text:
Graphical records of events, talks, and training session stimulate learning, increase audience engagement and post-event sharing, and assist with memory of the content. View visual notes by Justin Tung on Flickr and see a snapshot of some below. Vive la doodle revolution!
Category Archives: Marketing & Communications
Anatomy of a Jane's Walk in Toronto: Raindrop's Journey in Rosedale Valley
Are you interested in water quality and the environment in Toronto? Then you would have been interested in a 2014 Jane's Walk called "A Raindrop's Journey in Rosedale Valley".
The walk traced a how a raindrop travels along Rosedale Valley Road to the Don River and taught walkers about the valley's history while learning about water quality and conservation.
The Walk's Stops
A list of stops along the walk where the environment's water and local history was discussed along with notes for the walk. Landmarks are pointed out along the walk and details on these interesting places are found in the references section after this article mainly from Riversides and the Toronto Star.
1. Asquith Green Park – meeting site
A wide open park with a concrete stage to stand up on to easily talk to the walk group as they gather.
2. Park Road West side at Church
Cross the road carefully to reach the sidewalk and descend into the valley on Park Road slowly as the path can be steep or slippery when wet.
3. Lawren Harris Park
Look at sign at the west end of the park at the bottom of the valley. The sign is close to Rosedale Valley Road.
A good spot to talk about:
- the rich hunting/fishing area (First Nations usage of the area)
- recent history of the region (1800 – present)
- how people used the river for fun activities in the past
- a link to Jane Jacob's work along Castle Frank Brook at Cedarvale Park.
- Group of 7 studio is visible to the west
- brewery used to be in the area
- ravine history
4. Hazeldean Park
- See the Hazeldean sign and painting. Note Rosedale Villa was on east side of ravine
- Bell box mural is seen across the street reflecting the neighbourhood (combination of nature and residential)
- Eulogy to Beauty plaque in Hazeldean park.
5. Observe the Bluebells (invasive species)
Bluebells are growing along slope in valley and are visible in spring, summer and fall. There are gardens growing on the top of the valley from houses.
6. Glacial Rocks (Parking Entrance)
Walking west along the path, we reached a parking entrance with glacial rocks in front showing the area's geological history.
7. Small Hill Between Mt. Pleasant and Sherbourne Bridges
There was a brewery here on the on south side of valley where the hill is. Observe the garbage than came from run off in the area. The brewery dammed the river in the past creating a lake for water sports throughout the year.
8. Storm Sewers
Along path, see how many storm sewers you can spot.
9. Subway Tunnel
Approaching the Parliament bridge, look at subway tunnel overhead which is a completely covered bridge for noise reduction.
Note the large amount of soil run off near the foot of the bridge.
10. Don Valley lookout point / campsite
Under the Parliament bridge, take a path to the right that climbs up towards St. James Cemetary. Along the path, you'll see some fallen logs and an area that looks like a campsite.
The campsite shows the multiple uses of area of the ravine for sport, living, and recreational activities. Under the bridge, you'll find evidence of people temporarily using the bridge as a shelter/living area sometimes. The campsite is a near the connection on Parliament for the mid-Toronto interceptor sewer. A discussion on where water goes in a storm and why disconnecting downspout is important.
11. Bloor-ParliamentParkette
Climb up the ravine path to end up near Parliament and Bloor at the parkette. The path is rough, though well traveled and should be visible by the many rocks on the path. Head across the bridge towards the Don Valley offering a good view of Rosedale Valley from above.
12. Castle Frank Marker
The approximate location of the original Castle Frank house has a red stone market by the Don Valley (now Toronto Regional) Conservation Authority. Place to talk about recent history of Castle Frank and how the region got its name.
13. Castle Frank TTC Station
The End of Walk!
About the Walk
Creating the Walk
So how was this walk created? With help from people, the library, and internet resources 🙂
In particular, generous library and online resources from people who genuinely care about the water quality and health of our environment in the city. The Jane's Walk Toronto Walkshops held prior to the walks in 2014 gave me access to volunteers and staff who identified themes walkers would be interested in and gave advice on how to hold a safe, fun, and engaging walk.
After that, it was:
- Doing lots of reading like the articles below. The areas I researched were:
- water quality
- invasive species and plant life
- Toronto's ravine and sewer system and their relationships
- Toronto's rivers and their history
- Gathering photos and remember my past experience in the walk area, especially on day hikes.
- Mapping out a walk and planning for possible things like weather, large groups, "plan B paths".
- Walking the path and looking for points of interest as a test run.
About the Walk Leader Justin
I've lived in the downtown area for more than 30 years and went to school/played with friends as a child in the Rosedale area.
In a quest to learn about the city and its history, I've extensively explored the downtown area by bike, foot, and online too! I'm a civil servant and passionate about sharing our environment and a healthy city.
Battersby, Helen. "Rosedale Valley Road's bluebell glade". Toronto Gardens. 16 April 2009. Web. 17 April 2014.
Brown, Alan L. "Eulogy to Beauty Historical Plaque". Toronto Historical Plaques. n.d. Web. 2 May 2014.
"Box Art and Bright Green Balloons". Walking Woman. 3 April 2013. Web. 17 April 2014.
"City of Toronto and Bell Canada step outside the box with one-of-a-kind urban art on the box". City of Toronto. 14 June 2006. Web. 17 April 2014.
"Controlling Invasive Plants". City of Toronto. 2013. Web. 15 April 2014.
Hare, Peter, Toronto Green Community and Toronto Field Naturalists. "Castle Frank Brook". Lost River Walks. n.d. Web. 14 April 2014.
Limeback, Rudy. "Six ravines and an abandoned rail line". Rudy.ca. 21 April 2012. Web. 14 April 2014.
Powers, Lucas. "Urban flooding likely to worsen". CBC. 11 July 2014. Web. 14 April 2014.
Mayers, Adam. "The Real Castle Frank". Toronto Star. 8 March 2007. Web. 14 April 2014.
RiverSides: Where Water Quality Begins. RiverSides, 2009. Web. 13 April 2014.
"Rosedale Ravine Trail". Ontario Trails Council. n.d. Web. 14 April 2014.
"Rosedale Valley Road". Toronto Public Library. n.d. Web. 14 April 2014.
Ontario Streams. Ontario Streams, 2014. Web. 22 March 2014.
"The Water in the City Walk: Self-guided Tour". RiverSides. 2007 Web. 13 April 2014.
The Vanishing Point: water underground. Vanishing Point. 2013. Web. 12 April 2014.
Integrated Marketing and Communications Plan Example
The plan is the 2012-2013 OPS Dragon Boat Club Integrated Marketing and Communications Plan and reflects actual plans executed during the 2011-2012 dragon boat season.
OPS Dragon Boat Club Integrated Marketing and Communications Plan
Business Objective
Introduce people to dragon boating for fun, health and wellness, and to allow members to meet and work with people from various ministries and backgrounds within the Ontario Public Service (OPS).
Organize teams for people in the sport of dragon boating to provide a fun and affordable experience and exposure to competitions and diversity of events.
Communications Objective
Raise awareness of the club and attract paddlers to join the club and register for club programs.
This objective is accomplished through the following goals:
- Collect input from members and potential paddlers on their goals and wants to dragon boat programs and related events.
- Increase awareness of the club, its programs, and events. Provide information showing benefits of dragon boating including health, fun, and friendship.
- Provide information to attract people to register for the club's programs and events.
The goal is SMART as outlined below:
Specific: Growth in registration and revenues by 5% assuming an additional team is created.
Measurable: Percentage change from 2011
Attainable: New teams were created with the 2012 season, allowing growth in registration and possibly revenues to occur.
Realistic: New teams can be formed given the size of the target audience. A new team of 20 people is small percentage of the possible audience estimated as 40,000 people.
Timely: 2012 calendar year (Dragon Boat season) is the evaluation time period.
The OPS Dragon Boat Club was formed in June 2002 by experienced dragon boat enthusiasts and people with a great spirit for health, team work, and fun. They were people from the Ontario Public Service (OPS) who wanted to introduce other people to dragon boating which is now one of the world's fastest growing water sports.
Traditionally, the club forms several teams each year catering to beginners and experienced paddlers alike. The club is responsible for constructing the programs, gather funds from paddlers to pay for team expenses, and ensure continued operations of the club.
The club has since grown to include individuals from within and outside the OPS (OPS Dragon Boat Club, 2011).
Target Audiences
OPS People
These are people working for the Ontario Public Service (OPS) and often includes their friends and family. They are motivated by:
- Team building activities
- Health and wellness
- Affordable and accessible sporting activities
- Opportunities to meet other people in the same organization
- Enjoy fun events with their colleagues
People in Toronto
Past survey results indicate many paddlers find that club through the internet and word of mouth from friends. These people usually live in Toronto and occasionally surrounding cities like Scarborough,
Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Pickering, etc. and are actively looking the following things in dragon boating:
- Beginner teams
- Join friends they knew previously in the club
- Teams that practiced through the summer season 1 to 2 times a week
These people commonly say the practice times, frequency, and price of the club programs fit the criteria they were looking for or searching online for.
Club Members
Previous members of the club, friends, and leaders of previous teams usually comprise about 50% or more of team registrations in a given year. They represent the core of the club and its teams and drive performance and consistency in the club's operations.
Media includes mainstream public media as well as corporate communications editors in the OPS.
Strategic Approach
Collect feedback > Assess existing communications > Build Awareness > Action on Promotional channels > Create a conversation > Improve Communications
- Collect feedback from club executive, members, OPS staff, and team captains and coaches on how the club can improve and stay in touch or reach new paddlers. Find out how the club can achieve performance, social, and other goals of members
- Assess existing communications from the previous season. Use lessons learned compiled from executive members to develop improvements.
- Build awareness of the OPS Dragon Boat club to OPS staff and people looking in Toronto and surrounding areas for dragon boating .
- Communicate club materials, messages, events, regattas, programs, etc. to the target audiences.
- Provide channels for feedback to the club executive and team captains and coaches. Interact with paddlers to build a relationship lasting across seasons.
- Improve communications from year to year to extend reach, improve relevance, and match expectations of members and potential members.
Key Messages
Here is a selection of messages speaking to the club's goals, approach, and history of operation (Tung, 2012).
Diversity – "In Toronto, the OPS Dragon Boat Club has 5 teams offering various practice times, competitiveness levels, and locations."
Popularity of dragon boating – "Dragon boating is one of the fastest growing watersports since it is suitable for anyone."
Accessibility and Open Nature of the Sport – "Our teams have had people in their 20s to 60s paddling and we welcome beginners and advanced paddlers alike on all teams."
Team building – "Dragon boating is all about team work. There is no better feeling than when 20 paddlers cross the finish line as one cohesive team."
Affordability – "All the club's programs are at cost to ensure the lowest possible price for paddlers. We'll work with you to arrange payments that are convenient to your schedule."
For paddlers, by paddlers – "Experienced dragon boaters and enthusiasts are the ones running the club as volunteers and we welcome feedback and contributions from members."
Tactics by Communications Objective
Utilize communication channels to collect feedback, communicate, build awareness, and promote the club's programs and its improvement. Timings of tactics are based on a regular club season which usually begins in December with a new executive, goes into the New Year with active team programs in May to September, and a season closing period from October to November.
Objective: Collect Input
|Vehicle & Audience
|Timing & Budget
|Executive (exec) Meetings and Informal conversationsDiscuss club planning and operations. Invite members, team captains, and previous executive members as needed. Much feedback is received simply from conversations people have at practices, regattas, and other club events to be described in other sections.
|Face to faceExecutive members, All club members, people attending events/regattas.
|Year round$0, requires meeting facility
|Registration SurveysAsk paddlers about how they heard about the club, their goals, and their needs for team programs.Surveys are counted as registration to a team and provide information to paddlers about payment, practices, etc.
|Online survey(e.g. Survey Monkey)Paddlers registering for programs
|April – June or longerFree or $125-228 annually for Survey Monkey account
|Annual General Meeting (AGM)Held at the end of the season, the AGM offers a place for: conversation, review of surveys, discussion of important issues and the future of the club, and recognizing people.
|Face to faceAll club members
|End of season$0 if event funded by members or TBD by exec, $20 for recognition materials, $100 for member rewards
|Digital ChannelsContinuous feedback is possible in email, website forms, social media. See section below for details and links to the club website and social media channels.Traditionally email is the primary vehicle for feedback and comments through Facebook in 2012 is growing as a channel to push announcements and a place for conversation between paddlers and sharing media such as pictures and video.
|Online including website, email Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube*, Google+* Note* YouTube and Google+ channels have not been developed yet.Club members, People in Toronto, OPS staff
|Year round~$100.00+ annual website costs. Free for social media. $24.95 annually for Flickr account (optional)
|End of Year surveyThis survey is used evaluate paddler experiences, club programs, communications, and teams. The survey is not scientific, but is the top source of feedback with metrics.It offers discussion points with the exec and members.
|Online survey (e.g. Survey Monkey)All club members
|September to OctoberSurvey Monkey account, costs covered in registration tactic.
Objective: Distribute Information and Increase Awareness
|Vehicle: Audience
|Timing & Budget
|Email / Word of MouthSurveys consistently place email and word of mouth as the primary channels (greater than %50 versus other channels) of hearing about the club. Email is also the primary means of day to day and announcement based communications to and from members.
|Emails and word of mouth. Emails done via Google Apps)All audiences, especially previous club members
|Year round, specifically during promotion of events or teams.$10-30 for Domain/email hosting
|Web ChannelsOPS Dragon Boat website and social media (OPS Dragon Boat Facebook page, Twitter, and Flickr) are used for the delivery of information that have been promoted via email and face to face communications.Web channels should be used with email, events, and physical media (e.g. posters) which will drive people to visit the websites.A digital communications plan can developed for an early season awareness campaign including blog articles, exec minutes and decisions, engaging photos, videos, email newsletters, annual chair's/presidents message, seasonal (holiday, spring) messages, annual reports, and creative graphics. Later posts can contain program promotions (e.g. discounts) based on existing team registrations
|Online including website, email Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube*, Google+*, OPS Intranets and articlesPeople in Toronto (especially people searching on dragon boating), All audiences (especially younger people for social media)
|Year round~$100.00+ annual website costsFree for social media. $24.95 annually for Flickr account (optional)
|Dragon Boat Information SessionsHistorically the club as participated in a variety of information sessions held for other organizations like a Ministry division, a school, or sports showcase.These events provide an opportunity to promote the sport and the club's teams.
|Face to face eventOPS staff usually, Toronto community
|Ideally early in season April to June$0, 5-10hours of preparation time for presenters
Objective: Attract Registration to Programs and Events
All tactics in the "Distribute Information and Increase Awareness" objective can be reused to also obtain registrations for programs (dragon boat teams) and events.
Tactics in this section are more specific as they describe communications and marketing essential to the success of teams and programs by obtaining registrations.
|Vehicle & Audience
|Timing & Budget
|Email / Word of Mouth Early Season CampaignEmail, talking to, and phoning previous paddlers is a primary channel to encourage people to register for teams in the club. Emails usually include official information from the club exec on teams with registration links, waivers, and other information for paddlers.
|Email (can use Mail Chimp or manual) and phone callsPrevious club members
|Early to mid season March – June$10-30 for Domain/email hosting
|Club ShowcaseA whole or half day event centering on an informational presentation at lunch time in a public OPS space. Common agenda items are a raffle for a free membership, guest coaches/speakers, description of dragon boating and the club's teams, and introductions of people involved in the club.
|Face to face, usually conducted in OPS provided spaceAll OPS staff, usually located in downtown Toronto near or at 900 Bay Street.
|March or before teams begin$0, promotional materials costs are covered under other channels
|Digital AdvertisingFacebook – Promote likes on the OPS Dragon Boat page, increasing reach of Facebook announcements and promoting conversation. Google AdWords (includes ads for Search, YouTube/Video, and Display Network with websites across the internet) – Keyword based advertising based on member survey data (e.g. dragon boat, Toronto, ashbridge's bay, paddle)
|Online ads on Facebook, Google, and others if desiredPeople in Toronto and surrounding cities interested in dragon boating or similar sporting experience.
|March to May, Early Season$0 or TBD by exec., recommend $50 to $100 available from Google for new accounts for free.
|Press Releases & Media KitOpportunities for issuing announcements include the following: OPS Dragon Boat Club Showcase – issue release during early March, major OPS regattas (i.e. the Dominion Day Regatta) – issue release in June.Significant changes to teams or creation of new teams.Releases can be traditional or social media ones with videos of regattas, pictures of teams and races, graphics (logos, posters), and the club's social media channels.The club frequently partners with OPS staff in certain teams to issue releases for OPS internal digital communications (e.g. EANG, ministry teams).
|Email, website, optionally newswireMedia, Internal OPS communications staff operating news intranets like Topical and Ministry intranets, Operators of funontario.ca and dragon boat news sites
|Early to mid season, See description$0
|Promotional Materials, Signage, and other Physical MediaThese materials complement face to face conversations and events and can include awards, medals, pictures, posters, brochures, banners, t-shirts, dragon boat equipment, lanyards, etc.Posters, brochures, and digital presentations (PowerPoint, PDF) have been the most popular forms of promotional communications. At the AGM, the exec usually presents recognition awards to outstanding padders, captains, and volunteers.Advantage of having signage is the opportunity to reuse it at events and regattas to aid in visibility of the club and help paddlers identify club branding and information.
|Physical media (see description), digital mediaAudiencePeople in Toronto and OPS staff in areas like offices, sports centers, gyms, dragon boat sites, learning events
|Year round, though mainly early to mid season$30-$50 or more depending on physical media to be printed.
|Web ChannelsOPS Dragon Boat website needs to update audiences on these items as they change:
|Online including website, email Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube*, Google+*, OPS Intranets and articlesPeople in Toronto (especially people searching on dragon boating), All audiences (especially younger people for social media)
|Year round~$100.00+ annual website costs. Estimate around 85+ hours need for website maintenance in year. Free for social media. $24.95 annually for Flickr account (optional)
|Sponsorship and FundraisingSponsorship and fundraising help manage costs and can be applied to the club, events, teams, or paddlers. Sponsorship can be in the form of a team or regatta/event. Fundraising has traditionally been done through selling tickets to a club organized event and selling small items towards keeping costs low for paddlers.
|Online, Face to Face, Website pages, eventsAll club members, friends/family of members
|Year roundResult in money ($) collected by the club related to communications activities.
Key Measures
- Awareness based on communication channel – surveys of members – "How did you hear about the club?"
- Awareness and effectiveness of material measured using methodology below.
- Follows in social media and and correspondence generated by promotional events.
- Registration and End of Year Surveys
- Email campaign tracking (requires free tools like Mail Chimp)
- Web analytics on engagement (requires free tools like Google Analytics on website):
- Time spent on information
- Bounce Rate
- Information accessed and their metrics
- Unique visitors, Referral sources
- Growth of key metric,
- Conversion goals (e.g. registration page clicks, payments).
Communications Report from 2012
Web We Built
|*Every* website page has been improved
|Amounts to 85+ hours just for web content development, not including many hours spent reviewing and improving pages after initial publication.
|Correspondence & Events regularly done with target audiences.
|We've published articles promoting dragon boating and monitor websites and hold events which include the dragon boat showcase and panel events for an OPS audiences and reach out to the dragon boat community for joint events and races.
|We use multiple media channels to maximize our reach and level of interaction
|This practice is core to strategic communications and best demonstrated by the Ontario Government and Dragon Boat Canada. Every communication channel including the website, email, OPS intranets, events, Facebook, Twitter, etc. is important to the organization and takes time to develop.
Achievements for 2012 season compared to 2011
- 20% growth in registrations (counted from team registrations) and member base.
- 6% growth in revenues based on preliminary calculations from 3rd quarter figures. Note the club is run as a cost recovery organization, so growth in revenues reflects a growth in sales and possibly operating expenses over time.
- 47.3% of team registrations are from people that hear about the club from web channels (website, social media, intranets) which do not include email.
- 20% increase in website visits from 1900 to 2300 in the last half of the 2012 season.
- 70% growth in followers on both Facebook and Twitter from the beginning of the 2012 season to end of 2012 season.
- 9,400+ people can engage with the club in the club's Facebook posts.
- 80 people looked at event photos for Canada Day 2012 on Flickr – almost 50% of the people at the event itself.
Center, A. H., Jackson, P., Smith, S., & Stansberry, F. (2008). Public Relations Practicies. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.
OPS Dragon Boat Club. (2011). About Us. Retrieved September 6, 2012, from OPS Dragon Boat Club: http://opsdragonboat.homestead.com/2011/2011AboutUs.html
Tung, J. (2012, March 19). OPS Dragon Boaters to Showcase 2012 Programs. Retrieved 07 03, 2012, from OPS Dragon Boat: http://opsdragonboat.homestead.com/2012/2012-OPS-Dragon-Boat-Showcase.html
Wilcox, D. L., & Cameron, G. T. (2012). Public Relations Strategies and Tactics (10th ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education, Inc.
About this Plan
The plan was written by the OPS Dragon Boat Club communications coordinator Justin Tung in 2012. The plan aims to make future communications for the organization easier by planning common goals/messages, ways to communicate, budgets, schedules, and recording how the club has operated in the past.
It incorporates lessons learned by the club from event planning, writing press releases, website development and operations, social media community management, and good practices in PR, marketing, and communications.
Digital Communications Plan Example
The plan outlines the OPS Dragon Boat Club digital communications for 2012 which is part of the club's larger integrated marketing and communication planning (IMC plan).
Digital Channels
- Official Club website on proprietary hosting platform – http://www.opsdragonboat.ca/
- Canada Day website on proprietary hosting platform – http://www.ops-canada-day-regatta.ca/
- Twitter @opsdragonboat – https://twitter.com/OPSDragonBoat
- Flickr Photostream – http://www.flickr.com/photos/opsdragonboat/
- Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/pages/OPS-Dragon-Boat-Club/167667996612724
- SurveyMonkey account used to create and analyze surveys described in the IMC plan.
The following are suggest channels the club should create for a diversified social media presence
- Yelp! – create for where the club has an address or will have majority of its practices
- LinkedIn – create a new company page with the re-branding of the club
- Foursquare – create general page and locations for where the club has an address or will have majority of its practices
- Google Places – create for where the club has an address or will have majority of its practices (e.g. Balmy Beach Canoe Club)
- Pinterest – create page for club and boards like paddling technique, practices, regattas, people (paddlers, coaches, etc.)
- Instagram – Create an account for your biz and upload pictures relating to your store, service, etc – try posting at least once a week and make sure your information on your profile is completely filled out.
- Google+ Page with general information similar to the website
- YouTube – create channel to host introduction video of club (contains races, interviews, and dragon boat showcase from OPS Spirit initiative), feeds on videos posted by paddlers, races from regattas
Thanks to Liz Oke for suggesting channels for local businesses to attract customers online.
Website Content
- General club information about teams, people, payment, history, practice sites, regattas, training camps, and contact forms.
- Early season awareness articles: President's message, about coaches, about the season and its regattas, training that happened in winter.
- Executive minutes, decisions, or info targeted to paddlers (email communications)
- Multimedia: video, photos, podcasts
- Newsletters
- Annual report / Annual general meeting materials
- Program promotions (discounts, new teams)
- Late articles season: AGM, Winter training
- Off season articles: Holiday message, club updates (e.g. we're working hard on next year's plan, any feedback is welcome, what does next year look like?)
Use an editorial calendar to plan the timing of these messages.
Digital Assets
Photos and videos from 2002 onwards
Media is stored on a variety of platforms and shared document folders listed below.
- Official club video showcasing paddlers, interviews with athletes, and club initiatives and competitions.
- Photos from fundraising, showcase, lunch and learn, AGM, and regatta events.
- opsdragonboat.ca = current club domain, managed in combination with Google Apps
- opsdbc.ca = old domain circa 2002 to 2011
Shared Documents
Includes past meeting minutes, photos, and club administration documents.
- Google Apps account for both domains listed above
- Shared Dropbox Folder
Oke, L. (2012, November 4). Local Bricks and Mortar Business Listings – some tips on attracting customers online. Retrieved November 30, 2012, from Liz Oke Inc.: http://www.lizoke.com/your-business-listed-online/
About this Plan
The plan was written by the OPS Dragon Boat Club communications coordinator Justin Tung in 2012. The plan aims to make future communications for the organization easier by planning common goals/messages, ways to communicate, budgets, schedules, and recording how the club has operated in the past.
It incorporates lessons learned by the club from event planning, writing press releases, website development and operations, social media community management, and good practices in PR, marketing, and communications.
Inspirations for Your Jane's Walk
Going on a Jane's Walk this Spring, leading a walk, or planning a walk in Toronto?
Get inspired by these visualizations below of the Technology, Arrivals, Gender, and First Nations walkshops (also called workshops) held by Jane's Walk Toronto back in 2014. The themed walkshops had speakers and brainstorms about people, resources, and organizations related to those themes.
Walker? – Get an idea of what you might see on your walk and questions that come up for people in the city.
Walk Leader/Volunteer? These visualizations will give you ideas on questions to ask, places to see, and how to plan and what to do your on walk.
While drawing the visualizations at each walkshop, I learned a lot about Toronto, how to plan awesome walk, and heard about people and organizations doing great stuff in the city.
If you're interested in water and nature in the city, see my walk called "A Raindrop's Journey in Rosedale Valley"!
Click on each image to see a larger version.
Arrivals and the City Jane's Walk Walkshop led by Joanna Delos Reyes
Technology and the City Jane's Walk Walkshop
Gender and the City Jane's Walk Walkshop
First Nations and the City Jane's Walk Walkshop
Start with a Plan to Market Your Product
When promoting an organization, service, product, person, or event, you must start from a plan outlining goals, people you want to engage, and what you plan to do.
When working with people on communications I always ask them whether they have a plan. Following a plan will ensure you meet your goals whether it is to raise awareness, change your audience's behaviour, build relationships, or reinforce desired behaviour.
Here is an outline for a integrated marketing and communications plan which includes concepts practiced by people from strategic communications, marketing, and public relations.
- Organization's goal and communications goal
- Context / Situation
- Target Audiences
- Strategic Approach, Key Messages
- Tactics (schedule, communication channels, budget, actions)
- Evaluation (metrics)
You can start a integrated marketing and communications plan template with these headings and fill in details as you go. Usually the tactics section will be large since it is a detailed plan of actions you will take and how they relate to your goals and audiences.
Here is an example integrated marketing and communications plan from a mid-sized sport organization if you are looking what a plan can contain.
4 Steps to Optimize a Website with Keywords
Want to make it easier for people to find your website? Use these 4 steps.
People find things online using search. One of the ways you can ensure you show up in their search results is with keywords which are similar or exactly the same as what people are searching for. Keywords should be relevant to your organization and what you do, so you get the right people visiting your website.
Case Study for Examples shown in Italics
Anita is a clothing shop owner and wants to enhance her website with keywords so potential customers will find her online. Anita owns a retail children's clothing business in the city of Oakville called Anita's Cloth for Kids.
Step 1: Set a Goal
Before researching keywords, you should determine your goals and its relationships to the website. Ask yourself what is your organization's goal and how does it relate to the website?
For a retail business, a website will sell goods. For a charity, a website aids in awareness building and donation collection. For government, a website informs the public and provides services.
Anita's Cloth for Kids has the goal to market and sell clothing products, hence the website goal will be to increase revenue growth due to leads or sales from the online clothing store website.
Step 2: Who is your Target Audience?
Determine what kind of people you want to visit your website to achieve your goal. In the case of a retail business, it would be consumers and in the case of a charity, it would be people that donate and for government it would be citizens looking for information on a topic area.
Anita has identified young mothers as the people most likely to contact her or buy clothing via the website. Other potential people are:
- Family, mothers, and fathers of young children.
- Residents of the geographical area where the store is physically located.
- People looking for gifts for young children
Step 3: Research Keywords
Step in the shoes of people in step 2 think about what they want and what they would search on.
Having trouble thinking of keywords? Try these methods:
- Visit websites related to your organization (blogs, competitor websites) to get keyword ideas.
- Use the Google keyword tool to pick up keywords on your websites and related sites. One technique is point the tool to Wikipedia page related to your organization and what it does.
- Most website data collectors and analytics will tell you popular keywords of your visitors.
Expand your initial list to include words that people might use including synonyms, stems, and related keywords. The expanded list will help you vary your web content and avoid repetition.
To come up with keywords, Anita did the following:
- She knew past customers used search phrases like "buy sweater 9 year old Oakville"
- She visited clothing magazine websites and online children's stores and noted down reoccurring themes and keywords.
- She used the Google keyword tool on topics and websites ranging from children, pre-teen, to clothing.
- Using a thesaurus and results the keyword tool, Anita expanded her keywords list to include similar words.
Step 4: Put the Keywords on Your Website
Using the keywords you found in step 3, you can enhance your website by placing those keywords in your website. Placing those keywords in your website is one of the techniques of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO means making your website better for search engines to read and the result is the people looking for you and what you do using search engines can find your website easier.
You can approach keyword SEO in two ways:
Improving your website as a whole
Use Meta Information
In libraries, we find books using information about a book in an index or online search. This information about the book is called meta information and describes the book like its title, author, category, etc. Web pages also have meta information where you can include your keywords and things about your organization to help others find the page.
You can read more about the meta elements of web pages and the technical details to add this information to your page, especially if you know HTML. Some web publishing platforms will manage this meta information for you based on your input.
Organize Your Website
- Choose meaningful titles for your pages.
- Use keywords in a logical order that they might be searched on.
- Look at the navigation and key links on your pages. These links should contain keywords and action verbs (e.g. buy, learn, contact).
Improving individual pages
When looking at single pages, place keywords in the following areas:
- Headings
- Links
- Bolded text
- Media descriptions/names (images, video, transcripts, audio)
These keywords make it easier for a visitor to scan the page and for a search engine read it and find what it is about. Make sure the keywords
Anita made the following changes on her store's website:
- New navigation links were added for Pre-teen clothing, Gift Ideas, Clothing On Sale.
- Text for links to product pages contain the full product name.
- Descriptions were added to pictures of each clothing product
- Product pages contain the following information:
- Name of the product
- Age category
- Name and location of the store
- Example: Sweaters – 6-9 year olds – Anita's Cloth for Kids Oakville
Standard meta information was added to every web page. See the code below.
<meta name="dc.title" content="<page name here> - Anita's Cloth for Kids Oakville" /> <meta name="dc.format" content="text/html" /> <meta name="dc.description" content="Website of the Anita's clothing store for children in Oakeville, Ontario" /> <meta name="Description" content=" Website of the Anita's clothing store for children in Oakeville, Ontario." /> <meta name="dc.creator" content="Anita's Cloth" />
All Done, Now What?
After applying the SEO keyword techniques in the 4 steps, monitor your website to:
- Find new keywords and popular ones
- Find out who is visiting your website
- See what people are searching for when they land on your website
A popular tool to monitor your website traffic is Google Analytics. Some publishing platforms like WordPress will provide you with similar information.
After the improvements, search for your website using the keywords and phrases you have to see your ranking. You can see who is higher than you and check out their website for ideas to improve.
Anita integrated Google Analytics on her website so she could observe popular keywords and information about the people visiting her store website. She discovered popular items people browsed and searched for. Using this data, she enhanced the product pages for the popular items and made offers on other products to attract more visitors.
Using These Steps for Good
Only use keywords that are relevant to your organization and what you do. Here are two reasons why:
- Including keywords relevant to your organization ensures the right people you want to come to your site instead of just anyone. Doing that increases your position in search results since you are relevant and reduces the load on your website, ensuring visitors get the best possible experience.
- It is unethical to place irrelevant or misleading keywords in your website. If search engines like Google and Bing find out you are doing it, they will decide to ban you from search results like Google did to BMW in 2006 and then no one will be able to find you.


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One in six police officers are pplanning to leave the profession within two years, according to a new survey.
Almost 16 per cent, one in six respondents to a the survey of more than 30,000 police personnel admitted they intend to depart their roles within the next two years.
Whilst seven per cent questioned plan to leave within the next two years, seven per cent felt valued in the police, but 8.6 per cent are already looking for a new career.
The proportion was a slight increase on the same poll last year, when 14.6 per cent said they intend to leave.
The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), which conducted the research, seized on its findings as evidence of the "parlous" state of morale across the police force.
Other findings from the poll include:
• Just under one in two (49.5 per cent) respondents intend to stay in the force until pension age.
• More than 95 per cent of those who are planning to leave cited "how the police as a whole are treated" as having an effect on their decision, while a similar proportion said their morale was a factor.
• More than three quarters (79.4 per cent) said their belief that there are better job opportunities outside the police had either some or a major effect on their decision, while 73 per cent cited their workload and responsibilities as a factor.
• Overall 70.2 per cent of officers said their morale was low, compared to 59.1 per cent in the previous survey in 2014.
• Nearly six in 10 said they feel proud to be in the police and 53.1 per cent said they are willing to "go the extra mile" for the service.
• Just 7.2 per cent said they believe they are fairly paid considering the "stresses and strains" of their job, while only one in 10 would recommend joining the police to others.
PFEW chairman Steve White said: "This survey provides extremely strong evidence of the parlous state of officers' morale across the service.
"This should sound a warning to those who run the service all the way from the Home Office to the College of Policing to the chief officers whose job it is to lead forces through what is an incredibly difficult time for all those in policing.
"Despite the extreme pressures the service is under, it is heartening that the majority of officers state they will still go the extra mile to protect the public from harm and that the police family is very much intact through the support officers provide each other.
"It is imperative that the service works together to mitigate the impact of the budget cuts and to maintain and continue to improve what is the widely recognised as the best police service in the world."
The research comes at a time of strained relations between the Government and rank-and-file officers.
Earlier this year, Home Secretary Theresa May and the PFEW squared off for the second year running at the organisation's annual conference.
Mrs May accused the federation of "crying wolf" and "scaremongering" over the impact of austerity as she launched an uncompromising response to claims that cuts have left forces "stretched to the limit".
A total of 32,598 officers responded to the survey, which the PFEW said represents a response rate of 28 per cent of its total membership. The organisation represents ranks from Pc up to chief inspector.

subset: commoncrawl


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Grand Theft Auto V is official. And while it's not set in Liberty City, what better way to honor the game's announcement than by pounding the iconic digital city's virtual pavement.
YouTube user GermanScientistTV and pal Scotty decided to tour Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City on foot. The ensuing result (and footage) is hypnotic, amazing, and over six minutes long.
Thanks, Viktor for the tip!
You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at email@example.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.


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Change my contact preferences in Pro Sites
You can select the things that you want to be contacted or notified about, including account, special offers and product related information from Pro Sites.
Note: Changing your contact preferences won't affect any event notifications you've already set up.
- Log in to your Pro account. (Need help logging in?)
- Click Pro Home and select Sites.
- Click Pro in the upper-right corner and then click Settings.
- Click Privacy Settings.
- In the Contact Preferences section, select how would you like to hear from us.
- Transactional Notifications are critical notifications and updates related to your account and products. These are required to fulfill service obligations (order confirmations, password resets, account-ready notifications, renewals, security notifications) and as such, they can't be deactivated.
- Account Summary and Updates are account and profile summaries with related information, news and offers to keep you on top of your account and products.
- Product Information and News are product upgrades, information and newsletters that may interest you.
- Promotional Offers and Surveys allow you to receive promotional offers and occasional surveys that help us help you by improving products and services that we offer.
- Click Save settings.


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Read about the goodness of bananas and other stories here:
- Banana beer and other banana information at PuSiVa's
- Plantain is different from Bananas at Jugalbandi
- Selecting and storing bananas at What's for Lunch, Honey?
- Bananas as Baby Food at Ammupatti's Thoughts
Glazed Bananas
Banana Biscuits
Sapaada Bhakshya
Banana Brioche
Banana & Strawberry Milkshake
Kolar Boda
Chapati Ya N'dizi Tamu
Banana Blueberry Muffins
Banana and Coconut Raita
Kelyacha Sheera
Banana Raita
Banana Dosa
Vazhaikai Podimaas
Raw Banana & Yam Curry
Raw Banana in Mustard Sauce
Raw Banana Bonda
Baked Banana
Banana Pancake
Fruit Kebabs with Banana Yogurt Dip
Banana Soji Bath
Banana Halwa
Banana Chapati
Banana Muffin
Banana Nut Cake
Banana Fritter Delight
Mangalore Buns
Banana Nut Muffin
Spiced Banana Shakes
Banana Coffee Mocha Smoothie
Banana Chutney
Banana Halwa
Tutti Frutti Salad
Banana Pudding
Kerela Banana Pulisseri
Kelchi Shikran
Banana Dosa
Banana Halwa
Banana Colada
Banana Chocolate Muffin
Valakkai Varuval
Raw Banana & Beans
Banana Raisin Buns
Banana Pal Payasam
Banana Walnut Choc-Chip Muffins
Banana Walnut Bread
Balehannu Appa
Banana Pancake
Banana Bread
Banana Custard
Banana Walnut Bread
Banana Samosa
Banana Bread
Jayashree's (My Experiments with Food) Neyyappam
Avakai & Banana Halwa
Raw Banana Curry
Banana Nut Bars
Chocolate Banana Cake
Wheat Payasam with Fried Bananas
Thai Fried Banana with Ice Cream
Kerala Banana Chips
Ghee Fried Bananas
Ethakka Thoran
Nutty Curranty Banana Bread
Banana Idli
My entries:
Bengali Raw Banana and Papaya Curry
Banana Blueberry Milkshake
(For full disclosure, I should add that Chandrika sent me a note that she had also blogged about the same recipe a month earlier which I had somehow missed.)
If I have missed anyone's recipe and entries, please leave me a comment with the link and I will add it to the roundup.


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The Aluratek CINEPAD 10 Inch Multi-touch Capacitive Tablet is not very impressive. You'll find it for sale in various catalogs, and retailers and you will be sorely tempted to purchase it because it is a 10″ Android Tablet and it's cheap (coming in at a little over $230 online). The problem with it is pretty simple actually. It's just not up to snuff.
I know it's cheap, but seriously… how many times have you given in, and sold yourself short to save a buck? A tablet is something you'll be using everyday. Do you really want to frustrate yourself over and over like that for a few hundred bucks? Wait until you have the money to spend on a good tablet and you will be rewarded by a rich and wonderful experience.
So why do I think it's that bad? Well for one thing it's running a dual core 1 GHz processor with only 1 GB of DDR RAM. It's running a very dated version of the Android OS (v4.0 which is 3 iterations from being the latest version at the time of this writing). There is very little going on in the custom ROM community (i.e. people that hacked or unlock phone and tablet devices so they can put the latest versions of the Android OS and new features on their older equipment) and it is just… not yesterday… but last month's tech.
What can you do with it? Well you could read some good ebooks with it. But for the same price you can get a Kindle HD Fire and wow that will blow the socks off this thing (not only in hardware but with support, functionality and features) and it's like 30 bucks more than the Aluratek. The Kindle HD Fire has 50% more CPU, a better brand CPU, better graphics chipset, and a huge amazon store to buy content from. The only loss is 1.1″ to the screen size and for the 10 hour battery life you are going to get over the sub-par 6 hour battery life of the Aluratek it is a fair trade. More over the storage space on the Aluratek kind of sucks, it has only 8 GB of storage (yes with a MicroSD slot but that's more money you have to spend). You get twice as much space on the Kindle HD Fire.
[accordion] [acc title="Here are the technical specs for the Aluratek"]BUILT-IN LITHIUM-ION BATTERY The CINEPAD Tablet comes with a built-in 6000mah Lithium-ion rechargeable battery for up to 6 hours of continuous use to browse the web, play games, listen to music, watch movies and more. Simply charge your tablet the included AC power adapter. Technical Specifications – CPU Type: Amlogic cortex A9 – CPU Speed: 1GHz – GPU: Mali 300 – OS Support: Android 4.0 – RAM: 1GB DDRIII – Capacity: Flash 8GB / microSD Slot (up to 32GB) – Display Characteristics: 10" five-point capacitive multi-touch screen / 1024 x 600 resolution / 16:9 aspect ratio – Communication protocols: USB / HDMI / WIFI: 802.11 b/g/n / Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR – Miscellaneous: Built-in G-sensor / Built-in Speaker (8Ω /1W*1) / Built-in MIC / Support HTML5 – Webcam Type: Front Facing VGA – Interfaces: USB, mini-USB, mini-HDMI, microSD (SDHC compatible), Headset Jack (3.5mm), DC (5V/2A) – Battery Capacity: 7.4V / 6000mAH (6 hour run time)
- 10″ five-point multi-touch capacitive screen (1024 x 600 resolution / 16:9 aspect ratio)
- 8GB built-in memory
- Android 4.0 operating system (Ice Cream Sandwich)
- Download thousands of apps from the GETJAR market place
- MicroSD card slot to expand your memory capacity up to 32GB
- Built in 802.11 b/g/n to benefit from the fastest WiFi networks
- Auto configuration and auto link to your home / office wireless router
- Supports photos, video, music, ebooks, web browsing and email
- Built-in speaker
- Built-in front facing VGA camera
- Built in 6000mah Lithium-ion battery – up to 6 hrs. continuous use
- Battery level indicator and low level warning
- Screen rotation support (portrait & landscape mode)
- 1 Year limited warranty
- none
Package Contents
- 10" Capacitive Tablet
- USB 2.0 Cable
- Power Adapter
- Quick Start Guide
- Registration / Warranty Card
[/acc] [/accordion]
Anyway, if I were you I'd steer clear of this mess and go for something a little more feature rich for 30 bucks more, or better yet save your money and wait for a quad-core tablet when they come out soon. I give the Aluratek CINEPAD 10″ Capacitive Tablet 2 out of 5 stars. It could be worse… but not by much :p


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Product Guide: Fabric and Notion Scrapbooking Products
Looking for a quick way to add fabric and notions to your scrapbook layouts? Premade scrapbooking products have you covered! Here, you'll find a quick-reference list of sewing-inspired scrapbooking products that will help you add a handmade touch to your layout.
|American Crafts
|American Crafts' Details embellishments line is packed with fabric, felt, stitching, and buttons. Or look to their Thickers line for a variety of fabric-covered letter stickers.
|BasicGrey's eclectic offering includes fabric flowers, like the yoyo flowers shown here, felt flowers, fabric covered brads, and canvas die cuts.
|KI Memories
|For cheerful sewing-inspired touches on your layouts, reach for KI Memories' Puffies embellishments and stitched calendar die-cut paper.
|Pink Paislee
|Pink Paislee's sophisticated fabric flowers and dyeable trim assortments will spark your creativity.
|For fabric flowers in just about every shape, color, and material you could imagine, turn to Prima. With everything from sophisticated blooms to playful blossoms, you're sure to find just the right fabric flower for your page.
|Webster's Pages
|In addition to beautiful, feminine rosette and sequin trim, Webster's Pages offers fabric tickets and trim, feather flowers, decorative pins, and intricate lace doilies in playful shapes and colors.
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text:
- Name: Nina Agdal Swimsuit Wallpaper
Description: Download Nina Agdal Swimsuit Wallpaper and set the HD, Wide, Retina or 4K wallpaper image as your desktop background and mobile phone wallpapers. WallpapersPrime.com
- License: Public Domain
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- Date added: January 8, 2019
Info: Following the click of the download button, right click on the image and click "Save image as..." or "save picture as..." to complete your download.DOWNLOAD
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Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler CEO and shepard of the once-independent automaker through its government loans of the late 70's and early 80's has long been a critic of Bush administration policies. But never like this.
"We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car...I hardly recognize this country anymore...George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites...he prides himself on being faith-based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will."
Wow, go get 'em Lee! Not only does the automaker go after Dubya's motley crew, the formerly cantankerous CEO had praise for almost every current leader of the auto industry from GM Chief Exec Rick Wagoner and current Chrysler Group head Tom LaSorda. Hell, the man even calls his ex-sparring partner, "Maximum" Bob Lutz, a "savvy veteran." But don't get the man started on the subject of Bob Eaton and Jurgen Schrempp, the two guys who said "let's do it, let's fall in love" — and creating the German-American hybrid we now know today as DaimlerDouche. Seriously, don't get him started, it makes him angry...and you wouldn't like him when he's angry.
Iacocca blasts 'clueless bozos' in book [Freep]
Chrysler Group Sales Speculation: An Inconvenient Sale?; Chrysler Group Sales Speculation: Some Guy In London Says Chance Of Chrysler Group Sale "Very Low" [internal]


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You know I back the mods here big time. So, in no way can this be seen as a complaint.
Why was the thread on Bruce A possibly going to KC locked? I didn't see what border was crossed. If you make it clearer it might help those of us who don't want to cross those lines, like me.
(I was actually in the process of typing a reply when you locked it. Kind of funny, because when I hit submit it said that it was locked. I knew it wasn't locked when I started the reply. Too bad, because it was amazing insight on my part. It would have made the entire population of the planet agree with me. I just can't remember what I wrote. Sorry everyone.)
Thanks in advance.


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Backyard composting is an effective way of recycling organic wastes such as leaves, grass and food scraps that are generated at home. Composting at home is easy and helps to keep waste out of our landfills.
Explore the links below for detailed information:
- Composting Requirements
- What Can I Compost?
- Types of Composters
- Location of Composter
- Compost Trouble Shooting
Grass clippings can also be left on the lawn. They provide up to 25% of your lawn's fertilizer needs and help keep it greener and healthier!
What is Compost?
Compost is a dark, crumbly, and earthy-smelling form of decomposing organic matter.
Composting Requirements
There are four basic ingredients for composting: nitrogen, carbon, water and air. Composting requires blending equal parts of green or wet material (high in nitrogen) and brown or dry material (high in carbon). Simply layer or mix these materials in a pile or enclosure; chop or shred large pieces. Add water if needed and fluff to add air. Then leave and allow the break down of the material over time.
Green materials such as grass clippings and landscape trimmings are ideal sources of nitrogen for composting. Vegetable and fruit trimmings and peels can also provide nitrogen. Avoid meat or dairy scraps and bury any food scraps deep within the compost pile.
Brown (dry) yard and garden material such as dry leaves, twigs, or straw can provide the carbon balance for a compost pile. Chop or shred large pieces (thick, woody branches should be chipped, ground up, or left out).
One of the most common mistakes in composting is letting the pile get too dry. Your compost pile should be moist as a wrung-out sponge. A moisture content of 40 to 60 percent is preferable. To test for adequate moisture, reach into your compost pile and grab a handful of material and squeeze it; if a few drops of water come out, it's probably got enough moisture, if it doesn't, add water. When you water, it is best to put a hose into the pile so that you aren't just wetting the top. You can also water as you are turning the pile. During dry weather, you may have to add water regularly. During wet weather or during the winter, you may need to cover your pile. A properly constructed compost pile will drain excess water and not become soggy.
If your pile is too dense or becomes too wet, the air supply to the inside is cut off and the beneficial organisms die. Decomposition will slow and an offensive odor may arise. To avoid this and speed the process, turn and fluff the pile with a pitchfork often, perhaps weekly. You can also turn the pile by just re-piling it into a new pile; many composting bins make this easy to do by coming apart so you can easily re-pile the old pile back into the bin.
What Can I Compost?
There are many materials you can compost. The following information sheet will provide some guidance to what materials are acceptable for composting and those materials it is generally recommended to omit for composting.
Fact sheet: What can I compost?
Types of Composters
There are several styles available for composting bins. Each type of container requires different levels of management.
Please Note: The Broome County Landfill has Earth Machine Composters for sale year round. The units sell for $45 (includes tax). They can be purchased at the Broome County Landfill located at 286 Knapp Rd., Binghamton, NY. For more information, please call 778-2250.
No Bin System
This is the cheapest form of composting and is great if you have lots of yard trimmings and a moderate to large area to locate your pile. This method can attract animals that are likely to scavenge the pile. An open pile should be covered during prolonged rainy weather and during the winter.
Holding Units
Non woody yard wastes are the most appropriate. As weeds, grass clippings, leaves and garden plants are collected; they can be dropped into the unit. Chopping or shredding material, alternating high carbon and high nitrogen materials, and keeping up good moisture and aeration will all speed the process. This method can take from 6 months to 2 years to compost materials. Weed seeds (and pathogens if present) may persist in the compost pile as the pile does not get very hot.
Multi Bin System
This system is efficient allowing you to have 3 working piles at different stages of decomposition and it is easy to turn and harvest final compost. this style bin can be made animal resistant.
Tumbler or Spinner
Self contained barrels, drums that rotate for easy mixing and fast decomposition. They are more expensive than other systems, but can be more convenient because they are easier to turn. These bins are fin for small spaces and are usually animal resistant.
Worm Bins
Worm composting is unique because it uses food scraps only and no yard waste. It is for people with small yards, or no yard. Worm composting bins can be made in any size or can be purchased. Worm bins are designed to exclude critters that might be attracted to food scraps. A successful worm bin will not smell, can be harvested every few months and can be kept indoors or outdoors during the warmer months.
Location of Composter
Before starting, determine an appropriate location for the compost pile. Choose a level area with good drainage. Standing water will slow down the pile. If possible avoid direct sunlight and areas exposed to strong winds, which can dry and cool the pile. A half day sun situation is ideal. A shaded area is fine, but pay attention to limited rainfall through a canopy of leaves, and slow drying out of a saturated pile. Some trees may send roots up into the pile in search of water and nutrients.
Bins or piles should not be built directly against a tree trunk or in a tree well, which might harbor bark-gnawing mice or inhibit respiration. To ensure domestic tranquility, avoid placing a pile directly on a property line or next to a neighbor's patio or window. A pile can be built in either sun or shade with equal success, although gardeners in hot, dry climates often favor a shaded location to prevent the pile from drying out during summer months.
Compost Trouble Shooting
For help trouble shooting your compost pile visit the following website:
Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County – Composting Fact Sheets
Interested in more information on composting or vermicomposting?
For more information on composting or vermicoposting (worm bin composting) contact Josh Enderle, Cornell Cooperative Extension Subject Educator, at email@example.com, or call 607.584.5011.


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Not much info to go off of here, but the French publication Responses Photo published some shots of what might be the Nikon D4. If this is in fact accurate, Nikon's new flagship DSLR could be right around the corner.
Technically, it doesn't exist, but has been recently rumored for a release. As far as specs go, the article merely says that it has an a 16 megapixel FX sensor, 51 point autofocus, 1080p video recording, an ISO range of 100-12,800, weighs 1.34 kilograms and will sell for 5800 Euros. Not sure about you, but I'm definitely excited to see what Nikon has up their sleeve. [Nikon Rumors]


text:
China Military Shuffle Keeps Hu in Charge: Analysts
Nov. 5, 2012 - 09:13AM |
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS
BEIJING — China has reshuffled its military top brass in a move analysts said Nov. 5 was probably aimed at ensuring President Hu Jintao remains commander in chief of the military after a 10-yearly leadership change.
At a top Communist Party meeting Nov. 4, Hu oversaw the promotion of Gens. Fan Changlong and Xu Qiliang as vice chairmen of the powerful 12-member Central Military Commission (CMC), Xinhua news agency said.
Hu, the CMC chairman, is set to step down as head of the ruling party at a congress starting this week and will retire as national president in March as part of the leadership change.
But Willy Lam, a China politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said, "Hu Jintao would want to serve another five years (as CMC chief), particularly given the fact that he has to watch over his political protégés ... and protect his political legacy. As long as he is the CMC chief, he will still be the power behind the throne."
According to Lu Siqing, head of the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, which seeks to advance political reform in China, both promoted generals have close ties to Hu.
Xu is the first air force general to become a vice chairman of the committee, and his ascension also reflects the importance China places on quickly developing its air capability.
China's 2.3-million-strong military forces — the world's biggest — include nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles and a recently commissioned secondhand aircraft carrier purchased from Ukraine.
The two incoming CMC vice chairmen will be tasked with pushing forward the modernization of the military and overseeing the increasingly powerful arsenal.
Unlike most modern states, the military is directly run by the ruling Communist Party, not by the government, an arrangement that stems from the revolution that brought the party to power in 1949.
The late revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, who said that "power comes from the barrel of the gun," used the People's Liberation Army not only to advance revolution but also to protect the party's political power, Lam said.
Hu took over control of the party from Jiang Zemin in 2002, but, as part of China's opaque and secretive political process, only succeeded him as CMC chairman in 2004.
There was also a possibility that Hu would only retain the CMC chairmanship for an extra two years, Lam said, long enough to let him influence the naming of the future heir to Xi Jinping, his own successor as party head and president.
He could also protect his protégé, Li Keqiang, who is set to take the place of outgoing Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and seek to place other key allies in top posts at the 19th Party Congress in 2017, Lam added.
Xi was effectively chosen as China's next core leader in 2007 in a selection process heavily influenced by Jiang, who had already stepped down.
In a statement, Lu said, "Hu Jintao will seek to continue on as chairman of the Central Military Commission for another five years until 2017. This is due to worries over Xi Jinping among a lot of people in the higher levels of the military."
Xi was named a CMC vice chairman in 2010 in a rocky approval process that reportedly took more than a year to complete.
"If Hu Jintao retains his seat for another year or so, this certainly maintains the previous political practice," Kenneth Jarrett, a China-based director for the APCO Worldwide consultancy, told reporters. "But I would say it's not good for China in the sense that you have a divided leadership, where you have Hu Jintao who will have the allegiance of the military at the very top even though he has given up all of his other positions."


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Real Baby has all of your eco-friendly needs including baby layette clothes, shampoos, crib bedding, blankets, toys, cleaning products, furniture and more. Real Baby has everything you need to make baby's world eco-friendly, healthy and safe.
Here you will find items that are organic, BPA-Free, fair trade, and more. We have several product from manufactures that participate in the buy one give one to someone in need model. We love that.


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text:
Media Let GOP VP Pick Shift Focus From Jobs To Deficits
Media outlets are reporting that Mitt Romney's selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his vice presidential running mate will shift the election debate to deficit reduction. But economists argue that creating jobs, and not cutting the deficit, should be the current economic priority for policymakers.
Experts Maintain That Focus Should Be On Job Creation, Not Deficit Reduction...
Bernanke: Congress Must "Take Care Not To Unnecessarily Impede The Current Economic Recovery." In a February 2 article, The Washington Post reported:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Thursday cautioned lawmakers against taking any steps that would hurt economic growth as they work to cut the nation's debt, and he defended the central bank's recent actions to support the economy.
In testimony before the House Budget Committee, Bernanke urged Congress to put a priority on finding a sustainable level of federal spending over coming decades.
But, he said, they also must "take care not to unnecessarily impede the current economic recovery." Supporting growth now, he said, "will lead to lower deficits and debt in coming years." [The Washington Post, 2/2/12]
Dean Baker: Focusing On Deficit Reduction "Makes No Sense" In The Face Of "Serious Lack Of Jobs." Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, explained that prioritizing the deficit now "makes no sense" :
The economy has one major problem right now and that is a serious lack of jobs. We still have more than 25 million people unemployed, underemployed, or who have given up looking for work altogether because there are no jobs. This should be the issue that everyone in Washington is talking about.
Instead, many politicians and pundits want to distract people's attention from unemployment by complaining about the deficit. They have deceived many people into thinking that the economy would somehow be stronger and there would be more jobs if the deficit was reduced, either due to spending cuts or increased taxes.
This view makes no sense. There are no businesses that are going to hire additional workers because the government laid off school teachers or firefighters and we cut back spending on food stamps. Businesses hire more workers when they see more demand for their product. All of these actions that reduce the deficit, either on the spending or tax side, translate into less demand and therefore less employment. In short, those who want to cut the deficit now are lobbying for fewer jobs and higher unemployment. [U.S. News & World Report, 2/10/12]
Baker: Those Complaining About Budget Deficit Are "Distracting The Public From The Country's Real Problems." In a column titled, "Deficit Reduction: The Great Distraction," Baker further argued that those who say "we should be worried about the deficit at a time when 25 million people are unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work altogether and millions face the prospect of losing their homes" are "distracting the public from the country's real problems." [The Huffington Post, 5/14/12]
Betsey Stevenson: "Pursuing Deficit Reduction Given The Current Economic Climate Is Completely Misguided." In an interview with Think Progress, University of Michigan economist Betsy Stevenson stated:
STEVENSON: Pursuing deficit reduction given the current economic climate is completely misguided. We need to be thinking about investing in the future of the country. If we borrow today, if we borrow today and we invest that money wisely, it's going to be cheap to pay it in the future because the economy's going to grow and we're all going to be earning more.
STEVENSON: We need to be saying that there are costs that come with this. It's not a free lunch to cut the debt. It's certainly not a free lunch to cut the debt at a time when we have such high unemployment and we know that there's the potential for us to be in a situation where these workers are never able to get integrated back into our economy. That has big, permanent, long-lasting effects on our productivity, on our overall economy, and if we could spend money now to prevent that from happening, that money will be well-spent. I think there are programs, and I outlined them when I was talking, the President has proposed getting teachers back into the classroom. Why would be reducing spending on education at a time when we need it more than ever? Why would we be cutting important community service positions like firefighters and policemen at a time where, you know, we need those services and people need those jobs? [Think Progress, 8/1/12]
Paul Krugman: "The Deficit Is Way Overstated As An Immediate Action-Forcing Issue." In an interview with RollingStone.com, Pulitzer Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman of the New York Times explained that increased government spending, not deficit reduction, "is the way to get the economy back on track." He went on to say:
You could get a lot of stimulus, about $300 billion, just by providing aid to states and localities so they can reverse their budget cuts. That would create a million jobs, including those 300,000 schoolteachers that were laid off.
The deficit is way overstated as an immediate action-forcing issue. It's something to worry about over the next decade, but not something that should be dictating your policies right now. And the fact of the matter is that austerity, when you're in depression economics, doesn't even work from a fiscal point of view. Slash government spending and the economy contracts and it cuts into the economy's long-run prospects. [RollingStone.com, 5/2/12]
Krugman: "There Was And Is No Evidence To Support The Shift In Focus Away From Jobs And Toward Deficits." In his book, End This Depression Now!, Krugman wrote that the shift from a focus on unemployment to focusing on debt and deficits is "strange" because "there was and is no evidence to support the shift in focus away from jobs and toward deficits." From an excerpt of Krugman's book posted at The National Memo:
The strange thing is that there was and is no evidence to support the shift in focus away from jobs and toward deficits. Where the harm done by lack of jobs is real and terrible, the harm done by deficits to a nation like America in its current situation is, for the most part, hypothetical. The quantifiable burden of debt is much smaller than you would imagine from the rhetoric, and warnings about some kind of debt crisis are based on nothing much at all.
In fact, the predictions of deficit hawks have been repeatedly falsified by events, while those who argued that deficits are not a problem in a depressed economy have been consistently right. Furthermore, those who made investment decisions based on the predictions of the deficit alarmists, like Morgan Stanley in 2010 or Pimco in 2011, ended up losing a lot of money. Yet exaggerated fear of deficits retains its hold on our political and policy discourse. I'll try to explain why later in this chapter. First, however, let me talk about what deficit hawks have said, and what has really happened. [The National Memo, 5/9/12]
Lawrence Mishel: Deficit Reduction "Should Be Addressed Once The Recovery Becomes Robust." In a column arguing that the "preeminent economic challenge of our time is to generate robust job growth and make sure unemployment drops steadily and rapidly," Economic Policy Institute president Lawrence Mishel wrote: "Any further spending cuts at the federal -- as per the plans by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (R) or presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- or at the state or local levels will only exacerbate the problem and slow the recovery or even cause the economy to shrink." Mishel went on to explain that the "best approach" to jobs creation "means having a higher fiscal deficit for a few more years" :
This still remains the best approach: Invest in infrastructure and school modernization at a time when savings are ample and interest rates are low. Prevent further cutbacks in needed state and local services that have been slowing the recovery. Maintain safety net benefits such as food stamps and unemployment benefits that help those hurt by the recession and also help boost consumer spending. These create more jobs than other spending at this moment, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Such a plan necessarily means having a higher fiscal deficit for a few more years. This is necessary to support overall demand in the economy and should be joined by expansionary monetary policy as well. The real deficit problem we face is not from current deficits, which are primarily due to the weak economy and the associated loss in revenues. Rather, our deficit problem is the longer-term rise in healthcare costs and the scaling back of tax rates that have been undercutting revenue. This should be addressed once the recovery becomes robust. We must also do more to strengthen wage growth and improve job quality and security. [The Hill, 7/11/12]
Isabel Sawhill: "Republican Rhetoric About Job-Destroying Deficits Is Simply Wrong." Responding to arguments that debt and deficits are "the most serious domestic problem facing the next president," Brookings Institution fellow Isabel Sawhill wrote:
[I]n my view, jobs, not deficits, are the most important domestic problem facing the country. Republican rhetoric about job-destroying deficits is simply wrong. Yes, we need to rein in deficits and debts over the longer run, and we should take legislative steps now to insure a fiscally responsible future. But as Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney have shown, it will take five years even under the most optimistic assumptions before the unemployment rate returns to pre-recession levels. The problem is not a lack of capacity for the economy to grow.
The problem, as Martin Baily argues in another chapter of this volume, is primarily a lack of demand. When businesses and consumers are not spending, government needs to be the spender of last resort. At a minimum, it should do no harm. Cutting spending or raising taxes when private demand is weak will only make matters worse. For these reasons, most economists have argued for short-term fiscal stimulus combined with long-term fiscal restraint. Unfortunately, it now appears that the short term could easily be as long as five years. [Brookings Institution, 1/19/12]
Click here to learn more about what experts say about prioritizing jobs creation over debt reduction
...But Media Seems Willing To Let Ryan Pick Shift Debate To Deficit Reduction
Reuters Columnist: Ryan Pick Could Focus Campaign On "Something Substantive: A Referendum On Fixing The American Balance Sheet." In his Reuters column, Rob Cox wrote:
It's the budget, not the economy, stupid. That variation of the 1992 slogan that propelled Bill Clinton into the Oval Office may now apply to Mitt Romney's candidacy. The Republican presidential wannabe's choice of conservative House budget chief Paul Ryan as his running mate has the power to transform a heretofore mealy campaign into something substantive: a referendum on fixing the American balance sheet.
It's pathetic that it has taken the nomination of a 42-year-old Wisconsinite from Congress to give Romney's candidacy much appeal, even to his base, beyond the simple fact that he is not Barack Obama. But at a time when debt crises threaten the sovereignty of developed nations and the U.S. fiscal picture is about as bleak as it has been has outside of wartime, righting the country's finances is the stuff of long-term legacy creation. [Reuters, 8/11/12]
Reuters: Ryan Pick May "Shift The Race For The White House Into A Debate Over Reducing Government Spending And Debt." A Reuters article reported:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate on Saturday in a move that could dramatically shift the race for the White House into a debate over reducing government spending and debt.
Romney, needing a burst of energy for his campaign after falling behind Democratic President Barack Obama in recent polls, made the bold yet potentially risky selection of the conservative budget hawk after ruling out more conventional candidates - such as Ohio Senator Rob Portman and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty - whose impact on the race likely would have been more benign.
Now, Romney's choice of the powerful chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee is likely to turn the campaign - which has focused largely on the economy and a series of nasty attacks by both sides - into more of a debate over government spending, specifically Ryan's controversial budget plan that would include reductions in health programs for the elderly and poor. [Reuters, 8/11/12]
Bloomberg: Pick Shifts Focus To Differing Visions For "Putting The Federal Government's Fiscal House In Order For The Long Term." A Bloomberg News article reported:
Articulate, sarcastic, self- confident, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan brings an evangelical fervor to the task of tackling the government's growing debt, which leaders in both parties agree will eventually trigger a crisis.
"This coming debt crisis is the most predictable crisis we've ever had in this country," the House budget committee chairman said earlier this year. "What if your president, your senator and your congressman knew it was coming? What if they knew what they needed to do to stop it from happening" and "they chose to do nothing about because it wasn't good politics? What would you think of that person? It would be immoral."
The decision by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to make the Wisconsin congressman his running mate will transform the U.S. election into a choice between two, vastly different visions for restoring the country's economic strength and putting the federal government's fiscal house in order for the long term. [Bloomberg News, 8/11/12]
Polls Show That Americans Believe Jobs Is Most Important Issue
Pew Research Center: "Jobs Are The Top Issue For Voters." A recent Pew Research Center poll found that "jobs are the top issue for voters," with 33 percent of respondents saying that jobs is the issue that matters most to them in deciding to cast their vote. By contrast, 19 percent cited the budget deficit, which was lower than the 22 percent who chose health care:
[Pew Research Center, 7/12/12]
CNN Poll: 52 Percent Of Registered Voters Cite Economy As Priority Over Budget Deficit. A May CNN/ORC poll found that 52 percent of registered voters think the economy is "the most important issue facing the country today." By contrast, 18 percent said that the federal budget deficit was the most important issue. [CNN, 6/1/12]
Wash. Post: 52 Percent Believe The Economy And Jobs "Is The Single Most Important Issue In Your Choice For President." A Washington Post/ABC News asking respondents what was "the single most important issue in your choice for president" found that 52 percent said jobs/economy. Only 1 percent said the federal budget deficit was the most important issue. [The Washington Post, 5/22/12]
CBS News: "Sixty-Two Percent Of Registered Voters Cited The Economy As The Most Important Issue In The Presidential Election." A CBS News/New York Times poll found that "[s]ixty-two percent of registered voters cited the economy as the most important issue in the presidential election" and that "[c]oncern over the budget deficit ranked a distant second at 11 percent." [CBS News, 5/14/12]


text:
The popularity of fluorescent lamps and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) is steadily growing in the industrial, commercial, and residential markets, due to their sustainability, energy efficiency, and federal legislation effectively eliminating the manufacture of incandescent bulbs by 2014. However, they can also be potentially dangerous because of their mercury content.
Exposure to mercury vapor, like that found in fluorescent lamps, can be detrimental to handlers' health — from those involved with handling new bulbs to people storing, packaging, and shipping used lamps. It is important to take the necessary precautions when handling, storing, or transporting used or broken lamps to protect against any potential harm from released mercury vapor.
Mercury vapor risks
On average, CFLs and fluorescent lamps contain about 4 milligrams of mercury. Breaking a single bulb can release mercury vapor levels well in excess of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) eight-hour permissible exposure limit (PEL) level of 100 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3). Mercury vapor can continue to be emitted for weeks after the bulb has been broken. The fragile and light construction of the bulbs multiplies the opportunities for breakage during storage, transport to and from collection sites and shipping to a recycler, causing handlers to be at risk of mercury exposure.
Exposure to mercury vapor results from inhalation or skin absorption, and can cause neurological damage to adults, children, and fetuses. It is considered a persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemical as it does not degrade in the environment. Further, mercury poisoning can cause severe kidney damage, and acute exposure can affect the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. Organic mercury can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause irreversible nervous system and brain damage.
Moving from containment to adsorption
Recent efforts to protect consumers and handlers against the inherent dangers of mercury vapor exposure from broken lamps have centered around containing the mercury vapor in the storage and shipping container. However, this method does not protect against vapor exposure if the container is opened with broken lamps inside. New developments in adsorbent technology demonstrate a method to actually capture the mercury vapor within the container, mitigating the risks of vapor exposure.
A study by NUCON International Inc., which provides gas, vapor, and liquid phase adsorption solutions for mercury and other contaminants to the nuclear and other industries, found that within the packaging, if 40 lamps break, vapor levels can range anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000 ug/m3. These levels are more than 150 to 300 times OSHA's eight-hour PEL, confirming the need to develop an adsorbent technology that can capture this vapor before it can escape the package.
Source: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1365&doc_id=262841&itc=dn_analysis_element&


text:
Human infection with H5N1 influenza may not be nearly as deadly as supposed up to now, based on a meta-analysis published online on Feb. 23 that reviewed 20 reports since 1999 that included a total of more than 12,000 people from areas of H5N1 outbreaks.
Until now, estimates of the risk posed by avian H5N1 flu infection came from reports on 573 documented infections in people, which had a 59% fatality rate. But these cases may have only represented the most severe infections that required hospitalizations, while other, milder or subclinical infections may have been overlooked, suggested Dr. Peter Palese and his co-workers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
If their hypothesis is correct, if could mean that the intense concerns raised about the safety of recent H5N1 research may be overwrought.
To get a better sense of how many people may have been infected by H5N1, they searched the medical literature since 1999 and found 20 published studies that included assessment of 12,677 people. These studies primarily occurred in East Asia — China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia — as well as in Turkey and Nigeria, and mostly included people who worked with poultry, were health-care workers, or had other sources of exposure. When tallied together, the reports collectively showed a seropositivity rate that averaged 1%-2%.
"If one assumes a 1%-2% infection rate in exposed populations, this would likely translate into millions of people who have been infected, worldwide," the researchers concluded in their study. Although their data do not allow calculation of a revised fatality rate, the numbers they found suggested that "the true fatality rate for H5N1 influenza viruses is likely to be less than the frequently reported rate of more than 50%."
—Mitchel Zoler (on Twitter @mitchelzoler)


text:
An ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of the Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms.
Ecozones delineate large areas of the Earth's surface within which organisms have been evolving in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated from one another by geographic features, such as floristic kingdoms of botany or zoogeographic regions of zoology.
Ecozones are characterized by the evolutionary history of the organisms they contain. They are distinct from soil, and other conditions. Biomes are characterized by similar climax vegetation. Each ecozone may include a number of different biomes. A tropical moist broadleaf forest in Central America, for example, may be similar to one in New Guinea in its vegetation type and structure, climate, soils, etc., but these forests are inhabited by animals, fungi, micro-organisms and plants with very different evolutionary histories.
The patterns of distribution of living organisms in the world's ecozones were shaped by the process of plate tectonics, which has redistributed the world's land masses over geological history.
The Palearctic and Nearctic are sometimes grouped into the Holarctic ecozone.
The World Wildlife Fund scheme is broadly similar to Miklos Udvardy's system, the chief difference being the delineation of the Australasian ecozone relative to the Antarctic, Oceanic, and Indomalayan ecozones. In the WWF system, The Australasia ecozone includes Australia, Tasmania, the islands of Wallacea, New Guinea, the East Melanesian islands, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. Udvardy's Australian realm includes only Australia and Tasmania; he places Wallacea in the Indomalayan Realm, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and East Melanesia in the Oceanian Realm, and New Zealand in the Antarctic Realm.
- Bioregions 1
- See also 2
- References 3
- External links 4
The WWF scheme further subdivides the ecozones into bioregions, defined as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)." The WWF bioregions are as follows:
- Afrotropic
- Antarctic
- Australasia
- Indomalaya
- Canadian Shield
- Eastern North America
- Northern Mexico and Southwestern North America
- Western North America
- Neotropical
- Oceania
- East Asia north of the Himalayan system's foothills to the arctic
Central Asia - Iranian Plateau and north to the arctic.
- Temperate Asia biocountry
- Mongolian Plateau
- Eurasian Steppe
Asian Russia (central)
- Asian-Siberian region
Western Asia
- Arabian desert
- Mediterranean Near East (Roughly corresponds to the Levant)
- Anatolian Plateau
- Transcaucasia
Northern Africa
- Atlantic coastal desert
- Sahara desert
- Mediterranean Maghreb
- Atlas montane
Europe (Northern, Middle, Eastern, Southwestern, and Southeastern Europe biocountries) - Mediterranean to the arctic.
- European Mediterranean Basin
- Iberian Peninsula
- North Caucasus
- Alps montane
- Carpathians
- Scandinavia
- European Russia
- Euro-Siberian region
- Macaronesia
- Asia
See also
- Dinerstein, Eric; David Olson; Douglas J. Graham; et al. (1995). A Conservation Assessment of the Terrestrial Ecoregions of Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank, Washington DC.
External links
}}}}}}} | {{#if:Ecozones
| | 1=Category:Ecozones
- BBC Nature - Ecozones
- Articles needing additional references from August 2013
- All articles needing additional references
- Articles lacking in-text citations from September 2013
- All articles lacking in-text citations
- All articles with unsourced statements
- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2013
- Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata
- Commons category without a link on Wikidata
- Biogeography
- Habitat
- Ecozones


text:
Nicolas Cage is so popular, he's even got his own meme. Disagree all you want, but he's one of the most widely-visible actors on the web–although not it's not all good or positive sometimes. Somewhere in the middle though, are these Nic Cage x Disney Princesses crossovers where the head of each Disney princess has been replaced by Nic's.
Who knew he'd make such a pretty mermaid?
Hit the break for the rest of these hilarious GIFs by Jen Lewis.
He does a pretty mean Cinderella, don't you think?
VIA [ Incredible Things ]


text:
Source Management Tools
Here are some different source management tools commonly used with Linux:
- David Wheeler has an excellent breakdown of various SCM tools at: http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/scm.html
- IBM has an good overview of available tools at: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-vercon/
- There is a comparison of several different tools at: http://better-scm.berlios.de/comparison/comparison.html
Patch Management Tools
To manage a grou of patches relative to a single source base, quilt is quite good.
- Quilt Project home page: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/quilt/
- How To Survive With Many Patches (or) Introduction to Quilt is a good tutorial for using quilt
- Quilt Introduction (online presentation)
- Another tutorial, with sample files, is at:
Other Patch management Tools
- Tim's patch management tools - diffinfo and friends - a more verbose diffstat, with splitting, joining and comparing of patches
- See also Diff And Patch Tricks
GIT is the source code management tool used by many kernel developers.
- GIT project home page: http://git.or.cz/


text:
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