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I'm big on reading books – and by reading I mean listening because I get easily distracted. I've found that audio books are my jam and get the book finished rather than letting it sit untouched, on my digital book shelf.
Why do I like to read you ask? Not because I think something is wrong with me, or because I need to be "fixed." Because I've genuinely felt my life elevate with each book I cram into my brain. In my short time on this planet I've only had time for so many experiences, but a book allows me to experience entire lifetimes. Seeing the world through someone else's perspective allows you to better form and strengthen your own beliefs and understanding.
Why do I Believe So Strongly In "Self-Help" & Personal Development?
People have literally dissected the sh*t that went wrong in their life and developed solutions that allowed them to overcome and live better lives… THEN went through the effort of putting it into a book so you could read it and hopefully avoid making the same mistakes.
Taking advantage of that sounds like common sense to me. I thrive on understanding my emotions, understanding the way my brain functions, understanding the psychology of why I react and do the things I do and exploring ways to live my best life.
WHY? Because I don't want to live my life on autopilot, I want to get to the end of my life and say I didn't just let life happen to me, I CHOSE how I existed in the world.
I decided to compile a list of books that have impacted me. Instead of doing a synopsis or summary, which you can easily look up online, I decided to categorize them by the scenario in my life that I most needed them.
When You Need Help Believing Your Dreams Are Possible:
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho – "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"
When You are struggling to believe that your dream is worth something:
Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert – "The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them."
When you're sick of being anxious af all the time:
Untethered Soul, by Michael A. Singer – "There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind – you are the one who hears it."
When you just need a little Oprah in your life:
What I Know For Sure, by Oprah Winfrey – "There is one irrefutable law of the universe: We are each responsible for our own life. If you're holding anyone else accountable for your happiness, you're wasting your time. You must be fearless enough to give yourself the love you didn't receive."
When You're Just unsure about life:
The Universe Has Your Back, by Gabby Bernstein – "In every situation you have two choices: Will you learn through fear or will you learn through love?"
A Return To Love, by Marianne Williamson – "It takes courage…to endure the sharp pains of self discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives."
When you want to better understand how to love and be loved:
The 5 Love Languages Singles Edition, by Gary Chapman – "Much of the pain in broken relationships in our world stems from the truth that many of us in Western culture have never been serious students of love. We haven't really taken it seriously enough to learn how it actually works."
When You're impatient AF and ready to give up:
The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy – "It's not the big things that add up in the end; it's the hundreds, thousands, or millions of little things that separate the ordinary from the extraordinary."
When you're sick of struggling to get where you want to go:
The Power of Intention, by Wayne Dyer – "When you're connected to the power of intention, everywhere you go, and everyone you meet, is affected by you and the energy you radiate. As you become the power of intention, you'll see your dreams being fulfilled almost magically, and you'll see yourself creating huge ripples in the energy fields of others by your presence and nothing more."
When You're So over dating because all men have commitment issues:
Make Every Man Want You: How To Be So Irresistible You'll Barely keep From Dating Yourself! by Marie Forleo – "..what you're about to learn is a radical new approach to being completely irresistible, inside and out, and how to have magnificent relationships with everyone in your life."
When you're spiritual, but not religious, but still curious af about what the eff is going on here:
Conversations With God, by Neale Donald Walsch – "Your soul doesn't care what you do for a living – and when your life is over, neither will you. Your soul cares only about what you are being while you are doing whatever you are doing. "
When You're So over self-help books:
The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck, by Mark Manson – "You and everyone you know are going to be dead soon. And in the short amount of time between here and there, you have a limited amount of fucks to give. Very few, in fact. And if you go around giving a fuck about everything and everyone without conscious thought or choice—well, then you're going to get fucked."


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The music began, and the zombies lurched to life, moving together to the strains of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Behind them, students held up signs: "RIP Philly's Schools."
Dozens of youth — members of the organizing group Philadelphia Student Union — gathered outside the Philadelphia School Distirct's headquarters on North Broad Street Tuesday to protest a plan to close 37 city schools in June.
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The zombies danced for a few minutes, then collapsed in a heap.
"We represent the students affected by the closing plan," Benjamin Franklin High sophomore Hausim Talbot said later. "Our hopes would be dead."
District officials have said if they don't shut schools, they will run out of cash to operate. They estimate the closings will save about $28 million, though that figure doesn't factor in transition and startup costs for the next school year.
Talbot, 15, reiterated a call for a moratorium on school closings. The Philadelphia Student Union is part of Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools, a group that's developed an alternative plan for keeping schools open.
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That plan relies largely on successfully lobbying for huge increases in state aid.
South Philadelphia High senior Chris Riley said he understands the district says it's in bad shape.
South Philadelphia High senior Chris Riley said he understands the district says it's in bad shape.
"But if this happens, it's a destroyed future," Riley said. "If you don't have education, you can't get a job."
District officials have said that closings would allow them to funnel more resources into surviving schools, but the students were skeptical.
Amijah Townsend, her mouth darkened by red makeup, said that priorities needed to be shifted.
"There is money to be used," said Townsend, 16. "It's in the state budget, but it's not being prioritized for students."
(My colleague Ron Tarver shot video at the event, which we'll post when it's available.)

subset: commoncrawl


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Areas of Practice
- Immigration
- Family Law
- Columbia Law School, New York, New York
- University of California at Los Angeles, (UCLA)
- Major: History
Valeria De Gonzalez joined Hadsell Stormer & Renick, LLP in August 2016. She provides direct legal services to UNITE HERE Local 11 members through the Legal Fund of Hotel and Restaurant Employees of Los Angeles.
Ms. De Gonzalez grew up with two UNITE HERE members in her multi-generational household. This taught her the contributions and struggles of restaurant and hotel workers from an early age. Ms. De Gonzalez graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Columbia Law School. In law school she participated in the Community Enterprise Clinic, assisting non-profit organizations with their legal needs. She was a member of the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. Ms. De Gonzalez spent one year as a Social Justice Pathways Fellow at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, where she provided family law services to low-income victims of domestic violence in East Los Angeles. She is a former Associate at Holguin, Garfield, Martinez & Quinonez, APLC where she worked with unionized hotel and restaurant workers in the Legal Fund. Immediately prior to joining Hadsell Stormer and Renick, LLP, Ms. De Gonzalez was an Associate at the Law Office of Alma Rosa Nieto, where she practiced a wide variety of family-based immigration matters. Ms. De Gonzalez served on the Board of Directors of Community Lawyers, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides legal services to residents of Compton and its surrounding areas.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Los Angeles County Bar Association, Immigration Section
- American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Community Lawyers, Inc. Board of Directors from 2012-2015


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Heroic story of 30-year war must be recorded for next generations – President
Posted on May 23rd, 2019
Courtesy Adaderana
President Maithripala Sirisena says that it is a timely need to write the complete heroic story of the thirty-year-long war victory so that the future generation can read about the bravery of the great, war heroes, patriotism, and their great humanitarian nature.
The President pointed out that, by reading this story, the future generation will grow up to love the motherland and be loyal to the country and also that the true story of the thirty-year-long war, its background and the seed of the war would be correctly revealed to the world.
He made these remarks addressing a ceremony to launch the book titled 'Uththamachara' held at the BMICH, yesterday (22).
Speaking further at the event, President Sirisena said that the experiences and the life stories of the war heroes are excellent stories of valiant warriors. The President stated that the memories of the persons responsible for this victory should not be allowed to vanish with the end of their lives.
Immortalizing the memories of contemporary War Heroes who were posthumously decorated with Parama Weera Vibhushanaya" (PWV), the highest gallantry award for Sri Lankan Armed Forces, the special publication, Uttamachara" that documents their warfare achievements, gallantry and bravery in the battlefield for defence of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Motherland, along with the issue of a special Coin, Stamp and a First-day cover was launched last afternoon (22) at a special ceremony, dignified by the presence of HE the President Maithripala Sirisena, the Commander-in-Chief as the Chief Guest at the BMICH.
This memorable occasion of national importance, organized by the Directorate of Personnel Administration at the Army Headquarters on the directives of the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake brought the series of National War Heroes' commemoration projects to an apex. The ceremony attended by next of kin of PWV laureates and a host of distinguished guests, senior Army, Navy, and Air Force officers included a few events that preceded before the arrival of the Chief Guest.
After the traditional coconut oil lamp was lit by invitees, the first-day envelope and the 10th Anniversary (2009-2019) commemorative stamp were issued by HE the President. The second video clip including brief biographies of PWV laureates and ground operations, in which they sacrificed their lives was screened in the presence of the gathering before an introductory speech on the book, Uttamachara" was made to the audience by the Army Commander who subsequently presented the first copy of the book to the President.
The ceremony turned emotional as the Chief Guest began presenting the Uttamachara" copies to members of each family of contemporary War Heroes whose names would be incorporated as National War Heroes and remembered as national heroes of our times.
Afterward, the Commander of the Army, President Maithripala Sirisena handed over a cheque, worth Rs. 8 m to be used for Maharagama Apeksha Hospital.


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I am an early riser, so I get up, get myself ready. And I always prepare my uniform the night before, which is our red shirt, black trousers, black shoes, and always make sure that I know where those are - shoes polished, and, you know, my security pass is handy. I'll get the shuttle-bus into Central, once I'm walking through the corridor, head held high, shirt on display with the logo 'Here to help', I'll walk down to the volunteers' office, sign in and then go to my dedicated ward.
My name is Diane Butterworth, I am 58 years old and I am retired from working for 39 years one month. We are at Manchester Royal Infirmary on Oxford Road, Manchester. My feet are absolutely throbbing, and I'm up and down the stairs, and it definitely gets my heart rate up. In fact, I think I'll take you up a couple of flights of stairs, and you can hear me huffing and puffing, I'm ashamed to say! I'm like, what I call myself a Ward Volunteer - I go around the wards befriending our patients that have had, in some instances, serious surgery, and are in for a long time. In a nutshell, I would say it's to help rehabilitation. Once they're feeling a little bit better, I can, like, talk to them, play games with them and make them extra drinks and just generally keep them company.
And it's a befriending thing, because they are in for such a long time, you get to know the patient, you do get to know their families, and it is really lovely when they get to know your name and they know that they will see you again next Tuesday or Thursday or whatever. So you do build relationships, you do have your favourites and they are in your heart. If you know that a particular person likes a particular magazine, like my husband, he buys car magazines, and I've met gentleman patients that enjoy car magazines, and I'll pass the car magazines on to them. You do go away with them in your heart, because at the end of the day, I am only human.
I took early retirement from the bank, I've got a wonderful husband that lets me get away with everything. Obviously, if he didn't, then I wouldn't be able to volunteer. We've got a dog that we adore, we've got no children. We love travel, we love socialising, but that is why I love my volunteering, because it reins in the frivolous side of life, because life can be too frivolous and I have to have something that I feel not religious but spiritual about. It makes me feel spiritual if that makes sense and, yeah, I know I have a good life, a good husband, a good life, but it can be too good and can make you not care, and I'm not like that type of person - the volunteering reins me in.
My mum had a stroke and I found out what hospitals were all about, because prior to that, I thought 'Ooh hospitals, hmm, no, not for me thank you.' But once my mum had had a stroke and I found out what hospitals were about, and then sadly she passed away, and I had a void, and I knew that I could give something back. It was a learning curve I went through with my mother.
As volunteers, we bring normality back to the sick people. Like, when somebody's, like, they want to know what's going on the outside, like ladies might like watching rubbish on television like soap operas. I love soap operas! I can sit for hours bringing patients up to date and they love me for that. It is something so simple, but on a more serious note, there's people who do like talking about travel, they do like talking about politics. You know, news headlines. And I do try and engage in more serious issues. You know, news headlines and things like that, and let them know what day it is, what the headlines are, and we can discuss things like that as well, it's not all just frivolous soaps, because at the end of the day, as a volunteer, you are a listening body as well. You know, like a patient will tell you something because they trust you and they feel they can talk to you. It may only be something really simple, like having less milk in their cup of tea or more sugar or something as simple as that. But because you've listened, you can see the patient relaxing. When somebody dies, when you hear of somebody passing away, you want to wave a magic wand and you can't. You want people you know... people are missing home, they're missing their families and missing their pets. You want to wave that magic wand but you just can't. That, it's tough. At the end of the day, it's a hospital, isn't it, unfortunately people do pass away. You know, things happen, don't they? You've got to learn to appreciate that, haven't you?
This is the multi-faith centre of the MRI. I come on a quarterly basis and volunteer at the adult memorial service. It's a sign for the families to remember their loved ones, and to light a candle for them and to write something in the book of remembrance, and in some instances I myself have known the patients as well. So I personally like to think about them and remember them and with the families.
And for my own personal needs as well, you know I just think it's a lovely thing to be part of. You just give it 110% because you're there because you want to be there. I enjoy helping, you know, serve extra drinks and serving the food and it's really, really nice when I arrive on the ward and the patients are like 'Oh, here she is, the tea lady, oh she'll bring us extra brews.' I like how it humbles you, like you don't have to, like, have your power suit on. You don't have fancy nails, you don't wear your fancy rings, you don't wear your best watch, you just wear your plain uniform and it humbles you, and you help people.


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Dr Dre - The Chronic 20 Years Later
NPR has a great story on the 20th anniversary of Dr. Dre's groundbreaking album The Chronic, the L.A. Riots and how gangster rap went mainstream.
This album played an important role in my own music education. In 1993, I was a young "white boy" in the army stationed in Germany. When this album hit, it was played everywhere ... where I worked and in the barracks. Before then, I wasn't really a fan of rap, but this one grew on me. I eventually bought the album myself and was then turned onto more hip hop like A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, and the Hieroglyphics Crew. 20 Years later the album sounds as fresh as ever. The production on this one is probably the best I've ever heard. Enjoy the full album and studio outtakes below -
0:00 - The Chronic (Intro) (feat. Snoop Dogg), 1:58 - Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin') (feat. Snoop Dogg, RBX and Jewell), 6:50 - Let Me Ride (feat. Ruben and Jewell), 11:11 - The Day the Niggaz Took Over (feat. RBX, Snoop Dogg and Daz Dillinger), 15:44 - Nuthin' but a "G" Thang (feat. Snoop Dogg), 19:42 - Deeez Nuuuts (feat. Daz Dillinger, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Warren G), 24:48 - Lil' Ghetto Boy (feat. Snoop Dogg and Daz Dillinger), 30:17 - A Nigga Witta Gun, 34:09 - Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat (feat. RBX, BJ and Snoop Dogg), 37:58 - The $20 Sack Pyramid (feat. Big Tittie Nickie, The D.O.C., Samara and Snoop Dogg), 40:51 - Lyrical Gangbang (feat. Lady of Rage, Kurupt and RBX), 44:55 - High Powered (feat. RBX, Daz Dillinger, and Lady of Rage), 47:39 - The Doctor's Office (feat. Lady of Rage and Jewell), 48:43 - Stranded on Death Row (feat. Bushwick Bill, Kurupt, RBX, Lady of Rage and Snoop Dogg), 53:30 - The Roach (Chronic Outro) (feat. RBX, Daz Dillinger, Lady of Rage, Emmage, Ruben and Jewell), 58:07 - Bitches Ain't Shit (feat. Snoop Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt and Jewell),
No Boats
Labels: Daz Dillinger, Dr Dre, Hip Hop, Jewell, Kurupt, Lady of Rage, No Boats, rap, RBX, Snoop Dogg, The Chronic, West Coast, Youtube
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Professional Community for Car Dealers, Marketing, Advertising and Sales Leaders
Authenticity = Customer Loyalty
Do you feel that the Internet has destroyed customer loyalty? Many dealers do.
In fact some of these dealers try online tactics that are deceptive in nature to entice customers into their dealership. They believe that if they get them in, they will sell them.
Sometimes that's true. But only once. The nature of the Internet is one of information and communication... and skepticism.
The long-term success lies with one word...
Phenomblue CEO & President Joe Olsen says: "Before the connected world we live in, authenticity was a message you put into the marketplace and then acted on. Authenticity in the marketplace today is simply the act of consistently delivering on consumer expectations. And they expect you to listen and not feed them blatantly transparent messages."
The value proposition you relay online must meet with the reality of your offline interactions.
You can play games with slick advertising and fake reviews, but in the end, you will be exposed as a fake.
Some bemoan the Internet and "what it has done to our business". I believe it has made us better. We could say to customers what Jack Nicholson said in the movie "As Good As It Gets",
"You make me want to be a better man."
Our customers and the online experience make us want to be a better business.
A recent post on ADM asked the question, "Why buy from me?" It was a logical question and one worth asking. I only took exception with one statement in that post. It was, "Since the dawn of time, dealerships have believed a great lie: customers will never be passionately loyal to a car dealership".
I don't believe it for a minute.
I believe dealers are shocked at the LOSS of customer loyalty. When in-store experience meets the perceptions your marketing creates, you will find the passionate customer loyalty you once had, or only dreamed of.
That is AUTHENTICITY!
Written by Tom Gorham
Editor, From The Trenches
Views: 564
Let's see here, we have three Toms here. OH, Tom LaPointe! Thank you!
Shall we resurrect the idea of customer service and customer relations? Naw, it's an old idea. Let's just put it on steroids!
well said. loyalty has certainly transformed - years ago it meant buyers stayed with one brand for years - loyalty now means they will CONSIDER your product / service / dealership.
Tom Wiegand, thank you! Great comments! I believe customers want to be loyal to a business whether it's a store, restaurant, or car dealership. But often they get driven away by poor customer service or disinterest on the part of the business. I always think of the TV show Cheers, "You wanna go where everybody knows your name..." All we have to do is make them feel at home.
Tom; well done my friend! I know you know how passionate I am about "Customer Loyalty." Everything, and I mean everything, 1TeamSynergy is about is advancing "Customer Loyalty" between every business person in a dealership communicating and relating with customers.
When you have dealership businesses focused on "Customer Satisfaction", "Customer Retention", and "Customer Experience" they truly are short-term, short-sighted come and gone "BUSINESS" causes that prove not to better "Customer Loyalty." Why? "Retention's" leading indicator is 'price' meaning it's a business driven initiative to get a customer back again on price, to retain them just one more time. "Satisfaction" has proven to be little more than a score card. "Experience" is evolving, yet mostly focused on the now moment. There's no loyalty cultivation here.
"Customer Loyalty's" leading indicator is 'people relationships' meaning business PEOPLE communicating and relating ongoing with customers is where "Customer Loyalty's" roots are strengthened.
Summary: real "Customer Loyalty" to a business only strengthens when real "Customer Loyalty" exists with and between people of the business and customers. This obviously requires management letting go and giving their people free reign to develop this loyalty, and business people wanting to work far more closely together to benefit the possible "Customer Loyalty" to one, to another, to a team, then other departments, then the entire business.
Forget about great lies! The great truth is "Customer Loyalty" is a people movement, not some mechanical, automated, instant gratification, WIIFM today, 'next customer please' score card business agenda. "Customer Loyalty" is the most powerful business person to customer movement ever! Why? Customer's know they rule today. And, they want relationships with those they trust enough to remain loyal with. And, loyalty spreads fast here.
This is the age of offense for "AUTHENTIC" business persons earning "Customer Loyalty." Get the defense off the field! Thanks Tom
Thanks Jim. It almost seems as if it doesn't have to be said, doesn't it? But many dealers have a disconnect between their marketing and the actual experience of being in their dealership. I believe they will increasingly find it difficult to maintain that broken relationship and retain customer loyalty.
Great post Tom! Authenticity...what a concept :-)
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March 2015
Crowdfunding Crash Course: Meghan Athavale of POMO Inc - Lumo Play
- by Alyson Shane
Meghan Athavale is an entrepreneur and artist. She is the co-founder and CEO of Po-Motion (PoMo) Inc and Lumo Play.
She is currently running an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund the LUMO Interactive Projector.
Can you briefly describe Lumo?
Lumo is a turnkey gaming and display system that includes a projector, a sensor that captures motion data, and an Android processor. It projects games you would normally play on a touchscreen onto the floor of a child's playroom, so they can play by jumping, moving, waving their arms and running. It also works as a regular projector, so you can play movies with it, and non-motion reactive games (using a bluetooth controller.) Finally, Lumo has an online content creation suite designed so that young children can customize games using their own artwork.
Why did you feel that the crowdfunding model was the best way to promote Lumo?
We've been seeking investment for Lumo for about a year. It's tough to get investment for hardware, and even tougher if your company is based in a place with very little access to VC communities. VCs only fund about 1% of the deals they see. Here's a great article explaining why: http://www.startupcfo.ca/2012/08/top-10-signs-your-business-is-not-vc-fundable/
Lumo doesn't have traction yet, because it isn't for sale yet. It's not for sale because we need funding to produce it. We know people want it, but we don't know how many people want it yet. Crowdfunding, in our case, is a great way to allow our market to tell us what they want in terms of features and price point, without the risk of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars producing a bunch of Lumos first.
Having said that, crowdfunding is not promotion. In order to run a successful crowdfunding campaign, you need to do the promotion ahead of time. We learned that when our first attempt on Kickstarter failed epically.
Why and how did you choose Indiegogo over other crowdfunding options available?
We did Kickstarter in September 2013 with a very very early stage prototype and no marketing. It still raised around $25,000, but it wasn't enough to move the project forward, so we regrouped and joined a 4 month incubator, visited China, and hired some engineers.
We're now launching on Indiegogo for two reasons. 1) they have a partnership with the hardware incubator we attended, so we got a lot of support regarding pre-campaign prep and marketing for our upcoming launch (we couldn't even get a contact email from Kickstarter) and 2) The flexible funding option makes sense for us right now. We can make 10 Lumos or we can make 10,000 Lumos, depending on market demand. We don't have to meet our goal to move forward. That wasn't the case in 2013.
How big was your budget before you launched your crowdfunding campaign?
The first campaign had no budget. In total we've spent around $5000 in marketing activities this time. This includes attending SXSW, running facebook ads, and running a contest using a tool called Gleam.
How far along was your project before you felt ready to launch a crowdfunding campaign? In hindsight, would you have preferred to be farther along, or to have crowdfunded earlier?
The first campaign, on Kickstarter, wasn't nearly far enough along. In retrospect I would have waited until we had a prototype that was only a few steps from DFM (design for manufacturing). We have that now.
More importantly, though, I wish I'd spent a year reaching out to people and building a community before launch. Having a strong, supportive community is as important as having a solid prototype.
Can you explain how you prepared for and managed your campaign?
The first campaign was a one-person show. I had some help making a few games and shooting the video, but overall the whole thing was my personal learning experience. This time we have a delegation process. Someone is in charge of the video. Someone else is in charge of design. I am in charge of PR and marketing, and the developers can focus on making the thing work.
What tools did you use to market your campaign?
I only used social media and local news coverage on my last launch. We managed to get a big spread story in the Globe and Mail that went out a week before our campaign went live.
This year I used Gleam, Thunderclap, fb ads, and attended a pile of events and conferences. I also believe in old-school hustle, so I invite parents and families in the Los Angeles area to come hang out with me and play with Lumo. The best way to build supporters is to actually show them your product and meet them in person, I find.
What was your biggest challenge during your campaign? What could you have done differently?
The biggest challenge with the Kickstarter was exposure. We also didn't really know what our marketing message was at that point.
I think the biggest challenge on the upcoming campaign will be keeping up with correspondence. We are already getting tons of calls and emails, and there's really only two people on hand to answer them.
We have a list of over 30 people on standby to help us if we need them.
In retrospect what were your best assets for running your original campaign? Since you're launching another campaign soon, how do you plan to apply these lessons this time?
The best thing we did with our original campaign was saving the email list and keeping up with the original community. They are our biggest advocates, since they know how far we've come.
What's the most valuable advice you could share with aspiring crowdfunders?
Keep a very open mind, spend as much time as possible building an email list, and don't be afraid to ask for help. You are about to ask hundreds of strangers for their money. You should get used to defending yourself in the nicest possible way, which means you will have to talk to hundreds of people before you launch to get your messaging and language right.
If your campaign isn't going well, shut it down and try again later. If you let it run it's course and fail, you will have a dead skeleton of a kickstarter haunting the interwebz for all eternity (like we do). It's totally okay to shut down early, regroup, and try again. Your community will understand. They want you to succeed.
This post is part of the #CrowdfundingCrashCourse series. You can find the entire series of interviews and summary posts here.
Ladies Learning Code Winnipeg
- by Alyson Shane
Saturday instead of sleeping in and eating croissants (as I usually do on a Saturday) I spent my morning brushing up on my HTML and CSS skills at the "CSS for Beginners" class held by the Winnipeg chapter of Ladies Learning Code, a nonprofit that promotes digital literacy for women and youth.
While I'm pretty well-versed with a lot of digital tools, front-end development isn't somewhere that I've really spent a lot of time sinking my teeth into, though some of you longtime readers might remember my brief stint with CodeAcademy last year where I made this masterpiece:
Shortly thereafter life started to really ramp up in other ways, so CodeAcademy sort of fell by the wayside. As such, I was really excited to be able to have another opportunity to spend some time getting to know what actually goes into making a website look (and operate) fabulously.
I spent the day cramming tons of information about style sheets, rule sets, declarations, values, elements, and tons of other topics into my eager little brain along with a packed classroom full of other lady-learners.
At one point we went around the room and introduced ourselves and briefly discussed our motivations for attending, and it was amazing to see all these women, many from extremely different walks of life, coming together to learn something completely new together.
Our instructor, Brad, was knowledgable and peppered the informational slides with silly gifs that lightened the mood when we were tackling a difficult concept, and there were plenty of mentors who were not only super-clever, but also displayed more patience with cleaning up our messy code than I ever thought a person could have.
If there's anything that I've taken away from that experience it's that coding takes a lot of patience. Suddenly I have way more respect for John's day job, eek!
Overall it was a really positive and informative experience, and it's encouraged me to start exploring the ways in which being able to have a better understanding of different coding languages can help me provide better services for my clients.
Big thanks to Michelle and Jessica from Ladies Learning Code for putting together such a great day, and for inviting me to participate!
5 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Marketing
- by Alyson Shane
The other day while out with my friend Kenton we got to discussing the freelance market, and how more and more businesses are turning to freelance content marketers to help them with their marketing needs.
One of my big takeaways from that conversation was that many business owners don't know when to start "letting go" of certain aspects of their business. As in, they spend way too much time doing (or neglecting) important things that they could simply outsource, even when it becomes detrimental to their business.
With that in mind, I figured I'd put together a short list of questions to ask yourself if you're a business owner who might be trying to shoulder too much of their business burden:
1. When did I last update my website?
While tools for building websites aren't in short supply, maintaining one which is accurate, up-to-date, compelling, mobile-friendly, and SEO-optimized requires more than just a landing page with a picture. A great website needs to do more than just look good - it needs to drive conversions like calls, emails, leads and customers, which includes ongoing investment in SEO content, structure and metadata.
Follow-up Questions:
- Do I want to spend time worrying about updating my website?
- Do I stress about creating engaging content?
- Am I strong enough writer to create content quickly and efficiently?
2. Do I want to keep up with SEO?
Staying up-to-date with the constant changes in Search Engine Optimization is among the most complex aspects of online marketing. It requires keeping tabs on which search engines people are using the most and ensuring that your website and web presence perform well on search-engine results pages after these updates.
Follow-up Questions:
- Does looking at SEO information make me go cross-eyed?
- Am I more interested in running my business than managing where it shows up on Google?
- Am I willing to spend the time to keep up-to-date with new SEO changes?
3. Am I getting results from my search engine advertising?
Techniques like Google AdWords can be one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of generating new prospects, but if you've ever tried it you know that it requires much more than signing up, setting a text ad and waiting for the customers to roll in.
You need effective, compelling text that drives searchers to an optimized, relevant landing page, and a knowledge of your target audience so you're spending your money on driving visitors who are likely to buy from you. Understanding how to do this requires daily maintenance and analysis.
Follow-up Questions:
- Do I have the time to dedicate to analyzing and refining my campaigns to yield better results?
- Do I know what Google Pigeon is? Do I care?
4. Is my social media fan base my target audience?
You've signed up for a Facebook page and you've got a handful of 'Likes' - but what does that mean, exactly? Are you concerned in vanity numbers (aka, how many 'Likes' you have) or are you looking deeper at what sorts of people have shown an interest in your page?
How often are you looking at things like how many of your fans and followers are even in your immediate service area? How regularly are you updating your sites with relevant, interesting content that engages followers on your social media platforms? How are you leveraging paid advertising opportunities on these sites?
The key to successful content marketing is creating content that generates word-of-mouth and site traffic which boosts your website's SEO.
Follow-up Questions:
- Do I really know how to reach out to my target audience?
- Am I engaging with the right people?
5. Do I know my marketing ROI?
Anyone can pull together charts and graphs which show likes, follows and visitors to your site, but when you look at these numbers and figures, do you know how to make sense of the information there? Do you know how to translate this information into steps that will help your business grow?
Follow-up Questions:
- Do I want to look at daily, weekly, and monthly analytics to pull information from them and then apply them across all all of my marketing efforts?
- Does trying to make sense of my marketing efforts seem like more work than I want to do?
Do you recognize any of these signs as ones that indicate that you might need to start outsourcing your marketing? If not, do you think it's valuable to outsource your marketing? I'd love to know!
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Crowdfunding Crash Course: Adam Brooks of Astron-6 - The Editor
- by Alyson Shane
Adam Brooks is an actor, writer and founding member of Astron-6, a Winnipeg-based film production company. They used Indiegogo to crowdfund their film The Editor.
Can you briefly describe The Editor?
Yep. It's an absurdist giallo movie about a film editor suspected of murdering a number of his co-workers in a film studio in the late 1970s.
Why did you feel that the crowdfunding model was the best way to promote the film?
Because it required the least investment for the highest gain - nothing to lose.
Why and how did you choose Indiegogo over other crowdfunding options available?
I didn't spend much time researching it but they seemed to keep a smaller chunk for themselves than their competition.
How big was your budget before you launched your crowdfunding campaign?
How far along was your project before you felt ready to launch a crowdfunding campaign? In hindsight, would you have preferred to be farther along, or to have crowdfunded earlier?
It's a bit of a long and boring story - we had started to shoot 'The Editor' as a fake trailer on SLR and eventually decided we might as well try to make an actual feature out of it. We wrote a script and applied for telefilm's microbudget program.
Can you explain how you prepared for and managed your campaign?
We brainstormed a list of rewards minutes before taping the pitch video and then uploaded it to indiegogo and posted it all over our social media.
What tools did you use to market your campaign? Do you feel like you did so successfully, and if not, what could you have done differently?
We've built a small audience already, so all the blogs that had previously taken an interest in our material were happy to post the indiegogo without us asking.
I think it was successful - we exceeded our goal.
In retrospect what were your best assets for running this successful campaign? On the other hand, what would you do differently?
I think you need a cool project, and cool rewards…. I really wish I'd budgeted all the postage I've had to spend on the rewards though or budgeted to pay somebody to do it for me.
What was your biggest challenge during your campaign?
I don't know. We already had $120k. Our campaign was just trying to get us an additional $16k to punch up what we already had. A year after the campaign it turned out we really needed that money just to finish the thing, but we kept our end of the pitch's promise and packed the movie with violence, sex, stunts and names.
What's the most valuable advice you could share with aspiring crowdfunders?
Make a comic with the Soskas.
This post is part of the #CrowdfundingCrashCourse series. You can find the entire series of interviews and summary posts here.
Smiling With My Teeth
- by Alyson Shane
I was going back through some old photos the other day and I noticed a trend that I think a lot of people fall into: I was making the same face in every photo.
See what I mean?
Going back farther, I noticed that I had the habit of making what I refer to as the "Ugly Girl Face" - aka, a generally grotesque or distorted face in photos.
This face, referred to as the "After Hours Sex Face" thanks to a video that I'd seen online, was one that I pulled because I didn't like how I looked in photos. I felt self-conscious about my hair, my makeup, my personality, and most importantly my weight.
Making the AHSF was my way of drawing attention away from aspects of myself that I was uncomfortable with; I was able to hide behind it, even in photos.
After a while I started to grow up and become more confident and the AHSF (thankfully) became a relic only available in old, old Facebook albums.
Except around this time another trend emerged: I started making the same face in every photo.
If you look at photos of me from 2010-2013, I make the same face in almost every picture: head cocked to the side, close-lipped smile, etc.
While these photos don't necessarily make me look bad (that would defeat the purpose) they certainly don't express my personality in any memorable way.
Then, around mid-2014 this started to change. I started smiling with my teeth, laughing in photos, and sharing images of myself that didn't look totally posed and put-together. In fact, my "candid" laugh photos started to rapidly become my favourite pictures.
The more I thought about this shift, the more I realized that the way that I smiled in the photos was indicative of how comfortable I was with myself: I've spent the last year going through some major emotional and personal changes, which seem to have manifested themselves in a way that I hadn't previously thought about.
I realized that over time I had gone from one extreme to another: distorting my face to mask how I felt about myself deep down, to accepting who I was and sharing it with a huge burst of laughter and a smile.
It makes me wonder about women who pull faces in photos, or strike the same pose in every group photo. Is this what, subconsciously perhaps, is going on? Why do we worry so much about how people perceive these photos of ourselves?
Have you noticed changes in how you present yourself in photos over the years? If so, why do you think that is? Let's discuss!
Introducing: the Crowdfunding Crash Course!
- by Alyson Shane
The other weekend John and I finally sat down and watched Indie Game: The Movie. This amazing piece of cinema is from Canadian filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot. It follows indie video game developers as they struggle to develop and release Super Meat Boy and Fez, respectively, as well as interviews with Jonathan Blow, the developer behind Braid.
James and Lisanne ran two successful crowdfunding campaigns to fund the film, and after the movie I got to wondering: what makes a crowdfunding campaign successful?
Having never run a crowdfunding campaign myself, I figured that the best way to gain a deeper understanding of this booming phenomenon was to seek out knowledge from those around me.
With that in mind, I'm launching the #CrowdfundingCrashCourse project, where I'll be interviewing startups, musicians, businesspeople, and anyone else I can find who can share their experiences about running a crowdfunding campaign.
The first post, which will go up this week, is with Adam Brooks of Winnipeg-based film production company Astron-6, who used Indiegogo to crowdfund their movie The Editor.
I'm really excited to be starting this project and to share it with you and am always looking for new participants to share their knowledge. If you've run a crowdfunding campaign, or know someone who has and should be featured as a part of this project, please feel free to give me a shout.
This post is part of the #CrowdfundingCrashCourse series. You can find the entire series of interviews and summary posts here.
You Are Not Your Place of Work
- by Alyson Shane
I read an interesting article on Lifehacker today called "The Company You Work for is Not Your Friend" which really struck a chord with me based on an experience that I had right out of university.
I started working for a "business incubator" taking care of their marketing and B2B advertising. They had created the position, which supported the Director of Sales, shortly before hiring me and as such my position didn't have clearly-defined work parameters. This was one of the things that excited me about the position: the ability to use it to grow and make it into my own.
I had spent time and effort pouring myself into the position; trying to help the company and it's clients become more organized and streamlined in their processes. I sat in on extra meetings, just so that I could gain a better understanding of the process. I showed up early and stayed late.
As such, when they let me go after a mere 30 days my starry-eyed, newly-graduated self was caught totally off-guard. Actually, to put it more truthfully, I was devastated.
Clearly something had gone wrong here, but what? What had I done that had led to this decision?
I decided to reach out to my former boss to get some answers.
I called him and left a friendly voicemail thanking him for giving me the opportunity to have worked for him, and asking for a quick chat to clarify what I could do better in my future roles. After a few days I followed up with an email, which was met with even more silence.
In the meantime I found a new job, but I was still distraught. How could I move on from this past experience without learning what I could have done better?
Eventually, close to two months after I was let go, my former boss sent me a terse email making vague excuses about not getting back to me (he lost my phone and his email also stopped working for two months) and essentially stated that he hadn't thought out the parameters of the job before hiring me, and felt that it was in his (and his company's) best interests to let me go rather than work with me to develop the position, despite the fact that this was the original goal when I was hired.
It was then that reality really sunk in: no matter how hard I had tried, no matter how much effort I had put in, it wouldn't have worked out. Not only that, but my ability to learn a lesson and to grow from the experience mattered so little to this person that he put off getting back to me for an egregious amount of time.
This flew in the face of everything that I had grown up thinking. My parents, and to some extent my formal education, had taught me that if I busted my ass my bosses would always see it and I would always have a safe, secure place within the company I worked for. As such, I went into the situation blindly, assuming that if I just worked hard and did my best, that the fruits of my labour would be rewarded with a long and happy employment.
Obviously this was not the case, and it isn't for many people.
In a way, though, I was lucky to have learned this lesson right out of the gate; many people spend their lives working for a company, only to be laid off during tough times or let go because of personality conflicts with new management. No amount of dedicated work can change the economy or stop someone from being an asshole. You have to cover all your bases.
In the years since, while I've continued to be employed full-time at a 9-5 job, I've made a directed and deliberate effort to maintain my professional network, to keep my resume updated, and to continue to pursue things like freelance work and speaking opportunities which add to my professional portfolio.
Not because I expect to get fired anytime soon, but because I want to have control over my own career and the direction that I want my life to take. Part of that requires being prepared to do so.
Because at the end of the day the only person who is truly dedicated to making your career a successful one, is you.
The Do's & Don'ts of "The Approach"
- by Alyson Shane
Recently I had an encounter which really bothered me: I was sent a very generic email from one of those "job board"-type websites; namely one where freelancers can post their profiles and bid on jobs posted by people looking for help.
Generally I don't use these websites, as aggressively bidding for a contract doesn't generally foster the kinds of trustworthy, friendly relationships that I want to establish with my clients (but that's just me). Either way, this wasn't what bothered me enough to write about it.
What set off red flags was that he mentioned seeing my profile on a content marketing website where I've never registered as an active user. I double-checked to make sure that there wasn't a fake Alyson Shane trolling around it's user base and, as I suspected, no such profile existed.
I have no idea why he decided to add this untrue statement to his email, but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way and I sent him a polite reply thanking him for his time and stating that I wasn't interested in using his job board at this time. End of story, right?
Or not.
A few days later I received another email, from someone at a different email address, asking me if I was looking to take on new freelance work. I always am (shameless plug, let's work together!) and I sent back a friendly reply asking about what sort of work he wanted to do together.
The reply I got was something like this:
"It's great that you're looking for new freelance work! Why don't you try posting on our job board at [website name here]?"
After some quick digging I realized that this was a different person associated with the same website that had sent me the weird, generic, obviously-not-researched at all email a few days prior.
This isn't the first time that I've encountered people who approach me this way, and I'm sure it won't be the last, but I wanted to make a quick list of Do's & Don'ts when approaching someone to give you their business, or to collaborate with you in some way, because these simple rules seem to elude some people:
Be shady. Like the example that I outlined at the beginning of this post, it's disrespectful to try and weasel someone into using your service or working on a project with you. Be honest.
Assume you know better. If someone declines to work with you, don't send a snarky reply insinuating that they will be doing their audience or reputation a disservice.
Leave a million messages. If you call and someone is unavailable, leave a short voice mail (or follow-up email) and wait a reasonable amount of time before calling again. 5-6 voice mails in the span of a few hours is unacceptable unless your house is on fire.
Expect people to work for free. Most of the time you can expect to pay for people's services and their time. There are some exceptions to this rule, but they are situational and can be negotiated in the moment. Don't reach out expecting for free work or promotions.
Do your homework. Read their blog, follow them on Twitter, add them on LinkedIn, whatever you feel is necessary to gain an understanding of who they are and what they do.
Be professional. See above. It's not okay to send nasty emails to people just because they didn't give you the response that you were looking for.
Be Clear. People can't help you solve your problems if you can't articulate them. Skip emails full of buzzwords and get straight to who you are, what you do, and what you need.
Be Available. If you've scheduled a specific time to have a phone call or Skype meeting, give some notice if you will be unavailable and, if you can reschedule, make a point to be available at that time. Other people's time is as important as yours, so try to be available when you say you will.
Email whenever possible. This is more of a personal preference, but personally I find that sending an email (or filling out a contact form) is much more respectful of my time and allows me the opportunity to do a bit of research before responding. This way I can be prepared.
See? It's easy! By following some simple rules we can make every interaction a much more respectful and pleasant one!
Do you have Do's or Don'ts to add to this list? I'd love to hear them!
The Influence of Natural Mentions
- by Alyson Shane
Last week I was involved with the #blogchatca on Twitter, and one of the things that we discussed was how brands understand what you do. Namely, whether or not they "get" your personal brand.
Since my tweet (pictured above) I've been thinking about how my personal brand is perceived online, and how people know that I'm the sort of person that they want to work with beyond just my About Me page.
The answer is simple: natural mentions. The more positive mentions there are of you online, the more readily people will accept these statements to be true. These can come in the form of recommendations, references to you and a specific thing you did or said, or calls to action (eg: "@cindylouwho, your article about XYZ was so insightful. Everyone should read it!")
Natural mentions benefit you and your brand in several ways:
Social Exposure
The more people talking about you, the more relevant you seem. This is marketing 101, but exposure is hyper competitive online and the best way to engage (and control) your exposure is to participate and shape the conversations that you want to be a part of. By giving people specific reasons to mention you in a natural, positive way, you're subtly reinforcing the overall perception of yourself online.
This leads me to my next point:
Opening Doors to New Conversations
By participating in conversations online you're showing your audience and potential customers that you genuinely care about them and their opinions beyond just what you have to offer them. By doing this, you're giving them a reason to respond to you, care about what you have to say, and to endorse you in the future.
For example, most of the conversations that I have online have nothing to do with my personal brand or my work. Most of it is fluffy, lighthearted, and funny. Sure, I participate in online conversations and dedicated Q&A's about content marketing and social media, but by being an actual person online I'm opening myself to be a part of multiple types of conversations, some of which may lead to opportunities to collaborate and many of which paint me (and my work) in a positive light.
Exposure to a Niche Audience
Do you love cat videos? Are you obsessed with shopping for vintage teak furniture? Whatever you're into, make a point to post, share and participate in discussions which showcase the fact that you're a well-rounded, actual person, not just a marketer trying to convert everything that you touch into a contract or sale.
Case in point: this blog. I could talk about stuff like content marketing and social media until the cows come home, but I'm also a real person who spends time with her friends, learns new things, has anxieties, and even writes the occasional poem or two.
By showcasing these sides of my personality I seem far less one-dimensional than what people might otherwise assume when reading my words through a computer screen. People respond well to other people, not to bot-like interactions which are over as soon as you hit the 'Send' button on your reply.
Additionally, by exposing yourself to audiences who might not otherwise have been your "target audience" you open yourself up for tons of creative and collaborative opportunities that may have eluded you otherwise!
Create a Trusted Reputation
People want to work with me because they see what other people say about me online. Not just my friends (though I always appreciate their kind words) but people who read and share my posts, or clients who have worked with me and felt it to be a mutually beneficial, positive experience.
Whenever a client shares work I've done, or my editor from The Spill Magazine gives me a shout-out on Twitter, these things reinforce that I'm a reliable, hardworking and trustworthy person. They don't have to say it in so many words, but multiple people making general, positive statements increases the odds that someone will see it, and adds to the voices singing your praises online.
In an age heavily reliant on reviews and over-Googling, the more times and places your name comes up in an informal, positive way, the better.
SEO Ranking
This goes without saying: the more people talking about your work and linking to it, the easier it is for people to find you. If nobody's talking about you, nobody will find you and nobody will be able to engage with you because they won't know that you exist.
I'll level with you: getting people to naturally discuss you and your work takes a lot of time, dedication and effort. You have to consider not just why you want people to talk about your work, but why they want to, as well.
To My Family, Who Read This Blog
- by Alyson Shane
I know you're there.
I've been told by a few of you on a couple of occasions that you intermittently read what I post here. That it upsets you. That you don't understand why I do any of this.
That's okay. I don't expect you to.
Because I'm not like any of you. I'm a writer. I find solace in the curves of words, in their permanence, in what is left unsaid between the paragraphs. Some people find comfort in a bottle, or the arms of a lover, but I find it in words.
I don't know how I turned out this way. How I grew up to be such a demonstrably different person than I was ever told, encouraged, expected to be.
But I'm thankful for it.
I'm thankful that I am learning to handle my anxieties and issues in positive, healthy ways; I'm thankful that I have people around me who support me; I'm thankful that I have this blog, my little corner of the internet, where I can pour out my heart and soul and thoughts when they overwhelm me.
I want you to know that I'm working on learning to accept that you can't and won't be the people that I so desperately need you to be. It's hard, but it's something that I will need to work on coming to terms with. If I spend my whole life expecting you to change then I'll never be happy.
The only person whose growth I can control is my own, and I'm doing my best.
Part of that includes writing here. Of being honest about my struggles and challenges, and the steps that I'm taking to overcome them.
Lots of people go through similar situations, and if my words are able to help a single person feel like they're not alone, or encourages them to get the help that they need, then I have a responsibility as a writer to put myself out here. Even if it means upsetting you.
As I said: I don't expect you to understand.
I do expect you to continue to ignore me; to continue to pretend like nothing is wrong and I'm just delusional or making up the fact that I have anxiety or issues with trust, confidence and self-worth. I expect you to continue to deny your roles in causing these issues, to continue to keep me at arm's length because it's easier to ignore me than it is to face the things about yourselves that make you uncomfortable.
But I know you read this blog. So I'm telling you that it's okay.
I forgive you.
(At least, I'm working on it.)


text:
© ChildForum
Although a necessity, engaging in research and maintaining currency in one's knowledge base is fast becoming a luxury for tertiary educators with high demands on their time for teaching and shrinking department budgets.
However, early childhood staff at the Manukau Institute of Technology are successfully navigating around the obstacles.
MIT has been represented at every NZ Early Childhood Research Conference since its inception in Auckland in 1997. The MIT early childhood staff come across as a vibrant team with a particular message to convey: they might be perceived as underdogs in the tertiary sector because they are located in Manukau and MIT is not a traditional university but they are reaching high.
At the ChildForum organised research conference held in January in Wellington, twelve staff members attended, four of whom made presentations at the event.
The conference brought together academics from tertiary institutions, including the Manukau Institute of Technology, and officials from the ECE public and private sectors and the Ministry of Education, to discuss and deliberate on research relevant to the effectiveness of teaching, assessment, and early childhood care, health and education in general.
The participants play a big role in contributing to and disseminating research and such conferences help them exchange ideas and information to benefit children, their teachers, and the ECE sector
"It is a quality conference and we would like to see it continued. It's something we have encouraged staff to attend and we look more favourably on our staff going to NZ-based childhood conferences. We do have staff attending overseas ones but we feel it is really important to support an NZ-based conference," Dr Lindy Austin, head of MIT's education school says.
She says the conference programme and presentations are intelligently laid out and MIT staff participate in it and get their work published in the NZ Research in Early Childhood Education Journal as well.
The MIT's journey towards teacher education in ECE has been a less traditional route since the early 1990s as it is a polytechnic and thus a vocational institute.
The institute's School of Education provides education for people to work in early childhood education and care although research was not a big focus in its early years, Ms Lin Howie, principal lecturer, says.
"It was a very practical hands-on approach supporting teachers and over the years we moved into offering a bachelor's degree in teacher education.
"Once you offer a degree, then the onus is on the institute to support their lecturers to become researchers because the programme itself has to be guided by research."
Ms Howie says that MIT always had a professional development budget for lecturers but with scarce resources, limits had to be placed on who could actually go to conferences – so preference was given to those who were making presentations.
Ms Howie, who with Dr Bill Hagan, has been to most of the ChildForum conferences sees the events as a collaborative and easy place where "we have got practitioners, where we have got beginning researchers and other people who are more experienced attending".
She, however, emphasises a particular difference between ChildForum's conferences and other conferences.
"At this conference a journal comes out of the proceedings and ChildForum is an ongoing activity that people can participate in, find out information or to add in information all through the year. So it is a different type of organisation which makes it far more powerful in lots of ways."
ChildForum has been in the forefront of disseminating research in early childhood education and care, putting researchers in touch with each other, and very supportive for practitioners seeking specialised and unbiased support, the staff say.
Research has always been at the forefront of any tertiary institution and Dr Bill Hagan (principal lecturer, research) finds the conference a big opportunity to present MIT staff's work and get them published as well.
Dr Hagan says MIT has its own annual early childhood research symposium, but attending ChildForum conferences help support that research.
"We often support people to attend the conference first and to present their own work and to get them published – it's a great opportunity for us."
Sharon Alderson, MITs project manager for professional development says "we are out every day engaging with teachers and services and we need to know the up-to-date research that has been done and coming to a forum like this with a New Zealand-focused research is really relevant to the teachers with whom we are working".
As part of a contract with the Ministry of Education, Ms Alderson finds it ideal to tap into ChildForum's online resources, including the weekly newsletter with ECE updates, and continue attending such conferences.
The conference gives an added opportunity for the MIT staff team to debate and reflect and take that information back to the community it is working with.


text:
Why Last Night's Cavs Comeback Should Scare The Rest of The NBA
By: Alex Marcheschi
Last night the Cavs came back from a 26 point deficit to beat the Pacers in Indianapolis, it was the biggest comeback in NBA playoff history. LeBron asserted his dominance and reminded the globe that he is still the greatest basketball player on the planet as he hung a filthy 41 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists on Paul George, an all-NBA defender, and Thad Young, who had fear in his eyes the entire night. Young looked like a western movie character tied to the train tracks for the entire second half, he knew a train was coming and there was nothing he could do about it.
The comeback was huge for the Cavs psyche, they got torched on defense in the first half, but then locked Indy down in the second half, holding them to a mere 40 points. That type of performance carries enough weight to ride out for the rest of the playoffs, when you realize that you can hold a team with a top 10 player in the league to 40 points in a half, that essentially kills any idea that you stink at defense.
LeBron passed Kobe for the third most three pointers made in playoff history in the game last night, and he was on his Chris Kyle for the entire second half. He was splashing his signature threes that appear as if they drop straight from heaven and swiftly rattle off the back iron through the net in the third and fourth quarters. Here he is giving poor Thad Young that work:
The game was also huge for Ty Lue's confidence, he made some great personnel decisions and drew up some amazing plays. The Cavs opened the second half with guns blazing and they began to gel with a lineup that featured Deron Williams, Kyle Korver and Channing Frye, and Lue rode it out. Kyrie and Kevin Love didn't step foot on the court for the entire fourth quarter.
Also, Channing Frye reminded people that he is one of the most underrated role players in the NBA. He hit a few enormous threes, this one being the most impressive:
I had a bunch of sheep Warriors fans calling me an idiot on Reddit for saying that Frye is a world-class shooter before the playoffs started, and last night I was sitting back watching my boy ball out with a steamy cup of sleepy time tea.
It's time for everyone to finally accept that there are two different Cavs teams: the regular season Cavs and the playoff Cavs. That is not debatable, it is a fact, set it in stone. Last night officially launched the playoff Cavs into orbit. No one in the East has a chance and whoever comes out of the West had to have been watching that game clutching their childhood blanky stress-eating an entire sleeve of Chips Ahoy.


text:
A few weeks ago I was looking for a desk and hit the local Craigslist on Saturday morning. As luck would have it I found just what I was looking for from a gentleman about 30 minutes away in Fort Worth.
After a little price negotiation we settled and decided I'd pick it up on Sunday.
When the time came I made the half hour drive to get it anxious to get back and get it assembled. I found the location after a couple of detours (and a speeding ticket), and the gentleman selling it was in the yard waiting for me.
After quickly inspecting the desk I asked him what kind of work he did (he's in the pharmaceutical business) and made other small talk. Then he asked what I did and I handed him a business card (always have them handy) and asked him who at his company handled hiring speakers and trainers.
He gave me the name and said, "Wow, we bring in trainers all the time, can I keep your card?"
Uh, yeah!
This all took a grand total of about five minutes, but my point is this: never miss an opportunity to make a new contact.
Will I ever get to see the person I need to at his company? Who knows?
Will they every hire me to speak or train? I have no idea.
Here's what I do know: Had I not started that conversation, I wouldn't have known what line of work he was in and he probably wouldn't have asked about me and I would've had a zero percent chance of doing some work with his company.
Even though I was out on a Sunday afternoon to pick up a desk from Craigslist, I managed to turn it into a potential sales conversation. Was I pushy? No. Was I out of line? Absolutely not. I simply asked what he did and he asked what I did.
We made a connection and I found a prospect.
How many are you missing every single day? How many opportunities pass right under your nose?
Start noticing them. They're everywhere…even on Craigslist.


text:
- "You should become a politician."
"I'm already a banker, and that's much more vile."
- ―Dooku and Pors Tonith
Pors Tonith was a male Muun from the planet Muunilinst who served as admiral of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars.
Biography[edit | edit source]
A member of the Tonith family, he had originally been a financier before entering military service.
He was the leader of the Separatist force attacking Praesitlyn, a vital communications center for Coruscant and several others of the Core Worlds.
Tonith landed a massive force that quickly overwhelmed the local defenses. The planet remained in Separatist hands until a counterattack by the reinforced Republic forces, led by Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Nejaa Halcyon.
Pors Tonith was a great believer in his own military genius and his position as a "favored minion" of Count Dooku, although some of this may have been hubris on the part of the Muun. That said, he did seem to have shown a high degree of tactical ability, destroying the planet's garrison by engaging it with an advance force before landing the main body of his troops behind them, catching them between his two contingents and almost completely wiping them out. He showed somewhat less finesse in dealing with a force of Sons and Daughters of Freedom, overrunning their position through sheer weight of numbers, though it should be noted that he was directly ordered to do so by Dooku—an order which he protested against at the time. Although this attack caused his forces to take severe casualties, he was nevertheless able to effectively face the clone trooper counterattack, using a mobile reserve of tank droids and underground bunkers to shield his droids from artillery.
Despite all his careful planning, Pors Tonith's one fatal mistake was having the hostages close to the command center. He was eventually captured by Anakin Skywalker in an assault which, by all rights, should have been suicidal, after the Muun prepared to eliminate his hostages.
Personality and traits[edit | edit source]
Despite his limited military experience prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Pors Tonith proved to be a skilled strategist and tactician. However, he frequently expressed overconfidence about his talents as a commander, regarding himself as a superior battlefield leader to General Grievous and underestimating Anakin Skywalker's resolve in their final confrontation.
Tonith also had an affection for dianogan tea, and his fondness for the drink left him with stained purple teeth.
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Darth Plagueis
- Jedi Trial (First appearance)


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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Subaru is recalling more than 100,000 of its top-selling models in the U.S. because a turbocharger air pump can run continuously, overheat and could cause fires.
The recall covers certain 2007 to 2009 Legacy and Outback vehicles, some 2008 to 2014 Imprezas and certain 2009 to 2013 Foresters. All the cars and SUVs have turbocharged engines. Subaru says in government documents that a relay controlling a secondary air injection pump can fail, causing the pump to run continuously. If it overheats, it can melt and catch fire.
The company reported two fires in government documents but did not list any injuries.
Dealers will replace the relay at no cost to owners. Subaru doesn't have a schedule yet for the recall to begin.
© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Tag: Sunrise
The Most Romantic Place I've Ever Been – St Andrews, Scotland
Posted on February 22nd, by Peter Parkorr in Britain, Scotland, Video Adventures. 16 comments
I've been to my fair share of romantic places. From wandering the cobbled streets of Paris, to hot chocolate at sunset on the top of California's Big Sur, and drinking Champagne cocktails on the 35th floor of a quiet candle lit bar in Tokyo. Still, I've never really felt the location was anything more than just a backdrop to the company.…


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Negotiations 'almost complete' on Poland's buy of 32 F-35s, defense minister says
23 Jan 2020 Jaroslaw Adamowski
"WARSAW, Poland — Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Jan. 22 that next week Poland "will finalize the deal on the purchase of F-35" Lightning II fighter jets. The negotiations to buy 32 aircraft from the U.S. "are almost complete" and "the first units will be ready [for delivery] in 2024," Blaszczak told local broadcaster Polish Radio....
...The defense minister did not disclose the final value of the procurement. Last September, Following the State Department's approval of the potential sale for an estimated $6.5 billion, Blaszczak said his ministry hoped to obtain a preferential price tag for the aircraft, similarly to Warsaw's acquisition of Patriot missiles from Raytheon.
To reduce the fighters' price tag, the defence ministry has reportedly decided not to sign an offset agreement with the U.S. side. Sources close to the deal told daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna that the final contract could be worth about $4 billion, including logistics and training."
Source: https://www.defensenews.com/global/euro ... ster-says/
A4G Skyhawk: www.faaaa.asn.au/spazsinbad-a4g/ & www.youtube.com/channel/UCwqC_s6gcCVvG7NOge3qfAQ/videos?view_as=subscriber


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Troubleshooting Problems of Lights Dimming When a Heating Appliance Is Switched On
It is normal for the lights to dim when an appliance that uses a lot of electricity is turned on. There are situations when dimming lights are caused by a correctable problem. Before you attempt to troubleshoot the problem, make sure the problem only occurs when a specific appliance is operating. Erratic dimming is a different problem, which could indicate a potentially serious situation. If you believe you have isolated the problem, hire an electrician to help devise a solution.
Voltage Drop
The current draw of a heating appliance can cause some instances of lights dimming. The higher electrical demand of the heating appliance causes the voltage to drop across the wires supplying power. The lights dim because there is less available voltage. This often happens in older houses where a space heater is plugged into an outlet sharing a circuit with lights. Try plugging the heater into an outlet on a different circuit then running it. An electrician can help you identify which outlets are sharing power with the lights.
Motor-Driven Appliances
Motor-driven appliances, such as heat pumps, draw a large amount of current upon start up. There is a large amount of friction and inertia that must be overcome to put the motor in motion. The electrical current required to start the motor is known as locked rotor amps (LRA), and it can be very large compared to the running amperage of the unit. The lights will dim for a brief second at the same moment when the motor starts, then return to their normal brightness. To help prevent this problem, each major appliances should be on its own dedicated circuit.
Electrical Service
Some older homes have small electrical services, such as 60 amps. Some homes also may have only one phase or leg, meaning only 120 volts of power are available, and all the power is on the same phase. Electric heating appliances easily can overload systems of this size, even if the lights and the appliance are on different circuits. The solution is to hire an electrician to evaluate and upgrade the home electrical system.
Failing Appliances
If your lights are on their own circuit, and the problem is caused by an appliance on a dedicated circuit, the problem could be the appliance. The LRA or operating amps of the appliance may be well beyond their normal amperage because one of the appliance components is failing. A bad start capacitor is one example of a part that can fail and cause the appliance to pull a higher than normal amount of amps. Blower motors also can pull too many amps when they start to fail. Hire an HVAC professional to evaluate your system.
Photo Credits
- Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images


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Firms 'at risk on insurance cover'
New research has shown that more than a third of UK small or medium enterprises (SMEs) could be putting their business at risk by failing to insure their key staff.
The latest RSM Tenon Business Barometer, a quarterly survey carried out by YouGov amongst senior management in SMEs, found that 42 per cent had failed to insure key staff.
Nick Courtney from RSM Tenon said: "Most business owners will insure their company against flood and fire, but many do not think about the huge impact of losing highly skilled staff.
'We have also seen cases where a business partner dies and their interest in the company passes to their spouse. Companies need to consider that where that happens, they may not be in a financial position to buy back the interest in their business. Insuring against this could help to give business owners peace of mind about the long-term future of their company."
SMEs are more likely to feel the impact of the loss of a key employee as they will have fewer people and resources to draw on.
For more information, contact Baines Jewitt on 01642 632032


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Andrew Newman
Andrew Newman has followed his deep longing for connection and his love of all things spiritual in a 10-year study of healing. His portfolio of work includes running a therapy practice as a Barbara Brennan Healing Science Practitioner, inspiring and publishing over 1500 donated poems as the PoemCatcher, volunteer coordination for Habitat for Humanity in the townships of South Africa and directing Edinburgh's Festival of Spirituality and Peace. He is a qualified Non-Dual Kabbalistic Healer and has been actively involved in men's work through the Mankind Project since 2006. His latest project, The Conscious Bedtime Story Club, is a culmination of all of these areas of experience, intended to bring parent and child into deeper connection and spiritual union with each other. Learn more at www.consciousstories.com and reach out to Andrew at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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3rd IEEE METRICS 1996: Berlin, Germany
- 3rd IEEE International Software Metrics Symposium (METRICS 1996), From Measurement to Empirical Results, March 25-26, 1996, Berlin, Germany. IEEE Computer Society 1996, ISBN 0-8186-7364-8
Theoretical Foundations
- Boris I. Cogan, Robin B. Hunter:
Language-based approaches to software measurement. 3-9
- Günther Ruhe:
Rough Set Based Data Analysis in Goal Oriented Software Measurement. 10-19
- Franck Xia:
An Information Coding Based Data Complexity Model. 20-
Experience Reports
- Alfred Bröckers, Christiane M. Differding, Günter Threin:
The Role of Software Process Modeling in Planning Industrial Measurement Programs. 31-40
- John C. Munson, Darrell S. Werries:
Measuring software evolution. 41-51
- Giuseppe Visaggio:
Quality Improvement in an Immature Software Industry. 52-
Object-Oriented Metrics
- Jean Mayrand, Francois Guay, Ettore Merlo:
Inheritance Graph Assessment Using Metrics. 54-63
- Karin Erni, Claus Lewerentz:
Applying design-metrics to object-oriented frameworks. 64-74
- Horst Zuse:
Foundations of object-oriented software measures. 75-
Empirical Studies
- Fernando Brito e Abreu, Walcélio L. Melo:
Evaluating the Impact of Object-Oriented Design on Software Quality. 90-99
- Patricia McCarthy, Adam A. Porter, Harvey P. Siy, Lawrence G. Votta:
An experiment to assess cost-benefits of inspection meetings and their alternatives: a pilot study. 100-111
- Lutz Prechelt, Walter F. Tichy:
An Experiment to Assess the Benefits of Inter-Module Type Checking. 112-
Software Reliability
- Tsuneo Furuyama:
Parameter Estimation of the Manifold Growth Model Using Z-graph. 121-132
- Mei-Hwa Chen, Michael R. Lyu, W. Eric Wong:
An empirical study of the correlation between code coverage and reliability estimation. 133-141
- Norman F. Schneidewind:
Reliability and Risk Analysis for Software that Must be Safe. 142-
- Charles Anderson, Anneliese von Mayrhauser, Tom Chen:
Assessing Neural Networks as Guides for Testing Activities. 155-165
- R. Lo, Richard Webby, D. Ross Jeffery:
Sizing and Estimating the Coding and Unit Testing Effort for GUI Systems. 166-173
- Christof Ebert:
Evaluation and Application of Complexity-Based Criticality Models. 174-
- Adam A. Porter:
"What Makes Inspections Work?" Understanding How and Why Different Inspection Methods Impact Effectiveness and Cost. 187-
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Building upon last year's hugely impactful campaign about making South African's hard-earned money work for them, 'Trust Every Day' looks back over the past 25 years through the lens of a South African family. It is a highly charged emotional story of how, no matter the circumstance, we push on and achieve as individuals and a nation. The timeline mirrors that of Coronation, who first opened in 1993, their history proudly interwoven with the rich tapestry of South Africa over these tumultuous times.
The campaign breaks down the last 25 years into days that shook South Africa and the world. It tells the story of how, through it all, Coronation has worked to earn South Africa's trust.
With the world experiencing what cultural experts have termed 'a crisis of trust' and, in the world of finance specifically, an increasing demand from consumers for greater accessibility and transparency, South Africans have lost trust in institutions, says BBDO South Africa Group CEO, Boniswa Pezisa. "The 'Trust Every Day' campaign takes Coronation out of a category that's saturated with institutional story-telling, and offers a more human, empathetic point of view."
"Right now, our country's belief in better is being fed by a bristling optimism," says Pezisa. "But, as easy as it is to be positive today, the test lies in having been positive yesterday, and committing to positivity again tomorrow. Coronation's commitment is steadfast. The firm's commitment to South Africa and its people, and the resulting trust-based relationships it has formed with its clients, is a story that very few companies can tell."
According to Wendy Bergsteedt, Coronation Marketing Director, "2018 marks Coronation's 25th anniversary as a proudly South African company, but it wasn't simply about looking back. We wanted to empathise with South Africans going forward – to connect with a creative idea that celebrates this milestone, entrenching our ethos of trust while building on our prior campaign's deep understanding of just how hard our clients work for their money."
Every day is a good day to earn your trust, is the idea at the heart of the campaign.
According to copywriter, Alex Ingarfield, "It was key to build upon the successes of the previous campaign, so there was a very clear logic – From the day Coronation started 25 years ago, through the highs and the lows, Coronation works every day to earn your trust and make your money work for you."
Beautifully observed and nuanced by one of South Africa's most talented and passionate filmmakers, director Sunu Gonera of Egg Films, the TV ad takes the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster. From incredible days like the first democratic election, the roar of vuvuzelas at the World Cup, ratings agency upgrades, unbelievable triumphs at the Olympics, and all the other days that made us proud, optimistic South Africans, to the days we would rather forget like the 2008 financial crash, global recession, currency in freefall, downgrades and more.
It's quite a thing reflects Mike Schalit, Creative Chief and co- founder of Net#work BBDO, to remind South Africans of where we've been. "To think we even started our agency in those crazy times and look where we are today, as people and as a country. When one looks back over the ups and downs of the last 25 years, it's a timely reminder about perspective, that actually every day, no matter the day, is an opportunity. Especially in this case from an investment point of view."
Talk about a history inextricably linked to that of our country as we once again ride a wave of optimism, the campaign broke this week. See the link to the TV on http://bit.ly/2F7wPIS


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Follow @mayorNHL
Enjoy a free replay of John Hoven on Sportsnet Radio, where he joined host Will Nault to tee up the Kings-Flames game, as well as discuss the latest updates on Jonathan Quick's injury, Willie Desjardins as coach, Ilya Kovalchuk fitting in with the LA Kings, and Adam Oates joining the organization as a consultant. […]
Kings-Flames Preview: Exploring Quick Injury, Kovalchuk Fitting In, and Adam Oates
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TSN RADIO REPLAY: Hoven on Stevens, Desjardins, Quenneville, and Putting it All Together
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Enjoy a free replay of John Hoven on TSN Radio, where he joined host Kevin Olszewski to do a deep dive on the LA Kings coaching situation. Was the timing of John Stevens termination a surprise? How did Willie Desjardins get the interim gig? Is Joel Quenneville a possible fit for LA? Did Ilya […]
NHL RADIO REPLAY: Mayor's Minutes on LA Kings Day 1 with Desjardins
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Enjoy a free replay of this week's Mayor's Minutes on NHL Network Radio, where John Hoven joined host Jim 'Boomer' Gordon following the LA Kings first practice under new head coach Willie Desjardins. Was this the right move, why now, and how did it all come together… and what might be next?
NHL RADIO REPLAY: Hoven's Opinion on John Stevens' Future as :LA Kings Coach
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Enjoy a free replay of today's segment on NHL Network Radio, where John Hoven joined host Jonathan Davis to break down several news items surrounding the LA Kings – the conversation included John Stevens status behind the bench, possible trades coming, Matt Luff making his NHL debut, what Dustin Brown really means to the […]
NHL RADIO REPLAY: Hoven on Kings Coaching, Lines, and Rookies
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Enjoy a free replay of John Hoven on NHL Network Radio, where he joined hosts Dennis Bernstein and Dave Pagnotta to talk all things LA Kings – including hot rookie Jaret Anderson-Dolan, young Austin Wager, suggestions for line combinations, John Stevens' powerplay, Ilya Kovalchuk, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, and more.
Today's radio […]
LA Kings Opening Night Roster: Final Decisions Made, This Is It
With the Kings idle, waiting to roll into Opening Night this coming Friday, there isn't much going on.
Actually, it was a little challenging to type that sentence with a straight face. Truth is, not much has gone right in Los Angeles during preseason and things are a bit challenging at the moment.
Forget the […]
Stevens on Kings Catapulting into Analytics Pool
Analytics has been the uber-hot buzzword in hockey circles over the past few years. It's practically become an all-encompassing term referring to any numbers and data sharing even a tangential relationship to what happens on the ice.
However, some of the data being captured by teams extends Beyond just what happens during a game. In […]
Stevens on Dimming Doughty's Fire and Pairing Him With Brickley
Coming off of signing a big contract extension this summer, defenseman Drew Doughty continues to take on a greater role within the LA Kings organization. As training camp rolls along in preparation for the 2018-19 season, Coach John Stevens shared the following related to his perennial Norris Trophy candidate…
On if he would like to see […]
John Stevens on Carter, Brodzinski, and Etem
Select quotes from coach John Stevens after opening day of LA Kings Training Camp:
On how much time off he had this summer:
"We were pretty busy right up to the end of development camp. After development camp I spent a couple weeks with my family, they come over the Fourth of July. It sounds crazy, […]
Kings of the Roundtable 2018 – Episode 1, Blake and Stevens
Guess what? We're back!
By popular demand, Kings of the Roundtable has returned to kick of the 2018-19 hockey season. Once again, MayorsManor and The Fourth Period have partnered to bring you an in-depth look at the Kings, both on and off the ice. We'll debate why certain moves happened this summer, as well as address […]


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An Australian explorer and TV host has gone where no American has gone before: Driving 16,000 miles around the United States on two dozen vehicles powered not by fossil fuel but by alternative energy -- from solar power to cow pies.
Shaun Murphy crossed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge last Friday after having driven, ridden, flown and canoed his way without stopping at a gas or diesel station.
"The cool thing is most of the fuel we've used is being produced today on American farms," Murphy said in marking his journey's end. "I never paid a cent for fuel but I've had to barter for it. Along the way I've milked a few cows, caught a few fish and washed a few dishes in return for fuel."
Murphy's "eco-trek" took him from San Francisco to the Canadian border, across the Rockies to the Great Lakes, on to New York, south to Florida, then across the South and back to San Francisco.
Trip ends in Hummer limo
The fuel included wind and solar power, but also cow pies, garbage, crawfish, corn whiskey and cooking oil.
Video: Among the 28 vehicles he used were an electric motorcycle, a pickup truck powered by soybean oil and a jet turbine, a solar-powered canoe, and a plane powered by corn whiskey, or ethanol as farmers like to call it.
Murphy even capped off the trip, which took nine months and covered 30 states, in style: by driving a 32-foot H1 Hummer limo powered by a potpourri of energy sources.
Team engineer and limo owner Russel Gehrke says Murphy wanted to "incorporate every fuel he used when he started."
Ethanol and soybean oil, also known as biodiesel, were burned in the engine, while solid organic matter was mixed with ethanol in a blender and then poured into a "gasifier" where hydrocarbon gases were captured to help fuel the vehicle.
The solid matter included dog food, beans, stale cookies and left over sandwiches.
Fuel smoothie used
The gasifier, Gehrke says, "allows the biodiesel to last longer," increasing the mileage to 12-15 miles per gallon while maintaining a top speed of 75 mph.
"Think of it as a supplement," he says of the fuel smoothie. "Five or six pounds of it go into a tank, and it only comes into play on the highway when temperatures go up."
In addition, heat from the exhaust is used to power the gasifier, creating what Gehrke calls a "closed loop" system.
Ten solar panels atop the limo's roof make electricity, which charges the battery pack and helps power a system that produces hydrogen. The hydrogen is added to the engine to reduce emissions and improve performance.
Beignets and crawfish
Earlier in the trip, Murphy drove an H2 Hummer with a similar system. "We fed the Hummer beignets in New Orleans, then crawfish, Pop Tarts, and leftover Cajun food. We added soybean oil to power us all the way across Louisiana to Texas," said Murphy.
In an online log, Murphy wrote that the goal with the Hummer was "to turn the biggest gas guzzler on the road into a cool-fuel vehicle purring along without gas or diesel."
The H2 also had its own gasifier. "We mixed dog food with old cookies and baked beans, along with some corn whiskey and pumped it through to the engine," Murphy wrote. "We now have a 3 mile to the gallon gas guzzler steamin' along at around 12-15 mpg."
Having worked in Australian television, Murphy took along a crew to film his trip and hopes to sell his adventure to a cable network.
Murphy has logged stories, photos and video of his journey online at www.ecotrekker.com.
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


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This book is your key to unlocking the benefits of a health ministry in your church. It shares the biblical support behind the Seventh-day Adventist Church's health message and outlines a holistic view of health. Discover useful steps to optimize your health, tips for teaching these steps to others, and ideas for planning and promoting your ministry. This book is a must-read for all health and personal ministries leaders.
Get your FREE copy today!


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Celebrate the Summer Solstice in a guided meditation, with sound healing!
Allow the beautiful vibrations of TWELVE chakra-tuned crystal and metal singing bowls, along with the tremendous healing power of NINE planetary gongs (Earth, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Sun) to release long-held stress and tension.
Bring a yoga mat to lie down (as space allows), or sit in one of our chairs–whichever you choose. Relax, and emerge revitalized from the journey of a sound bath experience. Many report feeling as if they have just had a massage, after a SOUND HEALING SESSION.
$25, per person
Space is limited to 18 people, and these events often sell out. Reserve your spot, with advance payment!
contact Eloia at firstname.lastname@example.com for other payment options.
Workshop fees are non-refundable but may be applied, once, to a similar workshop within 6-months of the original date, is requested at least 24-hours in advance.


text: MONROVIA, Calif., Sept. 8, 2010 — Miyachi Unitek Corp. has released the LMF3500-HP, a high-power addition to its LMF family of ytterbium fiber laser markers. It provides enhanced performance for deep metal engraving applications, high-speed large-area marking, and fast, high-quality marking of hard coated metals. It offers 35 W of power at the workpiece, with 21-kW, 1.3-mJ pulse energy and a flattop power profile. Suitable for deep engraving, the laser marker can mark up to and beyond 0.51 mm deep on steels, aluminum, copper, brass, graphite and tool steels. It is frequently used to replace lamp-pumped YAG 50- to 100-W systems, which can experience significant repair downtime, chiller expenses and shortage of parts. The new model joins the existing LMF1000 and LMF2000 models, known for their ability to make high-contrast marks on metals and plastics. The LMF series offers high beam quality and high peak power, which maximize speed and depth. Featuring a compact, air-cooled, robust design, the series offers PC, touch-screen, stand-alone or pendant operation, rotary and X-Y-Z motion options.


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- Home
- School Life
- Awards
Special Achievements at NPS!
Lexia Superstars!
Pupil Of the Month and Principal's Special Awards
This is a page that everyone in our school wants to be on.
Each month a class teacher chooses someone who deserves the title of Pupil of the Month and Mrs McCann chooses someone that she thinks deserves the very prestigious Principal's Award!
The best part of winning these awards is getting to have afternoon tea with our principal Mrs McCann!
During afternoon tea you get LOADS of special treats and you get to chat to Mrs McCann about how to improve our school!
Newcastle Primary School
17A Shimna Road, Newcastle
Co.Down BT33 0AS
(028) 43 722559
WEBSITE BY: SCHOOLWEBDESIGN.NET | Login


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Home / Home Furnishing & Décor / 'Double Happiness' Cushion Cover - 45 x 45 cm
'Double Happiness' Cushion Cover - 45 x 45 cm
The 'Double Happiness' symbol is one of the most enduring motifs. It is a symbol representing many celebratory occasions such as weddings and birthdays and is a treasured symbol in Chinese culture.
Add a bit of Hong Kong fun with a lot of colour to your living area or bedroom. GOD's signature print cushion covers can be mixed and matched to add a bright centrepiece on a plain colour sofa or bedspread.
Size: 45 (h) x 45 (w) cm
Material: 100% polyester
Filling is sold separately
*Please allow 1-3 cm error due to manual measurement.