text:
Creativity is a tricky concept. Some would suggest its spontaneous nature sits outside traditional learning and that it can be nurtured through flexible forms of education. Others insist that in order to be creative we need to already have knowledge and facts stored in long-term memory. Both are legitimate proposals, yet as a predominately cognitive psychologist I'm more likely to opt for the latter. That said, creativity is in no way confined to our semantic memories (the facts; the general knowledge) but also to our episodic memory, our being in the world and experience of the ebb and flow of everyday life and social encounters. As I've explained before, facts can even get in the way of creativity. As regular visitors will be aware (and if you've read my books) you'll know that I'm a stickler of definitions, so I suppose this is where I should start.
What is creativity?
The Oxford English dictionary defines creativity as the use of skill and imagination to produce something new or to produce art. The aim of creativity is to do something purposeful and create something that exists in the real world and has real world purpose, such as the light bulb, telephone or smartphone. Creativity has taken place when something new and valuable has been formed. Creating a painting or writing a novel culminates in a product, a thing that serves a purpose – painters, artists, metalworkers, inventors, carpenters are all creative people because what they produce can be both new and useful. However, not everyone is an eminent inventor or revered artist, even though they may be inventors and artists. Most people will have heard of Alexander Graham Bell, Nicola Tesla and Mark Zuckerberg. Hopefully, many people will also be familiar with Ada Lovelace, the Victorian pioneer of what would become computer programming. Few may be as familiar with Simone Giertz, the Swedish inventor, roboticist and YouTuber, famous for her 'shitty robots' (her phrase, not mine). Giertz is certainly creative, yet it's unlikely she will be elevated to the heights of Thomas Edison. Psychologist James Kaufman would suggest that Giertz displays Pro-C creativity, she displays creativity but is not an eminent creator, while Edison could be said to display Big-C creativity, that is, creative and eminent. Kaufman has proposed a 'Four C' model of creativity that begins with the manifestation of personally meaningful interpretations of experience (mini-c) and extends towards everyday problem solving and creative expression (little-c) and upwards to Pro-C and Big-C creativity. In general, it's only Big-C and little-c that are used more widely.
Do creative people have different brains?
We can all be creative to some extent, but are some people simply born more creative than others? If they are, then it becomes increasingly difficult to view creativity as something that can be nurtured or taught and it's likely that creativity is associated with measurable forms of intelligence (that is, IQ). So, are the brains of highly creative people different? This is what Roger Beaty, a cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard University, wanted to find out. Beaty and his colleagues asked volunteers to complete a divergent thinking task where they were asked to think of creative uses for everyday objects, including a gum wrapper and a sock. This task was carried out while volunteers were having their brains scanned using fMRI. Those who did better on the task, that is, came up with the most creative uses (such as using the sock as a filtration device) also reported having more creative hobbies and achievements. This finding wasn't exactly new, as previous studies concur. The team then used a recently developed method, known as connectome-based prediction modelling (CPM), to correlate the creativity scores with all possible (about 35,000) brain connections. CPM can predict aspects of human behaviour, such as cognitive abilities, from the patterns of the whole brain functional connectivity (the extent to which different brain regions are communicating with each other). After correlating creativity scores with brain connections, the researchers removed those connections that didn't correlate with them from the model. This left only those brain connections that appeared directly related to creativity.
So the researches now had a model of the creative areas of the human brain, called the high creative network, that looked to be very relevant to the ability to generate original ideas. But will a person with stronger connections in the high creative network score well on divergent thinking tasks? When researchers measured the strength of a person's connections in this network and then carried out predictive modelling to estimate their creativity score, the predicted and observed scores showed a correlation, so creative ideas appear to be linked to the strength of the connection in the high creative network. What this means is that researchers had managed to isolate the specific areas of the brain that seemed to make people more creative and they could use this information to see if the strength of the connections between these areas actually made people more creative than those with weaker connections. Further examination confirmed this notion, but only modestly, so it does appear that people with stronger connections do come up with more creative ideas (but only just).
Breaking all this down, the high creative network belongs to three specific brain systems: the default mode network, the salience network and the executive control network. The default mode network (or DMN) is a set of brain regions that are active when people are engaged in spontaneous thinking and when the brain has little else to attend to. This thinking would include mind wandering, daydreaming and imagining.
The second network, the executive control network, is a set of brain regions that activate when people need to focus or control thought processes. It might have a role to play in evaluating brainstormed ideas and determining if they will actually work, as well as modifying them to fit a creative goal.
The final network is the salience network, which acts as a switching mechanism between the default and executive networks.
These brain regions may play a role in alternating between idea generation and idea evaluation (whether the idea will actually work and how it can be adapted if necessary). The important thing to note here is that these three networks don't usually activate at the same time, but creative people appear better at getting them to co-activate. Does this mean that creative people are somehow wired differently? The answer is, possibly. The results certainly indicate that creative people are better able to engage specific brain systems that don't typically work together and these results are consistent with other recent fMRI studies of professional artists.
Our ability to be creative might, therefore, be biological rather than learned, although we don't know how or why these brain regions are operating in this way in more creative people. Divergent thinking tasks are also rather artificial, while creativity is often spontaneous and often the result of other stimuli in the environment. Imagination is not creativity, although creative people are often imaginative. An imagined object is not one that has purpose in the real world, it is merely that, an imagined object (an idea). It may well become a real world object but there is no reason why it should and may exist simply for the entertainment of the person in whose mind it resides. There is, therefore, no practical intent, the imagination just drifts, playing with ideas and images and skirting boundaries, often discovering connections between things along the way. This type of imagination is described as free play imagination, it often has little to do with what we know or the things we know how to do. Free play imagination is unfettered by boundaries, it's intuitive and entirely content with not knowing why it sees what it does. This is imagination for the fun of it, rather than as a tool to solve problems or consider alternative possibilities.
However, sometimes our imaginings might be responding to a question, such as what would my life have been like if I had done this instead of that? Or, as Einstein asked himself, what would it be like to travel so fast that you caught up with a light beam? Both questions trigger experimental imagination rather than the free play variety. The question acts as centre of gravity and we are motivated to consider the question; we are more focused and confined within the boundaries of the question.
Are creative people more intelligent?
Traditionally, intelligence and creativity have been kept separate and it's still unusual to find researchers looking at both together. Nevertheless, they do at times converge and the findings can be both enlightening and frustrating. During the late 1960s, pioneering psychologist J. P. Guilford developed what he called the Structure of Intellect Model of intelligence. By this time, intelligence was already a very fertile area of research, but Guilford was perhaps the first to combine it with creativity. He proposed that mental processes were either convergent or divergent. Convergent processes are those we think of as intelligence, those that narrow thought and lead to correct answers. Divergent processes, on the other hand, widen thought and lead to many responses. Intelligence (convergent thinking) is measured using standard IQ tests, of which several exist. Divergent thinking, on the other hand is measured using a divergent thinking task where volunteers are asked to offer up imaginative and unique uses for everyday items; if an individual can think of uses that haven't been offered by other participants, they are thought to be more creative.
In one study from 1965 conducted by long-time collaborators Michael Wallach and Nathan Kogan, different intelligence tasks correlated with each other, but not divergent thinking tasks. This led to the general view that intelligence and creativity are not related. Studies conducted over the following years appeared to support this view. However, more recently, researchers, including Paul Silvia at the University of North Carolina Greensboro have challenged this notion. When data from previous studies have been re-examined using up-to-date statistical techniques, relationships between creativity and intelligence appear to be much higher than the original findings. Specifically, a particular type of intelligence called fluid intelligence appears to correlate highly with creativity.
Intelligence refers to the structure of human abilities and the way they differ between individuals. Intelligence is linked to memory of all flavours and there is certainly a relationship between the capacity of working memory and how well people do on an intelligence test. Just like other aspects of psychology, models have been developed that attempt to describe the differences between people in terms of their cognitive abilities. The most influential and rigorously tested in these models in the Cattell-Horn-Carrol theory (or CHC), an amalgamation of two previous models, one developed by Raymond Cattell and John Horn, the other (known as three-stratum theory) developed by John Carroll. Cattell and Horn proposed that general intelligence (often referred to as g) consists of fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallised intelligence (Gc). We can think of Gf as the processing power, so how well we reason and how well we adapt to new environments or solve novel problems – it's the nuts and bolts of intelligence. Gc, on the other hand, is our accumulation of knowledge, including general knowledge and procedural knowledge (such as riding a bike). The two are related, with Gf being an important factor in the speed at which Gc knowledge is accumulated. So, if a person is high in fluid intelligence, they learn quicker and adapt better to novel situations. Not surprisingly, Gc increases with age, whereas Gf peaks in late adolescence and then declines steadily, which might explain why it takes longer to learn new things as we age.
John Carrol proposed that intelligence is composed of three strata that take into account a large number of individual differences in cognitive ability. People, for example, might be particularly skilled as recognising faces, dealing with complex calculations or writing fiction. Some people might simply be better at learning things and be able to pick up new skills or consolidate novel information faster and more efficiently than others. Carrol, therefore, separated intelligence into general (strata one) which represents general intelligence, or g; broad (strata two) which represented crystallised and fluid intelligence, as well as memory and processing speed, and narrow (strata thee) which are highly specific to the task in hand, such a spelling or mathematical ability.
Fluid intelligence, therefore, appears to predict creativity. More specifically, the ability to store and retrieve verbal information in long-term memory is a skill more commonly found in creative people. In one study, Paul Silvia and Roger Beaty found that fluid intelligence predicted people's ability to create metaphors in response to questions such as 'what is it like to eat disgusting food?' Humour is considered to be a creative skill and I, for one, often wish I was creative enough to produce those hilarious and often cutting responses we see on social media. Unfortunately, it often takes me a few days of contemplation before I can come up with a suitably humorous reply, by which time people have moved on, had babies, emigrated to Canada…
Indeed, people who are able to write funny captions for cartoons score higher on measures of fluid and crystallised intelligence. There is also some evidence emerging from neuroscience that links certain types of intelligence to creativity, but so far it's too early to tell if this line of enquiry will bear fruit.
What does all this tell us?
Creativity is certainly related to memory and intelligence, at least the fluid variety. This means that knowledge does matter, we just don't really know just how vital it is. There's been a recent trend in looking more at episodic memory in the emergence of creativity and, in particular divergent thinking. This study for example, looked at how mental time travel can help us come up with creative solutions.
However, this and many other studies are restricted to controlled laboratory conditions that take a snapshot rather than a longer-term view. There are a couple of longitudinal studies, but these are in the early stages and conclusions won't be known for some time. Another question relates to the role of spontaneous creativity, that a-ha moment or eureka effect reportedly experienced by Archimedes, Newton and Crick and Watson. The latter phenomenon is obviously more difficult to study, although the University of Melbourne launched its Aha Challenge in 2019 in an attempt to plug this gap.


text:
Hey there! I got out of the funk I was in during my last post. Thanks for putting up with my pity party.
Now that we are in the new year, I have created a reading challenge for myself. During 2019, I challenge myself (and anyone who wants to join me) to read the following:
- A children's book
- A book by a local author
- One of my top three books I've ever read
- A book based on it's cover
- A genre I don't normally read
- A book with a one word title
- Reread a favorite book
- A book recommended by someone with good taste
- A book set in my home state
- A debut novel
- A biography
- A book over 500 pages long
I have already made some progress. The first book I read this year checks off the children's book category. I read "I'm Just a Little Cow". An adorable board book that I spotted while checking in returns at the library where I work.
This little cow is adorable. I've recommended it and even put it out on our staff picks shelf.
I'll be posting more as I work through the list.
Happy New Year!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
JUST SOLD! 5206 Whitcomb Drive sold on June 9, 2017 for $360,000. Updated gourmet kitchen with Wolf dual fuel range, walk-in pantry, two fireplaces, tongue & groove pine walls in family room, three season porch, beautiful newer oak floors, updated baths updated, and so much more. Congratulations to the buyers and sellers!
This home was sold by Kate Weis, Broker Associate – Alvarado Real Estate Group. If you'd like to discuss selling your home or buying a home of your own, please contact Kate at 608-213-4203 or email@example.com.


text:
Sneaky changes you WON'T know about!
You will hardly realize your mind is clearing and new direction is sneaking into your lives, but others will notice.
As you welcome the idea of being a maker of a real home for your family, you will realize that washing dishes is not such a horrible chore, after all. You may remind yourself of a powdered cleanser commercial as you clean the bathtub, but you will like it.
Gentler rewards.
The exercise will give a glow to your cheeks, too. In fact, with new work going on, you may actually begin needing small breaks. What's more, you will find quiet for enjoying your reading during these breaks, and in your favorite comfy chair instead of a sterile "break room".
As you discover the truer beauty of new, simpler recreations, you will realize it is a good thing, because your costs will shrink, too. You will become quite satisfied with less.
The children
The best change, though, will come over your children. Your heart will sing as your see competitiveness and the resulting nervousness falling off your children.
As you discover their true personalities, you will delight in re-making their acquaintances. As they discover the real you, in return, they will cooperate with you more. You will hardly believe your eyes as you watch your children simply being a family, together. No amount of running around would give this joy, and as there is less running around, there will be much more time for family.
More time
As this newfound time applies to all of life, the educational level and possibilities for your children will greatly increase. It will not be all book learning, either, as you give life to their understanding of the joys of industry and simplicity.
Last, you will find yourself face to face with a new self. It will be great. Old priorities will go out the window and new ones will jump in the front door just as fast. Your amazement at yourself will know no bounds, at first. Things you once shrugged off will take on great proportions and things that once bothered you greatly will seem insignificant.
For instance, instead of fixating on finding the best school supplies for your child, you may discover packing school supplies for Somalian orphans seems somehow more important.
You may acquire a new hobby of crochet or gardening or baking. You could sell your product or teach classes. You could bring joy to those around you.
Most importantly, though, you will never again wonder if you should home school your children. You will finally know. The knowing will bring such peace in knowing you are finally giving your children the best you can, finally doing what you were made to do.
Finally home.


text:
Showing results for Bloomington Campus
IU School of Medicine graduates physicians, scientists in Class of 2021
Members of the Class of 2021 were honored Friday, May 14, with members of IU School of Medicine leadership sharing their well wishes in pre-recorded messages. They were joined by keynote speaker Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, FAAP. She is the physician, scientist and activist who exposed the Flint water crisis.
IU School of Medicine | May 14, 2021
IU School of Medicine names new associate dean, director for Bloomington campus
IU School of Medicine | Jul 01, 2020
IU School of Medicine celebrates Class of 2020 with virtual graduation ceremony
IU School of Medicine | May 15, 2020
IU School of Medicine continues record-setting research trend; up 5 spots in National Institutes of Health rankings
INDIANAPOLIS – For the fourth-straight year, Indiana University School of Medicine set a school record for research funding received from the National Institutes of Health, demonstrating national leadership in critical fields like Alzheimer's disease and pediatrics and providing a major boost to the Indiana economy. IU School of Medicine scientists and physicians were awarded over […]
IU School of Medicine | Jan 28, 2020
IU School of Medicine launches new opportunity for medical school applicants
Indiana University School of Medicine is launching a new admissions opportunity that will enable students to secure placement in a unique educational program that explores critical issues in health care. Students accepted to IU School of Medicine through the new Scholarly Concentrations Priority Placement Program will learn of their admission in December—earlier than many applicants. […]
IU School of Medicine | Jun 19, 2019
IU School of Medicine graduates physicians, scientists in Class of 2019
Some 439 physicians and scientists strode across the stage and on to the next phase of their professional careers Friday, May 10, during Indiana University School of Medicine's 2019 graduation recognition ceremony. The school's commitment to improving the health of all Hoosiers was on display, as 114 of the newly graduated physicians will continue at […]
IU School of Medicine | May 10, 2019
Match made in medicine
331 students learn where they are headed for residency training as part of annual Match Day INDIANAPOLIS — At precisely noon on Friday, March 15, the IUPUI Campus Center erupted with shrieks of joy and cries of relief as 331 Indiana University School of Medicine students tore open sealed red envelopes to reveal where they […]
IU School of Medicine | Mar 15, 2019
Third annual Bloomington Innovation Conference to bring together industry, academic research
The conference will focus on cutting-edge research conducted on the IU Bloomington campus that has the potential to lead to commercial applications.
IU School of Medicine | Mar 17, 2017
Bloomington Innovation Conference sets Feb. 24 deadline for abstracts from IU researchers
Researchers across all academic disciplines are invited to submit abstracts, which may describe recently completed work or work in progress.
IU School of Medicine | Jan 23, 2017
IU students take top three spots in B-Start's second annual Demo Day competition
IU students swept the second annual Demo Day business pitch competition held by B-Start, a pre-accelerator program developed by the Bloomington Economic Development Corp.
IU School of Medicine | Jan 17, 2017


text:
Intra-IDB part II: The ICAP to eCAP deal
Create a vendor selection project
Click to express your interest in this report
Indication of coverage against your requirements
A subscription is required to activate this feature. Contact us for more info.
Celent have reviewed this profile and believe it to be accurate.
We are waiting for the vendor to publish their solution profile. Contact us or request the RFX.
11 November 2015
Brad Bailey
Where there is smoke there is fire and the proposed outline for a deal which I discussed in my blog this weekend was announced today. Long time rivals in the inter dealer broker (IDB) space Tullett Prebon and ICAP are coming together with Tullett buying ICAP in an all-stock deal. Tullett will now be the 800 lb. gorilla of voice brokering, with about 1500 ICAP brokers going to Tullett as part of the deal as well as another 1000 employees. The deal will also include certain electronic assets like ICAP's 40.2% ownership in iSwap (IRS) , certain JVs and as well as the not clearly defined information services revenue. The details of the deal terms, economics and structuring are discussed in the press release and the analyst presentation. I will focus on certain key points of the deal looking at the ICAP side. ICAP has followed a strategy of acquiring growth and putting together an impressive portfolio of front to back technology assets. Historically, its main challenge in maintaining the voice business was not only the lower margins, and slowing environment for many of the products traded but the internal competition between its voice and electronic channels. The electronic businesses have not grown as they should, had this internal friction not been present. This is the case across asset classes. But, as they say, better late than never, and ICAP is on the road to becoming a different company. The new ICAP (let's call it eCAP) will include: • FX venue EBS and the related EBS businesses • Treasury exchange BrokerTec • Post-trade and processing companies TriOptima and Traiana which serve across asset classes with a focus on FX, rates and credit • FinTech incubator Euclid which has been active in making strategic bets for the firm • Tullett will have the right to the ICAP name What is not entirely clear at this point is what "information services" will remain with eCAP. Given the importance of market data, a detailed understanding of the value of eCAP will be a function of whether certain market data assets like data from EBS and BrokerTec will remain with eCAP. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see if the eCAP has the right to compete in interest rate swaps, or what its plans will be to develop an electronic platform for IRS given the loss of iSwap. I would imagine, given the importance of interest rate swaps in the rate world that the new firm will want to have a robust offering in this area. In sum, eCAP will be a lean technology, execution, venue, tools, pricing, and analytics company. Of course, eCAP will still have a vested interested in the voice business as it will hold about 20% of the newly issued Tullett stock.


text:
We've got our hands on four preview clips of Disney Pixar's Cars 3, the upcoming 3D CG animated movie sequel directed by Brian Fee and featuring the voices of Owen Wilson, Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, Nathan Fillion, Kerry Washington, Margo Martindale, Cheech Marin, Paul Dooley, and Katherine Helmond:
Cars 3 – The next gen
Cars 3 – My Senior project
Cars 3 – Meet Jackson Storm
Cars 3 – Lewis Hamilton
"Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician, Cruz Ramirez, with her own plan to win, plus inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn't through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing's biggest stage!"
Lightning McQueen is but an old gas-guzzler… just send it to the junkyard! We want Cars to focus on electric and hydrogen cars from now on!
Anyway, a look back at Lightning McQueen's beginnings:
Cars 3 Viral Video – The Untold Story of Lightning McQueen
The film will open in theaters: June 16, 2017.
Update – Additional posters:


text:
Some Fundamental Qualities of a Good Leader
Building a successful network marketing organization requires many skills. Of fundamental importance is a person with the qualities of a good leader. While network marketing itself is a simple business, it is not an easy business. It takes multiple skills especially on the part of a leader to build a business that is self sustaining and duplicable . Many have written about qualities of a good leader such as integrity, honesty, and influence, I believe these derive from a more fundamental set of skills. Much of this is mindset but if followed, the higher level qualities of integrity for example, will be a natural consequence.
So here is my list of the most important qualities of a good leader
Leaders Take 100% Responsibility
Leaders take 100% responsibility for their actions and the results. They understand that blame and criticism are demoralizing and produce no useful outcome. The old adage the buck stops here is prominent in their thinking. They understand that in all aspects of life 99% responsible is not good enough, only 100% works
Leaders lead By Example
They understand talk is cheap, action speaks louder than words. If you want your team to be making phone calls then you better be making phone calls. As the leader you must set the stage for the team to follow. This is not a dress rehearsal. Do what you expect your team to do.
Leaders Give Credit and Praise Frequently in public
Leaders give credit, praise and accolades freely and frequently and in public. People yearn for recognition and leaders understand that and strive to pump up their team. As Diane Hochman says, be a human backhoe and lift someone up. Praise and recognition go a long way toward helping an individual rise to his or her greatness. Conversely…shame and criticism assure discouragement and ultimately failure.
Leaders Criticize Infrequently and in private
Leaders criticize infrequently and in private and carefully so as to correct the unwanted behavior and not put down the person. They focus in the unwanted behavior and not the person. As a parent a prime example is "Johnny I do not like what you just did" as opposed to "Johnny you are a brat". Leaders also know how to "sandwich" criticism between a couple positives. Start with what you like about the persons performance or behavior, then insert the desired correction and finish with another positive.
Leaders Are Visionaries
Leaders see the future before anyone else and they believe in the destiny. They seek out and establish goals for themselves and their team. They understand the need for flexibility in execution and are willing to change course when something isn't working, and try something new and move on. Leaders establish goals for themselves and their team and are unwavering in their commitment to the desired outcome
Leaders focus on the Goal
Pinnacle Leaders are not so concerned with the "how" as they are with the "what and why" On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. JFK understood the significance of putting a man on the moon and what it would do for the nation. He left the "how" to the engineers and scientists. I am certain he was privately and publically ridiculed for such an outlandish decision but somehow it came to pass, and took less time than he gave it.
Leaders are Positive
Leaders are positive, uplifting and motivational. They encourage, gently nudge and I believe great leaders continuously hold out the carrot and not the whip. They lead with vision and They do not push with punishment.
Leaders are Persistent
Leaders do whatever it takes to get the job done. Sometimes at great personal sacrifice. Look at the lives of Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King Jr in his famous "I have a dream speech". These are visionaries who accomplished a lot but at great loss personally. While I do not recommend dying for your network marketing company, building a functioning team will take substantial sacrifice in the beginning, so be prepared for it.
Learn More Leadership in our Attraction Marketing Bootcamp
If you would like to learn more about how leadership and the principles of Attraction Marketing can help you build your customer list and sell more products to happy customers, join our 5 day Attraction Marketing Bootcamp starting Monday Nov 27, 2017. Note: This is NOT an all day event: Here is what you can expect during the five day bootcamp:
The Benefits of the Five Day Attraction Marketing Bootcamp
- A new live training each day with an activity challenge to help you succeed
- Five days of interaction and handholding to get you going in the right direction
- A Free Facebook group and community to interact in and get all your questions answered
- We will be in the group frequently and available to answer your questions
- An optional but free Facebook profile (or fanpage) review with suggestions for improvement
The training videos will be recorded and available to you forever
So what are you waiting for? Leaders are action takers so take some action already and jump in and sign up here now ==> Attraction Marketing Bootcamp
You will be glad you did, I promise!
Did This Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented below and shared on Facebook
Len Mooney's Network Marketing Blog
Skype: len.mooney2
Phone: 619-488-2282
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
"I Teach You the Marketing, Mindset and Sales Strategies to Make More Money and Follow Your Passion!"
PS: Want to learn more about Attraction Marketing
If you enjoyed this post on Fundamental Qualities of a Good Leader Click To Tweet, please feel free to retweet, share and comment.
Please feel free to connect with me and let's expore working together.


text:
Fr Míċeál Beatty
(Day off on Wednesday)
The Parish of the Good Shepherd
The Presbytery
31c Magdalen Road
St Leonards on Sea
Telephone: 01424 420815
Elizabeth Fitch
Parish Secretary for Holy Redeemer & St Thomas Of Canterbury Churches.
The Parish is part of the Arundel & Brighton Trust Registered Charity No. 252878
Office hours – 9am until 3pm – Tuesday, Thursday & Friday
Tel: 01424 420815
Please note the office is closed on Monday & Wednesday
If you wish to send an email to the parish office for the attention of either Fr Míċeál or Liz please use the form below. Thank you


text:
So I missed three posts but all justifiable reasons.
I had my Masters thesis to hand in 2 days ago so obviously that was a hectic period. Then yesterday I spent the whole day looking for apartements so I wouldnt have to couch surf.. Lucikly today things are looking up. Got a possible room to rent so now I have more time to catch up with other things.
Anyway I will post the two missed days today and unfortunately or maybe fortunately I will be posting a few more 'Beautiful Faces Gallery'.


text:
PR Agency in Delhi
Kindlewood Communications is a state of the art PR Agency in Delhi.In today's day and age of 'having the world in your pocket' and unlimited excess to information from all corners of the world, we must realise that news can spread much faster than before with greater precision and can target a specific audience quicker than any time in the history of Mass Media Communication.
We, at Kindlewood PR using the endless possibilities of the Digital PR world and its unlimited benefits can maximise content tailored for a selected group or a particular segment of Society, or we can blitz an Entire Generation with Information!!! The World is Digital and we are the front runners of Digital PR. Gone are the days of a single news release and the little satisfaction it derived. Today we can "Create and Share" news exponentially just at the click of a well placed snippet!!! We at Kindlewood Communications, being easily in the Top 10 PR Agencies in Delhi/India realise that the world of online information and marketing has barely been scratched.
Delhi is the Power Capital of our country where News of Importance and Magnitude begins from here and has Global and Indian effects Our Firm being one of the Pioneering Pr Agency in Delhi, is a quiet master in this area of News and Advertising expertise as we have helped create the Digital Communication Revolution. Today it is in Real Time, Every Time.!
At Kindlewood Communications we understand perfectly well the power of the 'Search Engine, Social Media and Customer Service'. We help blend all these three to form a powerful tool to catapult your firm to greater success. Today the Key Word everywhere is CONNECT. We at Kindlewood Communications understand that a little better than the rest!


text:
Temperature And Noise
Benchmark System for Temperature and Noise
What good is a case review if we don't test it the way it was meant to be used? We're packing the Phantom 820 with enthusiast-oriented hardware, just to see how it'll behave in a real-world environment.
|Benchmark System
|Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge), 22 nm, 4C/8T, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, 77 W
|Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3, Z77 Express Chipset
|4 x 4 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600
|CPU Cooler
|Cooler Master TPC-800 with Noiseblocker eLoop B12-PS (PWM)
|Kingston V200+ 480 GB
|Hard Drives
|1. Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB (7200 RPM)2. Hitachi Deskstar 1 GB (7200 RPM)
|Power Supply Unit (PSU)
|SuperFlower SF500P, 500 W, 80 PLUS Platinum (Passive) or 600 W, 80 PLUS Gold
|Graphics Cards (Actively Cooled)
|HIS HD 7970 X2 ("7990," Tahiti XT Dual-GPU)Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 Super OverclockGigabyte GeForce GTX 680 OC
|Graphics Cards (Passively Cooled)
|HIS HD 7750 iCooler (Passive)
|22 °C Constant (Climate-Controlled)
Cooling is one of the Phantom 820's strengths. Its interior is very spacious, and its fans generate good airflow. Unfortunately, those fans are not quiet enough to make us want to spend extra money or compromise on the performance of passively-cooled components.
Our thermal benchmarks were run using the original set of factory fans. The only exception was when we removed the side fan for Gigabyte's Radeon HD 7970 Super Overclock, because the cooler tries to suck air in as the graphics card tries to push it out. We used LinX to tax our CPU and one instance of BitMiner (GPU-optimized) to apply a full system load.
|Header Cell - Column 0
|Fan Speed Control (Minimum)
|Fan Speed Control (Maximum)
|Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 OC
|Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 Super Overclock
Our Core i7-3770K benefits most from the case's airflow. On average, the processor fan maintains speeds under 1000 RPM.
The NZXT Phantom 820's cooling performance is definitely somewhere between above average and very good. The caveat here is that the case is at least as loud as its cooling is good, which we'll get to next.
We deliberately chose not to use any loud components for our noise benchmark. Thus, the figures below represent the Phantom 820's noise level pretty well.
In addition to testing the factory configuration, we also tested our modified version with its swapped-out rear fan, which did yield a quantifiable improvement. Our microphone was 50 cm from the top-left of the case for the purpose of recording. We believe this represents a fairly common real-world orientation for folks with tower cases on the floor next to them.
|Header Cell - Column 0
|Fan Speed Control (Minimum)
|Fan Speed Control (Maximum)
|Original Fans
|32 dB(A)
|40.8 db(A)
|Back Fan Replaced With Noiseblocker B12-1
|30.2 dB(A)
|38.9 dB(A)
The bottom line is that you get lots of cooling and lots of noise. There are steps you can take to make the acoustics more bearable, though. To begin, replace the back fan. You can also slow down the top fan if you're using a solid CPU cooler. Unless you're using a pair of high-end graphics cards, even the side-panel fan can go.
NZXT's built-in four-channel controller gives you the flexibility to dial in a sweet spot between cooling performance and noise. It works in steps, though, so rotational speeds can't be finely tuned. Sadly, we'll probably never know why NZXT chose to include the same fans in its $250 Phantom 820 as it does in the $100 Phantom 410. If you end up thinking the Phantom 820 sounds cheap, chalk that up to its fans.
Vibration with Two Hard Drives
We shot a short video to illustrate the Phantom 820's problem with hard drive vibration. If you read page eight, then you already know what's coming.
Because the pins securing our mechanical disks come in contact with the cage, NZXT's attempt to dampen vibration doesn't work at all. Closing the front of the case exacerbates the problem by turning the entire chassis into a sound box resonating with the hard drive vibration. It's very unfortunate that closing the Phantom's drive door makes the problem worse, since you would expect the exact opposite to happen.
Our fingers are crossed that improvements NZXT says it made to the trays helps alleviate this to some degree.
We recorded the video's audio track using a specialized sound box microphone.


text:
Welcome to Vox Humbug!
I am an amateur writer and photographer, and in my spare time, I work as an electrical engineer. This blog is my platform to present my poetry, short stories, essays, and photographs for the world to see. In time, I hope to branch out and experiment with written reviews, videos, or other forms of art such as drawing, painting, or printmaking.
I have had an interest in writing and photography since childhood, but it was in my late teens and early twenties that I took the time to hone those skills. Inspired by my hometown of Binghamton, New York, I wrote some poetry, short stories, and even screenplays. I studied photography while a student at Broome Community College, learning the basics of composition, developing and printing film, and even undertaking an independent study on pinhole photography.
However, after my departure from Binghamton in 2004, it seemed as though the well of creativity had run dry. Now over a decade later, I have returned to my hometown, the well is replenished, and I am starting new notebooks and dusting off my camera to rediscover what I had lost.
I have learned that creativity, whether writing, photography, art, music, or even engineering, is an ongoing process of learning what one can do with the tools and media at hand, and using them to make something to share with the world.
That is where you come in. Creators do not exist in a vacuum, and I am seeking your feedback to improve my writing and photography. I know what I produce may not be great at first, but with constructive criticism, I can continue to improve my work.
Thank You.


text:
Medicare just released the names of the first Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), a major innovation of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). ACOs apply to and are approved by the federal government as participants in the Medicare Shared Savings Program :
"All ACOs that succeed in providing high quality care – as measured by performance on 33 quality measures relating to care coordination and patient safety, use of appropriate preventive health services, improved care for at-risk populations, and the patient experience of care – while reducing the costs of care – may share in the savings to Medicare."
In the world of health care providers there has been much consternation, gnashing of teeth (maybe other body parts too), and exuberant, expert speculations about what an ACO was going to look like and by what means the ACO program was going to "revolutionize American medicine" as promised by Washington.
The first 27 ACO's are surprisingly underwhelming. None of them have been developed by the "big boys" with name recognition in the medical marketplace, unless you happen to live in Caldwell County, North Carolina, coastal Georgia, or Hackensack NJ . Half are small physician-led organizations. Less than half appear to involve hospitals. All totaled they cover less than 1% of Medicare patients. Only two of the twenty-seven are willing to take limited risk of losing money ("going over budget") in return for the potential of sharing in more savings ("providing care under budget").
Medicare beneficiaries (patients) will continue to be able to see ANY provider and unless the provider boasts about it or otherwise publicize it, the patient may not know that his or her physician is a member of an ACO. In my local community the physicians organization took out a full-page ad in Sunday's paper to "congratulate" themselves on being selected as an ACO. This particular physicians organization has had a contentious business relationship with the local hospitals for ten years, plans to cover only the minimum of 5,000 Medicare patients, and finds itself in competition with a recently spawned physician-hospital organization.
Another physicians organization formed just this year in a neighboring county plans to cover 6000 Medicare patients and does not involve its community hospital. The hospital itself is in a fierce, cost-cutting competition with a larger hospital up the road just 15 miles closer to the academic medical centers who are courting it for a merger.
Both situations illustrate how complicated the medical/political/economic environment is for these initial ACOs.
Is this meager initial blossoming of ACOs due to bureaucratic complexity and uncertainty,
("In conjunction with the final rule, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service issued separate notices addressing a variety of legal issues as they applied to the Shared Savings Program. These included the interaction of the Shared Savings Program with the federal anti-kickback, physician self-referral, civil monetary penalty (the fraud and abuse laws) and antitrust laws, as well as the Internal Revenue Code regarding the tax implications for nonprofit entities seeking to participate in ACOs. The final rule, the notice of the Advance Payment ACO Model, and the regulatory guidance on fraud and abuse were published in the Nov. 2, 2011 Federal Register.")
OR does it herald the appearance of an actual "new model of lean and mean care organization led by entrepreneurial physicians",
OR is it just one more step in our historically incremental evolution towards a system of universal health care?
Maybe the next 150 ACOs to be announced in July 2012 will give us more of a clue.
Stay tuned.


text:
Critical Dharma for Thinking Minds /Milk Tea Alliance
Buddhism is not the dharma. Buddhism is a religion, an institution. The dharma is not a religion. It has no such boundaries. The dharma is limitless.
The dharma is not limited to nor contained entirely within Buddhism, within one particular sect or all sects combined. In fact, before Buddhism became globalized in the last century, Buddhism was many different religions. I call them "dharmic cultures." As modern globalized cultures, including Westerners, interacted with and assimilated these various dharmic cultures, they were brought together as the world religion known as "Buddhism."
There have been many dharmic cultures. Some emphasized the teachings of the early followers of the Buddha. Some emphasized 'emptiness' or the common nature of all reality. Some emphasized compassion and the Bodhisattva path, and some the divine qualities of the Buddha. Some emphasized esoteric practices such as mantras, deities and rituals. We have now lumped all these diverse dharmic cultures together as one world religion called 'Buddhism'. There's no way that all these diverse traditions, philosophies and practices constitute anything like a totally integrated "system" of dharma. Collectively, Buddhism is full of contradictory ideas and practices.
You've probably often heard Buddhist teachers say: "the Buddha was not a Buddhist," or "the Buddha didn't teach Buddhism." And that would be true. Siddhartha Gotama taught the dharma, which are the cosmic, natural, and human truths that he discovered. And he taught a set of practices that helped one to realize these dharmas, these truths.
The Buddha did not study "Buddhism" to apprehend the dharma. The Buddha studied life; he observed the human condition, nature and his own inner experience to arrive at this wisdom. We have evidence that the Buddha studied and knew the various philosophies and religious practices of his day, and that was his starting point. But he ultimately rejected many of those ideas and practices and developed his own method of discovering these truths. In other words, the Buddha went "outside", "post" and "beyond" the religious institutions of his day to discover these truths.
The dharma is not limited to what is taught in Buddhist religions or institutions. The dharma is discovered and understood by doing exactly what the Buddha did: observing life, nature, people, and contemplating the cosmos and the nature of reality. When we study science, society and culture, human consciousness, biology and natural systems, ourselves, we are studying the dharma, just as much as if we studied the sutras and practiced meditation.
Still, much of what the Buddha taught is contained within the religion known as Buddhism. It helps to study the Buddhist religion in order to begin to understand what the Buddha taught, the field of knowledge he was pointing towards. But the dharma is not limited to what Buddhism teaches, or any religious system. We have to begin by learning from other people, and what teachers know is formed by their particular lineages and traditions. When we study and practice within a religious institution such as Buddhism, we have to carefully separate what is the "religion" from what is "the dharma." It's very easy to confuse institutional Buddhism with the dharma.
Some teachers within a particular tradition will try to impose all sorts of tasks (retreats, courses, vows) and expectations on you which they say is required for you to know the dharma. This is simply not true, and it's perfectly sensible to resist that kind of authoritarian conformity. Conforming to those expectations may be necessary to belong to a religion, but it's not necessary to learn the dharma. Or they will tell you to study only from this particular teacher or lineage; don't bother with other systems of learning, they'll just lead to confusion. And this is also not true. One can learn the dharma from Buddhists and non-Buddhists, from many different people, faiths and systems of knowledge. Ultimately, one discovers one's own path to the dharma within the context of life itself. Your own life is the dharma, your own life is the path to the dharma. I've learned that I have the power and wisdom to teach myself whatever I need to know about the dharma.
I no longer criticize certain teachers or practitioners for what they teach. Whatever they hold to be true is just one piece, one version of many diverse dharmic cultures. It's something I can learn from, but in no way does any lineage or institution represent the complete truth about the dharma. No one teacher or lineage contains the dharma, or even "the way" to the dharma. Much of what can be known about the dharma won't be found in Buddhism at all; it will be found in other forms of human knowledge and experience, and in one's own life experience. That's why I say trust your own intuition most of all.
Today we can glean the dharma from many different forms of Buddhism. All dharma teachings are available online and in print, in many different mediums, from all the major lineages and traditions, at the same time. All the various Buddhist sects can dialogue and learn from each other, and from other religions and philosophies. This multi-lineage presentation is a great advantage to the modern practitioner. It allows us to go outside one particular lineage or tradition, and thus distinguish the dharma from the religion.
My inclination has always been to go "outside", "post" and "beyond" Buddhism. Breaking through the institutional limits of Buddhism led me to an experience of the dharma as vast and limitless. The dharma is as vast and limitless as the cosmos itself. It's a free and wide open space of consciousness that's beyond any human institution, beyond Buddhism.
I have always understood dharma to have more than one meaning, both specifically the Buddhist religion, and also all religions in general. The teacher and fellow students with whom I worked taught me this. Interesting turn around though, from your earlier essay of 15 Nov 2016, "In My Tribe: Confessions of a Post-Buddhist Dissident." Your field of inquiry is very much alive!
NEW! Become a member of Engage! Dharma Culture Club through my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=80736941
If you love dharma culture and want to create more, jump into membership in Engage! Dharma Culture Club as a monthly patron. Through Dharma Culture Club, you'll connect with other dharma culture creators, learn from and inspire each other.


text:
APTOS — For many students aspiring to a higher education, nothing is more intimidating than the college admissions process.
While some teens can lean on the experience of college-educated parents or role models, for others, high school counselors serve as their best — if not only — helping hand.
On Tuesday, more than 150 school counselors from Santa Cruz and Monterey county met with administrators and students to discuss how to better those students' needs at the Santa Cruz County School Counselor Symposium.
In its second year, the event is designed as an intensive daylong workshop to arm counselors with tools to push past overwhelming caseloads and help students chart a pathway to collegiate success.
Among the day's sessions were workshops on how to better engage families, encourage student leaders, teach self-help and cater to the needs of diverse populations of students, such as LGBT and foster youth.
"I believe you're the secret sauce of student achievement," keynote speaker Joyce Brown told attendees. Brown, a former Chicago school counselor who now advises educators as a consultant, said counselors aren't always effective at making that case to administrators.
"You're busy helping everyone, but you're not busy helping you and advocating for the profession," she said.
The need for effective intervention is especially pronounced in California, where the ratio of school counselors to students — 945 to one — is the nation's worst. The national average is 447 to one, while educators recommend a ratio of 250 to one.
"The challenge is that our caseload is too big." said Ramiro Medrano, a counselor at Watsonville's Pajaro Valley High School tasked with advising 450 freshmen. "We definitely need more counselors."
In his third year as a counselor, and first year full time, Medrano said he is already seen signs his advocacy is working. He began a push last year to encourage middle school students to work to test out of freshman math to start on a path to success right out of the gate.
Last year, he said, the high school had just one student place out of the course. This year, they have more than a dozen.
Pajaro Valley High School freshman Hunter Cates said he has already spoken with Medrano a few times this year already about college classes he wants to take next semester. He only wishes he'd had access to a counselors earlier on.
"The graduation rates in the Pajaro Valley district aren't high, and I think that's due to the fact that we don't have counselors in middle school," he said. "Most kids don't take middle school seriously so when they get to high school they think, oh I can just blow it off like I did with middle school."
Scotts Valley junior Matalie Menchaca said she's seen a different kind of impact school counselors have had as she turned to her counselor for advice when a classmate was going through a personal ordeal.
"My friend was going through some stuff and I didn't know what to do for her, so I went to school counselors a lot to get advice from them on how to help her and how she could help herself — and they did a lot for her," Menchaca said.
At times overlooked, and often misunderstood, attention toward the role of school counselors is mounting, aided by the advocacy of high-profile figures such as Michelle Obama. The former First Lady's Reach Higher initiative puts school counselors front and center in the effort to prepare disadvantaged youth for collegiate success.
Part of that the work to be done includes shifting negative stereotypes of a profession that has been seen by some as quashing as many dreams as it uplifts.
Obama had her own negative experience with a high school counselors who told her she was being unrealistic in her goal to attend Princeton — where she later graduated on her way to Harvard Law School.
Brown, who gave the keynote, said that kind of experience has no place in the profession.
"We have to change the narrative," she said. "No more bad counselor stories."


text:
Influencer marketing has quickly become one of the most effective strategies for marketers and business owners interested in building a strong brand. According to data cited by AdWeek, 94 percent of marketers who use influencer marketing strategies believe it is effective.
Other statistics indicate that consumers prefer content that features influencers over traditional advertising and mainstream celebrity endorsements. A study conducted by Ogilvy and Google found that 74 percent of purchases are made via word-of-mouth recommendations, and influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive word-of-mouth purchases.
Unfortunately, however, in the rush to adopt an influencer marketing strategy, some brands and their marketers are making a few common mistakes. Don't fear – these can easily be avoided once you're aware of the issues. This article outlines 11 common influencer marketing mistakes to steer clear of in order to be effective in cost and results.
1. Not understanding your audience well enough.
If you don't truly know your customer, you will never be able to create an effective long-term influencer marketing strategy. Marketers who have not yet developed a clear marketing persona should place their programs on hold until there is a clear understanding of who the customer is and what the customer is interested in achieving from an interaction with your brand.
To create a marketing persona (some brands have multiple personas), you'll want to understand purchasing habits, pinpoints, demographic information and psychographic information. Usually, all of this data can be collected through customer interviews.
Once you have a clear understanding of your target audience, it becomes much easier to identify the appropriate influencers to work with. Furthermore, you will be able to provide influencers with a clear brief that will help them to better serve your marketing goals and business.
With yomconnect, you can use our simple technology to gather reliable customer insights directly from real customers, while you advertise. This 'double whammy' is what sets us apart from other influencer companies that don't use your advertising budget effectively – too many of them still take the 'spray and pray' approach.
2. Promoting your brand in the wrong channels.
Influencer marketing is not equally effective across all brand channels for every brand. There are a few variables that influencer how your campaign will travel with influencers, which is why having an agency partner (like yomconnect) that has operated hundreds of campaign is critical. Effectiveness will vary by channel depending on your customer focus (business to business or business to consumer) and your target audience.
3. Being impatient for results.
While a powerful influencer marketing campaign can in some cases produce overnight results, this is usually not the case. Especially for companies that are not in the e-commerce space, influencer marketing can take time, but the results are worth it. The good news, is that with yomconnect's unique technology, we're able to track the campaign from the first minute it's launched, optimising it throughout the campaign period to drive results. No other influencer company can promise you that.
Remember, effective influencer marketing campaigns usually help to increase brand awareness. Once a prospect is aware of your brand, they still need to move down the marketing funnel to the consideration and decision stages before making a purchase.
4. Focusing on the wrong KPIs and missing out on analytics.
The only way to truly know if an influencer marketing campaign is effective is to use an analytics platform to measure results. The need to measure performance is especially true for those interested in Instagram-based influencer marketing campaigns. Currently, most influencer companies only tell you how many likes, shares or comments your campaign receives with the influencer channels you book and pay for. We don't think that's good enough, so our team at yomconnect provide you full funnel reporting on every campaign, plus you receive reliable customer insights on every campaign, so you can continuously give your customers what they actually ask for, not just what you think they want. That's how we help you gain new competitive advantage in market.
5. Avoiding influencer campaigns because of a single failed experiment.
No reasonable marketer would ever abandon email marketing just because one email marketing campaign was not successful. Similarly, marketers never consider abandoning influencer marketing just because one campaign was not successful.
Instead, use the data to improve your marketing efforts. Try to learn why the campaign failed so that you and your team can implement what you learned the next time you launch an influencer marketing campaign. Learning from failure is key to marketing success. Failing to try again is not learning from failure, it is succumbing to it. This is where your data comes in handy – and at yomconnect – you receive all the data needed to make great marketing decisions (and not just in your influencer marketing, either)!
6. Having a weak (or none!) call to action.
What action should your customer audience take when engaging with your native content? This is a key question that you should ask yourself before launching an influencer marketing campaign.
If you are planning to drive website visitors via influencer marketing, be sure to build a webpage that will allow visitors to take the next action as easily as possible. According to Google, 40 percent of shoppers will turn to a competitor if the original company does not offer a fully-optimised website. The same report also found that 57 percent of shoppers will not recommend a company that does not offer a mobile-optimised site.
Thinking carefully about the call to action associated with an influencer marketing campaign and ensuring it is optimised for your target audience are keys to finding success with influencer marketing.
7. Overlooking the importance of competitive analysis.
A great deal can be learned by analysing competitors, especially when it comes to influencer marketing strategy. If an influencer has already worked with a competitor, for example, it is probably best to work with a different influencer in order to create a unique brand voice.
If competitors have not worked with an influencer, it might indicate that there is a real first-mover opportunity.
8. Misunderstanding influencer marketing best practices.
Before beginning an influencer marketing campaign, take the time to learn best practices that will help you find success faster than if you try to pick them up on the go. Attending an event that focuses on influencer marketing is a good way to quickly become knowledgeable about this new marketing strategy.
yomconnect is a leader in influencer marketing campaigns in Australia, the USA and beyond. We have many years' experience driving great results for brands in different industries. Contact us here to ask how we could do this for your brand.
9. Allowing an inexperienced agency to manage influencer campaigns.
Since influencer marketing has become so effective, marketing agencies are scrambling to offer influencer marketing services. Unfortunately, many agencies do not have real experience with influencer marketing strategies, and are therefore typically not very effective when working with clients interested in pursuing an influencer marketing campaign.
If you are interested in working with an agency, be sure to select one that has experience working with influencer marketing strategies related to your industry or type of business. Speak with past customers to understand if the agency really is capable of helping you and your team be successful.
To create a successful influencer marketing strategy, it is important that you understand your audience and turn to analytics to guide choices. Be sure to properly brief influencers through your agency partner, and think carefully about the next step the target audience should make. Your agency should protect your brand from fraudulent activity, just like yomconnect does.
Remember that influencer marketing can take time to bear fruit, but an effective strategy can dramatically impact the bottom line if created properly.


text:
Josh Phegley doesn't deserve all the fun, does he? Time to give a little bit of love to the three left behinds in yesterday's second to last (thankfully) top college catching prospect tournament or whatever the heck I've been calling it. Anyway, the losers yesterday were Tommy Medica, Justin Dalles, and Travis Tartamella. In no particular order, here are three college catching prospects that I think will be among the first ten or so best in the 2009 Rule 4 Draft…
Tommy Medica
Tommy Medica brings tons of experience with 92 starts behind plate in his first two years at Santa Clara. He offers up good size (6-1 215), gap power, a very fine throwing arm, above-average athleticism (he's played a decent LF in the past), and a classic sounding baseball player name, but he hasn't seen live action since leaving a game with what has been since diagnosed as a separated shoulder on March 7th. That makes Medica a unique prospect to evaluate – what do we make of a solid mid-round catcher considered by many to have untapped potential with the bat (good!) who is on the mend rehabbing a pretty serious injury (bad!)?
He doesn't necessarily have a standout tool (though his arm is darn good), but he also doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. I think I remember coming to the conclusion that catchers who are billed as solid players unspectacular in any one area tend to disappoint, yet I still can't help but like Medica's game. I need to fight that like and go with what my hastily thrown together research told me – Medica fits the profile of a player who faces a long climb towards attaining the ultimate goal of making himself a useful big leaguer.
As far as the 2009 Draft goes, I think it's likely Medica will be poached by a team flush with cash with a late round pick (probably no sooner than the tenth…maybe the Red Sox?) willing to take the chance paying an overslot bonus for a player who should be healthy enough to run through a battery of tests prior to the August 15 signing deadline. If he is good to go physically and willing to take that big fat overslot check, he'll be a steal. If the fit isn't right for Medica (whether it's team, money, or health related), he'll head back to school to up his 2010 stock as a redshirt junior/academic senior. I'd bet one of those hypothetical big fat overslot checks that Medica returns to Santa Clara next season.
Justin Dalles
I like that he is a three-time draftee (26th round in 2008, 40th round in 2007, 15th round in 2006)
I like that he was a top fifty prospect out of the talent heavy state of Florida coming out of St. Petersburg JC last season
I like his big league frame, all 6-2 205 of it
I like the power – His raw power may rate a touch under plus, but his in-game power plays up and is easily above-average.
I like the arm – The upper-80s heat works well from behind the plate, plus Dalles is very accurate with his tosses.
I like the approach – Dalles gets big bonus points for being able to go the opposite way with power on a regular basis
I love the mental makeup – I do try to ignore the impossibly vague word "makeup" when I can, but sometimes so many positive things are said about a prospect's work ethic, ability to preserver through adverse conditions, and general disposition that "makeup," no matter how you want to define it, can't be ignored. Any player, coach, or scout that has come into contact with Dalles has nothing but fabulous things to say about his makeup. Plus makeup isn't a reason to draft a player in the first round, but it is a good tiebreaker when deciding on two similarly talented players; there is something to be said for those "intangibles" that can occasionally pop up and push one player past another equally talented guy when all extrinsic factors are alike.
I don't like his questionable receiving skills, though they have reportedly improved under the guidance of the very good Gamecocks coaching staff
I don't like the concussion he suffered in early April – I can't imagine a head injury is all that fun, but it's even worse from a prospect standpoint when the injury occurs to a catcher, what with all the pitch calling, game planning, and regular attacks to the cranium by errant balls, bats flying by on the follow through, and baserunners charging down the line Adam Dunn vs Mike Lieberthal style.
I don't like the good, but not great results at the plate thus far this spring for South Carolina (power numbers are great, but his contact rate is too low — wish I knew what his BABIP was — and plate discipline has been disappointing)
For a while I was convinced that Dalles was a top ten round lock, but now I'm not so sure. Despite the fact I've written a short novel on the subject over the past few weeks, college catchers really aren't that highly sought after most draft days. This year I'd expect you'd see even fewer college catchers picked because a) it's generally considered to be a lackluster crop, and b) 2009 is the year of the prep catcher. I obviously can't dispute the latter point, but I take exception to the former. There are some quality below the radar mid-round catching prospects that profile better than mere organizational depth; Dalles is exactly the kind of sneaky high upside, low risk that warrants taking a chance on once the top prep players on your wishlist are all long gone.
Travis Tartamella
Tartamella is a gamn good athlete, so good in fact that he is a legitimately good runner and not just fast for a catcher. He spent two truly awful years at Pepperdine, but can currently be found raking at Cal State LA, one of Southern California's top Division II schools. Tartamella gets the slight edge over current Barry JC catcher/first baseman and former Tennessee Volunteer Yan Gomes as top Division II catching prospect due to his improved defense at the position. All in all, Tartamella (another name I can't help myself from repeating over and over again) falls under the weird player archetype umbrella of "unusually raw, but enticing college player." Spots on this team typically go to pitchers in Northeastern or Midwestern schools, ultra-toolsy outfielders still trying to put it all together, and junior college players with one or two off the charts tools that seemingly can't chew tobacco and run at the same time (unless, of course, that one great tool happens to be speed…).
Tartamella is the rare cat who has already used up a few lives before his pro career has gotten off the ground, but has apparently found a way to reinvent himself along the way. From solid, well-rounded top high school prospect to complete collegiate flameout at Pepperdine, to finally achieving success slugging his D-II team to victories left and right at Cal State LA, Tartamella has found a way to survive through it all. He may fall a little too neatly in the unfortunate side of the "well-rounded catchers drool, inconsistent but plus tools guys rule" mantra I've come up with, but Tartamella has enough fans from his high school days that he should expect to hear his name called between rounds 10 and 20.
Give me Dalles, Medica, and Tartamella in that order. Where they all fit in my overall top rankings of college catching prospects, you'll have to wait and see…


text:
Oh wow, I didn't know about thosethe milkman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 1:10 am It wasn't just metal. Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and Prince were part of the Filthy Fifteen. It really was a laughing stock.
Now that I remember. My eldest brother was and still is a huge metal fan.the milkman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 1:18 am Rob Halford had to go to court because of a suicide pact between two sad individuals. I believe it was the parents suing Priest because of subliminal messages on the Stained Glass album.
I'm glad when I was growing up I could listen to what I wanted. I learned about sex because of George Michael. No joke.


text:
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Sophie on Step Away From The Desk
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Your Speaking Skills May Be Holding You Back
While I sit here and listen to a group of extremely intelligent men speak on economic growth, I can't help but be bored to death with their lack of any ability to hold my attention. The first speaker threw in … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Leave a comment
Are you Reacting or Creating?
With the rush of a 60 hour work week and the constant connection of our phones it is easy to become a pinball in the game of work. When we turn the lights off at the end of the day … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized Leave a comment


text:
This feature is also adjustable. Isolated Electronics Protection - Almost impossible to accidentally connect wind or solar directly to the circuit board. Battery Status LED lets you know your battery's actual voltage! Green LED on board lets you know the controller is in dump mode. Plug & Play: Long leads for easy termination to your 12 volt battery or battery bank.
Can divert the charging source from the batteries to the load or dump both the batteries along with the charging source. Connect both wind and solar at the same time.
Ultra low power consumption, even with the volt meter on (almost negligible). The volt meter can be set to turn off after periods of inactivity. Be wary of cheap, less capable knock-offs of our model controller that are too basic to properly charge a battery. They will attempt to only turn ON and OFF for the SAME length of time, every time, when your battery is full. This will constantly boil your battery when it is full or not properly fill it or both.
An improperly charged battery will have a short life and cannot be brought back. One to two years instead of 10 years or more of life! You don't benefit from returning a product after it ruins your system.
A charge controller must operate a relay whether mechanical or solid state(SSRs). The relay turns the charging from your solar, wind, or hydro ON or OFF to your batteries. If you have 100 amps of solar charging being turned ON and OFF to your batteries you NEED to vary the time between the ON/OFF cycles. Our controller has custom programming that cannot be duplicated by Dime Store sellers and is, of course, user changeable. Ours will more slowly top-off your battery!
It will do this by adjusting itself every time your battery is full by increasing the duration of the next OFF cycle by up to 4 increased OFF times. For example: 5 seconds to 10, then 10 to 20, then 20 to 40 and will maintain a 40 second OFF time.
You can adjust the starting 5 seconds down to 1 or up to 999. We even went a step further and programmed in a "sweep time" which is a secondary sensing timer that starts directly following an ON cycle.This tells the controller that it has or has not been too long before battery charging is needed again. The user adjustable sweep time allows the user and controller to have a wide range of charging times on any size battery bank. We also pre-wire and pre-program ours for you to be able to get up and going without becoming an expert. You're taking a risk with your system if accepting a too-good-to-be-true price or product description.
If you're not convinced this is the controller for you, please check our other charge controllers or ask us which one is right for you. The basic operating philosophy of a diversion controller is quite simple. Monitor the battery voltage, and if it should rise to a predetermined level, connect a diversion load, of sufficient size, to the battery or energy source to prevent the battery voltage from increasing any further. This is a very simple, yet very effective way of preventing battery overcharging.
All alternate energy systems should have some form of battery overcharge protection. Several schools of thought on the subject. The source of power wind turbine, solar panels etc.- should remain connected to the batteries while the dump is active. The source should be diverted to the load directly and disconnected from the batteries. We happen to believe that is far better to leave the wind turbine connected to the batteries at all times. When you remove the battery level voltage from a wind turbine and send it's power directly to a load, then it sees for all practical purposes a short circuit depending on the resistance of the load and lead wires. This may cause the turbine blades to slow dramatically and in some cases bring it to a halt. This braking action can cause heat build up in the stator if it is repeated every few seconds or so (if the battery is just a little over the top). When you allow the turbine to see the batteries, along with the load, the turbine remains more within it's design realm -- always a good thing. The internal relays are configured to dump the batteries along with the source, but if you desire to disconnect the source from the batteries and send it to the load directly, simply utilize the N/C contacts of the relays as well. Products may be slightly different than the ones pictured. If our supplier runs short of the products shown, we will substitute them for the same quality or better. Damage from marine use and/or saltwater environments. Corrosion due to saltwater air. The item "12 volt 200 Amp Solid State Digital Charge Controller 4 Wind Turbine Solar panel" is in sale since Wednesday, February 11, 2015. This item is in the category "Home & Garden\Home Improvement\Electrical & Solar\Alternative & Solar Energy\Wind Generators". The seller is "mountainwindtradingco" and is located in Mansfield, Missouri.
This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Dominican republic, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, El salvador, Honduras, Jamaica.


text:
Inspiring words of St. Augustine from his book, Confessions.
Let me know you, O you who know me; then shall I know even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; make your way in and shape it to yourself, that it may be yours to have and to hold, free from stain or wrinkle. I speak because this is my hope, and whenever my joy springs from that hope it is joy well founded. As for the rest of this life's experiences, the more tears are shed over them the less they are worth weeping over, and the more truly worth lamenting the less do we bewail them while mired in them. You love the truth because anyone who "does truth" comes to the light. Truth it is that I want to do, in my heart by confession in your presence, and with my pen before many witnesses.
But the abyss of the human conscience lies naked to your eyes, O Lord, so would anything be secret even if I were unwilling to confess to you? I would be hiding you from myself, but not myself from you. But now that my groans bear witness that I find no pleasure in myself, you shed light upon me and give me joy, you offer yourself, lovable and longed for, that I may thrust myself away in disgust and choose you, and be pleasing no more either to you or to myself except in what I have from you.
To you, then, Lord, I lie exposed, exactly as I am. I have spoken of what I hope to gain by confessing to you. My confession to you is made not with words of tongue and voice, but with the words of my soul and the clamour of my thought, to which your ear is attuned; for when I am bad, confession to you is simply disgust with myself, but when I am good, confession to you consists in not attributing my goodness to myself, because though you, Lord, bless the person who is just, it is only because you have first made him just when he was sinful. This is why, O Lord, my confession in your presence is silent, yet not altogether silent: there is no noise to it, but it shouts by love.
For it is you, Lord, who judge me. No-one knows what he himself is made of, except his own spirit within him, yet there is still some part of him which remains hidden even from his own spirit; but you, Lord, know everything about a human being because you have made him. And though in your sight I may despise myself and reckon myself dust and ashes, I know something about you which I do not know about myself.
It is true that we now see only a tantalising reflection in a mirror, and so it is that while I am on pilgrimage far from you I am more present to myself than to you; yet I do know that you cannot be defiled in any way whatever, whereas I do not know which temptations I may have the strength to resist, and to which ones I shall succumb. Our hope is that, because you are trustworthy, you do not allow us to be tempted more fiercely than we can bear, but along with the temptation you ordain the outcome of it, so that we can endure.
Let me, then, confess what I know about myself, and confess too what I do not know, because what I know of myself I know only because you shed light on me, and what I do not know I shall remain ignorant about until my darkness becomes like bright noon before your face.


text:
Deputies: Sac County suspect search ends in arrest
Ridgepoint Elementary School locks down as precaution
Deputies searched for a man for more than an hour Thursday afternoon, which prompted a lockdown at a nearby elementary school.
A perimeter was set up near Don Julio Boulevard and North Monument Drive, but deputies with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department broke it down about 4:20 p.m., when the man was arrested.
He was taken into custody after breaking into a house in the neighborhood, officials said. It's not clear if the home was occupied at the time. No injuries were reported.
While deputies investigated earlier in the day, about 3:30 p.m., Ridgepoint Elementary School went into lockdown mode just as a precaution, the secretary told KCRA 3.
Officials were after a man with a felony warrant out for his arrest in connection with a probation violation. Deputies at one point were looking for him along Dover Lane.
The search may have started as a high-speed chase down eastbound Interstate 80, according to preliminary reports.
Ridgepoint is in the Twin Rivers School District.


text:
Still riding like a tortoise, but as someone said on the start line "life is good when riding your bike" Mike tackled the shorter 53km course with 1500m climbing, of which some was severe climbing….
My aim/goal was to complete the course, having seen the course profile I knew I wouldn't be fast. I lined up close to the back, so that the first few kilometres I wouldn't feel like I was being passed by everyone. The rolling road start strung the field of what seemed like thousands of riders out so that at the first climb people weren't on top of each other. I'd been warned about the first climb and as the photo shows it was a long one, but I still managed a smile for the camera.
The day was glorious with the sun shining brightly. I'd only just got onto the moors when I had my first tumble, my peddle hit a rock and I landed safely in some purple heather, picked myself up and carried on. The course was a mixture of long climbs, fast docents and some tricky single track.
I stopped at the first feed station and filled up on crisps, peanuts and banana. The next section was the trickiest, coming off twice including clipping my handlebars on a gate post and then having to re-straighten them before carrying on. A little battered and bruised but still in good spirits I arrived at the second feed station and again re fuelled on peanuts and banana, re-filled my water bottle and off again.
The third and final feed station came round quickly as I was doing the shorter route and having had no incidents I decided to skip this one. Soon after the feed station the marshals, who had been fantastic all the way round, were telling me I was nearly there. I completed the course in 5 hours 18 mins, coming in 158th overall and 64th in my category.


text:
Social media and healthcare: how to prioritize what patients need
Social media and healthcare go hand in hand these days.
More and more of the public are taking to social media for healthcare news and resources. Meanwhile, the idea of following doctors on Facebook is totally normal.
And with the latest boom of the healthcare industry and the need for up-to-date news, it's no surprise that healthcare accounts represent some of the most followed and engaged-with today.
Just look at the CDC's 1.9+ million followers on Facebook alone.
COVID-19 can be spread by people who do not have symptoms and do not know that they are infected. Cloth face coverings…
Posted by CDC on Friday, July 17, 2020
However, social media and healthcare are about so much more than follower-count. Practices and organizations have specific duties that go beyond vanity metrics, such as:
- Keeping the public informed on treatments and trends
- Reassuring patients (both current and prospective)
- Staying in line with HIPAA when it comes to social interactions
Doing all of the above while trying to engage and grow your audience is a tall order. That said, our guide to social media and healthcare can help.
But what is the role of social media and healthcare?
Healthcare providers are in a unique position when it comes to social media.
Because you're responsible for marketing a human necessity, not a traditional product or impulse buy.
Couple that with rising healthcare premiums and general anxiety about our well-being as a society. It's important for healthcare marketers to understand their accounts' roles and responsibilities in the big picture.
From your content strategy to communicating with followers, below is a breakdown of your priorities when dealing with social media and healthcare.
Navigating healthcare crises
This is obviously the big one, especially in the wake of COVID-19.
If you're looking for evidence of the importance of social media in healthcare, look no further than the current moment. The likes of Twitter and Facebook have become ground zero for real-time news and discussions regarding COVID-19. Since the virus' spread, Twitter, in particular, has become a dedicated hub for coronavirus updates.
Although this is a prime example of how social media as a force for good, misinformation regarding COVID-19 is also running rampant. Providers are responsible not only to help guide the public through an actual crisis but also fact-check users as well.
As of July 14: In the last 7 days, #COVID19 cases increased nationally with 3 states each reporting more than 50,000 new cases. Help slow the spread by taking steps like wearing cloth face coverings. See more COVID-19 data here: https://t.co/4Ku7nKLZCq pic.twitter.com/x4fmtcabcc
— CDC (@CDCgov) July 16, 2020
Educating the public
No surprises here. Fact: a staggering two-thirds of people use the Internet to self-diagnose conditions.
Much like with COVID-19, providers are responsible for boosting timely, factual information for patients in need of guidance. This includes:
- Recommendations for those experiencing symptoms
- Self-help and external resources to navigate a diagnosis
- Links to new studies and treatment options
You're not alone. Find support for yourself or those who may be at risk for suicide: https://t.co/q40rOjBEvP
— American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (@afspnational) June 8, 2020
Helping patients feel more comfortable
Spoiler alert: most people aren't exactly wild about going to the doctor.
Beyond white coat syndrome, consider that approximately 20% of Americans haven't been to the doctor within the past year.
Something as seemingly simple as a check-up can be daunting on a prospective patient. For those facing a potentially tough diagnosis, that anxiety is even greater.
And so you can imagine the need for practices to be empathetic when it comes to easing patients' concerns. Social media represents a great avenue to both show off the measures you take to make patients feel at home in their time of need.
When Danielle was diagnosed with HPV-related cervical cancer during a routine Pap test, she was stunned and immediately…
Posted by Canadian Cancer Society on Monday, May 25, 2020
Making yourself a staple in the community
The concept of competition in the health sector is a touchy one. Even so, any given speciality is full of providers and it's only natural for prospective patients to "shop around."
It only makes sense for healthcare marketers to present their practices as leaders in their respective specialties. From showing off employees in action to local advocacy efforts, social media allows practices to be more transparent and personable to prospective patients.
Social media and healthcare marketing: 6 best practices to guide your content strategy
With the role of social media and healthcare in mind, where do you even start in terms of content?
Good question! Based on our industry benchmarks, healthcare accounts are unique in that they're primarily focused on publishing content as opposed to juggling messages or obsessing over engagement rates.
In short, healthcare accounts aren't flooded with DMs and comments versus retail brands.
Given that your responsibility lies in primarily educating followers, you're afforded the opportunity to focus on meaningful, compelling content first and foremost. Let's look at some examples below.
1. Publish educational content to keep patients in the loop
The growing phenomenon of self-diagnosis and "Dr. Google" once again signals the need for practices to educate the public.
Whether it's blog posts, videos or general health tips, anything you can do to provide your followers with bite-sized information is a plus.
A new study offers strong support for the life-extending effects of a daily walk. https://t.co/io1IKA4iu0 #HarvardHealth pic.twitter.com/cgRvSk641r
— Harvard Health (@HarvardHealth) July 10, 2020
Health tips and "Did you know?"-style content are also popular for encouraging interactions and debate among your followers. Whether it's busting myths or quizzing your followers, posts like this one are prime for healthy (pun intended) discussion.
Are you wearing your mask correctly? https://cle.clinic/2Mss8L1
Posted by Cleveland Clinic on Monday, July 6, 2020
And although not related to content directly, educating potential patients about your practice is a vital piece of social customer care. If someone has a question about treatment options or what your practice can do to help, strive to respond ASAP.
2. Use inspirational content to motivate your followers
Social media and healthcare don't have to be boring, heartless or totally "matter of fact."
Especially in the face of progressive diseases or risky surgeries, patients and their family members could often use a dose of inspiration.
Beyond patient success stories, you can promote your own marketing videos to highlight how you make a difference and help patients.
Thank you to everyone who has helped the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic so far. Whether you're a bus driver getting us to work, a teacher looking after our children, or a supermarket worker making sure we can get essentials — thank you. #NHSBirthday #ThankYouTogether 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/kUmfYnrX64
— NHS England and NHS Improvement (@NHSEngland) July 5, 2020
3. Post infographics for increased engagement
Mastering infographic marketing is a must-do for those working in social media and healthcare.
Great infographic from @alzassociation on the 10 warning signs of #Alzheimers disease. #earlydetection matters; don't shy away from having a conversation with your doctor! pic.twitter.com/VZBqGAXlir
— Athira Pharma (@athirapharma) July 14, 2020
After all, infographics are among the most popular and shared-worthy types of content on social media. This makes them prime for healthcare accounts looking to quickly educate patients at a glance.
4. Harness the power of health-related hashtags
Hashtags are a staple of social media at large. Healthcare companies have plenty of opportunities to use them, too.
Whether it's your own organizational hashtags (Northwestern Medicine's #NMBetter, for example) or healthcare-specific tags (#cancersucks), promoting a tag does double duty of extending your content's reach while also making it easier for followers to share that content.
Even holiday hashtags are fair game for your content calendar (see the American Heart Association's #StarWarsDay post for reference).
It's #StarWarsDay! Anyone else been humming "The Imperial March" all day long? Darth Vader's theme song is 103 beats per…
Posted by American Heart Association on Monday, May 4, 2020
Whatever you do, just make sure that your use of hashtags is tasteful.
5. Take patients behind-the-scenes
Highlighting your human side helps your social presence feel more personal.
For example, posts like this one from Johns Hopkins serve as both wholesome content and a positive spin on working in healthcare during tough times.
Some of today's crew! #COVID19 #coronavirus #johnshopkinsmedicine #criticalcarenurses pic.twitter.com/dHG66xiBki
— Billy Ward (@BillyWard3) April 16, 2020
Instagram Stories are awesome for behind-the-scenes content, such as John Hopkins' virtual match day for their medical students. These small glimpses of your practice's day-to-day life are crucial for making a connection with followers.
Congratulations to all the JHSOM students that are matching today. #Match2020 is very different this year due to #COVID19. We encourage our students to tag @HopkinsMedicine as you participate in #VirtualMatchDay. pic.twitter.com/VOluBxNFXe
— Johns Hopkins Medicine (@HopkinsMedicine) March 20, 2020
6. Publish patient shout-outs to spread positivity
Sometimes the best way to highlight your practice is by letting others do the talking.
Through user-generated content (think: customers and reviews) you can provide an unfiltered view of how you're helping patients and supporters.
Thank you, Chiklis family, for standing with us in the fight to end Alzheimer's! 🎤💜 #ENDALZ https://t.co/qKa8y6c6g0
— Alzheimer's Association (@alzassociation) June 20, 2020
This speaks to the importance of social listening to track mentions, messages and hashtags usages to ensure that you share your patients' messages in a timely manner.
Important: social media, healthcare and HIPAA
To wrap things up, we need to talk about HIPAA.
Beyond the best practices of social media in healthcare in terms of your content, the importance of patient confidentiality can't be overstated.
In short, you need to take special care when publishing patient content which would potentially reveal sensitive information or otherwise violate HIPAA. For example, did you know that using your patients as part of your marketing materials requires explicit written consent?
There's a lot that goes into HIPAA compliance on social media, but here are some of the basics:
- You're allowed to engage with clients via social, but doing so means being sensitive about health information over messaging
- Publishing patient stories or photos requires written consent
- Posting sensitive or identifying information publicly can land you in trouble
With all of this in mind, we really urge you to check out our HIPAA and social media cheat sheet for more information.
And with that, we wrap up our guide!
How are you bringing social media and healthcare together?
Healthcare marketers face a distinct set of challenges; there's no doubt about it.
But you also have a ton of opportunities to make a meaningful, positive impact on your followers. From educating the public to creating a sense of community, consider how healthcare social media marketing can make a difference when it's done with care.
Oh and, if you haven't already, make sure to download the most recent Sprout Social Index™ to ensure that your overall marketing strategy sticks to the best practices of social media latest trends.
- Categories
Why healthcare orgs should invest in social listening, statPublished on August 10, 2020 Reading time 4 minutes


text:
Came across this cool blog by Paul Vermeersch, where he has invited a number of poets to respond to a work of art by Armenian-born painter Arshile Gorky called "They Will Take My Island." Each poem on the blog shares that same title and takes off from there in a kind of group ekphrasis (a dramatic or poetic description of a visual artwork.) I like that he chose a piece which is fairly abstract, offering a wide possibility of interpretation, but the evocative title has enough charge to bring out some great poems.
Here is the original poem by Vermeersch and below is another by Adam Sol. I met Adam in Toronto and just got his Jeremiah, Ohio in the mail and am super excited about it.
They Will Take My Island
by Adam Sol
You taught me language, and my profit on't
Is I know how to curse.
They will take my island
if I don't scorch it to the bones, though
to speak truly,
I did not know it was an island
until they said so.
I thought it was the world.
The river-fish would drift
into my clasp and I would gnaw
on their flesh while the gills still
gasped. It had edges and pleasures
and dangers.
What more is a world?


text:
Recent Additions
I am continually taking photographs and searching my files for images to bring to you. Here you will find those images that are new to the website. These images will change frequently as I continue to add more photographsRead More
No photos
Tap the button in the lower right to upload photos.
No photos
landscape travel fine art wildlife


text:
Just as our stores try to find new ways to serve the 127 million customers who shop with us each week, Walmart.com is working to attract online customers with a variety of programs and promotions.
Our affiliate program is designed to drive web traffic to our site and is a common marketing practice that is used by many other major online retailers, including amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and disneystore.com.
More than 43,000 organizations participate in walmart.com's affiliates program and over 100 Christian organizations also participate in the program.
Affiliates ask to be included in the program and receive a small percentage of the sales that result from the customers they refer.
Wal-Mart does not evaluate the viewpoints or political agenda of potential affiliates, and acceptance as an affiliate does not convey or imply an endorsement of a particular agenda or viewpoint.
We are committed to serving our customers, and our affiliate program is one of the many ways that we do so. The group identified by the American Family Association has been an affiliate of Walmart.com since 2002 and has referred exactly one sale for $41.73 to our site since joining our affiliate program. As a result, it would have collected $4.17.