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"Well now see, C.C. Rider
Well, now see, see what you have done."
– Ma Rainey
In a July 21, 2008 article in Advertising Age, branding guru James Gregory predicts that Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) will begin to inherit CEO slots with growing regularity. Gregory, CEO of CoreBrand, believes this trend will be fueled by the flawed accounting practice that ignored the impact of brands on corporate balance sheets and "held marketing communications in its grip of second-tier rank within the corporate hierarchy."
There is no question that CMOs can and should sit in the big chairs. The short- and long-term value of managing the corporate brand as a strategic financial asset is, without question, a BGO. My quarrel is with Gregory limiting his crystal ball to Chief Marketing Officers. Chief Communications Officers (CCOs), who are schooled in managing a company's overall reputation and internal/external relationships, deserve a mention here, as well.
In fact, one could argue today's typical CCO is as or more qualified to lead the organization than virtually any other member of the C-suite. Check out this definition: "The CCO of a company is the corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the communications risks and opportunities of a business, both internally and externally. This executive is typically responsible for communications to a wide range of stakeholders, including but not limited to employees, shareholders, media, business influentials, the press, the community and the public."
CCOs help their organizations manage the most daunting challenge of all: change. And they do that by learning to act as "boundary spanners," professionals who can see the organization – the whole of the organization – as others do from inside and outside the company's walls. They serve as early warning specialists who look past the trees and the forests to see the storm clouds on the horizon that could threaten a company's ability to succeed. They counsel senior executives on how to create and strengthen relationships on both individual and enterprise-wide levels. By helping manage the corporate reputation (read: the sum of perceptions about the organization), CCOs help establish the favorable conditions in which powerful brands can thrive and confidence in the company grows.
Sounds like a pretty good training ground for future CEOs to me.
In "Leveraging the Corporate Brand," Gregory accurately predicted the rise of the Chief Communications Officer position, which he writes now "inevitably gave way to the title Chief Marketing Officer." Setting aside the question of that "inevitability" for the moment, here's hoping Mr. Gregory returns to his roots and sees the CCO as worthy of not just riding on the corporate bus but driving it, too.


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I had gotten one of these at my babyshower and she used a laundry basket and filled it with stuff. One of the things in there was a little white hamper for the babys room. I loved that gift, she had lots of goodies in there!! Have fun!!
I'm building/creating my own baby shower gift basket for 2 different showers I have coming up. I'd like it to be elegant, nice, USEFUL, and most importantly, inexpensive to build but not 'cheap' looking.
I'm looking for ideas on what to put into it. I have a few of my own, board book, baby lotion, baby oil, baby wash, wash cloths, hooded towels, grooming stuff (nail clippers, brush/comb, etc.), bath toys, package or two of diapers, wipes....
I got one or two for my son at my baby shower, but I can't remember what was in them (and I remember absolutely loving the thoughfulness and the usefulness of the entire thing!). I would appreciate any suggestions or advice on how to do this (Never done it before, attempting to be creative on a tight budget!)
I had gotten one of these at my babyshower and she used a laundry basket and filled it with stuff. One of the things in there was a little white hamper for the babys room. I loved that gift, she had lots of goodies in there!! Have fun!!
Hi M.~
Im with you...I always buy the useful stuff for expectant moms. I learned the hard way that new moms have no idea what to register for/buy...b/c I did it myself! A few things I always give; disposable bibs, disposable changing pads, rolls of diaper disposal bags (they have Eddie Bauer ones at Target for cheap), refillable travel wipe containers, Avent breastmilk cups/lids (they work for formula, cheerios, etc.), pacifier keepers, onesies, take/toss spoons (Ive had the same set for 3 years now, still use it), and my vote for burp cloths are the diapers that are NOT prefolded...they are softer (after about 4 washes) and my baby always has one to chew on..LOVES them! That's my two cents! Let us know if you came up with some really clever ideas!!
How about a gift certificate for a free night of babysitting or a cooked meal?
One thing I suggest is diaper wipes rather than diapers to keep the cost down....and instead of Dreft laundry detergent..ALL makes a soap for babies that is just as good and A LOT cheaper than Dreft..I use it and it smells great and keeps my daughters clothes soft as can be...also bowls with lids...if she will be formula feeding a container that you can use to put it in premeasured in the diaper bag (I have one by munchkins and its great)...also if shes bottle feeding bottles and extra nipples....
M., the best idea I ever saw at a shower was either using a basket or a gift bag, buying a few outfits and attaching them to clothes pins on a rope so she pulls them out on the string one at a time, it was really cool i thought, but other baby products that you could get would be maybe some socks, oneies, thermometer, pack of newborn diapers, spoons, baby food in jars, also they now make formula in little single serving pouches those are great for on the go, pacifiers, a cute stuffed animal, maybe something with the baby's name on it if they have a name picked out, a trinket to put baby's first hair cut and tooth into, hope these are helpful
I like to go buy flannel and make my own burp clothes. You can pick much cuter designs and they are very soft after a few washes. Also, don't forget to pamper mom! You could put in a few of their favorite things as well as some lotions, etc. Everyone always thinks of baby and it's nice to have a few things back for mommy to pmper herself too.
A feeder bottle would be a great gift. I know you can get them at Babys R Us and I know you use to be able to get them at KMart and Meijer. They are made by Sassy and you put baby food in them and the baby sucks it out. VERY useful. I loved them when I had my triplets. Here is the link for them on the Sassy website.
Oh yeah, and a pack of cloth diapers for spit up rags. I went thru those like you wouldnt believe with 3.
Hi M. - For my shower I received a baby tub filled with all the bath things I needed - sounds like you have thought of a lot of those things already - just put them in a little baby tub with some baby wash, lotion, etc. and you have a very nice theme gift which is neat. You can get the tub, lay out a hooded towel to sort of make a "nest" for the items, add nicely rolled washclothes, bath items, toys, etc. L. W.
PIZZA CUTTER!! Works great for cutting up toddle size bites, and double for all those lazy new mom frozen pizza nights. I have at least 4 in my house. I use it on grilled cheese, pizza, pancakes, strips of lunch meat, you get the idea.
One more thing I found usefull was a dryerase board, to keep track of what time you did what, lets face it when you only get 4 hours sleep a night you need some help remembering things, it is also great for when dad askes when did you feed her last, you can say go look at the board, and when you have well baby visits you will have a better idea of how much and how often the baby eats and poo's.
I received a few as well at my shower (loved them) my girlfriend gave me a bottle of Dreft laundry detergent, burb cloths, a blanket, a little dress and many small things. I think if you go to Walmart you can get a cute outfit real inexpensive or if live near Ikea they have real cute toys. I would put the large items (diapers,wipes) on the bottom and build the small cute things on top. With all the items you bought I really don't think it could look cheap!!
I think baskets are a great idea. The most useful gifts I got were packages of cloth diapers, to be used as burp cloths and travel packages of baby wipes. My kids are much older now, but I still carry those.
I dont want to sound TOO cheap, but have you seen the baby section in a dollar castle lately??? OMG they have the greatest things there. I was able to purchase much much much more for my friends grandson than I would have been able to otherwise. I was then able to use the money I saved to put add some really nice things to the basket I made for her. I used a wicker laundry basket and it looked beautiful.
My daughter gave me a grandson recently and although we were grateful for everything that was given to us, the things we ended up giving away (unfortunately no one included receipts for these) were all of the bottles, nipples, and pacifiers that were not on her registry. We ended up with so many different kinds from so many places. Babies settle on one nipple design and when they decide they like it, thats it. They dont want to use any other. I don't recommend including any that are not on her registry.
Good Luck, I'm sure it's going to be beautiful when you're done.
I love the baskets you can get at Michaels they are usually 40% off. I like the ones with handles. You can carry them easier. I always enjoyed the hooded towels the best. My kids still LOVE them and they can use them for years! It sounds like you have some great useful ideas. Please be very careful when buying baby skin care products. 98% of them are full of mineral oil and petroleum and chemicals. All of these are very harmful. I am a mom of 2 and I am a cosmetologist. I am sure you will do a great job! Jenn K

subset: commoncrawl


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The moot point of MOOCs
Some people are head-over-heels in love with MOOCs. Or perhaps more accurately, the idea of MOOCs. They believe the new paradigm will democratise – and even revolutionise – education.
Others, however, consider MOOCs a passing fad, an unsustainable business model, yet another a buzzword destined for the scrapheap like so many before it.
I happen to stand somewhere in the middle. I believe MOOCs will democratise education to some extent, and they will revolutionise the delivery of education. Importantly though, I don't think they will revolutionise the science of education; after all, a MOOC is arguably an extensible version of what we've been doing all along – albeit on a massive (and free) scale.
I also think the business model will become sustainable, as soon as the providers adopt a freemium model. By that I mean the content is free, but the formal assessment and certification attracts a premium.
And don't forget the intangibles of marketing. Perhaps a MOOC is a loss leader, or a branding exercise, or a CSR strategy. The ROI might be more complicated than the profit-and-loss statement suggests.
So I appreciate the arguments both for and against MOOCs pitched by their proponents and detractors. Nonetheless one aspect of the argument that I don't grasp is the high dropout rate. Apparently if relatively few participants officially complete the course, then the educational experience must have been be a failure. I just don't buy it.
Annie Murphy Paul recently blogged about this phenomenon (The Truth About MOOCs: Only 10% Of Students Actually Finish Them), in which she makes the point that…
…for all the hype about making education available for free on the web, we need to work a lot harder to create the psychological conditions that promote persistence, accountability, goal-directedness, responsiveness to instructors' and classmates' expectations, and whatever else it is that makes students keep going to class in the real world.
Fair call, but I think there's more going on beneath the surface, and the post attracted some excellent comments to that effect. For example, Arthur Clarke commented…
…I wonder if we might not overstate the problem. How many unfinished books do you have lying around? If you are like me you have quite a few. Does that mean that I have wasted my time and, puritanically, should castigate myself for being a quitter? Perhaps we need to look at learning differently.
Perhaps we need to look at learning differently indeed.
My reaction to the 10% completion rate for MOOCs is:
Who cares?!
The proponents of informal learning don't care. Nor do the proponents of constructivist learning. Nor, dare I suggest, do the proponents of social, mobile and blended learning. To these people, the completion rate of a MOOC is a moot point.
The only people who seem to care are the MOOC providers themselves (naturally), the proponents of formal learning, and the ever-present killjoys.
To the MOOC providers I say: Adopt the freemium model already! I'm no accountant, but I expect a 10% completion rate would be financially viable.
To the proponents of formal learning I say: Formal learning certainly has its place, but that doesn't mean it meets everyone's needs. One size does not fit all.
To the killjoys I say: Identifying an obstacle does not impress me. Explaining how to overcome it does.Explore posts in the same categories: MOOCs
Tags: #edcmooc, 10, business, completion, constructivism, distance learning, e-learning, education, elearning, formal learning, freemium, informal learning, massive, model, MOOCs, online, online courses, open, rate, sustainableYou can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
8 Comments on "The moot point of MOOCs"
25 January 2013 at 19:30
I agree. I am signing up for MOOCs now as if "what do I have to lose?" I get what I can from them, but it doesn't matter (to anyone, as is pointed out here, apart from statisticians) whether I "complete" the course or not. The important thing is that for people who need to complete courses, the opportunities for that are skyrocketing (toward a freemium model). For those who want to learn what they can, or get their feet wet without taking the plunge, or just sample the waters, why wouldn't the 'attrition' rate be high? But then again 'attrition' implies that all those enrolled intended to see the course through to the bitter end to begin with, which is hardly likely to be the case.
29 January 2013 at 19:16
I think the openness of MOOCs allow people to explore: both the content of the course and the level of the course and the online part of the course. That is just nothing short of great. The more you explore, the more likely it is that you encounter something of interest and the more you know what to expect. MOOCs will become, in addition to all other things that have been said, a good filter for university courses and programs. I suppose universities, at some point, may ask you to do a set of MOOCs before really signing up.
3 May 2013 at 9:00
Couldn't agree more Ryan. I'm not a dropout, I'm a dropin! http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=MOOCs+category+mistake


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- Wholewheat flour
- No artificial flavours or colors
- High fibre
- Rich in calcium
- Melts in the mouth and
- No transfats again
This is my most favourite biscuit of all oatmeal honey cookies and they call it as hobnobs with the goodness of natural honey, oats and wholewheat…they are healthy and yummy!
- Oats for a healthy heart
- Wholewheat for a strong and fit body
- Honey for overall health
The last biscuit variety I tried was the cream biscuits (as I am not more interested in cream biscuits much but my daughter gave me the feedback even before I tasted them) and these biscuits seemed to have a burst of orange flavour in them. These biscuits are:
- Vitamin C enriched
- Tangy orange flavour


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Simply Marvellous: 10 Gorgeous Photos of Cahal Pech Village Resort in Belize
Cahal Pech Village Resort – A Top Belize Resort to Stay in San Ignacio Town
Perched on top of the ancient hills of Cahal Pech Maya Ruins is Cahal Pech Village Resort, one of the largest hotels in San Ignacio Belize.
The resort is comprised of 23 palm thatched cabanas, 14 standard rooms, 5 spacious suites, 9 deluxe suites, 3 fresh water swimming pools, a gourmet restaurant, a fully stocked bar, a gift shop, a fleet of tour vehicles and a cadre of professional staff that is responsive and will go beyond to make your stay unforgettable.
Here are 10 gorgeous photos of Cahal Pech Village Resort:


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View our Product & Service Directory. You can even print it to keep it handy!
Product & Service Directory
When you think of a hardware store, you think of nuts and bolts, nails and screws. Opdyke Lumber carries all the hardware that keeps your projects together. We not only have nuts, bolts, nails and screws, but also pneumatic fasteners and a wide variety of deck fastening products.
Regardless of the project, we carry all of the box, cement coated, common, cut, deck, drywall, finish, masonry, panel, ring & screw shank, and roof nails you might need. We also carry a huge variety of screws including machine, masonry, self-tapping, wood, sheet metal, and drywall screws. You will also find mollies, toggles, and sheetrock anchors. We have plenty of lag bolts and shields, anchor, hex and carriage bolts from quality manufacturers like Hillman. Don't forget staplers, tackers, rivets, riveters and grommets from companies such as Arrow and Stanley.
We carry the miscellaneous screws you use for your cabinetry and drywall projects and brands you may ask for by name, like Tapcon concrete screws or GripRite. We also have powder actuated Ramset products for masonry work.
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Whatever your fastening needs, we carry all the products you've come to expect as well as innovative products that speed up projects and make them better.


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Move over Jared Leto, for it is Joaquin Phoenix who will be the next Joker, Warner Bros. announced.
We have heard a lot of rumors and speculations, but finally the truth is out. Joaquin Phoenix will star in the upcoming Joker movie, which now has an official name and release date.
The movie will be directed by Todd Phillips, best known for writing and directing Road Trip, Old School, Starsky & Hutch, The Hangover Trilogy, Due Date and War Dogs.
Finally! https://t.co/fnWKgyrkSy #GoT #GameOfThrones #LongNight #HBO
— The Life Pile (@thelifepile) July 11, 2018
It has been named, typically, Joker, and will premier in cinemas on October 4, 2019.
Phillips, described the movie as an "exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale."
While Warner Bros. spent $300 million on Justice League and $149 million on Wonder Woman (their lowest DC movie budget), they are only giving Joker a mere $55 million.
You can't get enough of thishttps://t.co/6UqiEAozm7 #DavidSpade #FatherOfTheYear #Netflix #Movie #Comedy
— The Life Pile (@thelifepile) July 9, 2018
The strange thing about Joaquin Phoenix playing the role is that Jared Leto is not completely out of the picture.
Leto is still under contract to be the Joker in at least 3 other movies, Suicide Squad 2, a solo movie and a Harley Quinn-Joker movie.
Phoenix finalized the deal to play Batman's arch-nemesis last month, with production scheduled to begin within a few months.


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It's officially summertime and the heat is on…at least here in Phoenix. This is the time we slow down to enjoy our family and friends and do all the fun things we promised ourselves during the year. So, how's it going? Have you taken time to do that "something" or go to that "somewhere" you promised yourself and your family? Have you slowed down to spend time together with your family?
I think as parents we sometimes think together means running the roads; overpriced summer attractions; bigger, better, brighter. Those things are wonderful but they aren't the only way to find quality time with your kids.
Listening to each other, learning something new, explaining, asking your child's opinion….voices aren't raised, tempers aren't flared. Just enjoying being together.
As I've learned from my son and daughter, the memories that stick in their heads aren't always the ones with the most $$$ signs. Memories that stick are rooted in together. As I write this blog, my adult children are at opposite ends of the country. One is in New York and the other in San Francisco. They'll both be home in a few days with stories and pictures of their summer adventures and I will eagerly listen and love that we are together.
Side by side.
Give and take.
Patience and time.
Just together.
So maybe for you, together is cleaning out a closet, helping with dinner or pulling all the blankets out and building a fort in the living room. Whatever it looks like at your house, cherish it! You have a lot of summertime, together-hungry hours ready for you to fill!
Thank you Lord for together!


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So I treated myself to some.
The journaling isn't visible -- sorry! It's on the yellow card peeking out from behind the photo.
The page documents my husband's 40th birthday surprise: a Lego Millennium Falcon. We could have gone with the whole "over the hill" approach, but instead, my daughter and I decided to honor the forever-young boy within.
I pulled together lots of tidbits on this layout, using pieces from Ali E.'s story kits, past Studio Calico and Elle's Studio kits, some October Afternoon chipboard pieces, and more. The patterned papers are from a variety of sources, including Studio Tekturek (love, love, love that blue paper), JBS, and SC. The background paper (from SC) reminds me of the circles on Lego pieces.
It felt good to make a "just because" page, especially one that allowed me to let go and be silly. I've been way too serious lately, and needed to loosen up. Thank goodness for this crafty outlet. :)


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Ryan Blaney Impresses in Nationwide Series Debut Under Lights at Richmond International Raceway
The No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet finished seventh
RICHMOND, Va. (April 30, 2012) – Ryan Blaney made his NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) debut under the lights Friday at Richmond International Raceway, earning a seventh-place finish in the No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing. The 18-year-old driver qualified the No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet eighth for the Virginia 529 College Savings 250.
After a solid qualifying effort, Blaney lined up to take the green flag from the eighth position. He raced in the top-10 until the first caution period called for debris on the racetrack on lap 25. Crew Chief Brad Parrott elected to stay out, and the SealWrap Chevrolet restarted eighth. Blaney, posted lap times as fast as the leader and drove into the top-five by lap 45. He passed Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. for the fourth spot just 10 laps later.
On lap 69, J.J. Yeley hit the wall in turn four and brought out the caution. Parrott called his driver down pit road for his first NASCAR pit stop. Blaney hit his marks, and the team got to work on a four-tire pit stop with no changes. An issue with the top of the fuel can held up the stop, and the No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet returned to the field in the 12th position.
The 43-car field restarted on lap 76. Blaney fell to the 14th position by lap 83 but worked back up to the 12th spot by lap 96. The High Point, N.C., resident radioed that the car was a little tighter on this run. On lap 116, the No. 81 spun and brought out the caution with the TBR Chevrolet in the 11th position. Blaney told the SealWrap crew that the Chevrolet was a little bit free later in the run.
Parrott called Blaney down pit road for another four-tire pit stop with an air pressure and wedge adjustment. The No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet restarted in the 13th position on lap 125 and worked to the 11th spot by lap 150. Blaney radioed that the car felt tighter, but once he reached the 10th position on lap 154, he told the crew the car drove well in clean air.
By lap 183, he was the fastest car on the track and drove in the eighth position. The rookie continued posting the fastest speeds as he drove into seventh on lap 191. By lap 200, green-flag pit stops began with Blaney in the fifth spot. On lap 206, Parrott called his young driver down pit road for his first green-flag pit stop for four tires and fuel.
Blaney returned to the track in the 11th position, one lap down, as the field continued to make pit stops. By lap 217, the field completed green-flag pit stops, and the No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet returned to the lead lap in the 10th position. Blaney radioed that the car was loose, and Spotter Tommy Baldwin advised to turn the brake fans off to get more heat in the tires. The change did the trick as Blaney began his final trek through the field.
As the laps ticked down, Blaney drove into the seventh position, where he would remain until the checkered flag dropped.
"I had a lot of fun out there," said Blaney. "The finish exceeded my expectations. I appreciate how everyone drove around me. They showed me a lot of respect as a rookie. Our car was really good, and we were much better on long runs. We lost a little time on pit road but made it up on the track. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the seat at Darlington. This has been a dream come true thanks to SealWrap, Heavy Duty and Tommy Baldwin Racing."
Blaney will return to the No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet May 11at Darlington Raceway. He will compete in the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200, his second NNS race.
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About Tommy Baldwin Racing:
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Crew Chief Tommy Baldwin formed Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) in 2009. Baldwin utilized a declining economy to open a NSCS team with a stringent budget. The team worked to build to full-time competition, and by the 2011 season, the team's third season, TBR competed in every race and locked the No. 36 Chevrolet in the top-35 in NSCS Owner Points. Dave Blaney drove the No. 36 Chevrolet to TBR's highest finish of third in the October 2011 event at Talladega Superspeedway. TBR also fielded a second car for select races in the past two seasons with multiple drivers.
Based in Mooresville, N.C., TBR will compete in the NSCS in 2012 with NASCAR veterans David Reutimann and Dave Blaney. The team will also compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with Ryan Blaney, Bobby Santos and Ryan Truex.
For more information on Tommy Baldwin Racing, visit tommybaldwinracing.com or follow us on Facebook, facebook.com/TBR.HBR, and Twitter, twitter.com/TBR_Racing.
Media Contact:
Heather Lumpp – email@example.com – o: 704.696.0036 – c: 847.302.5509


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Lamentation To The Cows Of Bashan – By Izuchukwu Okeke.
It is 9 am as I stepped finally into the long-stretched passage. It was empty; no teacher, no students; only me. I was late, quite unfortunately. The lectures start at 9 am, and it is expected everyone be in the class at least 8:55 am. And, surely, here, once it is 8:55 the lecturers all file out to the various classes. And once it is 9 am, the classes start. If you arrive a minute past 9, you are late, as I was this day.
The reality of this empty passage sent my mind back to the country I was coming from. I was not even comparing the punctuality of the academic cadre or the standard of education itself. I was thinking of the massive collapse of its essence, its availability and the poverty of its prospects.
The night before, I read it on the Internet that lecturers in the Polytechnics were still on strike. They had been before the University lecturers joined in the middle of last year and continued till early this year. University students sat through 6 months dining with the two worst devils of life: idleness and boredom. The Polytechnic lecturers took few months break and had resumed strike again. And, as it seems, politicians are busy carpeting and cross carpeting; somehow they are not interested in the rants of these distracting academic hordes. So when will the students in Polytechnic go back to class? It is not even known.
I live in Korea, and in this country education is everything. I think it is not necessary to blow anymore horn about the strength of this nation's economy, standards of their infrastructure and quality of their living standards; all hinged on the power and value of their education system. But it is worth mentioning what I found to be the major discrepancy between these two nations. Here, psyche is the central and most respected national resource; human resources are the strength of the government, the economy and the society, which is why education is everything. Every effort is invested and legitimately dispensed at developing the individual to become a global brand, to earn the capacity to compete with his mates anywhere they are found in the globe.
This country situated on the peninsula betwixt China, North Korea and Japan squat on a total of 100,210 km sq area of land. But unfortunately 72 percent of this land is hills, plateaus and mountains. Meaning that their populations of a little over 50,000,000 people live within the remaining clusters, in relatively higher density, 501.1/km2, higher than most nations of the world. From the shackles of Japanese domination in 1950, this country has risen in leaps and bounds. Among its endearing statistics is the fact that within these decades that followed its independence South Korea economy has been transformed into a G-20 major economy and has the second highest standard of living in Asia, having an HDI of 0.909.
Yes, South Korea is Asia's fourth largest economy and the world's 15th (nominal) or 12th (purchasing power parity) largest economy. But Korea has no Crude Oil, Tin, Iron Ore, Gold or Diamond Mines. This economy is export-driven. South Korean corporations like Samsung and LG (ranked first and third largest mobile phone companies in the world in the first quarter of 2012 respectively) dominate world markets, among the many beautiful, yet daunting stories of their transformation.
Behind this testimony of exemplary 50 decades of industrial development is an educational and social philosophy that underscores, perfectly well, that the true wealth of a nation is not its natural resources as much as it is its human resources. And each new day as I walk towards the class in Sunkyunkwan University, I am reminded of this philosophy. And also of wholly dedicated, hard-working, cheerful teachers who can go to any length to impart knowledge to the students. How many times I pity the extent of their personal sacrifice to advance the academic goals of their students. But they all work according to this country's educational philosophy.
The classes are fully equipped with advanced learning infrastructure. The chalkboard a long time ago had given way to a board fully equipped with Power Point presentation facility, digitalized and connected to the Internet. Our test books are online and everything we have to do is online based and of the best standards compared to anywhere in the world.
Here, sadly, a 60 mark/grade after an exam is just a pass! Not even a credit. So any score less than 70, you have to go through a review to step you up and you have to write an exam to prove the review produced the expected result. And this and other factors have driven this nation from the brinks of poverty to industrial heights.
But, somehow, as I entered the class with these thoughts, I began, once again, to nurse that deep gorge of guilt that comes to me when I remember my country, Nigeria. That feeling also comes along with a certain gnawing pain of the advanced nature of ignorance spawned by our system on both the leaders and the lead that seems to suggest nothing will change soon. Since I was born the story has always been that the situation is bad for the common man. It had gone from worse, to worst, until there is no relative adverb to describe the situation now.
I did not cause Nigeria's problem. I did not steal anybody's money to be here. My father until his demise was a poor village farmer. My mother is still living off her labour in the farm. I am only a fortunate candidate of a scholarship programme. But this feeling when it comes doesn't leave me soon. It keeps digging deep hole on my moral fibre. I keep wondering if there is a way I may have contributed to making Nigeria what it is. Leaving over 70 percent of her human population disillusioned and gasping for life, not knowing how and from which source the next meal will come. Seeking miracle in anything mentioned to possess divine power.
I was also keep wondering how Nigerian students abroad whose parents are part and parcel of this system that created the rot feel. How do they feel knowing their parents have left many of the nation's youths disoriented and confused? How do they feel when their parents pay so much for them to study in this kind of environment, and knowing that this money, by every legitimate standards their parents cannot earn it? How do they feel when they remember that having messed up the system and exported them abroad to acquire the best education their parents left the system back home in total pell-mell. How do they feel to learn that their mates down in the villages are giving up legitimate endeavors and making career prospects in kidnapping and robbery? How do they really feel? Worse than I do? Or maybe they do not feel anything at all?
In the last one-month a drama has been playing out between the Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi on the one hand and Ministries of Finance, Petroleum and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, on the other. As it were the whole nation focused on it, because of the whopping amount of money involved. And as that drama played out, the reality of the hopelessness of the Nigerian situation dawned so much on me. That drama defines us in the mean time. Nobody in Nigeria's governance system has an alternative thinking—or may be just a tiny minority of wayward thinkers who do not even possess the gut and grit to make it to the positions of governance.
To many of them there now at the corridors of power, be it political or bureaucratic, all they want is money. Everyone is talking money, oil money; how it is stolen, how it is not stolen! No one else is thinking. To Nigeria and Nigerians this oil money is everything. You have it, you have everything, you don't have it, and you don't have anything. That charade at the House of Assembly also defines the 2015 and the slapsticks of cross-carpeting that have become a daily news menu. Because everybody, everybody politician, wants to place himself at the vantage position to have a bite of the piece of the cake come 2015. They have been eating, and they want to keep eating.
Google, two regular guys' idea is about to worth more than our oil. The Facebook founder is just 24 years old. But where are Nigerian youths? Is anybody concerned at the mess we left him or her? Of the frustration we are building up among them? Just education! Give them education, a qualitative one, so that they can on their own change their world, compete with their fellows elsewhere. No! Nigerian politicians do not see the resource in the youth. They are only tools used and dumped during elections.
In this generation Nigerian leaders are wired in pursuit of oil blocks and loots because in our clime ideas do not sell and if ideas sell, regular guys will become threats to Nigerian politicians. May be that is the fear. Because I do not see the big deal in investing 30 percent of our resources in revamping the educational system, and establishing it on the best standards and employ it to eliminate this endemic poverty in our clime.
As I sit in the class this day carrying this feeling and thinking these thoughts, the pain gnaws even harder that nothing will change. What will I write more than have been written these years, and what will I say that that has not been said? Like Amos in the bible called their likes, they are cows of Bashan. But we will keep lamenting to their ears. Even when they refuse to change, heaven will bear witness that we told them, as our fathers did.
Izuchukwu Okeke Job
KGSP Scholar
Sungkyunkwan University
Suwon, South Korea
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters


text:
Product 17/72
This Nike Air Jordan 7 Retro is known as the "Bobcats" edition. They come in a dove grey, turquoise blue, wolf grey and total orange colorway. Featuring a two-tone grey-based upper with turquoise and orange accents. A general release, look out for them in late April of 2015.


text:
2010 FIFA World Cup Final
|2010 FIFA World Cup
|11 July 2010
|Soccer City, Johannesburg
|Man of the Match
|Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
|Howard Webb (England)
← 2006
2014 →
The 2010 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 11 July 2010 at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, to determine the winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Spain defeated the Netherlands 1–0 with a goal from Andrés Iniesta four minutes from the end of extra time. The match was marked by an unusually high number of yellow cards, mostly issued to the Dutch who were criticised for their rough play.[2][3]
Both the Netherlands and Spain were attempting to win their first FIFA World Cup. The Netherlands had been beaten in the final in 1974 and 1978, while Spain's best performance had been fourth place in 1950. It was the second consecutive all-European final, and marked the first time a European team has won the trophy outside Europe.
Prior to this game, the Netherlands and Spain had never met each other in the main tournament stages of either a World Cup or a European Championship, the two major tournaments for European international teams. In all-time head-to-head results, the teams have met nine times previously since 1920, winning four games each and drawing once, in either friendlies, European Championship qualifying games, and once in the 1920 Summer Olympics.
Neither team had won a World Cup final before. The Netherlands were runners-up twice before, losing 2–1 to West Germany in 1974, and 3–1 to Argentina in 1978. Reaching the 2010 final was Spain's best performance in the World Cup, having previously finished fourth in 1950 when the tournament had a round-robin final stage, and the quarter-finals stage in 1934, 1986, 1994 and 2002, when single elimination knock-out stages featured. Spain became the 12th different country to play in a World Cup Final, and first new team since France in 1998. The Netherlands played in its third final without a win, surpassing the record it had shared with Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Overall, Germany leads with four final losses. Spain became just the eighth country to win the World Cup, joining England and France as nations who have won it just once.
Before the match Spain had an Elo rating of 2111 points and the Netherlands a rating of 2100 points. Thus, the finalists combined for 4211 points, by far the highest for any international football match ever played, beating the previous record of 4161 combined points for the 1954 FIFA World Cup Final between Hungary and West Germany.
World Cup firsts
It is the first time since the 1978 final, when Argentina beat the Netherlands, that neither of the finalists has previously won the World Cup. It is the first World Cup final not to feature at least one of Brazil, Italy, Germany or Argentina;[4] these are historically the top four teams in terms of World Cup final appearances.
In another first for the World Cup, neither team that contested the previous final in 2006 reached the knock-out stages of the tournament. Defending champions Italy and runners-up France both finished last in Group F and Group A respectively. It is the second consecutive final which did not feature Germany or Brazil, and the third time overall since 1954, the other being 1978.
With two European finalists, it is the first time a European team has won the World Cup hosted outside of Europe. It sees Europe reaching ten World Cup titles, surpassing South America's nine titles. It is the second consecutive all-European final since the 2006 final, meaning the trophy has been won by a European team in consecutive World Cups for just the second time, the other time being when Italy won back to back in 1934 and 1938.
The match had the most yellow cards awarded in a World Cup Final (14).[5]
Spain had the fewest goals scored in the World Cup tournament for a champion (8). The previous record was 11 goals by Brazil in 1994, England in 1966 and Italy in 1934. They also had the fewest goals conceded for a champion (2), tied with Italy (2006) and France (1998).
The match was also the sixth to go to an extra time (among the 1934, 1966, 1978, 1994 and 2006 finals), and the fourth that was decided during extra time (along with the 1934, 1966, and 1978 finals), two of which were lost by the Netherlands.
It was the first time since 1974 that the current Champions of Europe also win the World Cup, the last being the German national squad.[6]
Spain's victory marked the first time that a team that lost their opening World Cup finals game has gone on to win the tournament.
It was also the first time since England in 1966 that the winners of the final wore their second choice strip (uniform).
Route to the final
Spain entered the 2010 World Cup as the reigning UEFA European Football Champions, having won UEFA Euro 2008, and as the shared holders of the international football record of consecutive unbeaten games for a national team, spanning 35 matches from 2007 to 2009. The Netherlands entered the World Cup having won all eight matches in their UEFA Group 9 qualifying campaign.
Once at the finals in South Africa, the Netherlands reached the knockout stage as winners of Group E, with three wins out of three against Denmark, Japan and Cameroon, conceding only one goal. In the knockout stage, they beat World Cup debutants Slovakia, five-time champions Brazil and two-time champions Uruguay. The Netherlands reached the Final in a 25-match unbeaten streak since September 2008.
In Group H, Spain recovered from a loss to Switzerland in their opening game to beat Honduras and then Chile, finishing top of the group ahead of Chile on goal difference. In the knockout stage, they then beat their Iberian neighbours Portugal, quarter-final debutants Paraguay and three-time World Cup winners Germany. The semi-final was a repeat of the match up for the UEFA Euro 2008 Final, and again saw Spain beat Germany, who were the top scorers of the 2010 tournament up to that point.
In the six games both teams played in South Africa to reach the final, the Netherlands scored a total of twelve goals and conceded five, while Spain scored seven and conceded two. Going into the final, Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands and David Villa of Spain were tied as the top scorers with five goals each; Arjen Robben of the Netherlands with two was the only other player in the finalists' squads with more than one goal in the tournament.
|Group stage
|Match 1
|Match 2
|Match 3
|Final standing
|Knockout stage
|Round of 16
Notable attendees
The match was attended by members of both the Dutch[7] and Spanish Royal Families. South African dignitaries and celebrities attending included Charlize Theron (actress),[8] and Jacob Zuma (President of South Africa), while Nelson Mandela (former President of South Africa) made a brief appearance before the match wheeled in by motorcart.[9] Spaniards Rafael Nadal (tennis player) and Pau Gasol (basketball player)[10] were in attendance to cheer on their team. Other international celebrities to attend the match included American actor Morgan Freeman and socialite Paris Hilton.[8]
Match ball
Adidas Jo'bulani
The match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final, revealed on 20 April 2010, was the Jo'bulani, a gold version of the Jabulani ball used for every other match in the tournament.[11] The name of the ball is a reference to "Jo'burg", a common nickname for Johannesburg, the match venue.[11] The gold colouring of the ball mirrors the colour of the FIFA World Cup Trophy and also echoes another of Johannesburg's nicknames: "the City of Gold".[11] The Jo'bulani is the second ball to be specifically produced for the FIFA World Cup Final, after the Teamgeist Berlin was used for the 2006 final.[11]
All but three members of the Spanish squad play for clubs in Spain; the other three are based in England. The Netherlands squad draws its players from clubs in five European countries, with just nine based in the Netherlands; six play in Germany, five in England, two in Italy and one in Spain.
Match officials
The referee for the final was Howard Webb, representing The Football Association of England.[1] He was assisted by fellow Englishmen Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey. Webb was the first Englishman to referee a World Cup final since Jack Taylor officiated the 1974 final between the Netherlands and West Germany.
A police officer from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, 38-year-old Webb is one of the English Select Group Referees, and has officiated Premier League matches since 2003. He was appointed to the FIFA list of international match referees in 2005, and before the World Cup, he had taken charge of the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2009 FA Cup Final.
At the 2010 World Cup, Webb refereed three games, all with Cann and Mullarkey as his assistants. In the group stage, he refereed the Spain–Switzerland and Slovakia–Italy games, and then took charge of the Brazil–Chile match in the Round of 16.[1] In those three games, he never showed a red card or awarded a penalty, but he did issue the second highest number of yellow cards in the tournament, an average of 5.67 bookings per game. With fourteen yellow cards in the final (one red card to John Heitinga – twice yellow), he easily broke the previous record of six for most cards in a World Cup final, set in 1986. Nine of these Final yellow cards came in the first 90 minutes.[12] Webb's total of 31 yellow cards throughout the tournament came to an average of 7.75 per game.
Queen Sofía, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia celebrate Spain's winning goal, while Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima are disconsolate
The Final was played on 11 July 2010 at Soccer City, Johannesburg. Spain defeated the Netherlands 1–0, after an extra time goal by Andrés Iniesta.[13] The win gave Spain its first World Cup title.[14]
The match was notable for the large number of yellow cards shown.[14] Fourteen yellow cards were awarded, and John Heitinga of the Netherlands was sent off for a second yellow. Nigel de Jong also delivered a studs-up kick to the chest of Xabi Alonso during the first half, but received only a yellow card. Some were of the opinion that the referee should have punished the Dutch player more severely.
The Netherlands had several chances to score, most notably in the 60th minute when Arjen Robben was released by Wesley Sneijder putting him one-on-one with Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas, but Casillas pushed the shot wide with an outstretched leg. Meanwhile, for Spain, Sergio Ramos missed a free header from a corner kick when he was unmarked.[16] With a penalty shootout seeming inevitable, Jesús Navas sprinted into opposing territory and began a series of passes that led to Iniesta finally breaking the deadlock in extra time, scoring a half-volleyed shot after receiving a pass from Cesc Fabregas.[17]
Just before the goal was scored, the Dutch team had a free kick that hit the wall (clearly deflected off Fabregas) before going out.[18][19][20] Despite the deflection which should have given possession and a corner kick to the Dutch, a goal kick was given to Spain, starting the play that led to the goal. The Dutch, however, momentarily had possession of the ball near the Spanish penalty area in between the goal kick and Iniesta's goal. Joris Mathijsen was yellow-carded for his strong protests to the referee after the goal, and other Dutch players criticised Webb for this decision after the match.[18]
As the Spanish team descended the steps onto the pitch after receiving the cup, the Dutch team applauded them from a guard of honour formation.[21]
|11 July 2010
|0 – 1 (a.e.t.)
|Soccer City, Johannesburg
Attendance: 84,490
Referee: Howard Webb (England)[1]
|Iniesta 116′
|Man of the Match:
Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
Assistant referees:
- Overall
|Goals scored
|Total shots
|Shots on target
|Ball possession
|Corner kicks
|Fouls committed
|Yellow cards
|Second yellow card & red card
|Red cards
The day after the final, Dutch legend Johan Cruyff publicly criticised his countrymen for having played "in a very dirty fashion", describing their contribution to the final as "ugly", "vulgar", and "anti-football". He added that the Dutch should have had two players sent off, and criticised referee Howard Webb for failing to dismiss them.[23] The Associated Press was of the opinion that the Dutch had "turned far too often to dirty tactics".[24]
The Dutch received nine yellow cards, compared with five yellow cards issued to Spain. Before the final, Webb was tied with Yuichi Nishimura of Japan for issuing the highest number of yellow cards (17).[25] After the match some Dutch players, such as Robben, Stekelenburg,[26] Van Persie,[27] Kuyt and Sneijder[28] accused Webb of favouring the Spaniards, while in Switzerland's earlier defeat of Spain, Spain supporters accused Webb of favouring Switzerland.[29] Other critics noted poor and missed calls on both teams.[30] By the end of the tournament, the Dutch team earned 22 yellow cards in its seven games at the finals tournament, while Spain earned only 8 (the lowest of the four finalists, with Germany and Uruguay having earned 13 each).[31] Spain was awarded FIFA's fair play award after the final.
Some English commentators, such as Sam Wallace,[32] Graham Poll and Dermot Gallagher,[33] have defended Webb. FIFA President admitted Webb had a "very hard task" in the match.[34] Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong stated that Webb, who he knows from the Premier League, is not a bad referee, and admitted he was lucky not to have received a red card for his high challenge.[35]
Despite most media coverage indicating criticism of the Dutch, the Dutch team was welcomed back to Amsterdam by an estimated 200,000 supporters lining the banks of the canals,[36] and team captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst and coach Bert van Marwijk were named Knights in the Order of Oranje-Nassau by Dutch Queen Beatrix.[37] Further, some reports noted the play-acting and fouls by some of the Spanish players, which together with the Dutch tactics resulted in one of the least exciting games of the tournament.[38] Renowned German footballer Franz Beckenbauer criticised both teams and Webb when saying that the match was "lacking flow, [with] constant protests from the players and a referee who didn't have too much of an overview.


text:
Profession: Online ESL Teacher
Teaching Experience: I spent a year and a half in Vietnam teaching English to students who were a variety of levels from beginner to advanced.
I also worked in a school in England where I helped students aged 8/9 years old to improve their reading and comprehension.
When I was 20 I also spent a month volunteering in India and teaching in a local school.
For the past 4 months I have been living in Colombia and teaching English online here.
Interests: I love travelling to explore new countries and cultures. Currently I am based in Colombia in South America and I love the food, nature and people here. Another one of my hobbies is film photography which I have been doing for over 2 years now. I also enjoy listening to music, doing art, reading and going on hikes.
Education: I studied Psychology at Nottingham Trent University and graduated with a Bachelors Degree of Science.
Spoken Languages: English (Native)


text:
My first day at school
I went to school today.
And tho' it was quite new
I found the kids were lots of fun
And I liked our teacher too!
At first I felt that I might cry
For I didn't know a soul.
But soon the class bell rang, and then
Our teacher took the roll.
We each were given a desk
To call our very own.
Mine's right up in the front
Next to a girl named Joan.
The teacher said that we should draw
A picture of a man.
We all went right to work on it,
That's when the fun began.
After we finished our pictures,
The teacher said we'd sing.
So we crowded round the piano
And made a great big ring!
The day went by so fast,
The time just seemed to fly.
When mother called for me at three,
I hated to say good-bye.
So I'm going again tomorrow,
I won't miss a second of it,
And I'll do just what the teacher says,
'Cause I really and truly love it.


text: Auburn-haired Aussie Sarah Walker is known as a sextroverted SKINtertainer in the land down under. Her flawless face and hourglass figure can be spotted in Paul Cox's drama Man of Flowers (1989). Speaking of flowers, in one scene Sarah bares her radiant rosebush, puffy pokies, and perky posterior while fooling around in bed with her Sapphic sweetheart. Miss Walker will make you walk on the wild side!


text:
Awesome Home Remedies
Chest Congestion
The sweetness of your breath may suffer, but eating a plate of curried, sauteed onions on rice can really loosen congestion in your chest. Lightly saute two onions, sliced, and at least 1 teaspoon of curry powder in 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil until the onions are soft.
Onions contain quercetin and sulfur, two plant compounds that break up mucus and increase circulation, explains Orlarsch. Curry also loosens phlegm. And for that breath, that is a different issue.
If you don't like prunes, you have another option for constipation relief. Dried figs work just as well as prunes. They contain soluble and insoluble fiber, both of which flush out your intestines.
In fact, five figs supply at least 20 percent of your daily fiber requirement, more than almost any other fruit.
To clear up dandruff you need to counter the cause of the problem: your scalp's acidic pH level. To restore your scalp's natural alkaline pH level, first wash and condition your hair.
Then, while still in the shower or bath, pour a cup of apple cider vinegar on your head and rinse with water.
A common kitchen spice can stop a case of the spins. Simply drop a pinch of cayenne(bird pepper) into a glass of warm water and sip.
The warmth of the water and the heat of the cayenne cause your body to pump more blood and oxygen to your brain, which makes you feel clearheaded and steady
Sleep is what you need if you're overtired. But for a quick push up,drink a mug of mate (Ilex paraguariensis). This tea also contains caffeine, but in lower doses than coffee.
It also contains theobromine, an energizing compound.
Dull a tension headache by massaging a few drops of peppermint oil (Mentha piperita) into your temples. Peppermint works as well as 1,000 mg of acetaminophen, the main ingredient in aspirin.
Insect Bites
Relieve the itch from bug bites with an onion. The sulfur in onions neutralizes the chemicals that cause the itch, explains Candee. Simply slice a yellow onion in half and rub one of the cut sides on the bite. The itching should stop immediately.


text:
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Proceedings of the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium's 2007 public health law symposium where public health lawyers and tobacco control experts debated the impact of expansive new smoke-free policies on autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, personal liberty, and public health.
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Compilation of select quotes from historic 1,300-page opinion in U.S. government's massive racketeering case against cigarette manufacturers.
- WorkSHIFTS Toolkits for Employers and Unions
Resource materials for labor union leaders and employers on tobacco cessation and related workplace issues.


text:
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text:
Tomorrow is "Mother's Day" in Aussie (not sure when others celebrate this special day) sew I would like to wish all MUMS a Very Happy Mother's Day…….
Hugz Maria
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Happy Mother's Day
Labels: Mother's Day 2015
10 comments:
hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow!ReplyDelete
having brunch with all my boys and mum too. Happy days
Happy Mother's Day to you too Maria ! I plan to spend the afternoon sewing after having morning tea over at my sisters with our Mum.ReplyDelete
to you too sweet Maria! It will be mothers day here in the states tooReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 9, 2015 at 8:24 PM
Happy Mother's Day Maria xxReplyDelete
And a very Happy Mother's Day to you, my friend!ReplyDelete
.......and to you too, Maria.ReplyDelete
Hi Maria..Happy Mothers Day to you as wellReplyDelete
And back at ya Maria... xoxReplyDelete
Happy Mothers Day to you Maria...hope you have a lovely day.ReplyDelete
Happy Mothers Day Mum.ReplyDelete
Love you so much, hope you had a lovely day.
We will get together soon & enjoy a cuppa.
Love Sandra
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It has been a month since we celebrated the success of our Storyteller Apprenticeship Program at Shaughnessy Public School, with a spectacular school assembly. The memory still makes me smile.
For six months, starting in January 2012, twenty kids, aptly dubbed, 'storyteller apprentices', shadowed me with notebooks and pencils as I told stories in all the classes. This wonderful assortment of students, ranging in age from 6 to 14, and in height from just over 3 feet, to well over 6 feet tall, attentively watched and listened to thirty stories, observing and taking notes on storytelling techniques.
They learned how to use their voice to portray character; how gestures and facial expressions convey emotions; how to identify and support the big idea of a story, and how to look and sound confident, even when you feel shy and frightened.
I worked with teacher/librarian Barb Cook on this project. When she first introduced me to my twenty apprentices, most of them looked at me with shy skepticism, wondering, "How on earth could storytelling possibly be fun?"
Well, the students had lots of fun, and I had the pleasure of watching them evolve from a wobbly, disconnected group into a confident, compassionate supportive storytellers' cooperative, demonstrating yet again how storytelling can be a team activity with tons of cooperative learning opportunities.
On a day in June, at the conclusion of the program, to celebrate the end of the school year and to showcase the new skills they had acquired, my apprentices joined me on stage to help tell three folktales in an all school assembly. On the morning of the performance, during the brief hour and a half we had to rehearse in the library, I became aware that a significant change had occurred in these students over our six months together. Their confidence was much improved and the group had an over riding sense of community and belonging together.
When we first came together in January, everyone felt the incongruity of being a small group of mixed ages. There are significant differences between a six year old and a fourteen year old, that go beyond size. However, after spending time learning and working together, a strong feeling of camaraderie clearly developed between the students.
During our rehearsal, I watched a grade 8 student help a grade 1 student secure her costume and overheard two grade 3 students sharing tips on how to stay calm and not 'freak-out.' During the assembly, all the storyteller apprentices performed their parts with confidence and pizzazz. The show exceeded everyone's expectations. The audience was thrilled and the storytellers were amazing!
After the assembly, the apprentices reconvened in the library to celebrate and discuss their success over ice-cream sundaes. We interviewed each student on video, asking what they learned from being storyteller apprentices.
Many said they had grown in confidence through learning how to tell stories. Others said they no longer considered themselves to be shy after moths of telling stories to each other and to the 200 students gathered at the final performance.
A grade 3 boy said he used to be very shy, but now wants to attend a performing arts school when he reaches high school. A grade 7 boy said he had fun standing in front of the whole school and making them laugh. A grade 8 girl said she felt proud of her accomplishment. Indeed, I had witnessed her transformation from a girl who kept her head bowed, looking at the floor, to a self-confident girl who smiled and looked into your eyes.
In the aftermath of the program, Barb Cook spoke to other teachers in the school, accumulating hard data that showed an improvement in both grades and attendance by many of the storyteller apprentices, even those who had been identified at risk of dropping out.
To me, this provides empirical proof for what I've witnessed firsthand through over twenty years of storytelling. Specifically, that stories and storytelling, like all art forms, have the power to engage, transform and inspire children – and adults – to grow into their fullest potential.
There is a great need in society for strengthening personal connections, engagement with education and for building supportive, inclusive community. Storytelling can be a very powerful agent for positive change in this regard. Stories speak to who we are, both individually and collectively; the rich interplay of fact and fiction helps us create our own personal view of the world we share with one another.
I look forward to meeting other students and educators who are up for a journey that leads to a fantastic and very real place.
– Cheryl Thornton & Matthew Giffin


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Sellers have too long focused on the narrow spectrum of sales: Niraj Dawar
Once you start to uncover costs & risks, you realise that there is tremendous amount of value that the customer is willing to pay that we neglect because of our focus solely on the product, said Prof Dawar in a special interaction with Vikram Sakhuja, Global CEO, Maxus
Vikram Sakhuja, Global CEO, Maxus engaged well-known marketing strategist Professor Niraj Dawar in an insightful discussion on how organisations need to revisit their 'product-oriented' approach and become more customer-centric at the IMPACT One-On-One with Niraj Dawar event in Mumbai.
Vikram Sakhuja: The fact that you are labeling this point about the need to be customer-focused rather than upstream means that people are not doing it. What is preventing them from doing it?
Niraj Dawar: For 250 years we have been focused on the upstream. All these years we have structured our organisations, our management practices, our culture, and the questions that we ask to manage the upstream. The factory is at the core of everything we do, or the product is at the core of everything we do. But business costs have shifted downstream. Value that customers are willing to pay for has shifted downstream. The centre of gravity has shifted, but we are still continuing managing the upstream. That is where we are right now. So, why is it so difficult? In one word, the answer would be inertia.
Vikram Sakhuja: You have also been asking Ted Levitt's 'marketing myopia' type questions about 'Which business are we in?'. Are you getting the sense that people are not asking this enough?
Niraj Dawar: Fifty years ago in 1962, Ted Levitt published a paper in Harvard Business Review in which he had said that companies are answering the question 'What business are we in?' too narrowly. He said, for example, the railway companies thought they were in the railways business, but when transportation by air and on the highways became common and inexpensive, the railway companies suffered and went out of business because they didn't see themselves as being in the transportation business. As for the lessons learnt, they have not permeated management thinking. So, we still have companies like BlackBerry and Kodak, which eventually filed for bankruptcy and is trying to emerge from it. Kodak saw itself as being in the film business as opposed to being in the imaging business.
So, have Ted Levitt's lessons been learnt? The answer is no. I think the companies need to ask another question in today's age—"Why is a customer buying from us rather than from our competitor?" When one starts to ask that question, I think it will open a set of opportunities that I have been talking about.
Vikram Sakhuja: I loved the part where you said in your book how Apple did just that with their response through iTunes, at a time when Napster and others were having problems. Could you tell us what iTunes did that made MP3 monetise-able?
Niraj Dawar: Apple's innovation was not necessarily the iPod. The MP3 player was, in fact, invented by a Korean company three years before Apple introduced it. The idea that consumers would share or download music was invented by Napster and others. So, Apple didn't invent that either. Best practices in online retailing were invented by Amazon. So, what did Apple contribute? Steve Jobs stitched all these innovations together into a business model that asked the question – Why would customers buy music in an environment where they can download it for free? The answer was not in making better music, but in making music easily searchable; making sure the catalog was sufficiently large or giving consumer a mechanism that would make their entire music collection portable and make that collection searchable. All these are downstream reasons for why customers would buy music and that is what Apple did so well with the iTunes.
Vikram Sakhuja: In your book, you seem to have crystallised the entire game of customer facing strategy to two things – how you buy being more important than what you buy and how you buy being all about elimination of cost and risk.
Niraj Dawar: So, what I argued is that we need to be able to ask questions – "What costs do we impose on our customers?" "What costs do they incur in buying our product?" Or "What costs do they incur in searching, using, comparing it with others, or disposing our product?" There are so many costs that they incur through the entire chain of activities. We, as sellers, have too long focused on that narrow slice of "the transaction" because that is where money changes hands. If we widen our lens a little bit and look at the entire spectrum of activities, we would realise that our customers incur costs, which are sometimes far greater than the price that they pay for our product. If we can cut those costs, we create customer value, and often need not reduce our price in order to compete.
The same goes for the risks our customers incur. Risks are even more interesting because it's hard to uncover the risks that people incur while consuming our products. So, once you start to uncover costs and risks, you realise that there is a tremendous amount of value that the customer is willing to pay for that we neglect because our focus is almost solely on the product.
Vikram Sakhuja: In terms of devising your downstream strategies to reduce costs and risks, you have given one of the more practical applications of Big Data by giving the examples of how Amazon used Big Data to connect with consumers and also how Google is using it for search predictions. You also talked about how the education industry has used it to benchmark. Would you like to share some of that?
Niraj Dawar: The questions that people keep asking about Big Data tend to be technical questions. For instance, how do we analyse, store and consume Big Data, etc. I think the strategic question we need to ask is what value does Big Data add to our customers. When we begin to ask those questions, we realise that applications of Big Data are far simpler than the technical problems. For example, when you log on to Amazon, it can predict what kind of book you would buy based on the fact that it has access to 180 million customers and their purchase history. Based on this data, it knows the type of customer you are. It can predict your product preference and what kind of price you would pay for the product. Big Data can be even simpler than this. For example, the fact that people post reviews of products and books on Amazon that other consumer can read is also a use of Big Data, wherein you are assembling information from consumers and feeding it to consumers who are likely to buy the product. This is a very valuable use of Big Data, which I have called 'Relaying and Connecting'.
Vikram Sakhuja: What is your view on closed platforms such as iOS versus open platforms such as Android and their ability to aid in devising customer strategies?
Niraj Dawar: I think there are lots of pros and cons of open versus closed platforms. I think eventually open platforms will drive out closed platforms. However, the key to consider in a platform decision is always the network advantages. So, how many people are likely to use and continue with a platform; that decision can get technical very quickly.
Vikram Sakhuja: What is evident to all of us is that first to market necessarily does not mean first to mind. Why is it that brands who go to mind first do better than first who go first to market?
Niraj Dawar: An example in this case would be Pampers, which was not first to market. The brand that was the first to market in diapers was Chux by Johnson & Johnson. But we have never heard of Chux because Pampers was first to mind. Companies which are first to mind are much more likely to have used mass marketing. They are much more likely to form key criteria of purchase. Pampers was the first to create the purchase criterion of absorbency and has occupied it for the last 40 years.
On the other hand, Chux was introduced in early 1960s as a solution to the problem that your gas tank was larger than your baby's bladder. In other words, you could drive long distances on the interstate, but you would have to stop if you didn't have diapers for the baby. The solution that diapers were supposed to fulfill was that you can continue to drive for longer distances. It was a product that was associated with the highways. That was very niche use of diapers. It was Proctor & Gamble that took diapers to the mass market and got the criterion of absorbency associated with Pampers. That was what made the difference.
Vikram Sakhuja: But Viagra was first to market and first to mind. It still managed to find a competitor in Cialis. How is that?
Niraj Dawar: Just because you are first to mind does not mean that you have a perpetual monopoly on the product category. When Cialis was launched, the erectile dysfunction (ED) market was very attractive because Viagra had become a $1.5 billion product within 3-4 years of its launch. Competitors wanted to get into the market. What happened was that Bayer developed Leivitra, but launched it as a 'me too' product with a slightly lower price tag. Cialis changed customers' criterion of purchase. It was no longer the effectiveness of the ED drug, but the much longer window that the product promised – you take the drug and you have a 36 hour window, is what Cialis promised. Thus, Cialis changed the criterion of purchase from effectiveness to duration. That is what made the difference. They changed the game.
Vikram Sakhuja: In all your research across four continents, have you looked at any Indian brand or company which you found was forward facing, concentrating on the downstream and customer-oriented? Who is doing it right over here?
Niraj Dawar: I think there is a lot happening here. To give an example, a few years ago, I came across United Phosphorus. I was talking to Jai Shroff at UniPhos based in Mumbai, who told me that that they sell phosphorus to farmers. But often the farmers are not able to afford the application equipment. So, the company talked to retailers, who would buy the application equipment and rent it out to farmers. Thus, they designed a business model to rent out the application equipment to farmers along with phosphorus. Remember, they are in the phosphorus business, but they are now developing rental schemes and capital leasing. Then they realized that retailers still didn't see the business model as effective unless they were able to get loans from banks to buy capital equipment. Therefore, United Phosphorus got the banks involved and developed a business model, wherein banks would lend money to the retailers, who would buy the captail equipment, which was in turn sold to the farmers. Thus, they developed an entire business model in the downstream.
Vikram Sakhuja: I truly got a lot out of reading your book 'Tilt' and found it very useful. I say that because I am in an industry which has been accused of a fair degree of commoditisation. So, if we have to differentiate and get more value going for us, I think that there is a whole lot of 'tilting' that we would need to do.
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An alleged shark that appeared in a Manhattan Beach, California, wave Friday as two children played in the water nearby was most likely a dolphin, according to experts who have examined the image (see top photo).
The unusual "photobomb" story went viral on Sunday and Monday, with some reports stating that the critter was, in fact, a shark, and most other reports strongly implying that it was a shark.
This is somewhat understandable. There were several shark sightings in Manhattan Beach in late summer and fall, mostly from the pier or from the air. Juvenile great white sharks feed in Southern California coastal waters and are seen sporadically into early winter.
However, if you look closely at the photo, the tail fin is horizontal, like that of a dolphin. Also, there is no sign of a second dorsal fin, which sharks possess (see illustrations).
Plus, bottlenose dolphins are frequently seen surfing in the faces of waves, while sharks are not. If this still looks more like a shark than a dolphin, water distortion could be the reason.
Stated Kera Mathes, a naturalist with the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, on her Facebook page:
"I know there has been a lot of concern over this news story, but just wanted to let everyone know this is a dolphin. A couple of us (mainly Julien Jordan haha) have been emailing in to the news. I couldn't agree more Julien, the news needs to check the photos and facts before you go scaring everyone! I hate that the poor sharks are getting a bad, scary rep for this when it's a coastal bottlenose dolphin."
Diane Alps of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Cetacean Society commented on my Facebook page: "Sure looks to be a bottlenose dolphin! Single falcate dorsal fin, horizontal flukes. General body shape looks dolphin-esque too."
Florida-based shark expert David Shiffman is quoted in multiple stories saying the creature is a dolphin, based on its flat tail fin. He stated on Facebook:
"I asked about a dozen shark scientists and a handful of dolphin scientists (yes, I know dolphin scientists) to confirm my suspicion that it was a dolphin, and 100% of them identified it as a dolphin. It doesn't have a second dorsal fin and the tail is flat. Dolphin.
"It took me only a few minutes to do this. And yet, the media ran with the inaccurate and fear-mongering story without reaching out to any scientists."
This is not the first case of likely mistaken identity (we cannot state as fact that the Manhattan Beach photobomber is not a shark, and Eric Martin, co-director of the Roundhouse Marine Studies Marine Lab and Aquarium at the end of the pier is among those who still thinks it's a shark).
In September of 2012 at the Hurley Pro surf contest at Lower Trestles near San Clemente, California, Kolohe Andino was photographed riding a wave while what was first thought to be a shark appeared in the wave face (middle photo).
It was identified as a bottlenose dolphin by ACS researcher Alisa Schulman-Janiger, based on the shape of its dolphin-like fluke.
In 2011 at Swami's in north San Diego County, surfers were sure that a large critter photographed in a wave was a large great white shark. The tail of the animal even looked vertical, like that of a shark. But that, too, was most likely a dolphin turned sideways as it swam through the wave (bottom photo).
Said Salvador Jorgensen, a white shark expert from Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station: "It doesn't really look like a shark tail more than, say, a dolphin sideways in the wave. But it's impossible to say for sure from the picture alone."
Christopher Lowe, a white shark expert who runs the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, also said the tail looked more like that of a dolphin.
So apparently, the two kids playing in the waves at Manhattan Beach on Friday were photobombed by a bottlenose dolphin. Still a fun story, but one that would not have gotten nearly as much attention (or website traffic) had it been reported as such.
–Find Pete Thomas on Facebook and Twitter
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Enjoy the best of UK television all across Portugal
Since the nineties, Sky television has forged the way in home television entertainment to customers within the United Kingdom. It removed many barriers that traditional terrestrial television channels were unable to break, such as delivering pay-per-view events including major sports fixtures and recently released movies. Sky also provided us a much varied range of television, most commonly from the America and in more recent years, from other regions including Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
In the past, where there was just the usual range of BBC and ITV networks to deliver the same rigid choice of TV shows, Sky instantly opened up a whole universe of television entertainment.
Now more than a quarter of a century later, we are in the internet age of home entertainment where not only can you still access TV via satellite transmission, you can also watch programmes 'on-demand' at a time and place of your own preference on numerous devices at home or on-the-move. The world has evolved fast and without doubt, Sky has been an influential part of that. Where other TV channels have followed, Sky television has been an innovator and leader of new technologies.
So with such a forward focussed attitude, is it any wonder that Sky is just as popular today as it ever was?
With the growth of the European Union, the world has become a smaller place and with that, many Brits have decided to leave the motherland and start a new life overseas, most notably in sunnier climates such as Spain, Portugal, southern France, Italy and Greece. Some however have migrated to the likes of Switzerland, Austria, Poland and many other eastern European nations. We are without doubt a nation of distanced ex-patriots.
However like most Brits, we favour our television and given the possibility, we still prefer to watch our own, native TV entertainment rather than the local offerings. That's why so many of us who have left the country, still have the desire to watch UK TV where they live. This growing demand has led to many overseas suppliers of Sky television to arise from the shadows and start supplying UK television abroad.
The problem is, there are many companies who are operating outside of the law and in many cases, offering pirated and illegal services that could be closed down or worse still, could put the customer in a position of enquiry under EU laws. So with that in mind, how can you find a credible and legal provider of Sky television?
Finding a reputable Sky viewing card seller
Consider it or not but there are a good handful of reliable suppliers of Sky viewing cards but separating them from the rogues is the difficult trick. Here's a few ways to finding a supplier you can trust and count on:
1. Secure Site
Look for the lock icon when searching for Sky TV in Portugal. If their website is secure, it shows you they have taken moves to secure your data and ensure your credit card details is only transmitted over a secure, encrypted connection. Google ranks sites using HTTPS with greater priority so if you've found a site that doesn't use SSL, ignore them and move onto the next one.
2. UK address
If you're buying a Sky card using a UK credit card, your best choice is to buy from a UK supplier. By doing so, your payment will be protected under UK law but also, you'll be able to speak to an English language speaking native if you ever need advice. Any reliable supplier can send a Sky viewing card to virtually any country across Europe as the postage fees are low and delivery should be quick and easy.
3. Telephone
Choose a seller that offers telephone as well as email support. Email only backup tends to ensure you are kept at arms length, whilst telephone calls give you the ability to talk to someone and find out what their support is like. If you get through, ask some pressing questions and then get the feel for whether you can count on this supplier.
4. Avoid Scammers
Online auctions are filled with fake and hacked Sky cards. The same is true for online forums, Facebook pages and a number of other social media platforms. If they don't have a website with a permanent business location, do not trust these sellers. More often than not, they will send you a crappy card that either works temporarily and will get cut off shortly after use!
Be satisfied with your choice!
Once you've chosen a supplier who ticks all of the above needs, you should be ready to go online and buy your Sky TV in Portugal service. Getting Sky TV overseas is fairly straightforward in most European countries nowadays but settling on a supplier who is trustworthy and professional is another matter altogether. So with just a little homework and due diligence, you should be able to make an informed and wise choice.


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Creamy, natural linen
A light, soft peach-pink
Cheery, medium-toned pink
Sun-ripened peach
Red-orange warmth
Golden pecan bronze
Bold, bright orange kick
Warm, sophisticated maroon
Rich, warm purple
Pearlescent lavender
Palest lavender
Pretty purple, slightly warm to the touch
Medium cool-toned gray
A deep, warm gray, slightly lighter than Graphite
Deep pencil gray
A softly desaturated version of blue Quill
Understated deep blue
Sweet summer sky
Deep, bright blue
Mid-toned blue depths
Oceanic green
Frothy blue with a tinge of green
Velvety-soft green, leaning blue
A soft meadow green, brighter than Turtle
Warmest deep green
Sun-kissed gold
Bright, pure white
Sophisticated off-black
Kestrel is a new take on a simple linen yarn. We took the same Belgium-grown organic linen that we use in our little Sparrow and spun it this time in a ribbon structure. Kestrel knits up quickly at 3½ to 4 stitches to the inch. Its flat surface adds a slight texture to simple knit and purl stitches. But we think the best thing about it is its incredible drape. Like all things linen, woven or knitted, Kestrel only gets better as you wash and wear it.


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Already an international success, the new Radical Cup USA, is gunning to become the largest single-make racing series in the United States.
With extraordinary prizes, competitive 'arrive and drive' packages, trackside support from Radical West USA and backing from two of the most exclusive circuits in the country — Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch near Las Vegas and the Monticello Motor Club of New York — it's off to a good start.
"Radical Sportcars, the largest racing car manufacturer in the world, builds the venerable 270HP SR3 and mind-blowing 460HP SR8 open-cockpit racecars that are owned by dozens of members at two exclusive country club race tracks, Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch near Las Vegas and Monticello Motor Club, just 90 minutes from New York City," explained Simon Shepard, director for Radical West, the world's largest distributor outside of the manufacturer.
"Radical owners at these private clubs and at other racetracks around the country, as well as racers in various prototype series in non-Radicals, are clamoring for a new racing series at the professional level that is affordable, reliable, fair, and performance-driven. With Radical and the North American Road Racing Association, we now deliver the ultimate race series."
"Many of our private members own Radicals and race them in our club series. The Radical Cup USA is the logical evolutionary step for any racer, club or junior, to a professionally supported national series," added Ari Straus, President of Monticello Motor Club.
"The overall 2013 Radical Cup USA champion receives an LMP2 test with a top European Le Mans team, while each of the SR8/Coupe and SR3 class champions win a one race SR8 RX drive in the FIA sanctioned Radical Masters Euroseries.
Unique to the Radical Cup, which is also highly popular in Australia, throughout Europe and the Middle East, the overall champion is derived from the competitor with the highest point score from either class, placing equal emphasis on both SR3 and SR8/Coupe drivers.
Comprising of 12 rounds over six weekends, the 2013 Radical Cup USA will visit some of the most famous sports car courses in the United States including Road Atlanta, the storied Virginia Int'l Raceway and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
The season will commence next month at Miller Motorsports Park, Utah, on March 29-31 and conclude at the exclusive Monticello Motor Club.
Sanctioned by the North American Road Racing Ass'n, three of the Radical Cup USA events will coincide with weekends featuring NARRA's popular US GT Championship and SRT Viper Cup series.
Radical Cup USA Calendar
March 29-31 Miller Motorsport Park Tooele, Utah
April 12-14 Road Atlanta Braselton, Ga.
June 28-30 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, Calif.
July 12-14 Virginia Int'l Raceway Alton, Va.
July 26-28 AutoBahn Country Club Elwood, Ill.
Sept. 6-8 Monticello Motor Club Monticello, N.Y.


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At BlizzCon Blizzard Entertainment announced a new partnership with construction toy experts Mega Bloks, and now the first images of the new World of Warcraft Mega Bloks product line, which debuts this summer, have been released. The new Mega Bloks World of Warcraft Authentic Collector's Series features highly-detailed customizable figures, dragons, vehicles, and more that should appeal to World of Warcraft devotees whether they play online or the WoW TCG or both.
The Deathwing's Stormwind Assault (product # 91016) includes buildable Deathwing and Stormwind plus an exclusive Varian Wrynn and two additional faction figures complete with interchangeable gear that makes them extremely customizable.
The Collectable Mount Assortment (91007) features the ultimate rides that Azeroth has to offer allowing players to assemble their forces with a Swift Gryphon, Swift Wyvern, Flying Machine, and Goblin Trike. Each approximately 90 piece set includes a buildable faction figure with interchangeable gear to collect and customize.
Some of the Mega Bloks World of Warcraft Collector's Series boxes will feature a special "Hidden Loot" logo indicating that the box contains additional randomly inserted weapons, gear or artifacts.


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Our mission is to work as a team with our customers, not just as a service provider but as a business partner committed to supporting their project with our experience, expertise and dedication to excellence.
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Beyond Floor is a welcome change offering customers personal attention in an increasingly impersonal world. We make it our goal to respond to all our customer's needs in a timely and professional manner, and pride ourselves on always being reachable by phone or email so our customers never feel left in the dark.
We realize that our work is an investment in your home, so let us help you navigate this investment by walking you through our wide range of woods, stains and finishes in one of our free consultations.
We are ready to assist you with answers to all your questions. Pre - Finish hardwood, Engineered hardwood, Un- Finished hardwood, and Laminate flooring installation can be scheduled today. hardwood flooring installation in Charlotte
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A troublesome aquatic fern may hold the key to cleaning up oil spills.
More commonly known for choking waterways with leaves and damaging ecosystems, Salvinia molesta could now prove useful by soaking up petroleum without absorbing surrounding water and thus cutting disposal costs.
Claudia Zeiger, Researcher at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), said: "We are looking at nature, trying to understand what nature does and how it works and using that for technical applications."
Three years ago IMT developed 'nanofur', a synthetic version of the hairy, absorbent structures covering Salvinia molesta's leaves, made by pressing a hot steel plate into a polymer foil.
"The surface of the polymer melts, and when the steel plate is retracted, micro- and nanoscaled hairs are pulled from the surface. It's like cheese on a pizza. The surface melts and pulls up and then freezes as we get a surface that is hairy and has similar structures," Ms Zeiger added.
She believes that both the Salvinia plant and the synthetic nanofur can be used to clean up oil spills and continues working to scale up the nanofur so it can be used outside the laboratory.


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With the gorgeous East Pennsylvania mountains as the backdrop, Becky and Pat exchanged vows and Carden's Photography & Film was there to capture every detail of this vision in cool grey and sunny yellow. You've gotta love their table number idea: each table number was a two-sided photo display of the bride and groom with the table number corresponding to their ages at the time of the photos. Absolutely adorable!
Photographer: Carden's Photography & Film
Reception Venue: Eagle Rock Resort
Cake Designer: Pamkakes, Tamaqua, PA
Visit us at Things Festive for stylish wedding accessories at lovely prices and Things Festive Papers for divine wedding papers & gifts.
Like this blog post? Have more to add? Help others by posting a comment below.
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The Trees and Forests Advisory Committee serves as a resource and information support group to the Planning and Environment Committee, the Municipal Council, and its Committees as required. The Trees and Forests Advisory Committee implements London's Urban Forest Strategy through Planning & Protection; Planting & Renewal; and Management & Maintenance.
The Trees and Forests Advisory Committee currently meet once a month on the 4th Wednesday at 12:15 p.m.
The personal information contained in communications directed to City Council and its standing and advisory committees is collected under the authority of the Municipal Act, 2001 as amended and will be used to assist Council and Committee Members in their deliberations. Questions about this collection should be addressed to the City Clerk at 300 Dufferin Avenue, London, ON N6A 4L9 or by telephone 519-661-CITY (2489) ext. 4937.
Communications addressed to City Council and to its Standing and Advisory Committees become part of the public record and will be published on a public agenda and made available electronically through the City of London public internet website. The City will not accept anonymous communications sent to Council or to its Committees.


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The City of Cupertino has posted the Apple Campus 2 Presentation: City of Cupertino Study Session video from earlier this month. Apple's Senior Director of Real Estate & Facilities Dan Whisenhunt led the presentation on Apple Campus 2 project at the October 1, 2013 Joint Study Session of the Cupertino City Council and the Cupertino Planning Commission, according to the video's YouTube notes.
A few interesting tidbits from the study session video include a short video presentation to the crowd which sees UK-based architect Norman Foster who designed Apple Campus 2 note how the "spaceship" shape of the campus wasn't there from the beginning and that its design "grew into that." Foster also revealed that in 2009, Steve Jobs called him personally to enlist him as the designer of Campus 2. According to Foster, once he arrived in Cupertino, Jobs said, "Don't think of me as your client. Think of me as one of your team."