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A number of years ago, the design team at GE Appliances showed me a collection of sculptural objects they had recently constructed during an afternoon work session. As explained to me by Marc Hottenroth, leader of industrial design operations at GE, these sculptures made from steel, wood, wire, and found/repurposed components were material studies used to spark new ideas and reinvigorate the activities of the design team. Each object raised questions and elicited a rich dialog among the designers who were using experimentation as a means to discover new possibilities rather than validating existing ideas and honing concepts.
I was a bit surprised that professional designers would continue to engage in such "academic" endeavors. What I was most impressed with was that experimentation was embedded into the design culture at GE and the designers were using these activities to ask, "What if?" After all, this is what we're taught to do in design school—to play with "stuff" to discover potential without immediate application. But what function does experimentation like this serve in professional practice today?
Experimentation can lead to discoveries, new conclusions, and serendipitous innovation. Historically, experimentation has been a hallmark for designers, demonstrating creativity, astute inquiry, and a synthesis of ideas and methods. Today, much of the design process is streamlined into linear practice moving from research to criteria to concept generation to specification. And while we may argue that designers try new approaches and consider alternative ideas, the bold idea of purposeful play through experimentation has diminished greatly overall.
As a case in point, students entering college today prefer taking the safe road during their design process and have little or no experience working beyond a prescriptive approach. This is a quality of the "millennial" generation—today's students who will become tomorrow's designers. I teach at a technical university founded upon the spirit of experimentation, and the trend toward prescriptive design processes that excludes discovery I've observed over the past eight years is disconcerting. Design is about discovery, not merely executing a set plan.
So I pose three questions to our professional colleagues to reflect upon: Is there a role for experimentation in your design process? What relevance is there for experimentation in UX practice today? And when was the last time you simply made something to see if it could work?
The second question is key, and while I will not answer it in this article, I do want to start a conversation about the chances we take in the design process—the risk vs. reward of experimentation—and what form experimentation takes in your practice as a UX professional.
In this article I will include examples of "experiments to discover", embodied by interactive product concepts from my course Experimental Form (Carnegie Mellon, School of Design). This course is specifically designed to encourage students to work outside of their comfort zones and requires them to experiment with materials, electronics, and computation to develop new concepts for interactive products. This is our sandbox.
I will use a few key themes to introduce the conceptual drivers for experimentation in interactive product concept exploration. While these examples and themes are situated in tangible products, the approaches and "spirit" of experimentation may be applicable to those who are concerned with digital, computational, and purely screen-based media.
Enlightened Trial and Error
The role of experimentation in design can be viewed two ways:
- As a necessary but (financially) risky activity aimed at making somewhat serendipitous breakthroughs with product concepts (discovery), but that may end up not leading anywhere.
- To demonstrate validity of a design idea or to test concepts against established metrics (testing).
The trial-and-error process of finding new ways of doing things is a necessary part of a generative design process and a vital activity in the development of engaging products. Designers concerned with interactive and experience-driven products and systems need to continually push the boundaries of conventions and establish new methods, practices, and forms. The following five themes represent some approaches for experimentation in designing interactive products.
1. Using Our Hands Before Our Eyes and Minds
Objects (products) carry meaning, elicit emotional responses, and serve utility in our daily lives. We tend to develop rich and meaningful connections with products that resonate deeply with our sense of identity and enhance our quality of life. To develop these connections and create lasting relationships with objects, we engage with products on many levels: the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual.
From an industrial design perspective, the richest interaction with a product is through the physical form. Industrial designers practice a methodology of form-giving that emphasizes the physical (ergonomics). Beyond ergonomics is semantics (the meaning interpreted from visual/physical forms), a structured approach to form-giving that uses visual and physical cues to suggest interaction, functionality, etc. Squishy buttons, contour grips, and easy-to-open door handles all result from good ergonomic studies; products with these features truly fit the human body—think OXO GoodGrips.
However, developing good tactile interactive forms designed to be interacted with primarily using the hands (what industrial designers today might call "high touch") often results from experimentation in shaping wood, plastics, and clay. Differing from form studies aimed a resolving product concepts, experimentation in this space deals with responding to the material as it is shaped rather than just exerting your will upon it. Industrial designers play with materials to make shapes, learn about material properties, and to build sensitivity to formal qualities.
Working with our hands to shape objects for our hands engrains information deep within our bones. The sensitivity gained from sanding amorphous surfaces into wood to see how light impacts the perception of form builds real understanding of physical form through the subtractive sanding process. Shaping clay into empowering grips to move beyond shapeless, squishy handles to pull edges and surfaces into tension to fit intuitively into the hand enables the designer to build a rich understanding of form using their hands as the primary receptors. This understanding cannot be replicated through photographs, videos, illustrations or words. In other words, you have to do it to know it.
A colleague of mine recounted a story about how he asked a well-known carver of decoy ducks how he knew exactly where to make all of his fine chisel cuts into the blank wood block. The man responded, "Well, I just carve away everything that isn't a duck."
Experiments in making interaction tangible. These studies use subtractive methods to remove material and shape found objects into delightfully interactive forms for the hand. The goal is to craft forms that invite someone to pick them up and keep them in constant motion. Shown here are a carved tagua nut (Jason Yore), a shaped wooden form (Jason May), and a shaped stone (Lauren VonDehsen). This basic experimentation leads to a richer and more intuitive understanding of working with materials and enables designers to use intimately employ visual and physical senses while shaping the form.
2. Pushing the Boundaries of Materiality
There are traditional uses for materials and nontraditional uses of materials. Sometimes working with a material outside of its expected application and context can open pathways to finding new opportunities. Working with traditional materials like wood, stone, and clay helps to build understanding of hard and soft materials; for designers, these materials are very familiar. However, when combining the traditional, basic model-making materials with more nontraditional materials such as latex, silicone, and resin, new and exciting discoveries can be made.
Working to push materials to do things that you didn't think were possible requires some experimentation. We have to continually ask, "what can I do with this material?" and "can I make the material do what I want it to?" If Charles and Ray Eames didn't experiment with bent plywood, the world would be a very different place.
Many times, experimentation leads to failure or a discovery of limitations and impossibilities—this is still valuable. As I tell my students, utter failure arises from half-hearted, undisciplined attempts that lead nowhere. Beautiful failure, on the other hand, is a disciplined, committed attempt that may fail in delivering the intended results, but leads to discovery, knowledge, and encourages reflection.
This simple coat rack by Michael Levy required custom apparatus to steam bend strips of cherry into this form. The concept for the coat rack was an outgrowth (and application) from steaming strips of cherry and attempting to (de)form them into radically unnatural forms.
3. Embracing the Unknown
During the design process, there are always unknowns. Information, external forces, events, and situations regarding product concepts, client needs, market trends, etc. can fluctuate significantly and somewhat randomly. We try in vain to predict these fluctuations to stay ahead of radical shifts so we can keep our design process on track and profitable.
What if we look at an unknown as an opportunity? Let's set aside for a moment the notions of budgets, timelines, deliverables, and contracts, and consider unknowns to be catalysts for discovering new opportunities—a typical R&D approach. When I was a kid, I used to read "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, in which the reader is confronted with choices at key moments in the story that shape the story and outcome, and require jumping forward or backwards in the book. Sometimes you made a choice and the story would end right there; other times, the story continued in an unexpected fashion and truly became an adventure. I tend to view experimentation as an adventure story and don't mind jumping in to a problem and sorting out the details along the way.
Again, suspend the pressures of professional design and consider the rich dialog that can develop between you and the subject. If you embrace the idea of unknown forces (issues) arising, you learn to be resourceful and adaptive. It is during these challenges that we sometimes are most inventive. Apparent failures in a design process, along with the uncertainty and the "throw-away" material, are fodder for innovation beyond the narrow constraints of what was thought to be the project scope.
One assignment I've given students in the past pushed them into the deep end and forced them to manage a variety of technical, logistical, and interaction issues. This project, called the kinetic visualizer, dealt with both embedded electronics and mechanics. Students had to create a simple machine that makes art—in other words, something that a person can set into motion that will move/behave and record its movement onto a substrate (usually paper). Although the project was challenging, it creates a playful engagement with technology and materials to make a form that can behave in ways to have repeatable results. Students learn that designing with technology can lead to more expressive forms, ones that suggest what they do and visually engage the audience. No more boxes. We need to move beyond the screen and beyond the clamshell enclosure.
Lucas Martin used speaker vibration to propel ink and to move the contraption across a page to leave a Jackson Pollack-like trail that visually depicts the music it plays; Christian Park integrated vibro-motors and magnets to move and repel objects as they trail paint.
Jason May embedded gearing and a motor into this wooden form to drag a pencil lead. View on Vimeo.
Josh Finkle used halogen bulbs to "draw" lines and effects on thermal paper – unrolled, these look like silhouetted landscapes. View on Vimeo.
4. Purposeful Play
Rapid prototyping and CAD modeling are great tools to specify and detail a design concept. Powder-based printers, fused deposition modeling technology, and stereolithography machines can build up forms quickly for verification. These advanced design tools be used to experiment with form. Designers can use computer-controlled machining processes to build forms that push these tools to deliver forms that may seem to be beyond their limitations. This practice of experimentation enables designers to move beyond traditional "woodshop" modeling into a realm where computation becomes the medium to work with.
Rapid prototyping enables freedom to fail with low investment of time and money. By pushing the limits of each machine, these tools become no longer just a means to an end, but rather tools that will inform and shape the experimental design process.
Michael Levy pushed Solidworks/CAD modeling and a Z-Corp printer to their limits when designing this plaster lamp. The complex curvature was achieved by lofting and off setting curves. Michael printed this form multiple times with subtle variation in efforts to achieve a solid print that would not collapse under its own weight, would be robust enough to endure hand finishing, and be able to mount with electrical components. Lee Byron used Processing, an open source programming language and environment, (processing.org) to plot various arrays of scattered and scaled circles from which he drilled this hole pattern for this fruit platter.
5. Challenging Conventions to Develop New Paradigms
When it comes to designing interactive products with embedded electronics, it is sometimes difficult to wrestle technology with form generation. We constantly try to achieve objects that are useful, usable, and desirable (from Liz Sanders' Converging Perspectives: Product Development Research for the 1990s). But it is most exciting when we develop something novel like a feature or a behavior that we can integrate into the form. Sometimes this feature can become the driving concept behind product interaction.
Can we continually challenge conventions and develop new paradigms of interaction without experimenting?
I believe that we must take the "mundane" out of everyday products, raise expectations, and push boundaries with form to test learning curves and challenge ourselves to design products that resonate with people in deep, meaningful ways. But we can't achieve this if we're completely conscious and prescriptive with our designing. We must sometimes give ourselves over to the process and see where it leads.
Another assignments I gave my students was the "Re-Reouted Radio" project, which involved students in designing new paradigms for interactive objects. Each student played with radio components, rewired existing radios, and some integrated computation to develop new sequences, movements and behaviors. Rather than starting with firm concepts, students explored materials and electronics to develop ideas and to resolve their forms. Collectively, their processes were not linear; rather, they were encouraged to meander to arrive at solutions informed by discoveries along the way.
Radio prototypes: Cheng Xu's thought bubble that you can use to mark your favorite stations and select station by moving the angle wedge; and Jeremy Wolf's radio hidden within a stack of books, requiring alignment of the books to change the radio station and opening the top book to adjust volume.
Kuan-Ju Wu's plant silhouette form that uses sensors and gravity switches for discrete controls. View on Vimeo.
Jason Yore's conical form that integrates functionality into a dynamic form. View on Vimeo.
Summary: The Spirit of Experimentation
With an open mind and a willingness to explore pathways that may lead to dead ends, experimentation can be exciting and rewarding. Cooperative experimentation for design teams enables designers to exercise their minds and hands in ways beyond their daily routines and, most importantly, it sparks conversation. Individual experiments enable designers to play, ask questions, and arrive at solutions at their own pace.
If our minds aren't challenged in new ways, we lose the ability to think creatively. This is the greatest fear of designers—that designing becomes a job in which we just show up, execute the expected, and collect a paycheck. That's not what motivates designers today. We don't become designers to have safe, predictable, stable careers and engage in safe, predictable design processes. We thrive on challenges and have to feel that we were challenged to explore various dimensions of a design problem.
This behavior is good for the health of the team, and great for the longevity of the designer—this is good for the soul. Every professional office needs a sandbox.
The more experimentation we can do to complement our established skills and methods, the healthier the profession will be and the more rewarding the act of designing may be. So, how do you currently integrate experimentation and purposeful play into your professional design practice? What shape does experimentation take for UX?


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Dia de los Muertos
Design by Rebus Irene
Wrap yourself up in the softest blanket you'll ever own. Both our fleece blankets and thicker sherpa blankets are made with 100% polyester fleece that is the ultimate in cozy comfort. Features an all-over design on one side that keeps you cozy in style.
Multicolor size info
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subset: commoncrawl


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|OpenBSD Security Functionally paranoid!
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pf interfering with local lan peer communication
After a couple weeks of installing/configuring OpenBSD 4.9, learning about PF, testing pf.conf rules on a closed test network, last night the boss and I stayed late to put it into place as our firewall when we could do it without disrupting normal operations. It took about four hours to root out our gremlins and get all the critical stuff working. It was good, I left last night feeling like the past couple weeks had been worth the furrowed brow.
We are a mail order outfit. My boss and I are the IT department. We run an application supplied by UPS called Worldship. We use a multi-node version of it that has an MS SQL Server DB at its core. The nodes talk to that central machine more or less as peers, and all of them talk to the mothership through the 'net.
We are in a busy season, and today after I'd been here a couple hours I got word from the warehouse that the main Worldship box was working but that non of the peer nodes were, they threw an error about not being able to connect to the MS SQL Express DB. Now, this multi-node version of Worldship is pretty brittle. We used to use a single node version and it was much less complicated, but we needed more nodes to scale our operation.
As it was failing I watched tcpdump and saw some blocked communications coming in from outside on various obscure ports, and I wrote rules to pass them as I saw them. (UPS says that you only need 1433/1434 and 443 open). I was able to write pass rules to get all of those log entries to go away, and still the trouble persisted. I tried writing a quick rule or two to be sure that nothing was jacking around with internal LAN communications. No dice. Finally I actually commented out the "block log all" statement that is my first rule. When I ran pfctl verbose, none of the output said "block". No. Dice.
We had no choice but to take the OpenBSD box out of the way and put things back as they were before 6 PM yesterday. Worldship worked on all nodes immediately.
Very disappointing.
While I was at lunch, muttering and grinding my teeth, it occurred to me that the NAT rule could be dicking around with my internal communications.
match out on $ext_if from $localnet nat-to ($ext_if)
It occurred to me that perhaps before the nat-to rule I should have a quick rule that says something like:
do not dick around quick on { $int_if, $localnet } rdr-to $go_foff_yourself
(or more seriously)
pass inet quick on $int_if from $localnet
Something like that anyway.
I'm grumpy. I'm sure it shows in this post. If you are inclined to ignore the grumpy, I understand. But I'm hoping to have a pretty strong guess or two up my sleeve next time we break the whole network to get this %&#$&ing thing back in production. If you can add any ideas or throw me a clue, I'd appreciate it. Very much.
Last edited by tomp; 26th August 2011 at 07:55 PM.
I am as surprised as you that the OBSD router/firewall somehow prevents access to the peer nodes.
If you have a block log all statement, all blocked connection attempts will show up on the pflog0 device. You can run tcpdump on pflog0 to watch these blocked packets. See plfog(4)
You could configure a spare box as a bridge as per http://www.openbsd.dk/faq/faq6.html#Bridge. This allows you to watch the traffic with tcpdump without disturbing anything.
Place this box between a peer node and the switch and you can watch/dump the traffic transparently, in other words without affecting the traffic in any way.
You don't need to be a genius to debug a pf.conf firewall ruleset, you just need the guts to run tcpdump
you can use pftop and apply filters to inspect any connection.
Wouldn't it make sense to setup permanent VNP tunnels (with an OpenBSD box at each end) between your sites? It would save you a lot of trouble and would also encrypt your network data...
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Combining a prestigious and internationally recognized real estate brand with local market knowledge and specialized marketing expertise, Sotheby's International Realty Canada is the leading real estate sales and marketing company for the country's most exceptional properties.
With offices in over 30 residential and resort markets nationwide, our professional associates provide the highest calibre of real estate service, unrivalled local and international marketing solutions, and a global affiliate sales network of close to over 845 offices in 63 countries to manage the real estate portfolios of discerning clients from around the world.
At Sotheby's International Realty Canada, we welcome clients locally and from around the world. We have agents specialized in assisting international real estate clients, whether they are moving to Canada or investing from abroad, and can offer their services in dozens of languages.
At Sotheby's International Realty Canada, we are committed to marketing your home locally, nationally and internationally.
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Posted in General
Posted in Listings
Year after year Shaun is recognized as one of Vancouver's leading Realtors, specializing in luxury waterfront condos in Coal Harbour.
Shaun's previous career as a military, airline and corporate pilot, followed by founding a small business provided him with a strong foundation in analytical, technical and business thinking. These skills facilitate a keen understanding of the complexities of the market and the skills to negotiate the best possible outcome for all his clients. Shaun embodies a philosophy of honesty, integrity and hard work in his real estate business and in life. He thrives on the challenges of our complex market and looks forward to meeting you you when it's time to buy or sell.
"Shaun provides current information about the market and set proper expectations about selling property. Shaun was my agent, and he was professional, knowledgeable, and expedient. Shaun kept in contact with us with phone calls and updates when necessary. He provided positive and constructive feedback. He showcased our property well and it sold quickly and at the right price."
Roslan (Seller)
"Shaun was very knowledgeable in making effective suggestions as I was preparing my suite for sale. He organized it's staging, prepared a highly professional marketing program (which included a professionally shot and edited video), and personally oversaw every step of the sale from its beginning to beyond the end. He offered expert guidance in its presentation, pricing, and marketing."
Elizabeth (Local Seller)
"When we decided to sell our condo in Coal Harbour, we searched for the right realtor for our situation. As non-resident owners living in the US, we knew that we needed a skilled real estate specialist. Shaun demonstrated such a masterful command of the intricacies of Coal Harbour real estate in general and of our building in particular."
Lad & Charlotte (Non-Resident Sellers, USA)


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A collection of scholarly works about individual liberty and free markets. A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Study Guides on Images of Liberty and Power: The People and the Ruling Elite (Wade and Daumier) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2010). https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2356,
|Available in the following formats:
|EBook PDF
|This text-based PDF or EBook was created from the HTML version of this book and is part of the Portable Library of Liberty.
This study guide compares two caricatures from the 1830s which show the ways in which the ruling elites oppress the people through taxation. One appears in a book by the English radical and reformer John Wade; the other is by the French republican caricaturist Honoré Daumier. There is a copy of the image, some discussion of the historical context, a description of what is in the image, an analysis of its content and meaning, and links to further readings on the topic. It is in the form of a PDF of a "slide show" which can be used in the class room for further study and examination.
This image is in the public domain and is put online for educational purposes. The source of the image is provided in the accompanying study guide.
This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.


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Is blood thicker than water?
In 1964 biologist William Hamilton introduced Inclusive Fitness Theory to predict and explain phenomena ranging from animal behavior to patterns of gene expression. With its many successes, the theory became a cornerstone for modern biology. In August, 2010, Harvard researchers challenged the theory in the prestigious journal, Nature. Now Nature has published sharp rebuttals from scores of scientists, including Edward Allen Herre and William Wcislo, staff scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
"Bees are probably the most useful group for studying why eusocial organisms have workers that do not reproduce, but the authors got a lot of their basic facts about bees wrong. For example, the authors argue that having defensible nests is the most important consideration for eusociality, but they ignore the fact that there are thousands of nest making animals that are not eusocial," said Wcislo, a specialist in the biology of bees. "What really caught my attention was that they completely misrepresented results of one of my own studies. This is very poor scholarship that does not support their case at all."
Says co-author, Edward Allen Herre, "Challenging existing paradigms is an essential part of a healthy scientific process. However, the burden is on the challengers to present a better alternative, particularly when a paradigm has been as successful as Inclusive Fitness has been. Both the factual and theoretical basis of the case for their proposed alternatives falls apart with even mild scrutiny. They simply do not make their case. But their challenge is still useful because crucial parts of the theory come out stronger for having been tested, and researchers can better see where more studies are needed."
The Smithsonian has recently established formal collaborations with Arizona State University to study social insects and the phenomenon of eusociality. Researchers expect that this collaboration will produce studies with a direct bearing on the issues raised in this debate.
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Discover for free which first names would suit you or your baby !
Meaning of name Milla
Etymology : Short form of CAMILLA and other names that end in milla.
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Origin : Scandinavian
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Gender : girl
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Who is she?
Emotional and affective, Milla possesses a certain magnetism. Feelings occupy a large space in her life, to the extent where more often than not she makes her decisions with her heart rather than her head. She is only truly happy when she has somebody to love or feels passionately about something - or if she feels that she is useful to others. Shy, tender and reserved, she isn´t really comfortable with blowing her own trumpet. Extremely attentive to others, friendly, sociable and conciliatory, she is all smiles and grace. She makes a remarkable friend who is an expert at making one feel better, since she always manages to find the right words to say. Milla is an intuitive lady who is subtle, tactful and diplomatic; she aspires to peace, and seeks harmony above all. Nevertheless, don´t be fooled by her gentle and submissive appearance, because Milla is capable of transforming into a real tigress if she witnesses baseness, aggression or deceit - character traits that she detests most of all. Her emotional nature undoubtedly causes her amplify situations, which could result in her being rather quick-tempered. Milla is a direct and frank woman who appreciates clarity and sincerity. She is active, courageous and resourceful - and recognizes an opportunity when she sees one. Indeed, she has a firm grasp of material reality and reveals herself to be perfectly apt to assume responsibility, in both a personal and professional context. She is devoted to those she loves and takes great pleasure in helping others, which satisfies both her altruistic nature and her need to take charge. While she is tolerant and accommodating, she is also rather stubborn and tends to think that she is always right, which can often result in her imposing her views upon others. An iron fist in a velvet glove, meet Milla : a woman with a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts... As a child, she is an affectionate and endearing little girl. She loves cuddles and is very demonstrative, just as long as she feels that she is loved. Highly receptive to the family atmosphere, she is eager to please and always happy to help. On the other hand, she loathes iniquity and is likely to react quite violently to flagrant injustice. Sensible and responsible from a very tender age, she would make a terrific big sister, attentive and caring with her younger charges.
What does she like?
She appreciates peace and harmony, and is prepared to make great personal effort to ensure that her environment remains that way and that those around her are as happy as possible. A very emotional and sensitive lady, her own happiness greatly depends on her having a family of her own, or at the very least, having love in her life - in one form or another. She is conscientious and a perfectionist who is quite capable of forgetting about her own needs and desires for those she loves, and makes an exemplary wife and mother. Milla is nevertheless demanding and could naturally feel a certain amount of bitterness when she realizes that she gives much and receives little... But could she be the one who is at fault? Is she actually even open to such an exchange?
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What does she do?
Her affective life and the success of her relationship take precedent over any professional ambitions she may have. Her career choice is likely to be influenced by her family and loved ones; however, she will be particularly attracted to occupations involving the giving of advice or the care of others, particularly in the medico-social domain or in connection with children (midwifery, children´s nursing, teaching, psychology...), one of the artistic occupations, those in connection with esthetics, or possibly money (finance, banking).
Discover others girls first names : Mia Mica Micaela
*To note: :
It sometimes happens that two different first names have the same meaning. This has nothing surprising: both first names have the same figures of numerology. It is as in astrology: two persons belonging to the same sign present the same characteristic...
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Test the compatibility of your names to know if your love relation is lucky to succeed. Friendship, love or passion?
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Your Name Horoscope !
Thanks to the numerology, we propose you daily a horoscope personalized for your first name. Love, money , Shape: discover what waits for you for today. In Bonus every day find your daily lucky figure .. Horoscope of the first names
Love :Couples: The complicity between the two of you will be reinforced. Singles: An admirer will make themselves known.
Money :You are trying to decide whether or not to make a property investment. Take your time.
Health:You won't see any results without some effort Milla .
Your Lucky number : 80


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From Tourism Calgary...
Flood Recovery FAQ Sheet
1. Can I still visit Calgary?
Yes! Most of our destinations and attractions are open for business and conditions are safe across a vast majority of the city. Exercise caution in the affected areas of Calgary near the Bow and Elbow Rivers. Check the location you are planning to visit on the City of Calgary News Blog. For information on getting to and around Calgary visit Alberta Transportation and Calgary Transit.
For up to date information on the city attractions, visit visitcalgary.com
2. Where can I stay?
By Saturday, we expect all Calgary's hotels to be operational. Currently the following hotels are still working to regain power: Delta Bow Valley, Hyatt Regency, International Hotel, Fairmont Palliser, Hotel Arts and the Marriott. All other 70+ hotels are fully operational.
3. Which areas are affected?
The communities that experienced the brunt of the flood damage are those located adjacent to the Bow and Elbow Rivers. Check the location you are planning to visit on the City of Calgary News Blog.
Recovery efforts are well underway in the affected areas of the city.
4. Is the damage significant?
Some areas have been hit harder than others. Those communities located adjacent to the Bow and Elbow Rivers have experienced extensive flooding and recovery is underway. We recommend you stay away from all bodies of water in these communities. Visit Environment Alberta for current flood warnings and water level conditions. Tune in to local media reports and follow @TourismCalgary@calgary and @CityofCalgary on Twitter for any news alerts.
5. Is the Calgary Stampede still going ahead?
Absolutely! Calgary's spirit is alive and well, and teams of staff and volunteers are working around the clock to ensure the Calgary Stampede is ready to host The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. July 5-14, 2013.
6. I have a vacation planned for the Canada Day long weekend... what should I do?
Canada Day festivities will take place on July 1st and have been relocated from Prince's Island Park to Shaw Millenium Park. Please visit the City of Calgary website for more information.
7. I have planned a trip to Calgary in the near future... what should I do?
Stay tuned to the Tourism Calgary webpage and the resources above for further updates. Please follow our social media channels on Twitter and Facebook for the most timely updates from the area and local businesses.
Visit the City of Calgary's website for information on Calgary or Alberta Transportation for road status and closure information.
8. What happened with the Bonnybrook train bridge?
On June 27, there was a structural failure of the Bonnybrook train bridge over the Bow River. Rescue crews are onsite to attend to the situation. For up to date information please visit the City of Calgary News Blog.
9. Are there any road closures?
Everything you need to know about travel restrictions on Calgary roads and public transportation can be found by dialling 311 or visiting the Calgary Transit website. Information is also available in person at Visitor Information Centres.
10. Is the water safe to drink?
Yes. The water quality continues to be good. Please visit the City of Calgary's Service Disruption page for more information.
11. What type of weather can I expect?
The recent severe weather that triggered flooding in parts of southern Alberta has subsided and you can expect typical summer weather for Calgary. Check Environment Alberta forecast for current conditions and the Weather Network for detailed weather information.
12. How do I get around?
The city is working diligently to lift the current road closures and to get the public transportation back to 100% capacity. As things are changing by the minute, we recommend you check the Calgary Transit website.
13. Where can I get the most up-to-date information?
We're here to help. Contact Tourism Calgary by phone 403-735-1234 and follow their social media channels, www.facebook.com/visitcalgary or on Twitter @TourismCalgary and @calgary.
14. Can I travel to Banff/Canmore?
Parks Canada is pleased to announce that the Trans-Canada Highway re-opened at 3 pm on June 26 east of the town of Banff, for both private and commercial vehicles. Due to the repairs still underway, the highway will be reduced to single-lane traffic in each direction for 12 kilometres between the park's East Gate and the turn-off to the town of Banff. The rest of the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff National Park (west of the Town of Banff) remains a divided highway with 4-lane traffic
© Calgary Airport Authority - All rights reserved


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When you join Grundfos, you become part of our brand and shared commitment to make a difference by confronting the water and energy challenges that the world is facing. Your contribution lies in the decisions you make and actions you take – whether it be in production, supply chain, marketing, finance, IT, sales, service or research and development.
You can contribute to helping us stand out as responsible, forward thinking and innovative. Take a closer look at our values and culture below.
How we act
Grundfos is a company with strong values. Our values describe who we are and what makes us special. They unite us across the organisation and guide us in our daily work, decisions and actions. Take a closer look at our values here.
Along with our values, we have defined three key behaviours essential to reaching our goals. Showing accountability, being collaborative and understanding the needs of our customers.
Accountability means taking ownership of the problem and solution, seizing the opportunities you are given and following through.
Collaboration is achieving goals together by connecting with the right people, proactively sharing knowledge and maintaining a curiosity for new and different viewpoints.
Customer centricity means seeing problems through the customers' eyes and challenging yourself to understand and even predict their needs.
Employee programme
Our commitment to making a difference is also reflected in our employee programme Water2Life. Through different activities, our employees collect funds to provide people in the developing world with access to clean water. Grundfos matches employee contributions so that a new water system is funded fifty-fifty by employees and the company. The Water2Life ambassadors work voluntarily for this good cause while collaborating with colleagues across the world.
We believe that sustainability and responsibility are not just a department or a report. It is the very essence in every company, who wants to think ahead and accomplish something greater than just creating short term profit.
Mads Nipper, CEO
Grundfos Olympics
Every fourth year, employees from all over the world gather in Denmark for the Grundfos Olympics. The games are deeply rooted in our fundamental values. We build new friendships and experience that we are all part of the same team – irrespective of nationality, religion, professional position or educational background. This is what the Grundfos Olympics is all about.
The Grundfos Olympics invites the employees to be open, tolerant and generous to one another whether it be on the sports fields or in the private homes of Danish colleagues hosting participants from abroad.
The Grundfos Olympics are more than a global get-together. The event gives all companies in the Grundfos Group a great opportunity for team building across borders.
Do you want to experience the games yourself? Join Grundfos now


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Spin Cycle
This story appears in the April 1998 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
What goes around comes around. Ed and Linda Moran found a way to use that old adage to make money and build their reputation in the Cleveland suburb where they run their DiscGoRound new- and used-CD franchise.
High school students from Brooklyn, Ohio, and other area schools raise money collecting people's used CDs by going door-to-door and setting up drop boxes. The kids take the tunes into DiscGoRound, where they're paid around $2 per CD. DiscGoRound then sells the used CDs to its many local customers.
"It creates good will with the people in the neighborhood," says Ed. The only downside for the store is the possibility it will end up with "junk." But Moran says talking to fund-raisers beforehand about what can and can't be used solves the problem and creates enough good karma to "go round."
Training Wheels
Making owners out of managers.
By Elaine W. Teague
For Newport Beach, California-based Econo Lube 'N Tune, rewarding longtime managers of company-owned stores with franchise ownership is the name of the game. Econo Lube's Dealer Development Program is based on the company's belief that successful business managers will make successful business owners.
This gutsy move is making a difference in the lives of some key former employees. Case in point: Independence, Missouri, franchisees Calvin and Patricia McMechan. For five years before becoming owners of two Econo Lube franchises, the McMechans put in more than 60 hours a week as Econo Lube store managers.
The couple's dedication and hard work paid off. The Dealer Development Program enabled them to become franchise owners with no investment. No capital investment, that is. Calvin is modest about the investment of time and talent that caught the eye of his franchisor. "I try to give it all I can," he says.
Qualifying for the program isn't easy. Selection is based on proven track records in customer service and sales. Six months of intensive training help smooth the transition to ownership.
Not surprisingly, the McMechans, 18-year veterans of the automotive repair industry, have a philosophy similar to Econo Lube's. "[Econo Lube] financed everything up front. It didn't cost us a cent," says Calvin. "[Now,] we try to take care of our employees."
One Small Step
Franchising targets Small Town USA.
By Elaine W. Teague
Less is definitely more--at least for the new Small Town Development Program at Taco John's International Inc. Franchising mainly in big cities since 1969, Taco John's is now capitalizing on a niche often ignored by well-established quick-serve chains: Small Town USA.
Targeting towns with populations of 5,000 to 10,000, the Cheyenne, Wyoming-based franchisor is offering new franchisees a small-sized store with a full-sized menu--and a significant draw: startup costs roughly 40 percent lower than a traditional site.
The first franchisee in the program is Paul Sullivan of St. Joseph, Minnesota, who opened his doors last summer. He was given latitude by Taco John's to operate dual businesses side by side. "There's a single door," explains Sullivan, "with a video store on the left and Taco John's on the right."
Serving townsfolk numbering 4,000 and a college population of roughly the same size, Sullivan's dual-concept store also draws commuters from nearby Highway 75. It's an ideal location, one Sullivan had his eye on for four years before it became available.
"[The area has] been served by a plethora of pizza places, but nothing else really," says Sullivan. "I'm only the second fast-food business to move into the area."
Taco John's hopes to see 10 to 15 small-town openings this year.
Pizza The Pie
Hungry? Don't go near this Web site.
By Jesse Hertstein
Order pizza online? Request franchise information via e-mail? Do both at the same site? Any company that plans to compete on a large scale is now expected to have its own Web site--and franchisors are no exception. Following these new rules of competition is Louisville, Kentucky-based Papa John's International Inc. We decided to take a look at the company's Web site. Here's what we uncovered:
At http://www.papajohns.com, you can find out just about anything you'd want to know about the pizza franchise. There's a menu that lists ingredients; an order form where participating restaurants allow you to order online; background information on the company; franchise information, including a Potential Franchisee Questionnaire; an employment listing; a store locator and even a financial report of Papa John's 1997 performance.
The links are well-organized and cross-referenced in a way that makes it easy to find what you're looking for. The graphics make for a colorful, eye-pleasing site that shouldn't be viewed on an empty stomach.
Chuck Wagon
Customers give this service two thumbs up.
By Natasha Emmons
When The Pet Pantry delivery van rumbles down the street, it draws neighborhood dogs who recognize the little white van that brings food and treats. Pet owners looking for convenience are creating a demand for the service--and those who can handle the adoration and like working from home are answering the call in droves.
Pet Pantry franchisees deliver fresh bins of vitamin-fortified pet food to their customers' doors, then retrieve the bin when they make their next delivery. "It's kind of like the old milkman," says Kenneth Wright, The Pet Pantry International Inc.'s chairman and CEO.
This Minden, Nevada-based company has expanded rapidly since it formed in 1995. There are about 50 U.S. franchises, and Wright hopes to have 110 U.S. franchises and two outside the United States--in Canada and South Africa--up and running by the end of the year.
Protected territories are offered by ZIP code, and initial start-up costs run about $40,000 (not including the cost of a delivery van). Franchisees handle administration at home, but warehouse space of about 700 square feet is needed for food storage.
If you're an old dog and think you can't learn new tricks, The Pet Pantry gives new franchisees six weeks of advice over the phone; a five-day training program at its Nevada headquarters; and ongoing support, including a minimum of two visits per year from a management consultant.
Peak Performers
Franchisors pull ahead in the race for wealth creation.
By Keasha Dumas
Think the most profitable businesses are listed in the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index? Not necessarily, according to Stephen Spinelli Jr., a professor at the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and director of the college's Franchise Institute. Spinelli studied the quarterly performance of 83 public franchises over a 10-year period and found they returned an average of 12.8 percent more to investors than companies in the S&P 500.
In addition to financial return, the study measured risk and found the level of risk in franchise and S&P 500 stocks was similar. "With the same risk profile, [franchises got] a better return. That's exciting investment news," says Spinelli.
The study's implications may be of particular interest to entrepreneurs considering franchising. "It gives us some indication of what kind of company they ought to go with," says Spinelli, who is also a co-founder of Houston-based Jiffy Lube International Inc.
According to Spinelli, successful franchisors in the study shared the following characteristics:
- They had a base of company-owned stores in addition to franchise stores.
- They charged lower up-front fees but higher royalties.
- They spent more money on advertising.
Contact Sources
Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, fax: (781) 239-4798, firstname.lastname@example.com
DiscGoRound, 4746 Ridge Rd., Brooklyn, OH 44144, fax: (216) 398-0621
Econo Lube 'N Tune, (816) 966-0997
Pet Pantry International Inc., (800) 381-7387; fax: (702) 783-9513


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Three simple questions are all it takes when evaluating money managers, yet Rupal Bhansali says they're three questions too often overlooked by advisors and clients alike. In the (refreshingly) candid and direct style for which she is known, Bhansali, senior vice president and chief investment officer of international equities for Ariel Investments, wants to clue us in, and we're more than happy to listen.
For those who might be tempted to dismiss Bhansali as just another vendor with a "system," consider that in 2006, she noticed the financial sector was taking on risk that she didn't feel was congruent with potential return, so she started to sell.
"As a consequence, we actually underperformed in 2007 because we started selling out of our cyclical exposure as well," she says. But the textbook response, which many managers would now like to claim, has led to significant outperformance since. No one-trick pony is this; outperformance during times of stress (and calm) is a theme throughout Bhansali's career.
Born and raised in Bombay, India—her name for the city, not ours; we won't quibble—she speaks several languages, including Hindi. Bhansali earned a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting and finance and a Master of Commerce in international finance and banking from that city's university, as well as an MBA in finance from the University of Rochester.
She knows a little bit about risk versus return, too, having worked for Soros Fund Management (yes, that Soros).
"What's interesting is that my very first job actually ended up being on the sell side," she recounts. "In hindsight it was the best thing that happened to me because I was able to observe the investment disciplines and philosophies of many of my clients."
The time was 1993, when another recession was just underway. Her trial by fire was undoubtedly a plus in dealing with subsequent downturns.
"Also there's the fact that I covered both emerging and domestic markets; not many people have covered both. More people go from covering developing markets to emerging markets, but having worked for George Soros, I have the opposite. I think it is very useful because we are truly in a globalized world and much more interconnected marketplace than ever before."
An example of the type of situation of which you might not have heard, but of which Bhansali routinely encounters, is the recent financial crisis that occurred in Kuwait.
"It's one that took a lot of people in developed markets by surprise, but we had a good position for that because of our unusual experience."
She joined Ariel after spending 10 years with MacKay Shields, where she was senior managing director, portfolio manager and head of international equities. Her performance and asset flows in turning around an underperforming fund (which eventually received five stars from Morningstar) is what got Chicago-based Ariel's attention.
"Ariel Investments has a philosophy similar to mine," she says. "We are both independent thinkers. The difference is that I fish for opportunities in the international and global markets in an all-cap strategy. Ariel has historically been focused on domestic strategies, with particular expertise in small caps. This complements the entire lineup; as people are looking for more choice, we wanted to give them that choice."
"Fish for opportunity" is, of course, another name for finding alpha, and in this regard her worldly, and contrarian, view is an asset.
"We recognized almost a decade ago that oil prices were going to be higher for longer. Now, many people would jump at the notion and say 'Gee, let's go and buy some oil stocks.' What makes our research and investment philosophy different is that we believe not just in maximizing return but in making sure that we don't take too much risk in doing so. If you're going to directly buy oil companies, you expose yourself to a lot of risk from the volatile business models and business cycles."
Knowing that oil prices would be higher for longer, she decided the best risk-adjusted way to participate was to own utility companies that were not driven by oil but by something like nuclear or hydro. If oil prices go up because of higher fuel costs, their costs will not go up, but they could take advantage of the higher prices and profits. In fact, she notes, utilities in Europe over the last decade have been one of the best performing sectors.
So she has the world view, experience, track record and philosophy; now what about those three questions?
"First and foremost, investors and advisors need to think more about the destination than the journey, which is to say, 'What is the end game?' There are too many people focused on what happens to the day-to-day gyration of the market or the daily performance of certain portfolios or managers that they own. That is too much of a focus on the journey. What really matters is the destination: where you want to end up."
Investing is about patience, she adds. Watching something day-to-day is "the most impatient thing you could be doing."
All well and good, but people who weren't watching day-to-day activity in 2008 were badly burned. How would they accept such a message? The answer leads to the second question: What about valuations?
"Part of the issue is that people did not pay attention to valuations in the run-up to the crisis," Bhansali responds. "This is the mistake made in terms of, say, owning real estate at inflated prices, correct? It's not that real estate, in and of itself, is a bad asset class. It's that if you overpay for something, even if it's supposedly 'safe' as houses, you'll end up losing on that investment. It's critical in any investment decision; valuation is what really determines both the return, as well as the risk of the investment."
Given her explanation, we can't help but wonder about Apple.
"Valuations are a function of what you think of the normalized earnings power of a company," she says. "While Apple may look particularly cheap on whatever the multiple is, we think that the normalized earnings power going forward is going to be lower than what the market is expecting. Therefore we actually do not feel that the risk of owning is attractive at these levels. We don't think that success can be [repeated] on that same scale in the future, which differentially means we think they are over-earning.
The final question, she says, is how are investments being made within the risk/return framework?
"The question is not 'How much money can I make?' It's more about 'How much money can I afford to lose?'" she says. "One thing people need to always consider is buying insurance in their portfolios. Now it should not be dumb insurance; it should be smart insurance."
So what does she mean by that? Non-correlated asset classes for when the markets fall.
"You've got managers who will do much better than the average because that's when that alpha generation kicks in. Being contrarian in your asset allocation will help in terms of point No. 2 (valuation) because being contrarian is the best way to take advantage of undervalued securities. But it should be contrarian with a quality criteria because you don't want to buy things that are distressed. That's a very different sort of investing."
If you think that's an argument in favor of alternative managers (as they might be defined today), you're wrong.
"I think [alternative investment managers] charge too much for what they bring to the table. Many of my friends and clients have told me 'Rupal, you delivered hedge-fund-like returns without hedge-fund-like fees.' That's where you can add value."
The challenge with alternatives, she says, is "not that all alternative managers are bad, but on average many of them tend to be, so it's very hard for the individual to know which ones to pick."
"The issue, as I said, is to focus on the destination and not the journey. Don't think about the performance numbers as being the driver of your decision, but rather 'What are the investment processes that the money manager applies to get to the destination?' The recipe matters more in this context."


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Each week, Vanity Fair's fashion editors pick the best from what's in stores, from high to low. Today, Fashion Market Director Michael Carl shares his picks. Follow Michael on Twitter at @carlscrush.
With airlines charging more and more for checking in bags, carry-ons are now more important than ever. But finding a chic yet masculine one seems to be impossible—I only know this because I happen to travel quite a bit and am often in complete awe of the sacks that guys try to pass off as carry-on bags. It's bad enough that an embarrassingly large portion of the population thinks basketball bags and flip-flops are appropriate plane attire (I don't care if you're traveling to D.C. for work or Jamaica for vacation, you are presumably not traveling to a clown convention—real clowns, you get a pass.) So please do us all a favor and at least get the bag part right and pretend that you're a grown-up for the duration of the trip.


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General News of Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Source: Kelvin Dartey
Independent Presidential candidate in the 2008 elections, Kwesi Amoafo Yeboah said the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) free SHS policy will damage the country.
According to him, the policy will kill the "Ghanaian sense of pride" and could worsen living conditions as the country struggles to come to terms with the numerous freebies it is currently given out.
"Ghanaians are not beggars. We are where we are because of the way we think and when you tell somebody that government will take care of you, go and have 20 kids if you want.….and government will take care of your 20 kids, then where is that person's pride as a parent?"
He said if government begins to take away the sense of pride and duty parents feel towards their children, the "can-do spirit" of the Ghanaian could be lost.
Citing the National Health Insurance Scheme as an example, the one-time Presidential hopeful said: "The NHIS itself has been in trouble since 2005 and we constantly have to find ways to continue to fund it. The National Youth Employment Programme [has faced] challenges since it was set up... Now we are going to add free education?"
"What happened to the basic schools that are free already and the condition that they are in; they don't even have toilets. When you do that we are going to end up with the same system that we have in the lower level schools," he cautioned.
The former candidate who won 0.23 percent of vote cast in the 2008 elections added, "we are not going to get anywhere. We are going to continue this football match mentality where we have two major teams just crashing everybody. It's not good for our politics."
Send your news stories to and features to . Chat with us via WhatsApp on +233 55 2699 625.


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With Question 3 on the statewide ballot expected to pass Nov. 6, landlord groups say they want the right to turn away renters who are medical marijuana patients and those who may be authorized to cultivate marijuana. They don't want their apartments to become grow operations.
Federal law still forbids the use, sale or making of marijuana and may trump state law.
The ballot question asks to eliminate state penalties for marijuana use by qualifying patients, starting Jan. 1.
At present, 17 states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana.
Under the proposal, the state Department of Public Health would allow nonprofit medical marijuana treatment centers to grow, process and provide marijuana to patients or their caregivers. In 2013, there could be no more than 35 treatment centers, with at least one but not more than five in each county.
The landlords fear the "treatment center" could be in one of their units if the tenant attained the requisite state license to grow marijuana.
The grow operations, according to the proposal, would be in a "closed, locked facility" and provide a 60-day supply of marijuana for the patient's use.
In a worst-case scenario, the feds could step in and seize their properties for drug activity, the landlord advocates say.
Medical marijuana exposes the landlord to civil asset forfeiture under a federal law that allows police departments or the Department of Justice to take a private property that has been used in any way for drug activity, said Skip Schloming, executive director of the Small Property Owners Association in Cambridge.
"This puts the landlord in the vise of the conflicting legislation," said Ron Bernard, editor of the Southern Worcester County Landlord Association's newsletter and chairman of its membership committee.
Mr. Bernard, who owns rental units in Southbridge and Warren, points out that a landlord can't discriminate against an existing or potential tenant because of a handicap or medical issue.
Mr. Bernard said his association, which has about 90 paid-up members, has concerns about the ballot question and hopes it will be defeated.
In case it passes, Mr. Schloming said, his organization is petitioning legislators to amend the proposal to remedy the landlords' concerns.
The landlords, Mr. Schloming said, want the cultivation of marijuana to be forbidden in homes and apartments and only be allowed in business settings.
Mr. Schloming said that because the ballot question allows growing to be done under lock and key, his organization anticipates landlords will have problems gaining access to their apartments in which a state-sanctioned grower is doing business.
He also noted that growing marijuana requires a lot of water, lighting and ventilation, and is widely known to put additional wear and tear on an apartment.
Mr. Schloming said the organization wants landlords to have the ability to turn down medical marijuana tenants or evict them, because such tenants are not likely to disclose this information to landlords.
Michael G. Gatlin, vice chairman of the Property Law Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association, said these are all legitimate concerns.
"At least at this point in time, it's hard to say what a landlord should do," the Framingham lawyer said.
Mr. Gatlin said then Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden sent a letter to U.S. attorneys in October 2009 saying that given the burgeoning nature of medical marijuana use, the agency would not prosecute people who are using marijuana in states where it's been made legal, nor were they going to prosecute caregivers.
But naturally, the government intends to prosecute trafficking, which in theory could be done by a caregiver, the lawyer said.
"It's an inconsistent kind of position," said Mr. Gatlin, adding it would clearly be illegal for a federally financed or federally maintained housing project to allow people to grow marijuana on site.
"Beyond that, you're kind of hoping that the feds are going to look the other way, but there's no guarantee that they are," he said.
Another concern, he said, is that medical marijuana would violate any type of mortgage a landlord would hold on the property. Every mortgage has language that says the property can't be used for illegal purposes.
"I think what's going to happen is, some unfortunate person is going to lose their property by way of a default under the mortgage for that reason, or the feds are going to seize it and test it in court," Mr. Gatlin said.
"The bad news is you're going to have to litigate the issue, or there has to be some clarification to the statute that will result from this referendum that makes clear what the parties' rights are, at least under state law. The Legislature has to clean this thing."
Morgan Fox, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Medical Marijuana Project, said government interference with medical marijuana is "happening all over the country."
The government, he said, leans on landlords to evict these tenants. It is to the chagrin of both providers and patients that some patients are no longer able to get safe, reliable access to their medicine.
"The only thing the federal government is doing when it tries to use this 'asset forfeiture' is it's just pushing the marijuana market underground where it can't really be licensed or controlled," he said.
Landlords usually get a written warning and a certain amount of time to either challenge the proceedings or evict their tenants, he said.
The government claims "they aren't interfering with state medical marijuana laws, when in fact they are," Mr. Fox said. They do it under a variety of guises, such as saying they're too close to schools, even though medical marijuana providers have shown no danger to children or to their communities in terms of increased violence or availability, Mr. Fox said.
Christina Sterling, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Boston, said her agency wouldn't comment on hypothetical scenarios.
But federal law, she said, unambiguously makes it unlawful to grow, distribute or possess marijuana, other than as part of a federally authorized research program.
Marijuana is a controlled substance and has been placed in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has no currently accepted medical use in the country and has not been determined to be safe and effective by federal health authorities, she said.
"While this office does not intend to focus its limited resources on seriously ill individuals who use marijuana as part of a medically recommended treatment program in compliance with state law," she said, "individuals and organizations who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana and those who knowingly facilitate such activities will be in violation of federal law and subject to federal enforcement."
If the Massachusetts ballot question passes, she added, her office will wait and see how the state will regulate marijuana.


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We woke up at 8am, had breakfast and finally left the Green Rich Hotel at 10am.
Today we did sightseeing around Hiroshima.
First stop was the Shukkeien. It's quite beautiful, but I'm really starting to get tired of Japanese gardens. Once you see one, you pretty much have seen them all.
To top it off, I was stung quite badly on my neck/shoulder area by some kind of caterpillar that fell from a tree.
It stung badly like a bee or spider bite. I tried to flick it off but it also managed to sting my finger.
From what I have read, it is the hairs that cause the sting. The gf kept pushing it and saying "Does it hurt? ". Yes, especially when you touch it. Hmm..
SO, no more gardens for me.
We moved on to the Hiroshima (or "Carp") Castle. Up close the castle looked unremarkable. It really could have done with a nice coat of paint.
We couldn't be bothered to go inside, so we made our way to the hypocenter, where the first nuclear bomb was dropped in a civilised area.
The A-Bomb (or Genbaku) Dome was a sobering reminder of the tragedy of what happened. What is a greater tragedy, is that apart from that unfortunate event, Hiroshima isn't all that exciting. Miyajima is a much more interesting place.
On the top of the dome it looks like there was a fake crane on it. Huh?
We walked through the Peace Park, passing the Children's Peace memorial (Sadako and the thousand paper cranes), and the flame that will never be extinguished considering that won't happen until nuclear weapons are banned.
There is a poignant inscription in Japanese, "Please rest peacefully, for we will not repeat the evil".
We went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. For 50 yen, this is a definite must see. Skip the 300 yen audio guide.
Unless you can't read, the audio is almost word for word what is written in english on the walls.
The information and the stories were saddening. At some points I was getting a little misty-eyed. Rest In Peace.
For a day that was said to have 10% chance of rain, the forecasters lied. We were waiting at the museum longer than we wanted to. Actually we were so hungry.
Not waiting any longer, we hobbled through the light rain to Hondori, a cool shopping arcade, for some real tasty Okonomiyaki, a japanese pancake with noodles, pork, egg, cabbage, sweet sauce and mayonaise.
I picked up a can of Shochu and lemon at a combini. I also bought a Icoca (like Suica) Blue Duck phone charm for 200 yen.
Back at the hotel we heard a very loud japanese woman moaning in the throes of ecstacy, or else faking her brains out. Whichever it was, it at least provided amusement for me for a few seconds.
We have to wake up early at about 5am tomorrow to catch our discount flight back to Kinki (no, I didn't make that up) Tokyo.
Monday, 24 September 2007
Ban The Bomb
We woke up at 8am, had breakfast and finally left the Green Rich Hotel at 10am.


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Notes from Game 17
A main reason that the Blue Jays inked Alex Gonzalez to a one year deal over the offseason was due to his abilities with the glove. He is one of the game's top shortstops, which can only help a young and developing pitching staff.
Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston has had some solid shortstops in his time with the club. He is quick to mention Tony Fernandez and John McDonald. Already this spring, Gaston has been very impressed with what Gonzalez has done on defense.
"The one thing I see in Alex, and I saw it in Tony, too," Gaston said. "I look at his face when he's catching tough balls. It's like, 'No big deal. I'm supposed to catch that ball.' That's what I see. He's caught a couple this spring that it's just absolutely some kind of play."
One visiting writer asked if Cito could offer up a comparison to the departed Marco Scutaro, who signed with the Red Sox over the winter. Gaston tiptoed around the question, noting that he had not seen enough of Gonzalez yet to give a proper answer.
"Well, man, I'll tell you, Scutaro was steady," Gaston said. "I haven't had Alex long enough to know him that well. Scutaro was a very intelligent player — a smart player. We finally got him where he was hitting the ball. Come back in a couple months, I might be able to say more about it. Right now? They both have good hands, that's for sure."
One area Scutaro is more highly-regarded is on offense. He excelled in a full-time role as Toronto's leadoff man and shortstop last season — a main reason Boston went after him. On Friday, Gonzalez did launch his first home run of the spring for the Jays. He'll likely hit in the lower part of Toronto's lineup this season. If he performs well, it will be a bonus for a club that added him primarily for his glove.
CASEY ON THE MOUND: Another game, another quick appearance, more zeroes to add to his Spring Training pitching line. Reliever Casey Janssen worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning on Wednesday, striking out two and inducing one broken-bat groundout. In five games this spring, Janssen has allowed no runs, one hit with five strikeouts in five innings.
I chatted some with Casey today and you can read more about his thoughts on his spring later on bluejays.com. Asked if he was limiting his pitch arsenal this spring as a reliever, Janssen said that he was actually sticking with all five of his pitches (fastball, cutter, curve, slider and changeup).
"I think that's maybe a benefit for me," Janssen said. "I can throw five pitches to a hitter and not throw the same one twice. Some hitters say it's easier to face a bullpen guy, because you know it's only two pitches. If I can mix it up a little bit, hopefully I can use it to my advantage, as long as I'm not sacrificing command."
THE BULLPEN SITUATION: Ask me, and I'd say Janssen is in the bullpen right now to open the season. The only locks are Kevin Gregg, Jason Frasor and Scott Downs. Shawn Camp is a safe bet to make the team and so is Jesse Carlson, as long as his left knee issue does not slow him down anymore.
That leaves one spot for Jeremy Accardo, David Purcey, Merkin Valdez, Josh Roenicke or Dana Eveland. In that group, Valdez and Eveland are out of options. Gaston said that Eveland (Wednesday's starter) would be considered for the bullpen if starter Brandon Morrow (right shoulder) was ready for Opening Day.
Gaston values having a long reliever and Camp appears to be the only candidate for that job right now. If Gaston wanted a left-hander to handle that job, Eveland and Purcey fit the mold. If it came down to Eveland vs. Purcey for the last spot, Gaston said the fact that Eveland is out of options will definitely be taken into account.
"That's always considered," Gaston said.
Gaston added that Purcey would continue to work as a reliever if he is sent to Triple-A Las Vegas to open the season, barring an injury to one of the Triple-A starters. As for Morrow, he resumed throwing on Wednesday and is scheduled to start on Monday. Carlson threw off a mound on Wednesday and came away fine, according to Gaston. Carlson is down to throw in a Minor League game on Friday.
BIRD FEED: Utility man, and bench candidate, Mike McCoy (right shoulder) took part in a Minor League game on Wednesday and went 2-for-5 with a stolen base and a run scored. Gaston said McCoy might be ready to play in a Grapefruit League game on Friday. "We want to see a little more of McCoy," Gaston said. "We want to see him play a little more. He's pretty valuable." The Jays like McCoy's on-base ability and speed, and the fact that he can play multiple infield and outfield spots. He appears to be a front-runner for a spot on the bench, ahead of outfielders Jeremy Reed and Joey Gathright. … Third baseman Edwin Encarnacion (left wrist) also took part in a Minor League game on Wednesday and went 0-for-5. Gaston did not offer a timetable for Encarnacion's return to Grapefruit League action. … First baseman Lyle Overbay went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs in Wednesday's 5-3 loss to the Rays. … Reed (.410 this spring) went 2-for-3 and Gathright (.206) went 0-for-3. … Accardo allowed one run on two hits over one inning, upping his spring ERA to 6.75. … Valdez and Purcey each logged one shutout inning apiece. … Eveland logged four innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
THE SHORT END… Gaston wanted a few of his "A" players to make the road trips this week to Port Charlotte (Rays) and Fort Myers (Red Sox), giving the regular outfielders one of the trips and the infielders the other. To decide, Aaron Hill said he and Vernon Wells drew straws. Hill offered to let Wells pick, since he has seniority. Wells decided to stick with drawing straws… and he got the short one. "I said, 'Port Charlotte!'" Hill said with a laugh. Fort Myers is a 2 hours, 45 minute trip, while Port Charlotte is about 2 hours. "Not my fault," Hill said. "I gave him the choice!" Hill, Overbay, Gonzalez and third baseman Jose Bautista made the trip to face the Rays. It will likely be Wells, Travis Snider and Adam Lind making the venture to play the Red Sox on Friday.
ALSO: Stay tuned for results of today's Dotcom Dash.
For complete Blue Jays coverage this spring, make sure you're reading bluejays.com and following me on Twitter at @MLBastian. You can also find spring photos on TwitPic.com.
2 Comments
Sorry about the race, Jordan. The unstoppable Yankee machine rolls on, and the book will have to wait. (cue almost anything by George Jones)
Damn, and here I was putting together a book/movie deal, had the funding just about done.


text:
Google's sweeping collection of data such as passwords and email from unaware Internet users for its Street View photo mapping violated federal wiretap laws, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.
In a decision that allows a privacy lawsuit to proceed against the Mountain View search giant, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Google's argument that such data collection is permitted under exceptions to the federal Wiretap Act, a law long on the books that was updated in the mid-1980s.
"Surely Congress did not intend to condone such an intrusive and unwarranted invasion of privacy when it enacted the Wiretap Act," 9th Circuit Judge Jay Bybee wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel.
The ruling marks the latest setback for Google over its neighborhood mapping project, which has been targeted by privacy advocates for the company's broad collection of personal information from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. The decision upheld a federal judge's similar ruling two years ago and moves forward a number of class action lawsuits.
The company already apologized for the data collection and earlier this year settled a parallel case over the project brought by 38 states, including California, agreeing to pay a $7 million fine and take steps to avoid continued privacy violations. But Google has continued to fight the private lawsuits, maintaining the collection, while perhaps ill-advised, was permissible under the wiretap law.
A Google spokeswoman said the company is disappointed in the 9th Circuit ruling and is "considering our next steps." The company can ask the 9th Circuit to rehear the case with an 11-judge panel, or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Privacy advocates lauded the ruling.
"Landmark decision for Internet privacy," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which intervened against Google in the case. "The 9th Circuit has made clear that the federal wiretap act protects private Wi-Fi networks."
Howard Mintz covers legal affairs. Contact him at 408-286-0236 or follow him at Twitter.com/hmintz


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - visa Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in visa Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Ukraine View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message Mr. KalgukshiMod TeamJoined: 18 Jan 2003Posts: 6613Location: Need to know basis only. Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 10:42 pm Post subject: An inappropriate posting using the real name of an individual has been deleted. Please report instances of this kind of behavior to the Mod Team by Report Post. Repeats of such postings will result in sanctions. Back to top charlesinukraineJoined: 09 Apr 2010Posts: 18 Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 6:10 pm Post subject: Foreigners residence in Ukraine to be restricted MIGnews.co // 25.05.2009 // 16:57 // Foreigners residence in Ukraine to be restricted MIGnews.com.ua The Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry in Kyiv initiates reduction of foreigners duration of stay in Ukraine. The chief of the Directorate Vitaly Yarema reported this at a briefing. We will bring up a question about it at the Interior Ministry to restrict duration of stay to simplify work of militia like in Russia, Yarema said. According to him, foreign citizens may stay within 90 days in Ukraine. They may create problems for militia during this time, Vitaly Yarema noted. Current legislation of Ukraine is extremely loyal about it, Ukrayinski novyny is citing him as saying. link to the article: http://www4.mignews.com.ua/en/articles/354113.html Back to top dackinatorJoined: 17 Sep 2010Posts: 105 Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:09 pm Post subject: I'm currently in the UK and need to get my CELTA certificate stamped for a work permit. I've worked out that getting it a. notorized, and b. apostilled, will come to about £150. What if i leave it until i come to ukraine? I've read that since im an eu citizen i can enter ukraine without a visa. Is this true? Back to top misteradventureJoined: 18 Aug 2003Posts: 246 Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:51 pm Post subject: Apollo1 wrote: misteradventure wrote: An Apostille is a certification by the SECRETARY OF STATE or FOREIGN MINISTER certifying that the document is legitimate and not something you made with Adobe Photoshop in your bedroom. A Notary will NOT work. And what of countries, such as Canada, which do not use an Apostille system? I believe there are a few Canadian teachers with work permits there, are there not? If one bothers to research the issue, it will be clear that, while the Apostille system is regulated by international treaty (disposing of the necessity of the document to be authenticated by the receiving country's Consulate in the sending country), Canada still requires that documents be authenticated by their foreign ministry and that some documents must be notarized (e.g. true copies of original documents) before they will consider authenticating the copies of the original documents. Canada isn't special in this regard, so don't spill your poutine in outrage; Paraguay is also a non-signatory of the Hague Convention. It is often just an additional hoop to jump through and another fee to pay. Back to top bingbing223Joined: 15 Jan 2011Posts: 4 Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:43 am Post subject: poutine spilling aside, the process for Canadians for documents is much harder and takes much, much more time. You would need to submit all legal documents to DFAIT in Ottawa. This process costs around $100 plus an additional $15 for each copy/extra document and takes 8 weeks. Yep. 8 Weeks. That doesn't count the time it takes for you to mail them there (unless you live in Ottawa) and have them mailed back to you. There is a round about way you can do it if you're already in Ukraine but it's such a pain... You can take the original documents to the Canadian Embassy in Kiev, have them notarized, then take them to the Department of Foreign affairs in Kiev and have them signed or stamped or some jazz. I went through this last month and it was a living hell. I ended up in Polish limbo waiting for a work permit to apply for a business visa for about 3 weeks. Never again, my friends. Never again. Watch out for any school that doesn't start this process when you're in your home country, or at least before you've entered Ukraine. Trust me, it will save you a lot of time and money- as well as your sanity. One cool thing to note though- Canadian visas to Ukraine are pretty cheap if obtained in Canada- looking at 60-240 depending on the type of visa. 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