text:
It's always good to visit a different market to get a fresh perspective on the industry that occupies our waking hours – and I had the welcome opportunity to spend time in the U.K. last week while I was visiting for the PRWeek Global Awards in London.
The country is preparing for another General Election on June 8, though thankfully for British citizens the whole process takes less than eight weeks, which is a blessing when compared to the endless torture we have to endure in the elongated run-up to the U.S. vote.
Prime Minister Theresa May decided to strike while the iron is hot to get a renewed mandate for upcoming Brexit negotiations that will see the U.K. leave the European Union. She was buoyed by polls that showed the Conservatives ahead of Labour by more than 20% when she called the snap election, a lead that has been cut a little but that still appears insurmountable, although we should all know by now that polls are to be taken with a large pinch of salt in today's climate.
Either way, Brexit has provided, and will continue to provide, plentiful opportunities for U.K. PR firms to provide top-level advice to businesses on what the implications will be for their enterprises in a post-Brexit world and how to prepare accordingly. Here are some thoughts from Portland Communications if you want to find out more.
Like the U.S., the U.K is also seeing a big rise in demand for consultation on internal communications and healthcare.
Internal communications is undergoing a revolution and is increasingly being handled under communications rather than human resources, which as anyone who has followed recent reputational crises can see is essential when internal is increasingly the first line of external comms.
Employees want to know what their company stands for and they want to feel proud of the organization where they spend the majority of their lives.
A recent survey of 2,000 people in the U.S. and the U.K., also conducted by Portland, found 88% of employees are proud of the work their company does, and four out of five of them are prepared to speak about the positive aspects of their work, but only 5% currently share company news on social media and fewer than one in three could recall when they were last inspired to speak positively about their company.
This is despite 77% of those aged under 34 using social media at work at least once a day and half of all employees being connected to colleagues on Facebook and WhatsApp.
This disconnect represents a massive opportunity for companies to engage employees much more proactively as their first line of external communications, and they can benefit from wise counsel from PR consultants to help them do this.
The tactic of releasing internal memos externally is becoming commonplace, but it has to be done smartly and judiciously.
On the health front, another U.K. firm, Freuds, has been at the center of work on behalf of Public Health England supporting campaigns such as Change4Life and Stoptober and private sector endeavors for companies in the food, drink, and related sectors to help their customers live healthier lives.
Almost two out of three adults in the U.K. are either overweight or obese and Freud's survey shows 46% of people are dissatisfied with food manufacturers' efforts to help consumers with these issues.
Again, this is a disconnect that communicators can help bridge, always assuming of course that businesses in this sector also take on the mantle and responsibility of improving the healthiness of their products.
Finally, CEOs in the U.K. still need more understanding of the proper way to respond in times of crisis and the potential negative impacts these crises can have on businesses. They are too used to dealing with friendly specialist business journalists and are not ready for the more aggressive and combative approaches of the hacks on the news desk.
This lack of understanding can end with senior executives appearing on the metaphorical front pages rather than the business sections, and they often won't like the spotlight or blowback.
Every PRWeek reader knows CEOs and the C-suite need communications counsel as a fundamental strut of their strategic direction and these are also opportunities that U.K. and PR pros elsewhere are excelling at. One example is Bell Pottinger, which recommends a strategy of radical transparency for companies that includes "un-training" your CEO.
All in all, it was an enjoyable and educational trip and a chance to visit three firms I am not as familiar with as I am the top 20 global shops. It was a good chance to step out of the bubble for a bit and to view the communications industry through a different lens, but nonetheless a lens with many common characteristics.


text:
Welcome to the Swap Shop Page
1. POSTING ITEMS: When posting your item, please give as much description as you can. The more you can describe the item the better chance you have of selling or trading that item.
2. BUYING AN ITEM: When buying an item, ask the seller about the item. You always want to know the asking price when purchasing something. Ask if the item is new or used and its condition.
3. POSTING AN EVENT: If you are having a garage or yard sale, please post it here. Give as much description as you can, including the date, time, location, items for sale, etc.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I created a new public repo on my GitHub page. Check it out.
Tag: Zepto
Support For Anti-Cache In Zepto's Ajax Requests
If you have been using Zepto (the ultra light webkit target JS framework) you would have noticed that some of the elements which you have gotten used to with a JS framework, particularly with jQuery, are missing from Zepto.
Zepto's github page quotes that it is not a goal for Zepto to give 100% match of jQuery. However, there are some important additions that I have made to it in the version that I have for our app. Here's one,
// Add anti-cache in url if needed
if ( settings.cache === false ) {
var ts = Date.now(), rquery = /\?/, rts = /([?&])_=[^&]*/,
// try replacing _= if it is there
ret = settings.url.replace( rts, "$1_=" + ts );
// if nothing was replaced, add timestamp to the end
settings.url = ret + ( ( ret === settings.url ) ? ( rquery.test( settings.url ) ? "&" : "?" ) + "_=" + ts : "" );
//console.log("url: " + settings.url);
Add this little snippet to the $.ajax function inside Zepto. To use anti-cache you have to send, you guessed it, "cache: false" as one of the properties in the ajax settings when you call on Zepto to make the async request. I have not reinvented this technique. I looked at the latest jQuery source and made modifications to it to make it work with Zepto. If there is a proven, simpler way to do it be sure let me know. I know that this just works so I used this.
What?! I can use HTML/Javascript/CSS for native mobile apps?
The way PhoneGap works is it allows you to write an application using HTML5/JS/CSS3. The resources are then packaged as assets to a WebView based application. So, the app actually runs using a browser but the user wouldn't or shouldn't know the difference (if done right). The problem with using PhoneGap is that HTML5 spec is not completely stable yet and Android is one of the worst platforms for HTML5 development due its fragmented nature. There are over 900 "different kinds" of devices in the market that run Android OS in some form and factor which is exactly the problem because there is no standard spec whatsoever!! You have to account for the several different problems with these devices when writing an application using a spec that is first incomplete and second each browser has proprietary implementation of unfinished specs. So, there is always something that doesn't work.
However, there are some annoying problems, for example, using an iframe in your app will screw with the native copy/paste functionality and the soft keyboard will stop responding to user input until it is closed and reopened. Another problem with Android phones is with the CSS3 transform3d which causes problems with the "native" android library and crashes the app when transform3d is used on a page containing input text box. So, after solving these problems you will see that you only need to know HTML and Javascript to develop a simple app. Granted you will need to write some PhoneGap plugins to solve some platform specific problems but they are all easy to do.
Then there is the infamous android transform3d bug with password boxes which appMobi's jqMobi solved using the oldest trick in the book. A clever fix I should say. I will not reveal the fix here you should check out there source code and look at the passwordbox control to see what they have done. Once you do you would probably say "I knew that" well it did not occur to you, did it? Kudos to jqMobi for bringing that out!
To help with porting I read this useful article. It even has a performance comparison at the end of the article. Choosing a javascript framework is absolutely optional. You only use one when you need to add extensions like a date picker that looks like iOS or if you want to use some really good javascript template engine…etc. You still have the option of writing good old regular javascript with document.getElementById, document.getElementByClassName(with HTML5)…you get the point.
Another great point to consider while developing for iOS and Android using HTML5 is making use of translate3d and using CSS3 media queries to make the icons, images look sharper on a retina display. Watch this video of how translate3d helps give your app that native feel to it. Hardware acceleration baby!


text:
"In case you haven't recognized the trend: it proceeds action, dissent, speech." ~ davidly, on how wars get done
"...What sort of meager, unerotic existence must a man live to find himself moved to such ecstatic heights by the mundane sniping of a congressional budget fight. The fate of human existence does not hang in the balance. The gods are not arrayed on either side. Poseiden, earth-shaker, has regrettably set his sights on the poor fishermen of northern Japan and not on Washington, D.C. where his ire might do some good--I can think of no better spot for a little wetland reclamation project, if you know what I mean. The fight is neither revolution nor apocalypse; it is hardly even a fight. A lot of apparatchiks are moving a lot of phony numbers with more zeros than a century of soccer scores around, weaving a brittle chrysalis around a gross worm that, some time hence, will emerge, untransformed, still a worm." ~ IOZ
Sep 11, 2010
Magic Spells for Hubris
That anyone, anywhere could ever think that they could dream up a science of human behavior will amuse me to no end, right up to my own end.
Don't get me wrong. I've long had a not-so-secret affection for Aurelius, Gracian, Montaigne, Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Ibn Khaldun and Chanakya. What do you expect from a Nietzschean anarcho-agonist?
But - and yeah yeah yeah, this one has caveat written all over it - the above mentioned ancient, medieval and pre-modern sophists wrote of the art of human conduct. With alacrity, and no small measure of durability. Whether or not you prefer the world of rank and power that Gracian assumes, he understands human relations within that realm far better than Friedman could ever have done about our own, or the imagined one of his utopian futures. And Gracian - alike to the others above - never plied his craft colored by shame, as any halfwit observer can tell about Friedman. Gracian - like no small number of past observers - knew the dangers of hubris. Friedman did not.
He had too much faith in himself. Too much plodding forward elephantine self-regard. A prophet. A missionary. A true believer.
Like all paladins, strong belief required Friedman to euphemize his faith, of course. He and his believers euphemize(d) everything. Part of the hubris of their myth cycle, I imagine. Also, they have to. Or no one would buy it. The whole mythopoesis of the "free market" adds up to one giant, bloody fucking euphemism for "kill the natives, hold down the locals with violence or threats of violence, rig the deck and the game, and lock up or rape to death anyone who gets testy about it."
The free marketers, the Austro-Chicagoists and the Randroids gerrymandered Smith into an advocate of a moral and political economy that Smith himself loathed. A cursory of reading of TWoN will convey that to anyone not afflicted with even the worst possible case of missing brain disease. Kind of like Glenn Beck taking Citizen Paine and transforming him into a flat, antidimensionally earnest, irony free inhabitant of a seventeen year old pimply virgin's Ayn Rand fan fiction.
Friedman assumed some stupid shit - right from the beginning of the mystico-moral argument onto which he glommed so long ago (the diamond on the beach, and subjective value**). He assumed that economics represents a science of human behavior. That economics can predict human outcomes, could model future behaviors with a repeatable degree of certainty.
That stupidity doesn't belong to Friedman alone, of course. Anyone who has ever thought, uttered, typed or written out the words "natural monopoly" shares the stain of the shame, as well...
Which amuses me, without fail. If you narrow the field of study sufficiently (see Gracian's world of courtiers and kings; or Sun Tzu's, of soldiers and generals; or Machiavelli on principalities and factions) you might develop a few decently predictive models. You might anticipate.
But, if you think that the Hari Seldon powers (yes, you too, Krugman) can embody themselves in your own person, you will get people killed.
Because, accounting for billions of connections in the human brain, and billions of human brains, only a fucking idiot with a god complex would think that price points and other numbers on a page, half conjured out of puerile fantasy, represent a science of human behavior. With all the permutations of possibility (and this treating only brains, and not all of the other complex factors, such as disease, natural events, food supply, et cetera ad infinitum) available to the impenetrably dense number of human connections and choices, a "science" of human behavior smacks of the sort of hubris that blinds the believer in it.
The very hubris currently impoverishing and murdering the human and non-human inhabitants of the planet.
* - I know, Charles, you don't like this Naomi...[cue appropriate smiley face]
** - the diamond found on the beach does not have "subjective value." If the person who wants the glittery lump of carbon doesn't expend calories to pick it up - you know, labor - that damned thing has no value. Even the feeling of desire occurs very, very physically. To feel desire, sugars must burn, hormones release, the limbic system engage. Calories get consumed. Which a person replaces with labor, even if only by picking berries, raising hand to mouth, and chewing them - or dies.
20 comments:
My main beef with Klein is the lack of originality and the hypocrisy of being a hyperconsumerist while pretending to criticize capitalism's supposedly worst variants, which suggests she's either stupid (missing the point that materialism and unbridled greed are always going to be the essence of capitalism, hence there is no benign isomer of capitalism) or lying (pretending to want something that she really doesn't want). It's like she tells people they should wear a Marx or Che t-shirt and continue enjoying consumerism -- but occasionally, entertain the idea that some capitalists, mainly Republicans, are EVIL.
Her books might say something different than what I'm saying, but the essays and soundbites I've encountered around the Toobz, attributed to her, are what I'm going on. And if her public statements and essays are inconsistent with her books' arguments, what does that suggest?
She seems to have been pretty quiet since Obama took office. What's up with that?
- September 12, 2010 at 11:09 AM
...and I agree with your arguments in the main essay, Jack.
I should probably read some Klein myself and see how her books square with her public statements or those statements publicly attributed to her (...whichever). But I'm not buying one. I'll have to see if my town library has a copy of one of them. I won't use it as bathroom reading though, 'cuz I'd be inclined to use its pages for TP when I ran out.
- September 12, 2010 at 11:14 AM
- Jack Crow said...
I don't know much about Klein, honestly. I got the Shock Doctrine because one of the regular bloggers I read (Ethan, Justin or Richard?) mentioned a passage from it.
The book is a sustained deconstruction of Friedman - the myth of Friedman, as well as the reality.
- September 12, 2010 at 12:15 PM
- Ethan said...
I got a lot out of Shock Doctrine, but it's obviously not without its flaws. I'm not very good at analyzing them, though, because I read it exactly when I (as in, specifically me) needed to--as I was moving out of donk-focused lesser-evilism to the whatever I am now. So it certainly helped me on that path, and at the time it struck me as mind-blowingly important, but I have no idea how I would judge it if I read it now. I don't recall that she focused on Republican evil over any other kind, and I tend to think this memory is fairly accurate considering that the book was one major step on my road to abandoning that kind of thought myself.
I do find that the disaster capitalism model remains a remarkably good lens for understanding why anything happens anywhere, which is a plus.
As for recent silence, there's this essay on Brand Obama, which I thought was pretty good, if only for forwarding to liberal friends. I don't know what else she's been doing.
Regarding the original post, great writing as usual, Jack. I'm a sucker for Foundation references, too.
- September 13, 2010 at 10:17 AM
Ethan -- since I'm a normal (read: selfish) human, I comment on what matters in my world from my perspective. Doubtless someone on the brink of understanding the capital-intense nature of National Donkle politics could find some wealth (hah hah hah) in Klein's perspective that capitalism has its destructive sides. I'm still missing, however, where she actually criticizes capitalism completely, and not just the parts that make her uncomfortable. Has she eschewed the family fortune she has thanks to her capitalist, wealthy family? Does she live like a pauper, or is she another limousine liberal, sideways-critiquing the thing that keeps her well-fed, happy, and full of lovely trinkets?
As to the evil Republicans angle -- what Republicans cite Klein as a knowing authority? Does she ever laud the GOP's version of capitalism (rough on the surface, greedy on the inside)? It **is** the more honest version isn't it?
My take on Klein is that she loves capitalism but hates the types or variants used and perpetuated by certain people. This take comes from reading things attributed to her, or statements that come under her "signature," as it were, on the Toobz.
I'll go read the Obama essay but I'm wagering it's going to be tainted by her libertarian-esque fantasy that there's a "good" capitalism that can yield a modern techno-world --if only we put the right people in charge of the economy.
I'd be pleased to find I'm wrong, given the frequency with which I see her cited approvingly.
- September 13, 2010 at 1:35 PM
After reading the linked essay I find my opinion unmoved, and will follow the childhood lesson: if I can't say anything good, I won't say anything.
- September 14, 2010 at 12:31 AM
- Joe said...
What the free market economists are saying, as I understand them, is that human behavior is too complex to predict, hence their opposition to centrally planned economies. I think what Klein is doing with Friedman is similar to what right-wingers do when they equate socialism with the Soviet Union. Friedman's association with the Republican party makes me question how devoted he was to real economic freedom, but portraying him as Pinochet's mentor is a bit of a stretch. (I haven't read Klein's book either, by the way; just going on various second-hand accounts of the book and maybe an interview or two.)
- September 14, 2010 at 1:42 PM
- Jack Crow said...
If Klein is to be believed (and she rather copiously sources her claims, FWIW) Friedman actively assisted Pinochet and was proud of that fact. When it comes to later depredations (Poland, Russia), she lays the onus more on second and third generation Chicagoists, as well as the Harvard neoliberals who followed in Jeffrey Sachs footsteps (as well as on Sachs himself).
- September 14, 2010 at 1:46 PM
- Jack Crow said...
And my reading of "free market" thought and value subjectivism doesn't give the the impression of an abiding belief in stochasticity, Joe.
That ("human behavior is too complex") might be dogma in propaganda form, something for the campaign trail, but the underlying assumptions of market rationalism, monetarism and the Chicago-Austrian body of work is that economics is a science. A predictive and rigorous model of human conduct which can and must be used to govern how people exchange goods, and value.
I know that agorists and mutualists have different conceptions of the term, but the Austro-Chicagoan's dependence on economic scientism and the SToV informs a goodly portion of everything they have written and/or done.
If you want to start your own search chain, Joe - I can recommend Friedman's thoughts on "Positive Economics" as a good beginning.
- September 14, 2010 at 1:58 PM
I thought free market economists had a Magic Wand** that they waved over the populace, causing all within the populace to behave in a wholly benign fashion, eliminating all of the more base impulses of the frightened and overselfish creature known as homo sapiens. Instantly, greed churns itself into benevolence... acquisitiveness into productivity... envy into social progress... and so on.
More seriously, though, I estimate the Free Marketeers as being chiefly concerned with inefficient government meddling in "markets," a point on which I can't disagree for long.
Affirmative regulation, eh Joe?
**Hand-crafted by one of Hayekmises Corp's many artisans.
- September 14, 2010 at 2:06 PM
- Duncan Mitchel said...
Does anyone else remember the time IOZ confused Naomi Wolf with Naomi Klein? Something about her seems to drive a lot of boy leftists off the rails.
- September 15, 2010 at 12:29 AM
I remember that.
Personally, I find Naomi Wolf more attractive in every way, so I have a hard time getting them confused. I do like to refer to the pair of them as The Public Naomis. I bet a girl-girl Riot Grrrrl Folkie group of two women could call themselves that and give Teagan and Sara a run for their money!
- September 15, 2010 at 10:47 AM
Slightly off topic: Jack: Have you ever read a novel by Scottish commie Sci Fi author Richard Morgan called "Market Forces"? I thi9nk you might at least partially bemused by it.
- September 15, 2010 at 12:59 PM
- Jack Crow said...
Finished it about a month ago, in fact. Picked it up at a depot dump, and was pleasantly surprised.
Especially since Morgan violated his own implied ethos, and has the protagonist succumb to the hyena howl and power.
- September 15, 2010 at 1:07 PM
- Joe said...
Well, I did a bit of googling and found an article at Counterpunch that pretty much confirms Klein's take on Friedman's involvement in Chile. Can't say I'm terribly surprised. I qualified my defense of Friedman for a reason, though apparently I didn't go far enough.
As for my (again, qualified) defense of "free market economists," I'll admit that I'm not very well read in this area. I'm going mostly by second-hand accounts from other bloggers, many of the mutualist/agorist/whatever-ist variety, who often cite these economists approvingly (though not uncritically). This makes me think that, to some extent, there's a discrepancy between the ideas (or some, anyway) themselves and how they're used by people in power.
I'm still with you. I realize that "free market" reforms are basically nothing but affirmative regulation.
- September 16, 2010 at 10:31 AM
- Jack Crow said...
I think the distinction between agorist/mutualist markets and the Austro-Chicagoist market is an important one.
Personally, I don't much abide by a formalization of exchange as an ideological component of any philosophy - but I reject almost everything currently understood as "philosophy" as so many words about other words.
The root assumption of the agorist conception of the market - I think - is that people will always (so long as they think and act like human persons) engage in trade. It's a fair assumption, as long as we understand that it is in fact just an assumption. Their general objection to the fiat money (liberal) and command economy (Marxist, socialist) schools of thought seems fairly valid to me: If you are going to assign resources and the labor to extract and convert those resources into goods, according to use and need, you will always need some compelling authority in order to ensure that your plan is obeyed.
But, this isn't what Menger, Hayek and Friedman meant by "market." Their market is first and foremost a deus ex machina. It's a justification not of the human propensity to trade goods and services, but of the structures of power which establish a right and proper order to the human cosmos. It's dogma in the service of a very standard (and not at all surprisingly, German) European model of society which places the traditional boni on the top, as a value producing nobility, ruling over a larger and indoctrinated populace which exists to consume goods and receive the value of their betters as a function of the society itself.
- September 16, 2010 at 3:18 PM
Yo, Jack (and Ethan) --
Somewhere in my scouring today I found Kevin Carson's appraisal of Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine," where Carson says something I agree with completely:
Klein also buys into the Schlesingerite idea that American big business "grudgingly accepted" the New Deal. [p. 251] Big business didn't grudgingly accept the New Deal; it designed the New Deal.
One can't have the perspective Klein advances without actually preferring capitalism of the state-intervention variety. Nor can one argue as Klein does without seriously misunderstanding American history, including the New Deal.
It's frequently said among "leftist" (sic) blogs that the New Deal was a great thing for everyone, a bitter pill forced down Wall Street's throat, and something we need to reinvigorate today under Obama. Some "leftists" (again, sic) even suggest Obama is creating a New, New Deal with such things as his "health care reform" and the new consumer protection entity that supposedly will be helmed by business sycophant Elizabeth Warren, a phenomenally misunderstood prof at The Crimson whose protections for consumers are guided by an elitist's misunderstanding of how people actually are harmed. Warren, like Klein, approves of state-intervention capitalism and thinks more, better regulation is the answer.
So, you be the judge: is Naomi Klein as clueless as I suggest?
- September 16, 2010 at 4:16 PM
PS: Carson's appraisal is found here:
- September 16, 2010 at 4:18 PM
- Jack Crow said...
I think that Klein-as-capitalist is not incompatible with Klein-as-right-about-Friedman.
- September 16, 2010 at 5:02 PM
As my grandfather would say,
- September 16, 2010 at 5:15 PM


text:
Geofilters are special overlays for Snapchat that can be accessed for a set time and in a set geographic area. Every time you take a Snap in Snapchat, you and your friends will have an opportunity to apply your custom Geofilter graphic on top and send it to anyone, or post it to their Story. They're a crazy fun way to share what you're doing or where you are at 👻
Geofilters are made for both business and personal use.
Here's how to make one:.
- Browse FilterPop to find a design that you like.
- Click on your preferred design.
- Edit your design (add text, emojis, change font colors, etc.) -- make sure you're not covering too much of the screen though!
- Select the time, date, and area where you'd like to use your Geofilter.
- Enter your payment info 💳.
- Use your Geofilter!
Note: At this time, you can only buy Geofilters in the following countries: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brazil, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States.


text:
What Should I Watch?
I'm thinking ahead about which film versions of each play I should watch. Please give me your suggestions.
The Wikipedia article looks pretty good, so I'm using that as a starting place. I think I am going to focus on the more recent films, although I will consider going back further (like the 1960s and maybe even the 1950s) when there are films that are really must-sees (like West Side Story and Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet).
I plan to watch all the BBC productions. I'm looking forward to seeing Roger Daltrey in A Comedy of Errors!
I'll watch Franco Zeffirelli's films and anything Kenneth Branagh touched, as well.
So, I feel like I have a solid foundation on basic productions. Any other suggestions? What about the old ones directed by Laurence Olivier—are they good? What else? Help me.
I also want suggestions for good or interesting adaptations. Thanks to Renee who commented about loving adaptations like West Side Story and listed several others.
Here are a few I'm considering:
Henry IV: My Own Private Idaho
King Lear: A Thousand Acres, Ran
Macbeth: Scotland PA, Throne of Blood
Othello: O
The Comedy of Errors: The Boys from Syracuse
The Taming of the Shrew: Kiss Me Kate, Ten Things I Hate About You
The Tempest: Prospero's Books
Twelfth Night: She's the Man, Just One of the Guys
Renee and everyone—help me fill out my to-watch list and please warn me away from losers.
© All Content, Copyright 2010 by Blog Author, Or What You Will. All Rights Reserved.
Just Play it Cool, Boy
West Side Story casts Romeo and Juliet's star-crossed lovers into a rough mid-century Manhattan neighborhood. Instead of the warring Capulet and Montague families, there are the rival street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets are white boys… children of European immigrants (polacks, wops, and micks) and the Sharks are Puerto Ricans (spics), recently moved to AMER-EE-CA! Leave behind your political-correctness when you watch this one… this is a world where the ethnic slurs are dropped freely and stereotypes run wild.
I love the aerial photos looking down on Manhattan that open the film. It's so beautiful… until you get down to ground level! There you see the grit and grime of the city. I like the way the film ends up, too… painting the credits as graffiti on a wall. Very cool!
Of course, I love the movie in between, as well. It's been a while since I'd seen it, and interesting seeing it right after Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. The first thing that struck me is how much more believable the love affair between Romeo and Juliet (Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey) is in that film compared to the Tony/Maria pairing (played by Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood). Zeffirelli cast unknown youngsters in the parts, and they wear their youth and innocence on their sweet, naive sleeves! There's a lot of emotion there, and the love affair is really the focus of the film. In West Side Story, I find the love affair kind of tepid and tangential to the whole neighborhood war thing.
The hoodlums in West Side Story appear a bit quaint to my 21st century eyes with their Leave-it-to-Beaverish and Greaser looks. And they are hard for me to accept as high schoolers. Wood and Beymer were in their 20s, and Rita Moreno (Anita) was 30… and looked and acted it.
But I'm nit-picking. I love West Side Story. I just think the love story part of it is not quite as believable as in the Zeffirelli movie. Also, I've been reading a lot about Jungian psychology lately, and I just see anima projections pinging all over the place (in both films). It's all love at first sight and pouring every ounce of trust into their feelings of the moment for someone glimpsed across the room! Yet of course, it doesn't matter in these stories, since there is no future—literally no tomorrow, for these lovers.
So what's to love about West Side Story? Hmmm, let me count the ways. First, there's the music. You have Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim collaborating, and it's a great score. Thanks to a reader who emailed me about the lyrical similarity between What is a Youth from the Zeffirelli film and Somewhere in West Side Story… I definitely see the connection, and both are beautiful songs.
Then there's the dancing. Choreography by Jerome Robbins. It really doesn't get better. So, sit back and enjoy the song and dance numbers… it's pure entertainment. And I'm not belittling the acting — the film won 10 Oscars, including best picture and best supporting actor and actress (George Chakiris as Bernardo and Rita Moreno as Anita). It's a great film!
Let's talk about cinematography (another Oscar!). I watched Doctor Zhivago with my niece a few years ago and she said she wrote a college paper about the use of the color yellow to symbolize Lara throughout the movie. Once she mentioned it, it was so obvious! Bright yellow fields of daffodils, the bright yellow sun, Lara's theme playing each time. Lara, Lara, dreamy, lovely Lara (more anima projection, ha ha!).
Anyhow, that got me thinking about color a bit when I watch movies, and West Side Story is chock-full of color. The Sharks wear red and the Jets wear blue and yellow, most of the time. That kind of color-coding also is evident in Zeffirelli's film, where the Capulets tend to wear orangey and mustardy tones while the Montagues favor dusty blues and browns. It's a handy way to tell the star-belly sneetches from the plain ones.
Colors get complicated in West Side Story, though. Can anyone help me understand the color code? The backgrounds are often cast in primary-colored shadows. There are big blocks of Crayola-bright reds, blues, and sometimes yellows and greens. Red clothes hanging on a line. Red highway underpass. Red ironwork balcony. A line up of all blue cars on one street. All green cars on another street. A red truck… but not just an ordinary red truck, but solid, bright red, including red fenders, bumpers and hubcaps. Yellow paint spilled on rivals.
I found myself always trying to decipher the meaning of the colors. What's the meaning of the red belt on Maria's white dress? The Technicolor twirling when she tries on that dress. The yellow jackets at the dance? The red walls at the dance? The blue walls at Maria's apartment building? The purple skirt on Anita? Then the blue skirt on Anita. What's it all mean? Just pretty colors?
Most everything is in bold, bright colors except a series of side-by-side doors that are muddy Easter egg shades. Why pastels? Why doors? And pastel dresses at the bridal shop where Anita and Maria work. As you can see, there are many questions about color floating around in my brain. I was very distracted by color while watching the whole film! Can anyone help me make sense of it?
One color mystery I did decode (I think): The doors to Maria's bedroom are multi-colored glass panes. I figured her bedroom is the place where all the colors mix… Tony and Maria are color blind. They just see each other, not the personas (spic, polack, Shark, Jet) that everyone else sees.
Oh and another color (or lack thereof) mystery solved… Doc's store is noticeably devoid of color. I think that's because it's neutral territory—a place where both Jets and Sharks can go. I like Doc, whose role parallels that of Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet (without quite the same awful responsibility for the fatal plot twist). Doc is the voice of reason and calm. He says to Tony, "Why do you kids live like there's a war on?" And of course, that's the big question. What is the point of all the conflict? Just play it cool, boy.
A little trivia… thanks to a reader who pointed out that a young Bernardo (George Chakiris) can be glimpsed as a back up dancer behind Rosemary Clooney in White Christmas. I'll keep my eye peeled next time I watch that. And, I got a kick out of seeing Gomez from The Addams Family (John Astin) as the organizer at the dance. Pretty funny!
Next up, a blast from the past! I unearth some old school work.
© All Content, Copyright 2010 by Blog Author, Or What You Will. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Assessing the Port Authority's Capital Plan
Alternative to the Corporation Business Tax
The Future of the Affordable Care Act
On the long-term unemployed
Discussion of Immigration in New Jersey
ReachUp USA
The Impact of $15 Minimum Wage on Hunger in America
The Washington Roundtable's "Benchmarks for a Better Washington"
Discussion of the College Affordability Diagnosis
New Start Career Network 1st Anniversary
New Jersey Institute of Technology & Manufacture New Jersey
The Roosevelt Institute's Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy
Small businesses in New Jersey
Isles Founder and CEO Martin Johnson
Stevens Institute of Technology
On The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
Detailed consideration of apprenticeship with Angela Hanks.
The United Way of Northern New Jersey's ALICE report
Coworking represents a burgeoning model in an evolving economy.
Philip Murphy with Serena Rice, Executive Director of the Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey
With Dr. Joel Cantor, Director of the Center for State Health Policy and Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at Rutgers University.
With Jessica Milli, Senior Research Associate with the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
"The economy needs to work for everyone or it doesn't work very well." – David Madland, Hollowed Out
With Dr. Mark Fendrick, Founder & Director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design at the University of Michigan
With guest Bill Glasgall, Volcker Alliance
Amy Matsui, the National Women's Law Center
With Dr. W. Steven Barnett and Dr. William Gormley.
Dr. Ruth Milkman, Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center
Economic and Environmental Benefits for New Jersey's Families
Thomas Dann, Managing Director of the Maryland Venture Fund
With Derrick Olsen and Dr. John Kennedy.
In assessing the relationship between higher education and economic growth.


text:
Frankfort, MI Part II July 31, 2009Posted by Fritz in Travel, Yachts and other things that float.
Tags: Crystal Downs Country Club, Frankfort, Lake Michigan, Michigan, sand dunes, Sleeping Bear Dunes cruise, Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore
2 comments
God's Country
Change has come slow to this town. While new buildings and businesses have come and gone, the rate and quantity of new things up this way has been pretty lethargic. Depending on who you talk to that's either a good or bad thing. As a summer resident, I tend to enjoy the slow growth and am glad that the small town charm that makes Frankfort, MI and the surrounding area so appealing has not been compromised. One thing that has changed this summer is the addition of a cruise boat taking passengers out on Lake Michigan on a nearly three hour tour north, towards the Sleeping Bear National Sand Dunes.
Over the winter I had read about the company working on getting the business started and was pleased to see they had opened for business this summer. I'm impressed that anyone would chance a risky start-up in this economy…especially in Michigan.
A good friend of mine was visiting and I took advantage of one of the perks he enjoys in his profession. He is a tour operator/travel agent and almost always gets free tickets or reduced rates to events or attractions once he identifies himself.
We popped into the cruise lines office just after 10am last Wednesday. The spacious building along Main street once housed the Firestone dealership. The faded outline of the Firestone logo is still very visible across the buildings facade. I'm hoping that if the cruise line has a successful enough year they will splurge and repaint.
We were greeted by Molly who very much looked the nautical part in a crisp white officers shirt complete with epaulets and shoulder bars. She had just finished a phone call recanting sailing schedules and other pertinent information regarding the twice daily cruises. She could not have been nicer and quickly offered us comp tickets once my friend introduced himself as a tour operator. We chose the second or sunset sailing scheduled for 6:30pm. I was impressed that during our 10 minutes or so in the office the phone was constantly ringing and the walk-ins were steady. All good signs for a new business.
Molly offered up what would turn into a good piece of advice; "boarding commences 20 minutes prior to sailing and the top deck fills fast". The vessel, Miner's Castle, is a 68′ steel passenger vessel certified for 150. Her twin diesel's cruises her at 13 knots which allows her to complete the 32 round-trip miles in just under three hours.
We returned to town just after 6pm to see a growing line of passengers already queuing up to board. Wanting to sit up top we quickly joined the line and once aboard secured prime space along the rail on the port side.
The boat actually departed a few minutes late as the captain held her at the dock to allow the last few stragglers to board. By my estimate we were full. Another good sign for a new business.
On the west coast of northern Michigan, the sun sets well after 9pm for most of the summer. As a young kid this was one of the coolest things about summer. At home bedtime was around 9pm but here we got to stay up much later because it was still light out. Even with the days beginning to get shorter, tonight's set was around 9:15 so we were able to once again take advantage of being so far north and so far west in the eastern time zone.
The Miner's Castle slipped easily away from the dock and out through Frankfort Harbor passing between the north and south breakwalls that protect the harbor's entrance. We turned right as soon as we cleared the north breakwall and headed along about a quarter mile offshore in 40 feet of water. The bluffs of Frankfort were the first imposing dunes that came before us. Our captain, Dave, began his narration as we cruised in a gently rolling sea. He expounded on the geological aspects of the dunes as well as passing along area history and the occasional corny joke.
As a teenager I had explored most of the major dunes from the land side and had my own personal stories relating to one or more of the youthful adventures that had taken place on or about them. They offered a safe haven away from the constraints of parents for all kinds of illegal behaviors and the dunes became our giant playground.
Abby's Bluff
About 30 minutes into the trip we came upon the most photographed lighthouse in Michigan; Point Betsie. Every cottage within a fifty mile radius surely must have a picture or two of this beautiful structure.
The lighthouse has been recently renovated after it was taken over from the Coast Guard by a non-profit. The work is ongoing but she is open for weekend tours and looks magnificent from the water.
Our trip continued north, passing by the stately summer homes along the shore that included those built within the Crystal Downs Country Club.
The clubhouse sits atop the highest point on that particular stretch of dune. This private club boasts a spectacular golf course that is rated perennially in the top ten in the United States.
The sheer distance from Frankfort to the actual Sleeping Bear Dunes would preclude us from getting closer than 6 miles to the jaw dropping edifice that is the largest moving sand dune in the world. So large in fact that it can easily be seen from space.
Even at 6 miles away the mass of sand that forms the near 50 degree slope is awesome. We settled for an up close look at the Empire Dunes, the second largest dune, as the Miner's Castle slowed to make her turn back south.
By now the sun was nearing the horizon and some stray stratus clouds had drifted between us and the darkening red orb making for a another beautiful northern Michigan sunset.
Of course Dave, our captain, took notice and full credit for the added bonus. The trip back was far more windy as we now headed into the 10 knot breeze at 13 knots. With the sun going down quickly, the temperature moved about half of the upper deckers to the main deck below. The air temperature was in the mid 60's and the 23 knot wind chill made it hard to believe it was the 28th of July. We could have used a bit of that Global Warming they say is going around.
When we arrived back in the harbor, we were surprised to see Molly standing dockside with mooring lines in hand. This woman was fast approaching a 12-hour day. I guess that's how you succeed in the most economically depressed state in the US, during one of the most difficult financial times in our country's history.
My buddy and I hung out near the gangway as passengers disembarked. Every comment was positive and genuine; the cruise was a hit. We made sure to thank Molly for the comped tickets and added our glowing review to the others.
I hope Sleeping Bear Dunes Boat Cruises succeeds for many years. It's a great change for Frankfort; my little slice of God's Country.
Tickets for the cruise are $33 for adults, children 6-12 are $10 and kids 5 and under are free. The current cruise season began in June and will run to October 18, seven days a week.
Frankfort, Michigan July 15, 2009Posted by Fritz in Travel.
Tags: Betsie Bay, Butterfly, Crystal Lake, E-Scow, Elberta, Frankfort, MI, racing, sailing
3 comments
Precious places are many in our great country and one of mine is the northwest side of the lower peninsula of Michigan. Frankfort, MI and the surrounding area has been my summer home since I was born. My grandparents first came up this way in the early '50's and bought a cottage on Crystal Lake that is still in the family today.
I'm the third generation to enjoy this spectacular place and my daughter is the fourth. There is also a fifth generation toddling their way through the sand and I surely hope that there will be many more after that.
Our cottage is on Crystal Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in the US.
Nearly nine miles long and three wide, the lake is a spring fed, sandy bottom beauty that offers the finest venue for every water sport imaginable. Our favorite is sailing or more specifically racing sailboats.
The unique geography of the lake makes for near perfect conditions for the preferred sailing vessel at our yacht club; the scow. Kids start on the Butterfly and work their way up to the E-scow usually skippered by the fathers (and occasional mother) on the weekends.
Our sailing season is excruciatingly short as the club doesn't open 'til mid June and finishes in mid-August when the school year begins. When I was a kid the season continued up to Labor Day as we didn't return to school till after that. The shortened summer just means more activity packed into a smaller time frame and we sure try to savor every minute. If you ever get the chance to visit, I promise you'll experience one of the most wonderful places in America.
To teleprompt or not to teleprompt July 14, 2009Posted by Fritz in Yachts and other things that float.
Tags: Campus Workshop, Jim Nantz, obama, speeches, teleprompter, University of Houston
add a comment
An easy read.
I just read this article and started thinking about the state of the leadership in this country.
Our current President has received a lot of attention surrounding his use of the teleprompter. The Right makes an issue of his seeming hopeless addiction to the device while the Left lamely dismisses any attempts to exploit the man's self-acknowledged 'need to read'. During the recent White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in May the President himself made comic reference to his teleprompter usage. While every President since JFK has used a teleprompter, no other Chief Executive has so embraced the device or suffered so for it.
I graduated in 1982 with a degree in communication—Radio and Television major, from the University of Houston. One of the coolest things I recall from those early days was my fascination for the teleprompter. An ingenious device that allowed its reader to look directly at the camera while reading their script.
Schematic representation:
|(1) Video camera
|(2) Shroud
|(3) Video monitor
|(4) Two-way mirror
|(5) Image from subject
|(6) Image from video monitor
The original prompter idea was born in the 1950's. Fred Barton, Jr., Hubert J, (Hub) Schaflly and Irving Berlin Kahn devised the first device that projected an actor's script onto a precisely angled plate of glass fixed in front of the camera's lens. The words were typed onto a scroll of paper that was wound from one spool to another while being shot with a video camera. The image of the words were sent into a monitor facing up, directly below the lens of the camera. The angled glass above the monitor reflected the words scrolling from bottom to top. The speed of the scroll was controlled by a teleprompter operator who used a rheostat to adjust to the readers pace. This was essentially a rolling cue card directly in front of the lens.
In my senior year I was a member of Campus Workshop at U of H, a real world production class that produced a half hour, all-student created, television program. The show aired Saturday mornings on KHTV, Channel 39. The class was split between the two major sides in Broadcast television; Production and Performance. Students pursuing on-air careers filled our performance side and those seeking the production side made up the group that wrote, produced and directed the show's content. One of my first tasks that semester was to operate the teleprompter as a member of the floor crew during our first taping. I can still remember how surprised I was to learn the secret of how news anchors looked so smart.
Claim to Fame: CBS Sports great Jim Nantz was an alum of the performance class during my year.
My next gig in TV was a news internship at the local CBS affiliate, KHOU-TV in Houston —- the same station that made Dan Rather famous. His live broadcasts on the Galveston seawall during Hurricane Carla in 1961 elevated the little known newscaster to national prominence. Never before had America watched, live, the reporting of a major natural disaster. Dan's luck got even better as the storm developed into the second worst hurricane to ever strike Texas to date. (The Galveston hurricane of 1911 ranks as the worst.)
I was four when Carla hit, living in Houston. I have no memory of the storm or Dan Rather's broadcast and I could have never imagined I would return 21 years later to intern at the station that launched his national career.
My awe at interning at such a famous and prestigious TV station was dashed when I discovered the teleprompter system used in those revered studios was even less sophisticated than what we had in college. Single sheet carbon copies were fed by an operator, one after another, onto a scrolling bed for the duration of the newscast. God forbid they mixed up a page!
The First Personal Computer based Teleprompter, Compu=Prompt appeared in 1982. It was invented and marketed by Courtney M. Goodin & Laurence B. Abrams in Hollywood, California. This custom software and specially re-designed camera hardware ran on the ATARI 800 Personal Computer. Their company later became ProPrompt Inc., which is still providing teleprompting services. Other paper-based Teleprompting Companies Q-TV and Telescript followed suit and developed their own software several years later when the Commodore 64 the IBM PC evolved into computers with enough graphics power to provide the smooth scrolling text.
The advent of computer generated copy has allowed the writer to edit and update content with the immediacy our current lifestyle demands. A producer can write a script on his Blackberry in Bombay, text it to his studio in Stuttgart and almost instantly have his talking head making news—all in the blink of an eye.
So what's the big deal with using a teleprompter? Well….for politicians, it's a freakin crutch. Wanting to look as Hollywood and as polished and as knowledgeable as possible, politicians have committed themselves to a device that allows them to articulate ideas and positions that they could never do extemporaneously. That's because the art of the speech is dead. A good speaker like a good preacher can spill his words with nary so much as a note card. The idea and ideals underlying his words are so much the fabric of his person that he cannot help but to know the entire text in his mind and as such pontificate seamlessly from beginning to end. It is only when the words or ideals to be spoken are not the fabric of the speaker's life that a crutch must be employed—like a teleprompter.
It would be so refreshing to see a politician speak without a script. I would like to see our President speak to us without a teleprompter. Tell me what you think, straight out of your head. If you believe it, if it is part of your fabric, you'll do fine and I will get to hear your words, not someone else's.
Dan Rather became famous because he didn't use a teleprompter at the most important opportunity of his life. He winged it and endeared himself to a national audience. America rewards the authentic, the genuine. So let's turn off the teleprompters and start reading from the heart.
(For the record: Several of the employees at KHOU-TV had scathing stories about the egocentric Dan Rather following his national debut. Douche bag, ass hole, and prick were frequent adjectives preceding his name in most conversations.)


text:
Alex Smith has not played one down of football for the Washington Redskins in 2019. Yet he still feels partially responsible for the team's 3-13 record and Monday's firing of president Bruce Allen, he told Tom Schad at USA Today Sports.
It's been more than 13 months since Smith, 35, broke his fibula and tibia and had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. He needed 17 surgeries and battled an infection in his leg while the Redskins went from 6-3 under his guidance with dreams of the playoffs to 7-9 and third place in the NFC East.
[Watch live local and primetime NFL games free with the Yahoo Sports app]
In his first remarks to reporters this season, Smith said he still is working toward returning in 2020 and feels he is at least partially to blame for the results of the 2019 season. Redskins owner Dan Snyder announced Monday the firing of president Bruce Allen and are looking for a new head coach after firing Jay Gruden earlier this year.
"Injuries are obviously a part of the game, but certainly some of the things that have gone on with me have been unforeseen, and you do feel a little bit like you've hamstrung the team, with what's gone on and how long this has gone on," Smith said. "So there's some responsibility you do feel there, as a player, that I feel there."
Allen started with the Redskins in 2009 and became the team's primary decision-maker in 2014. From that point on they had only two winning season and made the playoffs once. The team has won one playoff game since 1999.
None of that falls on Smith, who joined Washington via a trade from the Kansas City Chiefs in early 2018. He signed a four-year, $94 million extension with the Redskins and is one of the highest-paid players on the team. It included $71 million in guaranteed money. In that aspect, he's eating up cap room that could be used to improve the squad while he's rehabbing.
But Washington's woes went far beyond the loss of a quarterback to a freak injury during the previous season's campaign.
More from Yahoo Sports:


text: It seems I am experiencing a few technical camera/computer problems. I know I said I would post images of my friends house tonight however, it's just not going to be possible as I am so hopeless at computer problems! Here is one more image to keep you going for the meantime! Please bear with me. I hope to have the complete set of pictures posted here tomorrow sometime. Thanks for your patience!!


text:
QMA will participate in the 10th international exhibition on electrical technology & equipment held by Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center, which is the largest electronic power, energy and lighting exhibition in Vietnam. There will be many countries from all over the world to take part in this exhibition. We QMA will bring our major products with AC Drive, UPS and new product A6000 series elevator integrated controller which is specially designed for elevator to present at the exhibition. Hope we could have a deep communication with every visitors and professional technicians to request for cooperation in the future!
Exhibition Information
Exhibition Name: The 10th international exhibition on electrical technology & equipment
Exhibition Date: 2017-7-19 to 2017-7-22
Exhibition Address: Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center
QMA Exhibition Stand No.: 24
版权所有 Copyright(C)2015 酷马机电
地 址:上海市松江区南乐路1276弄115号8号楼2F 电 话:021-57603333 传 真:021-57603838 邮 箱:firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Kill enemy in accident | +91-8003125852 | Tantrik Baba
Vashikaran Specialists have the tendency to turn anything according to their own interest and they can solve the problem of their clients smartly. Without even meeting the person they apply magic on them and with the effect of magic they take over the mind of them and with this they are forced to do the things and act as per the desire of the clients. Today is time of educators and science has captured nearly all the brains of the persons. But sometimes science also shows its limitations and with this it shows its drawbacks. Vashikaran Specialists can solve any type of problem the person is facing. If you are tired of your life and want to get relief from the drama in your life, then you should contact Vashikaran Specialist and get the best solution from them. Through their magic they are able to control on the emotions and with they are able to control the movements of an individual. Here you will get the best solution of your problem and one more thing they will not harm anyone. A vashikaran mantra specialist astrologer has the indubitable knowledge, and a great believer in these spiritual, supernatural power by which he will resolve all the problems and finds the best solution to the problem. This mantra has the power to control the emotions and thinking power of an individual. When this vashikaran mantra is applied on an individual, then the person loses his own thinking capacity and he starts thinking as the mantra says him. It involves in the task which he do not want to do and he makes even impossible things to possible things.He fulfills the needs of their clients by invoking the divine powers of the universe and with the help of the mantras he gives the best solution to its clients and accomplishes all the wishes of the individual. Get the complete service of love vashikaran and get the best service of the vashikaran.
kala jadu is a part of black magic. Mainly in many places kala jadu is known as magic that we do on other. Black magic is one of the finest approaches to fulfill your wish desire of your dreams. Black magic has that power that it can solve any kind of problem either it will be related to your love life, business problems, career issue, boss issue. You can easily solve these problems with the help of black magic. In love most of the person to back their love life again in their life. Love is a beautiful bonding between two couple. We can say that love is the sweetest connection between two persons. Without love and affection no relation is long lasting either it is boyfriend & girlfriend, Husband & wife, Parents & children, boss & employee and other. But how it is possible when your someone special leave your life and again back in your life. But how it is possible? You have applied all your efforts. Actually black magic impact is on your mental, speeching power, thought, desirable, so that you are not in a position to thought the welfare of your progress. In a black magic there is a loss of mental peace that is a requirement of any person. You cant concentrate on you work that is the major source of your earning. You love life has gone away from your life. A tiny or little dispute becomes so big that u cant handle the situation. In your true love life when anger or frustration comes. Vashikaran mantra is best way to get back your love. Its effects are immediately to the person after implementing on them. After applying this magic no one can predict that what is going on. An Aghori can give its effects to the victim who stays hundreds of miles from your place. I know every person has the desire that their problems are solved immediately. Black Magic is a complete solution of get your love back. You will be getting rid of all hindrances that you faced in the way of your love. This is my promise to you this mantra give you full of joyful, prosperity, good luck and new peace in your life." Here you can find all solution to all of your problems."
- get love back by vashikaran
- hypnotism vashikaran mantra
- lost love spells magic
- black magic specialist baba
- vashikaran specialist baba
- love vashikaran specialist


text:
Mighty Mind Benders: Challenge Your IQ
English | 1997 | ISBN: 1858680212 | 132 Pages | PDF | 56.2 MB
Intelligence, to a greater or lesser degree, is found in all humans. Your level of intelligence is the same throughout your life. Many people, however, fail to reach their true potential and this is the rationale behind this book.
The tests in the book are fun I.Q. tests. They begin on an easy plane but gradually rise to a more difficult one. The tests measure speed and accuracy o f thought and should be regarded as a form o f mental jogging. Many people take physical exercise but not so many mental exercise. Now is yoxir chance.
Carolyn Skitt and I have put together this series of puzzles for your amusement. In each of the tests the correct answer is to be foimd in one of the shapes. Proceed through each test as quickly as possible and first answer those questions you find easiest. Then return to the more difficult ones. Check your answers when the time is up, total the correct answers and then find your fun I.Q. score from the table.
[Fast Download] Mighty Mind Benders: Challenge Your IQ
Scrabble for Beginners
The Hidden Code of Cryptic Crosswords
Understanding Digital Games
Uncle John's New & Improved Funniest Ever
The Amazing Chess Adventures of Baron Munchausen
XBox 360 Pour les Nuls
Let's Find Pokemon!
The Inner Game: Short v. Kasparov
Modern Chess Preparation: Getting Ready for Your Opponent in the Information Age
Chessercizes: New Winning Techniques for Players of All Levels
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
365 Chess Master Lessons: Take One a Day t(2612)
Probability, Decisions and Games: A Gentle(1854)
World's Best Card Tricks(1718)
America's Digital Army : Games at Work and(1335)
Building Games with Ethereum Smart Contrac(1281)
Clever Card Tricks(1218)
Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning: To(1152)
The Little Book of Mahjong: Learn How to P(1111)
The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia(1094)
The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Stra(1082)
Practical Chess Psychology(1078)
The Super World of Mario: The Ultimate Uno(1069)
The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Developm(1033)
Escape the Game: How to make puzzle and es(1017)
Game Worlds Get Real(991)


text:
July 12, 2013
Hiking with Kids
22 comments:
Hi Janie!ReplyDelete
Your new header is just beautiful!
I also want to give you the Courage in Action award for hiking with six liddle kids!
Boa tarde!ReplyDelete
Que as bençãos de Deus, estejam sempre contigo e tua familia linda.
I'm laughing here in CO Janie! I notice the little sun screener shed her garments after hiking. Those are some little ones to take on a hike - you're starting them early, which is great. That Header is awesome!ReplyDelete
Great family photos Janie. Loved the group photos and the one with the kids where you got them all smiling at the same time is adorable. Loved that header photo too, a stunning photograph!!!ReplyDelete
It looks as if you had a couple of great hikes with the entire family. Your grandchildren are all adorable (you didn't know that, did you?). I'm glad you could get the family together for such a wonderful occasion.ReplyDelete
Looks like everyone had a great time!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSaturday, July 13, 2013
My how the kids have grown- the joys of a family trek will hold many fond memories.ReplyDelete
The marine fossil rock is incredible. Love your header view.
Have a wonderful weekend Janie.
Passei para uma visitinha.
É muito educativo as crianças terem contato com a natureza... é a melhor lição de preservação ambiental... parabéns!!!!
Amei as fotografias.
Bom fim de semana·..¸彡
♪♫° Beijinhos·..°♡♡
°❤❤ Brasil✿✿·..
Looks like everyone had fun, the kids are so cute! :DReplyDelete
So great to see families taking their little ones hiking. It's worth all the planning and hard work. And they are adorable.ReplyDelete
What a happy and healthy looking crew. And what fun for the photographer!ReplyDelete
Adorable, Janie... I know you were in 7th heaven with the grands around... Are all 6 of them your grandchildren? Wow--I only have 5 (and mine are all grown up now).... Time flies.ReplyDelete
LOVE the salamander! love the Hoods in the Woods! (i.e. kids growing up to love the outdoors)ReplyDelete
- The Equestrian Vagabond
What a great family and a great expedition.ReplyDelete
Brought back some memories. I went to a summer camp near Brighton in 1965 and one day we hiked up to Lake Mary. Years later, in the early 90's Heather and I hiked up there also.
I love Big Cottonwood Canyon, lots of trails.
This is family fun that will be remembered, at least by the older ones in the bunch. Cute kids!ReplyDelete
It looks like a LOT of fun. I laughed at the nose pickers and the half shirted guy; too funny.ReplyDelete
Love all those kiddos!
What an adorable group of grandchildren! Beautiful pictures. I wonder what you would call a 1/2 shirt tan?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousTuesday, July 16, 2013
Wow, what a gorgeous header image!ReplyDelete
Great photos from your family hikes. The grandkids are sure growing and have such beautiful smiles.
The marine fossil rock was quite a find!
What a beautiful family, and it how it has grown! Looks like everyone had a good time.ReplyDelete
wow!!! family hiking is so much effort but so much fun..it also makes kids sensitive towards nature & wildlife conservation ....ReplyDelete
beautiful pics looks everyone enjoyed lot with funReplyDelete
A fun and interesting day I'm sureReplyDelete


text:
ScholarForum: The Politics of the Environment
This issue of ScholarForum features contributions from Open Society Scholarship Programs grantees and alumni on the topic "The Politics of the Environment" and also focuses on the regions of Central Asia and Mongolia. The articles display a range of perspectives, from a call for the thoughtful use of biofuels instead of their fossil fuel counterparts, to the impact of a natural disaster on the law in Indonesia.
Impressive photographs from Kyrgyzstan, submitted by Social Work Fellowship Program grantee Nail Nasritdinov, reveal that economic hardships and dangerous conditions are a daily reality for some sections of society, while essays from Mongolia highlight efforts made for children's rights at the grassroots level. An interview with Cornelius Graubner, program officer at the Central Eurasia Project, provides insight into the progress and difficulties encountered by the Open Society Foundations in the area.
A concluding section on Alumni Updates displays the diverse, relevant and interesting paths Scholarship Programs' grantees take after their scholarships.
ScholarForum: The Politics of the Environment (5.59 Mb pdf file)
Download Issue 13, Fall 2010.


text:
Emax opens second Abu Dhabi store
Emax expansion plan aims for 38 stores region-wide in next six months
Electronics retailer Emax has opened its eighth store in the UAE, as part of its growing regional expansion plans.
The Dalma Mall store, Emax' second in Abu Dhabi, will be the largest electronics outlet in the capital, according to the company.
Emax plans further regional expansion in 2012, with the aim of reaching 38 stores across the Middle East in the next six months.
Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of Emax said: "We are delighted to announce the opening of the second Emax store in Abu Dhabi, which is all set to become the largest one in the capital. This is a significant step aimed towards meeting growing consumer demand for electronics in the region. Our first store in the capital has already proven popular among shoppers with an average of over 250,000 customers visiting the store each year."
Bhatnagar added that customers at Emax stores are able to access finance schemes via Emax to pay for purchases, as well as a number of loyalty programmes.
"For every dirham spent in store, customers not only purchase electronics of their choice, but also add reward points using numerous loyalty schemes including Air Miles, Shukran, Skywards or even Etisalat's More rewards programme," he added.


text:
ROSATOM to implement Cyclotron & Radiopharmaceutical Complex Project in Thailand
BANGKOK, September 7 — ROSATOM (Russia) and Kinetics Corporation Ltd. (Thailand) will supply a cyclotron complex with radiochemical laboratories for the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT). Following the results of the procurement procedure conducted by TINT, Kinetics Corporation, with its offer based on ROSATOM's technologies, was awarded a turn-key contract. RUSATOM Healthcare, a subsidiary of ROSATOM, will act as the technology provider.
The facility will be located at Ongkharak Nuclear Research Centre in Nakhon Nayok. With an area of more than 5400 m2, the new complex will accommodate a cyclotron and several laboratories for the production of radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine and other purposes, as well as serve as a platform for R&D activities in the field of radiation technologies and innovations.
Currently all the isotopes for SPECT in Thailand are imported, with some PET isotopes produced in hospitals locally in amounts that cannot satisfy the demand. Thus, the new cyclotron supplied by ROSATOM will allow Thailand to produce its own isotopes and will also drive the R&D activities in nuclear medicine, as well as in application of nuclear technologies in the different areas of industry.
"We are happy to be a part of the project that will help to save lives and to boost innovations in Thailand. ROSATOM has decades of experience in designing and manufacturing nuclear healthcare and R&D solutions. There are 14 radionuclide production facilities operating in Russia", said Alexander Merten, President of RUSATOM International Network.
RUSATOM International Network (a subsidiary of ROSATOM) operating global network of representative offices for ROSATOM, with its office for Southeast Asia countries operating out of Singapore facilitated the deal.
The core of the complex will be a MCC-30/15 cyclotron of 30 MeV proton energy, supplied by ROSATOM. It will be utilized also to produce isotopes for PET and SPECT diagnostics. These isotopes allow determining the stage of oncological, cardiac, and neurological diseases accurately, and in many cases may be almost the only way to prescribe appropriate treatment.
For reference:
ROSATOM is the Russian Federation national nuclear corporation that comprises more than 350 nuclear industry companies and institutions. With over 70 years of experience in the field of nuclear technology, ROSATOM works on a global scale to provide comprehensive nuclear services that range from uranium enrichment to nuclear power plant construction as one of the global leaders in nuclear industry. ROSATOM has a strong focus on applied research and innovations and invests 4.5% of its annual revenues into R&D projects. The technologies of the Russian nuclear industry have been used to build over 120 research reactors globally.
RUSATOM International Network is an industry complex under the governance of ROSATOM with a mission to develop and manage a network of ROSATOM regional centres. The company is comprised of 11 regional centres. The main tasks of the company and its regional centres are to seek new opportunities to expand business, promote Russian nuclear companies' products and services globally.
Through its subsidiary RUSATOM Healthcare, ROSATOM provides the full range of services in nuclear medicine, from facilities construction and operation to the supply of isotopes worldwide. The company implements projects in two areas: nuclear medicine and innovative product processing technologies.
Kinetics Corporation Ltd. was founded in 1986 with the aim to be the one stop complete solution provider in the field of engineering and scientific equipment. Kinetics, with more than 30 years of experiences in the market, is trusted by customers in both public and private sectors. Entering into its fourth decade, Kinetics continues to strive for the best in the future to come.
Source: rosatom.ru


text:
Freelance and Part time Permanent Assessors & Internal Verifiers Urgently Required!
- Up to £26,000
- 4 weeks annual holiday
- Frequent opportunities for CPD
- Excellent Benefits Package.
Assessors and Verifiers are required in the following sectors:
- Health and Social Care
- Teaching Assistants
- Children's Care
- Beauty Therapy
- Hairdressing
- Construction
- Cleaning
- Business & Administration
Candidate must be able to:
- Plan and deliver NVQ/QCF training programmes and workshops Observe candidates in their workplace.
- Examine candidates' portfolios of evidence
- Question candidates to assess how they would deal with non-standard situations
- Provide feedback and offer advice if the standards are not met
- Sign off the NVQ/QCF when all the requirements have been met
- Keep records of candidates' progress, according to the requirements of the NVQ/QCF awarding bodies
- Attend meetings with other assessors
- Work closely with training staff and candidates' line managers.
Qualification Required:
To be an Internal & External Assessor and Verifier you would need:
- An assessment qualification (A1/A2)
- Experience of assessing in the same, or similar, occupational area to the one you will be verifying.
- Level 4 Award in Conducting Internal Quality Assurance of the Assessment Process – V1 & V2.
The qualifications listed above have replaced the previous assessment qualifications D32 and D33, the internal verification qualification D34 and the external verification qualification D35.
Equality and Diversity
We are committed to practices that are fully inclusive, eliminating discrimination and promoting equality and diversity in all its aspects and we are continuously working towards building and maintaining a culture which values diversity. We seek to provide a safe and supportive environment for all and strive to create positive working relationships in which everyone can realise their potential. Our commitment to our learners, staff and employers, and our expectations of them, are based on the diverse nature of the communities that we serve.
How to Apply
Please email your cv to:
email@example.com or contact us on any of the numbers below;
Zurbel Training Centre
Telephone: 0208 532 7317/ 0208 532 7300
Mobile: 07961 928 096/ 07429 097 657
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Hey guys –
For all those who have followed this blog, I just want to say a hearty THANK YOU!! It's really been a pleasure. I can't even begin to tell you how much I've learned from the experience.
However, Ali and I have decided to head up our writers group's blog: Notes from Under Ground. We'll be talking writing, publishing, books, and whatever else comes into our heads – along with the rest of our gang. Please come by and chat with us, we'd be super sad to miss anyone!
The posted articles will remain here, just in case any one particular post inspired you…or maybe you need a direction for a school paper. =)
Happy writing and reading to you, my friends.


text:
Course Overview
Course Duration: approximately 2 months of learning and assessment, with up to 3 months to complete the course (Self-Paced)
Expand your training practices by learning how to address individuals who require language, literacy, and numeracy (LLN) assistance! This course has been designed to fine tune your skills in identifying learner's with LLN needs and providing support to the learner based on their individual circumstances. By completing this standalone unit of competency, you can help a learner realise their potential by determining methods to overcome any obstacles the learner might experience during their training.
Achievement of this unit of competency forms one of the additional trainer and assessor credential requirements of the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 (see below).
- Who should do this course?
If you are looking to meet the updated trainer and assessor credential requirements that came into effect on 1 July 2019 you will need to ensure that you have as a minimum:
- The superseded TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment,
- Either one of the following:
- TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills (offered by iLearn eCollege)
- TAELLN401A Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills
- Plus one of the following:
- TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools (offered by iLearn eCollege)
- TAEASS502A Design and develop assessment tools
- TAEASS502B Design and develop assessment tools
Completing this unit of competency can be used towards maintaining currency as a trainer and assessor, and to ensure you can continue training and assessing in the VET sector as of 1 July 2019 as per the changes to legislation. If you do not have TAEASS502 Design and develop assessment tools, we strongly recommend enrolling into the combined unit program or the upgrade option offered by iLearn eCollege.
Please click HERE for further information regarding the legislative updates.
- Delivery Mode
iLearn eCollege utilises online training, self-paced study, and distance-based assessing. Features of our delivery mode include:
- Pre-recorded webinars,
- Assessments submitted via online portal,
- Self-paced study – no class room timetables.
- Entry Requirements
Unique Student Identifier (USI)
A USI is a 10-character string unique to you which is needed to undertake nationally recognised training with iLearn eCollege, such as applying into this program. Click HERE to create a USI.
Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) Indicator Tool
The LLN Indicator Tool may be required once you have applied for the course. The LLN Indicator Tool is used for us to determine whether you require any additional support with your course and how to enhance your student experience.
Student Liaison Officer Contact
One of our Student Liaison Officer's will contact you soon after you have made your enrolment application. We would like to discuss the course with you further, including information about the entry requirements, course structure, assessments, etc.
- Structure
This pathway contains 1 unit of competency as per below:
Topic Unit code and title Language, literacy and numeracy TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills
- Duration
The course duration is 2 months of learning and assessment, with up to 3 months to complete the course from the day your course commences, giving you time to fulfil all necessary training requirements (see below). We understand that life can sometimes get in the way of your studies, so to help keep you on track, we will provide you with a comprehensive Training Plan.
- Amount of Training
The amount of training required to complete this course comprises three items:
- Self-paced study hours
- Pre-recorded webinar sessions
- Assessment hours
1. Self-paced study hours
Theory before practice! Self-paced study refers to the time required to read and understand the course content before tackling the formal assessments. Note that some modules will require more self-paced study due to the nominal hours required. To complete activities within your assessments, you will be required to undertake additional independent research. This includes researching training and assessment websites, government websites, and published articles relating to the VET sector.
For a comprehensive breakdown of the amount of self-paced study hours, please refer to the Information Pack.
2. Pre-recorded webinar sessions
All students will have access to all 8 pre-recorded webinar sessions via the online portal. The webinars act as additional study material aimed at exploring training and assessment concepts in further detail.
3. Assessment hours
Assessment hours refers to the expected time you should allocate towards completing the assessment activities in each module, such as written questions, case studies, and projects. Every module is different, and some modules will take longer to complete than others. The overall time taken to complete these assessments will also depend on other factors, such as time commitment and familiarity with the course content. If you would like a breakdown of the estimated assessment hours, please refer to the Information Pack.
The project will also require the assistance of a participant. The participant can be a friend, family member, work colleague, etc. Refer to the below table for more details.
Topic Unit/s of competency Access to participants Language, literacy and numeracy TAELLN411 Address adult language, literacy and numeracy skills Project 1 – access to 1 real vocational learner*
*The term real vocational learner refers to an individual who is looking to undertake training for employment or future employment purposes. A person who has recently enrolled with an RTO but has not commenced the course would be a suitable participant. Alternatively, individuals who are looking to start a nationally recognised course, such as work colleagues or family members are also considered real vocational learners.
Completing this course requires research, independent study and some practical tasks for particular units. Assessment of many units of competency from the TAE Training and Education Training Package requires access to a 'practice environment' where students have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge with learners in real learning contexts. For many of the units and qualifications in the package this includes having access to a suitable practice environment where students have access to a learner cohort and time to develop their practice with learners. The practice environment should be as realistic as possible and should reflect the environment in which students will be practising in future. However, iLearn eCollege is able to provide students with access to a simulated workplace that gives the learner the opportunity to meet the following critical criteria:
- Quality – The work is of the standard required for entry into the industry.
- Productivity – The work is performed within a timeframe appropriate for entry to the industry.
- Safety – The work is performed in a manner that meets industry safety standards.
Assessment activities are realistic and reasonable in terms of scale. Assessment conducted under simulated conditions reflect those typically found in the workplace.
- Course Requirements
Learner requirements
To complete this course, we suggest that each potential student has basic computer skills such as sending an email, using a printer and scanner, using Microsoft Office programs, and internet skills to undertake online research.
Technology requirements
You will need to ensure you have access to the following technological resources:
- Stable internet connection with a minimum download speed of 3mbps. Go to www.speedtest.net to perform a speed test on your internet connection,
- An email account – Can be created through Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail,
- Microsoft Office (2010 version or later) – must include Word, Excel and PowerPoint,
- Compatible operating systems – Windows 8 and higher, or MAC,
- Current version of a web browser such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox,
- Latest version of Adobe Reader,
- Video recording device that produces clear footage and audio,
- Desktop computer or laptop,
- Printer and scanner,
- Phone.
- Learning Resources
Your learning resources will include:
- Student Workbooks (assessments),
- Appendix Templates and Samples,
- Learner Manual (contains the course content),
- A knowledge bank full of resources such as industry fact sheets,
- Access to pre-recorded webinars and online discussion forums,
- Access to TrainingRTO – a simulated RTO designed by iLearn eCollege.
- Educational and Support Services
iLearn eCollege offers a range of educational and support services available to students who require additional assistance with their course. Examples of these services are listed below.
Learner need Method of support offered by iLearn eCollege Language barriers
- Explain concepts in clear terms over the telephone
Visual impairment
- Enlarge the font size of learning materials
Literacy issues
- Allow students to be orally assessed
- Allow students to be assessed in person at the office of iLearn eCollege by an assessor
Learning difficulties
- Pre-recorded webinars
- Online discussion forums
iLearn eCollege has a dedicated Administration Department which provides administrative support to enrolled students. Contact may be made by email at firstname.lastname@example.com or by telephone (07) 5689 5070 during business hours.
During your enrolment period, your trainer is available to support you, either via email at email@example.com or by telephone on (07) 5689 5070 during business hours. There is no additional cost to speak with a trainer, as trainer support is included in your course fee. Our trainers are passionate industry experts who are available to guide you through your learning experience.
- Examples of Learning Materials
- Fee Information
Course Fee
Total course price is $395. Course is inclusive of the following items:
- Learning and assessment resources
- Trainer and assessor support by phone and email
- Up to 3 months to complete the course
- Additional support services (where applicable)
- Statement of Attainment issuance (does not include replacement Statement of Attainment)
- RPL applications and credit transfers applications
Payment Methods
Payment for the course can be made by:
- MasterCard and Visa Card
- PayPal
- Telephone payment for credit card payments
- Purchase Order
- Bank deposit – see details below
You may directly deposit your course fee into the account detailed below. Please ensure you reference your payment with your full name. Alternatively, if depositing cash, please reference your mobile telephone number:
- Account Name: QLD Training Association Pty Ltd t/as iLearn eCollege
- Bank: Commonwealth Bank
- Account Number: 1059 0593
- Miscellaneous
Consumer rights
Once a prospective student has enrolled and paid for a course offered by iLearn eCollege, each individual is entitled to exercise their right as a consumer in accordance with the Australian Consumer Law and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
For more information about our Refund Policy, you can refer to the Student Handbook.


text:
Burn Brite Range of Industrial, Hazardous Area and Mine Lighting from Ampcontrol
Offered by Ampcontrol, Burn Brite is a specialist designer and manufacturer of portable and fixed industrial, hazardous area and mine lighting. Burn Brite lighting products for industrial applications have gained a reputation for being 'built to last'.
The Alpha Lite range incorporates portable hand-held work lights, fixed installations and temporary lighting systems
- Available in a wide range of operating voltages, sizes and cable configurations
- Ensures an Alpha Lite product for any project
- Intensively engineered and manufactured with Burn Brite's next generation technology
- Features high intensity LEDs
- Durable construction to maintain reliable performance
The Burn Brite Alpha Lite range includes:
- Alpha Lite Max (240VAC, 24-32VAC and 12-24VDC)
- Alpha Lite Compact (12-24VDC, 24-32VAC and 240VAC)
- Alpha Lite Mini (12VDC and 240VAC)
- Variety of cable configurations and lengths available
Specially designed and manufactured for use in hard or adverse environments, Burn Brite lighting products from Ampcontrol can withstand the most arduous environments so customers are assured of reliability when it is needed most.Ampcontrol Pty Ltd information and contact details
Related Ampcontrol Pty Ltd News
Contact Ampcontrol Pty Ltd
Contact Ampcontrol Pty Ltd


text:
Coffee Beans
What do tennis greats Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi have in common with Mario? Well, they all have at least one tennis video game with their name in the title.
Mario Tennis was originally released for the Nintendo 64 on August 28, 2000 in the U.S. The game was developed by Camelot and published by Nintendo, and received an ESRB rating of "Everyone" with no content listed for gamers and parents to be aware of.
The game was re-released on the Virtual Console in the U.S. on June 28, 2010 and cost 1,000 Nintendo Points, or $10, to download. The game features 16 different Nintendo characters, and marked the first Nintendo game that Waluigi appeared in.
How many hours have U.S. Wii owners spent serving up aces in Mario Tennis on the Virtual Console? Let's take a look!
The Brew
Mario Tennis has approximately 8,298 U.S. Wii owners that have reported game-play data through the Nintendo Channel, since the game released in 2010. The game's average play-time per day/session is just 51 Minutes.
The game has a "professional" review score average of 89.97%, based on 15 reviews from GameRankings.com. The reviews appear to all be based on the original version, and not the Virtual Console version. When searching Amazon.com for the original version it did show up and it has a customer review score average of 93.55%, based on 121 customer reviews.
Mario Tennis' U.S. Virtual Console release has made Nintendo about $82,980 before taxes, just based on the number of players that have reported data and the game's $10 price point.
Caffeinated Thoughts
While I do not own any of the Mario Tennis games, I used to enjoy playing tennis in real life quite often when I was younger. While I used to enjoy tennis, I would now probably pass out within 5 minutes of hitting a court today!
A tennis game in real life can last between 2-5 hours, with the average 5 set game lasting about 3.5 hours, so I think it's interesting that the average play-time per day/session reported is under an hour for Mario Tennis, sitting at 51 minutes.
If you have never seen any footage of Mario Tennis, here is a video of the intro video for the game:
Did any of you play the original Mario Tennis on the N64, and/or the Virtual Console re-release? If so, where would you rank it among the other Mario Tennis games if you have played them?
If you have a 3DS, and purchased the recently released Mario Tennis Open, is that a game you would recommend to other 3DS owners (linking to your own reviews in the comments is okay)?
Also, do any of you perhaps play tennis in real life, or used to play like I did?
If you are interesting in purchasing Mario Tennis on the Virtual Console, or the new 3DS Mario Tennis Open, you can see links for a Wii Points card (notice, it is cheaper in stores I believe!) and the game on Amazon.com below:


text:
Inexpensive fun fuels text messaging growth
Fun technology coupled with economical pricing fuel young adults' burgeoning use of text messaging, according to new research conducted by the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University.
Worldwide users send over 1 trillion text messages each year. Forecasts call for continued growth of wireless communications especially in North America. The research shows young adults (19-25) find text messaging's instant social interaction fun, at a perceived economical cost.
The results of the study are published in this month's journal Information & Management.
"As the market continues to develop, telecommunication companies would be smart to focus on the fun of using text messaging and the low price of the medium as they build their marketing growth plans," says Nick Bontis, associate professor of strategic management at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University.
The researchers report that almost half of young adults surveyed had used text messaging. They send an average of 50 messages per month and spend approximately $46 US per month on mobile phone services.
Source: McMaster University
Explore further


text:
Google Print Ads and Google Radio Ads
Picking up on that pesky "monetize the Internet" theme, we have Google's forays into non-Internet advertising. Perhaps influenced by ongoing pressure to show revenue, Google attempted to expand its brand into the print and radio advertising industries. With its astounding user-information and product-purchase metrics, Google could do for offline concerns what they did (and continue to do) for online advertisers: Bring potential customer information to the people that need it.
Of course, Google's private and personal consumer information is its bread and butter and probably will be for the foreseeable future. In a world where all the information ever created by humans is quickly becoming instantly available, advertising continues to be the dominant profit paradigm.
While using Google metrics to target consumers in offline markets – which is exactly what happened -- may sound like a good deal for offline advertisers, those methods of communicating with consumers are dying. The metrics Google uses to perfectly identify the right market for ad placements online just didn't translate to the offline world. Tracking the success of Google's ad placements proved difficult, and both radio and print executives were reluctant to turn over their advertising systems to Google's methods [source: Vascellaro].


text:
Travel reviews by Nightjar Family from UK
Fantastic Holiday in Tanzania
On this trip, I visited Tanzania & Zanzibar between 21-Aug-2008 and 5-Sep-2008 and I travelled with 6 other people.
Well organised, all ran to plan, enabling us to have a fantastic holiday with a great standard of game viewing and accomadation.
We will use Expert Africa again.
I stayed at and have reviewed:
|Overall rating
|Siwandu, Tanzania
22-Aug-2008 review: Great Safari at Selous Safari Camp
|Rufiji River Camp, Tanzania
25-Aug-2008 review: Good Bush Camping at Rufiji
|Serena Hotel Dar, Tanzania
28-Aug-2008 review: Royal Palm stopover
|Pongwe Beach Hotel, Zanzibar
29-Aug-2008 review: Fantastic Relaxing Beach Hotel at Pongwe
|Zanzibar Coffee House, Zanzibar
4-Sep-2008 review: Zanzibar Coffee House


text:
The Patriots have scored 79 points in their last six quarters— averaging almost two touchdowns per quarter. It may be time to say this team has finally found its offensive rhythm.
Brady easily had his best game of the season. For the first time all year, he threw more than 3 touchdowns (4) and had over 400 yards (432). His QBR for the game was a near perfect 97.7.
He was so successful because he mixed in the no huddle, used difficult snap counts (which helped the backs) and spread the ball to six different receivers. He ended the game with a total of 22 completions on 33 attempts.
For the first time all season, the receivers were making plays for Brady. He was heaving the ball up to Gronkowski in double coverage, and Gronkowski was coming down with catches. He had nine catches on ten targets, including a touchdown. Also, Dobson had two touchdown receptions, one an 81-yard catch, and the other came off a nice back shoulder catch to stay in bounds for the touchdown. Gronkowski, and surprisingly Dobson have clearly become Brady's go-to receivers.
Danny Amendola also caught all four balls thrown in his direction, including a 34-yard touchdown after a seam route. He looked healthy in this game and should continue to get a lot more looks from Brady in the coming weeks.
The running backs once again had a great performance. They had a total of almost 200 rushing yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry. They ran with authority on the early downs, picking up yards in bunches. This opened up the play action for the Patriots to help them total 33 first downs. Most of those first downs came on second down. Overall the backs were dominant in the red zone (minus the one stop the Steelers had on the goal line, despite the penalty) and finished the game with three touchdowns.
The defense was not terrific. Roethlisberger had over 400 yards passing, extrapolating the "mismatch" on Jerico Cotchery, who had 7 catches on 8 attempts and three touchdowns. They did manage to come up with some keys sacks and force 3 turnovers to keep the Steelers offense off the field. Overall, there were certainly some defensive struggles the Patriots will have to address, but on a day where the offense put up 55 points, those struggles were overshadowed.
Sunday's game was definitely an encouraging sign for Patriots fans. The Steeler's 12 ranked defense (after the game, higher before) had no answer for New England's previously anemic offense. If the Patriots can continue their offensive success, they should be expected to win against every team they play.