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Sunday, October 21, 2007
Gluten-Free Pumpkin "Pasta"
Here is another one of the Gluten-Free Recipes I have been enjoying during the Fall, just in time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the pumpkin harvest season in general. Pumpkins are such a wonderful, healthy gluten-free food, it is a shame to not find ways to use them more often than just the standard gluten-free desserts like pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and so forth.
What many people do not realize is how mild the taste of pumpkin on its own really is. And, so often pumpkins are only associated with the complementary flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, clove,... that we tend to forget what pumpkins taste like in their natural state.
I've recently been baking all sorts of dishes using the small "pumpkin-pie" type pumpkins. They are a squash, and they have a flavor, on their own, that is nearly as mild as what would be found in a Spaghetti Squash. The flesh is tender, low in calories, of a low glycemic index, and full of beta-carotene and natural fiber. They are quick and easy to prepare, and keep for a nice amount of time prior to cooking, and after cooking the flesh can be stored frozen indefinitely for later consumption.
So, today's "recipe" leverages my previous gluten-free recipe that I posted here: gluten-free baked pumpkin recipe. In fact, there really is not much more to be done - just prepare the baked pumpkin as described earlier, then top with your favorite pasta-sauce! I love this dish! In fact, I find it as enjoyable as any gluten-free pasta, and had I not been on a gluten-free / Celiac Disease diet, I would still work this recipe into a "normal" diet along with standard semolina pasta - it's that good.
I topped this particular batch of pumpkin "pasta" (pictured above) with my favorite pre-made bottled sauce: Gia Russo's Hot Sicilian Sauce; which, though not specifically labeled gluten-free, contains no gluten-containing ingredients in the sauce and no warnings of it being prepared in a shared facility or such. The spicy/tangy nature of this tomato sauce makes for a really flavor-packed "pasta" dish, and one that is low in calories and packed with nutrition. Enjoy!
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Paul Dickson founder of 'Dad's Patch' a blog for Dads, approached me to recreate his new website. During the process we went through a quick rebrand and created this new logo.
Because Paul has printed apparel we wanted to keep it very close to the original to avoid reprinting costs. We also introduced an identifying brand colour to help create call to actions across his content.

subset: commoncrawl


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Our Fleur Bleu Seven Petals Blend takes the magic blending of 30% Cabernet Franc, 21% Zinfandel, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot, 6% Pinot Noir, 5% Merlot and 4% Petite Sirah to the next level. Seven varietals each contribute, at their own level, to this pyramid of flavors. This red blend brims with dark fruit aromas in the nose, such as black currant, cherry, prune and blackberry. The powerful nose showcases mocha, tobacco, chocolate, pepper and toasted oak notes in the finish. The attack and the mouthfeel are round and dry. This wine has a medium to long finish and very good balance.
Pair it with pasta Bolognese, roasted chicken or beef stew. Try it with the featured recipe: Tagliatelle with Truffle Cream Sauce.


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The Establishing Shot is now GPS
Typically I like to have an establishing shot when I am shooting pictures. Even if I decide not to use it, I file the picture away. The establishing shot helps people understand the context of the picture series they are looking at. However, today I look at the establishing shot at an even higher level. A satellite level! I try to have a least one picture GEO tagged and visible on a map. I discussed in a previous blog that I use SmugMug as my photo site because one of the key requirements was the ability to place my pictures onto a map via GEO tags. I have the Nikon GP-1 GPS (Global Positioning System) unit on my D90 and it works pretty good. I told you I am a gadget freak. Sometimes it is a bit slow to pick up a location, but when it does, it really helps to see where in the world I waswhen I took the photo. That was fantastic for my photo shoot at Kruger Park in 2009. It also came in handy when I hired a driver to take me to Navsari, India from Mumbai. It was a 6 hour journey and a few hundred pictures, but what a great experience capturing life along the highway from the moving vehicle. Many of the pictures have a GEO tag and by using the map I am able to tell the photo story as I pass through each area. I highly recommend that one of your establishing shots be the Earth location of the picture. I recommend even more that you consider getting a GPS unit for your camera. It adds a new dimension to your picture taking.
The entrance to Gervasi Vineyard is GEO tagged and on my photo website. I use both manual tagging and my Nikon GP-1 GPS device to make sure I get the establishing satellite position.
The above picture is GEO tagged, and on my photo website you can see on a map exactly where the picture was taken by clicking on this link.I have also marked it on the map below.
In addition to my photo website mapping individual photographs, I have also mapped my photo galleries to a world map, and my individual blog posts to a Google map as well.
I enjoy looking at my travel map and realizing that although I have had the good fortune of seeing many places on Earth, it is too big to see everything it has to offer. Still more to see!


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Church / Denomination: All Saints Anglican Church
Registered to All Saints Anglican Church Cemetery Board.
GENEALOGY RESOURCES (Add / Remove a link)
These links are provided for your convenience and may take you to websites that offer products and/or services for sale. CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project does not control the content offered - take note of our site design, if it changes you've left this website!


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EXCLUSIVE! Men Lined Up For Olivia Munn Last Night, But You'll Never Guess Who She Had Her Eye On…
Olivia was the belle of the ball in LA May 6, but unfortunately, the Prince Charming she had her eye on is already taken!
Ex-boyfriend Chris Pine was clearly the last thing on Olivia Munn's mind last night: while hosting a party in LA, the Iron Man 2 star was flooded with male admirers! But the brunette beauty definitely had her eye on one man in particular — one man who happens to be getting married on Monday!
"Olivia literally had a flock of male admirers, but although she was extremely flattered, she only really had her eye on one guy," an insider at Capcom's Last Planet 2 launch party in Hollywood, Calif. tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. "She thought Rick Malambri was really hot. But, then, he grabbed just about every girl at the party's attention. He's gorgeous!"
But here's the bad news: the 27-year-old Step Up: 3D star is not only committed to another woman, he's actually getting married to model Lisa Piepergerdes on May 10!
"Olivia was asking people who he was, and when she found out he was about to get married she was disappointed, but what can you do?" the source says.
Although she may have lost out on Rick, the 29-year-old G4 host had plenty of other male admirers to keep her busy. Greek's Gregory Michael, One Tree Hill's Robert Buckley and Friday Night Lights alum Scott Porter all swarmed her and waited patiently to give her hugs of congratulations.
Yep, Olivia, for you there will ALWAYS be other fish in the sea!
— Laura Schreffler


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Fresno Beehive
Win tickets to Daya at The Big Fresno Fair
The Big Fresno Fair opens this week for a 12-day run of fried-food, odd-ball animal attractions, Fresno history and a live entertainment lineup that includes nightly shows at the Paul Paul Theatre.
The Beehive will be giving away tickets to the full run of shows, including a noon performance from pop singer Daya, Sunday. 9.
At 17-years old, Daya's debut album already has 50 million streams on Spotify, is in the Top 10 on iTunes pop sales chart placement and No. 7 on Shazam's Top. Daya herself was recently the winner of Spotify's "Emerge" program.
To enter to win tickets leave a comment on this story. Tell us why you would like to see Daya. You have until noon Thursday, Oct. 6 to enter. Winners will be chosen at random, notified via email or Facebook (be sure to check your message requests) and be able to pick the tickets up at The Fresno Bee office, 1626 E. Street in Fresno.
Joshua Tehee: 559-441-6479, @joshuatehee
Recipients will be notified by e-mail or Facebook message at the end of each giveaway period. No substitutions or transfer of winners/prizes. Prizes are not redeemable for cash. Some prizes may have due dates for redemption/use. Employees and immediate family of The Fresno Bee and any/all of the participating giveaway sponsors, are not eligible to win. By accepting a giveaway, recipient consents to allow the use of his/her name and/or photograph for advertising or similar promotions without further compensation. Winner releases all sponsors of liability regarding use and enjoyment of the prizes. Tax liabilities and insurance, if any, are sole responsibility of the winner. No purchase necessary to win.


text: "Watts is mean and prickly. Bening is no prize, either. In fact, long stretches of Mother And Child make you wonder if the message of the movie is that the process of adoption turns women into vicious hags. But that can't be right, can it? A better movie would have been content leave us watching these bitter creatures sort out their resentments." – Philadelphia Weekly, 05/19/2010


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Shi Jinsong from Beijing designed these apocalyptic baby accessories on display at the "China- Contemporary Revival" exhibit at the Palazzo Reale in Italy.
The armored carriage belongs to Jinsong's 'Ne Zha' series of incredibly unsafe baby products. A carriage protects and cradles the baby, betraying it's darker, violent functionality as infantile weaponry. Or is it infantry weaponry?
The armored carriage comes with a sadistic cradle that invites ooh's and aah's over sleeping baby, but rejects too-close onlookers with a futuristic tommy gun. A sinister baby walker provides the perfect platform for bouncing, battling babies.
Warning: may cause a surge of 'Rambo' baby names.
Photo Credits: designboom
Comes With Sadistic Cradle and Sinister Walker
Emily A. Davidson — December 21, 2009 — Art & Design
References: geekologie & designboom


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Sprint, one of the nation's four major wireless carriers, knew it was critical the brand transform its digital consumer journey in order to stay relevant in today's rapidly evolving market.
VML worked with the telecommunications company to re-imagine the path to purchase across Sprint's web and mobile touchpoints and evolve the carrier's digital organization and capabilities - helping Sprint become a truly digital-first company.
Sprint began to operate in a totally new way. So much so that...
But just as important, the digital transformation helped set up success for Sprint for years to come.
Case study
Making utility a thing of beauty
Sprint, one of the major global internet carriers and a top wireless network in the United States, has lived its mission to Move Forward. The brand embodies the idea so well that, by 2015, it had evolved far beyond its online presence, then almost 10 years old. To show consumers that the brand was still dedicated to innovative solutions and wireless dependability, the digital experience needed a major update.
Grow market share with a new site designed to acquire new customers, retain the existing base, reduce cost-to-serve, and reflect Sprint's evolution.
Minimal design with maximum ease. We created a mobile-first, responsive site tailored to fit a range of promotions, prices and plans. Sprint.com now delivers an adaptable, customer-centric experience, giving users full control and a focused journey.
A successful site from start to checkout. The clean, streamlined redesign has fewer clicks and fields than the top competition, and has resulted in a 9% lift in gross new conversion on desktop, 16% on mobile and an overall engagement rate growth of 300%.


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One of the big things about doing the plastic project was to use my experience in all forms of media to communicate the problem as far and wide as possible and in as many formats. When you break it down it's about reaching as many people as is possible so that they can all start to make a difference. Online is great but so transient, film is awesome, talking face to face is without doubt the most effective and then there is print. So we're doing a couple of books, the first of which is at the printers right now, and we're also doing The Esker Journal.
The Journal is six issues of pure adventure, people, the environment and the joy of surfing. It's core and real and hopefully inspirational, there are no ads, we can do this because our printer is printing it for free. He's doing this on what would be waste or paper that was over ordered for other jobs. It means the journal is going to change shape and size continually which will make it interesting. The first issue is an over-sized photo and word laden feast. As I type, it has just been printed and is currently sat ready to be bound. I didn't know exactly how many we were going to be able to sell originally so we capped it at 150, then 180, and we are actually going to have 300 copies, of which we have 98 left. If you'd like to help, and every penny goes to the plastic project you can get one HERE (you get all six issues over the next year for ten pounds)
So what is in the first one?
There will always be a little enviro piece around the plastic project.
There is adventure through Norway, Scotland and Iceland.
A pretty sick gallery of some never before seen shots.
An epic look inside the house that trash built, famed cabin of the boys in North of the sun.
Plus a behind the scenes look at how we go to these wild places, camping, living in hire cars to get waves and to get to the remotest coastlines in Europe. It's a warts and all look into what the surfers, filters and myself do to make these happen on zero budget.
If it sounds good, you can sign up HERE. Every single penny goes into the project, we take zero money ourselves my day job covers everything else that sponsorship or crowd funding doesn't. It helps us get to these places and then to go out and talk and spread the word. Thankyou for your help.


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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In which Daniel and Drew talk about a forgotten anniversary, the Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program, holiday decoration deals and 2012 being the best year ever for movies.
We started with yes, the anniversary I forgot. Oh, not my wedding anniversary, no. Today is the third anniversary of Geek Dads – the third anniversary of my very first podcast experience. Everything that I am today in my podcasting career stems from that first episode of Geek Dads three years ago today.
And I completely forgot about it until it was too late to plan anything to mark the occasion. I suck.
After that bit of happiness, I mentioned that the Affiliate Summit Newcomer Program closes tomorrow, December 23rd. If you're interested in participating, please sign up by the end of the day tomorrow so I can make the final matches over the weekend.
Drew brought up late Christmas shopping next. Not shopping for presents, shopping for his tree. Yep, he left it a little on the late side on this one! That led into a nice discussion about finding great post-Christmas deals on decorations.
Our main segment this week covers the movies coming up in 2012 that we're looking forward to (provided we're not all dead). We had a great talk about movies and television from the 80's to today and how things have improved significantly over the last 25 years.
Lastly, the winner of our last giveaway was Christopher Sorel, congratulations! We have another copy of the Green Lantern: Secret Origin hardcover to give out, so enter! The winner will be notified next Thursday!
All this and more – thanks for listening! We'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave us a voice mail at 281-241-QAQN(7276). Also, you can email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Bandwidth provided by GeekCast.fm


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As his perspective opened and widened, with the collapsing of the fixed walls of his childhood house (perspectives and expectations of the past), he was transported across an ocean, across time and space and came to a far off mountain. He was shown that this mountain held secrets to "transformation" and that he could be part of that process of transformation, in that place.
He was also shown an alternative choice of living a different life, closer to his current home, and also on a mountain, with other duties to take his time. He was shown some specific details about that life track possibility. Later in life, these choices came his way in most concrete forms for his waking-world reality, and he chose one. He chose the one that felt most familiar, as it appeared, the one closer to home with known-comfortable associations and ways of living – one that appeared to ring immediately in his heart.
One can only if the two paths will someday meet.
In a post tomorrow I will talk briefly introduce dreams of the past, present and future, and introduce the phenomenon and ability or power to see the past, present and future through inner seeing and inner listening — topics, among others, to be explored over the next few weeks.


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I'm back with another Memebox unboxing/review for you all!
I do apologise for my lack of posts for those of you who were waiting! Also the picture quality isn't up to scratch for this post - I was abit excited and it was early morning so the lighting wasn't too great! Hope you understand!
Anyways, lets get down to business! Here are the pictures! :)
Again, Memebox did not disappoint! There was a variety of masks to try and well worth the money! The products came all in a cute Memebox pouch (which I found totally adorable!)
Unfortunately one of my masks (The Aqua Dressing one) was damaged during shipping and some liquid spilled out. However, it didn't ruin any of the other masks and I used the Aqua Dressing one right away! Very hydrating might I add! :)
I haven't had any bad experiences with any masks so far (*touch wood*) as they all seem to have fulfilled their purpose.
The box cost: $23 + $6.99 shipping. I got the box PLUS shipping for only $10.99 because I had a bunch of points accumulated! Total bargain! :)
I do recommend these mask boxes as they do give you a generous amount of products to try! Plus the Keyskin one is worth $49! It's pretty hydrating for the eyes and also includes some spot patches for those extra areas that need some love!
The next box I will be reviewing is the Office Essentials one! It starts shipping June 20th so keep an eye out for that! :)
Let me know if you have tried Memebox and what you think! I would love to hear your responses!
xoxo J


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What to expect
We meet for weekly services on Sunday at 9 and 10:45 am. Our atmosphere is super casual. There's no dress code, please come as you are (we mean it). We're in South Florida, so it's very common for people to come before heading to the beach, a sporting event, a concert or just spending the day in the warm, Florida weather. Shorts, sandals, t-shirts, tank tops, whatever, we're good with all of it.
Our music is heartfelt, worshipful, inspiring and excellent.
Pastor Russell's messages are engaging, thought-provoking, informative, relevant and always have real-world application.
If you're looking for church the way you "remember it," or the way "it should be," we would encourage you to look for more "traditional church" communities. HSC is more of an "un-church" community. If you're looking for a true ecclesia, a community of authentic people working to live their lives as followers of Jesus, Sunday mornings will be a great introduction for you to who we are.
There's a lot of activity for adults and kids at HSC on Wednesdays too. From 6:30 – 8 pm, we gather for a variety of events.
Students from 6-12th grade come together in our Anchored Student Ministries, our youth group led by Pastor Zack.
We also have options for men and women.
Throughout the year, on our own and in partnership with other local ministries, we participate in various events to serve our local community. Some of the ministries we work with include Food for the Poor, Feed My Starving Children, Habitat for Humanity and Boca Helping Hands.


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To view further details, simply head over to Scicorn Technology Ltd's Indiegogo campaign where you'll be able to read how the team plans to make wireless charging, with a range of around 10 metres, a commercial reality.
If you'd like to pre-order one, units start at $42 (£28), but the "TCharger for Home" early bird deal is no longer available. The "TCharger for Car" deal is, however, still available at the same price and the estimated delivery date, as previously mentioned, is June 2016. Although it's looking increasingly likely that the funding goal of $30,000 will be reached, it's important to remember that there's no guaranteed that this product will actually go into production. This is because crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are not ecommerce platforms. This product has some ways to go so there are all kinds of commercial, technological and operational hurdles that the company must overcome between now and next summer.
When you pre-order highly innovative products such as the TCharger on crowdfunding platforms, you are being given the opportunity to offer your financial support to help the creators make something that, in most cases, doesn't yet exist. This is not the same as purchasing a product that has already been manufactured. Please bear this in mind before you place a pre-order, and feel free to contact the campaign owners if you require further information.


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Shakespeare's plays weren't meant to be read. They were meant... to be played.
Hi! I'm Ryan and I'm the author of To Be or Not To Be and Romeo and/or Juliet, my two choose-your-own-path books based on Shakespeare's plays. These are like the fun books you remember reading when you were a kid - where YOU control the main characters and YOU decide what happens next - but modernized, updated, and written for a very savvy and CLEARLY very attractive non-juvenile audience.
If you watched the video, you saw how the To Be or Not To Be became Kickstarter's #1 most funded publishing project OF ALL TIME (when it ran, it's since been supplanted by other projects, BUT STILL). You also saw how the sequel, Romeo and/or Juliet, became an instant New York Times bestseller when it came out. And if you didn't but my name still sounds familiar, you might know me from my work on Marvel's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Adventure Time, Dinosaur Comics, Machine of Death, or that time I got stuck in a hole, a.k.a. The Time I Messed Up Walking My Dog So Badly It Made The News.
I mention all this to say "I am a guy who has at least a baseline competency when it comes to both writing AND Kickstarter, so you should feel confident in supporting this crazy project." Which crazy project? I'm glad you asked. As part of Kickstarter Gold, I'm here to talk about the capstone on my choose-your-own-path Shakespeare books, a book so crazy I could only call it...
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE PUNCHES A FRIGGIN' SHARK... and/or other stories.
William Shakespeare Punches A Friggin' Shark and/or Other Stories is a chooseable path adventure that brings together three distinct plotlines with multiple playable characters. This of course includes the one in which you, playing as William Shakespeare, will absolutely get to punch a shark. You will have your choice of shark. You will have your choice of punch (from gentle love tap to the mind-shattering widowmaker). You will have some really justified reasons to punch the shark, and you will also have the option to hug the shark instead and then live happily ever after with that shark.
It is my belief that no other publishing project in the world can make this claim.
Joining Shakespeare on his allegedly innocent shark-punching adventures contained in this book are two other storylines starring two other arguably-classic Shakespeare supporting characters:
The first is called Poor Yorick, an adventure in which you play as Yorick, Court Jester to the king decades before Hamlet ever even thinks of murdering his stepfather because a ghost told him to. The twist here is that unlike most adventures, in this one you HAVE to die... otherwise the entire space-time continuum will be disrupted and Hamlet will never be able to dig up your skull and contemplate his own mortality!
The second adventure stars Sampson, a.k.a. "Samuel Ampson", a.k.a. that guy who was always biting his thumb in Romeo and Juliet. Here the two worlds of fair Verona and Denmark are bridged, and you as Sam can run off to explore a larger version of Shakespeare's world, biting your thumb at all sorts of things, including shipwrecks, angry mobs, big ol' horses, and Ophelia. She murders you if you do that though. This should not come as a surprise.
Poor Yorick was printed in a Kickstarter-exclusive pamphlet that was available only once to backers of the original To Be Kickstarter. Samuel Ampson's adventure has never been printed, and was only available as a surprise PDF, again exclusively to my beloved Kickstarter backers a few years after the original project ended (I like to take care of my beloved Kickstarter backers). This book will bring these two stories together in print for the first time, newly enhanced and revised, along with the all-new eponymous adventure starring William Shakespeare, in which - and I cannot stress this enough - you can make him punch a shark.
If you've never backed my Kickstarter before, this is a great chance to explore choosable-path books and get a taste of what these books are like. If you've backed before, this will be the definitive version of Yorick and Sam - and, of course, you'll get to control Shakespeare for the first time in that all-new story too.
I want to illustrate this book like crazy.
If you like pictures, oh gosh, my friend, are you ever in luck. As with my other books, these stories will be illustrated by some of the GREATEST ARTISTS WORKING TODAY. Poor Yorick already has every single ending illustrated by Tyson Hesse, and while the others will have pictures too, we're hoping we'll raise enough funding here to commission art from our stable of Rad Artists Who Like To Draw Shakespeare Stuff to get every single ending in Sam and Shakespeare's storylines illustrated. Here are some of our illustrations from previous books, just to show we're not messing around:
Our base goal will be enough to afford getting 10 of the endings illustrated, and others will be added as stretch goals. On board from the world of comics and illustration we already have:
- KC Green (Gunshow, He Is A Good Boy)
- Carly Monardo (Cartoon Network, AV Club, Adult Swim)
- Anthony Clark (Nedroid)
- Christopher Hastings (The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, Gwenpool)
- Shelli Paroline (Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors, The Potter's Pet)
- David Malki! (Wondermark)
- Meredith Gran (Octopus Pie)
- Andrew Hussie (these weird little comics called MS Paint Adventures featuring something called "Homestuck"? I dunno I never heard of it)
- Michael Cho
- Marguerite Sauvage (DC's Bombshells, Wonder Woman, and Valiant's Faith)
- Jon Klassen (I Want My Hat Back)
- Jamie McKelvie (The Wicked + The Divine)
- Rahzzah
- Hannah Blumenreich (Spidey Zine)
- Ngozi Ukazu (Check, Please!)
- Derek Charm (Jughead, Star Wars Adventures, Starfleet Academy)
- Erica Henderson (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Jughead)
- Shen (Owlturd, Bluechair)
The cover for the book will be by Chip "Sex Criminals, That's The Title Of The Time Magazine 'Comic Of The Year' Comic, It's Not Meant To Describe Chip Himself" Zdarsky, who you know can bring the goods. He painted that Shakespeare punching a shark in our logo! THAT WAS HIM!
Stretch goals?! LET'S DO THIS
We've met our goal (AHHH THIS BOOK IS GONNA BE SO GREAT) so here are some STRETCH GOALS to make it EVEN BETTER:
- $25,000 - THIS BOOK IS HAPPENING, and also Meredith Gran (Octopus Pie) will be illustrating an ending! - REACHED
- $26,000 - Marguerite Sauvage (DC's Bombshells, Wonder Woman, and Valiant's Faith!) illustrates an ending! - REACHED
- $27,000 - Jon Klassen (I Want My Hat Back) illustrates an ending! - REACHED
- $28,000 - an ending illustrated by Jamie McKelvie - REACHED
- $29,000 - an ending illustrated by Rahzzah! - REACHED
- $30,000 - the entire book, and all illustrations, will be done in FULL COLOUR. AHHH - REACHED
- $31,000 - an ending illustrated by Hannah Blumenreich - REACHED
- $32,000 - an ending illustrated by Ngozi Ukazu - REACHED
- $33,000 - an ending illustrated by Derek Charm - REACHED
- $34,000 - an ending illustrated by Erica Henderson - REACHED
- $35,000 - an ending illustrated by Shen - REACHED
How big will this book be?
The Kickstarter-produced To Be or Not To Be ended up being 90k words of adventure spread across 740 pages, and it weighed like five pounds! The Romeo and/or Juliet sequel was even longer with 110k words. This is not those books. This is a shorter and slimmer volume, closer to the chooseable-path adventure books you remember from when you were a kid. This is a book you'll be able to carry in your purse or satchel without saying "man this book is heavy! What does it weigh, like five pounds?" We're aiming for 128 pages of story, picture, and adventure.
And you can get more than just the book!
We're producing this book in partnership with Make That Thing, who have run many other successful Kickstarters in the past. Since they also keep my Dinosaur Comics merchandise in stock, this makes this book an IDEAL OPPORTUNITY to throw in some cheaper-than-retail extras if you're interested in pledging at higher levels, including:
- TOTALLY SWEET: get a sheet of exclusive Shakespeare and adventure themed stickers, and another sheet of exclusive Shakespeare and dinosaur themed temporary tattoos!
- TOTALLY SWEET + GIMMIE CLOTHES: the stickers plus a unisex shirt of your choice (we'll ask before we ship) from my TopatoCo store, including, if I may be so bold, this Shakespeare design:
- TOTALLY SWEET + GIMMIE A NEW FRIEND: the stickers, shirt, and a new friend in the form of a gosh-darned furry Utahraptor. He'll be in the book too. Did we forget to mention? Shakespeare also punches a dinosaur.
Thank you <3 <3 <3
I'm very excited to do a Shakespeare chooseable-path adventure where you finally get to take control of the Bard himself. I think this'll be a fun and hilarious book you can read on the go, or give to someone else and say "I'm extremely busy; tell me what the best story in it is and then I'll read that one."
pictured below when I got a kiss from my dog, Noam Chompsky, on the ferry to PEI
Thanks to Revolution Void for the music in this video, used under a CC-A license!
Risks and challenges
If we get funded, we're very confident this book is going to happen: two of the three stories are already written and edited, and the last is going through that process now. If you combine the books I've printed with the books Make That Thing has, together we've published over 20 books, so we're confident we can see this project through to conclusion. The only major uncertainty is in the illustration: artists take time to draw, but we've received assurances from our artists that, should the need arise, they are ready to draw SUPER AWESOMELY and also REASONABLY RELIABLY.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (30 days)


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Results for Fiscal 2016, 2017, and 2018
Explore the Data
Select one of the interactive data visualizations below to explore the research results of the Truth and Integrity in State Budgeting project in more detail.
You can also download the specific data set associated with each interactive data visualization by using the download button on each of the pages listed below.
Download the Data
You can download the full data set as a spreadsheet file, including all the budgeting practice indicator results, budgeting category grades and grade distributions for all 50 states for fiscal years 2016-2018 plus 3-year averages, by using the 'Download Data' button at the top right of this page.
State fiscal sustainability is of no small concern to the US economy or the federal government. As Volcker Alliance Chairman Paul A. Volcker stated in 2017, "The purposes and manner in which public funds are spent are matters basic to our well-being as a nation." Indeed, states generate $2.1 trillion in annual revenue, equivalent to 10.3 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. State and local governments—the latter heavily dependent on state budget funding—employ almost twenty million people.
Spending decisions are appropriate and necessary issues for political debate and decision. The Great Recession and the relatively slow growth of the US economy in recent years have intensified budgetary pressures in many states. Faced with constitutional, statutory, or customary requirements for annually balanced budgets, a large number of states have been forced to reduce or reallocate spending. The potential to defer or obfuscate in making these adjustments is very real. That is why the need for comprehensive and accurate accounting and transparent reporting of the financial positions of individual states is even more compelling.
In a report released in December 2018, Truth and Integrity in State Budgeting: Preventing the Next Fiscal Crisis covering all fifty states over the fiscal years of 2016 through 2018, the Volcker Alliance focuses on five critical areas that explain methods used to achieve budgetary balance, as well as how budgets and other financial information are disclosed to the public. States were given grades of A to D-minus for their procedures in:
- estimating revenues and expenditures;
- using one-time actions to balance budgets;
- adequately funding their public worker retirement and other post-employment benefits;
- overseeing and using rainy day funds and other fiscal reserves;
- and disclosing budget and related financial information.
In addition to assigning grades, the Volcker Alliance proposes a set of best budgeting practices for policymakers to follow.
Critical to this work has been the cooperation of eight universities, each with a demonstrably strong interest in public service education and particularly in the management of state and local governments. The Alliance hopes to assist schools of public policy and administration by helping to widen the scope of research in the areas of public budgeting and finance while training students looking toward careers in state and local governments. The universities' research efforts were augmented by Volcker Alliance staff, data consultants at Municipal Market Analytics, and special project consultants Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene.
The Volcker Alliance plans on releasing an update to this project by the end of 2019, which will include updated fiscal year 2018 results as well as preliminary fiscal year 2019 results.


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Forced arbitration, which has been eroding our rights for too long, is finally suffering a long-overdue correction. The #MeToo era has made it impossible to justify why workers should be forced to sign away their rights to pursue sexual harassment claims in court. This development deserves to be followed by a move to put all of the "fine print," which so often characterizes forced-arbitration clauses, under the microscope.
Posts Categorized: arbitration
AFJ Applauds Senators Who Fought for Consumers' Rights
In a big win for Wall Street, the Senate voted to overturn a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that ensured consumers could band together to sue big banks and financial firms if they were harmed. The rule protected consumers from the secretive process of forced arbitration, in which they are almost certain to lose. The rule was overturned by the narrowest of margins – and before the vote, many Senators came to the floor to speak out in favor of saving it. Here are some of the night's best "quotable quotes":
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
In arbitration, the company chooses the judge. The company pays the judge, and these judges come back time and time again for case after case after case fighting for the companies time after time after time. So if you want a rigged system, if you want an example of the swamp flooding this room right here, this is it. Right here, right now. Read more
Some Good News Out of Washington: The CFPB Cracks Down on "Ripoff Clauses"
For most of 2017, the Trump Administration and its allies have been waging war on the rights of everyday Americans. The Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and he has already proven himself to be an extreme conservative. The House of Representatives has passed a string of bills effectively seeking to close the courthouse door to millions of Americans wronged by large corporate interests. And Republicans remain intent on eliminating health insurance for millions of Americans.
But amidst this gloom, there's a glimmer of hope at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In recent weeks, the CFPB acted to crack down on so-called "ripoff clauses" that have victimized consumers of financial products and services. Specifically, it finalized a rule prohibiting corporations that provide these services from using non-negotiable arbitration clauses, hidden in contracts, that limit the ability of consumers to band together to enforce their legal rights. Alliance for Justice applauds this vital action.
Read more
Supreme Court Showdown Over Nursing-Home Arbitration
About a million-and-a-half Americans, mostly elderly, are in nursing homes. Mortality rates in nursing homes are high, and abuse and neglect are common.
When victims and their families sue nursing homes for deaths or injuries resulting from improper care, they often find their path to court blocked by arbitration agreements the nursing homes had them sign at the time of admission. Arbitration agreements require people to give up their rights to go to court and force them to resolve cases through arbitration instead. In arbitration, cases are decided by private arbitrators who rely on companies such as nursing homes for repeat business. Arbitrators are bound by neither precedent nor rules of court procedure, and their decisions usually cannot be appealed. Because nursing homes think they have a better chance in front of a paid arbitrator than a judge and jury, nursing-home arbitration agreements have proliferated in recent years. Read more
Why the Wells Fargo Scandal Shows the Need to End Forced Arbitration
Another day, another scandal at the big banks.
Since the financial crisis, banks like Barclays and UBS have been caught manipulating interest rates; J.P. Morgan has reluctantly handed over billions for its association with Bernie Madoff, illegal hiring practices, and lax oversight of its own traders among its other misdeeds; while Goldman Sachs has been fined billions for selling toxic subprime mortgages to investors. This past week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined Wells Fargo $185 million for creating fake accounts and assigning them to unwitting customers. While this outrage shows the need for tighter regulation, it also exposes the urgent need to end the anti-consumer practice of forced arbitration in financial service agreements. If consumers cannot access the courts, scandals will be harder to uncover and victims will find it nearly impossible to achieve justice. Read more
Senator Leahy Introduces the Restoring Statutory Rights and Interests of the States Act of 2016
Today Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont continued the fight against the pernicious practice of forced arbitration, introducing the Restoring Statutory Rights Act of 2016. The bill would ensure that big corporations can't use insidious forced arbitration clauses to avoid liability for violating statutory and constitutional rights. If passed, the bill would be a victory not just for the individuals and small businesses who need access to fair courts to vindicate fundamental legal rights, but for democracy itself.
Below, read the full letter that AFJ sent to the Senate urging support for the bill. Read more
Some good news on forced arbitration
Earlier this week, the Department of Defense announced it will be expanding the Military Lending Act to cap interest rates and prohibit forced arbitration in credit cards, payday loans, vehicle title loans, refund anticipation loans, and other types of loans made to service members. A previous rule had been riddled with loopholes that allowed lenders to charge exorbitant fees and avoid the arbitration ban. The expansion is an important step toward protecting troops who are often targeted by predatory lenders before being deployed.
The news comes as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) moves toward rulemaking of its own on forced arbitration. On Wednesday of last week, CFPB Director Richard Cordray confirmed the agency would soon be announcing a rule on the use of forced arbitration in financial products for all American consumers.
The decision follows two studies conducted by the agency that demonstrated the prevalence of forced arbitration and the harm it causes. Tens of millions of consumers use products under the CFPB's jurisdiction that contain forced arbitration clauses. For some products, including payday loans and cell phones, nearly every contract signed by a consumer has an arbitration clause in it. Yet most consumers mistakenly believed they could still sue their employer in court or join others in such a suit. Once in arbitration, the report found that businesses won 93 percent of their claims and counterclaims.
Industry groups and congressional Republicans have already begun to fight back. An amendment to the Financial Services Appropriations Bill would require the CFPB to conduct yet another, duplicative study—at taxpayer expense—before beginning the rulemaking process. And in a transparent attempt to create further delay, the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and The Financial Services Roundtable made similar demands in a recent letter to the CFPB.
Yet these efforts have not been enough to stall our momentum. The CFPB has confirmed its intention to initiate the rulemaking process despite industry objections, and for now the financial services bill has stalled on the House floor. More than three years after the CFPB began work on its arbitration study, meaningful change is finally on its way.
This month marks the five year anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which gives the CFPB its authority to ban forced arbitration clauses in the financial industry, and the four year anniversary of the CFPB itself. On these important birthdays, recent efforts to curtail forced arbitration provide reason to celebrate—but there is more work to be done. Industry opposition will continue. The rulemaking process, once underway, will be contentious. And AFJ will be there fighting every step of the way.
Fact-checking American Express claims about forced arbitration
A recent article by Orange County Register Watchdog Columnist Teri Sforza explains some of the harm done to consumers and employees from forced arbitration, drawing in part on AFJ's short documentary Lost in the Fine Print. The film details the story of Alan Carlson, the owner of Italian Colors restaurant in Oakland, California, who tried to challenge American Express's high "swipe fees" in court. A forced arbitration clause buried in the fine print of American Express's terms of service kept Alan from being able to vindicate his rights.
Marina Hoffmann Norville, a vice president at American Express, told the paper her company recently made changes to its forced arbitration policy to keep customers satisfied.
But how significant are the changes for consumers?
For the past decade, companies have been free to make claims about their arbitration policies with little factual support or scrutiny. There was no way to know what the typical arbitration process looked like, if customers were able to take advantage of seemingly consumer-friendly clauses, and whether consumers were actually winning cases in arbitration. But all that changed earlier this month, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its comprehensive, in-depth study of forced arbitration. Now, consumers are able to fact-check company claims.
So we decided to fact-check American Express. Is its arbitration clause as consumer-friendly as the company implies?
The answer is a resounding no.
American Express touts its new opt-out policy, which gives customers 45 days from when they first use a new card to opt out of the agreement's arbitration provision. While "agreeing" to forced arbitration is as easy as swiping your Amex card, opting out is a bit more onerous. To even find the provision, customers have to get to one of the last pages of the cardmember agreement—just past the "governing law" and "assigning the agreement" sections. Customers then have to print, sign, and snail mail a rejection notice to a P.O. box in El Paso.
It's unsurprising that consumers rarely take advantage of these opt-out provisions. According to the CFPB's study, though over a quarter of credit card contracts include a similar provision, not a single consumer of the 570 interviewed had opted out. Only three consumers reported being given an opportunity to do so—but those three were mistaken. None of them actually had a contract which would have allowed them to opt out.
We did find one place where American Express is an industry leader: conducting forced arbitration in secret.
Only two credit card issuers of the 66 examined by the CFPB expressly includes a confidentiality or non-disclosure clause in its forced arbitration provision. American Express, which mandates that "[t]he arbitration will be confidential," is presumably one of them. These clauses prevent wrongdoing from being exposed and remedied on a large scale. Consumer laws, which protect us all from fraud and discrimination, vindicate critically important societal goals. They should be enforced in the full sunlight of the courtroom—not in a private tribunal that American Express closes off to the public.
The rest of Amex's arbitration clause is similarly unfriendly to consumers. The company provides a carve-out from forced arbitration for small claims court, as do 99 percent of credit card contracts. But like the opt-out clauses, these provisions rarely help consumers; they are more likely to be used by companies trying to collect debt. In 2012, looking at selected states and large cities, the CFPB was only able to identify—at most—39 small claims cases brought against American Express by a consumer.
Like 40.9 percent of credit card forced arbitration clauses, American Express's includes a right to appeal an arbitrator's decision—but only to three more arbitrators. The company is also unusual in that it "will consider in good faith making a temporary advance of your share of any arbitration fees." Over 40 percent of credit card contracts require the issuer to do so.
If American Express truly wants a consumer-friendly arbitration policy, it should give its customers the right to choose whether or not they arbitrate—not in the form of an arcane opt-out policy, but after a dispute arises. If arbitration is as fair, quick, and affordable as proponents claim, it's hard to imagine why customers would turn it down.
What Walmart hides in the fine print might ruin your holidays
Retailer tries to hold customer's money hostage to forced arbitration
By Trevor Boeckmann
AFJ Dorot Fellow
As we detail in our short documentary Lost in the Fine Print, forced arbitration clauses have become omnipresent in American society. They're used by companies to prevent consumers from having the chance to stand up for their rights in court when they're harmed. Yet most of these clauses are buried deep in the fine print of contracts and terms of service.
Now Walmart, already a corporate bad actor in so many ways, has taken this strategy to a whole new level. They found a way to hold a customer's money hostage until she agreed to forced arbitration.
KTRK-TV in Houston reports that on Black Friday, local shopper Maria Selva tried to buy a new TV at the big-box retailer. Walmart had sold out of the TV by the time Selva came to purchase it, but employees gave her a coupon, and had her pay in full.
She thought she could just pick up the TV at a later date. But after she'd already paid, she was given a notice telling her she had to register online. When she went online, she found that registering the coupon meant agreeing to forced arbitration. She refused to accept the terms, and contacted Walmart to ask for a refund.
Walmart said no.
Instead, the company told her she would have to agree to forced arbitration, receive the TV, and return the TV. Only then could she receive a refund.
It wasn't until KTRK contacted the company that Walmart finally relented and issued a refund.
The consequences of forced arbitration can be great. In Lost in the Fine Print we document the stories of Nicole Mitchell and Debbie Brenner, victims of discrimination and fraud who were never allowed to defend their rights in court.
Walmart isn't the only company that has tried to find creative ways to impose forced arbitration.
Take General Mills, for example. Last spring, we told you about their new arbitration policy, which purported to force consumers into arbitration if they entered a company contest, printed a General Mills coupon, or even "liked" Cheerios on Facebook.
But public pressure forced General Mills to back down. Now we're putting the pressure on other companies. Join our campaign to end forced arbitration and protect everyday Americans.
Watch one consumer's battle against Walmart and forced arbitration
Young v. UPS: That's incredible!
The next time a woman is forced to choose between her job and her pregnancy, she may not even make it into court.
By Michelle D. Schwartz
AFJ Director of Justice Programs
There are a number of things that are incredible about Young v. UPS, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act case set to be argued in the Supreme Court today.
It's incredible that UPS refused to make a reasonable accommodation for driver Peggy Young after she became pregnant and her doctor advised her against lifting packages heavier than 20 pounds.
It's incredible that UPS then forced Young to take unpaid leave for the remainder of her pregnancy, causing her to lose both her wages and her health insurance at the time she needed them most.
It's incredible that UPS refused an accommodation for Young even as it made such accommodations for workers injured on the job, workers with disabilities falling under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and even drivers who lost their commercial driver's licenses because of DUI convictions.
It's incredible that, in 2014, Peggy Young was forced to choose between a healthy pregnancy and her job.
And it is incredible that Peggy Young's case against UPS made it into court at all.
Today, more and more employees are compelled to accept forced arbitration clauses in their employment agreements, employee handbooks—even job applications. These clauses say that if a dispute should arise between the employee and the company they work for, the employee can't take that dispute before an impartial jury or judge. Instead, they have to take their case before an arbitrator picked by the company, losing their fundamental right to go to court.
These arbitration clauses apply even in cases of employment discrimination that allegedly violate such hallowed laws as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and, yes, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
In fact, over the summer we learned that another company that's no stranger to the Supreme Court—Hobby Lobby—has a forced arbitration clause. That clause kept an employee, Felicia Allen, out of court after she was fired for trying to take unpaid leave during her pregnancy. Hobby Lobby even tried to prevent Allen from receiving unemployment compensation. As we wrote at that time:
When Allen tried to sue Hobby Lobby for discriminating against her based on her pregnancy, she learned that Hobby Lobby had a forced arbitration clause. Allen's lawyers refused to take her case after they learned of the forced arbitration clause and she—like so many other American consumers and employees—was left out in the cold. Hobby Lobby could take its case all the way to the Supreme Court, but its employee couldn't even get through the courthouse doors.
In our short documentary Lost in the Fine Print, we tell the story of Nicole Mitchell, another woman forced into arbitration after trying to sue her employer for discriminating against her—this time based on her status as a Hurricane Hunter in the Air Force Reserve.
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) is a federal law that prohibits employers from firing, demoting, or failing to hire military reservists because of their reserve duty. But, as Mitchell found, USERRA and other laws protecting against employment discrimination may be worth little more than the paper they're printed on when violations are forced into arbitration.
Employees fare far worse in arbitration than they do in the courtroom. Researchers at Cornell found that outcomes for employees forced into arbitration are "starkly inferior" to those in litigation.
And the harms of forced arbitration extend beyond the outcomes in individual cases. Because arbitration generally occurs in secret, systemic abuses are never exposed and remedied. So even on the rare occasion that an employee wins in arbitration, there is little incentive for the employer to protect employee rights moving forward.
Take the case of UPS.
In October, with Peggy Young's case already pending before the Supreme Court, the company announced that, beginning on January 1, 2015, it would offer light duty assignments for pregnant workers. That offer comes too late for Peggy Young, but it is unlikely that it would have come at all if not for the public attention the Supreme Court case has brought. If Peggy Young had been forced into arbitration as Felicia Allen and Nicole Mitchell were, , that policy change likely never would have come.
Laws like the Pregnancy Discrimination Act vindicate critically important societal goals. Their proper interpretation should be decided in the full sunlight of the courtroom—not in a secret corporate tribunal.
Today, we stand with Peggy Young, and we hope that the Supreme Court will reverse its recent trend of hostility to working women. In the long term, though, we know that protecting Peggy Young and all who face discrimination at work will require reversing the Supreme Court's decisions upholding forced arbitration under virtually any circumstances.
Everyone who cares about fair, discrimination-free workplaces should join us in our campaign to do just that.
Hear Michelle Schwartz discuss these issues on WBAI's Julianna Forlano Show
Banking on forced arbitration – to take away your rights
Ever been ripped off by a big bank? Were you charged fees you never expected? Were you misled about the terms of a loan?
If so, you may have a tough time standing up for your rights in court. That's because many big banks have buried forced arbitration agreements in the fine print of their customer contracts. As we explain in our short documentary, Lost in the Fine Print, if the bank has a forced arbitration clause you can't take the bank to court. Instead, you have to go to an arbitrator effectively chosen by the bank itself.
One study found when consumers go up against businesses in arbitration, the business wins 94 percent of the time.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has the power to ban forced arbitration in contracts for consumer financial products, including banking services. It is expected to issue a report on the issue next year.
But we're not waiting. We've joined with other activist and consumer groups to demand that five big Wall Street banks drop their forced arbitration clauses. Want to join us? Click here to sign our petition.
If we don't stop them, the practice of forced arbitration will only spread. And you can take that to the bank.
It's not just banks: See who else uses forced arbitration and tell them to stop, too
AT&T: They're throttling your rights, too
Good thing the Federal Trade Commission is acting, because forced arbitration prevents consumers from effectively fighting for themselves.
Have you been "throttled" by AT&T?
According to the Federal Trade Commission, since 2011 it's happened more than 25 million times, affecting 3.5 million customers.
Throttling refers to slowing down your internet connection when you use more data than your provider wants you to use, whether for email, streaming video or anything else.
The FTC alleges AT&T throttled customers who pay $30 a month for data plans that AT&T calls unlimited – in some cases slowing their internet speeds by up to 90 percent. AT&T says it told its customers they could be throttled. The company says it put notices in bills (and who doesn't read every word of their cell phone bill)? They also claim to have sent emails and text messages to customers on the verge of being throttled. But, according to The New York Times:
While AT&T said that customers were notified by text message before the program was put into effect, the commission said that "most unlimited mobile data plan customers have never been sent a text message or email" about it.
And, as The Washington Post reports:
The FTC found in its investigation that AT&T was aware that consumers saw throttling as inconsistent with promises of "unlimited" data. When the company explained the concept to focus groups, the FTC reported in its suit, customers grew upset. The company's own researchers then urged AT&T's marketers that "saying less is more" when it comes to selling such services. …
"AT&T promised its customers 'unlimited' data, and in many instances, it has failed to deliver on that promise," said [FTC chairwoman Edith] Ramirez in a statement. "The issue here is simple: 'unlimited' means unlimited."
And, the Post reports, this is not the first time AT&T has come under scrutiny from the FTC. In addition to "throttling," the company also has been accused of "cramming" :
AT&T is also paying $105 million to settle charges from this month that it loaded consumers' wireless bills with bogus third-party fees without their consent. Those fees, according to the FTC and the [Federal Communications Commission], added "hundreds of millions of dollars" to AT&T's bottom line over a five-year period and misled customers into thinking that they were being charged for AT&T's own services.
Since becoming FTC chairwoman a year ago, Ramirez has won high marks from consumer advocates. But the rights of consumers should not be dependent on who happens to be running a government agency – when an agency has the power to act at all. Consumers should be able to band together and fight for their rights in court.
But when it comes to AT&T, they can't. That's because AT&T has something else in the fine print, along with the notice about throttling: AT&T has a forced arbitration clause – the kind of clause we take on in our 20-minute documentary Lost in the Fine Print.
Indeed, AT&T has a notorious place in the annals of forced arbitration. When customers were charged more than $30.00 each for phones AT&T said would be free, they tried to band together to sue the company. AT&T appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. In a decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the five-member conservative majority ruled that AT&Ts forced arbitration clause shut the customers out of court.
So now that AT&T is at it again, victims of throttling can't come together to stand up for their rights in court. Instead they have to go one at a time to an arbitrator essentially chosen by AT&T, or they can go, again one at a time, to small claims court. One person actually did that. It took a lot of time and effort. And though he got a refund on part of his bill, even then he couldn't stop AT&T from continuing to throttle him.
The other 3,499,999 customers allegedly throttled by AT&T shouldn't have to do the same in order to get justice.
So please go to www.lostinthefineprint.org and click on the "Take Action" link. It will take you to a page where you can demand that AT&T – and other companies you deal with that use forced arbitration – remove those clauses from their terms of service.
Watch Lost in the Fine Print and take action
Watch this story about AT&T and throttling from NBC Nightly News:
Snapchat: Weak on protecting privacy, strong on protecting itself – through forced arbitration
The photos you send via Snapchat may not really go away, but your rights disappear in a flash
By now you've probably heard about what's been called "The Snappening" – the leak of at least 90,000 photos and 9,000 videos sent by users of Snapchat – users who probably thought those images would disappear after ten seconds.
After all, that is Snapchat's big selling point. But now there is reason for Snapchat users – and their parents – to be very, very concerned. As Marlow Stern writes in The Daily Beast:
Because of its "self-destruct" reputation, the app is a popular tool among youngsters for transmitting sexually explicit material. Snapchat claims that 50 percent of its users are between 13-17 years of age, this potentially brings "The Snappening" into child pornography territory.
That's enough to scare any parent of a Snapchat user. But as we explain below, while Snapchat may not have done a good job of protecting its users' security, it's doing a great job of protecting itself. Snapchat makes your rights disappear – by using a pernicious practice known as forced arbitration.
Snapchat says the massive leak of photos and videos is not the company's fault. They issued a statement blaming it all on third-party applications which work around the self-destruct feature:
"We can confirm that Snapchat's servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks. Snapchatters were victimized by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our Terms of Use precisely because they compromise our users' security. We vigilantly monitor the App Store and Google Play for illegal third-party apps and have succeeded in getting many of these removed."
In other words, if your 13-year-old didn't pore over the terms of use before using one of those third-party apps – well, that's her fault.
As the news site CNET reports:
The company did not answer questions about what steps it has taken to warn its users about these third-party services aside from its Terms of Service.
Chris Eng, vice president of research at computer-security research firm Veracode, said Snapchat has "a history of not taking security seriously." [One of the third-party apps] was in the [Google Play Store] since 2013. That alone suggests to me that they're not being very aggressive' about policing third-party apps, Eng said.
Similarly, in a commentary for Wired Prof. Woodrow Hartzog of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University writes:
The guidance and rules are buried in the fine print with no explanation for the ban on third-party software. This dense, boilerplate agreement places the burden of securing against this attack on the party in the relationship least likely to have knowledge of the vulnerability—the user. People who relied upon the app's implicit promise of ephemera and relative safety wouldn't be wrong to feel betrayed by Snapchat's "it's not us, it's you" attitude.
And last May Snapchat settled a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC charged that Snapchat's claims about messages and photos disappearing forever were "false or misleading."
So, does Snapchat bear some responsibility for "The Snappening"? It's the kind of question we might expect to go before a judge and jury. But victims of the leak, and their parents, face another obstacle. Like the warning about third-party apps, this obstacle also is buried in the fine print of Snapchat's terms of use:
Snapchat has a forced arbitration clause. We document all the ways firms like Snapchat use forced arbitration to stack the deck against consumers in our video Lost in the Fine Print.
Forced arbitration means that Snapchat users, instead of being able to stand up for their rights in court, will have to go before a private arbitrator. It also means that Snapchat chooses the arbitrator, Snapchat decides where the arbitration will take place (Los Angeles County – no matter where the victim happens to live), and Shapchat requires that the proceedings be secret. There is no effective way to appeal. And the victims and their parents can't band together to bring their legal action; each must take on Snapchat individually.
Given how the deck is stacked, it's no wonder that one study found that, in consumer disputes, the consumer forced into forced arbitration loses 94 percent of the time.
But there is one thing we can do. If you're a Snapchat user go to our action page where you can demand that Snapchat stop using forced arbitration. You can demand the same of many other companies with which you're doing business.
When the time comes to decide, once and for all, if Snapchat has any responsibility for the leaking of 90,000 photos and 9,000 videos, shouldn't that decision be made by a judge and a jury – not an arbitrator chosen by Snapchat?
Watch our video, Lost in the Fine Print, and find out much more about forced arbitration.
Without arbitration fairness, paycheck fairness may be an empty promise
"Forced arbitration" undermines
our civil rights laws
By Michelle D. Schwartz
AFJ Director of Justice Programs
When I was a teenager, I spent two summers working as a counselor at a day camp in suburban New Jersey. Toward the end of the second summer, I received an offer to return the following year. Later that day, I happened to be chatting with a friend who had similarly received an offer to return—for several hundred dollars more.
We had both worked at the camp for two summers, held the same job, were the exact same age and at the exact same educational level, and were well-liked and recognized as hard workers.
The only difference? He's a man."As long as employers are permitted to opt out of federal laws through forced arbitration, the promise of equal pay will never be fully realized."I was angry, but I was left with little recourse other than fuming. That's because my terms of employment forbade me from discussing my salary with anyone. So did my friend's—so my speaking up could get him in trouble as well. So I stayed quiet, and I chose to pursue different opportunities the following summer.
For most American women, pay discrimination is far more insidious. American women make, on average, 77 cents for every dollar men make. That wage gap means that the average American woman had to keep working until today—April 8, 2014—just to earn what a man made in 2013. And it means that women—often the sole or primary breadwinners—have less ability to provide for themselves and their families.
Yet just as they could half my lifetime ago, employers today can and do prevent their employees from, and penalize their employees for, discussing their pay with coworkers. As a result, it is often virtually impossible for women to learn that they're being discriminated against. And, on the off chance women do learn such information, it's even harder for them to fight back.
Today, President Obama is signing an Executive Order that would prohibit government contractors from retaliating against their employees for simply discussing their pay with one another. And the Senate this week will vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which, among other things, would extend that anti-retaliation rule to all employers. Those are both important steps that Alliance for Justice strongly supports.
But as long as employers are permitted to opt out of federal laws through forced arbitration, the promise of equal pay will never be fully realized.
Increasingly, employment and consumer contracts include fine print that forces Americans to sign away their right to go to court—and instead directs them into arbitration, a system of privatized dispute resolution that is rigged to benefit corporations.
A series of bad Supreme Court decisions has upheld forced arbitration even where it means that workers, consumers, and even small businesses have no way of vindicating rights enshrined in landmark federal laws. Laws put at risk include Title VII, the Equal Pay Act, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Recently, the Oakland Raiderettes fell down the forced arbitration rabbit hole when they brought a suit seeking fair pay.
As AFJ President Nan Aron wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle:
The Raiderette cheerleaders are trying to sue the Raiders because they're paid only $125 per game and even that money is withheld until the end of the season. But the Raiders may be able to intercept the suit before it ever gets to court. The cheerleader contract has a forced arbitration clause requiring them to take their dispute to – seriously – the commissioner of the National Football League.
Fortunately, there is a way to protect the gains we've made—and any more that are yet to come. It's called the Arbitration Fairness Act, and it would ban forced arbitration in consumer, employment, and civil rights disputes.
On this Equal Pay Day, let's celebrate the President's executive action, fight for the Paycheck Fairness Act, and urge our representatives to pass the Arbitration Fairness Act without delay.


text: Hi everyone, I am trying to come up with an idea for a larger style handbag. I prefer hobo bags. I want to make a spring looking one but I am not sure what pattern to use. I have made the bow tucks but don't really want to make that one. I am hoping someone knows of a free handbag link to share. I am not so good at zippers but I also don't like my purse hanging open. I am willing to try the zipper thing again but can't seem to figure out what to make...please help :)


text:
These are the original posters created for the " Change 10, It's in Our Hands" campaign, in an attempt to create awareness on how simple daily routines can be modified to help the environment and partially counter some of the effects of climate change.
Basic elements to consider are: water conservation, deforestation, energy and education. This campaign could be easily enhanced and publicly distributed in oder to reach schools of all levels, and start developing awareness in the kids, the little guys that will eventually suffer more from the impact of what is going on today.
The US corporate structure is not doing enough to protect the environment, as the main goal is protect their profits, but this attitude can't go on indefinitely, this will eventually have to change.
We hope creative people from all countries decide to take on this initiative, or just any other creative campaing of their own, in order to facilitate the educational process and changes of attitudes so necessary these days.


text:
Amber Jewelry Oh Yes!
One of the items most people buy when visiting Poland is Amber jewelry Before moving to Poland I had heard of Amber jewelry but never really gave it much thought. Well if you have ever visited Warsaw or Gdansk you will seen just a FEW stores selling Amber jewelry or items made from Amber stones.
A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine, knows a friend who is an Amber jeweler wholesaler here in Poland. So she asked if I would like to do an Amber jewelry party at my house, well she did not have to ask me twice! I jumped at the offer.
I learned more about Amber than I ever thought I would that afternoon. Who knew that green Amber is actually painted?
I had a great couple of hours with GREAT friends, GREAT food and most importantly GREAT jewelry!
As you can see there was quite the selection! I was not prepared to have the kind of selection!!! Good thing he didn't take credit cards or I would have been in BIG trouble with the husband.
What is your favorite stone? Mine, besides diamonds it would be opals!!


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MemoryMixer Store
Celebrate QuickMix
Designer: Designs by Krista
Categories: QuickMixes Black, Blue, Bright Colors, Pink, Designs By Krista, Birthday, Kids
Tags: Celebrate QuickMix, Pink, Blue, Black, Birthday, Balloons, Presents
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Price: $5.00
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Celebrate QuickMix. The birthday boy or girl is going to LOVE having their birthday pictures put in such a cute QuickMix! Bright, subdued or elegant . . . this QM has it all! And you can "have it all" along with the Celebrate Paper Pack and Embellishment Pack too. Celebrate, celebrate . . . dance to the music!
*** Please refer to QuickMix download speeds/times before purchase:
1. This QuickMix design is a downloadable purchase only. Download times may vary.
2. MemoryMixer Software required. Buy MemoryMixer Software Now.
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