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My Favorite Annual Magazine
I found myself a little bothered, however, as my copy has Jordan Eberle and Jarome Iginla on it. I realize that they publish multiple copies based on where the magazines are going to be distributed, but I'm quite certain that hockey fans who live in my area would like to see a cover with a Jets player on it. If I had to gripe about one thing, that would be it. Otherwise, I can't really complain about what I found inside the cover.
There are some interesting features like Calder Watch and Make It Or Break It!, but the first place I stopped was at the THN fan poll results. THN asked a lot of tough questions of the fans - "How do you feel about the officiating standard in the NHL's regular season?" and "How do you feel about fighting in the NHL?" - but the one question that stood out to me, as a fan, was "Are ticket prices at NHL games too high?" An overwhelming 90% of respondents answered that question with "Yes".
For a league that's fighting about how much money is made by either side, how about listening to the people that keep you rich? Nine out of ten people think you're both in the wrong when it comes to the obscene amounts of money you're making, NHL and NHLPA, so why not cut the fans some slack? I realize that we all need to earn a living, but the people who make you bazillionaires are sending a clear message: you're killing us with ticket prices.
While I'm not privy to having access to the Jets locker room, I did find the article about Zach Bogosian very interesting from a uniform perspective. Bogosian has decided to ditch #4 in favor of #44 this season, so there may be a number of jerseys worn by fans that will need some updating this season. But the rules surrounding number changes were far more fascinating to me.
There's a deadline in July that all players must adhere to when wanting to change their numbers. If a player misses the deadline, he must wait a full year until July rolls around again before he can request the number change. The only exceptions, however, are trade and free agent acquisitions or rookies. For example, the Jets signed Olli Jokinen who, previously, wore #13, but the Jets were still in negotiations with Kyle Wellwood, so the Jets' website showed Jokinen with no number for some time. And assigned numbers for rookies in preseason - Mark Scheifele wore #45 during the preseason last year - can be changed if they make the team out of camp with no league repercussions. Scheifele settled on #55 before being sent back to the OHL. I found that article very interesting!
There was a good article on Scott Hartnell, a very interesting article on Jamie Benn ("Being at the all-star game made me want to stay far away from Canada"), an article on the emerging American captains in the NHL, an inside look into Max Pacioretty, a quick piece on Martin Brodeur, a Q&A with Steven Stamkos, a one-page article about Joffrey Lupul in Toronto, a piece on Jordan Eberle, and a great look into the relationship between Barry Trotz and David Poile. Honestly, THN does excellent work in putting together these articles.
Like every year, though, I want to see the predictions made by the THN staff and editors as to which team will end up on top this season, and where the rest of the teams end up in the shuffle of the NHL season. Honestly, I was surprised at who THN picked to finish first in the Eastern Conference, but, if the stars align right, there's a good chance that Pittsburgh has the horses to push them to the top of the standings. Over in the Western Conference, it appears the THN staff feel that Ken Hitchcock's influence on the St. Louis Blues will continue as they ended up atop the heap in the West.
If you're a fan of one of the Canadian teams, I'll tell you right now that THN is forecasting that two of the seven teams from the Great White North make the playoffs. Outside of those two unnamed teams, the other five finish no higher than twelfth-place in either conference. Ouch.
I'm not going to reveal who THN picked as the Stanley Cup winner this season, but you'll have to remember that they picked Los Angeles to finish fourth in the Western Conference and New Jersey to finish eleventh in the Eastern Conference. Florida and Ottawa - two playoff teams last season - were picked to finish in fourteenth- and fifteen-place in the Eastern Conference, while the Phoenix Coyotes weren't supposed to be Western Conference finalists at fourteenth in the West. Needless to say, all predictions should be taken with a few grains of salt.
Overall, though, another excellent publication from The Hockey News!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!


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This paper addresses a design exploration focusing on interactive jewellery and wearable computing that could affect sexual harassment in social contexts in everyday life. Drawing on a design inquiry study that lead to the creation of an interactive and digital necklace named Sunshine, which is a personal alarm connected to an emergency center, this paper focuses on how a piece of digital jewellery can contribute to women's empowerment in relation to sexual harassment. The functionality of Sunshine is based on a device that will be activated when the user presses a button on the necklace and an alert with the location of the user will be sent to an alarm center. The users press the button when in danger or exposed to violence and/or abuse. This study so forth addresses a design exploration of a piece of jewellery that can be seen as a symbol for women's safety, unity and equality. The combination of digital technology and fashion design demonstrate that people can be brought together and especially be empowering in social contexts where sexual harassment might be a part of women's everyday life.
There is a need to create efficiency through digital technology within the elder care, as the elderly population of society is increasing. Existing IT-systems are considered incompatible with healthcare work, despite of Swedish investments in digital development in healthcare. Practices and the use of digital artefacts within an elder care home was therefore studied. Through an ethnographic qualitative method (consisting of field studies, video ethnography and interviews), the empirically driven study identified the healthcare workers existing interactions with- and use of digital technology, as well as the consequences that the use entailed. The study showed that the healthcare workers used the workplace's existing digital technology as well as personal digital artefacts to solve daily tasks. Furthermore, the results showed that the healthcare workers interactions with personal digital artefacts mediated new work situations, and the healthcare workers desire for new digital work tools.
The purpose of this study was to investigate how anonymous online players treat each other in the game environment in Counter Strike (CS GO), where the way they communicate can affect other people's gaming experience through cheating or "griefing". We have also sought to examine how issues of anonymity affected player's experiences. Data was collected through the use of qualitative methods, such as semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations. Ten respondents participated in the interviews, five women and five men who had played Counter Strike for at least two years. The questions which they were asked related to attitudes, communication, gaming experience, trust, behavior, cheaters and griefers inCounter Strike.
The results were analyzed with the help of previous research and theory related to the problem of our study. The results showed that the anonymous players responded to each other positively or negatively depending on various factors such as performance, gender, experience, communication and trust. Positive attitudes gave a positive gaming experience that increased the teamwork and changed the anonymity to friendship, while negative attitudes gave negative gameplay experience that made players lose the desire to play for awhile, because they had high expectations of others.
In order to improve Counter Strike for anonymous players, we recommend that the game company improves its security, by blocking cheaters and griefers faster than they do at present, by changing blocking of a cheater from only a blocked account to a whole computersystem, and by making the game more expensive. We also recommend applying region or country functions when they people play anonymously to avoid linguistic misunderstandings and to ease communication by ensuring that players from the same country play with eachother and speak a common language.
The purpose of the study is to explore particular challenges faced when designing virtual environments for children with autism, with the purpose of training social skills. Our findings are based on studying autistic behaviour during three years (primary and secondary sources), analysis of related system and other computer mediated assistive technology, as well as general game design. From these studies we have identified eight critical design parameters that need to be adjustable in a system suitable for autistic persons. The parameters importance, their variation range, as well as the need for independent adjustment of these were estimated and verified by experienced expert pedagogues.
Vänner möts inte längre bara på fysiska platser utan även online på olika typer av plattformar. Denna studie utforskar var onlinevänner träffas, i vilka aktiviteter de umgås, hur frekvent onlinevännerna umgås samt hur många onlinevänner som även träffas offline. Syftet med studien är att få en större förståelse för var och hur människor möter vänner online. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av en enkätundersökning med 1000 deltagare som spreds via sociala nätverkstjänster och offline, samt genom att analysera tidigare forskning inom relaterade ämnen. Resultatet av studien pekar på att det finns ett stort antal olika plattformar där onlinevänner kan skapas. De vanligaste av dessa är Facebook och World of Warcraft. Främst umgås onlinevänner via textchatt, röstchatt och genom att spela tillsammans. De flesta onlinevänner umgås dagligen och majoriteten av deltagarna träffade 2-5 onlinevänner offline. Studien väckte stort engagemang på sociala medier och kan förhoppningsvis komplettera redan existerande forskning samt bidra med inspiration till framtida studier.
Is it important that a player can navigate easily through a level? To get the answer ten participants were tested during a short play-session of a game made for the study. By looking at prior research, themes could be found that were all common. To learn the player to recognize what a goal looks like, to get the player to understand what the goal is. That the player can navigate to the goal and that the level should have flow is also important. This study shows that what earlier research suggests seems to have merit. Of all participants that played the game, almost everyone that played where navigational techniques were implemented spoke of how they felt certain in where to go.
While there is a lot of research about other aspects of game design, there are fairly few studies about music and sound in video games. Since music and sound are components of next to all games, it is interesting to investigate how this aspect affects the perceived immersion of gamers. The aim of this study is to investigate how sound and music affect player sense of presence in a video game, Transistor [19], which was chosen due to its distinct and strongly emotional music and sound. Five video prototypes were made using gameplay and sound from the game. The videos presented different variations of the soundscape. These were tested by a web survey with questions from the PENS questionnaire [15], providing the users a seven point Likert scale by which they could rate their experience. The answers were analyzed with a mixed model regression and compared with an estimated image of which degree of immersion would be experience for each of the videos. The result of the study showed that the complete soundscape was significantly more immersive than all the other soundscapes, while silence was significantly less immersive than the other soundscapes. The conclusions were the more complete the soundscape is, the more immersive it is, and that even a small part of the total soundscape is more immersive than complete silence.
This paper presents the SWAY prototype that encourages people to explore aspects around balance and posture in a playful way. The prototype senses small movements and shifts in posture using a Kinect sensor, and translates these movements to the tilting of a platform holding a set of marbles, and to haptic feedback in the form of vibrations. The prototype provides an interactive experience focusing on building body awareness with a particular focus on balance and posture. The design inquiry provided new insights with respect to reinforcement of bodily experiences and how different modalities affect the guiding of attention.
Skribenterna har valt att fördjupa sig kring interaktionen mellan människor och sociala medier, där de undersökt hur människors mående påverkas av interaktionen med sociala medier. Applikationen som valdes inför arbetet var Instagram. Undersökningen bestod av 40 stycken deltagare i åldersgruppen 18 - 26 år. Deltagarna valdes slumpmässigt till en skriftlig enkätundersökning som utfördes på studenter på Södertörns Högskola i Stockholm. Utöver enkätundersökningen genomfördes sex stycken samtalsintervjuer utifrån de ursprungliga deltagarna från enkäten, vilket gjordes för att samla in mer djupgående material om ämnet.
Resultaten har visat att interaktionen bland användarna sker främst via delningar, gillningar och kommentarer än genom andra funktioner som Instagram har att erbjuda (exempelvis chattfunktion och livesändning). Under intervjuerna framkom det att respondenterna använder Instagrams funktioner till stor del för att skapa en större gemenskap mellan sig och sina vänner. När det kommer till interaktionens påverkan på måendet visade det sig att detta inte genereras direkt av applikationen, utan snarare av vilka du som användare följer på din profil. Deltagarna i undersökningarna som genomförts för uppsatsen förklarar både att de påverkas, men även att de inte påverkar deras mående. Det är väldigt olika beroende på hur man som användare interagerar med applikationens olika funktioner. Studien har inte visat ett tydligt resultat på frågan om det finns en tydlig koppling mellan interaktionen med Instagram och användarens mående.
Idag sker organisatoriskt administrationsarbete till stor del med hjälp av datoriserad teknik. Det finns dock en ineffektivitet i hur detta administrationsarbete går till i olika datasystem vilket lett till högre kostnad för mindre genererad nytta åt kunderna. Inom den offentliga sektorn är dessa kunder invånarna. Denna studie undersöker hur Huddinge kommun arbetar med ärendehantering i olika medieformer, vad som påverkar ärendehanteringen i och mellan medieformerna, samt vilka problem som uppstår i ärendeprocessen till följd av dessa. Studien tar upp hur socioteknik och människa-dator interaktion samverkar inom ramen för informationssystem och datahantering i förhållande till användarna och ärendehantering. Observationer och intervjuer har genomförts vid tre förvaltningar, samt Servicecenter på Huddinge kommun. Resultatet visar att ärendehanteringen inom kommunen är beroende av flera olika medieformer där informationssystemens användbarhet och funktionalitet påverkar hur säkert, konsekvent och tillförlitligt ärendehanteringen sker. Återkommande problem gällande dubbelarbete, oavslutade ärenden och inkonsekvent datainsamling och registrering av data kopplat till ärenden kan identifieras. Resultaten kan användas av Huddinge kommun vid kravställning och inköp av informationssystem ämnade för ärendehantering. Avgränsningar har gjorts gällande antalet representerade förvaltningsenheter inom kommunen. Övriga förvaltningsenheter kan använda sig av andra medieformer och ha andra erfarenheter gällande användning av dessa vid ärendehantering.
När det kommer till brädspel är social interaktion och nöje kopplade. Brädspel och digitala versioner av dem används ofta parallellt och erbjuder därför en unik undersökningsmöjlighet. Automation är ett verktyg som ofta används för skapandet av digitaliserade brädspel, men hur påverkar det socialitet och hur skiljer det sig från fysiska brädspel? Detta är frågan som denna uppsats utforskar genom en observationsstudie av två versioner av brädspelet Ticket to Ride. Både den ursprungliga, fysiska versionen och en digital motsvarighet. Två grupper av spelare blev inspelade medan de spelade båda versionerna av spelet i olika ordning. Under observationen av spelsessionerna har sju olika spelmekaniker använts som infallsvinkel för att avgöra hur skillnader i social interaktion är kopplade till själva spelet. Dessa var turtagning (tid), spelyta (rymd), objekt (tillstånd), handlingar (strategi), regler (automatisering), bokföring och chans men även ej spelrelaterade interaktioner undersöktes. Två av spelmekanikerna visade sig ha störst påverkan på den sociala interaktionen i dem olika versionerna av spelet; regler och turtagning. Dessa två mekaniker var viktiga för inlärning av spelet och för att bibehålla fokus genom spelomgången.
This study aims to examine two user groups experience and usage of the mobile job advertising service Uptrail. The two groups that are the focus of this work are the companies that use the service for job recruitment and job-seekers that have applied for work through Uptrail. In which context job-seekers apply for work through the service and why is also examined in this study. This is to give an understanding of how the mobile interface might influence users behaviour during the job recruitment process. The study is based on a qualitative research method where individual in-depth interviews with representatives from the different groups are used for gathering data. Also a shorter observation has been applied during the interviews with the job seekers. Collected data were then analyzed through an inductive interpretation method and combined with previous research and theories regarding mobile usage, context, digital recruitment (e-recruitment) and user experience (UX).
The result of the study implies that Uptrail has impacted the motives behind job advertising by affecting the user experience of the recruitment process. Job applicants experienced that the mobile format and the process of the service changed their habits on applying for work through digital application. In line with previous research results from this study also suggest that the usage of mobile services largely takes place in "home like" environments. This is explained as a consequence of existing attitudes and thoughts regarding the job search process.
We often take for granted that we have immediate access to our perception and experience of and through our bodies. But inward listening is a demanding activity and thus not easy to learn to perform or design for. With the Sarka mat we want to support the ability to direct attention by providing sound feedback linked to the weight distribution and motion intensity of different parts of the body, and to provide an exemplar for how such design may be conducted. The process of Sarka's creation is informed by Somaesthetic Appreciation Design. We discuss how a sonic feedback signal can influence listeners, followed by how we, in this design, worked to navigate the complex design space presented to us. We detail the design process involved, and the very particular set of limitations which this interactive sonification presented.
Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur en miljöfrämjande mobilapplikation kan motivera användare till att agera mer miljövänligt genom persuasiva designprinciper. I denna studie föreslås en uppsättning designprinciper att ha i åtanke vid utveckling av övertygande mobilapplikationer som syftar till miljövänliga beteendeförändringar. Det utvärderades tre existerande miljöfrämjande mobilapplikationer med hjälp av PSD-modellens designprinciper, varav en valdes ut för användarundersökningen. Totalt sex personer deltog i studien och fick testa den valda mobilapplikationen under en veckas tid, i syfte att bekanta sig med applikationens funktioner. I samband med detta fick deltagarna besvara en enkät med allmänna frågor kring deras miljövänliga vanor. Den slutliga fasen inkluderade intervjun, som innehöll frågor gällande deltagarnas åsikter om funktioner och motivationsfaktorer för att använda miljöfrämjande applikationer. Resultatet visade att designprinciperna belöning, individualisering, simulering, självkontroll, normativt inflytande, samarbete, social jämförelse, konkurrens och påminnelser hade störst inflytande på användarnas motivation att använda applikationen och agera miljövänligt. De utvalda designprinciperna berodde huvudsakligen på individuella, sociala och praktiska faktorer.
I Sverige och Finland har besöksnäringen vuxit med ett exportvärde som ständigt ökat. Dock är detta främst förekommande i storstäderna. På beslut av Sveriges regering och EU har utvecklingsprojektet Archipelago Business Development trätt fram, med uppdrag att stärka digital satsning i skärgården. I och med konsumenters tillgång till sociala medier och Wordof-mouth (WOM) bör företag ompröva sin marknadsföring. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur skärgårdsföretag marknadsför genom sociala medier, samt vilka för- och nackdelar som företagen upplever. Detta studeras genom kvalitativa intervjuer med projektledare inom ABD och skärgårdsföretag från Finland och Sverige som deltar i projektet. Resultatet visar på att det finns två generella typer av företag inom skärgården som i olika stor omfattning använder sociala medier för marknadsföring.
The paper reports on a study of community gardening in Stockholm. We contribute to the body of knowledge about the sustainability of community gardens and this new form of citizen-led initiatives in Stockholm, with the ambition of creating a debate about the best way to sustain and develop these initiatives in Sweden. We argue that although community gardening may provide leverage for means of developing a sustainable city, it is a marginal phenomenon and contributes little to sustainable development its present form. Through interviews we have investigated how the citizens and municipality officers of Stockholm try to adapt to the renewed interest in community gardening by looking at the policy makers', municipality officers' and grassroots movements' incentives to start community gardens. We specifically focus on how the community gardeners articulate their reasons for participating in collaborative initiatives in the city and how these expectations evolve when they are faced with the reality of gardening and the problems relating to producing food in the city. We have found that there are a growing number of citizens and local authorities advocating community gardening, but the sustainability and endurance of gardens are hampered by vague responsibilities, lack of leadership and unclear expectations of the outcome. Community gardening cases in Stockholm contribute to the debate by exemplifying how formal (e.g. policy making) and informal advocacy (e.g. civic engagement in community gardening) groups are collaborating, but also showing that they often have different agendas and initial motivations for setting up new gardens. We argue that uncritical enthusiasm results in an overly instrumental approach to governance of community gardening and that the sustainability and endurance of the community gardening is not an issue that the governing bodies plan for, and hence it is forgotten. We suggest some routes forward, involving employing facilitators from various stakeholders such as the municipality, housing companies and various NGOs.
In the global North, there has been a considerable renewed interest for urban agriculture (UA) as a means to re-localize food systems by shortening food supply chains. This can be done by local food initiatives, such as community gardens. This paper is iscussing community gardens in Stockholm. We have choose to look at community gardens under the lens of neoliberal governmentality. Material has been gathered through participatory attendants on meetings, interviews and surveys. The results show that in Stockholm one can to some extent see urban gardening practices as agents of counter-neoliberal urban transformation. But also as an expression of the new rurality were the citizens desire to shorten the food chain and re connect with their food and to create new food regimes.
This qualitative study aims to explore, from a cognitive perspective, the influence visuals have on conveying the game's narrative and how this engages the player. The focus being to further the understanding of how both visuals and narrative affect the overall experience. Motivated by the underrepresentation of visuals and narrative studies within game research. At the centre of the study is a thematic analysis of qualitative data collected from face to face interviews in a home and school environment, where players shared memorable moments experienced while playing a game. The interviews were complemented by data from popular forums, with the same focus. Helping the analysis of the data were cognitive theories into how our minds process and interpret information, an analysis which resulted in five main themes with corresponding code, which represented what appeared central for the creation of the memorable moment. There were, however, always more than one element within the game which provided and engaged the player in the narrative construction of the memorable moment, which served to highlight the importance of considering all aspects of the design, as all affected our meaning making. Central to engaging the player's narrative construction was the intrinsic motivation of curiosity, in tangent with our desire to learn. Exactly how different visuals elements affected the player's narrative construction did not become apparent during the analysis, as a fine line existed between what element provided for different memorable moments. Most notably was that all of the themes and codes could be tied back to engagement, as all of them served to engage the player's meaning making. A discovery that in turn, lead to the creation of a framework for future studies, which, while supported by cognitive theories, aims to enable the discovery of what and how different aspects engage the player in the experience.
Transportation, or rather access, is a major challenge in relation to achieving environmental goals and in striving for sustainable development. One potential means suggested to decrease the environmental impact related to accessibility is mediated meetings. However, few studies have quantified the potential environmental impacts with a life cycle perspective. With inspiration from a project involving four major Swedish media companies experiencing an increasing need for business travel and decreasing resources, this study assessed the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cumulative energy demand (CED) related to different types of business meetings, using a life cycle perspective. The potential consequences for emissions of GHG and CED in two hypothetical companies introducing mediated meetings were also assessed. The results indicated that mediated meetings using personal computers can reduce GHG emissions and CED per meeting and that more advanced mediated solutions are preferable to meetings which require travel, if the equipment is frequently used to replace travel. However, advanced technology that is under-used may give similar or higher GHG emissions and CED than meetings traveled to by train. All mediated meeting alternatives studied here had lower GHG emissions and CED than meetings which required travel by plane or car. LCD screen manufacture contributed the main environmental impact of mediated meetings, but the meeting rooms needed, electricity use for equipment and internet use for data transmission were also important in some cases. As LCD screen manufacture and internet energy use were main issues and as the data on these issues are uncertain, they should be further assessed+ and updated in future studies. Introduction of mediated meetings in companies and organizations should involve a thorough consideration of needs and possible solutions to achieve the best possible environmental benefits through efficient use and replacement of travel. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The aim of this paper was to examine digital design processes by looking at two different types of employment, which are agency-employment and freelance-employment within digital design. The study which was conducted intended to investigate how digital design process is possibly unique compared to other working procedures within creative professions. The method which was used to seek answers to the questions of this paper was structured and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that design process within digital design do not differ markedly depending on type of employment, but are instead based in a similar structure. The results confirmed that the knowledge and personal experiences of the designer create a subjective apprehension of creativity and therefore steers the direction of a project. The digital factor is something which makes digital design process unique from another working procedures, which facilitates quick communication and efficient execution of digital design projects.
This work is a study with the question What are important qualities within a dialogue system for RPG games? About dialogue systems in RPG games to try to identify important qualities to find out what it is that creates a good dialogue system. In the background, research on dialogue systems, dialogues with NPCs, other forms of dialogue systems and game design is observed. The study resulted in a ready-made analysis model that can be used for RPG games within the same genre and a number of important attributes that a dialogue system should have in order to be defined as good.
The question is answered using a content analysis of three RPG games, selected with the help of an expert panel consisting of skilled in the field, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Oxenfree and Life is Strange. In order to analyze the results of the content analysis, previous research and theories like agency, the Eliza effect and what will be called Freemans techniques have been used to form an analysis model that has been used to carry out a content analysis. The result shows both similarities and differences in the dialogue between different games within the genre RPG-games. A good dialogue system contains qualities that have a good level of agency to give the player the opportunity to choose what the character should say to create emotions. Also opportunities not to participate in a dialogue was found extra interesting as several games do not have that option. The game's dialogue should be perceived as complex, realistic and personal to the player so that it can be taken seriously and convincingly create emotions.
I ett allt mer digitaliserat och tjänstebaserat samhälle ter det sig viktigt att se över på vilket sätt olika typer av produkter framförs och används. Världens framtida ekonomi beräknas ligga inom tjänstesektorn, och då främst den digitala, vilket gör att tjänstelogiken verkligen är att ta på allvar. Denna studie syftar till att bidra med en ökad kunskap kring utvecklandet av främst digitala tjänster genom att påvisa de viktigaste faktorerna vid utvecklandet av dessa. För att påvisa detta genomfördes en enkätstudie samt en intervjustudie. Resultatet som påvisades är att tillgänglighet, bekvämlighet och tillit uppfattas som de viktigaste faktorerna. Dessa faktorer tenderar sedermera att vara vitala vid utvecklandet av digitala tjänster för att tjänsten skall upplevas som värd att nyttja. Dock så dras slutsatsen att de resurser som innefattas inom dessa faktorer är kontextbaserade och sedermera att samskapande mellan olika aktörer likväl är nödvändigt.
Denna studie undersöker hur framgångsrika B2C e-handelsföretag och UI-design är sammankopplat. Undersökningen har sin utgångspunkt i vilka element och funktioner på en e-handelssida som användarna anser relevanta. Med relevanta menas viktiga för att användarna ska tycka att e-handeln är professionell och visuellt tilltalande, för att få användarna att stanna kvar på sidan och förhoppningsvis bli betalande kunder.
Studien genomfördes tillsammans med sex respondenter och den jämför två e-handelssidor. De båda e-handelssidorna har valts ut utifrån att en av dessa uppfyller de kriterier som formulerats, i form av ett grundantagande, och den andra för att den inte uppfyller dessa kriterier. Momenten och metoderna intervju, inspelning av interaktion, retrospektiv tänka- högt och enkät ingår i studien och fungerar som datainsamling. Resultatet av denna datainsamling ställs sedan mot teoretiska förklaringsmodeller som presenteras i rapporten. Resultatet visar tydliga resultat kring vilka element och funktioner som anses relevanta och tillsammans med de teoretiska förklaringsmodellerna visar resultatet en fördel för den e- handel som uppfyller kriterierna. De resultat som presenteras analyseras och diskuteras sedan för att avslutningsvis presentera en slutsats. I slutsatsen ställs resultatet av studien mot den ursprungliga forskningsfrågan samt ger förslag för vidare forskning.
We report research on player modeling using psychophysiology and machine learning, conducted through interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers of computer science, psychology, and game design at Aalto University, Helsinki. First, we propose the Play Patterns And eXperience (PPAX) framework to connect three levels of game experience that previously had remained largely unconnected: game design patterns, the interplay of game context with player personality or tendencies, and state-of-the-art measures of experience (both subjective and non-subjective). Second, we describe our methodology for using machine learning to categorize game events to reveal corresponding patterns, culminating in an example experiment. We discuss the relation between automatically detected event clusters and game design patterns, and provide indications on how to incorporate personality profiles of players in the analysis. This novel interdisciplinary collaboration combines basic psychophysiology research with game design patterns and machine learning, and generates new knowledge about the interplay between game experience and design.
This study examines how the knowledge of that a game belongs to the horror genre affects the players gameplay experience and choices in the game. Ten participants were recruited for the study. First, the participants had to fill in a pre-study form to make sure that they were a part of our target group. During the data gathering the participant was informed of what kind of prototype they were about to play, either a horror prototype or a puzzle prototype. Then they proceeded to play the horror prototype. To gather the data, stimulated recall and semi-structured interviews were used. The data was analysed with an EPP-method. No significant connection were found between the play experience or the choices the player made and the type of information given beforehand to the participant. A connection were found between fear and expectations, that could be linked to knowledge of the horror.
The presented research has investigated empirically the current practices of how organizations are using CI today, and in particular what role collaboration and networking plays in such CI work processes. In particular, the investigation has examined what forms of collaborations and organizational networks are currently used in the CI work process. Four organizations have been examined as exploratory case studies. From this, a base model for social CI has been generated by extracting overall CI process characteristics from the investigated cases that relate to collaborative behavior and organizational networking. The study relies on the existing conceptual framework called the social CI framework intended for analysis and design of CI for the (socially) networking organization.
This article introduces the notion of social competitive intelligence, meaning competitive intelligence (CI) for the networking organization. A novel socio-technical framework called the Social CI Framework (SCIF) is presented, intended for analysis and design of social CI processes, methods and tools. By using a socio-technical perspective, both social and technical aspects are considered together in SCIF. The framework is founded on theory related to enterprise 2.0 and wikinomics, and is intended to be used to study social CI using principles such as openness, participation, sharing and co-creation. The presented results are based on a literature review and an exploratory study with interviews of CI experts from Swedish organizations. SCIF explicitly distinguishes between task-oriented models and collaboration models, and models of different socio-technical perspectives. Moreover, SCIF uses the mechanisms of socio-technical themes and a socio-technical value map that relate the theoretical and empirical characteristics with the SCIF modeling method.
This article introduces the notion of social competitive intelligence, meaning competitive intelligence (CI) for the networking organization. A novel socio-technical framework called the Social CI Framework (SCIF) is presented, intended for analysis and design of social CI processes, methods and tools. By using a socio-technical perspective, both social and technical aspects are considered together in SCIF. The framework is founded on a theory related to enterprise 2.0 and wikinomics, and is intended to be used to study social CI using principles such as openness, participation, sharing and co-creation. The presented results are based on a literature review and an exploratory study with interviews of CI experts from Swedish organizations. SCIF explicitly distinguishes between task-oriented models and collaboration models, and models of different socio-technical perspectives. Moreover, SCIF uses the mechanisms of socio-technical themes and a socio-technical value map that relate the theoretical and empirical characteristics with the SCIF modeling method.
The aim of the presented work has been to investigate how the existing concept of social CI can be used to support collaborative CI networks. A novel socio-technical solution CoCI consisting of a work method and tool have been designed for a scenario with an internal network of collaborative competitive intelligence (CI). The CoCI work method suggests using agile, freeform collaboration through an informal organizational network. A distinction is made between the roles of network coordinators, contributors, clients and receivers. The work style follows regular temporal iterative loops, or sprints, each one ending in some form of intelligence outcome. The CoCI tool supports collaborative daily work with reading, commenting and classifying incoming material, where the actions of the network members are visible to each other. Furthermore, the CoCI tool supports having meetings using the tool where incoming material from the sprint is reviewed and a report is created. In the evaluation of the tool, the dimensions engagement, collaboration and community had high scores. In contrast, the dimension simplicity was less satisfactory. Four design patterns for social CI could be extracted based on the strong points of the evaluation: social selection, individual/collective box, real-time engagement and collaborative enhancement. The low score on simplicity will be investigated further, but indicates how crucial it is for social features to be intuitive in order to avoid making the overall solution too complex.
Over the last decades a great effort for rural development policies in Sweden has been to find windows of opportunity for the future, to promote new types of enterprises, to support farm and firm diversification, to identify novel business models and in general promote growth. But while many concrete measures have focused on lowering the entry barriers to the market and support the supply side of the rural economy, a glimpse on the emerging technological paradigm, e.g. internet based development and social technologies, indicates that new solutions are possible. In this article we address the following question: Can Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) in combination with social technologies promote rural entrepreneurship and economic growth?
The purpose of this article is to address some challenges facing media intelligence in general, and competitive intelligence in particular within an altered information landscape. To understand this new situation, the notion of social and multimodal media intelligence are introduced. With cases taken primarily from the Swedish media intelligence sector, we argue that data driven media intelligence today needs to pay increasing attention to new forms of (A.) crowd-oriented and (B.) multimedia-saturated information. As a subcategory of media intelligence, competitive intelligence refers to the gathering of publicly available information about an organisation or a company's competitors—using it to gain business advantages. Traditionally such intelligence has implied a set of techniques and tools that transforms numerical or textual data into useful information for business analysis. Today, however, we argue that such techniques need to consider media alterations in both a social and multimodal direction. Our analysis hence offers a conceptual understanding of a rapidly evolving field, were methods used within media intelligence need to change as well. By presenting some findings from the so called CIBAS-project, we describe how Swedish organisations and companies rely on social networking structures and individual decision making as a means to increase rapid response and agile creativity. If competitive intelligence was traditionally based on insights gleaned from statistical methods, contemporary media analytics are currently faced with audiovisual data streams (sound, video, image)—often with a slant of sociality. Yet, machine learning of other media modalities than text poses a number of technical hurdles. In this article we use fashion analytics as a final case in point, taken from a commercial sector where visual big data is presently in vogue.
Digital nudging is a relatively new phenomenon that is increasingly mentioned and demanded in human-computer interaction. The concept originates from behavioral economics and aims to help individuals make better decisions that are beneficial to the individual as well as the society, by making subtle changes to the environment in which the decision is made. Nudging implies to pushing people in the right direction and affecting them in different types of decision making. Digital nudging aims at applying the user interface design element to guide people's decisions in digital environments. This thesis presents a study of digital nudging in the form of the six design principles in the user interface of e-commerce sites through the method cognitive walkthrough. It is based on theories of mainly digital nudging but also persuasive design and user experience with connections to psychological aspects. The conclusion of the study has shown that principles in digital nudging exists in e-stores interfaces. The study aims to develop frameworks for an alternative way of implementing digital nudging and to contribute to more knowledge in the field.
Today, it has become a natural part of life for many people to share personal information and turn to search engines and social media as they search and seek information on the internet. This study aims to investigate how individuals are affected by Big Data in their interactions with social media and to understand how individuals relate to personalization of Big Data, digital identity, agency and how they share their own personal data. This has been researched through a case study involving qualitative interviews and experiments. The result of the research shows that personalization of Big Data on social media has an impact on individuals in their ever yday lives. The research from this case study shows a certain negative attitude towards personalization on social media and that there is so me awareness of the companies agency on the internet, this does not affect individuals in taking any actions. This leads to the conclusion that personalization is to some extent a desired function.
Three-dimensional printing is widely celebrated as enabling open design and manufacturing practice. With easy-to-use techniques such as automated modeling, fabrication machines ostensibly help designers turn ideas into fully fledged objects. Prior HCI literature focuses on improving printing through optimization and by developing printer and material capabilities. This paper expands such considerations by asking, how do 3D printing practitioners understand and create "printability?" And how might HCI better support the work that holds together printing workflows and changing ecosystems of materials and techniques? We conducted studies in two sites of open design: a technology firm in Silicon Valley, California and a makerspace in Stockholm, Sweden. Deploying workshops and interviews, we examine how practitioners negotiate the print experience, revealing a contingent process held together by trial and error exploration and careful interventions. These insights point to the value of tools and processes to support articulation work, what Strauss and colleagues have called the acts of fitting together people, tasks, and their ordering to accomplish an overarching project. We show that despite the sought-after efficiencies of such manufacturing, 3D printing entails articulation work, particularly acts of alignment, exposing messy modes of production carried out by a varied cast of practitioners, machines, and materials.
This essay presents a qualitative study of how an interactive audio guide can influence the experience of art in an art museum. The study was performed at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, by testing the audio guide of Moderna Museet and two self-produced audio guides at the exhibition Samlingen. Observation studies combined with interviews were conducted to understand how the visitors are using the audio guides and what advantages and disadvantages the different design parameters had. The results showed that there where specific advantages and disadvantages within the different parameters. It also indicated that an audio guide should not contain too much or too little interaction and should thereby concentrate on frictionless operating. A usage that was cancelled resulted in making the user feel misplaced and unwilling of understanding the art. When the usage was frictionless, the audio guide also served mediating and contributed to the overall experience.
This paper presents a new way of thinking about designing personalized artefacts for dyads (a group of two people) in long-distance relationships, whether they are family members, close friends or romantic couples.
In this paper I am presenting the idea of a playful, yet useful tangible design for people who are often not able to see their loved ones in person. I strive to ideate a highly personalized and meaningful design through a Do It Yourself (DIY) activity for users, which will give them a chance to personalize the product according to their own needs. For this research, littleBits electronics have been used as a prototyping and DIY material. They allow you to create and connect two devices together and use them for different purposes. User testing with two close friends who live in different countries has been conducted. They received three different half-way done prototypes that they could choose from to build. The results showed that the idea of DIY artefact for presence in absence is worth researching, since the activity creates a meaningful shared experience which adds a bigger value to the device.
Tidigare studier visar på att när en resa planeras används oftast sökmotorer som verktyg för att tillfredsställa de informationsbehov som existerar hos en användare. Det är också bevisat att det upplevs vara problematiskt för användarna att särskilja på vad som är relevant information. Den här studien undersöker användarens upplevelser samt attityder till informationssökning online. Är dagens användare nöjda med hur sökresultaten presenteras i dagsläget i dess semesterplanering? I studien genomförs en enkätundersökning på Arlanda flygplats med 121 respondenter samt intervjuer. Vidare deltog även fem informanter som beskriver sina upplevelser och sökbeteenden. Resultatet visar på att majoriteten av respondenterna är nöjda med sökresultatet från sin informationssökning där deras upplevelser av användningen av sökmotorer riktar sig mot det positivare hållet.
This article explores the gamification trend sweeping the globe promising increased engagement and motivation, in practically any industry, context and culture, based on a stratagem of "game design elements in non-game contexts," which is its most quoted definition [Deterding, Sebastian, Miguel Sicart, Lennart Nacke, Kenton O'Hara, and Dan Dixon. 2011. "Gamification – Using Game-Design Elements in Non-Gaming Contexts." Paper presented at the CHI EA "11 proceedings of the 2011 annual conference extended abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vancouver, BC, May 7–12.]. The rise of gamification as marketplace icon is examined and particularly claims that position gamification as the manifestation of a wider societal transformation into playful societies – a "ludic turn." Many of these grandiose statements are the result of ahistoricity and ambiguity regarding the definition of gamification. Based on game philosophy, game studies and gamification research this article posits gamification as an emergent perspective, as distinct conceptualisation, on the rule-driven organisation of sociotechnical management systems that reference "games." Of particular importance is the role of rules. Examples such as Frequent Flyer Programmes and Foursquare are analysed according to the player/consumer positions they bestow, which are explored from participatory, co-creational, critical and game philosophical perspectives. Conclusively, a "gameful" perspective of rule-generated goal-oriented behaviour, or "playful" perspective of instinctive and limitless fun, shed two challenging perspectives on the interpretation of gamification in the marketplace.
Only a third out of all IT-projects are successful. This depends on the factor that the managers and the users which the IT-project is aimed towards aren't properly involved in the design-process. Instead have the technical aspects of the project been in focus and not the users. Impact mappers solve these problems by collaborating with both the managers and the users. The method called Impact mapping has been in focus for this research project and how this method is used by impact mappers to help companies identify and achieve their goals. The impact mapper collaborates with the company to define the purpose of the IT-project. The collaboration between the impact mapper and the users enables the impact mapper to understand how the users interact with the IT-product. This process results in the creation of a so-called impact-map. The impact mapper uses the impact-map to create prototypes of the company's new website. After that the prototypes will be sent to the web developers which will create the website. The managers are responsible for all decisions that are made during the project. The impact mapper recommends the users which should be prioritized based on how they can help the company achieve their goals. The impact mapper is therefore limited in his or her work. The impact mapper has a key role and needs to understand the users and how the business works. Through the usage of interviews we have investigated which opportunities and limitations that may arise when they collaborate with the managers and users. In this research project we have also identified which limitations and opportunities impact mapping has in the development of a new website.
The aim of this study was to investigate the perception of personalization on news applications and to examine to what extent it is seen as an optimal solution for users to receive information. Due to the growth of online news and digital journalism the amount of information that is being published online is significantly higher nowadays than it has previously been. Therefore, a recommendation system called personalization has been introduced to choose content for the reader. Many concerns of personalization have already been brought to light, these concerns are believed to be contributing to filter bubbles and echo chambers. This study will investigate these concerns further in order to understand the users. The methodology used in the study were semi-structured interviews and an analysis based on the concerns brought forward by Borgesius et al. Six interviews were conducted with users and two were conducted with major news organizations in Sweden. The results of the study indicate that users fear personalization will cause filter bubbles and polarization due to them only being subjected to one perspective. The users are unaware as to how personalization works and therefore question why it is being introduced into news applications. Due to personalization being a new phenomenon news applications it is not yet seen as an optimal solution by users or news organizations. There are, however, many factors that can assist in its development such as transparency and awareness of the phenomenon.
This paper highlights the important role that design plays when it comes to women's overall experiences of ther gynaecological examination. It exemplifies how the examination can become renegotiable through the practice of a critical design. We will reflect this in the design of the contemporary gynaecological examination chair (GEC). We used women's experiences as a starting point for the design of an Androchair (a conceptual male equivalent of the GEC), in order to make the experiences critically visible. Inspired by the view of the gynaecological examination as a performance where the Androchair is represented as a prop and was placed on a stage as a discussion object during a public seminar. The Androchair allowed for both critical and multiple readings of the GEC and through that, the gynaecology examination at large. Moreover, it stimulated a discussion about alternative ideas towards achieving a more positive experience.
360º videos have emerged as a technology that providesnew possibilities for filmmakers and users alike. Thisresearch study will look at 360º videos and the level ofspatial immersion that users can achieve while viewingthem in different contexts. A number of studies havelooked at immersion in virtual environment. However, thesame does not apply to 360º videos. The paper willintroduce related work in the areas of 360º as well asimmersion and spatial immersion in virtual realityenvironments in order to provide a background for theresearch question. The process of answering this researchquestion is conducted through showing test subjects fivedifferent videos in set in different locations andinterviewing them as well as asking them to take part in aquestionnaire. The study analyses the findings that emergefrom the interviews and questionnaire in relation to thespatial immersion dimensions that are presented in background literature. Among the study's findings is that the potential movements and actions that users feel theycan perform in the virtual environment is a significantfactor when it comes to achieving spatial immersion. Thestudy also concludes that movement is another factor thathelp users achieve spatial immersion.
The table-top play situation offers unique opportunities for approaching real-world personal problems in ways where the structures inherent in the problems can be deconstructed, examined, and understood. This paper presents design considerations from the ongoing development of a therapy board-game; how every-day issues can bleed in and out from framed play sessions, and how game rules in this context can benefit from being malleable. The paper also offers a tentative avenue towards how play sessions, in a combination of stances for the design of game mechanics with approaches to game mastering, can be constructed as safe-spaces, affording players to draw near deeply personal issues and find ways to support each other.
The fourth layer of narrative in Interactive Narrative Systems (INS), such as games, is the players' re-tellings of the stories they have experienced when playing. The occurrence of re-tellings can be considered as an indicator for a well designed INS and as an instrument of critique - the experiences of play are important and memorable to such a degree to the players that they find them worthy to tell others about. The notion of the fourth layer is added to the structural model of IN Systems having (1) a base architectural layer giving conditions for a (2) second layer of narrative design, while a (3) third layer is the narrative discourse - eg. the unique, session-specific played or traversed sequences of events. In relation to this, the Story Construction model is described.
Mind Shadows illustrates how story can be represented in board games. Here, the game is described, along with design considerations regarding event documentation and co-authoring. In analog games these activities, needs to be designed in a manner that integrate them into game-play, in a manner that is not too cumbersome for the players.
This paper describes the design approach TOG (standing for Technology, Ontology, and Game Genre), and how it can be used in teaching game design and technologies enabling computational expression. TOG, inspired by the processes of AI Based Game Design, was conceptualized when teaching a course on computational expression at the University of Malta. The main aim with teaching with the approach was to facilitate innovation and to prompt students to expand their palette of methods for computational expression as game designers
Game industry is increasing and developing its possibilities by creating new trends, making it more attractive for users and offering way more than just a spending-time activity.
This bachelor thesis presents a brief study about games which are designed and based on real geographical places. This study argues the question about playing games created after real cities and if this can attract gamers to the real destination which a particular game is based on. The aim of this paper is to see if there is a link between tourism and game industry. The methods used for this study are qualitative, in form of interviews, as well as quantitative. The quantitative study is performed with a survey answered by players, and what effect that has on the user experience, both in the game, but also in visiting real destinations. To find out this particular issue, questions about user experience were asked in aim to find out what provokes the desire to visit the physical location. By analyzing collected data, it has come to a conclusion that players are positively affected by the fact that the game they are playing is based on real geographical places.
This conclusion is based on players answers which are reflected by the fact that game felt more real, but also that players took different decision for visiting places during their stay at the destination, which they probably would not do if they did not play those particular games.
Despite increasing interest, Sustainable HCI has been critiqued for doing too little, and perhaps also at times for doing the wrong things. Still, a field like Human-Computer Interaction should aim at being part of transforming our society into a more sustainable one. But how do we do that, and, what are we aiming for? With this workshop, we propose that HCI should start working with the new global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that were formally adopted by the UN in September 2015. How can Sustainable HCI be inspired by, and contribute to these goals? What should we in the field of HCI do more of, and what should we perhaps do less of? In what areas should we form partnerships in order to reach the Sustainable Development Goals and with whom should we partner?


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If it's something a dragon might wear or use, you're likely to find it here - from dragon t-shirts to dragon kimonos and dragon ties; dragon chopsticks to dragon hair sticks; and dragon pens and dragon watches. Free shipping.
Dragon Gifts
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Ahhhhhh, I see…… The UN and IAEA are using the old "recently received information" bit to cover their Dhimmi, jizya-paying, Keffiyah-wearing arses.
UN says has new info on alleged Iran nuclear arms.
The UN nuclear monitoring agency said Friday that "recently received" information is adding to concerns Iran may have worked on developing nuclear arms.
At the same time, a report by the organization – The International Atomic Energy Agency – noted that Tehran continues to stonewall its attempts to follow up on that information, which points to possible experiments with components of a nuclear arms program.
An annex to the confidential report listed "the outstanding issues which give rise to concern about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program." It included design work on a nuclear payload; experiments with explosives that could detonate such a payload and other work that could be linked to making weapons.
As Americans, we continue to allow how much of our tax dollars to fund The United Nations ?
The United Nations – A gathering place and home-away-from-home for genocidal anti-Semites, America-haters and other Totalitarian one-world government types. But they do have some nice artwork in the hallways and a great location on The East River.
It's a sure bet that whathisname and the administration in DC aren't going to do a damn thing about this, so Israel better tool up and be prepared to fight two wars at once…… One against the peace lovers and the other against the current government of The United States.
I'd better stop, or I'll say something next that's not toned down, definitely uncivil and then have to ban myself from my own website.
Kenny Solomon
South Florida
Everything I need to know about Islam I learned at the age of thirteen on September 5th 1972.


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Wilco – Schmilco (2016) review
Wilco – Schmilco (dBpm Records, 2016)
Watch out, here they come again with an album you're either gonna love, hate, or if you're like this reviewer, you're gonna take the songs that speak to you and add them to an ever growing collection of Wilco numbers that shine. By shine I mean that Wilco is one of those bands who put out a splendid amount of sensational tracks, but never seem to find their way when it comes to putting together one flawless album of undeniable material. With that being said, I will suggest that all of the material found on Schmilco will sound amazing when presented live, and therein lies my dilemma with Jeff Tweedy and his merry band of gunslingers … what I hear during a show is not what I want to hear when I drop a record onto my turntable. Now, I'm more than sure that there are those out there who will praise this album to the high heavens, giving it no less than five stars, and sincerely, I'm glad those people are out there walking the planet, because without them, I would miss the four or five tracks off of each album that thrill me no end.
Listening to the album, one can not help being conflicted, as Tweedy's undertaking seems to be aimed at a lot of people and things that piss him off, or have escaped his grasp of understanding … and I don't know about you, but I rather tire of listening to my friends complain all the time, yet alone purchasing an album that takes aim at Jeff's pet peeves … though in all honesty, he does seem to enjoy his bit of neurotic high octane darkness.
In all manners Schmilco is an absolute extension of Star Wars (dBpm Records, 2015), and I for one would like to see the band concentrate on songs such as "If Ever I Was A Child," "Cry All Day," and "We Aren't The World (Safety Girl)," songs that feature the band's innate ability to deliver pure fuzzed out alternative country at its very best. But that's just me, living on the fringe of what Wilco see fit to put out, meaning that for the last twenty some years and ten or so albums, I'm still pickin' and choosin' what Wilco songs I'm going to keep, and which ones I'm going to let gather dust.
– Jenell Kesler
© Copyright http://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2016


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Adoption Journey – Day 494 (1 year, 4 months, and a bit)
Well, as you saw, we got our referral yesterday. A tiny, perfect little girl. 6 weeks old. 7.5 pounds. And a whole lot of hair.
It's been an amazing 24 hours.
Yesterday started like crap. I was sore, as I posted about in the morning. Then around noon, I looked out to see that the chipmunk that I had been feeding for a few weeks now had fallen into the neighbours' rain barrel and drowned — within the past half hour or so. I could have run out and rescued him, if only I had looked out the window sooner.
I was bummed. So I messaged BDH and told him I was really having a lousy day, and I was going to sit on my exercise bike and try to work out some of the pain (and some of the sadness) by riding a bit.
I was pedalling like mad and about an hour into a chick flick when the phone rang. I checked the call display and saw it was my agency, but I didn't think anything of it. I picked up and it was my adoption worker, who I had never spoken to before. She asked if BDH was home, but I said no — they talk frequently, so I thought he had called and asked for some information — so I asked if there was a message.
She said no, but that she had some news. She had a referral for us.
I stopped. "Really?" I asked.
She said yes. So I said, "What do we have?"
She asked if I wanted her to tell me, since she was emailing the info out. I stopped short of saying, "DUH", and said, "Sure" instead.
She took a deep breath, and quietly she said, "You have a little girl".
I was gobsmacked. A GIRL. I knew that girls were frequently requested, and since we had not specified a gender, I just assumed we'd be referred a boy. In fact, I was sure we'd have a boy.
I was thrilled. I stifled a "SQUEEEEE!" and told her how thrilled I was.
Then, she got all excited. "She's absolutely BEAUTIFUL!" she exclaimed. Well, everybody says babies are beautiful — nobody every says, "Wow. You have an ugly baby." So I kind of mentally skipped over that part. But then she said, "And she has SO MUCH HAIR!"
I burst out laughing.
"Well, then," I said, "OBVIOUSLY she takes after BDH then. He had a ton of hair when he was a baby too."
She laughed. She was clearly really happy to be bringing us this news, after such a long wait.
I started to get all welly, and my mind was just blank. I said, "I'm kind of all meshuganneh here. I'm stunned." I was a little giddy.
She said, "We get all sorts of reactions. Some people just cry — INSTANTLY. Others say, 'Oh, well, that's nice'. Very calm."
"That's definitely not me," I said.
She told me she'd be sending out the referral, and what was included. She briefly told me what would happen next.
I said, "So this must be a pretty good part of your job, delivering this sort of news."
She said, "It's my favourite part."
"Mine too," I said.
I got off the phone, and I lost it. I started to cry. Out of relief, out of joy, out of shock, or all of the above and more, I can't say. I just knew I was going to have a little girl.
I rushed to call BDH. Who was, unusual for Mr. Connected-to-Technology-At-All-Times, nowhere near a phone. Completely unreachable, actually. (To completely understand how unusual this is, you must understand that I can call him on his desk phone, his Blackberry, or message him, or email him, pretty much at any hour of any day. So this was a SPECTACULAR act of Murphy's Law.)
I left messages. And while I waited, I read through the file. I stared at her pictures. I cried over her birth mother's report. And I counted my lucky stars that she entrusted the care of her beautiful girl, ultimately, to us.
When he called back, I said, "Hullo, Daddy. You have a baby girl."
He blurted out, loud in the middle of the office, "I am a DAD!"
The he asked me to send him the referral, but it came out like, "SenditsenditsenditSENDitsenditsendITsenditSENDITSENDIT…"
So I did. And then he sat there, smashing the refresh key on his computer again and again and again. No email. If it had been, say, "Hey, how are you?" the message would have been there instantaneously.
When it finally arrived, he printed out a couple of copies of the pictures, as he was on his way to a meeting. When he entered the meeting, he held the pictures up and announced gleefully, "This is my new daughter!" After congratulations all around, the meeting started. Midway through, he confessed, "You know, I saw your lips moving, but I have no idea what you were saying."
He made desktop wallpaper of the pictures for his computer. And sent one to me. And then he showed her picture around to everyone, while I started calling family and friends, who were also not near a phone.
Except for Heather. She cried with me on the phone for a little while. Her dad cried too. And the most magical Miss Isabella assured me that she would help me with my baby, because I didn't have one before. But she has a baby brother, so she knows about babies.
Sherri was home too, who seemed absolutely gleeful at the prospect of being an auntie once again.
And when I got off the phone with everyone, I stared at our referral pictures some more.
She was going to be our daughter.
It was one of our best days ever.
Now, we're getting our last minute things done so our social worker can sign off on us and we can sign off on our referral. We have drawer latches to install, and a fire safety plan to submit, and cupboard safety locks to put on. Our wine has been sent to the basement for storage. Other things have been put up high.
We want to get through this as quickly and easily as possible, so that we can take everything in to the agency on Friday.
We want nothing to stand in our way, between now and going to meet this sweet little girl with the great hair.
Our daughter. Soon.


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You could find wine lovers in all ages. Both men and women would love to drink. With no surprises, women would love to drink the red wine the most of their best shape and shining skin. Likewise, there are different types of wines that remain good for different reasons. There are people that want to understand the process of wine making. If that is your desire too, you need to visit wine factor. The winery is nothing but the company where wines are made. The making of wines will go through many processes, including finding the fruits that suit for wine making, crushing and pressing, fermentation, clarification, aging, bottling and more. All these processes will be explained in detail in the winery. All you must do is to find the winery that can explain the process and stages of wine making in detail. You can take help from your family people or relatives to find out the winery that is good to reckon. Some winery demands more cost to check out the process of wine making. You should compare the cost demanded by various wine making companies and choose the winery that demands decent cost. You can check the site of the winery to know what they actually can explain to you about the process of wine making.
What do you need to know about choosing the winery?
People know that, wineries are the places that make wines that are it. Besides this, they do not know anything about the winery. The following points will help you choose the best Yarra Valley wineries in an easiest way.
The winery does make wines, you are right. Not all the winery companies offer accommodations and tours to the guests. It is you that has to choose the winery that can offer accommodations and tours to the customers if you are planning to stay back in winery for some days.
Choosing the winery that remains closer to your city will help you stay connected with your city at any time. As well, you can able to take more people along with you as traveling close will not cost you more.
A farm winery is something that will involve selling wines to the outlets. If you visit the farm winery, then you can able to know the process of selling of wines too.
Micro winery does wine production in small scale and they usually do not have own vineyards, so they buy grapes from outside.
Likewise, you have different wine making companies to choose from. Choose the best bars in Melbourne for tasting the wine.


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By Doug Logan
The future of the web is bright, but what will it look like?
Star Trek, Star Wars and every other sci-fi movie paint the future with spaceships, teleportation and space stations the size of planets. But I am not trying to be so lofty to predict the future of space travel; I am just taking a moment to ponder the future of the web.
We have come a long way from 14.4kbps modems and large pricey desktop PC's. We now have the web available on our phones, in our eyewear and even on the fridge.
So what does the future of the web look like?
I have no idea. Nobody does. Which ledes me to my point: the way we use the internet will continue to evolve into more useful (and some not so useful) applications and there really isn't much we can do about it.
One thing is clear. Mobile is on the rise and soon there may be more mobile devices connected to the web than desktops. The rise of mobile (and tablets) ledes to the need for things like responsive design (think mobile first) which allows websites to scale to meet the screen dimensions of the device that is displaying it (like this site, go ahead give it a try).
Simple is beautiful and necessary.
The style of the web, much like the style of fashion, changes on a regular basis. More and more we are seeing websites with simple layouts and visual elements. Most recently, Apple has adopted this style in the latest version of its mobile operating system. There are a lot of reasons for this change. But the one that may not be as apparent is necessity. Mobile devices and tablets typically run on slower processors and spottier connections, yet today's on-the-go consumer demands a fast and easy-to-use experience when they are using the web on one of these devices.
So where do we go from here? It's simple. Responsively designed websites are definitely the way to go for today, but we need to be ready for much more change down the road. Hopefully that road continues to lede to useful implementations of the web and less distracting ones. Now, excuse me as I go check Facebook on my fridge...
Header image by TheArches


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by Cameron Hopkins -
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The old frontiersmen liked to brag, "If I can see it, I can hit it," but I'll bet a big pile of buffalo hides that what they really meant was, "If I can see it—and know how far away it is—I can hit it."
Accurate range estimation is the key to hitting beyond what's known as "maximum point blank range," the longest distance at which your crosshairs will deliver a bullet to a given size of target (usually an 8-inch circle for big game). If you're shooting, say, a .30-06 with a typical deer load zeroed for 100 yards, your maximum point blank range will be around 250 yards, meaning your bullet will drop about 4-inches.
You can tweak your maximum point blank range with your zero. Setting your riflescope for 1.5-inches high at 100 yards with that same set up will stretch your range out to 300, maybe 325, and still be within an 8-inch circle with a dead-on hold.
However, anything beyond the maximum point blank range requires an aiming adjustment (or a sight adjustment, which is not practical in the field). For this you need a rangefinder.
I'm primarily an African hunter and the ranges I encounter are not usually long, unlike when on those rare occasions when I find myself in Alaska or the Rockies, facing an across-the-canyon shot. Nonetheless, my day pack contains a rangefinder and having played with most of the major brands, I've finally found one I like.
It's the new Leica Rangemaster CRF 1200, a compact one-handed monocular. I bought it on Amazon for just under $600. I had previously used a Leica LRF 1200, the one that looks like a cigar box. It weighed 320 grams compared to 220 grams for the pocket-size upgrade.
The Leica Rangemaster CRF 1200 is a 7X monocular as well as a laser rangefinder. I find it super-easy to use and it's so small and lightweight that I don't even know it's there. In fact, I connected it to a lanyard to keep from losing the little guy.
For me, the main use for a rangefinder is not ranging game as you might think. I use it to range various landmarks once I sit down to wait and glass an area. That tree on my far right: 347. The big rock over there: 281. The patch of dry grass: 156. Now when a game animal comes along into my field of view, I don't need to waste time ranging him. I know his distance from the landmarks I've already pegged.
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The Christian doctrine of predestination is one of the deepest and most controversial in the church. The idea that God 'predestines' things to happen seems to many to be unjust, illogical, or just plain weird. This is especially true when we start talking about God 'predestining' people to receive grace. Why would God predestine some to be saved, and not others? How could that be fair? And what about free will? If God is truly loving and just, surely he simply offers us grace, and kindly lets us make up our own minds.
These are deep issues over which many godly Christians have puzzled and disagreed.
Here is a debate between two people who hold somewhat opposing views on this subject. Both men are very learned and deeply committed to the Scripture. They both love Christ, and desire to glorify God. But they differ.
The debate below is instructive, not only on the issue of predestination, but on how to disagree agreeably (something that Christians struggle with sometimes).
Yes, the video is long, and yes, it's pretty heavy. But that only reflects the nature of the topic. I suggest you grab a coffee and sit back to listen and learn. It will be worth your time.


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With fewer than three weeks until the start of the NBA's 41st season, we're previewing all 25 teams. Whatchu say? Twenty-five teams? Yup. We're looking at every franchise in addition to shining a light on the new Eastern Conference expansion Charlotte Hornets and Western Conference expansion Miami Heat. And if Charlotte's more East than Miami, I'll apparently be previewing the new United States map. From now until the start of the season, we're bringing you the 1988-89 Fantasy Team Previews, which will focus on each team in order to paint a clearer fantasy picture. Razzball's got all the ins-and-outs of the season covered. Who's new to each team, who's old (Kareem!), and how are you possibly going to compete with whoever takes Jordan with the first pick of your draft? Unless the first pick in your draft belongs to you, in which case, turn off your IBM PS/2, kick up your feet and put your fantasy roster on cruise control. Next up – The Denver Nuggets (where the stars are gonna take us to
Rainbow Bright's Walter Davis' big, shining light … which was not intended to be a cocaine reference, but if it plays, roll with it).
Gained – Walter Davis, Elston Turner, Jerome Lane, Eddie Hughes
Lost – T.R. Dunn, Mike Evans, Maurice Martin, Michael Brooks
Probable position depth –
PG – Fat Lever, Eddie Hughes
SG – Michael Adams, Walter Davis, Bill Hanzlik
SF – Alex English, Elston Turner, Jay Vincent, Jerome Lane
PF – Wayne Cooper, Calvin Natt, Wayne Englestad
C – Danny Schayes, Blair Rasmussen
Surprising Team Fact From Last Season – The Nuggs never turned the ball over, picked opponent pockets like a pack of Calcutta gypsies and averaged more possessions per game than any other team, but still couldn't get out of their own way last year. They attempted the most shots in the league but only made the 16th highest percentage of them, whereas they had the best free throw percentage, but got to the line less than all but four other teams.
Number of Top 20 Fantasy Players (par 0-1) – 1, Lever
Number of Top 50 Fantasy Players (par 1-2) – 2, English
Number of Top 75 Fantasy Players (par 2-3) – 4, Adams, Davis
Number of Top 100 Fantasy Players (par 3-4) – 5, Schayes
Number of Top 200 Fantasy Players (par 6-7) – 7, Vincent, Natt
3 Concerns Heading Into the Season
1. This team got outrebounded more than any other last season? Will that change?
Nah. When the second-best rebounder on your team is a 6'3″ PG, your team just isn't going to be a force on the boards. In fact, with Greyhound Davis set play a huge chunk of minutes, his pair of rebounds per game suggest Denver will rebound less in '88 than they did in '87.
2. With Greyhound Davis pulling into the station, are Adams and English in for weaker seasons?
More English than Adams, but that has more to do with Alex English being older than Lotus software. He'll be 35 this season, and between speed and weary bones, my guess is Denver brought in the equally aged Davis as old man back-up. Like when you're bummed because your grandfather died, but only for a couples days because your grandmother is still around.
3. Will Natt/Turner provide enough of a rebellion to put a hurt on the English?
Okay, so I've clearly tipped my hand here that I think Alex English is going down this season. He's only missed five games in his last eight seasons; smart money says he breaks down eventually and smarter money says it will be this year. That doesn't make sense. Maybe not, but neither did
Rookie Review! – I always like when athletes have names that suggest they were destined to do what they're doing and a basketball player named Jerome Lane fits the bill as well as anyone. The problem is, the 23rd overall pick gives the Nuggets more of what they don't need: an undersized player with a lot of O and no D. There just won't be room for Lane, even if two guys go down.
Fantasy Disappointment in '11 – Alex English. He's old. You watch. The Blade is gonna be duller than Dukakis in '88-89.
Biggest Fantasy Contributor in '11 – Fat Lever. He averaged 19/8/8, with nearly three steals a game last season and if English has the disappointing season I think he will, even if Adams and Davis pick up most of the slack, I think we'll see something like a 22/9/7 season from the guy, which would put him in in the general vicinity of a Magic Johnson-type PG value.
Fantasy Sleeper – Calvin Natt. As power forwards go, he's small, he's slow and he's been injured for the vast majority of the last two seasons. But before those two seasons, Natt was an 18/7/2 guy who took opponents by surprise. Why not a comeback? The opportunity's there. He's only 32, which makes him younger than Cooper, the only guy likely to earn more minutes than him at the four. If he's on the board 130 players into your draft, I'd consider him.


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How to improve yield in DNA-purification from agars electrophoresis? - (Mar/29/2014 )
As title states, how can I improve the yield?
I go from 300ng/ul down to barely 20ng/ul.
I tried to incubate longer time at RT (too evaporate the ethanol from the washing step, but at the same time not too long to risk getting over-dried). Also tried to centrifuge at higher speed and for 2min. And to divide my elution down to 2steps (first 20ul and then 10ul).
Not much improvement so far.
I am using Ge Healthcare Illustra Agaros Purification Kit.
There isn't a whole lot that you can do - yields of 10% or less are very common with gel extractions. The reason is that agarose is a sugar based molecule similar to DNA, so separating the two is quite hard.
You can do a few things
1 - increase the amount of capture buffer you are using. Increase by 50%.
2 - you can pass the capture buffer through the column two or three times.
3 - you can add isopropanol to the (capture buffer + agarose) solution (100ul for every 300ul)
4 - you can use warm elution buffer.
5 - you can do two elutions (which you have already done).
but that said, you do take hit from using a column.
Also have a look on older threads, this is a common problem:
and so on...


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Hospital Patient Portal
During your recent visit at the hospital a PIN number was generated for you. This will give you access to the new Patient Portal we now have that will allow you access to your medical records. To get started, simply register your account by going to the link below:
When prompted to enter your PIN Number, please enter the number that we have already created for you, then answer the questions that follow. After you have completed these steps you will receive an email with the subject of "Welcome to your Patient Portal - Final Registration Step". In this email you will be asked to click a link to confirm your email address. After you have clicked on that link; you will be prompted to login to your account.
We hope you enjoy using the Patient Portal and appreciate your participation; as some of our funding is linked to your participation in the Patient Portal.
Hamlin Medical ClinicPlease click on your physician listed below to access the Patient Portal for Hamlin Medical Clinic.
Dr. Sunkavalli Patient Portal
Dr. White


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In these trying economic times, folks are really starting to embrace their inner web junkies (and web entrepreneurs) for just about everything. Newspapers (like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) are going online only, folks are turning to free or cheap video games online for entertainment &mdsah; and now, one savvy high schooler is attempting to use the internet to put herself through school — literally.
Seventeen-year-old Rachel Harris is a high school senior with an impressive 3.97 GPA, top-10 placement in her class, and a deep, burning desire to go to the University of Notre Dame, though she's lacking the exorbitant funds to do so. While most kids in this situation take out loans large enough to buy a small island in the Caribbean (with interest rates that ensure that loan collectors are actually able to make said purchase) or settle for community college and a job at Starbucks, Rachel has instead turned to the power of the press 2.0: She created Iwanttogotonotredame.com, and she's taking donations.
Man, this is a smart move. First of all, she's getting publicity from everywhere — USA Today, Fox News, The Detroit Free Press — and hey, you're reading it here, right? She's also wise to make her case as a deserving student — she's posted her application essays, her letters of recommendation, and of course, the kicker — the ever-so-easy PayPal donate button. Notre Dame should give this young lady a scholarship — if nothing else, to reward her enterprising spirit (and gain a little good publicity as well — that never hurts).
Of course, this got me thinking about how this geeky/super-smart basic idea can be used for other powers of good. I'm sure there are a few deserving ladies out there who could use something along the lines of Iwantagirlfriend.com. And I think I speak for us all when I say that letsmakebetterlesbianfilms.com would be a huge hit with queer women the world over. Actually, that's a really great idea.
So, readers, what's your take? Will this kind of shameless self-promotion/donation-seeking work for Rachel? It certainly helped Obama.


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I remember the first time I saw the Matrix pretty much exactly 10 years ago, I knew I had seen something very special. I had watched films before that had had a touch of the supernatural, almost like a message form God, like Zeffirelli's "Brother Sun, Sister Moon," and a few others, but this was special, and there have been very few movies since, that got anywhere near the deep spiritual significance of the Matrix, as far as I'm concerned.
Don't get me wrong, I know all about the way the powers that be use Hollywood and all that goes with it to manipulate the masses.
But I believe that there is a greater Matrix that envelopes the smaller matrix of the NWO schemers and their god: the bigger Picture of God, that happens to include the picture of our present reality including its evils, and that when it comes down to it, the Devil is just playing a part if God's plan, whether he wants or not.
Which doesn't mean I'm a fatalist, either; nor can I say exactly to what extent free choice effects destiny or vice versa.
As much as we hate it: we have to leave some of the facts and details up to God & trust we'll find them out in His good time…
Some people didn't understand all the rave and ado about it. They didn't get it then and they don't get it now. They figured, "Cool effects," but they prefer "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars." I guess it's like musical taste: some liked the Beatles, some liked the Stones, or some like Britney…
Matrix was a movie you've had to watch it a few times until you really got all the details.
Back then I was still with one foot in the System and one on a banana peel.
But with all that has happened since then, you might say I'm definitely unplugged now (as in living by faith).
Back then, I may have known the way in theory, but I hadn't really begun to walk in it yet.
I had some rough thoughts and ideas about how the dark forces are manipulating us from behind the scenes, but I wasn't aware to what extent.
I was affiliated with what you might call "The Resistance," but I wasn't nearly as active a part in it as now.
Not until 9/11.
In a way, having seen the Matrix was perfect preparation for not falling for the lies they told us since 9/11.
While the towers were still burning, Rumsfeld spoke of "retaliation." And I knew that what I was watching was propaganda. – The machines at work.
Six months later we watched television for the last time in our home.
We unplugged ourselves from the current of the mainstream media brainwash and started getting plugged in to the line of communication with the "Top," call it Zion, call it Heaven…
…Call it Jesus. I guess if Neo represents any one thing it's Jesus, but also what Jesus can do through each one of us if we dare to let go of the lie they have told us all our lives and believe that "There is no spoon."
– The knowledge of the Matrix being a fake enables you to do things that most people in the Matrix can't do.
I've often wondered if that's what perhaps empowered Jesus to walk on water, etc.: the knowledge that there is no spoon. If our physical world was just a bunch of encoded information (and they're finding out that there are gigabytes worth of information in every living cell… who knows what we'll yet find out about the make-up of our universe…), and He knew the code (since He had obviously written it: "In the beginning was the Word = logos = information…") then the program He had written was subject to Him, and it was not that He was – as we are – subject to or victim of the circumstances. – An idea that drives home the level to which His crucifixion was an absolutely voluntary sacrifice.
Similarly to the way Neo had to decide to risk (and give) his own life for his friend Morpheus, I have also learned since, how much truth there is in not thinking it's you, or that we have to do it ourselves, but sometimes we just have to be there for someone else, and like Jesus said, be willing to lay down our lives for someone else, and that's when all of a sudden you find yourself "in the way," actually walking in it, not just merely talking about it or dreaming about it.
The big surprise at the end is that not even death can stop that kind of love, but it totally overcomes the Matrix and its agents. No wonder, if you keep in mind that God is love…
After a while of living in the consciousness of the extent of the Lie, the fake steak of the Matrix becomes meaningless to you, and money – since you know it's just part of the lie – becomes almost irrelevant, and in its present form on its way to history, anyway.
Since Obama, the powers that are working on introducing the new global economic order have shifted to turbo, and it's not as if Revelation 13 was like Sci-Fi in some distant future anymore.
Other people apart from us "loonies" can actually see it happening somewhere in the not too distant future – the cashless society.
It's exciting.
That's another thing that has changed: I'm not scared anymore.
It's like you just know everything is going to be okay, even if they kill you.
Similar to the plots of the sequels to the Matrix, the Resistance isn't actually always as united as it should be, and many don't believe in "the One," or in anything supernatural, for that matter, and the enemy forces are sheer overwhelming in numbers; but that's all the more reason why you can pretty much take for granted that this war isn't going to be won by sheer power of force, nor with physical weapons.
The fact that Neo had to take the last steps of his way blind illustrated that it's only by faith and not by sight that the final battle is going to be won, and that's what many people just don't want to see, because they think their own arm is strong enough, while their faith isn't…
Regardless of whether the NWO mind-manipulators had their hands in the making of this trilogy, it wouldn't be the first time that God used something the Devil would like to take the credit for.
Some people give the Devil too much credit and are too scared that God is some kind of weakling… They're scared of the stars, scared of candles, scared of sex, scared of the wrong kind of music…
But we're not going to win this war by being scared.
Sometimes the battle looks so hopeless, even the Enemy asks us," why do you keep fighting?" Neo's answer to Agent Smith, "Because I choose to" was not appreciated by everyone, but it's our choice not to give in that is going to see anyone through in the end.
You simply have to choose to keep fighting the Enemy. What other choice have you got? Quit? Surrender?
The message was, "Hell, no, we haven't even yet begun to fight," even if not with those words…
The one thing I didn't like was the ending of the trilogy. A cop-out. A truce between the Resistance and the machines, which in the Matrix scenario may have been the only realistic solution, but it won't be in the real battle.
Some people hold a grudge against God because of the bloodshed depicted in the book of Revelation or Ezekiel, and hate the God Who would allow any such thing to happen.
They would prefer for good and evil to coexist peacefully together in some sort of lukewarm truce. But I sometimes wonder if they ever dig anything at all of what life is teaching us.
I remember reading Revelation as a teen, and I felt very much like Neo did in the scene of movie when he finds out just what the Matrix is, and the first thing he does is throw up.
It's a toughie, facing the reality of our world as God sees it, also, or especially in regard to its impending future (preceding the happy ending) as He foretells it (see Revelation 19-21). And not many people have the guts to face that reality.
But the only way we're ever going to have peace and any type of victory is if we have enough guts to hate evil, and if nothing else in this world will ever teach us to do that, I'm afraid the coming years most certainly will.