week 4, 11 Things I've learned on the Dig
- Count the buckets: When brushing away a mound of dirt with the equivalent of a glorified toothbrush and an oversized spork, it can be discouraging to look at your area after several hours of work and feel you haven't made a dint in it. In order to prevent dismay, learn to count the buckets of dirt that you fill instead. Nothing says progress more than being able to climb up a pile of dirt and say, "Look, Ma! I spent 5 weeks moving all this dirt from over there to over here!"
- Remember all your hard work will eventually pay off* : Excavation needs to be a slow process
Life in the Trenches: Week 3 at the Dig
Though this past week was only four days to accommodate a (well-deserved) three-day weekend, we jumped into work, comfortable with our designated roles and team coordination. We also welcomed a new team member, Julia Elsey, AIRC archaeology field school veteran and an unofficial Finds Coordinator. As an artifact intern, I work with Julia to clean, document, and organize our finds from this and the past dig seasons. Julia provided our team with a valuable lesson on marble types, (more…)


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'Thought-out UI.'
'Landscape screen can feel cramped.'
'Viewing angles are adequate, and the quality of the screen itself is fine.'
'Dedicated Facebook button.'
Touch-friendly interface, and a quite decent slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Roomy keyboard. Responsive touch screen.
Slim and stylish flip-phone design
Great voice quality
Admirable call quality
Large QWERTY keyboard given the svelte form factor.
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Could spell bad news for the Kindle Fire. If it proves to be true, of course.
Not content with revealing Apple is making moves to develop theiPad 3 for a Q1 2012 release, Digtimes now says that the firm is developing a small-screened iPad.
The report says 70 per cent of the 60m tablet shipments this year will be iPads and quotes supply chain sources that claim Apple has decided to develop 7.85-inch iPads, in order to give it the edge over the likes of the seven-inch Kindle Fire, which is already rumoured to be the number two tablet to the 9.7-inch iPad 2.
The panels will reportedly be bought from LG Display and AU Optronics (AUO) and the sources say production is expected to start in Q2 2012.
Furthermore, the 7.85-inch iPad is expected to be released towards the end of 2012 in the fourth quarter. A strategy that Amazon adopted for the Fire, which has received a huge response from press and consumers alike.
It might all be smoke and mirrors, however. Apple has a habit of misdirecting the market and it's certainly true that after many years of rumours about a small screen 'Nano' iPhone, for example, no such device seems anywhere close to a release.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)


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I propose that fire made our evolution possible. While there's no scientific evidence for that hypothesis, we know that our life isn't possible for long without it. If combustion suddenly stopped happening, how long would we last? That's become our species survival test.
Consider an analogy to our situation. We hear a roar, but the river upon which we float is wide and smooth. It's not like some malevolent entity is plotting to throw everyone on the raft over a cliff. We're about to discover danger in the lay of this land.
The real precipice we face is the steep slope between how easily our planet's chemistry and temperature can shift into escalating greenhouse effect to how difficult it is to shift back. It's not as if some malevolent entity designed the universe so that advanced life tends to evolve on planets hovering between ice age and greenhouse conditions. Or built the universe so that physical and chemical processes favoring ice move at geologic speed, and those favoring greenhouse events can go a million times faster and self-reinforce. Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by processes in geologic time frames, weathering of rock and sequestration in sediments. Carbon dioxide is returned in fast processes such as wildfire, volcanic eruption, methane hydrate breakdown, and fossil fuel combustion.
"We are now burning in one year the equivalent of one million years'-worth of plankton deposits as fossil fuel,...
The Fabulous History of Phytoplankton and Why Our Species Depends o...
It's not as if some evil spirit designed animals so that a second source of energy, mastery of fire, was necessary for big brains and sentience to emerge.
That's just the lay of this universe.
The odds have been stacked against us all along.
We co-evolved with fire. That second source of energy, beyond food, made Homo Sapiens a possibility. But plant fuel has limitations. Once a culture has denuded it's continent for firewood, soil washes away, life gets too hard to support a developing civilization. Mastering fossil fuel solves that problem and makes globalization a possibility. But fossil fuel has catastrophic limitations.
Throwing carbon, which had been sequestered underground, back into the air a million times faster kickstarts positive feedbacks which can't be turned off, changing albedo from melting snow and ice, burning forests in a drying climate, decreasing phytoplankton productivity and dissolving animal shells in hotter acidifying oceans (which slows sequestration), raising levels of water vapor (a greenhouse gas), and melting methane hydrate.
It's not fair that processes which push planetary chemistry/temperature toward anoxic/hot conditions are both self-reinforcing and exponentially faster. Fairness is a social trait. Physical laws don't answer to society.
It's not fair that we need a second energy source, and none is an easy replacement for fire.
In short, planets which can support carbon-based advanced life forms which evolved using fire mastery are planets far from equilibrium. They can easily and rapidly transition into chemistry/temperature regimes hostile to that life.
We've been taking fire mastery for granted, failing to realize at the gut level both its significance to our evolution and the inherent danger that entails. Energy is not an externality for us, any more than food is.
Many have wondered why there's no evidence of other advanced civilizations in the Milky Way. The Great Silence can now be seen as a warning. Given the planetary chemistry and physics we're discovering here on Earth, our predecessors probably failed to grasp that very fleeting opportunity, at the height of their fossil fuel civilizations, to decarbonize. Once the feedbacks rev up, we sentients lose control. End of story.
Views: 355
What a beautiful analogy Ruth! I can picture it perfectly; the whole of the human species floating blissfully down a seemingly lazy river, with just a few keen-eared individuals perking up and shouting "hey! I think I hear a waterful! And haven't any of you noticed that we're picking up speed here?!" And the vast masses responding, "hey, shut up you! Everything is fine. Look around, the water is smooth, there's no danger here, now sit down or we'll throw you overboard." Yup. That's just how I've been feeling. The analogy I've been working with was something like heading towards a cliff and shouting but everyone else is deaf. The waterfall analogy is much more beautiful and elegant. I'm stealing it. Thanks! :)
I agree with Jedi - beautiful analogy.
I propose that fire made. our evolution possible. While there's no scientific evidence for that hypothesis ...
I don't know why you think that! The control of fire was very important in human evolution, beyond a doubt. Cooking influenced human evolution, and also the warmth and protection of fires was important.
Thinking in a geologic time frame creates a perspective that recognizes Geologic Ages come and go; Earth and the Universe do not care, they just move on, with or without sentient beings. Hearing a waterfall while in calm waters offers a warning that danger lies ahead. We have been in calm waters with the sound of trouble growing. Some could hear the threat, others denied it. The waterfall and environmental collapse do not care, they are not sentient beings. The wise ones take action to avoid possible danger while deniers flow merrily on until there is no turning back. A good metaphor Ruth.
"As our sciences mature, and as the search for extraterrestrial intelligence continues to fail, the Great Silence becomes louder than ever. The seemingly empty cosmos is screaming out to us that something is askew."
~ Sentient Development: The Great Silence
Robin Hanson, conceived in 1998 the idea of a Great Filter, a natural law of the universe, a "stumbling block," "some kind of absurdly difficult step in the evolution of life" that prevents life from becoming interstellar. If a Great Filter applies to the universe it applies Earth.
Homo sapiens evolved because of food and fire enabling development of a brain capable of reasoning and problem solving and developing ways to live in a civil society. Ancient humans discovered how to manage food and fire and their potential for even more abstract thinking grew until the power to destroy life on Earth as we know it came into their hands, for good or ill.
We exist today with tools and resources that cave dwellers couldn't even imagine. The Age of Fossil Fuel peaked during our lifetime and if we are wise, we will find ways to reinvent fire. Rocky Mountain Institue offers maps to replace fossil fuels and nuclear energy and has the potential to replace CO2 contaminants.
All these ideas emanate out of the writings of Ruth Anthony-Gardner
All these ideas emanate out of the writings of Ruth Anthony-Gardner.
You give me far too much credit, Joan. I'm just an outsider, connecting ideas from others. My ideas aren't even published. I appreciate the way you connected my thoughts to Reinventing Fire from The Rockey Mountain Institute and to George Dvorsky. I especially like
The seemingly empty cosmos is screaming out to us that something is askew.
I admire your zest and zeal. Bringing it down to the practical world what do you propose? I'm from West Virginia...the 14th Colony that was never invited to sit at table. We were part of Virginia, our Governor sports an I Heart Coal 'Friends of Coal' gimmie cap. We aren't a state, we're a colony owned by out of state interests for their benefit and profit. The political machine of the State of West Virginia in the USA would make a powerful field of research and you'd be facing far deadlier than the Mafia or the cartels. You'd be facing people who believe they are right...they have to in order to keep their jobs. But what kind of life? You either get killed flat out...slate fall took out my uncle in '73. Call it a 'kettle drop'. Means there's no warning just a 2 and a half ton slab of slate coming down on the top of your head and driving your head down between your knees and turning your skin a livid blue/black because you blood doesn't have anywhere to go when you body mass is swiftly compacted to less than a quarter of its former size but out through your skin. Needless to say, dead coal miners didn't get open casket funerals.
My great grandfathers on both sides of my family stood their ground at the Battle of Blair Mountain.
And then, if you actually make it through like my other uncle did what do you have to look forward to? A slow death from a cancer called Black Lung caused by inhaling coal dust all day long and work. It still goes on. We have the coal industry offering high paying jobs to young men knowing that the job they will be doing will kill them...one way or the other...
How is it possible in this, or any other civilized country, that an entire industry is permitted to hire workers knowing that they are asking people for their life in exchange for a high paying job in the present? This is insanity.
The UMW is a union of scabs, people who agree to toe the company line and cover up what needs to be covered up without questioning. The Companies are blood sucking fiends ripping out the heart of our state, our hills.
The story is here, laid out like on display at a museum. Investigating reporting. And it isn't just us, we West Virginians are a microcosm, highlighted because of the tight confines of our small state. But what goes on here, goes on in the sprawling heartland. And on the high seas. Or the oil derricks...the same give and take, nod and sway.
And here I am, after the long and tubulent 20th Century, thrown out on dry land. And guess what? I'm still asking for what I wanted...what my grandfathers wanted...way back in the Violent Days.
I want a 40 hour work week. I want one man, working one job, to be able to make enough to support his wife so she can stay home and raise the kids...if she wants to...or go off and do what she wants. So this 40 hour a week man could have a car in the garage, be buying his own home, and making enough money so his kids can go to university some day...maybe not private, but state schools get the job done without the surcharge for the diploma from MIT or Princetown...
I'm not arguing the other side, I'm agreeing with you. And I'm thinking if you redefine 'fire' as the release of energy from a placid, simple state and into a more active complex state.
I want a world that doesn't require anything from me.
Then one day I ran across this book and I realized I had no business hiding out and having fun.
Peter Unger (Author)
Peter Unger (Author)
That's from the Amazon.com site.
I couldn't find a flaw in his reasoning that didn't come off whiney and pleading.
The book sounds great Philip, thanks. And your writing is beautiful, you really painted the picture. Great response.
I aim to please.
There are people out there with more talent and intelligence than me. When I was growing up I was pretty much like the portrayal of the kid in Lou Reed's Smalll Town. I learned one thing going in. People like to laugh. If I could make them laugh, they would want me around. I didn't not fit in with either the Jocks or the Future Famer's of America crowd...this was Fifties and Sixties Ohio in the middle of nowhere town. I tell my best friend...black guy, dreads, Snoop Dog only not as alert...that the closest black person was thirty miles away...but then, the town was named "Lynch'burg, Ohio, so that might have had something to do with it.
I started reading Richard Wright and James Baldwin when I was 12. Why? Because the only people I could feel any sort of empathy for were the black and hopeless and gay.
I like to think of myself as a Wit...a Court Jesture without a Court.
Or maybe I'm just a Fool.
LOL, were I African-American I'd hesitate to move to Lynch'burg.
Humor is a powerful tool of communication, Philip. It doesn't require self-deprecation in a nonhostile environment. You're not a fool any more than the rest of us.
I am an Atheists and I intend to:
Create art, music, literature, sing and dance,
Be stubborn, joyful, brilliant, and relentless.
Tell my own stories.
Organize, coalesce, march, picket.
Boycott goods and services of bigots.
Vote for atheist candidates.
Refuse to support war, make their weapons, read their versions of history, buy their goods and services.
Provide a safe haven if my children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren are called to fight for the right of oligarchs to take oil from people who do not want to give it away.
Philip, your story is a compelling one and it needs to be told. There are those who don't want to hear it, some will criticize you, or accuse you of being anti-USA. They speak from ignorance, following the dictates of propaganda. If they would get off their pity potty and go stand in your shoes for even a day, they might get an inkling of what life is like if they were not pampered, served, and coddled.
You write with power and conviction, with a hint of an idea of how to make life work better for all people. There are those who will read and identify with what you write. A "cloud of witnesses" will form around you because of your words and you make a difference.
No, I don't suppose mine accident victims have open casket funerals. Nor do I suppose miners go into the mines for the love of their work. If they survive the labor, the slow death from Black Lung should keep future generations away from mining. It must be hard to be a family member of a miner as well. Many compelling stories should grab our attention and help us focus on getting off coal.
If enough miners would agree to not go into the mines, and if the scabs joined your effort, the industry would be powerless to make you go back to work. Sadly, supporting families takes priority over working in a safe job. I am saddened to read the UMW is a union of scabs.
Your grandfathers and you want reasonable things, while being safe at work and earning a decent wage, and supporting your families and educating your children.
I know you agree with me. Fire is energy that comes to us through food and flame and a simple life with people you love and who love you, without claims from the world for your sacrifice.
Thank you for the references to Peter Unger's work. I'm downloading some pieces from the internet.
Well put, Joan.
You state a strong moral position both from personal history and philosophy. As I see it the main things preventing people from accepting this moral position is that we live in a Dominator culture rather than a Partnership Culture. This hierarchical structure "morally" justifies exploitation by those at the very top of everyone else beneath them and the natural world too. Part of this morality is a heavy over emphasis on punishing cheaters (which is a legitimate part of managing a commons), of loyalty to one's own group at the expense of outsiders and of respect for authority at the expense of justice, empathy and fairness (competing moral values). "Cheaters" gets distorted to include everyone not like yourself or not above you in the hierarchy. Those at the very top of the hierarchy, meanwhile, somehow become immune to being scrutinized for cheating. You know the way the financiers can steal from taxpayers and not go to jail, and they're still held in the highest respect and their expertise is still trusted after they've been exposed.
The Illusion of Innocence resembles willful ignorance, doesn't it.
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Video Part: Henning Braaten in Oslo 5 1/2 [10/8/2019]
Henning Braatens part from the Oslo 5 1/2 video.
Oslo 5 1/2 is a Noregian skateboard video.
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176 statistical bulletins
Adult drinking habits in Great Britain: 2005 to 2016 (Latest release)Teetotalism, drinking in the week before interview, frequent drinking and units drunk, including changes in drinking patterns in recent years.
Allweddeiriau: alcohol, teetotal
Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2015 (Latest release)Cigarette smoking among adults including the proportion of people who smoke including demographic breakdowns, changes over time, and e-cigarettes.
Allweddeiriau: omnibus, general household survey, general lifestyle survey, opinions and lifestyle survey
Alcohol-related deaths in the UK: registered in 2015 (Latest release)Deaths caused by diseases known to be related to alcohol consumption, such as cirrhosis of the liver.
Allweddeiriau: drinking, mortality, alcoholism, by sex, by age, by region
Annual Business Survey, UK non-financial business economy: 2015 provisional results (Latest release)Size and growth within the UK non-financial sectors as measured by the Annual Business Survey.
Allweddeiriau: turnover, purchases, services, agva, manufacturing
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: 2016 provisional results (Latest release)Data on levels, distribution and make-up of earnings and hours worked for UK employees by sex and full-time or part-time status in all industries and occupations.
Allweddeiriau: earnings, ashe, gender pay gap, median gross weekly, hourly earnings, annual earnings
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings pension tables, UK: 2016 provisional and 2015 revised results (Latest release)Membership and contributions to workplace pension arrangements for UK employees by type, age, industry, public and private sector, occupation and size of company.
Allweddeiriau: ashe, occupational, scheme membership, defined benefit, employer contribution rates
Average weekly earnings, bonus payments in Great Britain: financial year ending 2016 (Latest release)Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) is the key National Statistics indicator of short-term earnings growth, which provides monthly estimates of the level of average weekly earnings per employee.
Avoidable mortality in England and Wales: 2015 (Latest release)Statistics on avoidable mortality in England and Wales for 2015. Data are based on a revised definition of avoidable mortality (introduced in data year 2014) for all persons and a separate indicator of avoidable mortality in children and young people. These definitions were developed following a public consultation in 2015.
Allweddeiriau: deaths amenable to healthcare, preventable conditions, leading causes of death, heart disease, cancer
Baby names in England and Wales: 2015 (Latest release)Most popular first names for baby boys and girls using birth registration data.
Allweddeiriau: popular,names,boys,girls,baby,babies
Balance of Payments: Oct to Dec and annual 2016 (Latest release)Trade in goods and services, income, current and capital transfers, transactions in UK external assets and liabilities, and levels of identified assets and liabilities.
Allweddeiriau: monetary, rest of the world, foreign, economy


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Loveseat Wedding Invitation & Stationery - MAGSTD57
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Life Settlement Trust Benson
One of the only constants in life is that unexpected circumstances can and will occur from time to time. In the most severe of instances, a sudden death can place a great deal of strain upon any family. Not only does this equate to emotional duress, but the financial and legal ramifications are other effects which should never be taken lightly. These are some of the main reasons why writing a will is so very critical in these modern times. Let us look at some of the advantages of these preparations as well as the consequences of not having a legally approved will when it is needed the most.
Wills: The Main Benefits Inheritance Concerns Benson
From a broad perspective, the main purpose of a will is to expedite the legal and financial processes that will inevitably occur upon your death (or the death of a loved one). A will is the most effective and thorough fiscal vehicle that will protect those closest to you. Partners or unmarried couples can be at an even more pronounced risk. In this instance, the other half will not be recognised upon the death of their partner without such a document.
Gifts and Donations Benson
The writer of the will can designate a number of beneficiaries. These individuals are then able to inherit investments, family heirlooms, trusts, property and indeed any other assets which are considered to be of significant value. Donations are also addressed by a will. Anyone who wishes to leave a significant portion of his or her estate to a third-party can do so in writing. This is an excellent way to leave a lasting legacy.
Inheritance Tax Concerns Benson
Inheritance tax in the United Kingdom can be crippling for family and loved ones who have not bee provided with a will. This legally binding document can dramatically impact the levels of tax that is obligatory. In return, a greater amount of liquidity is made available when it may be needed the most.
There are instances when the lack of a written will can cause a great deal of conflict within a family. A legally binding document is able to take conjecture and guesswork out of the proverbial equation. Responsibilities are made clear and in return, the entire process of asset distribution is notably streamlined.
The Consequences of Failing to Write a Will Benson
Although we touched upon some of the downsides associated with failing to write a legal will, these metrics should be addressed in more detail.
A will enables a parent (or both parents) to name a legal guardian upon their death. Without this provision, young ones could very well find themselves in the care of the state.
Large Estates Benson
Once again, arguments and misunderstandings can come into play here. There have been times when lengthy legal battles were the result of the lack of a will.
Distribution of Assets
Without a will, the distribution of assets such as land, possessions and investments can be convoluted at best. This is a major drawback for loved ones who may hope to settle their obligations and responsibilities quickly.
Please browse our website to obtain further information as well as to be offered a quotation from an expert within the will-writing industry.


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The friend of Oscar Pistorius who was identified by witnesses as being with the athlete on two occasions when a gun was shot in public is testifying at Pistorius' murder trial on Tuesday.
Darren Fresco was asked by Pistorius to take the blame, a previous witness testified, when a gun the Olympic runner was handling fired under a table in a restaurant in early 2013, about a month before Pistorius shot dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Fresco was also present, another witness said, when Pistorius shot his gun out the sunroof of a car after an altercation with traffic police in 2012.
Pistorius is on trial charged with murder for the shooting death of Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. He also faces firearm charges for those two gun incidents.
The chief lawyer defending Pistorius at his murder trial also questioned the methods of the pathologist who conducted an autopsy on the girlfriend who was fatally shot by the double-amputee runner in his home.
Prof. Gert Saayman testified for a second day about the gunshot wounds suffered by Reeva Steenkamp when Pistorius opened fire through a toilet cubicle door at his home on Feb. 14 last year.
Saayman has asserted that, judging by the food contents in her stomach, Steenkamp probably last ate no more than two hours before her death. Steenkamp was shot after 3 a.m., meaning she must have eaten after 1 a.m. Pistorius has said the couple was in the bedroom by 10 p.m.
Lawyer Barry Roux asked Saayman what medical texts he had consulted in reaching his conclusion about the food, and said he wanted to see them. Saayman said his findings were a "synthesis" of his own professional experiences and observations in addition to consultation of past studies.
Saayman also said the amount of urine in Steenkamp's bladder at the time of her death amounted to the rough equivalent of a teaspoon. The evidence could relate to theories about whether Steenkamp had gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, as Pistorius contends, or was there following a loud argument with the runner, as the prosecution has suggested.
The pathologist said he had conducted between 10,000 and 15,000 autopsies over 30 years.
On Monday, Pistorius vomited and retched as he listened to Saayman's graphic testimony about Steenkamp's wounds.
He says he shot Steenkamp by accident, fearing there was a dangerous intruder in his home. The prosecution says Pistorius intentionally killed her.


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Baby cross stitch charts free 05
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President Barack Obama's multiple references to Planned Parenthood in the second presidential debate showed how keen he is to sway female voters in swing states.
He may have emboldened another demographic in the process, without making an overt appeal. I'm talking about secular Americans. Compared with their religious peers, this bloc of Americans is much more inclined to support women's rights and gender equality. And the number of nonbelieving Americans is rapidly increasing.
A study released last week by the Pew Research Center provides evidence of what many sociologists have observed: The proportion of Americans who say "none" when asked their religion is the highest recorded in such surveys.
The numbers are striking. In 1990, only 8 percent of Americans claimed to have no religion. Today, about 20 percent claim as much. More than one-third of American adults younger than 30 are now religiously unaffiliated, which means that among 20-somethings, secular Americans far outnumber evangelical Christians — a big shift from 25 years ago.
The overwhelming majority of "nones" are content with their lack of religious involvement; 88 percent say they aren't interested in or looking for a religion that might be right for them.
Most religiously unaffiliated Americans aren't atheists or agnostics in orientation, yet a sizable proportion are — somewhere from one-third to one-half. Thus, the rise of the "nones" simultaneously indicates an increase in atheism and agnosticism in America.
There are several noteworthy demographic patterns. Men are more likely to be secular than women, on average. Asian- Americans, Jews and non-Hispanic whites exhibit higher rates of nonbelief than Hispanic and black Americans. The nonreligious are most highly concentrated in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest — Portland, Ore., was recently designated the "least Christian" city in the United States by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
What is perhaps most politically significant when it comes to the rise of irreligiosity is the strong correlation in the U.S. between being nonreligious and being left-leaning politically. Of course, as Ayn Rand fans know, many secular Americans are conservative or libertarian. But most are not.
According to the Pew study, nonreligious Americans are about twice as likely as religious Americans to describe themselves as politically liberal, rather than conservative. And they are much more likely to vote Democratic; 63 percent of nonreligious Americans support the Democratic Party, with only 26 percent supporting Republicans.
In the 2008 presidential election, three-fourths of the nonreligious supported Obama, with only 23 percent supporting Republican Sen. John McCain. A related study recently conducted by the Council for Secular Humanism found that rates of left-leaning political orientation are even higher among those Americans who affiliate themselves with secular groups. For example, among subscribers to the secular humanist magazine Free Inquiry, 75 percent label themselves as liberal, progressive or socialist, with only 7 percent self-labeling as moderate, and 3 percent as conservative.
Numerous additional studies reveal the contours of the secular-liberal connection: Nonreligious Americans, when compared with their religious peers, are more supportive of same-sex marriage and abortion rights, more interested in protecting the environment, and more supportive of creating paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants. They are less likely to support the death penalty.
Yes, you could have guessed this already. And why should political operatives care, since these voters are concentrated in uncontested blue states? As the microtargeting boom has demonstrated, small subsets of voters in swing districts and states matter, and if secularism is on the upswing, then those subsets might be growing too. It is unclear how strong a wind this is for the political left.
The rise of the "nonreligious" is partly a result of the decline of liberal Christianity. People who might have considered themselves mainline believers a generation or so ago don't want to be associated with a belief system that they think has been hijacked by the religious right. The religious liberals have become nonreligious liberals.
Secular Americans aren't an organized lot with a clear political agenda. Unlike religious voters whose convictions often determine their political choices, people are identified by the lack of something — belief in God, faith in Jesus, interest in church. That doesn't always translate into a predictable voting strategy.
In the swing state of Colorado, for example, secular women who favor abortion rights might not vote for Obama because other issues could be of greater concern to them, such as the economy.
While a few organizations, for example the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association, provide support to the nonreligious, there is nothing on the secular left akin to the hundred-million-dollar media empires and multimillion-dollar PACs of the religious right. Thousands of state and national legislators don't owe their jobs to secularists.
But if the rise of the "nones" keeps up the pace it is making now, who knows what will happen.
Phil Zuckerman is a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif. He is the author of "Faith No More" and "Society Without God."


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Why you need to organize your office
I have an office
It was a mess
I rather liked it that way to be honest
I knew where everything was (kind of)
But NOBODY else dose
I mean seriously in a house full of 6 people it's a blessing when they can't find your crap
It is supposed to be MY office The only thing in the whole house that is mine (And the dogs that is)
However I found out that I had a home office invader
And this invader stole my checkbooks
You know the way expensive ones I use to spend my money with to pay my bills
Just cuz they accidentally fell into the craft pile
(From the bill pile right next to it)
That evidently gave him the green light to write all over them....
Filling them in with numbers no less.
Big numbers.
Needless to say I had to clean my office so I can pay my mortgage.
I fear he has a career as a check forger in his future....