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This week's theme is: bridge. So, here's a bridge!
This photo was taken on the famous Southern hemisphere road, the Carretera Austral, or Ruta 7 Chile. This road runs south from Puerto Montt, Chile, in and out of fjords and across ferries, all the way down to Villa O'Higgins. It is pretty much the only road to speak of that runs north-south in this part of Chile. 90% of it is ripio, or gravel. Luckily, we were overlanding in our trusty Subaru Tribeca, so the rough road wasn't a problem.
This was a bridge somewhere between Chaiten and Puyuhaupi, a place so beautiful that we had to pull over and go for a little walk. It would have made the ideal campsite along the lake but we had only been in the car for a couple of hours and still had a few more to go before we could stop.


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Event Information
Madison Jazz Jam4 - 7 pm
The Fountain
122 State St., Madison
I emcee this all-ages jazz jam the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month. Musicians and the general public are welcome.
Our house band is a rotating group of Madison's finest jazz musicians. This week the band is Eric Koppa - tenor sax, Johannes Wallmann - piano, John Mesoloras - bass, and Michael Brenneis - drums.
For more info: see the MJJ website.

subset: commoncrawl


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Local organization helps bring women together, cultivating service, friendship and fun, turning new friendships into old ones.
I stepped outside the door of a shop downtown and into a gaggle of gals laughing and having what seemed to be the time of their lives. It felt like I'd swum into a school of fish, or flown into a group of geese chatting enthusiastically about where they'd been and where they were going next.
They kept going in the opposite direction down the sidewalk and as I walked toward my car, I turned around and looked. Something about them was different. The energy. The smiles. The joy. So I went after them and tapped the first one I reached on the shoulder. The body language of the group opened to me, acknowledging a warm and welcoming reception to my awkward approach.
"Hi. I am sorry to bother you… but something about you all seems… special. May I ask what you're doing? Are you celebrating something together?"
The rest of the women moved to encircle this inquiring stranger, eager to share the answer to my question.
A lovely smile radiated from the face of the woman who responded. "No. We're just out shopping and enjoying lunch and time together."
"Are you from around the neighborhood?" I asked. Only one woman was. They saw my confusion and several excitedly started explaining.
"We're part of a group called New Friends of Kansas City. We are a great group of friends who welcome people who are new the city, we get together and do service projects or shop or explore Kansas City. We facilitate friendship."
This intrigued me because I had experienced being the new person in town many times throughout my life. It can be so difficult to cultivate connections. I was intrigued.
It turns out, New Friends of Kansas City offers a tremendous number of inventive and fun ways to connect with other women from all over. It is a membership group. It's easy to join online; annual dues are $30. The primary format for connecting is through monthly luncheons, philanthropic projects, and fun events for women who've moved into the city or recently attained retired status and are looking for enjoyable things to do. The monthly luncheons are held on the second Thursdays of each month, and include interesting programs. In the philanthropic offerings, the group supports the Cross-lines Cooperative Counsel in their efforts to prevent homelessness, as well as other charities selected yearly. The group offers various volunteer opportunities throughout the year.
But I think the secret behind the spirit of the group has more to do with the amazing array of fun things they do together to build friendships. This group really knows how to create an environment for connections. The list of opportunities is varied and creative, and includes some unique things that seem to offer wonderful adventures, lots of laughter and making memories. Some of the unique opportunities include:
Serendipity – This group of adventurers meets the first Thursday of each month to travel to small towns within an hour of in Kansas City for lunch and great shopping. (This is the group I encountered.)
Roadshow/Adventures – This group hits the road to explore places of interest in and around Kansas City. Excursions include visiting the Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery, enjoying the Harry S. Truman Museum, or visiting a small historic town.
Other more traditional but offering equally interesting opportunities include Book Club – Diverse groups of women who really enjoy a good book, a strong cup of coffee, and a very lively discussion; Cards & Games – Options for all game fans; Dining Groups – Includes groups that try out Kansas City's restaurants as well as home made meals; Socials – This includes the whole club who enjoys getting together for special occasions; Sports; Knit, Stitch & Sew; and Movie Groups.
For us to ever have an "Auld Lang Syne," we have to start somewhere. In the spirit of new beginnings evoked this season, New Friends of Kansas City offers a great place to begin new friendships and new adventures.
Turns out the group I passed by on that downtown sidewalk really was celebrating something. Friendships. That is something to celebrate, and cultivate.


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January 11, 2018
Best Rated Hindi (Bollywood) Movies of 2017. Users Review (WOM).
Hello! Like to say something or having a query regarding the post. Then use the comment section below. Thanks!
15 comments:
Oh my god TZH 8.0ReplyDelete
still could not beat PK forget Dangal...
Fusslight kahaan hai...Mega lallu ki movie Salmaniacs ko shock lagega aur coma me chale jaayenge....ReplyDelete
Akshay Kumar's both movies are here .ReplyDelete
I am very happy . Akshay Sir is making movies which are highly appreciated .
I have all his movies.
And best wishes for Padman .Hope it is also liked by audience and also creates benchmarks at box office.
TZH-Masala+2extra holiday+gst+5open weeks+sequel+4600 screen+ highest ATPReplyDelete
Still could not beat PK and Dangal
PK-3600screen+no masala+2014+less ATP
Dangal-4100screen+no extra holidays +demonetization
pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal pk dangal???????????????????????????//lol sunilDelete
Dangal collections are manipulated...PK will be easily crossedDelete
Dangal manipulated....bcosDelete
Angur khatte hai...😂😂😂
Lallu fan...Dangal 100 din chali thi india me....Ye last k 25 crore long run me mile h....real ATTB h
Secret Superstar Massive Advance Booking Started In CHINA, It Can Cross 500 Crores
Secret Superstar is finally set for release in China on January 19, 2018. At the latest, the advance booking of this film has started. The premiere of this film is set to hold in China on January 12 for selected theaters. After that, it will release officially on January 19.Aamir Khan is the most popular actor in China in 2017 after Dangal. And, everyone knows that Zaira Wasim has impressed us with her performance in Dangal.Currently, Zaira Wasim and director Advait Chandan is in China to promote the film. Soon, Aamir Khan will join them to be a part of Secret Superstar promotion.Altogether, Secret Superstar has a huge buzz in China and the collections will jump for sure.Replies
SS china me 200 crore b kar letu h....to eska mtlb saaf hDelete
Ki aamir china ka b superstar h
Dangal k time...50 chinease or 10 hollywood movie se clash kar beat kiya hai....aamir ne
Dear Ankur where is secret superstar hud ho Gyi hai partiality ki.....on IMDb its have 8.4 rating.....or jitne logo ne secret superstar Dekhi sb ko bht pasand aayi h.....sbse jyada appreciatd movie h secret superstar small filmo mai 2017 mai....or aapki List mai vo top 10 mai nhi.....jitni films h iss list ek bahubali ko chod k 8.4 IMDb rating kisi ko nhi mili h.....ReplyDelete
Dear Ankur what's wrong with u...aap bhi kya box office India ki tarah partiality kar rahe ho.....I dont except this from u..
Secret superstar budget 15 crore
Worldwide collection 132 crore kbhi bhi Bollywood mai itne kam budget ki movie ne itna ni kamaya h worldwide Ankur ji...
tiger zinda hai got 6.4 on imdb and secret superstar 8.4 and this article is just showing opposite. author has gone mad. its crap analysis and fake data from audience looks like imdb has data from ppl from earth and their data from other planet.ReplyDelete
totally fake dataReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
If only cost to return parameter is applied then Jai Santoshi Maa (1975) is the biggest blockbuster ever in the history of not only bollywood but Indian Cinema. Much Much bigger than the likes of Sholay, Hahk, BahubaliReplyDelete


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Round the world trip… hello from Chile!
Hello ladies, from the first stop on our trip around the world – Santiago!
Santiago is a diverse city with different districts, separated by a river and hemmed by mountain ranges. It's one of the most famous in the Andes range, spanning the longest length in the world through seven countries. Plus, it's the second highest range to the Himalayas! More about the Andes later…
The three main districts on one side of the river are downtown (the commercial financial centre of the city), Providencia (the happening shopping hub) and Las Condes (a more up-market area with restaurants, cafes, shopping). On the other side is Bella Vista - a hip, trendy area full of bars, restaurants and clubs, brightly painted murals and standout architecture.
The shopping in Santiago is good, however, similar pricing to Australia, with big malls to small boutiques. The biggest is Costanera Centre Mall in Providencia, with six floors spanning several blocks, high fashion to local stores and massive supermarket Jumbo. Another nice mall, which is outdoors and has an up-market 'outdoor food court', is Parque Arauco in Las Condes - high fashion but in a lovely setting with ice skating and theatres.
I know you're all wondering about the food, so here goes… The food is delicious! Empanades, sapodilla (a pumpkin deep-fried pastry) and pisca sour (dinrk) are all popular Chilean delicacies I'm enjoying here. Lucky I love Spanish food, as there's a great Spanish influence here, reflected in the food and language.
Transport is easy; the options are subway, bus, push bike or walking off all that delicious food! With the city built in a grid, it's easy to find your way. Santiago is unique in the way it's 1.5 hours from the Pacific Ocean, and 1.5 hours to the Andes to the East, so if your passion is surfing and snow skiing, it would be possible to do both on a weekend. Perfect. There's been some haze setting into the city; it hasn't rained in weeks and apparently the mountains stop the wind from moving the haze. I've noticed that not many people wear sunnies over here – it must be an Australian thing!
The Chileans love their local football; we watched the Copa America (South America Cup) with Chile getting up over Peru. A match with Argentina will be a challenge for host Chile in the final!
We visited one of the lodes wineries in Chile - Saint Carolina, established in 1765. It still uses vines in some areas originating from this time… Amazing! The winery was beautiful and the cellar amazing with arches and brick columns, the mortar made of lime and egg whites. It even withstood the earthquake in 2010.
Sans Cristobel is the highest hill in the city, surrounded by National Park. It overlooks the city and has a 22-metre Virgin Mary on top, watching over the people below. Furnicular is a great transport option to the top of the mountain from the city.
Santiago is a wonderful city to lose yourself, though it's the people that make the experience one not to be forgotten.
We're collecting moments, not things.
Ciao, Jen x
P.S. Chile defeated Argentina in a shoot-out at the end. First time since 1968!


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Sakit Diabaikan Napi LP Cipinang Meninggal.
Sakit Diabaikan Napi LP Cipinang Meninggal
Posted in Uncategorized
Metro TV and Murder
Sunday afternoon we watched Kick Andy, whose eponymous compere appeared to be broadcasting from within prison walls. (I say appeared because we missed the start, having enjoyed a programme on Trans 7 about fishing!)
Kick Andy.
Posted in KLIPPING NAPI
Ihwal Hak Politik Mantan Napi
Oleh: Mulyana W Kusumah
Dalam pembahasan RUU Pemilu pekan lalu dikabarkan dua parpol besar yakni Partai Golkar dan PDI-P mengusulkan agar bekas narapidana lima tahun tidak kehilangan hak menjadi anggota DPR, DPD dan DPRD, dengan alasan penegakan hukum di Indonesia belum bisa dipertanggungjawabk an secara politik.
Posted in JUBIR NAPI | Tags: JUBIR NAPI
by Iqrak Sulhin (Criminologist, University of Indonesia)
The fact that prison as a place to incarcerate criminals it does not mean it can violate other principle rights of the prisoners. In fact, much of national mass media, based on Indonesia's Directorate of Correction (Dirjen Pemasyarakatan) early April 2007 release data about 813 inmate die in Indonesian prisons during year 2006. Meanwhile, during January until February 2007, there are 62 inmate die in prisons. These news also give an information that the death of the prisoners related to the worse conditions of prisons it self and the health of the prisoners.
Posted in WARUNG KOPI
The Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights, Second letter from NAPI
- Chief of Supreme Court
Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights
Third Commission, Indonesian House of Representatives
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI)
Indonesian Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM)
National Media Read More…
Posted in JUBIR NAPI


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Hello out there. Hopefully this explains why I've been absent for so long. It took two home tests and a trip to the doctor to convince us, but on January 15th, Dustin and I got the happy news that we were expecting. We were both excited, yet fully terrified. A human being was going to be here in nine months. How do we prepare for something that huge, yet tiny?
Well, before I could start my usual type-A planning, morning sickness, along with a few other first trimester symptoms, knocked me off my feet and onto the sofa. I decided to pick up knitting since it required very little movement and I could do it from the comfort of my lovely couch.
The last few months have been full of so many changes. Engagement, marriage, the loss of Dustin's dad, and last week…hearing a new little heart beat for the first time. Every month seems to bring a new surprise and we're trying to take it all in.
As for now, I knit.
Thank you to Nina (a local Chicago knitting shop) for helping me learn to knit.
§ 14 Responses to Sitting & Knitting"
That is so exciting — congratulations!!
Amazing news! Congrats! Woo hoo. Can't wait to be part of the experience!
Congratulations to Joann and Dustin, from soon to be Grandma and Grandpa Maisonet
Can't wait!!! So happy for you (OK, and for us:)! You're going to be fabulous parents!
Wonderful news!! Congratulations to the both of you.
Congrats! We are so happy for you guys!
Happy nesting and sitting and knitting. All the best for health and happiness during this time!


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The internal watchdog at the Department of Energy released an audit report (PDF) this month detailing profligate spending, approved by the Office of Fossil Energy, on a clean coal initiative that was supposed to result in a 400MW carbon capture-enabled plant.
The Office of Fossil Energy had partnered with a private company called Summit Texas Clean Energy LLC (owned by the Seattle-based Summit Power) to complete the project. Fossil Energy committed to funding $ 450 million of the $ 1.8 billion project, which would have been built outside of Odessa, Texas. Summit claimed that its plant would have captured 90 percent of the carbon it created.
Instead, Fossil Energy broke off the partnership in June 2016 when the same DOE internal watchdog (known formally as the Office of the Inspector General, or OIG) issued a report pointing out significant project delays and the inability of Summit to secure enough additional private funding to complete the project. In October 2017, Summit Texas Clean Energy declared bankruptcy.
Read 15 remaining paragraphs | Comments


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Twelve years later/
I was at the gym: the West End Y in Toronto at College and Dovercourt. I had just finished a workout — I'm guessing on the Stairmaster; you had a half-hour limit, but weekday mornings you could usually sneak in a bit more time — and I walked into the locker room and on the television was footage on repeat of a plane crash, the newscaster talking about New York and the World Trade Center.
I didn't get it then. It's weird to understand, in hindsight, just how much you didn't understand. I showered, dressed, stood once more in front of the television and tried to piece together what happened. Somewhere in there, sometime in between my shower and my bike ride home to the second-floor apartment that backed on to Trinity-Bellwoods Park, I think that the second plane crashed.
I look at my journals from the time, twelve years ago. So much is different: Toronto, no kids. I still had my mother, scheduled for surgery to remove another yet lump in her breast. On September 12, 2001, I wrote that I would go donate blood to help out. Do you remember that? The idea that you should give blood, and then the realization that there wasn't anyone — there weren't any survivors — to donate it to? And so much is the same: I write in the same type of notebook, with the same brand of pen. Then, I had 50 pages of a novel manuscript and I was still trying to figure out what the characters were doing. I was sore from a workout. I was trying to set up interviewees for a magazine article, pitching an essay to an anthology — later, that essay would be rejected but I would repurpose parts of it for my mother's eulogy. I worried about the racism, the suffering. I felt guilty, trite, about writing about the minutiae of my daily life in the face of the scale of the tragedy. But I wrote about it anyway, because what else would I have done?
On September 13, I wrote: "Saw Christine on my walk yesterday (funny, because I thought I might), and she invited us to her 40th birthday party on Saturday night."
And today, I try to remember just who Christine is.


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We would not have been able to do it without you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who donated and supported us along the way. When we look back on our eight month adventure, we talk more often about the people we met and the times we shared than anything else that happened. Looking forward to giving back when the documentary comes out in August!
Last Updated: 6/18/16
- Mississippi River ($5 or more)
- Name mentioned on the trip website and credit section of the documentary
- Red River ($25)
- Copy of the trip documentary (plus previous reward)
- Lake Winnipeg ($50)
- Select multimedia on CD (plus previous rewards)
- Clearwater River ($100)
- Signed poster of the crew (plus previous rewards)
- Slave River ($150)
- Authentic laminated map used on the expedition (plus previous rewards)
- Great Slave Lake ($250)
- Memorabilia collection from significant stops on the route (plus previous rewards)
- Coppermine River ($500)
- Authentic paddle used on the trip with a collage detailing when/where it was used (plus previous rewards)
- Hood River ($1000)
- We'll talk...


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"These surveillance cameras are an integral part of our daily operations and make us stronger." – Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda
Of course, he was talking about cameras police use to catch civilian miscreants.
When the lens is in the other hand – as with the YouTube video showing a Buffalo cop assaulting a helpless drug suspect – some police have become notoriously camera-shy. From Florida to Connecticut to Maryland, examples abound of civilians being arrested for turning their cameras on cops.
To his credit, Derenda applies no such double standard. Six officers were quickly suspended – one without pay – as a result of the citizen video made public last weekend.
"Cameras are a good thing. People should be aware cameras are out there," the commissioner said.
He later made it clear that he wasn't talking just about the roughly 200 surveillance cameras police have installed across the city, but also those wielded by citizens to keep police honest.
"It's both," he said. "I think it's a good thing. People should act appropriately, no matter what."
With that kind of message filtering down from the commissioner and Mayor Byron Brown, maybe we finally have a way to weed out bad cops and make good ones live up to their responsibilities.
One can easily imagine how police would have explained any bruises found on this suspect, absent the video showing an officer kicking and hitting him as he lies handcuffed, facedown on the ground. Such "testilying" at trial becomes impossible when everyone has seen the assault on YouTube.
Civilian video can also do more than ID abusive cops: It can identify their enablers at the scene. That can help shatter the "blue wall" of silence that makes cops stick together, even when they shouldn't. Knowing their own careers could be on the line for not reporting abuse could make good cops ask themselves a simple question: If a rogue cop would endanger my career, how much loyalty do I owe him?
No one advises walking into a live crime scene and yelling, "Smile! You're on 'Candid Camera.' " But as long as you're not interfering with police, the American Civil Liberties Union notes a First Amendment right to record images in public places, including of police at work. It's reassuring that Buffalo officials recognize that, as well.
As evidence of the department's seriousness in going after bad cops, Derenda cites the aggressive crackdown on those who abuse the "injured on duty" compensation system, saying the city has cut the number of cases from 123 to 18.
The initial response to the beating video indicates the Brown administration is being just as proactive in protecting suspects from abuse.
The irony is that the proliferation of cellphone cameras comes more than a decade after some of us pushed repeatedly for a Civilian Review Board to monitor police behavior, as exists in other cities. That effort went nowhere in Buffalo, thanks to timid politicians afraid of riling police.
Now, with almost everyone having a cellphone camera, we could have the ultimate civilian review – and an administration that appears willing to act on the evidence.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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As observed in the 2014 edition of Insights, the Supreme Court stood poised last term to resolve a number of noteworthy issues with the potential to affect the securities litigation landscape. In Chadbourne & Parke, LLP v. Troice, 134 S. Ct. 1058 (2014), the Supreme Court clarified that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act applies only "where the misrepresentation makes a significant difference to someone's decision to purchase or to sell a covered security," and in Lawson v. FMR, LLC, 134 S. Ct. 1158 (2014), it held that the whistleblower protections under Sarbanes-Oxley apply to employees of a public company's private contractors and subcontractors. In its much-anticipated opinion in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2398 (2014), and as explored further below, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the applicability of the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance, but also definitively confirmed a defendant's right to rebut the presumption at the class certification stage by presenting evidence that the alleged misrepresentations did not affect the stock's price.
Although the number of settlements remained at a nearly 20-year low, the number of new federal securities class action filings remained essentially unchanged last year as compared to the average over the previous five years. Despite such apparent stability, the landscape and potential strategic responses to federal class action securities litigation continue to evolve, and important ever-present considerations remain for all publicly traded companies. Recent developments notwithstanding, many uncertainties in the law remain, and we anticipate further evolution in several areas in 2015.
Does Section 11 Require Statements of Opinion or Belief to Be Reasonable?
The U.S. Supreme Court likely will decide in the next few months whether opinion statements that later prove false, regardless of whether the speaker believed them to be true when made, are actionable under Section 11 of the 1933 Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77k.
The Second, Third and Ninth Circuits have held that an opinion statement is actionable under Section 11 only if (1) the statement later turned out to be incorrect (the "objective falsity" requirement) and (2) the speaker did not actually believe the statement to be true at the time it was made (the "subjective falsity" requirement). Conversely, the Sixth Circuit recently held in Indiana State District Council of Laborers Pension & Welfare Fund v. Omnicare, Inc., 719 F.3d 498 (6th Cir. 2013), that Section 11 claims are predicated upon strict liability and thus can proceed solely on the basis of allegations of objective falsity (i.e., rejecting any subjective falsity requirement).
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on November 3, 2014. The petitioner, Omnicare, argued that Section 11 imposes liability only if both the objective and subjective falsity predicates are met, contending that an opinion statement cannot be false if the speaker genuinely believed in the truth of the statement at the time it was made. The respondents — investors who purchased Omnicare securities in a 2005 public offering — argued that Section 11 is a strict liability statute and thus consideration of a speaker's state of mind concerning a challenged opinion statement is not relevant and issuers should be held liable for opinions that turn out to be incorrect.
Neither view appeared to move the Supreme Court as much as the government's proffered "reasonable basis" approach to assessing Section 11 opinion liability. This "middle ground" test is essentially an attempt to harmonize the circuit court split and focuses the inquiry on whether (1) the speaker genuinely believed the opinion at the time it was made and (2) there was a reasonable basis for believing that opinion to be true. Speculation abounds, but a consensus is growing that the Court will move toward this type of composite formulation rather than picking among the current poles.
To be sure, the seeming ambiguity of what might constitute a "reasonable basis" underlying the belief required to satisfy the government's proposed standard is a legitimate concern (as noted in questions posed by Justice Samuel Alito at oral argument). Additionally, adopting a "reasonable basis" standard could unfairly disadvantage issuers seeking resolution at the pleading stage, because what constitutes a "reasonable basis" likely would be argued by the plaintiffs' bar to involve a fact-intensive inquiry that only should be resolved at the summary judgment stage after discovery.
However, adoption of a "reasonable basis" inquiry would repudiate in an important way the Sixth Circuit's approach to opinion statements — which untethered opinions from their judgmental basis despite the fact that such statements of belief are by definition uncertain and, in some instances, may later turn out to be incorrect. Indeed, opinions that often are at issue in Section 11 cases — loan loss and other similar reserve determinations, litigation outcome estimates, goodwill and other judgmental assessments — could become more problematic to defend if plaintiffs are only required to plead objective falsity. Rather, by requiring plaintiffs to plead nonconclusory facts from which to infer that the speaker lacked an appropriate basis for the opinion or belief, the Court would preserve an important minimum pleading baseline that plaintiffs must meet to survive dismissal.
After Halliburton: Assessing the Preliminary Effects as Courts (Re)Consider Evidence of 'Price Impact' at Class Certification
In June 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued perhaps its most anticipated securities law opinion in recent years if not decades, Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc. , 134 S. Ct. 2398 (2014) (Halliburton II), which revisited the fraud-on-the-market theory first integrated into federal securities law by Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988). Essentially, the fraud-on-the-market theory provides class action plaintiffs with a presumption of reliance on the market price of a stock so long as the stock was traded in an efficient market, the alleged misrepresentation was material and known to the public, and the investor purchased stock after the alleged misrepresentation was made. This presumption is a rebuttable one, and the Court long ago articulated in Basic that "any showing that severs the link between the alleged misrepresentation and either the price received (or paid) by the plaintiff, or his decision to trade at a fair market price, will be sufficient to rebut the presumption of reliance." Basic, 485 U.S. at 248.
In Halliburton II, the Court reaffirmed the viability of the fraud-on-the-market theory, but reiterated that the "burden of proving th[e] prerequisites still rests with plaintiffs and (with the exception of materiality) must be satisfied before class certification." The Court likewise reaffirmed a defendant's right to rebut the presumption of reliance by "appropriate evidence," and clarified that one way of doing so is by offering "evidence that the asserted misrepresentation (or its correction) did not affect the market price of the defendant's stock."
The Supreme Court's unambiguous approval of a defendant's right to contest "price impact" at class certification is important, even if it only affirmed the standards already prevailing in some circuits. The Second Circuit, for example, previously endorsed consideration of event studies and other evidentiary tools in order to demonstrate "no impact" on price.
However, the Court did not address several important practical uncertainties.
For example, what evidentiary burden must a defendant satisfy to demonstrate a lack of price impact? Thus far, no answers have emerged from the district court after the Supreme Court remanded the case in Halliburton II. However, the Halliburton defendants have renewed their argument in the district court that the plaintiffs were not entitled to a presumption of reliance because the alleged misrepresentations had no price impact, asserting that "[n]either the Supreme Court nor Justice Ginsburg's concurrence … ever stated a defendant must 'prove' a lack of price impact by the preponderance of the evidence," and therefore that the burden to demonstrate a lack of price impact "is one of evidentiary production, not ultimate persuasion."
Some of the first post-Halliburton II district court decisions, however, have drawn that assertion into question. In McIntire v. China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc., No. 11-cv-0804 (VM), 2014 WL 4049896, at *13 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 15, 2014), the court determined that the "defendant bears the burden to prove a lack of price impact" — which the court noted could be shown through an increase or the absence of a decrease in price. The auditor defendant in that case could not forestall certification because it had not "met its burden to prove that its alleged misstatements did not improperly maintain [the] already-inflated stock price."
In that same vein, the court in Aranaz v. Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc., 302 F.R.D 657 (S.D. Fla. 2014), determined that "defendants have the burden of rebutting the presumption of price impact," which was characterized as an "onerous" and "daunting" task. Indeed, the court further observed that "proving an absence of price impact seems exceedingly difficult, especially at the class certification stage in which it must be assumed that the alleged misrepresentation was material." Similarly, a recent decision in Local 703, I.B. of T. Grocery & Food Employees Welfare Fund v. Regions Financial Corp., No. CV-10-J-2847-S, 2014 WL 6661918 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 19, 2014), relying in part on Catalyst and expressly remanded by the Eleventh Circuit to consider evidence of lack of price impact, concluded that "nothing in Halliburton II requires the plaintiffs to produce an event study in opposition to defendants' event study on a class certification motion."
To be sure, Halliburton II confirmed that evidence of any price impact must be considered at class certification. While that much is certain, other more practical questions — including whether there is a quantitative as well as a qualitative evidentiary burden a defendant must overcome to demonstrate lack of price impact; if and how dueling expert reports will be resolved; and whether Rule 23's own mandates ever cause the burden to shift back to plaintiffs — must await guidance from the lower courts and, ultimately, more definitive resolution by the circuit courts. It may be that another trip to the Supreme Court will be necessary to fully answer those and other remaining questions. Until that time, issuers and their advisers likely will continue to weigh how robustly to challenge class certification in order to preserve the above issues for leverage during any settlement negotiations and to ensure that they remain a part of the arsenal available for summary judgment and trial.
Omnicare Also May Shape the Contours of Corporate Scienter
In another recent decision involving Omnicare — Ansfield v. Omnicare, Inc. (In re Omnicare, Inc. Securities Litigation, 769 F.3d 455 (6th Cir. 2014) — the Sixth Circuit articulated its standard for imputing scienter under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and SEC Rule 10b-5. The Sixth Circuit explained that the knowledge of only three categories of individuals may be imputed to a corporation: "(a) the individual agent who uttered or issued the misrepresentation; (b) any individual agent who authorized, requested, commanded, furnished information for, prepared … reviewed, or approved the statement in which the misrepresentation was made before its utterance or issuance; (c) any high managerial agent or member of the board of directors who ratified, recklessly disregarded, or tolerated the misrepresentation after its utterance of issuance." Applying this clarified approach to the assessment of corporate scienter allegations, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Section 10(b) claims against Omnicare and several of its current and former officers, noting that the complaint failed to allege specific facts showing that the individual defendants had actual knowledge of any material misrepresentation or omission. It remains to be seen whether the Sixth Circuit's new approach to corporate scienter will expand to, and be similarly applied in, the other circuit courts and/or whether it will contribute to any eventual trip to the Supreme Court to harmonize the various circuit approaches to imputation. Pending further percolation, the more immediate question is whether yet another standard for pleading corporate scienter will have any meaningful effect more broadly on whom plaintiffs choose to name as defendants in Section 10(b) litigation.
Federal Extender Statutes and Statutes of Repose: The Implications of Waldburger Remain Unsettled
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari a second time in Nomura Home Equity Loan, Inc.'s ongoing battle in the Tenth Circuit with the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Once again, the Supreme Court deferred an opportunity to clarify whether a federal extender statute (in this case, a provision included in the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA)) applicable to claims brought by the NCUA against lenders like Nomura was intended to displace the Securities Exchange Act's three-year statute of repose. The Tenth Circuit held in 2013 that the extender provision in FIRREA "established a universal time frame for the [NCUA] to bring any actions on behalf of credit unions placed into conservatorship or receivership," notwithstanding other potentially applicable statutes of limitations or statutes of repose, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review that decision, National Credit Union Administration Board v. Nomura Home Equity Loan, Inc., 764 F.3d 1199 (2014). Before oral argument, however, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded for reconsideration in light of CTS Corp. v. Waldburger, 134 S. Ct. 2175 (2014). In Waldburger, the Supreme Court addressed similar questions raised by a different federal law (in that case, one applicable to environmental claims) and held that a state's statute of repose was not pre-empted. Upon reconsideration, the Tenth Circuit reinstated its decision, holding that the federal statute addressed in Waldburger concerned a claim's accrual date and was substantially different from the FIRREA extender statute, which "plainly establishes its own exclusive time limits for NCUA enforcement actions and displaces all others." Nat'l Credit Union Admin. Bd., 764 F.3d at 1209.
The Supreme Court's decision to deny certiorari was surprising in light of the stakes involved in the expansive catalog of similar cases brought around the nation by the NCUA, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). For example, the two failed credit unions at issue in Nomura purchased a total of $1.74 billion in mortgage-backed securities and allegedly incurred "staggering" losses when foreclosure rates increased. Indeed, as a result of the mixed extender statute rulings from courts nationwide, much uncertainty in this area remains and likely will continue to prevail until the Supreme Court chooses to step into the fray again. For instance, in F.D.I.C. v. Chase Mortgage Financial Corp., No. 12 Civ. 6166(LLS), 2014 WL 4354671 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 2, 2014), a district court for the Southern District of New York determined that the FIRREA extender statute applicable to claims brought by the FDIC was not intended to alter (i.e., pre-empt) the applicable statute of repose, and held that the FDIC's claims were barred. Id. at *5. But in National Credit Union Admin. Board v. Morgan Stanley & Co., No. 13 Civ. 6705 (DLC), 2014 WL 5017822 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2014), the court adopted the Tenth Circuit's pre-emption reasoning from Nomura, holding that the NCUA's claims could move forward. Id. at *3.
These decisions and others evince the need for further clarification in this area, and several forthcoming appellate court decisions can be expected to be monitored closely by stakeholders and their advisers. In the Second Circuit, the Court of Appeals will hear the FDIC's appeal in Chase, and the Ninth and Fifth Circuits are also poised to decide similar cases later in 2015 or early 2016. National Credit Union Administration v. Goldman Sachs & Co., No. 14-55309 (9th Cir.) (NCUA extender provision); and FDIC v. Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith, Inc., No. 14-51055 (5th Cir.) (FDIC extender provision). Although many observers felt that conditions were ripe for the Supreme Court to address more promptly the issue most recently raised in Nomura, another opportunity may present itself quickly if one or more of the forthcoming appellate decisions conflicts with the Tenth Circuit's analysis in Nomura.
This memorandum is provided by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and its affiliates for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This memorandum is considered advertising under applicable state laws.


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Andrew Rae is an illustrator currently based in London, England. Having worked with a range of high-profile clients, Andrew has contributed illustrations on a number of editorial commissions, and recently completed his first graphic novel, Moonhead and the Music Machine.
The novel is packed full of wonderful illustrations that convey the slightly surreal story in perfect harmony.
Visit andrewrae.org.uk to see more of Andrew's work, or you can buy the graphic novel here.


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I've been many places, but non take the cake quiet like this. The Mentawais are a series of islands just off of Sumatra, Indonesia, and Kandui Resort is the G-spot. The resort has 3 breaks right in front, endless other waves around, the most welcoming staff, a great resort, 1st class meals, a games room, internet and many other things to keep you busy if you can possibly find the time. They have 5 boats, a couple seadoos, and clean clear blue waters. The crew is all set up with photo and video cameras so they are sure not to miss capturing your best waves. If your interested in scoring some of the best waves of your lifetime, no matter your ability, I recommend this resort.
Check their site here. http://www.mentawaiislands.com/
Without great people, even a perfectly situated place, is going to suck. Kandui is just the opposite. Here's some of the photos I took of the staff on my 5 day visit:


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When you have the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
You can make what you want when your pocket is deep.
Common sense says you can't make a Veblen good out of a dumb computer terminal – but that isn't going to stop Google trying. A Veblen good is a luxury item where demand increases the more expensive* it is. A dumb terminal such as a tablet is now a commodity good sold in supermarkets. Sales follow a conventional demand curve, …
"You can make what you want when your pocket is deep."
Only up to a point. Google have a growing reputation for dropping stuff and leaving users (and indeed customers) stranded, investment analysts are looking for returns, and the wider public enjoy a good pratfall.
Microsoft had deep, deep pockets, and still couldn't cut it in phone. Appears that Google haven't learned the lesson on that.
Microsoft had deep, deep pockets alright, but I don't think they could organize a piss-up in a brewery any more. Their whole phone thing was a Keystone Kops routine all the way back to when it was running Windows CE.
The problem with Google is they're out of touch with reality, and they get bored easily.
Microsoft had deep, deep pockets alright, but I don't think they could organize a piss-up in a brewery any more. Their whole phone thing was a Keystone Kops routine all the way back to when it was running Windows CE.
The only thing fundamentally wrong with Windows Mobile (7.5, 8, etc) was that it was too late. Like BlackBerry's 10, which was also too late, it was actually a pretty decent OS. There were some nice features. MS also did a pretty good job of the hardware spec which brought sanity to OS updates, multi-vendor support, etc (all things Google didn't, and still doesn't, have a grip on).
The problem with Google is they're out of touch with reality, and they get bored easily.
I'm in complete agreement with that. Their promotions structure, completely incoherent product / service strategy, disregard for prudent spending, corporate constitution that prevents most shareholders voting, and their continual clashes with anti-trust regulators in Europe; there's a lot of bad stuff in Google that is masked by the large profits. Given that their profits are built on very large volumes of quite low margin stuff, that profit can be wiped out by not very large shifts in law, policy, etc. One day they might look back at their current profligacy with regret.
Microsoft's mistake was going for the consumer market, they should have focused on the enterprise market. At the time Blackberry was a mess and Apple/Google were focusing on consumers - Deciding to go head to head with Android/iOS was a mistake. They already had relationships with enterprise customers.
Microsoft's mistake was releasing a brand new mobile OS - Windows Phone 7 - and then almost immediately (within about 12 months of launch) announcing it was a dead end and there would be no upgrade path to the next version 8 (which also wouldn't be backward compatible with the old version). And then that next version was late, and by the time it appeared the mobile market for Microsoft was totally and irrevocably dead.
So basically, it was a botched Windows Phone launch and non-existent upgrade roadmap that doomed the platform, because they were far too late to the party so small things like rewarding customer loyalty or speccing sustainable rather than barely adequate hardware were considered unnecessary.
They could have been late and still had a chance, if only they hadn't abandoned their initial customer base. That was such a dick move.
Standard anonymous former employee comment: when your promotions structure is predicated only on individual employees being able to prove that they solved a problem of sufficient complexity, not on whether that problem has already been solved by twenty other teams in twenty other products, or whether solving it has any market appeal, this sort of launch is inevitable. As is the product cancellation in 12 months or so — no promotions to be found in supporting existing products.
A typical dumb computer terminal is a "green screen". Since the device has a very powerful chip, which is capable of performing most of the work locally, I would say No, Arthur - you are being silly.
The issue is not the hardware. It's the software. A "dumb terminal" is something that's designed for remote processing and storage, and only display tasks are handled locally.
Apple iOS is designed to run and store data locally. ChomeOS is not, and most of its local features have been added later when it was clear the original design wasn't much appreciated. Still you wonder why Google can't use Android on both, like Apple does with iOS.
@Anonymous Coward
The issue is not the hardware. It's the software. A "dumb terminal" is something that's designed for remote processing and storage, and only display tasks are handled locally.
Apple iOS is designed to run and store data locally. ChomeOS is not, and most of its local features have been added later when it was clear the original design wasn't much appreciated. Still you wonder why Google can't use Android on both, like Apple does with iOS.
I agree with the first paragraph but somewhat disagree with the second.
iOS does store data locally, but not in a filesystem that's visible to the user as such in a typical fiile manager.
You don't have to be stupid to want a convenient device that works well and gets security updates.
I have an Android phone and, as usual, after a year of use the experience has degraded noticeably yet it's not had anything new installed on it in over 6 months. It's not an experience I choose willingly but choice is very limited in the smart phone market.
By "green screen" he means something like a Network Computer: basically, all the grunt work isn't done on the device but on a remote server (aka "the Cloud"). A ChromeOS device doesn't do a lot of local work; thus why it relies on an Internet connection.
IOW, you don't expect a device that depends on an Internet connection for even basic operation to be a status symbol.
This confusion is easily cleared.
When @Arthur said "dumb terminal", he was (probably) thinking about the lack of filesystem access, Steve Jobs' own personal vision.
When @Andrew Orlowski said "powerful chip", he was (probably) thinking about thin clients and how they used underpowered chips because the workload doesn't really need anything more powerful and for power saving.
A typical dumb computer terminal is a "green screen".
I remember those days.
These days a typical "dumb computer terminal" is a PC running some kind of thin client under Windows 10. The device is capable of so much more ... but that's not how it gets used.
Because Chrome OS is designed to work as a desktop and Android isn't. They may be slowly converging but at the time of the CR-48 Android was nowhere near ready.
Chrome OS works better with a touchscreen than Windows and works much better with a keyboard and pad or mouse than Android.
There are few tablet-optimised Android apps. Also, there were inherent issues with Android that dated back to its rushed deployment - not least updates. Chrome OS was developed after a few lessons had been learnt.
And then there's Google's Fuschia OS on the distant horizon.
Chrome OS works better with a touchscreen than Windows and works much better with a keyboard and pad or mouse than Android.
And Chrome OS just works, reliably and securely (by mainstream OS standards). I know Google are tracking everything I do, but Microsoft try to, AND they expect me to pay cash for their bloatware, AND it is still a bit flakey, AND the updates keep borking my chosen settings or installing shite I don't want.
Chrome OS is exactly what I want: Mac OS for poor people who don't need to do heavy lift computing.
I was initially torn between running Chrome OS (as CloudReady or Chromium OS) or Android-x86 on a laptop/tablet convertible.
But there's the problem of the fact that Chrome OS is not even ready for un-slurpage (or is it de-slurpification?)
And the fact that Chrome OS is designed with the internet in mind. What if I do most of my work offline?
And the fact that Android (especially as Android-x86) is way closer to Linux that Chrome OS. You can run Linux in a chroot under Android-x86, and even start a X server, but with Chrome OS, you need to use crouton, which is not native enough.
"And the fact that Android (especially as Android-x86) is way closer to Linux that Chrome OS. You can run Linux in a chroot under Android-x86, and even start a X server, but with Chrome OS, you need to use crouton, which is not native enough."
To run Linux in a chroot on Android you need to root the device, subverting the device's security. Crouton is just a script to let you run Linux in a chroot on ChromeOS devices where the security has been subverted by entering dev mode. That sounds basically the same to me.
The article briefly mentioned how they're improving this for ChromeOS though, by letting you run a standard Linux distro in a container on unrooted devices. This is using the same APIs that make Docker, Kubernetes, LXC, etc possible, and lets them give you root access within the container without compromising ChromeOS's security. That sounds a lot better than what you can do on Android.
"And Chrome OS just works, reliably and securely (by mainstream OS standards)"
Let's not move the goalposts around "securely". Chrome OS, like Windows (or any other OS), can't be considered "secure" if it's spying on you.
Yes, but you do have to hand it to them - outside of the engineered in slurpage, ChromeOS is really quite excellent. It's a huge boon for the majority who couldn't give two figs about who's spying on them. I wouldn't (yet) recommend it as a primary device, but as a secondary one I think it's quite superior to all the other options for a portable device.
"And Chrome OS just works, reliably and securely (by mainstream OS standards)."
I think this is it in a nutshell. People know that google's spying on them but they believe Windows does the same AND borks their data & machine. With Chrome your data & machine remain relatively unborked.
Then you factor in the fact that people spend more and more of their time on other people's schedules. They have a limited amount of time write their email/video chat with g'pa/reap the benefits of porn, etc. They don't have time to futz with anything, even if they have the skills and desire to do so. Shit has to work the first time, every time and personal preferences aren't even in the equation.
I have an old Acer C720 which I picked up for £179 about 5 years ago. It's still working really well and I've run Linux on it from time to time after upgrading the m.2 ssd to 128GB - which was very easy to do.
If it dies, I can't really see myself buying another as they've all got soldered in EMMC's these days, unless you fork out an absurd sum for a high-end Chromebook - which I really don't see the point of unless money is no object.
For all its open source origins, it's all getting a bit locked down on the hardware side, and I wonder if the security chips on the new pixels will kill off rooting devices completely?
I seriously believe that people buy Google hardware just so they can show their friends they bought and own Google hardware. It has nothing to do with functionality or features.
The defining characteristics of this Pixel Slate are (a) ridiculously expensive and (b) under-spec'ed. For some people that's a thing.
Vertu complex or envy or something.
> Owning Google hardware doesn't boost your social standing in any group that I know of.
There exists a - small - group of individuals who are Google hardware fanboys. They buy Pixel phones, tablets, Pixelbooks, etc. And they believe these things are cool. At a minimum, cooler, or better than all the other brands.
Are they really better? Not by a long stretch IMO.
Never mind the fact that today is October 11, 2018, and the Wow! factor of any of these pieces of hardware, regardless of their brand, is close to zero. It's an Android smartphone or tablet. There are many others just like them, and there have been many others just like them for quite a while.
> But why?
Rationally, I have no idea. Irrationally, I'd guess antropomorphism.
Welcome to the consumer world we live in, you can replace your words with any other product that exists on the planet:
There exists a - small - group of individuals who are fanboys. They buy "Something" And they believe these things are cool. At a minimum, cooler, or better than all the other "Things".
Just find and replace with whatever you like, Cars, Music, Vegetables, etc
There exists a - small - group of individuals who are Google hardware fanboys. They buy Pixel phones, tablets, Pixelbooks, etc. And they believe these things are cool. At a minimum, cooler, or better than all the other brands.
And I'm in the opposite group, the one where your bragging rights is how *little* you've managed to spend (or hacked together something from discarded parts) on making a usable device. Kind of like the time a co-worker tried to brag "I bet I spent more on my tie than YOU did", to which I replied "Probably. I usually never spend for than fifty cents or a dollar on mine." He slunk away thoroughly shot down and defeated.
Sure, sometimes it bites you in the ass (like my piece-of-crap Insignia Flex tablet from WorstBuy), but I'd *still* prefer to spend $100 or less on a piece of shit than $1000+ on something that's almost as much of a piece of shit.
Ah: gilt by association. Vertu.
Except that when you decide to examine its wares, you're greeted by an oh-so-posh website which proclaims: "Signature: Powerful Performance. Nearly a decade since it's launch. . ."
Do I really wish to suffer the guilt by association that results from being seen to be a customer of an outfit so illiterate that no-one in its management, marketing, or web design comprehends the purpose of the possessive 's'?
Vertu. The company that say's everything there is to say about the kind's of purchaser wot fork out for it's product's.
Google can't understand personal devices running local software. It's trying to build them because others, especially Apple does, but it's wholly outside their DNA something working locally on local data.
So they can put an i7 inside, but will still need to run something that calls some remote Google server to perform anything. Android wasn't developed at Google, otherwise it would have looked much more like ChromeOS. Data slurping is not enough, everything must happens on Google's servers - were, BTW, competition can be even controlled better.
That's why they didn't replaced ChromeOS with Android.
Apple, from this point of view, care far less about you doing everything on Apple's remote servers - as long as they can sell you Veblen goods, it's fine if you keep you work locally. Sure, they will slurp some data, just they are not obsessed doing it.
I was just thinking about that. I used to call it the Midas Touch, but now I've read about Veblen goods. In its heyday, iPhones were Veblen goods, which is why they sold like crazy in spite of their high price: perhaps because they sold because of their high price and their status symbol effect. These days, the effect is a bit blunted after Apple had a few missteps and the tarnish started to set in.
"These days, the effect is a bit blunted after Apple had a few missteps and the tarnish started to set in."
Citation needed. Only Samsung can match Apple's top-end sales and they make far less money per phone.
(Not that I have either company's products except for a Samsung washing machine, which is very good.)
As I read it, the two work slightly differently.
In a Veblen good, the perceived value of a good (its "status symbol" value) rises WITH the price, precisely BECAUSE it's expensive. Something like a Rolls Royce or a very old bottle of single-malt Macallan.
In a Giffen good, the price itself (and alone) determines its desirability. When it goes up, so does the demand. This goes to the other end of the price scale, where low prices get instantly perceived as "cheap" or even "substandard". Best way to see this is in common consumables like fresh produce (where a cheap product would be seen as marked down because they're trying to move it before it goes bad). Or, another way, it's something that people will ONLY buy because they can't afford anything else; IOW, people don't substitute the Giffen good because the GIffen good IS the substitute for something they'd rather have but can't afford anymore.
I thought the standard example of the Giffen good was potatoes in the Irish famine. As prices rose, so did demand. This was because prices of all foods were rising, so people abandoned all the increasingly expensive alternatives in order to maximise the bulk they could get with their decreasing spending power.
Most of European agriculture was hit in various ways during those years, otherwise a rise in potato prices caused by the blight should theoretically have lead to people substituting for other goods like bread.
Yes. Otherwise known as "an e-reader". Traditionally equipped with a very low-power, but also very slow and black-and-white screen. When you're Amazon and that's where you're coming from, your tablet being a colour one is a meaningful distinction, even if e-readers aren't quite really "tablets"...
"It seems like a waste. Double the screens and you halve the battery life and double the cost. Since you can only read one screen at a time it seems wasteful and pointless."
Nope. An e-ink reader doesn't use any power to display a page, only to change the display on the page. It would only use more power if it were backlit. In any case e-readers can last for days or weeks without needing to be charged, even with a backlight, so it's not that much of an issue.
Besides "wasteful" and "pointless" aren't necessarily related. Yes it might be wasteful to have 2 screens when 1 will do, but it's not pointless if the reader gets a better experience.
The utility of a wide e-book reader might be debatable (although I would prefer a "two page" one given the choice), but the point I was trying to make was merely that at the time Amazon launched their tablet the "colour" tag was not really redundant - it really was their first device with a honest-to-goodness colour screen...
Amazon sells a colour tablet for £49
I had one (briefly). It was ONLY useful if you were as heavily tied-into the Amazon Ecosystem as Apple-heads(tm) are tied into their own particular walled-garden. If your world revolves around your Prime membership, then the low-end tablet is probably usable. Not so much if you don't get your music, movies and books through their accursed "1-Click" system.
ChromeOS isn't really going anywhere. Given that it runs on Intel I wonder if this started life as an Intel project that Google agreed to brand: Intel is even worse at selling to consumers than Google.
I assume the Android team is letting them have their glory, while companies like Samsung work on stuff like DeX. It's the apps that will matter for this kind of device.
I can see your point about the long battery life making an underpowered device more useful, but consider two points:
1. This chromebook has a ridiculously overpowered processor for the processing it can actually do. If they included a processor that ran with less power, it would run for more time,
2. I like long battery life too, which is why I look into computers with processors that can standby or sleep in many conditions, then load them with operating systems that don't thrash them. I can still do real work on them, rather than be tied to my internet connection. This also helps my battery life because I can shut down my WiFi and bluetooth radios to save even more power when I'm not using those services. I have a laptop that I was recycling for someone else, with a really low-end AMD chip in it. It can run forever with a minimal Linux install, even though it has a smallish battery. I think this one was very cheap when it was bought new, as well (although I doubt the battery life using its preinstalled windows was so nice).
Yes, but this one is an Intel and that means emulation for Android for ARM apps. And that's assuming Intel is maintaining the transpiler.
Most Android apps are platform agnostic. They're written in something (usually Java) that generates a bytecode image for the Dalvik runtime or for ART, and will run on any Android device. No emulation is required.
Some Android apps are written either in C++ or some other native-code language, or are built with some component written in such a language for speed. Those apps are usually built in ARM and Intel (and other?) variants, and the right version for the target hardware must be downloaded (Google's store does this automatically, I believe). Again, no emulation is needed.
I'm honestly not sure what happens if you have (say) an Intel x86 Android device and want to run a native code app written for ARM. I'd guess it probably doesn't run, because I'm not aware of the availability of any emulator for Android targets (there is an emulator for PC-hosted debugging in the Android SDK, but that's clearly different).
So, no, I don't think it means emulation. You just download the Intel version of the Android app.
As someone who is probably one of the older and stodgier greybeards in this forum, even I'm confused about the bitter clinging to the headphone jacks. This isn't Bluetooth 1.0 anymore. There are plenty of Bluetooth headsets and earbuds that are so much better than their wired counterparts for use with portable devices - mainly because they have better DACs, amps, and can devote more battery to the aforementioned parts. I personally love my V-Moda Crossfade 2 Wireless over-ears and V-Moda Forza Metallo earbuds (I prefer V-Moda's sound profiles - nicely accurate highs and mids, and fantastic bass presence without being excessively boomy or distortive) and the thought of going back to corded ranks right up there with the thought of going back to a corded mouse. I mean, you could, but... why? Cords are tangly, ungainly, and always in the way. I've set up a few charging stations in my home with the various cable types (micro-USB, lightning, USB-C, etc) where we all just dump our chargeable electronics when we're not using them. It's reduces the amount of effort to keep things charged to pretty close to zero.
My point exactly. It isn't so much the foreign words as the complete misuse of them.
Though it's mildly funny that in the sports car world Ferrari has a certain cachet, whereas in Italy it used to be a status symbol to put genuine Smith's instruments in your vehicle. And they mean the same thing...
Sorry, you have words for "forza" (force) and "metallo" (metal) - so you don't need to borrow them. Does "force metal" means anything sensible in English?
I'm not surprised a company founded by a DJ is all about the sounding and nothing about the substance...
"And what stupid names... why use Italian words randomly just because of the "sound"?"
Actually, economist Thorstein Veblen (who first described the concept which now bears his name) was an American. And Sir Robert Giffen, namesake of the Giffen good, was Scottish.
I'm confused about the bitter clinging to the headphone jacks
Well, quite apart from the charging, there's the slightly inconvenient aspect of swapping about. At home, unplug the flying 3.5mm and plug it in to the next device, or spend 30 seconds to force a re-pairing with the Bluetooth-enabled amplifier.
At work, where I often have to get clients audio into PA systems, 3.5mm 'just works' and is easy to swap around, or to have two or three of. Bluetooth often doesn't, and isn't.
Many phones have excellent DACs built-in, particularly when driving a line input instead of low impedance headphones, and quite frankly for PA purposes very few people would even claim to be able to hear a difference, let alone be able to reliably prove it. Processing algorithms aside (personally I'm of the school which believes there should be as litle faffing about between the source and your ears as possible), I see no advantage to having only Bluetooth available, and no real disadvantage to fitting a 3.5mm jack as standard to everything.
I want a jack because i have several sets of very expensive headphones that I am very happy with and don't want to replace.
I also have tinnitus, which means i need to have a volume control that is very sensitive, not a bar scale of volume but a rolling wheel that I can chnage very fact. These I hve and can put between my headphone cord and the final device's jack.
I am in a minority, or course, but not going to Bluetooth is not the moron's choice. And it's nice to have a choice.
"I'm confused about the bitter clinging to the headphone jacks"
I don't know what's so confusing about it, personally. For many use cases, nothing beats the wired headphone.
"There are plenty of Bluetooth headsets and earbuds that are so much better than their wired counterparts for use with portable devices"
Perhaps there are -- but I haven't seen them. The battery life is the major problem with them, but they have further significant issues such as unreliable connectivity (especially in noisy environments), reliability issues, etc.
There are lots of people for whom bluetooth is a perfectly acceptable solution. There are also lots of people for whom it's not. When that latter group has to use bluetooth, they justifiably complain about the degradation of functionality.
When you combine that with the fact that pretty much every reason manufacturers give for getting rid of the jack has been bullshit (the only reason that makes a lick of sense is the one they never say: they want to shave a nickel or two off of the production cost), you can perhaps understand why this becomes a contentious issue.
Personally, a device with no headphone jack is a device that is much, much less desirable because it would require me to have to carry a second device in order to enjoy music.
And yes, I also strongly prefer a corded mouse over a wireless one.
Another point:
Don't you work outside of mainstream OSes on your devices?
Drivers for Bluetooth are not available, while the 3.5mm jack is almost always ready when you are.
And yep, the battery issue, but on the host device. Not really good on a x86_64 PC/laptop/whatever battery operated thing
If I agree with you completely on the headphones, I cannot help but disagree on the mouse.
Cordless mouse have come a long way in the past decade. They are very reliable, and working with a cord attached is something I simply cannot do anymore on a daily basis.
In my Logitech G602 I put two AAA batteries and they last me for three or four days of daily use, plus gaming evenings. Not too shabby.
That said, I have a respectable amount of rechargeable batteries and yes, I admit that I have a set in the charger once a week.
Next to my Samsung Galaxy A3, you'll excuse me if I find that peanuts as far as hassle goes . . .
"I cannot help but disagree on the mouse."
Totally fair, and I understand. I use both cordless and corded mice, but prefer the corded ones because they give me one less thing to have to be mindful of. I do use a cordless mouse when I'm taking my laptop on the go, so I'm not completely allergic to them. But if I don't need to be mobile, I prefer the corded ones.
Because Options, that's why... If my BT is connected to my car's OBDII sender, it's not connecting to the stereo system to run my AV, so that headphone jack becomes very important. When I take the 4G enabled tablet into the house, it's BT is free to connect to the home system, yada yada yada..
It's having OPTIONS, man!
"I personally love my V-Moda Crossfade 2 Wireless over-ears and V-Moda Forza Metallo earbuds (I prefer V-Moda's sound profiles - nicely accurate highs and mids, and fantastic bass presence without being excessively boomy or distortive) and the thought of going back to corded ranks right up there with the thought of going back to a corded mouse. I mean, you could, but... why? "
If you work with not just one system but many systems (at work and in office) especially in IT, then you'll see why we don't use wireless device as much.
Wireless means,
-Another item to replace (battery) for each system.
-Another thing to do (recharge battery) for each system.
-Another thing to care (battery lifetime) for each system.
-Another thing to worry (replacement when battery die) for each system.
-Another security issue to care (wireless hack) for each system.
-Another interface issue to care (wireless signal interference) for each system.
-Another safety consideration (any device with battery glued on can explode/ cause fire) for each system.
In exchange for ONE benefit
-No tangling issue
The negatives don't stop there. If you work with music, most 'real' amps and 'real' music equipment like a guitar amp support the 6.5mm headphone jack, which is compatibility with the 3.5mm headphone jack, which does not have Bluetooth support.
Maybe you'll get one or two wireless devices like plenty of us (because of the convenience), but in no way does it replace the wired device.
As someone who is probably one of the older and stodgier greybeards in this forum, even I'm confused about the bitter clinging to the headphone jacks.
When I'm travelling, and realize that I've forgotten to pack any headphones, it's much cheaper to pick up a pair of wired earbud thingies that will tide me over than to have to buy yet another Bluetooth headset. This happens to me often enough that it's significant.
Having the 3.5mm jack doesn't prevent one from using high-quality Bluetooth headsets, but it provides the ability to use cheap and readily available earphones in an emergency. (Emergency? Ha! Talk about First World Problems.)
its DOA. Period.
And, I might point out, orphaning "premium" consumer products is the kind of BS that happens when a firm has lost touch with it's customer base and is in the first stages of decline. This is the kind of BS that HP did over and over again on their way down. At some point, enough people have been jammed that trust is lost. We will use your search engine (or printer), but we wont by your digital entertainment center, or your wearable, or any other high priced digital device that you really have no intention of keeping... much less supporting long term... unless it is a huge hit.
Sony did this a few times, and I stopped buying their stuff. HP did this MANY times, and I stopped buying their stuff. Google is going to learn just how fickle the public is. I know that this is probably not meant for "the public", but just noting the typical hubris that results in a company's downfall.
People buy ChromeOS devices because they are cheap. That's why they've been popular with schools, they don't buy the devices and then spend 1-2x that much on support/licensing during their lifetime. No school is going to buy a $1600 ChromeOS slate - they could buy 5 iPads for that, or three iPad Pros, and have tons of software designed for the iPad available to them. Or they could buy god knows how many ordinary Android tablets, which may have to mostly make due with phone apps but at least they get the bigger screen.
So who is the customer here? Enterprises? They are still on Windows, and sure aren't going to spend as much on a single ChromeOS device as they spend on fancy laptops or Surface Pros for their C-suite people. Consumers have little use for ChromeOS, given that ChromeOS devices have almost no pricing advantage over cheap Windows tablets - they sure aren't going to be dumb enough to spend $1600 on this thing. They wouldn't buy it even at half the price.
Do Google managers get bonuses based on creating products, and then further bonuses based on canceling them? The number of products they introduce and then kill suggests that may be the case!
You know this will run Windows right? If you really want that bloated corpse on your hardware.
ChromeOS is a really nice OS, and despite what most morons think, runs content without internet connections just fine. It's called offline apps, and has been around for over 5 years.
We penguinistas used to have high hopes for ChromeOS because it was a potential avenue for mainstream desktop Linux adoption. But now that Microsoft has given up on non-desktop platforms and Google has become at least as evil as Microsoft ... do we care anymore?
We seem to have reached a weird stability point where neither Microsoft, Google, nor Apple control enough of the market to wield monopoly influence over it.
Someone probably just hoped in cheap hardware subsidized by Google... ChromeOS is exactly what Linux is not.
And remember, as long as Google runs most stuff on its own servers, it can use GPL software at will without giving anything back. Only what is "distributed" falls under the GPL "copyleft" clauses... so, maybe, Linux punters chose the wrong ally.
I wasn't in on that memo. Just because it uses the Linux kernel doesn't mean it's good. You can build all sorts of things with the Linux kernel running the low-level stuff. The resultant device can be terrible, it can be evil, it can give you no options, and it can lock you out completely. Linux on its own doesn't guarantee anything; it's Linux plus a free user level and access to root and system components that gets you a system that either is great already or can be made so.
The term "Tivoization" springs to mind. The kernel can be GPL and its source code distributed, but anything on top of that kernel is fair game; thus, someone provided an example of how Tivoization is impossible to prevent, not even if the kernel were converted to GPL3 (they can black-box the proprietary bits in a VM and still not violate GPL3).
Once Android apps run well on Chrome OS (they seem to be getting there), and the tablet mode of Chrome OS starts to look like a tablet (that too is getting there), then others will run with this. Google, OTOH are trying to compete with Surface when they can't even compete with the iPad. The base iPad is more capable than the entry level slate (as is the Surface Go) and thst's before you take the ecosystem into consideration.
In the meantime, Google needs to take the person who who answered "How do we compete with Apple," with "Something with a Celeron in it" out back.....
Wikipedia provides a good-enough rundown and provides enough sources for further reading. I believe one of the references is the wine study mentioned previously.
Google makes this phones so no one buys them. Except for people that would read an article about Google not making phones to be successful.
These are "model'" devices, Google wants to influence the design/development/features of hardware as it is paramount for the success of Android (and other services).
They are the phones for developers, effectively the reference platform, so an application that runs on Pixel should run on all androids.
And people who would read HYS about Google not making phones to be sold.
And that is it.


text: We kindly ask you to briefly describe your research project in terms of What, Why and How. In addition, we ask you to describe aspects of the project's Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR).Please note, that your description will be used in communication to the broader public and will be published on the Carlsberg Foundation website under 'Grant overview'. Kindly note that the language must be UK English.


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Someone Brought Subway to Lagos
Sub Delight
Arabella's place. Emma Abimbola Cole street, Lekki One, Lagos
NOSA: ...okay, not really.
FOLLY: One of our own finally ripped off Subway and we couldn't be happier.
NOSA: It's the most blatant of ripoffs. From the sandwich artists to the "Would your sub toasted?" to the bread options. Everything.
Before you fight me in the comments, this is not actually a bad thing. Just keep reading.
FOLLY: Actually not sure if Pret A Manger was the owner's vision because they have similar taglines "Here today, gone tomorrow". Anyway, Sub Delight opened over the weekend and Nosa and I were very excited to check it out, so I borrowed a big jeep for the day as Lekki was underwater.
NOSA: I've actually had one of their subs for lunch before they opened this. They deliver so this counts as a "Work Lunch" also. I got the women in my office to order it everyday for a week too! These guys should pay me for referrals.
Anyway, bad parts first...they didn't have any water. Like, no drinks at all. Well, they had their smoothie but it was warm because there was no ice either. Apparently, they haven't received supplies yet. But should you really open for business if you don't have water at all? That's essential and whatnot.
FOLLY: I'll forgive them since it was their second day of existence but fam, I was parched and really needed water. I'm nice so I'll forgive them.
NOSA: I'll give them a pass, however.
FOLLY: The Subway comparisons start from as soon as you place your order and you're given a number of bread choices. I went with a 6-inch peri-peri chicken sub on herb and cheese bread and Nosa has the roast beef.
NOSA: The sandwich artists fold the ham EXACTLY like the subway ones do. They even have those little things to store the chicken portions like Subway does with their sweet onion chicken.
FOLLY: Although the server deprived me the opportunity to get this toasted, I absolutely enjoyed it. Every component of the sandwich gets a thumbs up from me: the bread was legit, the chicken was tasty, and the veggies were fresh and crunchy and weren't wilting or anything funky.
NOSA: Shouts to them for having roast beef on the menu. The veggies were fresh and they had ranch too. Beyond all that, the sub was actually pretty good. I know it's really easy to make a sub, but this was actually good. Better than the one I got when I ordered to my office. Clearly they've stepped it up a little.
FOLLY: It's a surprise no one else thought to do this first. I hope they do really well, if anything they are off to a good start.
NOSA: It's a very well done Subway ripoff so they get ALLLLL the props.
FOLLY: I do wish they had a better location with better visibility like something in the middle of Adeola Odeku close to offices and things but Lagos real estate is expensive so I can't knock it.
6-inch Peri Peri - N1500
6-inch Roast Beef - N1800
It's within one of those Lekki malls so there's parking.


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Understanding Viscoelastic Damping and Treatments using Typical Adhesive Materials
Product noise and vibration issues are often generated by the vibrating surfaces of sheet metal components that exhibit low levels of inherent material damping. Source excitation transmitted via an airborne and/or structure-borne path acts to excite dynamic instabilities, or resonances, of these components, often amplifying levels to an excessive amount. This lightly damped, resonant behavior may cause actual high cycle fatigue and failure of critical components or simply result in the presence of unwanted vibration or radiated noise detected by the consumer.
Regardless of the type of damping treatment employed, it is important for those considering such devices to have a basic understanding of viscoelastic material behavior and possess the necessary analytical tools to optimize such noise and vibration control devices for use on specific products and structures.
The Damping MechanismA cross-section of a typical laminate sheet is shown in Figure 1(a) and consists of two rigid-metal layers sandwiched together by a polymer, or viscoelastic-core adhesive. As the structure is subject to cyclic vibratory stresses, as shown in Figure 1(b), the individual metal layers move relative to each other, resulting in a shearing action imparted to the core material. This polymer core does more than just bond the laminate together. It also provides the mechanism that creates the damping effect, as these shear strains are converted to heat energy within viscoelastic material.
ViscoelasticityAs the name implies, viscoelastic materials possess both elastic and viscous properties. Note the slab of material shown in Figure 2 that is subjected to a cyclic load, F(t), resulting in the corresponding displacement, x(t). For a purely elastic material, all the energy stored in the sample during loading is returned when the load is removed. Furthermore, the displacement of the sample responds immediately, and in-phase, to the cyclic load. Conversely, for a purely viscous material, no energy is returned after the load is removed. The input stress is lost to "pure damping" as the vibratory energy is transferred to internal heat energy.
For all others that do not fall into one of the above extreme classifications, we call viscoelastic materials. Some of the energy stored in a viscoelastic system is recovered upon removal of the load, and the remainder is dissipated by the material in the form of heat. Figure 3 illustrates the relationship between stress and strain for a viscoelastic material subject to cyclic loading.
Material Property CharacterizationAnother unique characteristic of viscoelastic materials is that their modulus of elasticity is a complex quantity, having both a real and imaginary component. Furthermore, this complex modulus varies as a function of many parameters, most important of which are the temperature and frequency of a given application. It is therefore necessary to establish an accurate and thorough understanding of these parameters in order to design effective damping treatments.
To meet this need, Roush Anatrol has developed a materials-testing laboratory to characterize the complex modulus properties of viscoelastic materials using a variety of experimental techniques. Some of the types of materials evaluated include pressure sensitive adhesives, rubbers, foams, mastics, thermoplastics, enamels, hot melts and structural adhesives. One of the most common methods used is the vibrating-beam technique (ASTM E 756-93), in which the material under test is incorporated into a beam specimen and mounted in a rigid fixture simulating a cantilevered boundary condition. The desired material property information is obtained by measuring the frequency and damping level of the various bending resonances of the cantilever beam and back-calculating the material properties from these composite data. A typical vibrating-beam setup is shown in Figure 4 in which Roush's DampFEA(tm) measurement software is used to acquire and process the test results.
Shown in the graph are the discrete material-property data collapsed onto one master curve by shifting the data in the frequency domain so as to assume all testing was performed at one specific reference temperature (To). This is possible by utilizing a feature common to viscoelastic materials (known as the Superposition Principle) in which temperature and frequency behavior is inversely proportional. This data is then analytically curve-fit so a simplified equation can be used to represent the actual material properties of any given material as a function of temperature and frequency. This analytical function is now all that is required to interface with search and prediction software utilizing these frequency-temperature-dependent materials.
Analytical Modeling of Damping TreatmentsTo assist the product designer considering the use of viscoelastic-based surface-damping treatments, such as laminated-metal components, various practical modeling techniques are available that can be used both as a damping prediction and design-optimization tool.
One method commonly used is the Modal Strain Energy (MSE) approach, which utilizes a finite element analysis (FEA) representation of a structure as the basis for modeling the damping effect. This method has been shown to be an accurate predictor of damping levels in structures comprising layers of elastic and viscoelastic elements.1,2 The MSE principle states that the ratio of system loss factor to the material loss factor for a given mode of vibration can be estimated from the ratio of elastic strain energy in the viscoelastic elements to the total strain energy in the model for a given mode.3 This is shown mathematically in Equation 1.
Typically, the MSE approach is used in conjunction with an undamped, normal-mode analysis to compute the strain-energy ratio. The strain energies are determined from the relative mode shapes. It is assumed that the viscoelastic properties are linear in terms of the dynamic strain rate.
A Simplified Case StudyOne of the many components of a typical automotive engine that contributes to the overall radiated engine noise is the front cover, typically an aluminum die-cast component, as shown in Figure 6. Most front covers possess flat metal sections that have dynamic resonances in the frequency range near 1 kHz. These panel modes exist in a region in which they are easily excited by various engine and accessory-component vibration sources, typically through a structure-borne path. One such mode is illustrated by the modal strain-energy distribution shown in Figure 7 for the driver's side of the cover. These components are lightly damped, and will act to amplify input vibration to excessive levels. To combat this effect, the use of add-on, passive-damping treatments can be employed.
The second part of the analysis involved searching the extensive Roush material database to identify candidates that possessed the proper combination of desired stiffness and high damping behavior for the specific temperature and frequency range of interest. Once again, Roush's proprietary software was used to link actual, frequency-temperature-dependent material property data from the database as input to the FEA analysis results
It is important to note that this technique can also be used to perform spatial optimization of the damping treatment, identifying the minimum amount of coverage required to achieve maximum results. Also, the evaluation of multi-layer designs that use a combination of materials to broaden the effective temperature range of the damping treatment can be investigated using this same technique. Obviously, when such geometry changes are made to the FEA model, additional analysis runs are required.
ConclusionAnalytical tools are now available to engineers and product designers challenged with the task of reducing the radiated noise and vibration levels of structures through the use of viscoelastic-based noise and vibration control countermeasures, such as surface damping treatments and laminated metal material. Key to this analysis effort is the proper understanding of viscoelastic material behavior and an accurate characterization of the dynamic properties of the polymeric materials used in these forms of damping devices. Armed with these tools, designers can better and more quickly optimize the effectiveness of these treatments against other competing design parameters.
Additional information about Dynalam damped metal laminate and evaluating adhesives for viscoelastic behavior is available from Roush Industries, Inc., Roush Anatrol Division, 11953 Market St., Livonia, MI 48150; phone 734-779-7400; fax 734-779-7903; or visit www.Anatrol.com or www.Dynalum.com. Or Circle No. 76.
References1 A.D. Nashif, "Control of Noise and Vibration with Damping Materials," Sound and Vibration Magazine, pp. 28-36, July 1983.
2 C.D. Johnson, D.A. Kienholtz, L.C. Rogers, "Finite Element Prediction of Damping in Beams with Constrained Viscoelastic Layers," Shock Vibr. Bul., 51(1), pp. 71-81, 1981.
3 A.D. Nashif, D.I.G. Jones, J.P. Henderson, Vibration Damping, Wiley Interscience, 1985.


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Tag Archive: GT-R
TWO OF THE BEST: Skylines at Tatsumi Parking28-07-2014 11:20 pm
Drift Tengoku editor Ryusuke Kawasaki's R32 GT-R and Junya Nakata's ER34 GT-t at Tatsumi Parking Area in Tokyo.3 Comments
UNDERSTATED: Top Secret GT-R at the HKS Premium Day15-05-2012 12:52 am
What sort of reaction do you think you'd have when the 1000hp R35 GT-R you built did a 1'46.688 around Fuji Speedway while wearing the standard Dunlop run-flat tyres, then hit 325.7km/h on the front straight? Keep in mind that it's just under a mile long (1.5km) and that F1 cars max out at 310km/h.9 Comments
WALLPAPER WEDNESDAY: R34 GT-R at Daikoku Futo15-02-2012 12:21 am
Click on your size:
2650 x 1440 for 18:10 monitors
1920 x 1200 for 16:10 monitors8 Comments
WHITE ON SATURDAY NIGHT: R34 GT-R at Daikoku Futo12-02-2012 12:59 am
8 Comments
ONE OWNER, NEVER BEEN COVERED IN SALT WATER: Tsunami GT-R26-11-2011 12:41 am
This GT-R survived a natural disaster.
このGT-Rは仙台県津波の生残者です!11 Comments
WALLPAPER WEDNESDAY: Rauh Welt Tsukuba pits and Skyline GT-R Nür05-10-2011 11:50 pm
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2650 x 1440 for 27″ (Mac) monitors
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1920 x 1200 for 16:10 monitors1 Comment
WALLPAPER WEEK: RGF R34 GT-R Nür, Anpanman's FD RX-706-10-2010 10:00 am
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COLLECTABILITY: R35 GT-R mousepad and Sileighty brochure14-09-2010 4:46 pm
Here's a couple of interesting little bits of memorabilia I've picked up so far in Japan.
This mousepad was made by Nissan to celebrate the original 7'38″54 GT-R time around the Nürburgring, which has of course since been bettered. It was only given out to the "Technology member" employes, who directly worked on the GT-R's design and construction. I received this from a friend who worked at the Nissan Tochigi factory, where they make the GT-R. He gave it to me saying "I don't use a mouse on my home computer. You like this sort of stuff, right?"18 Comments
GET IN MY GARAGE: GT-R Nür, tick all the boxes13-07-2010 9:27 pm
Occasionally, you will see a car that makes drop to your knees and say: "I want that. I really really want that."
This GT-R is that kind of car.26 Comments


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Travel size momma and baby care
Part of Our 2016 Mother's Day Gift Guide
Thank you to Sierra Sage/Green Goo for providing me with product, free of charge, in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions shared are my own.
I was still working when I was pregnant with N, and I had a wonderful group of coworkers who became close friends. They were very supportive during my pregnancy. Now one of those lovely ladies, my dear friend Allison, is expecting her own bundle of joy! She moved to the other side of the country last year, but I still want to do something special for her. I decided to put together a care package for her first Mother's Day!
Sierra Sage/Green Goo is a mother and daughter owned company. Their products are made with love from organic herbs and pure grade essential oils. They are expertly formulated by herbalist, and youngest sister, Jen. The medicinal salves are free of parabens, lanolin, mineral oil, glycerin, silicon and petrochemicals.
I was sent a travel size of three products; Belly Balm, Nursing Cream, and Baby Balm.
The start of Allison's care package
I like that the packaging is visually appealing and made of good quality, recyclable cardboard. They will look lovely in the care package I'm creating, and would also be great in a new mom gift basket.
They all fit in my TINY purse
I very carefully opened the products to inspect them. The salves all have a different calming, light, earthy smell- perfect for pregnancy and postpartum when senses are heightened. The small tins are a convenient size for an overnight bag for the hospital or birthing center, and won't be cumbersome in a diaper bag.
Since Sierra Sage uses high quality, all natural ingredients, mom's don't have to worry about chemicals that could be harmful to baby. I know that Allison is going to love them!
As our body stretches, it is fundamental to hydrate and nourish the skin. Our Belly Balm is based in a healing blend of nutrient rich organic cocoa and shea butter that naturally moisturizes and hydrates the expanding body to help reduce stretch marks and itchy skin. Warm a small amount in the palm of your hand and apply often to belly and breast, creating a relaxing and calming effect for you and your baby.
Our Nursing Cream helps to soothe and repair sore and cracked nipples from breastfeeding. This delicate formula based in organic Calendula and Chamomile flowers, allows you to enjoy nursing your baby while protecting your sensitive skin. Safe for nursing mamas and babies. Does NOT contain Lanolin
Our Baby Balm is a gentle and soothing salve designed to help heal and calm your baby's sensitive skin. Organic Oils infused with Chamomile flowers and Organic Calendula, this formula will make your baby's skin smile. These delicate flowers naturally yield anti-yeast, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. A mother's favorite soothing salve for diaper rash during teething, and is also perfect for a sweet, relaxing massage following bath time.
These Green Goo mom and baby products make a fantastic Mother's Day or baby shower gift for any expecting mother!
Here's the other Sierra Sage/ Green Goo collections...
Want them? Get Them!
Head over to http://www.sierrasageherbs.com/
to see all these earth-friendly salves. They have something for everyone!
You can also follow them on:
Special thanks to our friends at Sierra Sage/Green Goo for allowing me to share about their collection of homeopathics for moms and babies.


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guest blogger: east side bride
10 Reasons Why Being Married Is Just Better
1. When I take money out of his wallet, I don't have to pay him back. (Warning: This works both ways.)
2. He makes the coffee 63% of the time.
3. When we have a really crazy, stupid, screaming fight, I never have to think, "Oh my god, are we going to break up over this?"
4. Wrangling our finances has made me a more responsible person. I.E. I no longer buy $800 leather pants I can't afford just because I hate my life.
5. Planning meals for two encourages me to eat better meals. Let's be honest, it forces me to eat meals period. I mean, I can't let my husband eat a jumbo bag of gummy sours for dinner.
6. He/she puts up with my crazy family. (Downside: She/he reminds me at inopportune moments how much I am like them.)
7. Her hatred of clutter inspires me find more creative places to hide my crap. (Note: The bedroom may not be considered a "creative" place to "hide" an effing enormous cardboard box.)
8. She has a long-term plan for my personal style. (Downside: She also has a short-term plan for my personal style.)
9. He can actually tell me which outfit looks better. (Bonus: He's learned to keep his mouth shut during the delicate pull-everything-out-of-the-closet-and-throw-it-on-the-floor phase.)
10. She makes me come to bed before the birds start tweeting.
From east side bride and her husband, H-town.