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A recent study from the University of Iowa suggests that women who have sex too early in life may be more prone to divorce. I was asked to comment on this study this week on CW 33. Watch the segment to learn more.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this study. It would seem that other causes/effects should be considered - demographics, religious faith, marital status of parents, etc. What do you think?
Friday, June 24, 2011
Sex Before 16 and Divorce Rates
A recent study from the University of Iowa suggests that women who have sex too early in life may be more prone to divorce. I was asked to comment on this study this week on CW 33. Watch the segment to learn more.
The Emotion Behind Money and Spending
If you missed the Texas Credit Union League's radio show this week where I talked about staying financially responsible even when emergencies occur you can listen to the broadcast here.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
How Not to be the Cause of a Workplace Accident
All of a sudden one child was missing because he had slipped under water in the hot tub where no one could see him. Sitting closest, I yanked him out of the water. After a few coughs he was fine and back to swimming. But I wasn't fine and neither were the other parents. We still talk about the close call years later.
The same close calls happen in our homes, on the way to work and on the job every day. But if a close call hasn't happened to you recently, you may be getting complacent about safety.
June is National Safety Month and there is a spike in workplace injuries in the summer - especially in construction and manufacturing industries. I was shocked to find out that the frequency and severity of accidents is actually highest among the most experienced workers because they become too comfortable and less aware of potentially hazardous surroundings. Click here to watch this video where I discuss this fact.
An injured employee hurts profitability. Not only is the injured person suffering from his injury but surrounding co-workers are left to pick up the slack during the injured employee's absence. Companies in the Smart Zone use their emotional competency to stay self aware and manage themselves to stay safe. Here's how:
Provide Training that Pays Off. In one study supervisors in a manufacturing plant received training in emotional competencies. They learned how to listen better, how to help employees resolve problems on their own, how to empower and inspire others, and how to become more effective personal leaders.
After training:
- Lost-time accidents were reduced by 50 percent
- Formal grievances were reduced from 15 to 3 per year
- The plant exceeded productivity goals by $250,000
Boost Confidence in Your Organization. People who feel insecure in their jobs are more likely to ignore safety procedures at work than are people with greater job security, according to a study in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. This study goes on to say, "When people are told layoffs will occur, production numbers go up, but safety compliance and product quality suffer." As a result, workplace accidents and injuries increase. If employees don't trust you or the company then safety compliance suffers.
Delay Immediate Gratification. "Being safe (feels like it) wastes time," is what field supervisors at a major building products company tell me. It's true that attending a safety meeting, putting on your seat belt, taping down an extension cord or stretching your muscles all take time. But I bet you never worried about the time it took to put a life jacket on your child at the lake? Preventing an accident is significantly less timely that dealing with an accident.
Know your Blind Spots. In a study of highly successful executives the following blind spots led to less self awareness:
- Unrealistic, or unattainable, goals
- Compulsively hardworking to the point of burnout
- Drives others too hard
- Insatiable need for recognition
- Power hungry
- Need to seem perfect
If you have these personal characteristics it can lead to a higher risk of you getting hurt both on and off the job.
Use Empathy to Motivate. Empathy is the awareness of the feelings, needs and concerns of others. Build employee buy-in for safety compliance by having workers commit to safe work practices for the sake of their own families.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Why You Should Leave Work on Time Today
I know people who are addicted to anxiety who work themselves into a frenzy- and not just because I'm a psychologist. You probably know people like this, too. They are chronic multi-taskers, over-committers, Blackberry-reading, Energizer bunny types who work long hours. While they may be exciting to work with, they are also easily agitated and prone to meltdowns. Recently I was interviewed for a Channel CW33 TV segment on anxiety addiction. Click here to watch it.
Like any addiction, the anxiety/frenzied addicted person feels they "need" to feel anxious and busy even though they don't "like" the feeling. If you recognize this in yourself or you know someone who is like this, you will especially like this newsletter because it will help you become more effective. Believe me when I say that people in the Smart Zone are able to manage their emotions and leave work on time.
Keep in mind these Smart Moves to help you be more effective and leave work on time today:
Are you tired by 3:00 in the afternoon? Eat a late afternoon snack that is low fat and high in protein like nuts, yogurt or a small tuna sandwich. A high protein snack stimulates the brain's neurotransmitters that promote energy and alertness.
Are you just waking up by 3:00 in the afternoon? Eat a late afternoon snack that is high in carbs but low in fat and protein - like a granola bar, fresh fruit or a bagel. This type of snack jump-starts the amino acid in the brain that promotes a relaxation response.
Master the ability to end conversations that are not productive: If your day includes having people come by your office to shoot the bull and at the end of the day you wonder where the time went, learn to monitor your downtime at work. When you have to make a phone call to someone who could keep you on the phone too long, say up front, "I only have a minute but I wanted to get back to you before this afternoon." That sets the expectation that the call will be short.
Devote Your Energy to the Task at Hand: Make a point of focusing on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking moves us out of the flow. Don't have an important conversation with a coworker while making copies at the copy machine. Put away your Blackberry while working on a task. Turn the volume down on your computer so you don't hear your emails pinging. Immerse yourself in whatever you are doing.
Look at but don't answer email in the morning: I can easily use up a lot of time and energy early in the morning by getting lost in my email without realizing that I'm negatively setting the pace of the day. Review emails in the morning but get in the habit of setting aside a dedicated block of time to respond. Stick to the schedule and you will avoid getting lost in email adventures that misuse your energy and attention.
Just for fun, watch this short video on why you should leave work on time today.


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Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Lightening the Load
Here's your charge today -- you have with you your entire collection (past or present). In order to lighten the load, you begin "losing stuff" in a sort of reverse priority. Start with one writer, then one artist, one character, one comic book title, one toy you owned but never played with, one TV show you are certain never got a rating by Nielsen, and one snack food. Oh, and just because you're in a panic, how about the shirt off your back -- tell us the ugliest or most undesireable article of clothing ever purchased on your behalf!
Credit where credit is due -- the former post, as well as today's, were inspired by a suggestion made by commenter Richard back during our request for creativity. Thanks, Richard!
Abandon ship!
27 comments:
- david_b said...
I had to read the question a few times to understand. I'd say I'd start with all remaining DC Comics, 'cept for my vintage Cardy Titans and Green Lanterns. Next would be my Mego custom projects I never 'quite' finished.., along with some lesser valued figures.
Then I'd simply land, provided I'm on a distant primitive island where villagers are now worshipping me because they think I'm a god sent from above with oodles of obscure, vintage MIB stuff, I'd use my aircard&laptop to blog my adventures as their new deity, courting maidens while my dwindling battery power holds out.
Sorry.., off-subject..?
("..back to decaf...")
- April 4, 2012 at 7:21 AM
I would probably just start by dropping the highest cover-price comics over the side first. I think 75 cents is the most expensive I have. Except for D.C. "Dollar Comics." Then I'd move on to 65 cents, 60 cents, and so on, making exceptions only for a particularly special issue here and there. Last to go would probably be my Spidey Super Stories and Super Friends and various Archie super hero comics
--matt alias Anonymous
- April 4, 2012 at 8:29 AM
- William said...
WRITER(s): Mark Millar - The man just seems to delight in trashing classic characters. See Civil War and Marvel Knights Spider-Man. (Runners-up: J. Michael Straczynski, Brian M. Bendis and Grant Morrison).
ARTIST(s): Al Milgrom - Because he ruined more comics for me than I can count. See PPTS Spider-Man and the Avengers (East and West Coast). (Runner-up: Carmine Infantino, because you know, he's Carmine Infantino).
CHARACTER(s): Almost any knock-off of an A-List character. See Scarlet Spider, various Spider-Girls, Spider-Women, Daken (dark Wolverine), X-23 (girl Wolverine), Bat-this, Bat-that, Super-everything! Aaaaggg!!!
COMIC TITLE(s): J. Michael Straczynski's Amazing Spider-Man. JMS did more damage to the character of Spider-Man than the marriage, Clone Saga, One More Day, and Brand New Day combined. See the brilliant "magic spider" theory and stories like "The Other" and "Sins of the Father", etc., etc., etc. (Runners-up: Civil War. I know it was only a mini-series but I despised it so much that it caused me to basically quit reading comics for a couple of years. And also pretty much anything by B.M. Bendis. The man is menace to comic-book society and must be stopped).
TOY: Once when I was a kid, I made the mistake of not asking for anything specific for Christmas and my parents got me a bunch of toy trucks and cars. Uhg! I always hated toy trucks. I never knew what to do with them. Needless to say they all went back to the store and I used the money to buy GI Joes and the Lone Ranger and Tonto action figures (and their horses of courses).
TV SHOW: (There are so many bad shows, I'm going to go with one that apparently people actually watched because it was on for many years). "Family Matters" with Urkel. I think I tried to watch it once and 10 minutes in I realized that I would have to lower my I.Q. by 50 points in order to find it the least bit amusing (even ironically so).
SNACK FOOD: JELL-O - it has the texture of something you would scrape off the bottom of a boat.
CLOTHING ITEM: My sister-in-law once gave me a shirt, and on the front of it was and image of a drawing of a hand drawing itself. Not only was it the ugliest shirt ever, I weighed like 200 pounds and it was a medium. (Runner-up - my brother-in-law once gave me a belt for Christmas that was obviously used (it had bends, stress marks and wear around the holes). I think he pulled it out of his closet. Also, his waist at the time was like 30 and I was a 36, so that was great). Stupid in-laws.
- April 4, 2012 at 8:30 AM
- Doug said...
TV show -- and this comes from when my own sons were little guys: Teletubbies. Talk about lowering one's IQ!!
Matt alias anonymous -- funny what you say about the humor mags. I never really had any because they weren't my cup of tea. But if I did, they'd be the first things tossed overboard.
My mom once got me a ribbed-waist shirt for Christmas. I think she bought it in the 80-year old man section, when I was around 35.
- April 4, 2012 at 8:54 AM
Matt alias Anonymous sez: I prefer my super heroes at least semi-humorous. I just can't take "serious" and "super hero" in the same sentence...well, seriously.
P.S. I thought Al Milgrom was pretty good. And I quite enjoy that oddly angular Carmine Infantino style on the later Flash comics and Dial H For Hero.
- April 4, 2012 at 9:12 AM
First off, I have to say: that balloon is sweet!
Second, I think I want to land on david_b's island, too.
As for things I would jettison, I'll try to stick to pre-1990 stuff, to keep it more "Bronze Age"; anyway -
Writer: ... this one's actually tough, because I can think of any number of stories that weren't written well by writers whose work I otherwise liked (Claremont, Mantlo, Shooter, etc., etc.) but not one single writer from back then whose work I just couldn't stand...
Artist: I'll agree with William and say Carmine Infantino - I often did put comics back on the spinner rack if I saw his art in the interiors (sorry matt: I even preferred Don Heck to him on those later Flash issues, and only bought Dial H regularly because I sent in a few designs and kept hoping they'd be used).
Series: Team America.
Toy: that stupid Spider-man "web-shooter" thing that was just a suction-cup dart attached to a string.
TV show: as William noted, the field is immense, but I'd have to say Three's Company (never, ever understood the appeal, nor why it lasted so long).
Snack food: anything with marshmallow filling.
Clothing item: this hideous, brown 100% polyester shirt with with floral/vine motif designs and a huge collar that I had to wear for picture day at school when I was in third or fourth grade.
- April 4, 2012 at 9:45 AM
- Frank C. said...
For my contribution, I'm going to intensify the dillema . . .
I've only brought the stuff that I LIKE!!!
So here are the least of my favourites . . .
Writer: Denny O'Neil? Cary Bates? Len Wein? Marty Pasko? Ahhhh!!! I can't decide!
Artist: I'm so sorry . . . Sal Buscema--down you go. :'(
Character: Green Lantern. Strangely, that wasn't so painful.
Title: Spectacular Spider-Man--I've still got Amazing!
Show: The Powers of Matthew Star.
Toy: That stiff, zip line Spider-man figure (can't remember it's proper name.) So precious, but he doesn't move and the zip line is broken!
Clothing: Every pair of sandals I was ever forced to wear. Girl stuff!!!
- April 4, 2012 at 9:51 AM
- Doug said...
If I step on anyone's toes, I don't care:
Any "reality show" can be not only thrown overboard, but in a sack weighted with cinder blocks when we're flying over open water. Take your American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Wife Swap, The Bachelor, and all of the shows about Pawn Stars and Swamp People. My care-o-meter just doesn't register for these publicity-seeking leeches. The Kardashians and Snookie? Why do I even know of these people??
In retrospect, the Teletubbies look pretty good.
I feel better now.
- April 4, 2012 at 9:57 AM
- Doug said...
For artists, I'd probably toss some DC mid-level guys like James Sherman and Ric Estrada. I never liked the Legion of Super-Heroes as much after Grell's tenure ended.
Over at Marvel, the aforementioned Al Milgrom, and of course the latter years for Heck and Infantino.
- April 4, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Matt alias Anonymous sez: can we toss over stuff we don't actually have? if so, then out goes pretty much any D.C. comic book post-"Crisis on Infinite Universes." And all Marvel comics after around 1988 or so.
- April 4, 2012 at 10:23 AM
TV show: Dynasty. Never understood the appeal of this when it was at its height.
Characters: Aquaman and Wonder Woman. Despite some good artists who have worked on them, like Aparo and Perez, I find these characters very dull. Wonder Girl in the Teen Titans has more verve.
For reality shows, I tend to like them for one season, then they're predictable.
- April 4, 2012 at 10:29 AM
- Doug said...
Matt --
In your world, you ran away with your best friend, so to lighten the load you chucked his collection overboard!!
- April 4, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Zounds! (I've always wanted say that ...)
I see now that I forgot to include a character. And again, the field is immense, so I'll stick to characters that were inexplicably given their own series, and go with Dazzler. And since I also had about the first dozen issues of the series, I'd toss that out right after Team America...
- April 4, 2012 at 10:45 AM
First writer to go: Grant Morrison. Final Crisis was the most lugubrious , muddled story I've ever read. Like some of his work, but still wish I'd never started the Countdown.
Artist: George Tuska. Just can't get past those crooked villain teeth.
Character: right with you William. Out go all the knockoffs!
Title: Secret Wars 2. Once was enough.
Show: the Office. Watched it once and simply found it unfunny, and a colossal bore.
Snack: Pork rinds. Deep-fried fat. Ugh.....
Toy: paddle ball. Never could get the hang of them, and the rubber band always broke and you lost the ball.
Clothing: in high school, I had a wide brown belt with a huge "Boston" belt buckle. The band's logo was in glittery rainbow colors, and the gold buckle was huge. Hideous...
Matt alias anonymous- love those humor books too. Arrgh!, Not Brand Ecch, the Archie books, all good fun.
Doug- You pegged the Teletubbies. They are scary!
- April 4, 2012 at 10:57 AM
- Karen said...
Doug: Dumping James Sherman? Really? I liked his Legion work better than Giffen's. I'm probably in the minority, I know.
- April 4, 2012 at 11:40 AM
- Doug said...
Karen --
I'd dump Giffen before Sherman, actually. Not a fan, really.
I keep trying to think of a snack I'd lose, but if you could see me you would know that there aren't many snacks that I don't like; or that don't like me!
- April 4, 2012 at 11:58 AM
- david_b said...
I suppose....., based on excellent comments provided thus far by anyone, here's my 'chuck list'..:
1) Any comic created after 1977.
2) Any Robbins, Tuska, Milgrom, Grell, or Bronze-Age Heck drawn comics.
3) Snacks? Agreeing with Edo on marshmellow-filled items, such a disappointment from the first bite forward.
4) TV..? I only collected what I like, but anything 'reality-related' or Rosanne-related found would have been chucked.
5) Terrible clothing..? A lot of items my wife buys for me, and insists I keep because it's 'a gift'..
6) Any Arista-labeled CDs from the 80s, SUCH horrendous/tinny sound quality.
7) Perhaps an 8-Track tape or two..
NOTE: This is actually good timing, since I was heading to the basement to purge/sell this week, since finally purchased the 13" Marvel Legends Giant Man BAF (complete), so I can pay that off, Doug.
- April 4, 2012 at 12:58 PM
Matt alias Anonymous would like to chuck these characters: the entire Green Lantern Corps, all X-Men introduced in the '90s, all Justice League members who couldn't carry a solo comic book, and all the knockoff characters mentioned before (except I liked Supergirl)!
My poor friend's collection is dwindling but I gotta keep my stuff!
- April 4, 2012 at 1:05 PM
- Steve Does Comics said...
I'll mostly stick with Bronze and Silver Age stuff as that's mostly what I know about.
When it comes to a writer, I'd probably go for Michael Fleisher. I loved The Spectre but his work on other strips - especially Atlas Comics' titles was genuinely appalling. He deserves to go for Ironjaw #1 alone.
The artist would I suppose have to be Frank Robbins. I feel a bit guilty because I loved his short-lived stint on The Shadow, and what I've seen of his work on Luke Cage was fine, but usually his stuff simply hurt my eyes and my brain.
The one character. She's not Bronze Age but I'll make an exception for her. I've always hated Jubilee from the X-Men. Go away, you horrible child, with your annoying "super-power".
The one comic book title? I've never liked war comics, and Nick Fury's Howling Commandos did nothing to change that. Argh! Percy Pinkerton or whatever he was called.
The one toy I owned but never played with. I can't think of any.
The one TV show. 99% of people reading this'll never have heard of On the Buses but I'll nominate it anyway. A 1970s sit-com about a thieving bus driver whose boss looks like Hitler. In between bouts of stealing, the main character returns home to verbally abuse and bully his literally Special Needs sister. For some reason, despite it being one of the most notoriously vile and unpleasant TV shows ever made, it still gets shown virtually every day somewhere on British TV.
The one snack food. Wagon Wheels. Completely inedible unless you've had all taste buds removed.
The ugliest or most undesirable article of clothing ever purchased on my behalf? I'd better not say. The person responsible may be reading.
- April 4, 2012 at 2:10 PM
Okayokayokayokay-- let's see if I can pull this off. Great responses thus far. I'm going to assume that a) we're talking about stuff we do each personally own/saw/whatever, and b) that it doesn't seem to be limited to the Bronze Age, necessarily. So. . .
1) Writer: Todd McFarlane (sp?) when Marvel gave him his own, new Spidey title (SPIDERMAN) to run with as artist/writer. . . and we suddenly saw why he'd been strictly an artist up until that point. Worst. Dialog. Ever.
2) Artist: Ahhhh, I'll still go with Don Perlin. I think both Al M & Don H are considerably better visual story-tellers than he is/was.
3) Title: Sheesh, throw every Heroes Reborn title in the air, and pick one. Although-- I feel like the FF one may have been the most egregious perversion of the original characters.
4) Oops, character: Mark Hazzard: MERC (or whatever-- dreadful New Universe guy).
5) Toy: Man, perhaps a few too many candidates. There were at leasty a couple of gimmicky board-games that never, ever got played at all.
6) TV show: Ahhhh, already pre-empted with Three's Company. It's the show that cured me of being a tele-holic, as it were. Couldn't believe TV had finally sunk that low. Dennis the Menace was a close second (despite a solid supporting cast).
7) Snack food: Cripes, the early versions of granola bars that you'd get from vending machines. Just like eating particle board.
8) Unwanted Clothing: The antiquated (even for the 60's) clunky orthopedic shoes for my flat feet that I was forced to wear throughout the entirety of elementary school (until we found a podiatrist that had worked his way into the 20th century). Yeah, those are ALWAYS great to try to run bases in during recess kickball. . .
- April 4, 2012 at 8:47 PM
Steve, I've not only heard of "On the Buses" but also watched a few episodes. I completely agree with you: it is thoroughly unfunny and actually kind of depressing, in that everything about it is so vile yet it's apparently meant to be comical.
- April 5, 2012 at 3:14 AM
- Rip Jagger said...
Here is my jettison list:
Comic - New Avengers (since the cancellation of the original series) hits the skids. I'd wish I could undo the memories as well. At least it's saved me a ton of money since the team has gotten so popular.
Writer - No books by poser Judd Winnick! He gives a bad name to all self-conscious claptrap.
Artist - Steven McNiven might impress some folks, but he leaves me ice cold. He reminds me of the worst work from Boris Valejo, slick but lifeless. He gets the heave.
Character - Lady Death and any variation on her. I've never bought an issue, but the covers are an endless parade of soft porn shots, one after another. It's time to exit.
Toy - The stinkin' electric football game I got as a kid which never worked right and all the little plastic dudes just raced for the sidelines. At least we had fun using the quarterback to fling foam footballs at one another.
TV show - The Apprentice has got to end. That show elevates one of the smuggest, crudest, banal figures in the history of American culture. Donald Trump is an embarrassment to one and all, but sadly most don't realize it yet. What an ass!
Snack food - The second snowball. I always wondered why I couldn't find just one since I rarely got around to eating the second one. I love them, but two were always too many.
Clothing - What I wore to my high school prom should be outlawed so future generations can never commit the same atrocity. Or perhaps a burgundy hounds-tooth tuxedo with two-tone burgundy and sliverish platform heels is what you like.
- April 5, 2012 at 5:01 AM
- Steve Does Comics said...
Edo, I actually watched the first 10 minutes of Hammer Studio's "On The Buses" movie, on Youtube last night, to see if it was as bad as I recalled. It genuinely made my skin crawl.
- April 5, 2012 at 5:25 AM
Every issue of Justice League not written by Gardner Fox!
- April 5, 2012 at 9:11 AM
Comics - In recent years, I've bought up a few entire collections, the surplus of which I really need to sell on eBay, partly for the cash, mostly for the space and partly to find them a good home. I've never collected or read DC comics, and yet I have long boxes full of them...and nowhere to sit down in my house except the toilet.
Matt – you make a FANTASTIC point. There is now an almost perfectly inverse relationship between cover price and value, isn't there. WOW!
Writers – Tony Isabella or Gary Friedrich could go without upsetting me much.
Artists – I'm not actually going to say Frank Robbins, just in case I ever do get the chance to throw him out of a balloon. I want no evidence.
Characters – there's a few Marvel characters I regard as worthless (Hi Dazzler), but on other threads, my fellow BABer's have mentioned the likes of Arms Falling Off Man, Matter Eater Lad, Bouncing Boy etc and I realise that the Marvel Universe can't compete. Isn't there,
like, 'Super Dog' as well?
Snack food: there used to be a bar called Mint Cracknel in England which was LITERALLY painful to eat. It was like chocolate-covered broken glass. Google it. Seriously, it must be the only chocolate bar where you need to know your blood type before you bite into it.
David B – every Marvel comic created after 1977? Why '77, praytell? Who was created then who escapes your wrath? Ms. Marvel, the Champs? I suspect you chose 1977 because it's post Xmen, pre Star Wars. Correct?
Toy - Roller skates. I hate roller skates.
TV - Steve – you're right. On the Buses was irredeemably dire. Apparently, in the 1970's, the top rated show in Yugoslavia was On the Buses...... dubbed into Serbo Croat. It could only have been an improvement. I'd like to have seen Hammer make a proper Hammer film out of it.
Having said that, I'd have to go with ANY reality show. Appalling as On the Buses was, it did not cause the airwaves to be filled with thousands of hours of other substandard sit coms about public transport. Big Brother etc are just a race to the bottom taking everything with them. And I mean everything.
- April 5, 2012 at 11:31 AM
- david_b said...
Richard.., sorry 'bout 'going curmudgeon' when I rattled off '77, but just picked it out of the sky. Totally subjective, my fav characters (Luke Cage probably being one of the last new ones...) were all created before '75 and there were a few issues of say Avengers or MTU from around that time I still had little interest in but not too many.
So to clarify, I didn't have any interest in any new heroes/villains created after that period either. Only ones that came close were newer New Titan members.
- April 5, 2012 at 2:34 PM
Richard, since I now live in a part of the former Yugoslavia (Croatia), I can tell you that British series, esp. the sitcoms (good or bad), tend to be quite popular here, although I'm not sure how well-liked "On the Buses" was. Shows that were really popular here include "Black Adder," "Allo, Allo" and "Only Fools and Horses" - in fact, pretty much anything starring David Jason gets high ratings.
Anyway, Croatian Television reran the series during a late afternoon slot about 10 years ago - that's how I saw a few episodes and concluded that it is pretty atrocious. Also, it was not dubbed, which is generally not done here, but subtitled.
- April 6, 2012 at 3:00 AM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ever since I was in medical school, I would sit through lectures and presentations and wonder how they could be done better. To say I was underwhelmed and uninspired by many of them would be an understatement. My first foray into the area was "how to use powerpoint more effectively" with a special emphasis on what I refered to as "medical PowerPoint". But it didn't take long for me to get bored with teaching the technical aspects of how to use PowerPoint because I recognized a greater challenge - many people didn't know when to use PowerPoint (or more accurately when NOT to use PowerPoint).
This led me on another journey to teach my colleagues (and anyone willing to listen) about "how to give effective presentations". In the last 7 years, I have shared my thoughts and opinions on this (through I hope what were effective presentations) with colleaguse and Faculty in Emeregncy Medicine, Family Medicine, Anasthesia, Obstetrics, Nursing and other Health Professions. I have presented at education conferences, Emergency Medicine conferences, Faculty Development events both natioanally and internationally.
For more information about my work and thoughts on the topic, have a look at an article I wrote "Does PowerPoint enhance learning"
Penciner, R. Does PowerPoint enhance learning? Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2013;115(2):109-112
Have a listen to a podcast that my good friend Anton Helman from Emergency Medicine Cases produced on "Effective Presenting" with myself and Dr. Eric Letovsky ... a master presenter.
Emergency Medicine Cases Podcast. Episode 80 - Presentation Skills with Rick Penciner & Eric Letovsky, April 2016.
and checkout my pages on this site on
"The 9 words you need to know for a more effective presentation"


text:
Desmond D'Sa's journey to environmental activist began when he was a teenager in South Africa. The apartheid system of racial segregation was firmly in place, and his family was forced to move to an area where "there were no clean running rivers, no vegetable gardens and only red soil."
Over the years, with so many of his relatives and neighbors suffering various ailments, he realized that corporate pollution was "killing us, the residents of south Durban, daily." In the 1990s, he co-founded the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, which unites a diverse group of South Africans with an ultimate goal of "environmental justice for all."
D'Sa is one of this year's recipients of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. He and five other "environmental heroes" will be honored at a reception Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Here are lightly edited excerpts from my Q&A with him:
Q: What is environmental injustice, and what evidence of it do you see in today's South Africa?
A: Environmental justice is about equity and justice as well as basic human rights while living in harmony with nature and other species. It is about those with power – the politicians as well as the corporations – abusing the poor.
Today in South Africa I see the increase of injustices and inequality toward people and the environment and the way in which we all interact with the built environment as well. What is noticeable to me is the destruction of our social systems, ecosystems, flora and fauna as well as many other aspects of the world we live in. As a result of this inequality – together with Brazil, SA is the most unequal country in the world, where the gap between the richest and poorest is the greatest – the level of poverty is rising, and there is a general lack of access to basic needs such as water, energy, housing and proper sanitation.
Q: Your family was forced to move to south Durban when you were a teenager. Do you remember your first impressions of south Durban? How did your life change?
A: My first impression of south Durban was shocking. To see so many smoke chimneys and factories located alongside residential housing and kids playing in the plumes of the pollution. Our government accommodation was overcrowded walk-up apartments. In this urban jungle there were no clean running rivers, no vegetable gardens and only red soil. As the years went, there was rapid increase in industry and petrochemical expansion.
This made me realize we were deliberately placed to live alongside dirty industries and our lungs played the role of purifiers for pollution from these factories.
When I first came to Wentworth my life changed tremendously as we had to stay indoors because there were terrible odors and smells from the factories. As we could not plant crops we had to then buy and purchase these fruit and vegetables from the local markets. With the community, I noticed residents, neighbors, friends and family getting sick from the poor air quality they had to breathe.
Q: As a young adult, when did you first begin to notice that something in the area wasn't quite right?
A: It started with my family members, where they were getting sick constantly with skin rashes, respiratory illnesses and heart ailments. Very soon I realized that many members of this community and south Durban were going to local hospitals and clinics all parts of the day and night for illnesses related to the environment we lived in. The regular visits of the government ambulances were also becoming more frequent and would come with nebulizers and oxygen gas cylinders to ensure that people, especially kids, were able to breathe properly.
With the increase in industry and the toxic emissions, the level of health concerns had escalated to an extent that the community realized they needed to take a stand and fight for their rights to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being, which in 1996 was guaranteed to us in our democratic Constitution. For me it was more than just a stand, it was to bring to the attention of all community members, government, and huge corporations that corporate polluting activities – condoned by government – are killing us, the residents of south Durban, daily.
Q: You co-founded the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance … how does it operate today?
A: Initially SDCEA was mainly tackling issues of air pollution and health impacts but further it realized that in order to achieve the bigger goal – of environmental justice for all – a holistic approach of all aspects concerning the environment and the people had to be considered. So SDCEA focuses on water and land issues, basic human rights, all types of pollution, pushing back on toxic industrial expansion and development and infrastructure projects that seek to destroy our community. We challenge policy and legislation, build education and awareness and community empowerment.
Q: At the beginning, were you scared to speak out?
A: Yes, I was scared – when I decided to eventually speak out and not compromise, I was then informed by many, including some members of my own family who did not approve, accept or support my stance. This reason came from the fact that I was going against major corporations who had a lot of political ties and power. I was swimming against the tide.
I was later informed that my work would affect everyone in our community, from employment opportunities or finance and funds for social projects. Many of the business moguls often offered me money and jobs in senior positions, vehicles – as a way to silence me in order to keep their reputation good and not reduce their emissions. I have been threatened physically, and have been attacked and my house petrol bombed. Yes I was scared, and still am. But fear is only showing me that I am human. We are all scared. It is living with fear and acting despite of this that is critical.
Q: How did you get over the fear? Who inspired you?
A: I stood firm and people started to join me in the actions, workshops and protests. I realized at some point in life that there is a strong sense of worth when one is true to one's self, doing work that is righteous and truthful for the good of humanity.
There are a number of people throughout my life that has inspired me in different aspects. To name a few would be firstly my parents and siblings (all 12 of them), the SDCEA family from its inception over the years which are made up of people from different walks of life, different races, different sexes, different professions and levels of experience.
Q: Your home was firebombed …
A: My home was firebombed in 2007, just after midnight when I, my wife and one of my daughters were asleep in the house. The attack resulted in me and my daughter being rushed to hospital. I endured facial injuries and burns to my arms as well as respiratory difficulties.
The attack changed me in a way where I became stronger, more confident to speak the truth and not be afraid as I knew that I was doing the right thing.
Q: What are you focusing on now?
A: We face today the greatest threat since apartheid. Government wants to develop a dug-out port which will result in some of us losing our homes, we are losing our social fabric and our urban neighborhoods are changing from residential to peripheral industrial wastelands.
The major infrastructure development of the dug-out port will be backed by the Infrastructure Development legislation which basically gives government the right to do as they please, for the "good of the nation" and elite corporate wealth. Sounds like apartheid to me. This is SDCEA's focus over the near future. If we lose this battle of protecting our neighborhoods, we will have to start all over again, as we did in 1969.
Q: Such serious and important goals … but what makes you happy in your work?
A: I am an extremely passionate and committed individual who cares about people and the planet. I am a very religious person who prays and seeks spiritual guidance daily, I am active and choose to walk to work, which gives me my form of exercise, I am never bored in my work and it's exciting every day since it's brings new challenges which I thoroughly enjoy. Helping people gives me a sense of purpose.
I have and always will stay humble and true to my roots and beliefs and that no one can take away from me. I know through my actions and work that changes will happen, even if its starts off very little but I will eventually get to what we all want to see for the future which is a balanced relationship between man and nature.


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Here's a story of a NYPD police officer that found out what this homeless man really needs. What really got me was the officer heard that there were somebody who were making joke or laughing about a homeless guy with no socks or shoes on. The officer, instead of ignoring and continue doing his duties, he did what he could to help. Let's find out the story of the police officer and the homeless man in this video.
It maybe just a little thing for the police officer or others, but for that homeless man, it was a lot.
video credits: Wall Street Journal via YouTube


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Arturo R. Tanco Jr. is one of those highly educated technoracts who basically run the Philippine government. Under martial law, the 21 Cabinet ministers have enormous powers as long as they have the ear and authority of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Mr. Tanco, as minister of agriculture, has in economic terms the most important of these Cabinet posts. Agriculture employs some 55 percent of the nation's labor force and provides 26 percent of total gross national product.Some 69 percent of the population live in rural areas.
"This is still a poor country," noted the white-haired agriculture minister.
Like at least five other members of the Cabinet, Mr. Tanco is a graduate of Harvard University. (He has a degree from the Business School.) Several more ministers have graduated from other American universities. Many do not consider themselves politicians -- rather experts trying to speed the economic development of their nation.
Mr. Tanco would probably have to be less frank if he frequently faced election. During a lengthy interview, for instance, he broke off briefly to ask a question of an assistant on the telephone, and began discussing whether the price of fertilizer should be raised once more in line with the price of petroleum.
"This is a painful decision for every developing country," he explained afterward. "So we are patsying around.I'm scared."
If the price is raised, it hurts the farmers -- particularly those rice and corn farmers using the latest high-yield varieties that depend for their high outputs on heavy doses of fertilizer.
"We have been struggling to make sure these farmers make a profit," he said.
On the other side, if the price is not raised, the government fertilizer subsidy would have to be increased. That already costs some 250 million pesos ( "parsimonious."
"Maybe we should raise the price and save some money," he concluded.
Since the martial law, he said, the government has shifted its development emphasis. "We were pushing for this will-of-the-wisp -- industriazation was the hallmark of the economy. Now we are aiming at a balanced economy.
Much more is being spent on irrigation, rural roads, land reform, rural electrification, rural credit, and so on.
For example, the level of credit provided farmers jumped from 3.5 billion pesos in 1973 to 15 billion pesos in 1976. Banks were spread around the countryside, sometimes on wheels to serve small villages, Mr. Tanco continued. The number of rural banks expanded from around 400 in 1973 to more than 1,000 now. The goal is 2,500 rural banks; there are about 3,200 towns in the Philippines.
With these institutions lending at 14 percent, the usury rate has plunged from 150 percent to 35 or 40 percent. Landlords, who held their tenants in financial bondage before, can no longer do so. (The banks sometimes had considerable problem in getting the farmers to make repayments. Many farmers thought any government money was a handout. Being poor, they also find it difficult to repay loans. In any case, some banks eventually would lend money only to those who had repaid previous loans.)
In 1971, the country imported some 650,000 tons of rice. It could have used even more in 1973 when the government launched its Masagana 99 program to boost the production of rice. Masagana means "bountiful" in Tagalog, a native language. The 99 refers to the number of sacks (cavans) or rice per hectare (or 4.4 metric tons) which the program hoped to see produced.
By 1976, said Mr. Tanco, the country was self-sufficient in rice. This year, he figures, it could export 400,000 to 500,000 tons if a market could be found. Indeed, the nation has a storage problem for its excess rice and plans to construct more storage space. The nation is storing some 140 days of supply, whereas 90 would be adequate.
Corn could also start to be exported this year, as production exceeds domestic cosumption.
More rural roads hae been built in th last eight years, Mr. Tanco has boasts, than in the entire Spanish and American eras. (The Spanish ruled for 327 years, the Americans from 1898 until independence in 1946.)
Though the financial welfare of farmers varies from year to year depending on crop, prices and yields, their standard of living has improved in the last decade.
However, the income of rice farmers, after rising sharply with the introduction of the new rice varieties, has been slipping lately, Mr. Tanco indicated.
After examining some of the problems and delays the government experienced in its land reform and farm programs, the Asian Development Bank commented in a report that "it should not be inferred that these programs have been even partial failures. Given the need for parallel programs, the limited experience of executing agencies, and the material constraints, shortfalls were expected."
Nonetheless, the problems of the rural Philippines remain difficult. There are still some 3.5 million landless farm laborers, who make up almost half of the agricultural work force. They tend to be the poorest of the poor, suffering from seasonal and uncertain employment.
With the population of the Philippines growing rapidly, especially in the rural areas, the movement of landless farm laborers to the cities will continue. Many could end up living in grim slums.
One reasonf for the government's efforts to diversify industry away from Manila to smaller centers is to absorb some of the farmers' sons and daughters who can no longer find work on the land.


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Introducing Records 1.1
February 25, 2016
That's right guys, Records 1.1 for Mac is now available! And this isn't a standard update, this is a massive update, free for all our customers. The app introduces many of the most requested features like the Table view, 30+ ready to use templates, German, Italian, Japanese localizations, CSV data import and more.
What's new in Records
- New 30+ templates ready to use
- New Table view to display, edit and sort data in a single view
- New Ascending and descending data sorting
- New Star rating field
- New CSV/TSV data import and export
- New portrait and landscape print paper orientations
- New German, Italian and Japanese localizations
- New Force Touch and Haptic Feedback support
- New User Interface design inspired by OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Records 1.1 will be available at $29.99. All our customers who have already purchased the app from the Mac App Store will receive the update for free starting on March 3th.
Records Store
To cover one of the most requests from our customers, we had integrated into Records 1.1 a brand new store where the user can purchase the app directly from us. The new behaviour allows us to ship fast updates, fixes and offers Records in bundles.
Mac App Store
All our customers who have already purchased the app from the Mac App Store will receive the update for free starting on March 3th.


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More on Games As Art/
Reader Hugh wrote a very thoughtful response to my original post about games as art and I want to take the time to respond to it in some depth because it cuts to the heart of the question of why it matters and what it means to describe games as art.
What Makes Games Valuable
His response begins:
I find your comments about computer games (or games in general) needing to be considered "art" for it to be demonstrated that they have "positive cultural contributions to make," interesting.
Hugh is referring to my suggestion that part of the value of treating games as art is to counter claims made by the moral reform movement that has been trying to pressure for government regulation on youth access to video games in cities across the country. If you look closely, the movement often tries to compare games to other kinds of products and commodities -- such as cigarettes -- a common reference point or to forms of expression -- such as pornography -- which do not enjoy full constitutional protection. The goal is to dismiss out of hand the idea that games can be culturally meaningful activities. As I said yesterday, making the case that game playing is a meaningful activity is one of the most important functions of games criticism.
Hugh continues:
Clearly the contribution of value to our culture is not limited to art. Football (American or otherwise) is not art - in fact, it's a game. But it is very hard to question the value that children or indeed grown people playing sport adds to our culture.
Going for a long walk isn't art, either. But it's clearly valuable. Running a popular meeting point, a bar or a cafe, isn't art, but it has considerable value to society. Hell, running a garbage disposal firm isn't art, but I'd rather Edinburgh City Council didn't close their binmen down on that basis.
Even if, say, World of Warcraft isn't art, that doesn't mean it's not of value. In fact, it's entirely possible to argue that its artistic merit is in fact entirely irrelevant to its value to society.
Again, I would agree with Hugh's general conclusion here. We can go back to the 2002 Limbaugh decision, issued by U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. in response to a proposed Saint Louis regulation of youth access to games (and blissfully overturned subsequently). Limbaugh argued that games did not deserve constitutional protection from censorship because they did not represent a meaningful form of expression. He acknowledged that they probably held the same amount of social value as sports or traditional games but noted that there were no constitutional rights attached to these activities. We have freedom of speech, which belatedly was extended from political speech to artistic expression, but we do not have a right to play. More's the pity. At best, there is a vague right to "the pursuit of happiness" but I don't think you are going to find judges take you very seriously if you simply assert that playing games makes you happy.
Getting Serious About Games
Games can be valuable on many levels. Their status as art is simply one of them. Right now, we are seeing defenses of games emerging on multiple levels.
Some writers -- James Paul Gee or Kurt Squire or Steven Johnson, for example -- are making the case for games on educational or cognitive levels rather than aesthetic. Gee demonstrates that games are structured around solid pedagogical principles and that they are teaching young people new ways of processing knowledge. Johnson contends that games, like other modern forms of popular culture, have a degree of complexity (and thus pose cognitive challenges) which may be greater than most critics imagine. Squire has shown that communities emerge around games which enhance or expand the educational value of the play experience itself.
The serious games movement tackles the question of games as a form of political or social expression much more directly. They are demonstrating that games as a medium can serve a wide array of social and pedagogical purposes. Advocates like Gonzalo Frasca or Ian Bogost have made strong cases that games can be used for political speech. There are interesting experiments in the use of games for journalistic purposes. And so forth. If these efforts are successful, they will go to the heart of the legal debate -- representing the kinds of materials which are most cherished and protected under American constitutional law.
Yet this is treacherous territory since if we make too powerful a case that games can be a tool for persuasion or even education, games reformers are apt to cite it as proof that games "brainwash" or "train" the people who consume them. If a game can "teach" you world history (in the case of Civilization) or change how you think about genocide (in the case of Darfur is Dying), than can a game teach you to kill your classmates? I have tried to address this question in terms of a distinction between meanings and effects.
Here's a passage from one of my essays, "The War Between Effects and Meanings," which will be included in my forthcoming book, Fans, Gamers, and Bloggers:
Limbaugh and company see games as having social and psychological "effects" (or in some formulations, as constituting "risk factors" that increase the likelihood of violent and antisocial conduct). Their critics argue that gamers produce meanings through game play and related activities. Effects are seen as emerging more or less spontaneously, with little conscious effort, and are not accessible to self examination. Meanings emerge through an active process of interpretation; they reflect our conscious engagement; they can be articulated into words; and they can be critically examined. New meanings take shape around what we already know and what we already think, and thus, each player will come away from a game with a different experience and interpretation. Often, reformers in the "effects" tradition argue that children are particularly susceptible to confusions between fantasy and reality. A focus on meaning, on the other hand, would emphasize the knowledge and competencies possessed by game players starting with their mastery over the aesthetic conventions which distinguish games from real world experience.
Arguments for the aesthetic value of games represent a third important prong in this effort to develop an affirmative defense of video games rather than simply debunk claims made about media effects. In some ways, it is proving the most controversial in part because of conflicting assumptions about the nature of art.
The New Lively Art
And this is what Hugh gets to next in his comments:
John Carey's "What Good Are The Arts" provides a compelling dissection of the common belief that the arts are somehow inherently "improving". I wouldn't argue that the "art" in World of Warcraft is the reason that kids should be allowed to play it - I'd argue that learning team skills, discipline, perseverance, problem-solving skills and simple escapism are all reasons to play it....
One thing that's interesting here is that games are clearly a form of expression - "speech", indeed - but that doesn't necessarily translate to our conception of art, which is generally considered, at the moment, to be a one-way expression mediated by the author. As I understand it, the US constitution protects freedom of speech, not freedom of art - it is just that in the past 100 years or so, many things considered speech have also been considered art.
My own argument that games constitutes art stems not from a high culture notion of art as uplift or "improvement" but rather from Gilbert Seldes' concept of a lively art. I discuss this idea at some length in my essay, "Games, the New Lively Art," which will be reprinted in my forthcoming anthology, The Wow Climax. Here's some of what I have to say here:
Adopting what was then a controversial position, Seldes argued that America's primary contributions to artistic expression had come through emerging forms of popular culture such as jazz, the Broadway musical, Vaudeville, Hollywood cinema, the comic strip, and the vernacular humor column....Readers then were skeptical of Seldes' claims about cinema for many of the same reasons that contemporary critics dismiss games - they were suspicious of cinema's commercial motivations and technological origins, concerned about Hollywood's appeals to violence and eroticism, and insistent that cinema had not yet produced works of lasting value. Seldes, on the other hand, argued that cinema's popularity demanded that we reassess its aesthetic qualities. Cinema and other popular arts were to be celebrated, Seldes insisted, because they were so deeply imbedded in everyday life, because they were democratic arts embraced by average citizens. Through streamlined styling and syncopated rhythms, they captured the vitality of contemporary urban experience. They took the very machinery of the industrial age, which many felt dehumanizing, and found within it the resources for expressing individual visions, for reasserting basic human needs, desires, and fantasies. And these new forms were still open to experimentation and discovery. They were, in Seldes' words, "lively arts."
What I am arguing, then, is not that games should be removed from the realm of everyday life and put on a pedestal in an art museum. Rather, games are art because they represent a site of play and expression within the contexts of their everyday lives. They teach us to see the world through new eyes. They teach us new ways to interact with the computer. Art is not necessarily uplifting: it is enough that it refreshes us -- heightening our perceptual awareness, enhancing the quality of our lives. In that sense, I am arguing that play matters because it makes us happy.
Expression does not equal Narrative
Hugh continues:
It's also worth noting that whilst our culture generally considers art to be defined by passive consumption, there's plenty of precedent for art to be interactive. Theatre, for example, is highly dependent on the audience for its content, as actors "play" to the crowd. With no crowd and no crowd reaction, there is no theatre. That's even more true in improvised theatre. Architecture by definition is the crafting of an interactive artform, yet no-one doubts it is art.
The core of the problem comes from our assumption that if games are art, then the art must come through telling stories rather than creating new kinds of experiences. Improved storytelling might be one form that games as art will take. But games are not predestined to become a more interactive form of cinema. They could just as easily become about expressive movements -- like dance -- or spaces -- like architecture. For me, Shigaru Miyagawa is perhaps the consummate game artist -- not because he creates such compelling stories or psychologically deep characters but because he is so imaginative in his design of space, so open to exploring new ways of interacting with the medium, and so expressive in his use of movement and iconography. Games tap a spirit of experimentation and improvisation through our freedom to explore their spaces and interact with them in a variety of ways. So, again, I totally agree with Hugh's position here. Stories are one ways that our culture communicates meaning. Rituals are another. Games are still another. These forms may sometimes overlap but they have quite autonomous histories.
Culture and Commerce, Elites and Masses
Hugh concludes:
Possibly some of the resistance to the concept of a game as art comes from the fact that the creation of art is considered in the Western world to be a work of specialized artisans, rather than something which is part of everyday life? Once again, John Carey points out that that's an anomaly of the last few hundred years - art evolved in humankind as a form of play, and indeed several languages do not have separate words for the two activities.
Our culture, of course, has devalued play, as Pat Kane points out in "The Play Ethic". Perhaps this is part of the resistance that computer games find when they try to define themselves as art?
Again, I find myself in loud and emphatic agreement with Hugh's comments here. Games suffer two problems in terms of our modern understanding of art:
1. on the one hand, games are commercial products and there is a tendency to set art against commerce in our critical discussions. We see this even in terms of cinema where some movies get called "art movies" and others get called "popcorn movies," despite decades of criticism which has sought to identify the ways entertainment properties may nevertheless be meaningful and expressive and aesthetically compelling. I was in a debate recently with Ernest Adams, who is one of the most thoughtful commentators on the games industry and medium, but who is not convinced that games are art. His arguments hinge on this distinction between art and commerce.
2. On the other hand, games are not art because they are so accessible to the general population. Art has increasingly been seen as the property of the educated elite. Under this definition, you have to be taught to perceive and value art. Artistic appreciation becomes a form of social distinction. And there is a tendency to devalue the kinds of informal learning which surrounds our mastery of popular culture form. Trust me, none of us were born knowing how to beat a level.
Many gamers are also worried that if we discuss games as art, they will somehow stop making the kinds of games they like to play. Art is thought of as something stuffy or serious-minded, rather than something playful and engaging. I see this tied to some of the ways that modern art embraced an aesthetic of emotional and contemplative distance where-as Seldes' "Lively Arts" embraced an aesthetic that emphasized immediate emotional impact. When I promote the idea that games should be considered art, I don't mean that they should saddle themselves with some alien artistic tradition or that they should necessarily strive to be high art. I want them to remain a popular art. I want them to develop their own aesthetic principles that reflect the ways we engage with games in the course of our everyday life. Rather than strip play from games, I want us to reassert the centrality of play to artistic expression.
Hugh's comments take us a step further -- at least by implication -- in suggesting that the art of games is created not simply by the designer but also by the player. Imagine a world where players were judged not simply on the basis of their high scores but also on their expressive performances? To some degree, this tension has already surfaced around something like Dance Dance Revolution. I am happy to argue there that the best players don't necessarily rake up the highest scores; rather, they score as performers with the audience that watches them. Maybe we make art every time we pick up the joy stick. But in that sense, Hugh is right that this art becomes immediately devalued because these skills are too widespread within our culture and our modern notion of art emphasizes not simply an elite consumer but also an elite producer.
In the end, I don't think Hugh and I disagree. Hugh argues that games can be seen as meaningful without being considered art. I would argue that artistic expression is simply one of a number of different criteria by which we might identify the meaningfulness of games.
Thanks, Hugh, for such a rich response. Sorry it has taken me a while to get back to it.


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View more photos from TattooLaPalooza 2012 here.
Some of us will remember this weekend forever as a festival of Miami Heat-fueled celebration. Others will remember it for a very different reason: It's written right there on their bodies.
Every year around this time, the Hyatt
Regency hotel in downtown lends its space to some of the most dedicated attention-getters and
pain lovers, those whose skin is a canvas for the dark, pop-art, contemporary artists at Miami's own three-day tattoo convention TattooLaPalooza.
Walking down the isles of the show, we captured tattoo
artists who proudly showed us pieces done by another tattoo artist at the
convention. It was a back-and-forth race to meet, greet, and photograph the diverse skin
art, depicting lobsters eating rats, goddesses eating hearts, dolls trapped inside a
brain. Think of it as an eye-catching needle banquet.
As opposed to other years where we couldn't stop snapping
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You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!
photos, our Sunday visit was a quiet one. Blame it on the rain, or the hangover from the
championship celebrations. But the talent was not scarce. The artists were
at work.
Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.


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Introducing Analog Racks Volume 1
THe Word on the Street
There seem to be posts everywhere you look online about the necessity of using 3rd party plug-ins when you get Ableton Live. It usually goes like this:
"The stock sounds that come with Ableton are just okay. You need to at least get Sylenth or Serum if you want to make something that sounds reasonably modern."
And inevitably, someone else will chime in.
"Actually the native synths are really powerful if you know what you are doing."
And that person is usually me. Unfortunately, there seems to be a dearth of online proof to back me up.
So this whole thing sort of began as a challenge to myself. What could I really produce using just Ableton? But not just the devices most people turn to, the Operator and the Sampler device. Could I actually produce some tracks that harness the true power of Ableton's Analog synth instrument with nothing else but a few drum samples?
Analog Racks is Born
So I spent a few weeks and created Analog Racks 1. And then I produced a few songs to feature the sounds. All sounds from the video above were created with Ableton Analog device and a few drum samples. I made the video to highlight the Analog V Bass sound, but the Analog Pan Synth and the Analog Verby Lead will appear in Analog Racks 02. See the Soundcloud instrument demos to preview the sounds included in Analog Racks 01.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting videos like the one above that showcase these sounds and give you a better idea of what can actually be done with them.
I hope you like Analog Racks and please let me know what you're making with them. I'd love to hear what you do with these sounds!


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There are many servers that set a limit to the amount of bandwidth a site may use each month and after that limit is reached, a site may be closed and the webmaster sent a large bill that must be paid before they can open their site again. Some artists can not afford this and may be forced to closed permanently. If you really admire the artist's who's work you are using help them keep their sites open by not stealing their bandwidht.
There are some very simple steps that you can take to unsure that you are not stealing someone else's bandwidth.
1.) Always copy the images you want to use to your own computer, and them upload them to the directory on your own site.
To copy an image using a PC. Hold your mouse over the image you want to copy and click the right mouse button. When the drop down menu appears select Save As and you will be given another menu so you can select the file name and location of where you want to save the image. On A Mac, hold down the right mouse button and follow a similar route.
2.) Make sure that the image is being loaded from your own directory instead of the site where you original got it.
If the image you want to load is in the same directory as the page you want to display it on, the HTML code is simply
Note your code should never look like:

Besides the reasons given above, and that of common courtesy and honesty, there are several other reasons why it is not a good idea to link directly to someone else's images. The most important is the fact that your pages will load faster if the images being used on those pages are also being called from your own site. The second is that you will be assured that the images are always available to your pages. Many artists including myself change their sites often and even remove images on occasion. If you link directly to one of these images, you could be faced with the following.
Oh no a broken image :(
Even worse than the broken image, is the surprise that some webmasters give sites found stealing their bandwidth. Because I believe in education rather than vengeance, I do not practice this myself, but know that some webmasters replace the images being stolen when they find this happening with ones that leave very little doubt that the site stealing bandwidth is a thief.
I hope this tutorial has helped you understand a little bit more about bandwidth and the importance of uploading the images you use to your own server.
For more related topics check the links directly below.
If you would like to promote copyright awareness, please copy my copyright campaign logo and post it to your own website or blog with a link to my copyright material. Remember to copy the image to your own server. If you need help with the code please email me and I will help you.
Back to:
Copyright Abuse / A right and wrong way for first contact
Freebies and Sharing Digital or Digi Stamps
Freebies and Sharing Digital or Digi Stamps
Copyright Infringement Cease Desist Letter / Illegal use or distribution
When diplomacy fails, try the link below
When diplomacy fails, try the link below


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Clio is a cloud based legal case management system that is optimised to meet the needs of small to medium sized firms.
Web-based, secure and easy-to-use, Clio provides you with all the tools you need to manage your firm efficiently and effectively.
Clio was produced with the cooperation and advice of Law Societies worldwide. We're a global firm, used in over 40,000 practices.
Our EU head office is based in Dublin, Ireland to facilitate our rapidly expanding UK customer database and comply with EU Data Protection regulations.
Features include:
- Time-keeping and billing;
- Intuitive, user friendly system;
- Unlimited document storage, and an automated document generation feature;
- A task list feature which allows you to create step by step workflows for cases;
- Client and Office Accounting features;
- iPhone and Android app so you can manage your firm on the go;
- A calendar which integrates with Google and Outlook calendars;
- Seamless email filing;
- A full set of reports to track your firm's performance;
- A host of integrations with third party apps, such as: Xero, Quickbooks, Click to File, gmail plug-in, Dropbox, Google Drive, NetDocs and many more.
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Today was the last episode in series 5 of Waterloo Road. I'm very sad. 20 whole episodes. Gone. Just like that.
I'm soooo looking forward to the holidays. I don't have long to go now. Less than a month - of which one week is holiday. Not in the usual holiday sense of the word though. It'll be jam packed with revision. It's scary how little time I have left. AAAAH!!! I expect I'll only be able to write a few lines each night during the holidays. I plan to eat, sleep and breath revsion otherwise I won't feel that I've tried my best. It's the final push and then no more school! It's such a weird feeling. Doesn't quite feel real yet - it's like I've got this little voice in the back of my head saying "Yeah right - a time of no school, no stress, no homework, no coursework - I'll believe THAT when I see it!!!" I'm just eager to prove it wrong now! lol.
I'd better go now, I think I'm going off my rocker. (If Ben is reading this he's probably thinking 'Did she ever have a rocker to start with?')
Night night xxxxx


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Eiseley is best known for the poetic essay style called the "hidden essay". He used this to explain complex scientific ideas, such as human evolution, to the general public. He is also known for his writings about humanity's relationship with the natural world. These helped inspire the environmental movement.
Eiseley's first book, The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature (1946), a collection of writings about the history of humanity, established him as a writer with the unique ability to combine science and humanism. In the essay from it entitled "The Snout", he wrote:
The door to the past is a strange door. It swings open and things pass through it, but they pass in one direction only. No man can return across that threshold, though he can look down still and see the green light waver in the water weeds.
Eiseley's book, Darwin's Century (1958), focuses on the development of the theory of evolution and was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Science prize in 1959. His other books include The Unexpected Universe (1969), The Night Country (1971), the memoir All The Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life (1975), and Darwin and the Mysterious Mr. X: New Light on the Evolutionists (1979).
When Loren Eiseley was 3 his father held him up to watch Halley's Comet blaze across the sky and told his son to look for its return in 75 years. But Loren Eiseley did not live that long. He died July 9, 1977, having used his brief seventy years to leave behind a heritage that continues to enrich the lives of all who come to know his work.


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Fortnight of Action 2013 Wales – Week 1
The FOA starts on Friday with 18 teams showing their support in Week one.
During the 18th – 31st October a period of concerted action encourages participation from all sections of communities and clubs to celebrate diversity and tackle racism.
Each October clubs in Wales support SRtRC in the FOA across the country by warming up in RED card T-shirts and holding up cards prior to kick off.
The Football Association of Wales provides the support for the actions each season and continue to show their stance against racism in football.
Week one of the Fortnight of Action will see the below teams show their support during fixtures in Wales.
The launch night of the FOA will see a live match from the Welsh Premier League on S4C. S4C can be viewed in Wales on Freeview – 4; Virgin TV – 166; Freesat - 104; Sky – 104; Sky outside of Wales – 134.
Friday 18th Oct 13
Aberystwyth Town v Newtown - Welsh Premier League
Gap Connah's Quay v Rhyl FC - Welsh Premier League (Live on S4C)
Llanelli Town FC VCaldicot Town FC - Welsh League D3
Saturday 19th Oct 13
Swansea City FC v Sunderland AFC - Premier League
Newport County FC v York City FC - Football League
Wrexham FC v Woking - Conference Premier
Bala Town v Carmarthen Town - Welsh Premier League
Prestatyn Town v Port Talbot Town - Welsh Premier League
The New Saints v Afan Lido - Welsh Premier League
During week 1 some of the FOA Grants projects will also take place, to find out more about the funded projects from our community grants click HERE
To keep up to date with the FOA activities and match actions follow us on Twitter @theredcardwales


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Interview with e27, Asia's largest Tech media platform - covering emerging and disruptive businesses across the region. October 20, 2015 by Isis Leung
As the Founder of coding school '21C Girls' and upskilling hub 'The Keys Academy', this education expert is helping spawn the next generation of tech-minded Millennials.
Employment opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) are on the rise. According to CareerBuilder's Skill Gap study in 2014 on the US job market, the number of technology jobs will grow from 7.2 million in 2013 to 8.2 million by 2018. All the while, 71 per cent of surveyed roles requiring computer and math know-how were cited as the toughest to fill.
As the war for talent rages on, Singapore-based innovators like Ayesha Khanna, are stepping in to bridge the gap. An education, technology and urbanisation expert of 15 years — Khanna is a serial entrepreneur who has founded a number of edtech startups. What's palpable is that skilling up the next generation of tech-minded Millennials is near and dear to her heart.
"The gap between how we are teaching students today and what they need to thrive in a technology-mediated economy in the future, is felt by every country across the globe. Singapore is proactively taking steps towards closing this gap."
Khanna told e27 that during her time on the Singapore's Ministry of Educations ASPIRE Steering Committee, where she reviewed applied learning in higher education, she was impressed by the overall dedication to amend the country's education system so that it equips students with much-needed skills in technology.
Her project 21C Girls (21st Century Girls) is a Singapore-based non-profit created to upskill young girls and women in the tech world, offering free coding and robotics classes. They've currently taken 250 students under their wing for their 'Tech Stars' programme, which is a 20-lesson introduction to coding course.
The other three programmes available include: 'Little Robot', an introduction to robotics; 'Moms Who Code', which is exactly what it sounds like; and 'Smart Citizen', which is an upcoming eight-week course for developers who want to hack together Smart City apps.
Besides 21C Girls, Khanna also started The Keys Academy to help boost the entrepreneurial spirit and leadership skills of students in Singapore. Besides offering classes in academic subjects and guidance for college applications, the academy also launched an innovative education concept called 'externships', where challenges provided by companies are externally worked on at The Keys Academy centre.
"The key to an externship is that it's a win-win model for both the company and the student: The company is able to get fresh innovative thinking and prototypes from Singapore's brightest young minds, and students get real-life challenges that are unpredictable, interesting and help them understand the industry," said Khanna.
In her quest to do her part in bridging the gender and skills gap in the tech world, Khanna said that there needs to be a shift in mindset as well and that starts with viewing schooling less as a "discrete stage in education" but more of a lifelong learning opportunity. She gives a nod to the Smart Nation program in Singapore as it evolves past the traditional smart city concept to create an environment that is conducive to creativity and entrepreneurship.
"John Seely Brown says the future belongs to those who embody both the qualities of homo sapiens, man who knows; and homo faber, man who makes. In my mind, that is the definition of a smart citizen in a smart nation."
Indeed, it isn't enough to simply pack in academic knowledge, but also important to learn how to tinker and build — and Khanna's vision is to help Millennials combine the two.
Link to article


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- Exterior Architecture
- Project Development
in collaboration with Nerma Linsberger
luxury hotel in the mountains / traditional guest housing / generous atrium and courtyard
The combination of modern architecture and traditional elements come together to create this unique hotel, whose key feature is a large, peaceful atrium at its core. This signature design feature creates a landmark with the s-shape of the building so that at any time of the year a quiet zone can be accessed despite the atrium's central location. The public areas include the atrium with plateaus and paths on different levels offering variant views and perspectives throughout the hotel. A lush wooden covering makes the space a visual and tactile experience and echoes the regional building traditions. The rooftop spa and pool area is another building amenity. Despite the building's huge volume, the careful design of the building's scale enables it to blend with its surrounding.
- project name: HOTEL ST. DANIEL
- function: hospitality
- location: Schladming, AUSTRIA
- client:
- Hotel St. Daniel GmbH
- floor space: 14.020 m²
- number of floors: 4
- construction cost: EUR 25 million
- project team:
Martin Lesjak, Nerman Linsberger


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'Google Time' Smart Watch Concept Presents Bright Future Of Wearable Tech
User Interface designer Adrian Maciburko has created a concept dubbed 'Google Time.' As the idea of wearable computing rapidly becomes a technological trend in 2013, this shows a really nice and simple take on the smart watch, using Google's latest design language.
Using an easy-to-use blend of voice and touch, Adrian incorporates some key use functionalities without overbearing use onto the small screen. As it will be virtually impossible to translate all smartphone functions onto a watch, interface and app choices have been made to keep the design as unintrusive as a watch with enhanced capabilities could be.
Example, the homescreen is secondary to Google Now. While many are not using the service for its voice operation, the idea of personalised notifications sent to your watch throughout the day makes it an ideal fit. A selection of quick gestures make for rapid navigation around the watch, and he experiments with both a square and circular face.
Ever since Steve Jobs made a quip about the 2012 iPod Nano being turned into a wristwatch, the concept has been toyed with ever since. This is one of the better implementations I've seen, taking into account real world use and becoming as much of a background device as a watch should be. The market has shown a demand for it, and Google should really think about something like this alongside Glass.
Source: Adrian Maciburko
Jason England


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The Trinity
We believe that the Godhead (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) are one God yet three persons, having the same nature, attributes and perfections.
The full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ was and is the second person of the Godhead from eternity past. We believe that at His incarnation, He was both fully God and fully human. We believe that at His incarnation He did not lay aside His deity, but set aside His right to display His attributes at His own will. Thus Jesus Christ submitted Himself to God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-8)
The spiritual lostness of the human race
We believe that humanity was originally created in the image of God and through sin, fell. The consequence of sin is death of spiritual life and subjection to the power of the devil. We believe that all of humanity is born "in Adam" with original sin and without faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, they are lost and will spend eternity apart from God.
The substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection of Christ
We believe that salvation was accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who took our sin, dying in our place. There are no human efforts, good works, good intentions, no submission to rules of any church from any age that can add to the sufficiency of the blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross.
Salvation by faith alone in Christ alone
We believe that spiritual birth comes through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ through His death on the Cross.
The physical return of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ will return to earth to set up his kingdom and reign in truth, righteousness and justice.
The authority and inerrancy of Scripture
We believe that the authors of Scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the very words of God. We believe, therefore, that the whole Bible is without error in its original manuscripts.


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When a user logs in to a resource protected by OpenSSO Enterprise, the Logging Service records information about the user's activity. The common Logging Service can be invoked by components residing on the same server as OpenSSO Enterprise as well as those on the client machine, allowing the actual mechanism of logging (such as destination and formatting) to be separated from the contents which are specific to each component. You can write custom log operations and customize log plug-ins to generate log reports for specific auditing purposes.
Administrators can control log levels, authorize the entities that are allowed to create log entries and configure secure logging (the latter for flat files only). Logged information includes the name of the host, an IP address, the identity of the creator of the log entry, the activity itself, and the like. Currently, the fields logged as a log record are controlled by the Configurable Log Fields selected in the Logging Configuration page located under the System tab of the OpenSSO Enterprise console. The Logging Service is dependent on the client application (using the Logging APIs) creating a programmatic LogRecord to provide the values for the log record fields. The logging interface sends the logging record to the Logging Service which determines the location for the log record from the configuration. A list of active logs can also be retrieved using the Logging API. Figure 2–8 illustrates the interactions between the local and remote components of the Logging Service in a OpenSSO Enterprise deployment.
Generally speaking, writing log records can be done remotely, using the Client SDK, but anything involving the reading API can only be done on the machine on which OpenSSO Enterprise is installed. Using the reading API uses a great deal of system resources, especially when database logging is involved.
Logs can be written to flat files or to one of the supported databases (Oracle and MySQL). See Chapter 15, Recording Events with the Logging Service for more information.


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.308 (7.62 NATO) Caliber AR type Complete Parts Kit
T-Marked forged upper receiver
1-10" twist, 6 grooves, right hand
7.62x51 Caliber (shoots either 7.62x51 or .308)
416R Stainless steel barrel
Optional chrome lining
This 7.62x51mm caliber barrel is 26" long with a target crown. The barrel is machined from 416R re-sulpherized stainless steel and hardened to a U.S. government Mil-spec of Rc 26-32. All external carbon steel parts are manganese phosphate finished IAW 22.214.171.124 of Mil-STD-171, the U. S. government's recommended protective finish for steel. This finish not only looks great, it affords complete corrosion protection. This barrel tapers under the handguard from 1.200" at the chamber to .950" at the gas block. .935" through the gas block and .835" diameter forward.
The barrel is mounted on a FORGED 7075T6511 A3 upper receiver with built in Mil-spec M1913 Picatinny accessory rail, with the correct rail numbers engraved, hardcoat anodized IAW Mil Spec A8625, Type III, Class II, black per No. 37038, Table IX with nickel acetate seal, as per the Mil-spec. This upper has a hinged ejection port cover and a built in brass deflector. Barrel nut threads are DPMS standard 1 7/16 - 16 TPI.
This kit features a machined aluminum handguard that is knurled for sure grip and hard coat anodized per the mil spec for long life. This handguard completely free floats the barrel for enhanced accuracy. The AR gas system is used with a gas block.
The buttstock is a 6 position telescoping stock designed for a stable cheek weld in any position. It features a paddle release, rubber butt pad and is of standard A2 length when fully extended. It also comes STANDARD with a Double sling hook locking plate.
All semi auto lower receiver parts are INCLUDED as well as semi auto bolt, carrier, and charging handle. The upper is COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED. Each and every part to the gun is included EXCEPT the stripped lower receiver! (A complete firearm is pictured, the lower receiver, sights and magazine, even though shown in the picture, are NOT, repeat NOT included.)
PLEASE NOTE: For CHROMED barrel interior and chamber, You must ACTUALLY Order part # AR-CHROME on your web order form, if you do not see it and it does not charge you $50 on your form, you have not ordered it and will not receive a chromed barrel. Do NOT just put it in the special instructions. If you just put AR-CHROME in the special instructions you will NOT receive a chromed barrel, it MUST be in the order form body and it MUST charge you $50. Here is the link for AR-CHROME: http://blackthorneproducts.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=300 Do NOT just put it in the special instructions! This kit fits Gen 1 DPMS pattern .308 caliber lowers.
Since this parts kit does not include the receiver, no FFL is required. Like all of our AR parts kits, this is MADE IN USA!
This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 08 October, 2011.


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Welcome to Japanese School of Detroit!
Thank you for visiting the Engilsh language webpage of the Japanese School of Detroit (JSD). We hope that this site will help you understand our school and Japanese students as well as their cultural background.
Japanese School of Detroit sent the initial fund to Japan. Please see attached.
Japan Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund Raising is still be continued.


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Picturing December
January has started off with a blast for us - exactly one year after Mr. Floor and I met, we picked up the keys to our new apartment. This weekend and next, we will be painting, packing, scrubbing, and dragging our way into the new place, which we have yet to see by daylight (ah, Dutch winters are so awesome).
But first! An overview of December!
Office Awesome
My colleague and I flew out to London to attend the office Christmas party, which was amazing, especially since my very international team (1 Brit, 1 Kiwi, 1 Turk, 1 Dutchie) won the gingerbread house(boat) competition. Documented here. Booyah.
Fire & Friends
In the days leading up to Christmas, I hung out with friends and family, winding down from the year.
Festive Food
Christmas was full of food (of course) and very relaxed. We don't usually do gifts for Christmas, and not having to do any last minute shopping is... well, not awful. Both our families did a potluck style dinner and we baked a lemon meringue pie and a poached pear tarte tat in (no pics, unfortunately), and one appetizer (on the right). The awesome breakfast bread was made by my sister-in-law, who is pregnant and has started baking her own bread (I'm not saying there's a relation, I'm just saying, you know).
Right after Christmas, we left for Israel, where we consumed shitloads of humus and pita, where I rekindled my love for Turkish coffee, and generally just had a very relaxing fun time - not in the least thanks to our lovely hosts (two of our friends from college) who proved excellent guides.
Hope you all are happy to be back at work and are looking forward to this new year. I sure am!


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Welcome to the Cosmo Catchup, Cosmopolitan.com's new daily news show. Today's topic: everyone's favorite dickcheese, Juan Pablo aka The Bachelor. Watch the video for the best ees OK jokes of all time.
The Bachelor's Clare Speaks:The Truth About Juan Pablo
Writer/Producer: Liz Lanteri
Assistant Producer: Lee Havlicek
Shooter: Sara Masetti
Starring: Taylor Ortega


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Product Details
Online Shopping for Rayon Semi-Stitched Salwar Suit Dupatta Material (Off White) on Zipker.com* Type: Semi Stitched
* Fabric: Rayon (Soft Fabric)
* Top Color : Off White
* Top Length: 52"
* Top Width: 46"
* Bottom Color : Peach
* Bottom Fabric : Santoon
* Bottom Material : 2 M
* Bottom Work : Plain
* Dupatta Fabric : Net
* Dupatta Work : Embroidery Work
* Dupatta Color : Pink
* Neck Design : V Neck
* Sleeve : Full Sleeve
* Style : Anarkali Style
Quality Guarantee
Wash Care : First wash dry clean
Delivery Time:-Same Day Dispatch
Occasion : Festival, Partywear,casual Wear,Ceremony
1. The Shades May Vary Slightly From The Colors Displayed On Your Screen.
2. There Might Be Slight Color Variation Due To Lightings & Flash While Photo Shoot.
Frequently Bought Together
1 Item Rs. 129
1 Add-ons Rs. 129
Total Rs. 258Please add at least 1 add-on item to proceed
Ratings and Reviews
- Loved it
Dupatta is awesome
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- Duppatta length is very short
Product quality is good.. but duppatta is the main attraction in this dress and the length is very short
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- i want to buy this pls contact
i want to buy this pls contact
QualityWhat is sizeThis dress is semi stitched. You can stitch it according to your size.
Please enter any additional comments:
- Super
Amazing product really gud service am happy but please make sure to send inner material too so tat it wud attract many customers
Very quick delivery
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About Net Affinity
Net Affinity is a team of creative technology experts, leading the field of hotel technology since 2000. Our goal is to drive direct bookings for hotels, because ultimately, direct is best. Our digital marketing experts, web designers and account managers all have years of experience working with hotels, so we know exactly how to help your hotel achieve success. Instead of making the process of running your hotel more complicated, we streamline your path to excellence. Our job is simple: we make yours easier.HeadquartersDublin, IrelandAreas ServedEuropeLanguageEnglish, although the Net Affinity booking engine is capable of being translated into the languages required by your hotel.Websitewww.netaffinity.comFoundation Date2000Industry SectorBooking EngineProduct(s)Booking engine Web designDigital marketing
Areas Served
Foundation Date
Industry Sector
Booking Engine


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Tom Cruise's 'American Made' Almost Had A Scene Featuring Bill Clinton Getting A Lap Dance
Posted on Friday, September 29th, 2017 by Ben Pearson
An actor playing a young version of former President George W. Bush has a brief cameo appearance in American Made, the newest film from director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow), but the filmmaker's drug smuggling period piece very nearly included an appearance from another former president. According to a new report, Bill Clinton was nearly depicted getting a lap dance in an Arkansas strip club. The Tom Cruise movie establishes a small Arkansas city as a hub of the Columbian drug trade, and Clinton was the state's governor at the time.
Read More »


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Movie News & Reviews
'Blue Valentine': Well-acted film is infused with the sadness of lost feelings
"I don't ever want to be like my parents," a teenage Cindy (Michelle Williams) tells her aged grandmother in the new Scenes From a Marriage melodrama Blue Valentine. Did those parents ever love each other? Did they once, and just get it out of the way?
Blue Valentine is about that ultimate question writer Tom Robbins posed once — "Who knows how to make love stay?" — and it's about that last-ditch effort to remember how love was in the beginning, just to see whether it was ever worth fighting for.
Cindy, as we already know by then in this dissection of five years of a relationship and marriage, is facing the same sort of harsh realization her parents must have come to. We see them middle-aged, bitter and cruel — especially her father. Cindy remembers that as she confronts her limits of being married to Dean (Ryan Gosling), a mercurial, argumentative and unsatisfying spouse who rationalizes his life choices and his drinking to her in every out-of-the-blue argument he starts.
Now older and disillusioned herself, Cindy of five years later remembers her question of Granny — "How can you trust your feelings if they can just disappear like that?"
First-time feature director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance presents a narrative that skips back and forth, starting with a bad day in the lives of Cindy and Dean, parents of preschooler Frankie. Their dog has run off, and because they live on a busy highway in rural Pennsylvania, you can guess what comes next. Cindy, a nurse, faces a big career decision. Dean, a beer-swilling house painter who enjoys a job that lets him swill that beer while working, wants only to get them back, romantically, to where they once were.
And as they check into a "cheap sex motel" with themed rooms (They're in "Futureworld"), we flash back and forth to the day they first met, the "love at first sight" moment (for Dean) that put them on this path.
Gosling gives Dean a breezy, insistent cockiness that hides a brittle side. He's smart, with "potential," as Cindy put it. But that never interested him. Williams, nominated for an Oscar for this performance, has the face across which we watch this story play. She had the ambition Dean lacked, but she fell under his insistent courting, wooed by his kindness, his sensitivity and his ukulele.
Blue Valentine feels off-the-cuff and improvised, which adds to the charm of that first date and the danger of that "big fight." Clues to how they came to be are offered in the present, explained in flashback. It's a gritty, almost ugly-to-look-at film, and Cianfrance isn't shy about including a random blast of unwarranted shaky footage.
But there's a brutal honesty to Cindy's angst, a real conflict in her connection to this man. Will they endure, the way her parents did, or will they throw in the towel — her outgrowing him, him embittered at her loss of affection and passion? We worry for them, which is all this movie needs to accomplish.
A film made notorious because of a needless ratings dust-up over its not-all-that sex scenes, the well-acted, generally engrossing Blue Valentine doesn't blink when the going gets tough, and it doesn't romanticize that first blush of attraction, affection and love. Don't assume that pun title is about the raciness of the subject matter. In a marriage in trouble, the only inviolate truth is everybody involved is going to be blue.


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This unique satin nickel pendant would be perfect for any modern work space or kitchen.
Comes in a 69" over all length, with removable 3", 12" and 18" pieces to adjust to your needs.
(Also has matching wall sconces)
Available in Oil Rubbed Bronze, Polished Nickel and Satin Nickel.
We specialize in custom, unique lighting for commercial and residential spaces.


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Looking For Learn In All The Wrong Places/
I am not at SHRM11. And I am slightly bummed.
Surprised hearing that from me? Me too.
I am not one for mega conferences and expositions. The series of 1 hour shots of wisdom, blasts of optimism, or accounting of organizational successes leave me wanting for more. I have been a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) for over 15 years and attended the 2007 SHRM conference in Vegas.
Although I found it to be valuable with a golden nugget here and a golden nugget there, for one reason or another, I have not yet made it back.
When it comes to SHRM, I've been looking for "learn" in all the wrong places.
I've been looking to the speaking podiums and, nothing against the speakers, but the whole podium thing still leaves me wanting for more. Listening to others argue or position for the latest and greatest in human resources has me squirming inside to jump up and shout, "Get a life, people."
So, why am I bummed about missing SHRM11?
It's not about podiums, it's about the people. People doing things differently than I am doing them, people doing things that I am not doing, people being people - helping, supporting and reaching out to others. People not talking about HR, but about themselves, their successes, their failures, their families and their fun. It's about discussion, rolling up the sleeves and engaging in small group, peer to peer discussions. This, by the way, is the beauty of HREvolution.
What else is it about? As Jason Seiden said so well, it's about surrounding yourself with people better than yourself.
Many of the people converging on Vegas this week are better than me in many ways. So, it's not about SHRM at all. It's not even really about learning. It's about my need for connection and my commitment to be intentional in building and maintaining relationships moving forward. Truth be told, I've been rather lazy about the whole thing lately.
Now if it just so happens that in 2012 my intention to connect requires me to to relax by the pool some place warm with a bunch of smart HR Professionals, so be it, I'm there. SHRM12 or bust.
No skimping on my professional development.