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Otto Weininger's book on gender is either a masterpiece or the work of Larry Summers's evil twin. Possibly both?
There are many great books. And of weird books, the number is countless. Yet, paradoxically enough, there are not that many great weird books.
Sex and Character by Otto Weininger is one of them. The appearance next month of a definitive English translation, published by Indiana University Press, is a major cultural event - one that is, arguably, at least several decades overdue.
First published in Vienna in 1903, Sex and Character is the product of a tortured genius. Or at least the work of someone remarkably devoted to playing that role. The author was 23 years old when it appeared. In its first incarnation, the book was Weininger's dissertation -- a more or less scientific account of the physiology of gender differences. In revising it, Weininger created a mixture of psychological introspection, neo-Kantian epistemology, and Nietzschean cultural criticism, along with a heavy dose of anti-feminist polemic. Toward the end of the book, Weininger seasoned the stew with a few dashes of anti-Semitic vitrol. Then, a few months after seeing the manuscript through the press, he went to the house where Beethoven died and killed himself.
This did not hurt sales. And it sure did clinch the "tortured" part. The double impact of Weininger's work and his suicide created a sensation, and not just in Austria. The list of Weininger's admirers reads like a survey course in Western culture from the early 20th century. The most perfunctory roundup would include James Joyce, Karl Kraus, Robert Musil, Arnold Schoenberg, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
An unsigned English version of Sex and Character appeared in 1906, prepared by someone whose qualifications for the job evidently boiled down to possessing (1) a German dictionary and (2) the willingness, when necessary, to hazard a guess. The title page proclaimed this an "Authorized Translation" -- though it's still not clear who, if anyone, authorized it, and in any case the English edition omits whole sections of the original text. Ludwig Wittgenstein called the 1906 translation "beastly." But it is the one we monolingual Europhiles have had to rely on for almost a century. (Excerpts from it are available online, who knows why.)
The Indiana edition of Sex and Character was prepared by a team of three scholars, two of them professors of German, working from the text that Weininger revised just before his death. It includes some impressive scholarly apparatus, including a useful bibliography covering the secondary literature on this strangely influential book. There is also a somewhat bewildering overview of the problems with the earlier English version, which contained "hundreds of mistranslations, ranging from slight inaccuracies, through substantial mistakes, to downright howlers, at times saying the very opposite of Weininger's own statements."
It is fairly easy to sum up Weininger's conclusions, but hard to capture the book's strange aura -- the quality that fascinated so many people a hundred years ago, and that still flashes up from its pages. Beginning with a plausible notion, the text moves, by degrees, through evidently rational steps that lead right up to the lip of a volcano, spewing the molten core of the author's madness. It's quite a trip.
Weininger's point of departure is the idea that there are some very basic notions that govern our way in the world -- that are, in effect, part of human consciousness even before we have worked out anything like a rational account of them. "Two concepts," he writes, "are among the oldest used by mankind to eke out a makeshift intellectual existence" -- namely, the distinction between Man and Woman.
In the first section of the book (corresponding to the doctoral dissertation in psychology that he wrote in 1901), Weininger argues that the distinction between male and female is never absolute at the biological level. Rather, each organism contains a mixture of male and female physical traits -- with one or the other usually predominant, of course. "One could say," he writes, hitting the emphasis hard, "that in empirical experience there is neither Man nor Woman, but only male and female." (My hunch is that the original publisher of Sex and Character probably had to send out for extra italic letters.)
So far, so good. After all, endocrinology is on Weininger's side: The toughest Marine has some estrogen in him, and the most demure of seamstresses has a little testosterone in her veins.
Weininger proposes that the gender of each individual could be most accurately expressed as a kind of algebraic formula: so many parts M, so many parts W. This leads to a couple of interesting consequences. One is the formulation of what Weininger calls "the discovery of an unknown natural law" governing sexual attraction. A person who is three quarters M and one quarter W will tend to be drawn to someone who is three quarters W and one quarter M.
The second major consequence is that Weininger is pretty sensible, for a guy of his era, about homosexuality, or "sexual inversion," as the preferred term back then had it. Some people have M/W fractions are close to 50-50. This, says Weininger, is no big deal. "Sexual inversion is not an exception to the natural law, but only a special case of the same," he writes. Indeed, according to Weininger, "the predisposition for homosexuality is still present, however faintly, in every human being."
At this point, Weininger sounds quite a bit like Alfred Kinsey. Reaching the end of part one of the book, you think "What a progressive guy! He's so far ahead of his time." And then you turn the page....
At the age of 20, Otto Weininger gave a paper at an international conference defending the value of introspection as a method of psychological research (as opposed to relying strictly on laboratory experimentation). The second part of Sex and Character is, in effect, the record of a very smart and very unhappy young man's efforts to create a system of ideas to make sense of what was going on inside him.
At the physical level, there is no purely male or female identity. But, Weininger writes, "it may be said with the greatest certainty that psychologically a person must necessarily be either male or female." He doesn't really explain how a rigid psychological distinction emerges from a broad spectrum of biological phenomena. Apparently it just does.
For Weininger, gender is not a natural phenomenon -- but it isn't a social construction, either. The distinction between Man and Woman is an absolute difference that defines human existence. Summing things up very briefly: Man is reason, culture, and the highest human values. Woman is irrationality, the state of nature, and the utterly amoral realm of sexual desire.
Put so starkly, this is puzzling. For one thing, "irrationality, the state of nature, and the utterly amoral realm of sexual desire" sounds like a description of a frat house. And the author has a hard time keeping the polarity intact. He drifts between misogynistic outbursts and passages that sound like criticisms of the patriarchal order. At times, such moments come within the same paragraph. "The most inferior man is still infinitely superior to the most superior woman,"he writes, "so much so that it seems hardly permissible to compare and rank them. Nevertheless, nobody has the right to belittle or oppress in any way even the most inferior woman."
Man is capable of grappling with fundamental principles and of becoming a genius. (Here, in particular, Weininger's tribute to his own gender is a kind of self-aggrandizing self-portrait.) But Woman, too, has access to a kind of universality. "Every complete mother labors for the species as a whole, she is the mother of all mankind, and she welcomes every pregnancy. The prostitute wants other women not to be pregnant but only prostitutes like herself." Not that Weininger has a Madonna/whore complex or anything. That's just the way the universe is.
So far Sex and Character may sound like the work of Larry Summers's evil twin. But then things shift again.
By the time Weininger finishes a chapter called "The Nature of Woman and Her Purpose in the Universe," the manic phase has launched his thoughts halfway to the stratosphere. When the subject of ethnic difference finally appears, the booster rockets fire, and Weininger goes beyond the moon.
Let's just skip the part about the femininity of the Chinese pigtails, and get down to fundamental analogy that preoccupies Weininger: Man corresponds to Aryan, while Woman corresponds to Jew. The spirit of modernity, he writes, is feminine and Jewish. It is "an age for which history, life, science, everything, has become nothing but economics and technology; an age that has declared genius to be a form of madness, but which no longer has one great artist or one great philosopher; an age that is devoid of originality, but which chases most frantically after originality...."
In short, Weininger's introspective exploration of the cosmic meaning of gender leads him to the depths of the anti-Semitic imagination. Which makes his book a kind of rough guide to the inner world of another Austrian figure who would later leave his mark on the world, Adolf Hitler. Twenty years ago, Gerald Steig, an Austrian writer, called Sex and Character "the psychological-metaphysical prelude for National Socialism, including its variants."
But is that the only reason to read it? No, there's more.
Sex and Character did not simply denounce the modernist culture emerging in Vienna at the time, much of it the work of Jewish artists and writers. Weininger himself was Jewish. (More on his background in the next column.) His book was, in many ways, an embodiment of what he denounced. Nothing in Sex and Character is ever quite as clear-cut as it may seems. The sharp distinctions in the argument twist around, like the edges of a Mobius strip .....
On Thursday: Weininger and Wittegenstein, genius and gender, influence and psychosis -- plus, the most enviable acknowledgments page in the history of academic publishing.
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Posted by Jamie Turner
What do all successful mobile marketing campaigns have in common? What are the fundamental characteristics that effective mobile marketing campaigns share? What are the techniques these campaigns use that make them different from other, less effective campaigns?
You may be surprised to hear that, given the breadth and depth of the mobile marketing landscape, the number of essential characteristics that successful mobile marketing campaigns have in common can be distilled down to three. Once you strip away the façade of many successful campaigns, what you uncover are these three key characteristics: measurability, consumer insights, and innovation.
Characteristic 1: Measurability
A sure sign that a campaign will fail to reach its full potential is when a marketing director or business owner launches it without setting up a system to track the results.
Many businesses catch wind of a new and emerging trend like mobile marketing and jump into it before mapping out a strategy or developing tracking mechanisms. Typically, they develop a campaign based on a tactical or executional basis. A common refrain goes like this: "Let's dive into foursquare. The CEO just asked me about it, so let's get one running ASAP."
This ready, fire, aim approach to mobile marketing sets people up for failure. No sooner have they launched the campaign on a tactical whim than the CFO walks in and asks for an ROI analysis of it. Since a tactics-and-execution-first approach was taken to set it up, probably very little effort was put into defining tracking mechanisms. The end result is a campaign that flounders because nobody can accurately assess whether it is successful or not.
Successful campaigns start with an agreement about which metrics will be used to track the results. Then a baseline is established; thus, if one of the metrics that will be used is number of clicks to the mobile website, a baseline for that metric needs to be established prior to launching the campaign. Here's an example: If a mobile website generates 1,000 visits a week prior to launching a paid search campaign, and it jumps up to 1,250 visits per week following the run of that campaign, then you know it generated a 25 percent increase in visits to the website (assuming all other variables remained the same).
Characteristic 2: Customer Insights
Understandably, it's easy to get swept up in the enthusiasm surrounding a new marketing trend, especially one as exciting as mobile. Consider what happened with social media: Businesspeople were so enthused about its potential that they started to believe it was going to solve all their marketing problems. The thinking was, if we just upload a few YouTube videos and create a Facebook page, we'll be off to the races.
The truth is, it takes more than uploading a few YouTube videos and creating a Facebook page to make a successful social media campaign. Similarly, it takes more than creating a mobile website and running a mobile search program to produce a successful mobile media campaign. It takes careful planning and development, plus valuable consumer insight.
Companies that focus on the technology first and the consumer second are destined to fail. Successful mobile marketing campaigns start by gaining consumer insight; they then use that insight to grow their sales and revenue. They analyze how their customers and prospects think and behave, then try to figure out how mobile marketing can be used to leverage those thoughts and behaviors.
Fandango, the movie ticketing destination, for example, worked to analyze the behavior of people visiting its mobile app. It realized that potential ticket buyers wanted three things: the ability to check movie times, the ability to purchase tickets, and the convenience of not having to stand in line to pick up their tickets when they arrived at the theater. So Fandango created an app that meets those wants: It gives moviegoers the ability to check movie times and purchase tickets, and sends them a QR code they can scan at the ticket booth. By drilling down and analyzing the consumer thought process, Fandango found the way to deliver a superior ticket-buying experience to its customers and, ultimately, improve customer loyalty.
Characteristic 3: Innovation
No doubt you're excited about all the possibilities for business growth offered by mobile marketing. And based on what you've read in this book, you now know that many of your competitors are probably still lagging behind in this trend. So it may be tempting, once you've created your mobile website and perhaps even developed a mobile promotion, to get complacent and comfortable with your accomplishment. That would be a mistake. Successful campaigns typically continue to add an innovative element to the mix. They do more than, say, offer a free product sample for people who scan their QR code. Instead, they may engage their consumer in a new and innovative way that leverages the unique characteristics of mobile devices.
Now that we've introduced these unique characteristics, let's take a quick look at each of them before we analyze how they're being used in mobile marketing campaigns around the globe. As mentioned, mobile devices have GPS technology that allows users and marketers alike to target prospects based on their locations. And recall that a mobile device's accelerometer can be used to track the speed at which someone is traveling, and even to sense when the mobile device is being shaken. The compass lets marketers find out which direction the user is facing (always helpful for apps like Yelp that provide restaurant ratings to the user based on which direction they're facing).
More, mobile devices have the capability to scan 2D codes, share data and information, and recognize when the mobile device is being held close to a person's body. Mobile devices also can adjust screen brightness based on the ambient light. They also can transfer information wirelessly using NFC or Bluetooth technology.
In a nutshell, the most effective mobile marketing campaigns use these unique characteristics to provide consumers with an experience that's memorable. They leverage these attributes in order to connect with consumers more deeply than campaigns that follow traditional, more well-worn paths.
A Few Final Thoughts
If you're reading these words, the odds are you have more than just a passing interest in mobile marketing. You're excited about the prospects this new tool can drive to your business. You might even have some specific ideas for campaigns you're thinking about launching as a result of reading this book.
But there's one last point we need to express to ensure that your mobile marketing campaign will not just work, but succeed. It's the most important point of all—which is why we've saved it for last. That final point is for you to take action. Don't just think about, and talk about, mobile marketing. Don't just strategize about it, either. Take action!
We've been tossing around two phrases to each other as we've been writing this book. The first is GSD, which stands for get stuff done. (GSD actually stands for something a little edgier than that, but we're too polite to tell you). The key thrust of GSD is that it motivates people to take action instead of just talking about taking action. There's a big difference.
The second phrase is: It's better to get 10 things done than to get 1 thing done perfectly. Now, we realize that if you're a brain surgeon, this advice does not apply to you. But marketing isn't brain surgery; it's a much more flexible profession. And it happens much more quickly. That means if you don't keep the ball moving forward, the business world will pass you by. Quickly.
So keep those two final points in mind as you take steps to launch your mobile marketing campaign. By doing so, we're confident you'll be able to launch your campaign and still have time to tweak and adjust it while your competitors are stuck in the planning stages.
Good luck. Keep us posted on your results. And let us know what you're doing in the amazing and exciting new world of mobile marketing.
This article by Jamie Turner was originally posted on the 60 Second Marketer blog

subset: commoncrawl


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Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I will earn a commission at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Regardless, I only link to products we use on our homestead or believe in.
Want to learn how you can safely convert recipes for canning? Learn these important safety tips for home canning, plus how to convert your combination recipes into safe canning recipes!
Canning safety is very very important and I do see a lot of misinformation passed around on the internet on what is safe to can at home and proper guidelines.
Today we're going to be talking about canning safety and safe ways to convert recipes to make them safe to can. We're talking with Sharon from Simply Canning.com I reference her website a lot when I personally have a canning question.I post new episodes every Friday morning. You can subscribe via RSS and receive every episode for free. Or subscribe via Itunes [powerpress]
Simply Canning Soups– soups are considered a combination canning recipe and when canned at home, have some important modifications to make the safe. This book walks you through how to convert your own favorite soup recipes to canning recipes, plus more recipes for your canning fun.
Simply Canning the Book (paperback)- Ever wished you had a knowledgeable best friend to walk you through canning the right way? This book is loaded with canning advice and recipes. For the digital version go here.
Re-Usable Tattler lids– Learn how to use the only canning lid that's re-usable. Canning is already frugal, but a re-usable lid just made it more so.
Melissa: Welcome, Sharon!
Sharon: Thank you for having me.
Melissa: Do you want to go into your background and how you got started or in canning?
Sharon: I didn't grow up canning or in that lifestyle. Shortly after I got married, 20 years ago, my mom called and asked if I wanted her pressure canner. I almost turned her down and then thought well those are pretty expensive maybe I better take it. So I got it and tried it out and I got hooked. I started off with the easy stuff and I didn't have a huge garden at that point. But over the years things have grown and as I've done a lot of research on and I'm really particular about safety. I"m kind of like you and can almost everything, we freeze a few things, but I can meat, vegetables, jams, jellies, and pickles.
Melissa: I actually love that you didn't grow up with a canning background, I did and I'm very grateful for that, but I feel a lot of times people feel intimated if they didn't grow up with it, but you show that anyone can start or learn how to can.
Sharon: I get contacted a lot by young women who mother's canned, but they didn't actually participate with their mom and they have vague remembrances of, "well I think mom did this or that", but if you don't know make sure you research and know you are doing what mom did or maybe what mom did isn't safe anymore. It's really important to do your research.
Melissa: Speaking of research and safety issues, what are some common things that people tend to email you or say my mom or grandma used to do this, but it's really not a safe practice to do anymore today? People will talk to their grandma and not know it's no longer considered safe. Or they might be reading an older canning book that don't have up to date safe practices.
Sharon: The two things are people want to use a boiling water bath for vegetables or they don't know the proper tomato canning guidelines. Some people used to water bath can vegetables. They would boil it for hours and hours thinking the length of time would make it safe, because of the length of time, but the water bath canner can't get up to the temperature you need it no matter how long you boil it, the pressure canner brings up your temperature to stop botulism. Botulism is the bad bacteria, but it's really easy to avoid. People get scared when you mention botulism, but if you use the proper time and pressure you'll avoid botulism.
Some people think if you open the jar and smell it, and it doesn't smell you're good. Some spoilage you can see or smell. I've had tomatoes go bad and they're all bubbly. But that's not the case with botulism, I wish it was. You can't see it or smell it. That's the biggest one. When I first started my website I had my page on how to can green beans. I had so many people asking if you could water bath green beans and I don't let that question anymore so I think people have found that.
There are even people out there who are listening to day saying I do that and it's fine. There's no canning police. You decide what to do in your kitchen. I'm just telling you what I believe to be true and what is recommended with all the testing. So we can agree to disagree but I probably won't eat your green beans if I come to your house.
The second thing is tomatoes. If you want to can tomatoes in a water bath you need to acidify them. Tomatoes have changed in their acidic levels with all the hybrids and they're kind of border line. It's recommended to add lemon juice to your jars before processing.
You add the lemon juice right to the jar so you know each jar has the right amount.
Melissa: When a recipe calls for lemon juice, make sure you're using bottle lemon juice, not fresh lemon with tomatoes, use concentrated not fresh to make sure it's the right acidic level.
Sharon: Same thing goes with vinegar and pickling. You need to use store bought 5% vinegar, not homemade vinegar to make sure it's the correct strength.
Melissa: I haven't seen vinegar at the store less than 5%, but make sure your vinegar is 5%.
Sharon: I think maybe specialty vinegars might be less, I always buy the gallon size vinegar.
Melissa: I use my pressure canner for applesauce because it takes less time than the water bath. But I still use lemon juice with my tomatoes in the pressure canner, and you won't taste the lemon juice in the end product.
Sharon: You commented you pressure can your applesauce in the pressure canner but I"m at high altitude so I have issues with liquid loss. Do you have problems with that in the pressure canner?
Melissa: I'm just at 300 feet so I don't have high altitude issues. I don't have much liquid loss. Once the pressure canner is cooled normally (not running under cold water) I take the lid off and let the jars sit in the pressure canner for an hour sometimes before moving to the counter on a towel, so I don't have much liquid loss. When I can fruit in the pressure canner, it's only at 5 pounds of pressure and a short time.
Sharon: It takes me longer to get up to pressure because I"m at 6,000 feet.
Melissa:I'm glad you brought that up, because altitude definitely affects how long you process and the pounds of pressure. Do you use the re-usable Tattler canning lids? How to Use Re-Usable Tattler Lids
Sharon: I do, not exclusively, but I have used them quite a bit.
Melissa: I noticed when I do applesauce with it, it creates like a vacuum suction, even thought I always practice recommended head space guidelines. If you don't know, head space is the space between the top of the food and the rim of the jar. Usually 1 inch for meat and 1/4 inch for jam or jelly. With the Tattle lids, it looks I did no head space, but when you open it, there's just a bit of applesauce against the glass on the edge, so it looks like there's no head space. Have you experienced that?
Sharon: No, I haven't noticed that. I know Tattler has a new style lid out called a self-venting lid. I haven't used them yet.
Melissa: I love with pressure canning having meals basically ready to go. I can come home on a busy night, grab a couple of jars, and can have supper on the table in 15 minutes. I generally boil my food for 10 minutes before serving, though if you didn't practice safe canning guidelines, boiling won't kill botulism. But it will kill other food bacteria. I don't know if that's older canning guidelines, but I've always boiled my food, which is why I say it takes about 15 minutes to get the food on the table.
I love being able to get supper on the table super quick, usually all home grown by us. I know a lot of people want to be able to can soup. People assume if you can buy it in a can on the store shelf, then you can do it at home. But store canners can reach higher temperatures.
Sharon: I get that question a lot too. If you can buy a product with noodles in it can you do it at home? But it's a difference of equipment with home canners and commercial. You don't want to add any thickeners or pasta to your soup when canning it. You can add the pasta later when you're getting ready to serve it. It's a really easy thing to avoid.
Melissa: How about dairy? I see people saying conflicting things on adding dairy. My understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, is you shouldn't add dairy because doesn't hold up to canning well and isn't recommended, is that true?
Sharon: Correct, but when you say it that way, it sounds like a texture or quality issue. But it is a safety issue. The hard part is, I cannot find, so if anyone has found something out there that says why, all the canning websites and extension websites say you can't can cream or dairy. I chose not to, I can't picture milk holding up very well. The only reason I see is there are fats in the dairy and that could hold botulism spores. It's one of those things if I could find a specific resource that says why, that would be wonderful.
Melissa: I'm like you, I personally don't. I err on the side of caution with canning. I've grown up on canning and canned the fifteen years we've been married, but I practice the safety guidelines.
Sharon: A lot of people ask questions on canning potato soup, because it has dairy. Just make your base without the dairy, can that, and then add your dairy when you reheat it and serve. Can potatoes with chicken broth and follow proper guidelines, don't puree it. When you go to serve it, then puree it and add your dairy.
Melissa: So basically, if you're using a recipe and want to can soup, no noodles.
Sharon: Yes, no noodles, no rice, no pasta.
Melissa: No pureeing, which is really important, because store bought soups are pureed. It's not safe to can pumpkin butter, because it's not acidic and it's so thick the heat can't get through enough to ensure safety. I'm assuming that's the same reason for not pureeing and then canning the soup?
Sharon: Right. When you can soup, fill your jar half way with solid ingredients, and then fill your jar the rest of the way with the liquid. That keeps it thin enough all the ingredients will get heated through and then when you want to serve it, just puree it then.
Melissa: I want to talk about your canning books. Like I said I go to your site quite often when I'm canning if I have a question. You have two canning books out, correct?
Sharon: Yes.
Melissa: Your first canning book is just basic canning recipes.
Sharon: It's basically the entire website in book form.
Melissa: The second book, which is the one I was really excited about, because I don't have as much experience in canning combination recipes, which is what a home canned soup recipe is considered a combination recipe. You have a soup canning e-book, can you go over what's in that one?
Sharon: Simple Soups is what's its called. I give simple instructions on how to adapt a soup recipe for canning. I've given you directions on how to make soups from home canned foods. I have a couple of recipes on how to make and can soup, and then how to take your jars of home canned foods and make dinner. So more cooking with home canned foods than just a full on soup canning book.
Melissa: A lot of us homesteaders or preparedness folks, we have a lot of food in our pantry, with dehydrated and home canned foods. Sometimes you can look at it and say I have all of this food, but I don't know what to cook for dinner or pull it together to make a meal.
For those of you who are hunters, you have an entire book on how to prepare and can elk and venison recipes, right?
Sharon: Yes, I have an entire book on elk and venison recipes. In the book I tell you how to can via raw pack, hot pack, and even ground, or in cubes. I give recipes for making stews, casseroles, chili, all made from canned venison. People always ask now that I have all this canned meat, what do I do with it. It's different than cooking with frozen or fresh meat.
Melissa: I'm excited about that because my son and I are taking a hunter safety course this summer. So I've cooked venison but I've never had enough to can and preserve. Fingers crossed that will change this fall. I'm really excited, if I haven't said that already, like really excited that you have a book on it
Sharon: We're big hunters and eat a lot of wild meat. My husband hunts and our four sons. We always have a lot of elk and venison around, including mule deers here in Colorado.
Melissa: I'm excited to adding hunting to my skill set. I'm sure there will be a few podcasts around it.
Every canner, from beginners to seasoned, will enjoy Sharon's Simply Canning website and books Click here to visit Simply Canning., because let's be honest, one can never have too many canning recipes.
Want to get both books together to save money? Because truthfully, who doesn't want to save money? That's one of the main reason's why I can my food. You can get two of the books bundled together to save money.
You can also check out her paperback version on Amazon of Simply Canning.
Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.


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18th March 2019, Schellebelle
Van de Velde, a leader in the luxury and fashionable lingerie sector, has announced that Karel Verlinde will join the company as Chief Financial Officer starting on 22 April 2019. Karel Verlinde will report to Marleen Vaesen, CEO, and be part of the Management Committee.
Karel Verlinde has extensive experience in finance with a strong controlling background and a keen interest in business operations. He holds a Master degree in Economics from the Uiversity of Ireland Maynooth and the Ghent University.
Karel started his career in 2005 at IGI Corp., where he took up international positions in marketing and finance. In 2013 Karel moved to Brady Corp., where he was the finance manager of the EMEA operations. In 2017 he became Group Controller and was subsequently appointed CFO of IVC Group, a division of Mohawk Industries.
"Karel brings a broad international financial experience. We are convinced that Karel will be an important reinforcement of the Van de Velde Management Committee to further focus on our theme: Growing through focus on the retail partners and brands," commented Marleen Vaesen, CEO.
Van de Velde is a leading player in the luxury and fashionable women's lingerie sector. It pursues a long-term strategy based on expanding and developing brands around the Lingerie Styling concept (fit, style and fashion), especially in Europe and North America.
Last month, the company reported an annual turnover for 2018, which decreased by 1.8% from EUR 209 million to EUR 205.2 million. At constant exchange rates, this amounts to a decrease of 0.8%. In the wholesale segment, turnover on comparable basis decreased by 0.6% at constant exchange rates.
A decrease in lingerie was largely compensated by growth in the company's swim collection by the strong start of Marie Jo Swim. Taking the negative exchange rate effect into account on the one hand and the positive effect of higher deliveries of the spring/summer collection, the reported turnover decreased by 1.6%.
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This is an interesting paper by KimMarie McGoldrick & Robert Garnett [published here] on how to adopt a "big think approach" to teach economics principles, and it should work for other classes as well. See this excerpt from the conclusions:
The big think approach focuses on a key barrier to liberal education reform in undergraduate economics education, namely: the highly technical nature of economics Ph.D. programs. Many undergraduate instructors and programs profess to teach their students the art of critical thinking or "thinking for themselves" within the major; yet students' demonstrated achievements do not support these lofty claims. The pedagogical norms of and supporting resources for undergraduate economics education remain heavily oriented to "little think" rather than "big think," in part because the professional training of most Ph.D. economists leaves them unprepared to develop course materials consistent with a big think approach (Colander and McGoldrick 2009b). Our project aims to fill this gap by placing compelling, autodidactic tools in the hands of instructors who want their students to achieve liberal education outcomes but who have yet to find practical ways to integrate critical inquiry into their courses (p. 24).
The authors add
The big think approach is also not primarily concerned with debate or contending perspectives. It is not Crossfire or Taking Sides; and it is not "what's wrong with economics." It's about learning to bridge the gap between the algorithmic certainty of economic theory and the untidiness and uncertainty of ill-structured applications. In terms of existing pedagogical models, big think might be described as a carefully crafted social issues approach to economic principles (Grimes 2009). As such, it offers potentially large benefits to our introductory economics students, the great majority of whom take only one course in economics – and our economics majors, 98% of whom who do not go to graduate school (Siegfried 2009: 222) (p. 10).
The article suggests using things like context-rich problems, connecting foundational knowledge with applications, and others. The authors give two examples that can work as templates for making that connection, one for microeconomics and the other for macro: one where the goal is to have students think and brainstorm on different pricing strategies in higher education, which is an issue they are very familiar with, and the other one based on the US government debt, an interesting issue in itself, and widely discussed these days. In the first topic for example students can apply concepts like price discrimination, elasticities, etc. The paper is worth reading carefully. Discussed it with your colleagues who teach econ principles classes.
I am sure teachers in other countries can find interesting social issues for discussion. The topic of pricing in higher education can work well. For a macro class may be taxes and its effects or / and the informal economy should work.


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Abortion as Self-Defence, Part II
Unwanted Pregnancy & Self-Defence: Part I
Content warning: I extensively discuss aspects of rape in the following post. It may cause distress to some people. If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, you can find a listing of Australian services here.
Comparison 3: The Strong Versus The Weak
- In rape, a stronger individual enforces their will over a (physically) weaker individual by means of strength.
- In unwanted pregnancy, the unborn child is the weaker individual, and acts involuntarily by means of biology – not strength; an act which is reciprocated by the women's biology.
Circumstances under which we accept that it is good and moral for a stronger individual to enforce their will over that of a weaker individual are those in which the weaker individual is benefited. For example, I doubt my children would choose to have a vaccination if they were consulted. Should their will be the deciding factor, they would no doubt go without vaccinations. I enforce my will over theirs because the ultimate benefit of vaccination far outweighs the deprivation of their decision-making abilities. In rape, there is no benefit for the victim. The enforcement of will by means of strength cannot be justified by these means.
The unborn child, on the other hand, is one of the weakest elements of our society. They are unable to defend themselves in any fashion or form. Their ability to implant in the uterus and develop rests wholly in their biology and the biology of the man and woman who conceived them – or the ability of the scientist who manipulates them. They have no will to enforce and no strength to ensure their survival. They cannot be considered in the same light as a rapist, ergo the pregnancy cannot be considered in the same light as a rape.
Comparison 4: Desire Versus Rights
- In rape, the rapist seeks to fulfil their desire – for sexual release, control, power etc. – resulting in the violation of another's rights.
- In unwanted pregnancy, the unborn child is fulfilling a biological imperative resulting – it could be argued – in the violation of the mother's rights.
Rape violates the victim's right to security of person, bodily autonomy and their right not to be subjected to 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment'. There is no question in the mind of a reasonable person that the benefit that the rapist gains from the act of rape – the fulfillment of their desire – is not sufficient to justify the violation visited upon the victim. Any claims that the rapist is exercising their right to use their body as they please can be summarily dismissed by pointing out the incredibly detrimental effect that such an application of rights has upon the rape victim.
In an unwanted pregnancy, the embryo first implants into the lining of the woman's uterus, in what might be considered in technical terms to be a physical invasion. The growing embryo, and then foetus, subsists upon nutrients and oxygen drawn from the woman's circulation, while depositing their waste products of carbon dioxide and other metabolites back into this circulation. This use of the woman's body can be considered a violation of her bodily autonomy, just as we would consider it to be in some other circumstance where one's body is non-consensually used to sustain another.
The difference between the violation of rights committed by the unborn child and that committed by the rapist is that, (a) the unborn commits such a violation completely involuntarily; indeed they are compelled by physiological processes and are as much at the mercy of their biology as is the woman, and (b) the unborn child commits the violation for the continuance of their survival – the ending of which constitutes a violation of their right not to be arbitrarily killed, assuming you are willing to ascribe human rights to the unborn. So rather than a desire versus rights situation (rape), where it should be abundantly clear that the desires of one individual do not outweigh the rights of another individual, unwanted pregnancy is a matter of a rights versus rights situation, where the conclusion is not so clear-cut (for a discussion of balancing conflicting human rights, see my earlier post here).
In Unwanted Pregnancy & Self-Defence: Part III, I will be discussing some general thoughts regarding self-defence, and how these relate to unwanted pregnancy.


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Property Details
407 37841 Cleveland Avenue, Studio SQ, Squamish, BC, V0N 3G0, Canada
UNIQUE PENTHOUSE at Studio SQ w/ beautiful west facing Tantalus Range views! On the preferred side with no development planned opposite. Efficient open floor plan + great use of space. PRIVATE ROOF TOP DECK w/ views. Interior finishes include wood cabinetry + granite counter tops in kitchen and bathrooms, high ceiling, large windows, plenty of natural light, removable screens allow you to access the built-in window box planter area. Under the stair in-suite storage, six appliances and New Home Warranty. Just steps to the vibrant Saturday Farmer's Market, walking trails, shopping, restaurants, services and the sailing club. Enjoy being centrally located with your own private roof top oasis. Don't miss this great opportunity!
Listing Provided By
Sutton Group-West Coast Realty
Copyright and Disclaimer
The data relating to real estate on this web site comes in part from the MLS Reciprocity program of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. Real estate listings held by participating real estate firms are marked with the MLSR logo and detailed information about the listing includes the name of the listing agent. This representation is based in whole or part on data generated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy. The materials contained on this page may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. Copyright 2020 by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, BC Northern Real Estate Board, and Kootenay Real Estate Board. All Rights Reserved.
- Jennifer Sale
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Staying At Home
Staying At Home
- Staying at Home with the help of Home Care and other community support
- Background to What Seniors Need and Want
- Normal Aging vs. Signs That Something's Wrong
- The Full Spectrum of Senior Housing Choices
Community Support
- Tips On Choosing Home Care & Community Support Services
- Adult Day Centres: An Important Resource For Caregivers
- Community Support Services
- Recreational and Social Support Services
Home Care
Government Funded
Private Pay
Types Of Service
- Tips On Choosing Home Care & Community Support Services
- Types of Home Care Services
- Community Support Services
- Home Care
- Home Support Services
- Nursing Home? Retirement Home? What's the Difference?
- The Full Spectrum of Senior Housing Choices
Care Giving
Care Giving
- Caregiving: Understanding the Needs
- Caring for a Wandering Alzheimer's Person at Home
- You and Your Aging Parents
Help For The Caregiver
- Home Safety Checklist
- Adult Day Centres: An Important Resource For Caregivers
- Increasing Frailty
- Technology and the Senior
- Thank You to Long Term Care Home Caregivers!
Home And Safety
Home Adaptations
- Home Adaptations for Senior Safety
- Home and Safety
- Home Safety Checklist
- Building an accessible bathroom for the elderly or disabled
- Caring for a Wandering Alzheimer's Person at Home
- Falls and Fall Prevention in the Home
- Hiring a Contractor
- Safety-proofing Your Home for Alzheimer's Care
- Tips for Seniors Care: Common Causes of Home Fires and Safety
Home Health Products
- Keeping Safe with Safety Aids
- Hip Protection helps in Reducing Hip Fractures
- Internet Usage among Older Adults Growing Slowly
- Preventing Falls
- The Facts About Assistive Devices
Health And Wellness
- Diet and Seniors
- Changing Your Salt Habit Starts at the Grocery Store
- Essential Nutrients
- The Food Pyramid
- Tips on Healthy Eating from the Dietitians of Canada
- Why you Should Love Your Heart
Physical And Mental Exercise
- Are You Fit For Retirement?
- Changes to physiotherapy services for Ontario's seniors
- Eight Brain Fitness Tips for Mental Well Being
- Increasing Frailty
- Life Expectancies
- Motivational Ideas to Keep You Active
- Normal Aging vs. Signs That Something's Wrong
- Ontario Seniors Driver Program
- Physiotherapy at Home
- Seniors, Mental Health and Memory Disorders
- Treating Muscle Weakness For Seniors
- Walk for Health
- Walk To Health and Happiness


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Gregg DeGuire/WireImage/Getty Images
It seems like the '90s TV reboots just don't stop coming, and now, Saved by the Bell is getting the same treatment ... minus one essential cast member, according to the word on the street. Apparently, Mark-Paul Gosselaar wasn't invited to the reboot, so this is awkward.
We cannot imagine this show without the original Zack Morris!
Earlier this week, news broke that a 'Saved by the Bell' reboot is in the works -- and focused on Zack Morris.
But Mark-Paul himself says he was never approached about the series, and found out about it the same way the rest of us did: online.
Some fans are unwilling to watch the show without him.
Others aren't impressed with the fact that Mark-Paul wasn't given a heads up.
It's hard to say what will happen next, but we really hope everyone's able to work something out.


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Electrical Equipments on Board Ships – The Electromagnetic Log
Marine engineering is not only about internal combustion or steam engines but nowadays electronics and automation play a major role in the modern vessels. In this article you will learn about a piece of equipment known as the electromagnetic log and its use on board a marine vessel.
The EM Log
Known as EM for short, the electromagnetic log measures the speed of the ship. As you know if you want to measure the speed of a car or any other vehicle on land the simplest method is to attach a tachometer to the wheel which counts the number of revolutions and calculates the speed and distance based on that but this facility is not available on the surface of water so the EM log and the good old FM law comes to the rescue as described below.
The Faraday Maxwell Induction Law
Basically this is not a single law but there are Maxwell's equations and the Faraday's law. Maxwell's equations are actually a set of four equations which describe the behaviour of electrical and magnetic fields though I will not go into the deep analysis of these equations in this article.
Faraday's law is derived from the Maxwell equations and speaking in the most basic terms it simply means that the change in the magnetic environment of a coil of wire will induce an emf in the wire coil. The law gives a mathematical expression of this relation.
The induced voltage in the coil is proportional to the relative speed between the magnetic field and the coil and the direction of motion.
Application to Ship Speed Measurement
So how do we use the above formulae and principles for calculating ship speed in water? Well the answer can be seen in the diagram below which shows the EM log arrangement and as you can see the flow sensor is projected out into the sea water through the hull. The sea water acts as the conductor and generates an emf and hence a current flows in the coil which is transmitted to the bridge panel via a master unit which amplifies the signal.
The signal is converted from digital to analog format for display purposes on the speed indicator unit. There is another generator which receives this signal and produces pulses whose frequency increases in proportion to the magnitude of the signal thereby giving a measurement of the distance traveled by the ship
Hence we have seen how the laws of Faraday and Maxwell help to gauge the speed and distance covered by the ship in water.
Image of EM Log System - ARSKOM Marine Company


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Governor Introduces Pension Reform Plan for New Employees of State Only. Sixth T
WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor's Press Office. June 9, 2011: Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced Wednesday he has introduced pension reform legislation that would impose a new Tier VI for future employees and save taxpayers $93 billion over the … Continue reading


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Free-Pattern download for cowl neck top
|The pattern is for Size 14. Refer to the size chart on the right.Click on the arrow on the top right to enlarge.
It is very easy to make. The assembling is done in 10 minutes. the armhole can be bordered with biais or sleeves can be added.
This pattern is basic and very easy to make : The difficulty level is zero
In the picture above, I choose a light knit which drapes very well. As it is stretch fabric, I have inserted back darts so the top can be more fitted without putting a zip. If a woven not stretchy fabric is chosen, remove the back dart or/and insert a zip on the side from bust level down.
The pattern for the front/back part is downloadable in ……. A4 pages to be assembled together following their row and column number
FRONT of Cowl Top
BACK of Cowl Top


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This weekend was the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco and I had the pleasure of serving up many many hours of artisanal wild-crafted soul records from the mezzanine DJ booth. Three days, 7 hours a day, no rap (family event). It'd been months since I last did a set like this and I found myself laying eyes and fingers on records I hadn't even thought about since I moved out of Oklahoma. Here are 5 choice cuts that I had completely forgotten existed but are newly resurrected in my musical mind after this DJ marathon.
Joe Tex – I Gotcha
Stevie Wonder – Purple Raindrops
B.B. King – The B.B. Jones
Baby Ray – Just Because
Funkadelic – I Bet You


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I Love the 80s: Celtics, Pistons, Lakers Renew RivalriesJanuary 6, 2008
Every so often, some loon tries to pawn off the 80s as a revolutionary decade.
Wait, so the tie-dye shirts, constant Corey Feldman cameos, and Journey jingles were somehow cool?
No. They were horribly lame. (Journey sucks, admit it.)
Seriously, nothing exciting in the history of the world took place in the 80s. The 80s were the 60s and 70s', um, "special" half-brother.
But at least NBA fans had something to pass the time in between episodes of Webster and Small Wonder.
The 80s bore witness to Bird, McHale, Magic, Worthy, Isiah, and Laimbeer, among others—competitors who brought out the best, and worst, in each other.
Think back to the cheap-shot elbows, all-out brawls, and trash-talk that took place—it was electrifying. When any combination of the Celtics, Lakers, and Pistons met, you knew there would be blood spilled.
You don't see that sort of full-blown hatred in the NBA today. It's no longer about sticking it to your opponent. Instead, it's about playing for a better contract, tanking the second half of the season, and demanding management give you a new team for Christmas.
Combine that me-first M.O. with the Tim Donaghy scandal and you get a lackluster game—at least in comparison to what once was. Sure, it's fun to watch LeBron James jump through the roof every night, but I'd gladly trade that for some smashmouth rivalries.
Well, sometimes wishes do come true.
Watching the Celtics battle the Pistons and Lakers during the last few weeks has brought me back. The faces have changed, but the competitive spirit is still there.
Who's more passionate about winning than KG and Kobe? Who's more likely to stage a tirade during a Game Seven than Rasheed Wallace?
I can see it now: The Celts and Pistons jawing and scrapping in Eastern Conference Finals. Chauncey Billups flashes through the lane and draws a semi-dirty foul from Ray Allen. The refs toot their whistles a few times and split up the two teams before the scene gets ugly. Next thing you know, KG brushes past 'Sheed and makes a crack about his bald spot, and...
The last pieces of the puzzle were KG and Allen in Boston. Once the Celts distanced themselves from the WNBA, the rivalries became inevitable.
(Okay, cheap shot. But I still have a green hangover from the last decade or so.)
The Celtics finally toppled the Pistons in Motown on Saturday, thanks to some key bench play. Glen "Big Baby" Davis played a vital role down the stretch.
That's another blast from the past. One of the many elements that made these rivalries superior were matchups between guys like Dennis Johnson and Michael Cooper. It wasn't always about the big names—it was the lesser lights too.
(Remember Bird's steal in Game Five of the Conference Finals versus Detroit? Brilliant play and classic Larry. But not nearly enough credit is given to Dennis Johnson for darting back down the court and finishing at the rim. That's why Big Baby's performance was crucial—the role players make a playoff team a championship team.)
And how refreshing was it to watch a classic East-versus-West tussle? Of course, I'm referring to the Celtics and Lakers—Lamar Odom's sideline tackle, KG's bloody gash, and the rowdy Hollywood crowd.
The only thing missing was a coked-out Jack Nicholson screaming audible obscenities on the sideline.
Oh wait, some things never change.
The bottom line? The NBA is back. The pieces are in place and the rivalries are renewed. Fans from East to West can kick up their feet and fondly relive the league's best decade—the 80s.
Journey soundtrack not included.


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Before/After Maps Using JavaScript
Interactive online maps are frequently done in Flash. That's a problem if you're using a device that doesn't support Flash, like an iPhone or iPad. Andrew Long discusses using a jQuery plugin — JavaScript instead of Flash — to create a before/after map that uses a slider to swipe between two different images. Oliver O'Brien uses the technique with aerial photos of London (see also). It'll be interesting to see whether other maps will get their interactivity through HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript instead of Flash. Via @desjardins and GIS Lounge.


text: View home near Las Posas Country club, on a large private lot, cul-de-sac, no HOA! Rebuilt in 2006, with custom open concept floor plan, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 car garage. The over 2800 sq ft floor plan now offers two master suites, one on the main floor and the other upstairs with a private balcony. From this location, you have stunning views overlooking the Las Posas Valley by day and spectacular Sunsets by late afternoon. Solar electricity, dual pane window, travertine flooring and great room kitchen designed for entertainment. Great storage, and cabinetry throughout. The kitchen island measures 5 feet wide by 13 feet long topped with a beautiful granite slab counter, Viking appliances including 5 burner gas cook top, double ovens, etc.


text: I watch the Hills. Now, tonight, I tuned in to The City. But on a whole 'nother level is the reality show Momma's Boys. You could say I've been there; divorced that. I can't get enough. Don't get me wrong here, it's no Temptation Island (that was my all-time favorite), but how can you look away when one woman confesses to a mother on the show, "I might have been in Playboy. You look at the pictures. And yeah, you see I'm naked, but you don't see my heart."


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Assessment and Evaluation
Assessment and evaluation (A&E) utilizes data to understand and improve pedagogical innovations and academic programs. The A&E team provides the MIT community with tiered support to address a variety of A&E questions. These questions may include:
- Did an educational activity or program achieve its intended goal/outcome?
- What factors contribute to the outcome of the activity or program?
- How can an activity or program be improved?
What can we do for you?
Our A&E experts offer the following services to the MIT community:
- Meet one-on-one to discuss individual A&E needs, includes instructor- and program-level needs
- Develop a unique study plan to answer your questions
- Design needed tools (e.g., surveys, rubrics, focus group, interview protocols) to collect data to answer one's A&E questions
- Provide guidance and feedback on A&E plans, tools, and study methods, for those who want to develop, design and/or conduct their own assessments / evaluations
- Collect and analyze data (qualitative and quantitative) for individual instructors and programs
- Lead customized workshops for your program or department, which can focus either generally on A&E or be topic-specific (e.g., rubric development; survey construction; designing focus group and interview protocols; data collection, cleaning and management; current assessment and evaluation technology tools; and interpreting assessment data to make decisions)
If you would like to discuss your A&E needs with one of our Associate Directors for Assessment and Evaluation, please submit a Request for Consultation form.


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There is a statistical concept I learned about from Dr. Dave Shafer: Regression to the Mean. It's a simple concept, but one that when ignored, can cause enormous financial headaches. In essence, things can and do revert back to the mean rates. The more extreme things get from the mean, the sharper things will swing back to the mean. Hence it is important to learn what the mean rate is, and not build on top of extreme positions.
A financial example
The Dalbar Report has been published for 20 years+. Each year, they do a lookback to see how investors that buy mutual funds fare. And the results are the same: terribly! The average rate is in the neighborhood of 4%. The market itself may grow by a bigger amount. But we aren't the market, we are individual investors. To shoot for 12% as certain radio personalities advocate would entail getting triple the average rate of everyone around you. If you visit a financial planner and he pitches some precious metals mutual fund that grew by 85% over the past two years, you are setting yourself up for a shocking correction. For something that extreme, a huge correction is coming. See why people say "don't chase returns?"
A gambling example
This concept appears in other places. A classic one are casinos. I've had friends point out that roulette wheels have no memory. The table doesn't remember the previous spin, so the odds are the same. That isn't what "memory less" means in betting odds. A betting system with memory is where a form of "state" exists. Such as dealing cards. Each card you receive is impacted by what was dealt previously. Betting red vs. black pays 50/50 odds. If you see red come up ten times in a row, odds are starting to mount that black will be next. The reason casinos stay in business, i.e. make money, is because they count on regression to the mean. They know that red and black will shift back and forth based on these odds. And the casino house DOESN'T PAY the odds. For red and black, they put two extra numbers on the wheel that are neither, but still pay you as if those losing options don't exist. This is their cut, and is something like 3.5% on the average (if memory serves). Every game they play is based on regression to the mean and they aren't stupid.
A literary example
As my final example, look at any industry. There are always big, visible leaders. For authors of fiction, there are best selling authors like J.K. Rowling, Michael Crichton, and others. They make big money. This draws other people into the field. In truth, a lot of people never get published. A vast number of people that do, never make big money. Regression to the mean says that if you average all these people together, the industry as a whole doesn't average big pay for most people. If and when that average starts to climb, basic economics says that more people will flock to it, and pull the average back down. When the average falls, people will leave it, allowing the average to rise.
Take this concept and look around. You may start to notice it elsewhere. So what does it mean? When building a wealth building plan, use the averages to your advantage.
- Most people don't save a lot of money. First step: save money!
- A lot of people count on other people to earn big money for them. Second step: get active and learn how to do it yourself!
- Too many people get caught up in paying fees instead of picking avenues that actually build wealth. Third step: Shop around for vehicles that have a long history of building wealth and THEN be willing to pay the best experts to do it right.
Happy wealth building!


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I am 3 hours into Bastion, which according to HowLongToBeat.com, is roughly 33% complete. My experience in a word, awesome.
I am find myself constantly taking screen shots of this game. The visuals are awesome. The style is somewhat anime based, which isn't usually my cup of tea, but this art direction is really cool. I will be adding more screen shots as I continue to play.
The audio is just as unique as the visuals. The music is immersing and good enough that the soundtrack is for sale on Steam. The audio that steals the show, however, is the dynamic narration. The story is told by a gruff sounding elder(slightly akin to Sam Elliot). The dynamic narration comes into full swing, with humor at times, when you walk off of the edge of a platform or spend time goofing off.
Weapons, combat, and upgrades are varied and will fit multiple play styles. There is even a way to adjust the difficulty while playing through picking favor with in game gods. Some locations in the game are tougher than others. Some require some thought, while others ask for you to charge in weapons blazing.
Long and short of it... I am thoroughly enjoying this game. I got is as a gift, but would not have been disappointed spending the asking price of $14.99. This game is a steal at that price. Definitely a buy. If it goes on sale through Steam... grab it. Even if you have to add it to your game queue... you will not be disappointed.
Below is an up-to-date slideshow of my adventure thus far. You can see other screen shots from other games on my Pictures page(each picture is a link)


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You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2008.
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I haven't felt very inspired to write lately. The new job is quite challenging and I've kind of given up on my thesis. I need to work something out on that and maybe change it to a project where I don't have to deal with human subjects and I can have something to show for the time and money I spent in school.
This weekend was supposed to be the High Altitude Classic in Cloudcroft, NM. Last year I almost had the overall win due to an untimely flat tire for NM honch Damien Calvert. He ended up borrowing stuff from his teammates so he could finish and he caught and passed me about a mile from the finish. I let him have the win….(though I'm not sure why). I could have had im dq'd and he even offered to be dq'd. I told him, "Whatever."
This year the promotors of the HAC were having some family/health problems and they cancelled the race. It's been cracklin' dry up there too and there are all kinds of fire restrictions. Jen is leaving Tuesday to do the Gila, so we stuck around here to take care of household chores. It was good timing as the temps have been unseasonably cool.
Last weekend put the hurt on me as I was just getting over being sick. I won both the XC and HC, but the HC kicked my ass. I was doing so well until about 2/3 into the climb. My 21t wasn't big enough. The 22 would have been the ticket. I bet I would have been top 5 overall if I had run it. Turns out I finished 11th overall. I picked up an Ned Overend autographed Team Specialized jersey. Kind of cool!
If I ever open a bike shop, I'll have over 30 cool dope jerseys to hang around the place. Jen scored lots of leader's jerseys from her road racing days plus a few NMORS winners jerseys. I hope to get the NMORS SS jersey this year. I'll have to win every race I do.
Anyway….here are a couple of pics from the Tour of Socorro in New Mexico. The hill weather was incredible for this event with overcast skies during the XC and sunny skies for the hill climb. The top was beautiful and not too cold.
This is the top of the climb. I'm so glad they brought the truck with all our gear all the way to the top. You can see the finish people in their winter clothes.
This is the observatory building that you can see in the background of the previous photo. For some reason they had awards here. Next time I hope they take all that back down the mountain where it's nice and warm and there are picnic tables and shade.
The night before the XC we scored a sweet spot near the start. At 2 am somebody went past us and ended up getting stuck. Hey guys….next time scout it out before you take your lowrider off the main road.
My XC race was only 2 laps. Jen's was 3, so I waited a few minutes for here to come through and joined her on her last lap. She was running a 19t as opposed to my 18t, but she tore it up. I can't believe how much she rips on her SS. I'm going to have to get a new frame as my BB is way too high and it doesn't handle well through turns. I was getting caught in the twisty stuff. I think I'll see how much it will cost for Titus to build me up something like they had at Sea Otter. Except I'd pass on the seat mast as it would never fit in an airline box. I'm thinking the same geo as the Specialized 29er hardtail with Paragon sliders in the rear. If they'll do the BB30 and the Isogrid as well, I'll go for it. Am I spoiled?
So we got our one hit of crack this season at the norba national race in Scottsdale, AZ. Our friend Dara refers to the series as being like crack or coke. It's not really that great, but for some reason you get easily addicted and keep going back for more. And it tends to get quite expensive. The NMBS series also gets references to Brokeback Mtn. "I wish I could quit you" is heard regularly by the racing junkies in the parking lots and pits. Enough of that crap. The races cost 2 to 4 times as much as anything else out there and there are no prizes. So this season, we decided to do only one nmbs race.
Since Titus is in Tempe, it's fun to travel there and see the craftsmen at work on the jigs as well as pick up needed parts. It's also fun to go up there and put the wood to the truly local Titus riders. The smackdown came on Sunday.
But first, there was the marathon on Friday. I saddled up on the Racer-X with a new Magura rear shock and new WTB Vulpines.
My goals were: 1) A single digit finish 2) Go out easy but be in the mix with fast riders 3) Finish without cramping. I think I accomplished # 2 and 3. I ended up 10th. I was pretty cooked and about 4 hours afterwards, I had to mount up on the SS for the Super-D. I got caught on that, but finished in 3rd. Not that the Super-D mattered because the morons at Team Big Bear/Bluenutwolf Events failed to put together a true stage race with results for the single speeders. I got to spend Saturday doing some recovery riding and a good gear check on the XC course. I decided to run a 32×15. It was the biggest gear I had and was a bit worried about what might happen near the end of the race.
Saturday I also watched Jen suck dust in the Short Track. She hates those things and it was frustrating to watch her. As a former short track dominator in the old guy class, I try to help her as much as possible, but you gotta have power….and a power rider she is not.
Sunday morning I lined up with about a dozen single speeders…right behind the semi-pro category. Our race was the same length…3 laps. From the gun those guys were killing it. I tried to stay in touch, but I wasn't cornering well and when I followed them up the climbs, they were going too slow for me. I kept getting bogged down and used way too much energy to crest the climbs. So I let the leaders go and rode my own race. During the second lap, I rode in 3rd and made sure I wasn't behind many people when I went into the climbs. That helped me go quite a bit faster and maintain a good spin over the crest of the climbs.
Going into the third lap, I started to feel really good. I was catching sem-pros left and right. Some gave good drafts, but they'd always pull over just before I got fully rested. So I kept flying and about half-way into the last lap, I caught second place. I could see the leader in a few sections. With about 1000m to go, I saw that I was only about 6 or 7 seconds down. Going into the finish straight with 200m to go, my leader was only about 100m from the finish. I sprinted like mad and right as I entered the finish chute, I passed him! That had to be my best finish ever!
For the SS, I ran the new WTB Prowlers. They hooked up really well and were large enough to provide good rim protection in the rocks and good flotation in the sand. And this year it was rockier and sandier than ever before.
So my hit of crack was pretty good. Jen's….well…it wasn't so good. After rolling up into 15th place and closing the gap on about 4 more riders, her sweet carbon XO derailleur gave up the ghost. She walked the last 3 miles or so….and still didn't finish last.
Other good things about our one hit of crack…..


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You have the power to speak up and let your officials know what issues matter to the wind industry, and what actions they can take to expand clean, affordable, homegrown wind energy in America.
Washington, D.C. — As wind power ramps up, installing more new electricity generating capacity than other energy source last year, so are new opportunities for jobs and leadership positions for women in the U.S. wind energy industry.
These changes will be reflected at this year's WINDPOWER 2016 in New Orleans from May 23 to May 26, as women increasingly fill high-tech wind jobs, take part of the American Wind Energy Association's (AWEA) exclusive Emerging Leaders Program or are selected for the Women of Wind Energy (WoWE) and the Wind Energy Foundation's (WEF) "Wind at our Back" scholarship.
"Women are helping to write the next chapter of American wind power," said Tom Kiernan, CEO of AWEA. "As wind energy scales up to supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, a strong, diverse industry is needed to help us get there. These programs and scholarship opportunities are going to help make sure that happens."
AWEA's Emerging Leaders Program was unveiled during last year's WINDPOWER and will expand this year. The program is designed to recognize rising talent, provide opportunities for mentoring, and enhance knowledge sharing and skill development. Only 15 emerging leaders were selected last year, with more than a third of those being women.
"This year's WINDPOWER is different than any other one we've ever had before," said Jana Adams, Senior Vice President for Member Value and Experience. "We're excited to welcome this year's participants of AWEA's Emerging Leaders Program, the ultimate winners of the Women of Wind Energy's scholarships and all our attendees looking to do business this May in New Orleans."
AWEA's annual WINDPOWER Exhibition & Conference, is the Western Hemisphere's largest wind power trade show. AWEA educational events, including WINDPOWER, are attended by a very experienced group of wind professionals and executives with two-thirds of the WINDPOWER registrants having worked in wind at least five years with a significant portion for more than a decade.
WoWE, a nonprofit group promoting the advancement of women in the wind industry with 35 chapters across the country, provides opportunities for women through its Rudd Mayer scholarship program. Complementing this, WEF recently announced a new scholarship "Wind at our Backs: Furthering the education of women in wind energy," designed to help further diversify the wind energy workforce.
"Women have been historically underrepresented across the U.S. energy landscape," said John Kostyack, Executive Director of WEF. "This scholarship helps women seeking careers in wind energy to network with potential future employers and enables recipients to complete the coursework and certifications necessary to advance."
The new scholarship program, originally conceived by NextEra Energy, is sponsored by Blattner Energy, GE Renewable Energy, the NextEra Energy Foundation, and Suzlon, targets women working towards degrees or certifications in wind energy and will offer $2,500 for up to 15 applicants over the next three years. Scholarship recipients will receive complimentary registration to WINDPOWER 2016 and will obtain up to $1,000 for related travel, meals, and lodging as part of their attendance at this year's conference. The scholarship deadline is Tuesday, March 8.
"Women of Wind Energy was founded in 2005 to ensure that women can play a full, productive role in the development of wind power," said Kristen Graf, Executive Director of Women of Wind Energy. "There are so many opportunities in the wind industry for innovation and for tackling things in new ways and with the growing number of wind technicians, it's important to encourage and empower women to pursue opportunities in this field. We are excited to meet the women already charting a path toward these careers and bring them to WINDPOWER."
The new scholarship offered by WEF, with the support of WoWE, AWEA, and leading wind energy companies, is open to women currently enrolled in technical programs, training students so that they can become wind turbine technicians. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the wind turbine technician is America's fastest growing profession. Growth in the field is expected to increase by 108 percent over the next ten years.
"I learn something new every day," said Amber Whitlock, wind turbine technician for UpWind Solutions. "The highlights of my job have included: replacing a high speed bearing, components of the pitch system in the turbine hub, and multiple IGBTs in the converter system. Working with my team, we've even replaced a hundred-foot blade. I enjoy stepping up to challenges presented to me and accomplishing them is the reward."
American wind power supports 73,000 jobs today. According to the U.S. Department of Energy by supplying 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, wind power could support 380,000 jobs.
Wind power was the top source of new electric generating capacity in 2015, installing 8.6 gigawatts of new capacity. With over 50,000 turbines operating in total, wind now produces enough electricity to power 19 million average homes.
AWEA is the national trade association for the U.S. wind industry, the largest source of renewable energy in the country. We represent 1,000 member companies, 120,000 jobs in the U.S. economy, and a nationwide workforce located across all 50 states. AWEA serves as a powerful voice for how wind works for America. Members include global leaders in wind power and energy development, turbine manufacturing, and component and service suppliers. They gather each year at the Western Hemisphere's most efficient and targeted event for utility-scale renewable companies, the AWEA CLEANPOWER Conference & Exhibition, next in Indianapolis, June 7-10, 2021. An outgrowth of the AWEA WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition, CLEANPOWER is the first trade show focused exclusively on the utility-scale renewable power sector, bringing together all the major developers, utilities, OEMs, suppliers and buyers under one roof. Visit AWEA's website to learn more about the enormous economic benefits wind power brings to America and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.


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Chelsey worked with UK telecom to scope and build their new Ecommerce website, to sell services and products to expats living in France who require phone and broadband services.
Built using WordPress and WooCommerce the shop is easy to manage and use, and allows the team to add or edit existing products and pages. The shop is integrated with Worldpay so customers' can purchase subscription products and add-ons for their services, chat to online support staff when they have questions or browse blog stories by Bob Elliot who writes for many publications and offers great technology advice.
dsquared also manage the SEO work for the site, monthly email marketing campaigns and keep everything up-to-date with their WordPress managed hosting service.
Chelsey Vallance is a freelance web designer & developer, specialising in web design, Wordpress, graphic design and search engine optimisation.


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About Aaron
If my neighbor has an apple tree that is rooted on his property but dangles on my side of the fence, you damn right ima eat an apple.
Wonder if anyone's got sued for trespassing, because their Wifi (open or closed) was in range of a neighbor. I know it's stupid but an intriguing thought.
In Habersham a couple weeks ago in Georgia, a flashbang actually did severely harm a baby when the dtf threw a flashbang into it's crib.
Don't necessarily have any love for the cops in north Georgia but can't really blame 'em. Pissed, bet I am. But this was an honest mistake. Just hope the cops learned something from this to where it won't happen again.
Per the release date theory, the models could always be released for free as DLC. Apparently DLC is hot shit nowadays so I see no problem with them getting that done.
I actually tried searching to see if there were any reports of Sonic being thrown down aisles (or any abuse whatsoever) and the internet has failed me. Not one result.
What blows my mind is I had no idea tracking planes like this was possible/legal. I probably shouldn't be surprised but I am. I would think this would be against the law or something, tracking a damn military plane or the like by civilians. And no, I didn't read any of the posted links.
I live in the U.S. actually but I was just making fun that duckfacing should be a crime. Nothing serious.
...it should be a crime.
"What's particularly worrying about North Carolina's proposal is that it seeks to establish that "trade secrets" trump things like health and safety."
Surely something so ridiculously dangerous and life threatening couldn't be passed just because these jerk offs want to make an extra buck.
I read that as military prepared breakfast...
Out of curiosity, to be illegal what medium would qualify? Do I get in trouble if I write it down, took a photo, yelled it into a LEO's ear with a megaphone?
That last one I could live with actually.
Seriously though...what DO they consider as censorship?
Well...putting a hole in some technically is a form of fighting.
Not gutless. It's just that they're body is so pumped with the Greed hormone, that their balls shrink.
One law to fuck us all over.
One law to find another way to fuck you over.
One law to bring all ways to fuck you over together and in Congress, fuck you over.
Meanwhile in New Jersey, Chris Christie desperately trying to find his penis "Precious".
Tagging fail :\ Mike, where's the edit button bro?
"- the beauty of true competition is that you don't personally have to do anything to get better service in the long run. If competition existing, you will reap the benefits"
Which is exactly what happened in February I believe when TMobile (?) started rolling out some competitive data plans. In turn, at&t increased my mothers 1 gig mobile share plan to 2g for an additional $5 then another 2g for FREE in March, or April for a total of 4g for $5. Twice the dataz, where beforehand going from 1g tier to 2g tier was a $10-20 difference. Easy to guess why they didn't do it before. No? Because they COULD, they just didn't WANT to. So, because of competition my mothers data limit was increased to 4x the original for $5. Which when you think about it is funny because carriers tout mobile bandwidth as the nectar of the gods in low supply that shouldn't be given away willy nilly without milking all that money from that argument. But yes, when competition is there, so are the benefits. Which is why when her contract ends (she didn't know any better? man) she'll be switching to ST for the same amount of data and %50 better reception for almost a 1/3 of the price. Competition is the tits.
Note: I do not still have that service and haven't for a long time.
That is strange to me. Mainly because a couple years back I was living in the town next over where I had AT&T DSL (Which was complete shit btw, the router kept kicking off. Uninsulated line wires and redneck ingenuity may have had a part to play, though...) which I had to cancel for a month or so. Now, apparently, between that time AT&T laid some FiOS in that town which was strange to me because it's only a town of ~4,100 people and county pop of ~41,000. Because I called them back wanting my service back on, same shitty service yada yada. "I'm sorry sir, but we're only offering AT&T U-Verse as we've laid fiber optics for this service and you won't be able to use the same router as you did previously." What? WHAT!? Who in their right mind would pay for some BS like that when I was fine with the service I DID have, I was at least able to play XBL and not want to put my controller where my tv screen used to be. Anyways, I told him do it and I lived unhappily ever after with the same fucking service I had the 2 months befire under a different name. Working 12 hour 5 day work weeks tends to not make you give a damn. So either you're fibbing or AT&T got some 'splainin to do.


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If someone asked Max what his favorite day in school is, he will say, FIELD DAY.
Max will wait all year for the end of the year celebration.
Since Max loves school field day so much, I thought I could have my own field day in my back yard.
After all, school is right around the corner, (please don't remind Max, I'm not prepare for that melt down yet!) and we haven't went to Cancun, Hawaii, Bahamas, Florida, Bali or Fiji to celebrate Max completing 3rd grade.
So, I planned my very own FAMILY FIELD DAY (FFD) in hopes that Max will be able to forget about the tropical island we will not be attending this summer break!
What is more fitting for our barbaric games, than Turkey drumsticks!?!??!
These drumsticks were easier to prepare than I thought they would be!
They were a hit! The men and grandma enjoyed thoroughly!
Grandma didn't care that she had sauce on her chin!! Too cute!
Please do not judge me by my all natural look I'm sporting during these events! My hair is out of control.
Ok, sorry about all the pictures! We all had a blast!
On to the Drumsticks! Finally…. I didn't do a brine or a super long marinade with these
dinosaur turkey legs. I seriously left these simple and low maintenance do to field day set up. I left them on the grill for about 90 minutes, so these drumstick got that yummy smoky grill flavor!
Drizzle with olive oil and seasoning mix.
Turn on low and let the drumsticks sit until they reached the temp of 180 degrees. Drench with your favorite BBQ sauce the last 10 minutes of grilling.
No hotdogs today! Grab a drumstick and let the games begin!!
- 8 Turkey drumsticks
- 2 teaspoons ground pepper
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground sage
- olive oil
- BBQ sauce
- Mix all the seasoning together in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the drumsticks liberally with olive oil.
- Rub each drumstick with the seasoning mixture. Let the drumsticks sit covered in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat the grill on high and until the temp reaches 550-600 degrees.
- Place the drumsticks on the grill. Shut the lid and turn the heat immediately down to low. Turn the drumsticks after about 8 minutes.
- Keep turning the meat every 5-7 minutes rotating the meat throughout the grill where there might be uneven heating.
- After about 1 hour on the grill; temp the meat to gauge the temp and remaining cooking time. Cook until the drumsticks reach the temp of 180 degrees. Drench with your favorite homemade or store bought BBO sauce. 8 drumsticks will serve 16 people if you are sharing each drumstick. My men (and grandma) did not share.