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In a couple of months' time it'll be two years since I started blogging in earnest. Why did I start? Something to do? Something to reinforce my fading memory? Something to connect to other people?
The web is full of reasons for starting a blog. In my opinion, the best ones are given at:
Reason no. 8 in this list "To help inspire other people" came to my mind's fore yesterday when I received the sad news that a friend, who has a house in Mobbiano and was based in the UK, passed away on Christmas Eve.
The news came via an email from his son who added:
"……On a personal note, I have immensely enjoyed your blog this year and your love of the area and its people. You have inspired me to carry on with the house whereas I probably wouldn't have ….. So thanks for that – please keep on inspiring people!….."
I felt so glad that T.'s house in Mobbiano would now have continuity through the same family and that, in a small way, I'd helped to achieve this.
I fondly remember T, who was an antiques book dealer, lending me the first book on the history of Bagni di Lucca I'd ever read when I arrived here in 2005. From 2006 to 2011 T. was a regular summer visitor to Mobbiano, Longoio "twin" village. The house where he stayed with his wife S. was particularly delightful. With its white painted frames it must have been the only house in the Lucchesia whose windows opened outwards rather than inwards. This was because it was such a tiny, but supremely delightful place, that too much room would have been taken up if they had opened inwards!
I am sure that my friend's son won't mind if I publish this photograph of his father on the last visit he was able to make to our part of the world in August 2011 when T came down to our field for a lunch al-fresco:
I am now always prepared for deaths in winter. It's this cruel season which for me has taken away some of the best people I've known. Adieu T. It's been great to have met you and we will all miss you very much!


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Mountain Operations and Ski Patrol make every effort to open sections of the mountain with the safety of our guests in mind. Skiing is an inherently dangerous sport and part of that danger includes avalanches.
While snow safety and avalanche mitigation efforts help reduce the risk of avalanches, they may still occur at ski areas, both inside and outside of the posted boundaries. Educate yourself on how to reduce the risk of injury or death from avalanches through your own actions and awareness. Learn more from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

subset: commoncrawl


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Since we got screwed by our stairs contractor, we had to come up with our own stair treads. I ordered material from a mill in the mountains, but I chose to finish the material myself. It ended up taking three full days. I had to cut the material to length, plane it smooth and to thickness, sand it smooth, and then mount it. Fortunately the 12″ ( 30cm) treads fit in my planer so I was able to make at least two sides smooth. Then I sanded the other two sides which wasn't hard until my belt sander started smoking and almost started on fire. I ended up using my random orbital sander to finish up the surfaces and the my router to round over the edges. In the end I think we got a great staircase at fraction of the cost of retail staircase with similar features. Take a look…
Category: Building Green
Some techniques for making your house as "green" as possible.
We're getting close to having our stairs complete.
After all this is more sanding. Fun.
Evaporative (Swamp) Cooler
We got our evaporative cooler (also known as a swamp cooler) installed over the weekend and it passed inspection today. This is great to get our cooling completed. We knew we didn't want central air conditioning mainly because we have in-floor radiant heat and no ducts in the house. In addition, central air wouldn't really work with our house. Central air takes hours to drop the house temperature a single degree. And then when you get the house cooled down, you have to leave it closed up. Well, with our 15-foot wide door open in the kitchen, we figured A/C wouldn't work very well. So we opted for a swamp cooler. But it's hard to get people to install a swamp cooler because they don't make much money on it. All the HVAC contractors we talked to wanted to install A/C and didn't seem interested in bothering with a swamp cooler. But, in the end we found a company that agreed to do it for us. And an added bonus is Xcel Energy has a rebate on a whole house evaporative cooler, so we should make out ok.
In the Upper Midwest of the USA, where Amy and I are from, no ones uses an evaporative cooler for the simple reason they don't work up there. An evaporative cooler works by blowing air through a wet filter making the air moist. The moisture in the air then evaporates which uses energy (also known as heat) which actually cools the air. The moist air is also why this is called a swamp cooler by some. The Upper Midwest is too humid for this to work, but in Colorado where the humidity is regularly below 10% in the summer, this works perfectly. To top it off, it is a very energy efficient way to cool because all one is using is a little water for moisture and a little electricity to run a blower. The way the system generally works is the moist air blown into a central room and then an open window allows the air to flow where you want it. In other words, you are SUPPOSED to open the doors and windows with a swamp cooler. We look forward to having you all over for a refreshing summer day in the near future.
Structural Fill
We're a movin' on up… to the top… If you now have the Jefferson's theme stuck in your head, don't blame me.
Finally, we are actually building up. For the past 2 months we've been digging down as much as 15 feet, which included 3 feet of over-excavation. Next we had to drill down 25 feet for our caissons. But this week, we finally started building up. Today they just completed adding 3-4 feet of structural fill to the entire area of our excavation.
In case you are not familiar with why we needed so much structural fill, it's because our land is mostly expansive soil (a.k.a. Bentonite clay soil, for more details on why we had to over-excavate and use caissons, read our post on our soils report). This meant we needed to make special considerations for our basement floors. Without accommodations for the expansive soil, if the soil got wet, it could expand and push the basement floors of our house (and garage) up. We really had two options to counter this possibility. The first option was to build structural floors in the basements. This essentially means there's a crawl space below your basement floor. This is accomplished by over-excavating and then hanging the floor on the walls. Then if the soil beneath the floor moves, it won't push up the floor. As you can imagine, this requires lots of engineering, steel, labor and is a rather expensive option. Our second option was to over-excavate and then fill in that area with structural fill. You then pour the floor directly on the structural fill (3-feet in our case). The structural fill should in theory "absorb" any movement of the soil beneath. This was the option we chose because our soils engineer said it should be sufficient and because it was less expensive.
Long story short, they started trucking in recycled concrete for our structural fill on Tuesday, brought lots more Wednesday, and even more today. I'm guessing they needed to bring in somewhere in excess of 300 cubic feet (230 cubic meters) of fill. Probably more to be honest. There had to be at least 30 dump-trucks full of the stuff. So when we started Tuesday, the caissons were at my waist or chest and now I'm standing on them. I feel pretty confident we've done the right thing, but only time will tell. Next step, forming the walls for the house and garage. I can't imagine what could go wrong there. 🙂
Below are a few pictures and videos of the fill going in. By the way, notice how smokey the view of the mountains is at the end of the first video. That's from a huge forest fire northeast of Colorado Springs about 60 miles away.
Kitchen Design
So we've been thinking about our kitchen design. I designed the kitchen in my first house and I even built my own kitchen cabinets and poured my own concrete counters. I enjoyed the process so much I'm going to do the same thing on this project. My friend Mark, who is currently planning a kitchen remodel of his own, told me about an online program he used to help conceptualize his project. He suggested a website called www.homestyler.com that lets you build a floorplan of your kitchen, add cabinets, counters, walls, windows, etc. and then generate a 3D snapshot or panoramic. So I set out to design our new kitchen.
After many hours of dragging and dropping, I'm at a point where I think I can share. The program isn't perfect. For instance there isn't a good way to draw a kitchen island. But the end result has been pretty helpful to get an idea of what it will look like. You can view the floor-plan and all the pictures by going here. And below is a 3D snapshot the program creates for you. It's pretty cool. This is looking southeast.
Our architect Kevin helped us out by suggesting where things could go. This was a big help because we had some general ideas, but hadn't gone much further than that. And we needed to know where things were going in order to design the rest of the house. We started with a few general ideas. The kitchen and dining room should flow together to an outside space: kitchen, dining room, outside patio. I've always loved the open house designs in Western and South-western homes. When we first started on the plans, we didn't even have land, but we were so anxious that we started designing anyway. We were looking at living in Denver where most of the lots are typically narrow and long east/west rectangles. I wanted the kitchen and living space on the south side of the house to take advantage of passive solar (the sun in the winter). This is difficult with a long narrow lot. There isn't really a lot of room on the sides of the house with a long narrow lot. Then along came the land we ended up buying. It was much larger so didn't have the limitations we had been planning for. And to top it off, we had mountain views to start thinking about. That helped point us in the right direction … literally. So with that start, we've been working on getting the specifics down.
The kitchen is about 16 feet by 11 feet. The dining room is about the same. There is a largish island in between with the sink. On the north wall will be the wall ovens. On the east wall of the kitchen is the refrigerator, cook-top, exhaust hood, and some wall cabinets. The drywall will come down one foot from the ceiling above the wall cabinets. We plan on glass/decorative tile on the wall above the counters and around the hood on this east wall. On the south wall there is a 2 foot wide by 5 1/2 foot tall window that will open. There will be wall cabinets with doors that flip up and a 5 foot wide by 1 foot tall window above them. There will be base cabinets along this south wall (in the kitchen only) as well. The south wall of the dining room has no cabinets, but does have an 8 foot wide by 5 foot tall window with part of it that will open. One of the big features of the house is the west wall of the dining room/kitchen. We decided to go big here. We are planning on having 15 foot wide by 8 foot tall folding door that will allow us to open this entire wall. The doors will fold back against the south edge of this wall. This opening will lead to a 17 foot by 26 foot patio. Another big feature here is the overhangs will be cantilevered 7 feet over the patio. That means we'll have a great covered area with no posts or supports. The main reason for this large overhang was to help shade us from the summer sun in the evenings. Ideally we would not have oriented the house that way, but we just had to take advantage of the views.
Below is the panoramic image we also made at www.homestyler.com. All these pictures just help to get an idea of what the kitchen will look like. The cabinets will be slightly different, the walls will be complete, etc. For instance, the blank wall that you see to the north is the entrance to the living room. I don't think I'll take the time to create that space on this program. The program didn't have a way to add a 15 foot by 8 foot door so I added three 5 foot sliding doors. Just imagine them as one big door.
Things are starting to come together. Now I need to figure out all the dimensions for the cabinets so I can get a materials list started. Building them is going to be fun.
New Construction Windows
One of the many thing we didn't really think about when planning our new house was what kind of windows we would use. When our architect Kevin asked what we wanted, we really didn't know. So we let him put in the windows he suggested and waited to see what we thought. So far we like what he suggested. There is a combination of fixed windows and windows that open for air flow and circulation. We wanted the windows to follow the mid-century modern style. I've always liked the high horizontal windows for several reasons. First of all they provide privacy while still letting in light and secondly with our prairie style roof and big overhangs, there is great protection from direct light in the hotter months. That said, we're only using those windows on the front/northwest and sides of the house where sun exposure is minimal. On the back we've decided to open it up to the southern exposure and mountain views. But still we had to decide on what kind of window to use. We've compensated on the south with 4 foot overhangs and on the west/southwest with 7 foot! overhangs. Should make quite a statement, if the engineering comes in within our budget or course.
As far as the windows that open, there are several types we can choose from including single-hung where one window pane (usually the bottom) moves vertically, double-hung where both the top and bottom panes move vertically, sliders where the window slides horizontally, and casement windows where the window cranks out. My initial instinct was to use double hung windows, but that was probably because my first house had them and I liked their ease of use and having the option to open the top or bottom window pane. The problem is, that type of window works well with a Denver Bungalow made in 1920, but not so much with a more modern house that we are planning on building. The other issue is energy efficiency. When you use either single/double-hung or a slider, the windows have to slide, which opens a place for air to get in (or out). That left casement windows.
Now I've never been a big fan of casement windows. My parents built an addition on the house I grew up in and they put some casement windows in it. I never liked the big cranks and I still don't like them. But the the way they work makes a lot of sense. Instead of a sliding interface with the pane and frame, when the window closes there is a large surface the comes in contact with another large surface which allows a very efficient seal. And the window cranks have gotten a little smaller, fold up, and will only be on the windows that open (obviously). So for now, that's the way we're going. Now that will all depend on the bid we get for windows once the plans are complete. This may all change. We'll keep you posted.
We have just about got our site plan done now. As you can see we have a detached garage and the main house that are 12 feet apart on this plan. We're thinking of moving the house up 2 feet which will give distance of 10 feet between. This will give us a shorter walk from the garage to the front-door and move us a total of 14 feet off the south property line. The neighboring house on that side has the house all the way east on about an acre lot, so our house will be adjacent to open space in their back yard. Still, it will be nice to be a little further back.
The city planners said we had to have a set-back of 25 feet on the north or east side of our lot. We had the option because we're kind of in a unique location behind two houses and 100 feet off the main road. We chose to set back from the east property line because it allowed us to put the garage as close to the easement to our property as possible. Also, our lot is about 140 feet wide, and we wanted the house more in the center of the property any way so giving up 25 feet on either the east side was not a problem.
You'll also notice these plans have a roof plan included. I've always loved the look of a hip roof (similar to Prairie Style architecture), mainly because you have overhangs on all sides of the house. That'a a big part of our design for look and energy efficiency. We've also used a somewhat mid-century modern design for the walls/windows that allow for wide shorter windows up high on the walls of the front and sides of the house. This allows natural light to come in, but lets the overhangs block the sun in the warmer months. We have typical 2 foot overhangs around the garage and on the front and sides of the house. But on the south side (kitchen and dining room) we put a 4 foot overhang to help block the sun from getting into the house in the warmer months. Yet in cooler month, we let the sun in. On the back of the house which faces west and southwest, we've elected for 7 foot overhangs. This will allow us to have some of the back patio covered, and help block some of the late afternoon sun during the hot months. Ideally we would not have had any windows on the west side, but since we have some pretty nice mountain views, we decided we better take advantage of it.
Lastly, you'll notice a somewhat large patio off the west side of the house. Our lot slopes down from east to west which allows us to have a walk-out basement. Most people would put a sliding glass door in the basement, with a patio outside and a big deck over the top, but not us. Sure a deck might be cheaper, but here are a couple of my reasons:
- They require maintenance, even if you use plastic decking.
- They are ugly.
- I've never liked the space under a deck. If I wanted to live in a cave, I would.
- How many outside areas do we need? I think our patio will be more than enough space.
- Decks require a railing by code. What's the point of having a beautiful view if you have to look through a railing while you're sitting down? No way!
If it still doesn't make sense to you, come over and have a glass of wine on our patio and I'll put a couple of 2x4s in front of your face. 🙂
We're moving along nicely on the house project. We're set to close on the land next week. We've talked to the bank and they are anxious to get our application going. We are almost complete with the plans. So we figured it was time to go over the project with our builder and get an estimate for the project. We were in for a surprise.
We met with Bob a week ago and were very excited to go over every detail of the project and get some numbers down on paper. Up until now, when potential issues have come up, my question was always, "How much will that cost?" The answers were somewhat vague, simply because the situation was vague. "Well, that should be no more than $8,000." "That should be about $10,000. " "That could be as much as $12,000." I'll be honest, those were adding up in my head and I was getting a little nervous. So with these thoughts swirling, we got started.
Bob looked over the plans and asked us questions for clarification on certain areas. "Do you want a walk-out here?" "How tall do you want the ceilings?" "Are you planning on solid gold bathroom fixtures?" All these questions were meant to get a somewhat accurate estimate. And as Bob said, "You can pay $100 for a faucet, or $1,000." so the questions were important. To most of those questions, I told Bob we would like to go with the middle to upper end of the range. Not because we were ever considering solid gold bathroom fixtures, but because I would rather the estimate come in high so I would know the worst case scenario. Well, after a couple hours and lots of back-and-forth we got to the end. And I think I got the worst case estimate.
There are lots of words I could use to describe my reaction such as shock, surprise, or anger. But I like how Amy described my reaction. She said my face was blank. Absolutely blank. No expression at all. I wish I had a picture of myself at that moment. I can look back and laugh now, but at the time I think I was either having a stroke, or about to have one. Poor Bob saw it too and started apologizing almost immediately. I assured him that is was ok. We just had to find a way to cut 40% off the estimate.
So over the weekend I set to cutting expenses. I took out the landscaping budget right away. That could wait until the house was done. And besides, I have put in several irrigation systems, and I know how to dig a hole. Then went the kitchen cabinets. I plan on building my own, which I did in my first house and I loved them. Next the granite counters in the kitchen. I plan on pouring my own concrete counters, which I also did in my first house. Next, I decided to do all my own wiring. I was encouraged by my electrician friend Scott to do this. He said, "It isn't brain surgery Mike. Drill some holes, pull the wires through, hook up the wires. That's it. And the city has to inspect it so they'll see any mistakes and let you know." I've done a lot of electrical as well so that is a great place to cut some cost. Everything I decided to take on was something I am very comfortable doing. I'm a pretty handy guy and look forward to being a part of the building process. We were getting closer, but not there yet.
One last place we decided to make a change was to reduce the size of our floor-plan to under 1,500 square feet. This was our original size estimate. We want a small house and the many benefits that come with it such as less heating, cooling, cleaning, and building costs. We'd crept closer to 1,600 and it had been gnawing at me. Now I had a good reason to get the size down again. This will affect everything from building materials such as foundations, concrete for the basement, framing , and hardwood flooring to heating systems, permits and many other charges based on square footage. So after moving a wall here in a foot, and moving a wall there in a foot, and moving this wall six inches, we were at 1,494 square feet. Perfect!
So with all these cost reductions, we're getting really close. I'm starting to feel pretty confident that we'll make it happen. And I guess we better be, we close on the land in 4 days. Wish us luck. Now we just need to get the bank to sign off on the construction loan, get some soils tests, get the land surveyed…
Building Green
One of the biggest reasons I've always wanted to build a house is to be more energy efficient. I'll be honest, I hate waste (and I know hate is a strong word). I've remodeled a 1920 Denver Bungalow that had ZERO insulation in the walls and attic and I've lived in an already remodeled 1950s brink house that had ZERO insulation in the walls and attic. Of course in both cases I filled the attic with insulation, but filling the walls was not an option. I cringed every time the heat came on knowing that it was leaking straight out the walls.
But there are a lot more factors to consider than just insulation. In both cases above, the houses were not oriented to take advantage of the great Denver Colorado sunshine that we get here throughout the winters. By just positioning the house on the land properly, and putting your living space on the south side of the home, you can increase comfort while significantly reducing heating costs in the winter. By making larger overhangs to shade windows in the summer, you can reduce cooling. These two design practices are referred to as Passive Solar. By adding insulation to walls and having proper insulation and ventilation in the attic, you can further reduce heating and cooling costs. Then there are systems like Geo-Thermal, Solar Water Heating, Photo Voltaic Electricity (PV), spray foam insulation, radiant floor heating… the list goes on and on. And that doesn't even include green building materials that reduce burdens on the environment, as well as materials that can out-gas and affect indoor air quality.
Our challenge will be to decide what is important, what we can afford, which systems will pay for themselves, and which are not for us. Look for more posts here as we learn more about many of these technologies.


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I still remember when the promos for the movie Kung Fu Panda came out. I was sitting in the movie theater with my parents, probably a year before the release. I was around thirteen years old and was just hitting my stride of jaded teenager who snorted at the thought of seeing anything goofy or obviously for little kids (I liked these movies, I was just determined to act otherwise). Then the advertisement came on. Read More Why "Kung Fu Panda" Rules: A Movie Review
Tag: good stuff
Olive Oil and Me: A Love Story
I've always loved olive oil. I'm half Italian; it kind of comes with the territory. I grew up used to it being in pasta sauces, drizzled on dishes, and placed in nice glass bottles on the table to be used for dipping bread. Read More Olive Oil and Me: A Love Story
The Values of Vaporizing:Why It Is Awesome
So, now that you've got yourself some weed, you will want to partake of that shit. You have a few options for ways to get that good stuff in you. What's a lady to do? Well, speaking as someone who has been smoking since I was introduced to it at my hippie mountain town college years ago, I've tried pretty much every method you could think of to take it in. Read More The Values of Vaporizing:Why It Is Awesome
It's Friday Night and We're Out!
Thanks to all the readers and writers who make this place so much fun to run on the hamster wheel under. We're calling it quits a little early today, but feel free to poke around and read any articles you might have missed this week, or go digging through the archives if you're new to our little corner of the web. There's lots of good stuff here. We're going to be running on a short schedule next week; from 9-4 on Monday through Thursday and from 9-1 on Friday. The following week will be similar, with a late start on Monday and an early finish on Friday. The first week of 2011 we'll be back up to the regular 14-16 posts per day. Have a great weekend, we'll see you next week!
How to Set Up Your Etsy Shop
Since I started selling things on Etsy, I have been surprised by how many of my friends have told me that they wish they could do the same. I tell them that there's no reason not to, it's cheap enough that you really don't have anything to lose, but it can be a little intimidating. Read More How to Set Up Your Etsy Shop
Lunchtime Poll 11/9
Good afternoon, readers! I hope everyone's Tuesday is rolling along smoothly. We've been a bit harried on our end, but hopefully by the time you read this we're back on schedule and bringing you the good stuff in a timely manner. Read More Lunchtime Poll 11/9


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Funky Fur Salon Policies
Funky Fur endeavours to make the experience of every dog that enters our salon as comfortable and stress free as possible. Our one on one appointments allow us to give each dog the individual time and attention they need. For this to occur we have policies in place.
We thank you for your consideration and understanding
- Please toilet your dog before arriving, a long walk is best (before appointment time) this will make a more comfortable grooming experience for your dog.
- Please ensure when entering and leaving the property all gates are kept closed. Even if your dog is not the type to run or secure on their lead, their may be other dogs that are not.
- All dogs must be on a lead when entering or leaving. This is to respect surrounding Neighbours, as well as other dogs that may be reactive or frightened of other dogs.
- If your dog toilets on or outside the property please clean up or advise staff so we can clean it up. Poop bags can be given on request.
- We only groom a limited number of dogs per day so that you get a quality service. As such, a $40 cancellation fee applies to cancellations without 24 hours' notice or missed appointments. We understand emergencies and illness happens, but please cancel as early as possible so the people waiting for appointments can be accommodated.
- We run our salon by appointment so that each dog gets the time and attention they need. If you are more than 15 minutes late, your appointment may be rescheduled. A cancellation fee will apply.
- The quoted estimated price can change during a groom at the groomers discretion, based on condition of coat, fleas present, dog behaviour. Usually the quote is correct or close, but there are many factors and conditions that may not present themselves until the dog is on the table.
- Late pick-ups. Some dogs specifically come in for individual appointments as they require minimised contact with other dogs. As a home salon we cannot hold pets past the end of their groom due to council regulations and neighbour noise. Dogs are to be picked up promptly (within 30 minutes) after being informed of their groom completion unless other arrangements have been made at the time of booking (not at the time of drop off) so that we can schedule accordingly. A $5.00 per pet fee for every 30 minutes without pickup will apply
- Payment is at pick up by cash or EFTPOS only
- If you suspect your dog has fleas we recommend using a monthly topical treatment and washing of all bedding before getting your dog groomed for a more effective treatment. Flea baths only kill the adult fleas on your dog and not the eggs or the fleas in your pets bedding, and therefore is less effective in eliminating all fleas. If you are having difficulty please read our
blog on fleas or consult your vet. If we find that your dog has fleas during the grooming process an automatic $15 flea service will be charged.
- Contagious pets. For the safety of our other clients, please do not bring an animal that has any type of contagious skin issue, disease, fungus, or worms. If we identify any problem, we will ask that you pick up your pet immediately and pay for the portion of grooming that was completed and a clean-up fee
- We recommend re-booking your regular grooming at pick up to avoid disappointment.
We thank you for your consideration and understanding


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The first thing to know is that each workshop is customized for the needs and to the level of the people attending. When registering for a public workshop or booking one in-house, participants are requested to rate their level of knowledge on digital marketing and advertising and to submit three topics plus three specific questions or situations they need help with.
The conductor uses this information to put together exercises and case studies featuring world class brands that address what the attendees said they need to work on. There are question & answer sessions, mentoring, hands-on development, role playing, and a number of opportunities to pick the brain of someone who has been through similar situations many times over the years. The six-hour session is as immersive, collaborative, responsive, and flexible as you would expect from a coach with expertise in the interactive medium. It is not a speech. It is not a seminar. It is not a sales pitch. It's a chance to ask questions, learn specifics, and develop an understanding of the new mindset that has now affected your clients, your audiences, and yourself.
Slides are boring. We use illustrations that move to help tell the story because they convey so much more than bullet points ever could.
1. Discuss how the workshop works (structure, topics, why not using slides, participation, interactivity, exercises, breaks, takeaways, certification) and the conductor's background
2. Reveal topics submitted in advance by attendees that will form the basis of the content within the established workshop structure
3. Portray the situation in advertising and marketing these past 20 years vs. today — and the near future
a. Focus on non-targeted broadcasting, big budgets, catch phrases, big splashy brands, etc. — all the glamour over substance
b. Transition to targeted, analyzed, tested online marketing techniques
c. Go over advent of decision engines, tools, etc. to help make an informed decision
d. Explore the opportunities for moving the brand into direct contact with end consumers and forming loyal communities
e. Look at how online shopping + marketing started taking place together in the form of ratings + reviews (aka social commerce)
f. Trace social commerce turning into social networking and social media and social marketing through Friendster, MySpace, Orkut, Digg, Reddit, Slashdot, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga, etc.
4. Examine challenges non-technical, traditionally-trained marketers think they're going to face
(what has prevented them from exploring digital in earnest, if at all, up until now) vs. the reality
5. [First 15 min break]
6. Present series of eye-opening facts about digital that are entertaining, informative, and helpful in alleviating fears while challenging (in a good way)
7. Show famous brand case studies that are brought to life to illustrate facts just presented, to compare to traditional or stilted "digital" integrated campaigns, and to address attendees' real world situations
8. First custom exercise (individuals)
9. Describe vision of the near future that demonstrates how technology coupled with the public's expectations means having full access everywhere to information, content, social/professional networks, and tools will be the norm. Explain how marketing needs to adapt to life in an authentic, helpful, and utterly targeted manner — abandoning the notion of broadcasting
10. Second custom exercise (teams)
11. [30 min provided buffet lunch]
12. Discussions on submitted topics not yet addressed, and supported with prepared case studies/examples/facts/ideas
13. Insights into the minds of today's marketing audiences. How behaviors, reactions, involvement, intentions for being online, etc affect how messages are received and interpreted. Go over history from bulletin board system to chat to web site (entitlement) days to support what the future will be like (RFID chips physically implanted in people – data transmitted to receivers that will personalize/target ads and offers wherever you are)
14. [Second 15 min break]
15. How to best approach a creative marketing challenge today through several examples
16. Third custom exercise: answering briefs (from submissions by attendees)
17. Q&A until end
18. Sum up of fallacies, opportunities and excitement about being in the business today. Leave with series of useful but fun tips on making the transition and learning the important terms and concepts. Plus how to stay on top of everything and get ahead of the clients so we can be the paid experts again
Best in Class Leave Behind
The very first thing our conductor is asked to do when he consults with or joins a large agency/company is to evaluate the existing process and documentation and then reengineer all of it to be more effective, efficient, streamlined, and sensible. The tool kit delivers you the foundation of all of that, which can be relatively easily customized for your environment and needs. It gives you a huge head start with material that has been proven to be excellent.
In addition to getting a very nice thumb drive, you will receive best-in-class process documents and templates that have been culled from some of the most successful digital ad agencies in the world.
They include:
• A rate card by discipline and deliverable (avg amount of time they should take)
• A recommended "integrated" structure for creative, accounts, planning, project management, traffic
• Project briefs geared toward the 21st century (e.g., creating communities, conversations, discussions about the brand)
• Process documentation
• Job titles and descriptions


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New York, December 29, 2009 - Adam Raff's recent New York Times Op-Ed Search, But You May Not Find paralleled an issue we have been concerned about for some time - search transparency. While Adam focused on the damage from corporate shenanigans, our concerns have centered more on the impact the Google search engine's lack of transparency might have on civic affairs. For example, we're likely to see Google confronting city zoning regulations for a variance to build inspirational office space for its expanding enterprises: How would Google rank the activities of organizations leading the opposition? Would individual opponents be able to locate the opposition? Or would the opposition be custom coded to screen land on page 13? Transparency = trust.
And imagine if Google "winner$" begin running for public office, how are we to trust its opaque search algorithm during the rough and tumble of an election campaign? Then we'd clearly see the relationship between link and ballot voting.
Transparent search - a far easier metric than Raff's search neutrality - is vital to our city's having level commercial and civic playing fields. We're looking for resources that foster the creation and assessment of transparent search engines for the .nyc TLD. Follow developments on this via our Transparent Search wiki page. (Commons photo courtesy of http://aiblsuki.blog122.fc2.com/blog-entry-95.html.)


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Hosting a Webinar on Zintro
Do you have a suggestion for a webinar topic or presenter? Tell us about it!
Presenting a Webinar on Zintro
If you are a candidate to present a Zintro Webinar and want to know everything there is to know about how it works and what we need from you in order to make it happen you have landed in the right place.
We host webinars presented by Zintro Experts as a way to help them source new Clients. We promote the webinar invitation to our +180,000 users through email and other channels, then we post the webinar to our blog and promote the video recording indefinitely. You can view some examples here.
This initiative is completely free. You would be able to include your Zintro ID in the webinar to promote your services, and you would only pay us 15% of any engagement generated through the webinar effort.
Presentations are normally 40 minutes and focus on subjects that might showcase your expertise and help you source new Clients. After your presentation, we will leave an additional 15 minutes of time to answer attendee questions live.
We usually hold a practice session on the Monday preceding the presentation date. This session is hosted with the idea of having a trial run before your presentation, and to clarify any comments or questions regarding the webinar process and protocol. We can do the practice session at whatever time is most convenient for you.
Once you have coordinated and scheduled a date to present your webinar with the organizer, he or she will need the following information:
1) Zintro ID or sign up email address
2) Complete Name and title
3) Company you work for
4) Picture (.jpg/.png imaging format)
5) Topic of your presentation
6) Presenters note: a short paragraph describing the subject of your presentation. (Max 800 characters)
7) Brief Bio: a short paragraph describing your qualifications and experience. (Max 800 characters)
8) Slides you will be using in the webinar
9) Poll Questions (optional): If you wish to use Poll questions during your presentation, please provide them in advance
Zintro hosts webinars on the GoToWebinar platform. This system is simple, user-friendly and reliable.
Here is a quick tutorial video on how to log in to a webinar session if you are a panelist.
If you have further questions or comments regarding Webinars, please contact one of our representatives.


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I made the chicken masala and then stuffed with Salsa and cheese. They told me that after melting, the tacos were so delicious.
Chicken Tacos
Ingredients Needed:
Taco Shells – 2
Chicken – 1 cup
Salt to taste
Red Chili powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala -1/4 tsp
Oil – 2 tsp
Red Chili Flakes – 1/4 tsp
Cheese, grated – 1/4 cup
Tomato Salsa
How to make the Chicken Tacos
Clean and cut chicken into small pieces. Boil with a pinch of salt and cook till water is evaporated.
In a non stick pan, heat oil, add the chicken and all the spices pieces, saute well till it's cooked well.
Warm the taco shells for 30 secs in MW. Then stuff the tacos with chicken pieces, salsa and grated cheese.
MW for another minute or till the cheese is melted, serve hot
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 48


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New Research4Life contest highlights library impact in developing world
Global competition calls for stories that show how collaboration between Research4Life and librarians supports research
By Charlotte Masiello-Riome Posted on 6 March 2013
Update: the deadline for entries has been extended to May 6.
The Research4Life partnership announced today a case study competition to recognize the role of librarians and library staff in building the research capacities of scientists, doctors and policymakers and helping to boost research output within their institutions.
Research4Life is a public-private partnership of over 200 academic publishers, four UN agencies, Yale and Cornell Universitie and the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM). With the support of technology partner Microsoft, the program is providing free or low-cost online access to nearly 30,000 peer-reviewed journals, books and databases to over 6,000 institutions in more than 100 developing countries and territories.
Researchers in participating institutions have access to a similar level of information as their peers in developed countries, enabling them to contribute to the evolving body of global research. The goal is to help attain six of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals by 2015, reducing the scientific knowledge gap between industrialized countries and the developing world.
The contest
Research4Life created this competition "in celebration of the work that librarians do and to facilitate the sharing of best practice." The competition aims to highlight the "dedication and capacity building of those who assist researchers in accessing and using vital information within their institutions."
The contest runs from March 6 through May 6, with online applications accepted through May 6 at 12 am GMT. Submissions of library case studies will be reviewed by a committee of distinguished international librarians and trainers. The winner will be announced in June and invited as the first user to join the Research4Life Executive Council. The prize includes an all-expenses paid trip to attend the Partners' General Meeting in Rome, Italy in September 2103.
"From information literacy training to building infrastructure and concerted outreach, librarians are critical to building a healthy research culture in the developing world—and they are often the unsung heroes," said Emily Gillingham, Chair of the Executive Council of Research4Life and Director of Library Relations at Wiley, in the press release. "We hope our competition will raise awareness about the essential role played by librarians across the developing world."
The Research4Life Librarian Competition is open to all librarians and library staff whose institution is a registered user of one of the Research4Life programs: Access to Research in Health (HINARI), Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA), Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) and Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI). Eligible countries, areas, and territories are available on the Research4Life website.
Elsevier's contibution
Elsevier is a founding member of Research4Life and contributes more than 25 percent of the content. ScienceDirect provided over 6 million article downloads in 2012 — a 41 percent increase over 2011. The Elsevier Foundation's Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries Programprovides additional infrastructure-building, medical library needs assessments, preservation of unique research and training. In 2013 all four new grants were to boost information literacy to enable use of Research4Life content.
Learn more about access to research
Read about Resaerch4Life and watch videos on Elsevier Connect:
- Measuring the impact of research access in the developing world, by Richard Gedye


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Game Tags:
Game Plays: 86466
Use your wisdom to execute the right game plan. Make that perfect shot to the best positioned team mate and run for the touchdown. Avoid getting tackled along the way and slam the ball into the ground! TOUCHDOWN!
Game Not Working?? Please Let Us Know!!!


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Human Rights Day: 21st March 2012, Walter Sisulu Square, Kliptown
PRETORIA, South-Africa, March 19, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Human Rights Day will be commemorated on 21st March 2012 at the Walter Sisulu Square, in Kliptown Soweto. The President of the Republic of South Africa, JG Zuma, will deliver a Public Lecture. Members of the media are reminded that accreditation will be conducted as follows:
Dates: 19th March 2012
20th March 2012
Times: 09h00 – 18h00 (both days)
Venue: Tourist Information Centre at the Walter Sisulu Square, Kliptown
Members of the media who have submitted their information and intend attending the event should avail themselves at the Tourism Information centre on any of the listed days to be accredited.
For the purpose of identification, please bring along ID books/drivers licence and press cards. Journalists who do not have press cards can bring a letter, with organisational letterhead, from the editor.
Also note that only accredited journalist/technicians will be allowed entry.


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Gold Button A-line Wool-Blend Coat
Additional Information
Item Number:
Please Select Color & Size
Punctuated with flat gold buttons - a nod to the traditional military style it was inspired by. This double-breasted peacoat is an attention grabber.
- A-line silhouette
- Approx. 34" hits mid-thigh
- 2 slash pockets
- Self-belt at back waist with gold buttons
- Back walking vent
- Fully lined
- Polyester/Wool Twill
Dry clean. Imported.


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America's Most Wanted TV! See it Now at Your Admiral Dealer's... Admiral 21" TV
Ad*Access On-Line Project - Ad #TV0415 (1953)
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Another great source for vintage ads, of course, are the magazines in which they were originally presented. The Gumberg Library owns significant runs of many of the major American magazines from the past, either in the print format or on microfilm.
For those on microfilm, the film reels may be found in the metal cases on the first floor of the library. The state-of-the-art microfilm reader/printer is on the 4th floor. On it, not only can the magazines be browsed, but copies of items may be printed or PDFs of images may be saved to a flash drive.
To make photocopies from the printed volumes, use the photocopiers on the 4th floor. Gumberg Library also has a free scanner on the 4th floor, so you can scan ads and save the images as PDFs to a flash drive.
Gumberg Library owns the following issues of these magazines:
Vols. 1-73, New series Vols. 1-4, 1936-1972, 1978-1982 (Microfilm - 1st floor)
Vols. 1-134, 1993-1999 (Microfilm - 1st floor)
Vols. 99-160, 1982-2012 (Printed volumes - 5th floor)
Saturday Evening Post
Vols. 233-242, 1960-1969, (Microfilm - 1st floor)
Vols. 213-245, 248-249, 252-257, 1941-1985 (Printed volumes - 1st floor, compact shelving)
Saturday Review
Vols. 1-55, 1924-1981 (Microfilm - 1st floor)
Vols. 1-156, 1923-2000 (Microfilm - 1st floor)
Vols. 119-180, 1982-2012 (Printed volumes - 1st floor, compact shelving)
U.S. News & World Report
Vols. 1-120, 1933-1996 (Microfilm - 1st floor)
Vols. 92-147, 1982-2010 (Printed volumes - 1st floor, compact shelving)
ProQuest Newspapers is an excellent online source to search for vintage advertisements that can be saved, downloaded and cited. See the screenshots below to learn how to access these vintage ads.
Once you connect to the database, enter your keywords in the search field. Under 'Publication date,' select 'Specific date range and enter the year(s) you are looking for. Under 'Document type,' select the Advertisement box and search.
Click image to enlarge
On the results page, scroll through and look for results titled 'Display Ad' -- these will be your best source for finding actual advertisements, rather than articles on your topic.
*Note: When you select a result item, you can view it either as a Page View - PDF, or Page View (clickable). The clickable page view allows you to see the entire newspaper page and click on sections to view more, while the PDF version will zoom in on the section your search result highlights in PDF format.
These books are compilations of American print advertisements from various decades. All are published by the German publisher, Taschen, well-known for high-quality illustrated books on art and popular culture.
All these books are available at the Gumberg Library and may be borrowed with your Duquesne University ID. Click a book title to see if it is in use.
These are outstanding websites, providing access to many thousands of advertisements and commercials from the past.
This site was created by Jessica Danielle Smith, MLIS. It is maintained and updated by Ted Bergfelt, MLS.