text:
Sales and Marketing -- 6
Budget $10-30 USD
I need some help with finding some leads. New and Exciting Loan product is now becoming so popular that we must act on this now. Businesses in America are still struggling to find access to CASH. We hope that we can take advantage of these as we have new lenders willing to lend. We are one of the few who has access to this product. We want to ramp up fast for the busy season, which is forth quarter. We hope you will find the experience of working with our firm to be easy and profitable for your company.
We have vested interest on this to succeed. We want you to do the same.
Looking For:
* Strong phone sales experience prospecting B2B
* Excellent communication, perfect English and sales closing skills
* Good time management and organizational skills
* Highly motivated and driven to succeed
* Basic computer skills
* Excellent follow-up skills a MUST
* Must have previous B2B, Merchant Cash Advance, business loans and processing experience!
What's included:
• Underwriter to process the credit and funding
• Training, scripts, and handouts.
• We have over 600k b2b leads on our disposal.
• Company email, Phone and Fax for your project manager for call back and sending materials to potential clients.
We are looking for experienced call centers to contact potential clients and educate them on our Cash Advance and working capital loans. Your call center will NOT be responsible for closing the sale of the potential client. Just getting the application.
This includes: initiating contact of client, explaining the program to client. No enrolment, no application over the phone. The underwriter will take care of that. All you do is contact them and find businesses that need capital and cash. Once client has signed the agreement (this can be done over the internet via E signature) our company will take over contact with the client.
Fees are on a commission only basis. Fees are earned upon a successful lead-funding conversion, resulting in a signed contract and payments for services. Fees are payable once weekly as clients payments are cleared through banking account. We are looking for call centers experienced in merchant cash advance, working capital and business loan. This is not like any other programs. We pay after funding. We collect all our money upfront. So you don't have to wait for your money over time. For example, avg loan is $28k. Avg commission average 5% of the loan amount. That is about $1400.
We are paying other telecenter right now 1% of the funded loan amount. The underwriter is also on the commission, so he has to get the cut as well. He has to be on commission as well so that he has an interest to close the transaction. So we pay the agent 1% to follow up, get application, submit to credit, get back and fund the transaction. We cover our expenses. We are fair.
We know and it already has been proven.
Fees payable to call center will be total 1% of the commission earned. If avg commission is $1400, you get $1400 If you do 5 deals per agent per month. 5 x 1400 = $7,000 per agent per month – this is just a conservative estimate. Funding takes less than 7 days. You get paid day after funding via ACH or wire transfer.
Good luck and bid only if you have read this project and committed to making money. We want call center not individual as it take some little training on the script and product. Will provide to the winner. thanks.
4 freelancers are bidding on average $15 for this job
I'm a lead generator mate how much leads you need we would love provide you that


text:
Have you heard? It's Valentine's Day, a celebration of all things love-related, from the rush of meeting someone special to the heartbreak of knowing you'll never get to smell your ex-boyfriend's laundry again. Let's focus, for a moment, on the bitter end of love with the help of Adele and an adorable French Bulldog.
In the video, we can see the lonely dog (who probably just has to go to the bathroom or something, but let's preserve the fantasy that he misses his ex dogfriend for the season's sake) beginning to wimper as strains of Adele's sad-on fill the room.
We've all done what Le Rover's doing, just not as aww-inducingly.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Definition of toad
n. - Any one of numerous species of batrachians belonging to the genus Bufo and allied genera, especially those of the family Bufonidae. Toads are generally terrestrial in their habits except during the breeding season, when they seek the water. Most of the species burrow beneath the earth in the daytime and come forth to feed on insects at night. Most toads have a rough, warty skin in which are glands that secrete an acrid fluid. 2
The word "toad" uses 4 letters: A D O T.
Direct anagrams of toad:
dato doat
Words formed by adding one letter before or after toad (in bold), or to adot in any order:
c - octad l - dotal p - adopt r - tardo s - datos doats toads t - datto y - toady today
Shorter words found within toad:
ad ado at do dot oat od ta tad tao to tod
List shorter words within toad, sorted by length
Words formed from any letters in toad, plus an optional blank or existing letter
List all words starting with toad, words containing toad or words ending with toad
All words formed from toad by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: to oa ad
Browse words starting with toad by next letter
Previous word in list: to
Next word in list: toadeater
Some random words: flab fyce vail posologies umiac ox awe
This is not a dictionary, it's a word game wordfinder.
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text:
Mock classes advance student group's push for Korean language instruction
The Brandeis Korean Course and Language Initiative (BKCLI) invited Harvard Korean drill instructor Hyunju Ha and Harvard Preceptor in Korean Hee-Jeong Jeong to host beginning Korean classes for interested students and staff.
The 50-minute sessions gave the teachers an opportunity to display their teaching styles, the students an opportunity to provide feedback to staff and members of Brandeis faculty, including Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong, the chance to observe teachers and students alike.
Approximately 25 students attended the first session and 15 the second. Faculty who were involved in the search process included Professors Stephen Dowden, Yu Feng, Hiroko Sekino, Andrew Koh and ChaeRan Freeze.
The student-organized Korean language initiative, supported by members of the East Asian Studies department, the Arts and Sciences staff, Alumni Relations and the Provost since its creation, is lobbying for institution of regular classes in Korean. Originally a part of the Brandeis Korean Student Association, BKCLI became an officially chartered club last spring.
Interest in studying Korean by participants in the Korean Language Table (KLT) helped staff gauge the demand for Korean on campus. KLT tutees learn beginning or intermediate Korean from fluent peers based on a textbook and curriculum published by Yonsei University, one of two universities that Brandeis approves for study abroad programs in Seoul. Approximately 52 percent of the 42 learners in the KLT program are Chinese or Korean-American, up 40 percent this year.
According to Freeze, the university will offer an upper-level course in Korean heritage this summer titled "Pathways to Korean Literacy" (KOR 29a), which includes a language component.
This pilot course may help toward the BKCLI goal to bring formal Korean language instruction to Brandeis. Currently, no plans have been approved to create fall or spring semester classes to teach Korean language.
"Starting a curriculum is a complex process that requires time and money, both of which we are currently short on," says BKCLI president Ku Jung '14. "BKCLI will focus on seeking external financing for the remainder of this semester and hopes to have good news for students next fall."
Professor Theodore Yoo of the University of Hawaii, Brandeis Professor Freeze's brother, suggested that BKCLI pursue a grant from The Korea Foundation, an organization affiliated with the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in promoting academic and cultural exchange programs, for funding to hire a full-time instructor."The purpose of the summer pilot course is to demonstrate genuine interest from Brandeis to the Korea Foundation," Freeze said.
Categories: Humanities and Social Sciences, Student Life


text:
Create Your Own Anime and/or Story!Post Reply
Herves was a Purifitur, a Part Angel, Part Human and Part something else, sent as warriors in the battle between the Greek Gods. Herves, deciding he didn't like his profession that much, left Mt. Olympus and came to the human world...
150 years later..
Herves has lived on Earth for the past 150 years, the battle was over, thousands of Purifiturs killed, millions of human lives, given to Hades. The war began when Zeus accidently bumped into Ares and refused to apologize. Herves, seeing it was over, tried to come back to Mt. Olympus, but was banished because he was a coward.
My anime would basically start by explaining the race of Purifiturs and then go to the life of Herves during the 150 years, and then go on with many things happening.
Very good it's a good storry butmayby it is very long
Either way il give a 10 out of 10
and I ask again RATE MY STORY
Shad, I rate yours 8/10, seems like a good story, but then again, catgirls are just too overused. And thanks, my story wouldnt last awhile, Explaining race of Purifiturs would take like two episodes/3 chapters.
^^8 out of 10 A good story~
The Start of Uni Life~ ♥♥♥
I hate to read stories
And to make stories either ><
But.. My story ^^
There was a girl! She like to eat a lot of things
She likes Crunchyroll
And then somebody she likes want to marry her O_O
And then they marry each other..\
Happy Live!! END ^^
RAte please! I hate to make stories... And it's quite good that I can make stories ^^
^8 out of 10. An interesting story. Heheheh...
The Start of Uni Life~ ♥♥♥
The feel of the gruesome and soulless death still lingers on the man's weapon. What drives a living being to slaughter another in this manner? It is not the will to live and survive; it is the madness of a demon. A madness fuelled by the scent of blood. Alexander would pray to the gods to avoid the malicious creatures if he were a religious man. However, he abandoned faith the day it failed him and the people of this land…the day the beasts came…the day his family was violently taken from him.
It's not exactly written to be an anime but it could be it could be made into one
It's a paragraph from a story i've been writing.
Let's see, i write and think about stories and ideas, yet I'll talk about my newest one that I am still thinking about. Tell me if you like it.
Sakura High
A school that loves to complete in everything *hate losing*
School that has rating for every student and each one in a group.
So every year, each student is given a chance to get in higher ranks and groups.
Challenges like most atractive, smartest, most creative, gains more popular than anyone in a limited time and things like that.
Yet there has been no one that beat the top ten Boys and Girls.
The Top Ten Boys *The Perfect Group*- every girl knows them and every guy respects them. Each one has special "Talents" like best smooth talker which can get any girl to believe him *Haru-san*
The Top Ten Girls *The Gorgeous Group*-Everything that the their opposite group are, yet just girls with different "Talents" like the most innocent look that guys fall for *Sakura-chan* *I don't know why*
Echo Ayane- a poor girl that was forced to transfer to this school because of her parent's work. Yet this girl that loves to be alone and not bothered, get somehow bother by the The Ten Top Boys. *it's tiring to say, I gotta get a new name* She is still not use to the competition of this school. The girls are killing her and the boys are catching her and she does not know why. Until Echo finds out that she is the new challenge. The boys have to make her fall in love with them before the next semester. How can this anti-social girl handle this?
Please rate this and tell me what you think?
Breath taking
Himiko wrote:
Let's see, i write and think about stories and ideas, yet I'll talk about my newest one that I am still thinking about. Tell me if you like it.
Sakura High
A school that loves to complete in everything *hate losing*
School that has rating for every student and each one in a group.
So every year, each student is given a chance to get in higher ranks and groups.
Challenges like most atractive, smartest, most creative, gains more popular than anyone in a limited time and things like that.
Yet there has been no one that beat the top ten Boys and Girls.
The Top Ten Boys *The Perfect Group*- every girl knows them and every guy respects them. Each one has special "Talents" like best smooth talker which can get any girl to believe him *Haru-san*
The Top Ten Girls *The Gorgeous Group*-Everything that the their opposite group are, yet just girls with different "Talents" like the most innocent look that guys fall for *Sakura-chan* *I don't know why*
Echo Ayane- a poor girl that was forced to transfer to this school because of her parent's work. Yet this girl that loves to be alone and not bothered, get somehow bother by the The Ten Top Boys. *it's tiring to say, I gotta get a new name* She is still not use to the competition of this school. The girls are killing her and the boys are catching her and she does not know why. Until Echo finds out that she is the new challenge. The boys have to make her fall in love with them before the next semester. How can this anti-social girl handle this?
Please rate this and tell me what you think?
mmmn not bad.
Walking A Never Ending Path of Dreams.
omg it's still here? i posted this topic long ago.. lol x] welll im happy.
can anyone else rate mine? x] it's in the beginnning. first post.
oh and that "Sakura High" story sounds so interesting! i like it xD
A pacifist guy gets cursed and slowly turns to stone, the only way to break the curse is to kill the one he loves. IDK for some reason it popped into my head
RIP my childhood shows 1990-2001
This is the first chapter of the story I'm making with the intro.
Note: Since I'm going to publish my story once I finish it I will edit this post
By Zepher
There was a continent called Terran; it does not have many records about its history. So many sought for its secrets, but few were found, and were treasured. But later on some people of the younger generation want to find and stay at new lands while sharing their past to the total strangers they meet. This action cause the rest of Terran, now called Old Terran forced the younger generation, now called the Young alliance to stay.
There used to be ten foundations in Terran, but later split up into those two groups causing the conflict between them to grow. These foundations are the fire, sea, sky, land, and antecedent foundation; there are two same foundations of each name. They are exactly alike, but they are on the other side of Terran from the each other. It was easy for the two groups to separate because of the contrary, gemini foundations.
Albeit that the reason the foundations were like that are still unknown; people can tell why the name of that foundation because of its location, for example both fire foundations is inside a dormant volcano, both sea foundations is under the continent, but in the ocean, inside an immense underwater cave, both sky foundations is in the sky on a floating island that orbit on their own side of Terran, both land foundations is near an abyss, and both antecedent foundation change its location depending on the season so it is the only foundation that's name is not about its location. Terran is a continent that is symmetrical in every way except the groups.
There are rumors about hidden foundations in the Pariah dessert, but no one return from that harsh desert.
Chapter 1
I woke up at dawn every morning with the dim light appeared through my window. It seems dimmer today, but that just me. Well I guess that is like this every day because it's always like this: clean my room, brush my teeth, change my clothes, comb my hair, read a book, eat breakfast, go to school, talk to my friend, go home, finish my homework, finish chores, eat dinner, brush my teeth, take a shower, change my clothes, read a book, go to bed, and repeat.
The only thing that varies is the books, school work, the conversation with my friend, and chores. These things are the most interesting part of my day. I always have school every day, and it seems that no one in school has ever been absent. But that just me thinking, that's odd, but its not. I guess I think like this in the morning and evening.
I grab a book from the book shelf while I was still in my thought process, and sat on the chair in the living room. I open the book, read it until I am half way through and I find blank pages with two bottles inside. I took them out and put it in my pocket. Well this is one of the few reasons why I read books; first reason is the items inside was about the book, the second reason is these items seem to be rare objects that will save my life one day, the last reason is that I like the stories in them.
The book I just finish was about an alchemist that saves the king with a potion that is made up of hard to find items he has found in his adventures in the book. In the end he kept two potions that are special but the book does not say what they do.
The book before was about the two special lockets that will do something special, but again the book did not say anything about what it does in the end. It just left two lockets in the end.
Some of the books are informational, but they sound too fictional for informational books and they have no items in it. It's just like a text book.
I put my findings into a stash somewhere in this foundation so I could use them later. I guess I would be a collector since these items are unique. That book was the last book that I have not read. I could be more of a book worm than a collector.
The books, the house, and the furniture belong to my father. Everyone I ask about whom owned the house said it once belong to my father. No one said anything about my mother, so the only thing I knew about her is that she is my mother, and she married my father. I did not know or have seen my parents. I ask what happen to them, but the reply I get was "I do not know."
I was not allowed to have anyone read my books, and the library never had the ones I have so I guess it was special. Everything in this house was special, and I am the only person with out parents.
I put the book back on the shelf, and started to prepare my breakfast that I have every morning. Eggs, sausage, and cereal with toast that's all. I just wonder if anyone will get anything different for the past thirteen years.
It was six o' clock in the morning, and it was almost time for school. I finish breakfast, put on my shoes, and open the door as I head out for school today. From a distance I saw three men in uniform dashing towards my house yelling, "Come with us kid, we are taking you in."
Suddenly I realized that I just bolted down the street as I pass a few blocks; turn right to the next street, then turn to the street that was near the forest. I am starting to lose my breath from all my running so I jump the fence near me, and hid behind the tree that is in the back yard.
This house was familiar, but I cannot remember who lived here. The was a red sand box with the usual blue house that has six square windows, two doors, a porch, a short balcony on the second floor, and the two alpine trees in the back yard. Actually all the houses look like this. I guess nobody knows a better design for houses.
Right now, I am feeling a little nostalgic right now. I still cannot remember whose house it is, until a thirteen year old girl with light blue hair, blue green eyes, a white blouse, and a red skirt came through the back door. She is my friend is school that I always talk to after school since kindergarten. She is the only person with blue hair in school. Different is the reason I am friends with her. They only let everyone have one friend. I do not know why, but it is the rules after all.
"Whose there? Stop hiding and show yourself." asked the blue haired girl.
"Alright." I calmly said as I walk out of my hiding space.
"Zepher?" The girl said in a surprised way.
The sound of footsteps of the men that were chasing me is starting to get closer with each second. I do not have a lot of time to stop, and catch my breath. I do not want my friend to get involve with whatever those men are up to. I know now that I can out run them like before, and the forest is near by so that where I should go.
"Sorry, but I have to… bye." I hesitated and hope the fence, then dash to the forest.
The forest is a huge a huge place. There are a variety of trees here with a mark that you cannot pass. I do not know why there's a mark there and everyone just said not to cross it. My stash is pass that mark so I do not care because nothing is going to happen except the men that are chasing me. A hidden stash is not against the rules according from what I read.
At least right now it is quiet; there are no animals in the forest so I am not going to be attack by a bear. It seems that those men are not going to follow me here. I guess I have some luck.
Suddenly a voice came from above me "Hey kid, we have surrounded you, now you cannot run or hide this time. Just give up. We have some questions for you."
There are now more than the three men that were chasing me, and the mark is so close too. I guess I have bad luck right now.
Someone was coming towards the surrounded area. It was not one of those men, but I do not know who it is.
"Zepher, I have to ask you something. Just wait there." A girl with blue hair came running without noticing the men above.
"I don't have time there are people above us, and I don't know who they are." I quietly said to the girl.
"Don't make this situation worse kid. We are just going to question you so just come with us." One of the men advised.
It was a short time before the men was dashed toward us. Some brought out weapons and started to attack us.
It was just a slight moment when everything paused as I closed my eyes. Nothing was happening so I open my eyes. The men around us stop in mid air, the colors were distorted, and my friend was closed to me.
My friend and I can move, but we cannot hear. I took a chance and run towards to the mark. My friend can catch up to me better than the men. Once we past the mark, I pushed the rock that revealed a tunnel underneath it. We went inside, and I close the entrance with the hole under the rock I had pushed. Inside the tunnel illuminated, and showed all the items I have stash.
"What is this place?" the girl asked.
"This is my stash; a place where I put important items here." I explained, "Don't talk right now we have to get out of here."
The girl nod in agreement. I put all the items in my backpack, and started to place the cubes as my friend and I proceed through the tunnel. I put a mask on, and gave one to my friend. She put it on without question then followed me.
The tunnel was five miles long, and seven feet deep. The cubes I placed were twenty feet apart. At the end was two weapons similar to the weapons the men have, but these were made by a different metal.
Colors started to come back to normal when we were at the end of the tunnel. I made an opening above us and my friend and I climbed out. I took out a remote from my backpack, open the glass case on the remote, and press the button under the case.
"Run!" I quickly said as I started dashing.
"Why?" The girl said a little later.
There was a chain of explosions behind us while the sand, and debris flew everywhere in any direction. The surrounding area was sand, and lots of it. Some sand dunes are placed a few miles around us. The heat and humidity was harsh. There was more sand than any sand box could hold. If all of this stuff was here, then this place is must be a desert. We either came to the desert, or came out of some kind of oasis city, if the was any other explanation it could be that I would be hallucinating or that this would be a nightmare.
Back at the tunnel while we were crossing, I saw a silver light pass by, then there were black and white flashes for a mere second. I wonder what that could mean. But right now, all I could see is miles, and miles of sand. We continue on through the desert.
"Here." I said while giving the girl one of the weapons I was holding.
"What is this?" the girl asked.
"According to my studies, this is a swallow. A weapon with two blades at each end, and a hilt is on the middle of it." I explained
"These have a different design, and look from the guards. Some people will probably say it's beautiful. The blades on mine look likes wings, but yours have a different look; it has a blade that looked like some kind of beak, the other look like talons. Why are you giving this to me?"
"I gave it to you so you could protect yourself."
"From what?"
"Creatures that will relentlessly attack anything that moves or anything that bothers it. It has no remorse. They will eat anything. Their carcasses do not rot, so they send some kind of harsh scent. Their meat are not edible, and cant use the bone on it for anything. Most People burn it to ashes. The ashes can be sold at a high price, since it's a very good fertilizer. There are more than one species of them here. But I get this information from a book. Even though they are sound fictional, it seems they could be real."
"How do you make these swallows?"
"I found some two very rare alloys in a book. So I melt them, put them into molds that I made, and tempered them with a hammer I found in a book. Most items in my stash have been inside of books."
"When will an anarchist attack us?"
"Anytime, so be ready ok?"
A sandstorm started to arise from the horizon. It looked fierce, but I had a feeling we would be safe if we go through it. This reminds me of the book I finish: A sandstorm started to arise from the horizon. So the alchemist took out the two potions he had secretly made as he disappears into the sandstorm; the end.
"Drink this." I told blue green eyed girl as I gave the brown, thick glass bottle from my pocket to her.
"What is this?" the girl asked.
"I do not know, but I will drink it with you if you are uncertain." I explained as I took the other bottle from my pocket.
We both drank the bottles simultaneously, but nothing happen. It just tasted funny. There were no signs of any anarchist so my hunce was right. We were pulled into the sandstorm. Surprisingly it looks like I could withstand the force of the storm.
I check on the girl and she could also endure the winds of the storm. If both of us could out run the men, then I guess they can't go through the sandstorm. We started to dash through the scraping winds until we start to see solid, rocky ground, and further, I saw green grass. The both of us stop to take a rest on the green field, and stare at the clouds.
"Even though the sky here is the same at home, the sky looks calmer don't you think." I said.
"Yeah, I agree it seems calmer here." The girl answered.
"Rain" I softly said as I look at the sky.
"Rain?" the girl said like she never heard of the word.
"It's going to rain soon. This will be the first time I will see it, but we should hurry."
"Rain?" the girl repeated.
"You'll see." I replied.
We started to run strait through the sea of grass. There was something in sight near the sun set. It was a foundation; a different foundation from the foundation that I am from. I started to dash straight towards it like it was a start of a new life, something interesting. The light sapphire haired girl followed.
The sky darkens as dark clouds cover the sky as we get closer to the foundation. A strike of lightning appeared behind us as we rush, and the humidity started to change. Once we are at the gates, it started to pour on us, and thunder continued to roar.
"Here" I said while I gave the girl a locket, as I put on a similar one myself.
The girl puts on the locket without saying anything. The locket sort look like a circle shaped pendent with a yore symbol on it. It is made of pure silver. I gave it to her so she would remember me.
I started to dash the other away from the foundation. One reason was that I saw a foundation miles away. The second I could go there since it things should be safe if we are not together.
"Don't follow me. It's better if we separate for now." I said while running as fast as I could run.
"Zepher! Where are going Zepher? Zepher!" The girl yelled across the plains at me as I ignore her. "Zepher! Zepher...the voice slowly change to my friend Bane as my sight faded out…Hey Zepher you're going to be late to school if you don't wake up. Zepher!"
frostmore wrote:
its based on a gg character so its true.
Poor bridget, I still don't know why He wears that
RIP my childhood shows 1990-2001
I give Zepher 10 because that's the story we are trying to make since we're little.


text:
Difference between revisions of "Essex (England)"
Revision as of 08:07, 10 April 2013
Essex is a large county in the East Anglia area of England.
Other destinations
Ancient flitch town worth a walk up and down the high street
A school in Dunmow: http://www.felsted.org
Essex's largest island: lies off the coast near Southend and has been under M.O.D. control since 1916.
Contrary to popular belief and stereotypes, Essex is not actually an urban wasteland. This stereotype exists partly because some parts of London are still informally considered to be parts of Essex and the part of Essex around the Thames estuary contains a large amount of urban sprawl and commuter towns which account for around half the county's population. However most of the rest of the county is rural, and has some very beautiful scenery that is not widely known to outsiders. Saffron Walden, in the north-west of the county, epitomises this defiance of the classic Essex stereotype, as do many of the smaller towns and villages.
Obviously an English-speaking county, but accents can vary in Essex. In the northern and rural areas of the county, you are much more likely to hear the traditional East Anglian accent. But in the south of the county the most commonly heard is known as the estuary accent; some say this is a cross between cockney and East Anglian.
Get in
Get around
Stay safe
Contrary to popular belief, Essex actually has one of the lowest crime rates in England. However some poorer towns in the more urbanised south and west of the county should be approached with caution, especially at night.
As with the rest of the UK, in any emergency call 999 or 112 (from a land-line if you can) and ask for Ambulance, Fire or Police when connected.
Get out


text:
UpWithTreesORG needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 47 designs submitted by 14 freelance designers.
Up With Trees is an established leader in planting, preserving and promoting Tulsa's urban forest. Created in 1976, Up With Trees has utilized generous efforts from volunteers to plant more than 22,000 trees in Tulsa and surrounding areas. UWT Citizen Foresters will become part of an elite volunteer corps that will plant, maintain, prune and inventory trees in parks and other locations around town.
Up With Trees Citizen Forester http://www.upwithtrees.org
We are looking for a classy, versatile logo for our new Up With Trees Citizen Forester program.
We would like the style to be clean and fitting to designate the volunteer corps in the field as a person not only representing our organziation, but also someone who is a knowledgeable reference for promoting urban forestry in and around Tulsa.
Examples of what would be ideal:
- Incorporating hands/arms as leaves/trunk
- Style that incorporates deco architecture - Tulsa is # 2 in nation!
- The name "Up With Trees"
- The name "Citizen Forester" (could also incorporate "CF")
- The clever use of the city "Tulsa" (optional)
- Professional, clean design
- Must be scalable: logo will appear on posters, t-shirts, website, postcards.
- Elements of tree(s) or leaves - Preferably of oak(s) or other indigenous tree
- Could be silhouette
- Ability to add to colored collared shirts (green)
- Evergreen, palm or other non-native trees
- "Cutesy" or "busy" design
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Before I start, I would like to state that this article does not advocate for or against running an agile inception over phone. It is more of an experience report. Please feel free to post your comments.
Inception is at the heart of a successful agile engagement. In an agile project we work with the client and not just for the client. Inception starts the process where the team, client and consultants, start thinking alike and working together.
It is so much easier to work with a colleague once you have synchronized your frequencies/wavelengths. Okay, enough blabber about wave theory.
This article is about my experience, learning and rant about remote inceptions. I intend to keep it more like a free flowing conversation.
Projects are set fail if the initial understanding and the basis for further development is flawed. Some key questions that immediately come to our mind:
Does the client know what he wants?
Does he really need to build it, or can he buy something that already exist (COTS)?
The answers to these and many other questions would become apparent in an inception.
Ideally inception is where we start by setting a vision for the project, break it down into achievable milestones and further down into playable stories. But all this mandates that you have the client right in front of you.
Most inception exercises require face to face interaction to make communication as clear as possible. It is necessary to use tools (simple and sophisticated) to make mental model explicit, elicit the requirements and clear any doubts. Inception is a fun and effective way to interact with the client and bring every one on the team on board with the project's goals.
Most inception should have the below activities in the agenda.
1. Team introductions – May seem simple. But simple activities like playing a small team game act as the all important ice breaker.
2. Collaborative Modeling sessions – As many or as little, as per requirement of the project. A good inception would have several of these sessions on project specific topics as well as general discussions on Non Functional Requirements.
3. Prioritization – Lay out the options in front of the client story cards. Let the client move the cards to prioritize them. In some cases this exercise leads to a rough release plan.
4. Inception showcase
The above activities are a small subset of an inception. But, these are the ones which bring out the most useful facts that are necessary for the project success. Also they are the ones which require as much face to face interactions and team efforts.
At the end of an inception the team must be able to decide if they should go ahead with the project.
Let me now explain a little bit about the scenario we were faced with. Our clients had very limited budget and could not afford to include travel expenses for either them to travel to our location (India) or for us to travel to theirs (Chicago). It may seem very sensible to not start the project until sufficient budget is available. But the client could not get more budget unless something was built and built soon. So we had to do an inception with them over phone, with a 12 hour time difference (Sadly the video conference equipment on their side was broken).
All this got us be more resourceful and improvise with what we had. The only way ahead was to address all the risks as best as we could.
Managing risk
A remote inception is very risky business. The probability of success is quite small. Always communicate this to the customer and try and push for a face to face inception. Remember this is not for your benefit, but it is in the best interest of the customer. It is a good idea to maintain a shared risks log with the customer.
Below are some risks that we faced.
Risk: Understanding about some Features may not be completely correct
- Client was made aware that there may be minor misunderstanding despite best efforts.
- In our case the application functionality was quite closely associated with the UI. So we came with early mockups that were as close as possible to what the client wanted. We let them edit the same and maintained them for future reference.
- Rather than plainly documenting technical understanding, we built very crude prototypes. Most of the time, code is the best documentation and communication mechanism.
- The client was made aware that our initial estimates would be bumped up by a certain risk factor to accommodate any issues with understanding. It is better to promise less and deliver more.
Risk: 12 hour time lag. It was imminent from the beginning that we had to spend time outside our usual working hours to spend enough time on the inception.
We scheduled for calls which ranged between 3 to 4 hours everyday. A face to face inception can have day long agenda. But it is better to maintain lesser number of hours on remote inceptions. Small 15 minute breaks were counted in.
Inception Agenda
We made sure that all stake holders were in a position to dedicate time for inception. Instant messenger proved very useful. We also sent out links to tools like webex (Desktop sharing tool). Initially we were confident about our own superhuman capabilities to spend late hours at office to have longer conference calls. But a senior member in our team rightly pointed out the flaw and reduced it to an optimal 3 hour call. This suited us well. After three hours over the phone it is extremely tiring to do any other productive work.
We prepared the agenda to ensure that we had time to cover all topics that we considered necessary. But it was not something that was set in stone. Some sessions finish ahead of time while others may reveal unknown areas, which require fresh slots to be included. We revised the agenda from time to time.
A typical day would start with the recap of the previous days meeting notes. This would be quick 15 minute exercise which would warm up the team for the long call ahead. We also used this time to follow up on each other's progress.
Communication and meeting notes
As in the case of any normal inception, never go without a good scribe. We took turns at this role and noted down all the key points. Though it may have sounded silly sometimes, we tried to paraphrase the client's sentences and validated our understanding. The client was informed at the very beginning of the inception that we may have to repeat some lines to confirm our understanding. In our case one team member from our customer side volunteered to take notes as well. At the end of the day we would share notes and if there are any differences in understanding we would resolve it in the following day's meeting. Once all differences are cleared, we would put it in a place where every one has access.
Try to learn how each person sounds, so that you can associate a voice and/or accent to a person. Also suggest your customer to do the same. This helps a lot in keeping the conversation easy.
Sometimes you will not know when the person on the other side of the phone has lost interest in what you are saying. It is better to speak slowly and clearly. While talking to a person face to face it is very easy to detect when he/she is loosing interest. On the phone the one possible way to do this is to include small questions while one speaks. This way you know the person on the other side is listening.
We used low tech tools to simulate a virtual card wall where clients to could move cards. You could use an online card wall for this. Screen sharing tools like webex are extremely important. There are quite a lot of free tools available.
Start using a project management tool early in the cycle. Start adding stories to the project management tool as early as possible. A spreadsheet may be easy to start with. We used mingle for project management.
In Retrospect
If I had to do this all over again, I will still consider it extremely risky business. Few things that I might do differently are listed below.
- Get the video conference equipment worked out early. In our case since the team size was small. So this did not become a great issue. I would strongly recommend having a video conference for bigger teams.
- If there is not enough budget for the entire team to travel, try to have at least one representative from your side at the customer's location. He could facilitate the activities.
- Capture the clients mood over the period of inception using tools like Niko-niko Calendar
Remote inceptions are tough if not impossible. Try to avoid it as much as you can. But if have to do it, you know are not alone. In the end it is our goal to help the customer, no matter what the constraint. Fortunately, in our case the exercise was a success and the customer was happy.


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tweedpark needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 84 designs submitted by 17 freelance designers.
I have just taken over the running of a long standing family business. Colonial Tweed Home & Holiday Park.The current name and logo relate to Colonial Australia. I want to change the image - both logo and colours to identify with the holiday area (Gold Coast - Australia) where we are located. The Park is home to permanent residents as well as tourists.
The logo is targeted to attract tourists to our park. The market is divided between families looking for beachside holiday accommodation in an area with lots of tourist attractions. The other part of the market is couples (or groups) looking for holiday or weekend accommodation that is reasonably priced. We also attract retirees escaping the southern winter each year. We have a three and one half star accommodation rating.
Inclusion of name: COLONIAL TWEED
Home and Holiday Park
We are located on a beautiful river so reference to that.
Imagery of beach holiday atmosphere - not a beach scene though.
Simple imagery prefered - crisp and eye catching
Summer colours, bright but not over the top
I do not want the palm tree image
An example of the type of image I am thinking of can be seen at http://www.pyramidpark.com.au but I welcome an alternate approach.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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|2012-09-11, 06:01
|Link #1
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Monterrey N.L. Mexico
[Manga] Naruto Chapter 601 Discussion Thread
Welcome to the weekly manga chapter discussion thread. This thread is created early to discuss spoilers and speculation about the upcoming chapter as well as discussion of said chapter once it has been released.
As per the forums rules, please don't ask for or mention about where to download the (licensed) manga. Also remember not to post or link to any translations of the manga, since this is illegal as well. Posting a synopses or summary is fine (and welcome) but please do not discuss scans, raws, translation groups, etc. Additionally, if you are posting someone else's synopsis (or their translation of a synopsis), then please provide credit were credit is due.
Remember that the manga is licensed, do not post significant parts of the chapter. This stands for pictures and direct translations. Summaries are OK, crops of pictures are OK as well if you want to illustrate your point but this is it.
|2012-09-11, 06:05
|Link #2
Giga Drill Breaker
Join Date: Jan 2009
my only thoughts right now is Tsunade will die for the sake of making the 6th Hokage position vacant.... drats!!! and from the looks of things that means Naruto will be the 6th Hokage to have some random connection with the Sage of the Sixth Path... i now wonder if number 6 means something more interesting on Japanese mythology
|2012-09-11, 06:15
|Link #3
Custom User Title
I just read the chapter.
I think by now it is pretty save to assume that both Madara and Obito are/were Tobi. Obito continued what Madara did, because Madara was about to die. Since he needed somebody to continue his work, he entrusted his will to the young boy and made the necessary arrangements to be resurrected at some point in the future. When Obito said that he gave the Rinnegan to Nagato, he was partially right, because it was in fact Madara, who, together with Obito had become Tobi. That means that the story does not need time travel to fill the supposed plot holes that some people think they've found. It makes perfect sense this way. The only question remaining is whether Minato was fighting Madara or Obito. I personally don't believe that it was Madara, though. I doubt he would have been that agile with this old body of his that we see on the last page of the chapter. And this specific panel actually takes place a few years before the fight. However, as james0246 has pointed out a number of times, it wouldn't be anything unheard of in the Narutoverse for characters to gain a tremendous rise in power in just a few years, especially with Madara as your mentor and the Sharingan obviously. So it was probably Obito who fought Minato.
Aside from that, I'm having trouble believing that Madara is/was completely honest with Obito about the idea behind the Moon's Eye plan. I highly doubt that somebody as sinister as him would care about fake world peace. This is probably just his own little mind game to prove to the first hokage that the uchiha were superior all along. 'You can have Konoha, but I'll take the world' - something along that line. He probably used Obito's suffering over Rin's death to gain a follower with the same goal, albeit for a different and in some way even noble reason. Because of this, I think that Madara will have to betray Obito at some point.
Very good chapter by the way. Tsunade ... that's some dark stuff. I didn't expect that kind of explicitness and felt really weird for a moment or two.
Last edited by ZGoten; 2012-09-11 at 07:18.
|2012-09-11, 06:33
|Link #4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
I don't get it. Katsuyu can easily fix Tsunade but only Tsunade can heal the other kage? Seems like a contrived way to kill off Tsunade.
I liked the level of familiarity between Obito and Madara, how Madara seems to have some faith in Obito, and especially their first meeting at the end of the chapter. Hopefully the next chapter will fill in the blanks about Tobi's history.
|2012-09-11, 06:40
|Link #5
Diamond is Unbreakable
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: The Middle Way
|2012-09-11, 06:42
|Link #6
lost ronin
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: in the recesses of my convoluted mind...
aside from tsunade being sliced in half, kishi hasn't really given us anything new in this chapter. he basically just confirmed what we already know. the kage were defeated, obito and madara know each other and planned the whole thing, madara was supposed to be raised by nagato using the rinnegan and that obito was saved by madara and somehow corrupted. kishi does know how to stall, doesn't he?
|2012-09-11, 07:06
|Link #9
Monarch Programmer
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Liverpool
Age: 37
Amazing chapter imo.
Confirmed a lot for me. Obv Madara saved Obito, and trained him in the arts of the Sharingan/Rinnagan etc. Then after passing Obito continued Madara's work collecting the tailed beasts and recruiting members for Ataksuki ready for Madara to be revived in the future when his plan was rtg.
However, Madara has been awaken too early. By now Madara expected Nagato to still be alive, and all the tailed beasts to be captured.
Although Madara does seem to have some faith in Obito I agree, that he is also just a pawn in Madara's overall plan.
The Kage got owned there is no way Tsunade can survive this.
I suspect Oro knows all of Madara's plan and is about to explain all to Sasuke. Who will eventually team up with Naruto to defeat Madara. However, this would mean no Sas x Naru fight...
|2012-09-11, 07:44
|Link #11
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Location is all relative.
I...can't believe what I am seeing. Tsunade got split in half. Quite unfitting of the other Sannin. Jiraiya died an epic battle against Pain and held his own for a while. Even despite his most recent revival, Orochimaru "died" in a decent enough fight against Itachi. Tsunade though, gets ripped in half off-screen.
Well I suppose this leaves Madara with something to taunt Naruto and B with, ultimately causing his downfall. Though, Naruto didn't even scratch him here so how's he gonna survive this?
|2012-09-11, 07:51
|Link #12
a random Indonesian otaku
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Xanadu
Age: 26
I'm still sure Obito was brainwashed by Madara...
He was saved by old Madara... then planning the war together before Madara passed away
and that's also explained why Obito received Kabuto's offer...
I think if Kabuto didn't revive Madara using edo-tensei, Obito will use himself to use that Rinnegan path to revive Madara
Highlight of the chapter : Kages in critical condition.... (noo!! Gaara!!)
Tsunade is splitting into two parts... ;__; (and still alive... wtf!)
as expected, Obito vs Kakashi is the next!
|2012-09-11, 08:17
|Link #14
start thinkin bout clones
what a crazy ass chapter. he cut tsunade in half and then dropped a tree on her for good measure.
where is narutos original body if he was a clone this whole time?
poor obito, saved by an old dying madara and joined forces because of it. back story time, one of the few times I cant wait to see a flashback.
|2012-09-11, 08:28
|Link #15
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Age: 32
|2012-09-11, 08:55
|Link #16
Bubbly and super fun
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Doesn't look like Kansas
|2012-09-11, 09:10
|Link #17
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: East Cupcake
I don't understand all the fuss over the Kage scene. Whether we saw the fight or not, that was the inevitable conclusion. They needed to be defeated for the story to progress. (I am also unclear as to how her body was dissected; if a tree fell on her, then he lower half would simply have been crushed, but instead the tree seems to be separating her two halves...it's a little weird).
That being said, seeing Obito all messed up was quite nice. Not quite sure how old Madara fits into everything (specifically, the timeline, not his relevancy to Obito or the story), but I can't wait to see their flashback next chapter. And Obito vs. Kakashi should be okay...
And, of course, Naruto multi-tasking is always fun .
|2012-09-11, 09:25
|Link #18
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Location is all relative.
Oh as for the tree, it is basically acting as a censor. You can see it casting a shadow large enough to indicate that the tree's body is above to where Tsunade's body is split. Why Kishimoto decided to censor this is beyond me since I recall back in the Zabuza arc where he had Inari's surrogate father crucified and arms amputated shown on full display but, details.
|2012-09-11, 09:37
|Link #20
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
I think this chapter was great. i also think this storyline makes the most sense and is the least convoluted of all the other possible options presented in theories in the past. i'm glad long haired tobi was madara. that makes more sense to me than it being obito too. i really can't wait to see how it all fits together and what old madara did exactly before his death.
another revelation is that i was probably right that madara transplanted some other uchiha's sharingans after he gave nagato his rinnegan. that or they are in this weird limbo that restores sharingans? but it didnt make him younger. i guess first off, i'd like to know where they are exactly lol
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November 01st, 2010 Los Angeles, California. ***EXCLUSIVE*** Ke$ha films a music video for "We R Who We R", a song she wrote in response to the recent gay youth suicides and bullying. Ke$ha was seen looking sexy and hard edged on the set of the Hype Williams directed music video. Ke$ha wore silver lipstick, sexy boots, a chain with locks, bullets, torn leggings and an outfit that looked like a broken mirror. She danced and performed all night long with "her crew" of diverse girls in a Downtown LA street tunnel which was rigged with fire and explosions to go off as the girls walked and danced through the Tunnel. There was also a car drag race scene filmed in the tunnel. Photo by Eric Ford/ On Location News.
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Futures mixed in light trading amid data trove
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures were mixed in very light trading amid a flurry of reports on jobs, retail sales and the industrial and services sectors.
The numbers that roll out Thursday and Friday may determine if or how much the U.S. Federal Reserve pulls back on the asset purchases that have kept international markets flush with cash.
Dow Jones industrial futures were flat at 14,924. S&P futures gained less than a point to reach 1,654. Nasdaq futures are up 2.25 points to 3,130.50.
Before the opening bell Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week dropped to a five-year low. And the payroll company ADP reported that private sector employment rose by 176,000 jobs last month.
The U.S. also reported Thursday that productivity for American workers rose at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the April-June quarter and labor costs were flat, which tamps down concerns about inflation.
All eyes are now turning to the August jobs report, which is due Friday from the Labor Department. However, macroeconomic data this week has buttressed the view that the Fed may soon begin easing its massive asset purchases.
The beige book, a survey released by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday, showed that all 12 of the Fed's regional banking districts reported modest to moderate growth from July to August.
A growing number of economists believe growth and hiring are strong enough for the Fed to begin slowing its bond purchases at the September meeting.
The Fed is spending $85 billion a month in purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds, which has kept interest rates low and encouraged more investment in the equity and housing markets.
The wildcard has been the American consumer, which still appears leery of spending much. Consumer spending drives about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
Retailers are reporting some positive numbers for August. Costco, Walgreen and The Buckle all topped Wall Street expectations for comparable store sales Thursday.
Major retailers like Wal-Mart and Macy's have recently cut their outlooks because of lackluster sales, casting pall over the sector.
Later Thursday, the Commerce Department releases its report on factory orders and the Institute for Supply Management's services releases its monthly index on the service sector, which employs 90 percent of the U.S. workforce.


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David W. Orias 9/30/2007 7:20:40 AMI think this works very well in the Monthly Theme category. #750435
Heather L. Haderly 9/30/2007 10:30:15 AMAwesome image Guilherme!!! #4864861
Donna La Mattino Pagakis 10/25/2007 5:15:11 PMOutstanding colors and design, great use of effects!! Congratulations on a beautiful finalist! #4982224
Cynthia L. Deters 10/26/2007 7:39:03 PMWonderful! Great job! #4988357
Cyn Valentine 10/27/2007 5:42:24 AMAwesome..congratulations on your great win!! #4989700
RC Fritz 10/27/2007 1:55:37 PMSuperb, Guilherme!! Great job and Big Congratulations! #4991762
Susan M. Hembree 10/28/2007 8:39:15 PMSpectacular! Congratulations, Guilherme, on your phenomenal 2nd place winner! #4997053
Stanley C. Sims 11/7/2007 5:00:27 PMA well deserved winner. Outstanding effect. #5042072
Vinnie Sandre Jr 11/28/2007 6:02:37 PMAwesome Job, cycling is one of my favorite things to do. Congrats #5144668
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Ash's Electronics class wound down last Wednesday, but that's no reason to stop soldering!
Elliot will be trying to make a bridged, push-pull amplifier out of a couple of LM386s. (There'll be plenty for experimenting, if you feel like helping out or making one for yourself.)
Otherwise, come on by and just get yer hack on.