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DoDEA Teacher of the Year Announced 2014-15
DoDEA Teacher of The Year
DoDEA Teacher of the Year 2
DoDEA Teacher of the Year 3
DoDEA proudly announces the 2014-15 Teacher of the Year as Ms. Sarah Loomis. Ms. Loomis was selected as Kaiserslautern's District Teacher of the Year earlier this spring and serves as an Educational Technologist at Kaiserslautern Elementary School. She was selected from the 14 District Teachers of the Year. .
Ms. Loomis is known to be a strong collaborator and understands that the teacher's role is to prepare students for the world beyond the classroom. Her peers say that her energy, zest for life, and her dedication are electrifying. During her virtual teacher of the year interview she passionately expressed that it is not about her; it is about the students, teachers, parents and community who she serves. She has been a shining light in her district's transformation toward a true 21st Century learning environment ensuring that technology is seamlessly integrated so that students have opportunties to explore and discover during their learning process.
The Teacher of the Year selection process began at the nomination phase in fall 2013, progressed to district selections and concluded internally with the DoDEA wide Teacher of the Year selection. Ms. Loomis along with all District Teachers of the Year completed an application, which included education history, professional development experience, leadership roles assumed in the school, teaching practices and a teaching video.
Ms. Loomis will enter into The National Teacher of the Year program sponsored by the Council of Chief State Schools Officers (CCSSO) and will be among 56 other participants for the prestigious honor.
We congratulate Ms. Loomis and all of our 14 District Teachers of the Year for their commitment to their school communities. We celebrate with Ms. Loomis on this wonderful recognition.
The mission of the Teacher of the Year Program is to recognize and honor exemplary pre-kindergarten through grade 12 teachers. If you have any questions about the Teacher of the Year Program, please contact the HQ Point of Contact (Ms. Ione Swenson)
(Listed in alphabetical order by last name)
|Daisy Alegre-Cruz
|Career Practicum, Advanced Placement Psychology, and AVID
|Lakenheath HS
|Katie Biggs
|Kindergarten Teacher
|Seoul American ES
|Lota Bryans
|SC/Ft. Stewart/Cuba
|Reading Instructional Support Teacher (3rd- 6th grades)
|Patrick L. Kessler ES
|Lynn Irwin
|1st Grade Teacher
|Ft. Rucker PS
|Sarah Loomis
|Educational Technologist
|Kaiserslautern ES
|Jessica McKelvey
|3rd Grade Teacher
|Pierce ES
|Sarah McKinney
|English and Literature Teacher
|Kadena HS
|Kelly Melvin
|NC-Fort Bragg
|Physical Education/Health Teacher
|Albritton MS
|Kristina Munoz
|3rd Grade Teacher
|Aviano ES
|Donna Rhodes
|1st Grade Teacher
|Andersen ES
|Jeff Sparling
|3rd Grade Teacher
|The Sullivans School
|Louise Thompson
|1st/2nd Grade Multiage STEAM Teacher
|Ansbach ES
|Maryellen Tissandier
|NC-Camp Lejeune
|4th Grade Teacher
|Tarawa Terrace ES
|Tricia Willis
|6th- 8th Grade Science/Health Teacher
|West Point MS
Ms. Sarah Loomis will serve as the DoDEA Teacher of the Year. She was selected from the 14 District Teachers of the Year.
The District Teachers of the Year have been announced. They will serve as representatives in their districts in the 2014-15 school year.
April 2014: 2014-15 National ToY Application due to DoDEA Headquarters via Blackboard
May 2014: 2014-15 DoDEA ToY announced
September 2014: 2015-16 DoDEA ToY program nomination window opens
October 2014: 2014-15 DoDEA ToY applies for National Teacher of the Year program sponsored by Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
April 2015: CCSSO Announces 2014-15 National Teacher of the Year


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This conversation is closed.
Do you guys believe that biker gangs should be illegal?
I am writing a persuasive essay and I was wondering what the public thought about that topic.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Feb 23 2013: As the others have commented on the obvious, i'll say " if a group of between 6 and 250 persons meet for a common reason, in one place at the same time, on a regular basis would that define a gang/club?"
I think they should be legal, if for no other reason than the law enforcement resources used to prevent their meeting would be a huge waste.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Tag: Ulysses III
Ulysses III gets monster 'Warp 1' update
With a week to go until the beginning of NaNoWriMo, it's not surprising that a favorite text-editing tool has received an update. Ulysses III version 1.1 brings -- according to The Soulmen -- over 287 tweaks, fixes and optimizations, including OS X Mavericks compatibility "bang on time." The...
Daily iPhone App: Daedalus Touch
If there's one thing bad about being a tech blogger, it's that you're constantly exposed to new and exciting hardware and software. More often than not, a first glance at an app turns into a buying opportunity, and the next thing you know you've spent anywhere from $0.99 to "a big amount" on...
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An Undervalued Tech Giant
Alvin is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
A lot of Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) shareholders are unhappy and they have a good reason to be. CEO Michael Dell and equity investment firm Silver Lake are offering to buy out Dell shareholders at a price of just $24.4 billion, or $13.65 per share. Southeastern Asset Management, T. Rowe Price Group, and other major Dell shareholders have declared their opposition to the proposed buyout deal.
Overall, the proposed deal undervalues Dell. In the trailing 12 months (TTM), Dell earned $1.48 per share. Thus, Michael Dell is offering to buy the company at a PE of just 9.22. Taking into account Dell's negative tangible book value per diluted share of about $1.44, the offer, based on TTM earnings, is a PE of 10.20. The offer looks even worse when using fiscal year 2012 earnings. In FY 2012, Dell earned $1.88 per diluted share, which translates to a buyout PE of just 7.26. Taking into account the negative tangible book value, the offer is a PE of 8.03 based on FY 2012 earnings.
Struggles and PC transition
Dell has been struggling. In Q3 FY13, Dell posted declines in net income and non-GAAP net income of 47% and 31% year over year, respectively. Revenue from Desktop PCs and Mobility fell by 25.8% and 8.5% year over year, respectively. While the PC industry is also struggling, Dell has been performing worse than the industry. According to IDC, Dell's total PC shipments dropped by 20.8% in the holiday quarter. In comparison, total PC shipments declined by 6.4%. Furthermore, the rise of the mobile device industry remains a big threat to Dell.
While there are significant problems with Dell, Michael Dell is taking advantage of the situation. The desktop PC industry is still crucial to the modern world. In Q4 2012, almost 90 million PCs shipped worldwide and Dell was the third largest PC vendor worldwide. Also, Dell was the third largest server vendor worldwide in Q3.
In addition, the PC industry is in a transition period. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) launched Windows 8 during the holiday quarter, an important step because the OS' Modern UI makes it suitable for tablets. Currently, the tablet market is booming and is dominated by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android. In Q4, tablet shipments increased by 75.3% year over year to 52.5 million units. Apple's unit shipments rose to 22.9 million, but its market share dropped to 43.6%. On the other hand, Android continued its surge. ASUS, which is selling the Google Nexus 7 tablet, saw shipments increase by 402% year over year to 3.1 million units.
Windows 8 and software potentials
Going forward, Windows 8 has a good chance to make a significant impact in the tablet market. The tablet market is still growing and top vendor Apple does not license iOS. While Google does license Android, Windows 8 provides the big advantage of being backward-compatible to legacy Windows programs. Also, Windows 8 does not put the PC industry at risk because Windows 7 is a solid fall back OS. Finally, Windows 8's touch friendly UI could spur upgrades to touchscreen PCs.
In the holiday quarter, Dell's top PC rival, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), took advantage of Windows 8. HP only experienced a decline in shipments of 0.6%. IDC states, "An aggressive push for Windows 8 volume helped the vendor make gains in Asia/Pacific and its home turf in the U.S. HP struggled in EMEA but posted the first year-over-year growth in Asia/Pacific in four quarters. Total volume was nearly flat from a year ago, but better than the overall market." While Windows 8 has received a mixed reaction, it has a lot of potential and Michael Dell is undervaluing that potential.
Finally, Dell is in the midst of a transition to being a more software-based company. Dell completed its acquisition of Quest Software for $2.4 billion near the end of year 2012 and it is too early to evaluate the impact of the acquisition. Software usually brings a higher margin than hardware and Dell has recently been making a lot of software acquisitions.
The bottom line
In summary, Michael Dell's offer undervalues Dell relative to its past earnings and the company's potential. Dell remains a top PC and server vendor. In addition, the company and the PC industry are in the early stages of major transitions. Windows 8 has the potential to spur upgrades to touchscreen PCs and make Windows a significant presence in tablets. Also, Dell's software acquisitions could produce big profits for the company. Finally, the major problems in the global economy have likely been a major contributor to the struggles of the PC industry. Thus, the industry should show big improvements when the global economy recovers. Overall, Michael Dell's offer is a bad deal for long-term Dell shareholders.
iamgreatness owns shares of Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is this post wrong? Click here. Think you can do better? Join us and write your own!


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Maximizing Philanthropic Impact: An Interview with Jim Canales
In this month's Social Velocity blog interview, I'm talking with Jim Canales. Jim is President and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, the largest multi-issue foundation focused exclusively on the state of California. Under his leadership, the foundation has adopted a more targeted approach in its grantmaking programs, focusing on three areas — Arts, California Democracy and Youth — of critical significance to the state's future. Jim also serves on the boards of Stanford University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the College Access Foundation of California.
You can read past interviews in the Social Innovation Interview Series here.
Nell: One of the four grantmaking principles of the Irvine Foundation is "Invest in Organizations," meaning that you are committed to providing grants to build nonprofit organizations (evaluation, operating support, infrastructure). This is a pretty radical idea for most foundations. What do you think holds other foundations back from this kind of investment and what will it take to get more of them to embrace the idea of organization building as opposed to just supporting direct programs?
Jim: This question of general operating support versus project support has been an ongoing debate in the nonprofit sector, and I'd like to suggest that we may be creating for ourselves a false dichotomy that may not be helpful. I'd suggest we focus on the end goal, not the means. Let's start by asking the question: How can we maximize impact toward the shared goals of a foundation and its grantees? By asking the question in that way, we naturally have to explore whether we are investing sufficient resources, in the right ways, so that our grantee can have the impact we both seek.
That's how we try to approach our work at Irvine. At times, we may make grants for general operating support; in other cases, our grants would not be characterized that way – and yet we try to ensure we are investing the necessary resources for the organization to achieve its goals. That will, by necessity, require investment in the infrastructure or organizational development needs that are critical to success. Without that support, whatever project or program we're funding can't and won't have the impact we both seek.
Another part of this question presupposes that foundation staff are able to recognize and address organizational needs. Because we believe that's an important ability, you will notice that each of Irvine's program directors has held senior positions in nonprofit organizations. Each of them brings an understanding of organizational development, financial management, board development and all that it takes for an organization to succeed and thrive.
Nell: The Irvine Foundation tends to be fairly transparent in its work and even does an annual survey to gauge how the foundation is viewed by grantees, the social sector, other philanthropists, etc. What do you gain from this survey and how do you integrate what you find into your work going forward?
Jim: This goes back to the time we adopted our current strategic directions in Arts, California Democracy and Youth. At that time, a task force of board members and senior staff explored the question: How will we know we are making a difference? Out of that exploration came a framework that we use to assess our performance on an annual basis, and one of the key elements of that framework is constituent feedback.
Feedback is critically important in philanthropy. If you look at foundation initiatives that have failed — and I would include some of our own — one common theme is that feedback loops were not sufficiently robust. Grantees often are reluctant to come forward with bad news or criticism. And our sector doesn't have a strong track record of consistently gathering candid feedback from our various constituents, whether that's grantees or other stakeholders.
Phil Buchanan and his colleagues at the Center for Effective Philanthropy have played a catalytic role in improving philanthropy's feedback loops through CEP's Grantee Perception Report and other assessment tools. Irvine has commissioned two grantee surveys from CEP over the last seven years. And last year, we commissioned a separate stakeholder survey gathering opinions from leaders in our fields and the nonprofit and philanthropy community in general.
In each of these cases, we have found the data immensely valuable and used it to improve our performance. And we've tried to be transparent about it: We posted the results of the grantee perception reports on our website, and, more recently, I described what we had learned from the stakeholder report of 2012. In all instances we have sought to describe how we intended to use these findings to improve our work going forward.
There does remain, however, one area we have not fully explored: So far, we haven't done very much to gather feedback from the people who benefit from the work that we support, which is obviously a critical constituent for any foundation. But we are following what others are doing in this regard to see what they have learned and how it might apply to us. An example of that is YouthTruth, the national survey of high school students that CEP developed in partnership with the Gates Foundation. I commend the article that Phil and others authored in the recent Stanford Social Innovation Review on this very topic.
Nell: One of the things that came out of your survey was a desire to see the Foundation take more risks. What does taking more risks mean to the Irvine Foundation and how do you think you will go about doing that in the coming years?
Jim: We have to start by defining risk. At Irvine, we're not interested in risk for risk's sake. Rather we are trying to understand the relationship between risk and reward and our tolerance for ambiguity and even failure. In the context of philanthropy, I think risk is about trying to balance the need to invest our resources wisely, while also taking advantage of the fact that we have very few restrictions on how we invest those resources.
For those of us in endowed foundations, we have much to learn about risk-taking from our investment colleagues who think about it in the context of managing a foundation's endowment. And we have benefited from discussions amongst our program and investment teams on this subject. Our investment colleagues are willing to take risks on investments that offer the potential for greater return. But they know that to maximize returns over the long run, you need to have a balanced portfolio. So it's not just about taking lots of risks; it's about balance and a portfolio approach.
And ultimately, part of taking risk is about being comfortable with failure and learning from it. As part of our annual report on the foundation's progress, we have a section that covers what we're learning from our programmatic work and how those lessons can be used to further improve our strategies.
Nell: The Irvine Foundation is very much focused on evaluation, yet outcomes measurement is still difficult for the majority of nonprofits to achieve, given that most nonprofit funding sources aren't interested in funding it. How do we get past the catch-22 of not being able to find funding for evaluation, but increasingly needing evaluation to get funding?
Jim: We approach evaluation as a tool that enables us to understand the effectiveness of key programs and initiatives, to learn from the progress and challenges along the way, and to demonstrate the value of approaches that will have an impact. In our experience, it is important to think carefully at the outset about what stage of development the work is in and to align the evaluation accordingly. We cannot evaluate everything, so we need to be selective about when and why we choose to use this tool.
I see evidence of a change underway in how the social sector and philanthropy approach evaluation. There is emerging greater interest in tools for measuring progress and impact. The proliferation of assessment tools available from organizations like CEP and PerformWell suggest that we're moving beyond talking about the problem to developing real solutions.
As a complement to this, we are broadening our understanding about the purpose of evaluation. More and more foundations view evaluation less as the thumbs-up or thumbs-down audit and more as a tool for learning, strategic refinement and improvement. It's been interesting to see foundations create senior-level roles like Chief Learning Officer or Director of Strategic Learning, as an indication of the value and importance of this work. I am of the belief that the more we shift toward evaluation as a tool for learning and improvement, the more likely we can have the impact we seek. At the same time, that is not to suggest that we should not be clear-eyed about whether we are achieving what we set out to achieve, which is an important role for evaluation activity.
Nell: In 2010 President Obama appointed you to the White House Council for Community Solutions to come up with recommendations about how to address the large population of Americans aged 16 to 24 who are not in school or work. What do you think the role of the federal government should be in creating innovative solutions to "disconnected youth" in America? And what do you think is the role of government more broadly in social innovation?
Jim: It was a privilege to serve on the White House Council for Community Solutions with a group of committed and dedicated leaders from across the country. The experience underscored yet again the critical importance of building relationships between philanthropy and government. In fact, an interesting study on this topic of cross-sector partnerships was recently published by the University of Southern California's Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy. One of its conclusions is that in many cities and states, we're starting to see a concerted effort to develop and institutionalize more of these partnerships.
We know that many of the innovations that foundations are working on need the engagement and partnership of government to increase their impact and to bring those solutions to scale. A good example for Irvine is the ways in which our Youth program is partnering with state and local government to reform high school education in California.
For the past six years, our Youth program has been working to build the field of Linked Learning — an educational approach that integrates rigorous academics with career-based learning. It has demonstrated success at increasing high school graduation and college attendance rates. And after a lot of work, Linked Learning is now available to students in nine school districts in California.
This year, thanks to a pilot program sponsored by the state Education Department, an additional 63 school districts have committed to Linked Learning. When the program is fully implemented, Linked Learning will be available to more than a third of high school students in California. That's not something that Irvine or the nonprofit sector could ever have done by itself. So for the state to be launching this kind of pilot program underscores the importance of these partnerships.
As for the work of the White House Council and its focus on what we called "opportunity youth," the fact that the White House raised this up as a critical issue for our country was really important for this often-ignored population. And the Council's work continues to live on: most recently, FSG issued a report that serves as a framework for how different stakeholders can improve outcomes for this population of youth who are neither in school nor participating in the job market.
For our part, the focus on out-of-school youth complements the work of our Youth program. A little over a year ago, we launched an initiative to extend the Linked Learning approach to this population as a way to help them re-engage with education. Improving outcomes for this population is so critical — it represents an immense opportunity for our economy and society and for the youth and their families who want to create a better future for themselves.
Taking Philanthropic Risks: An Interview with Chris Earthman
In this month's Social Velocity blog interview, we're talking with Chris Earthman, Executive Director for the Aragona Family Foundation. For the last 8 years Chris has also worked for Austin Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in the Southwestern US. Chris has over 15 years of experience at the intersection of nonprofit and for-profit enterprises, including helping to establish the Micron Technology Foundation (NYSE: MU), the corporate social responsibility vehicle for the largest private employer in Idaho.
You can read past interviews in our Social Innovation Interview Series here.
Nell: As head of a regional family foundation, how do you and your board view some of the innovations happening in the social sector like impact investing, social entrepreneurship, etc.?
Chris: I find it refreshing that innovation is happening in our sector, though I'm a little surprised at the slow rate of uptake among funders. The family foundation I currently run is a spend-down foundation, and that's a decision our trustees made consciously in order to see the fruits of social investments now vs. spending significantly less in order to maintain a corpus indefinitely. There is ample discussion out there among funders, but (and I'm as guilty as anyone) very rarely much action to back it up. We're trying to selectively dip our toe into the water in terms of funding social innovations, infrastructure, ecosystem improving organizations, selective M&A activity among our grantees and discussing the idea of mission-related investing.
Nell: Speaking of mission-related investing (where a foundation invests part of their corpus into for-profit social enterprises that give both a social and financial return to the foundation), it's a pretty radical concept for most foundations. What do you think it would take for the idea of mission-related investing to take off for smaller foundations across the country?
Chris: Let me preface my comments with the fact that we are a spend-down foundation and therefore have not made a meaningful investment allocation to mission-related investing, so I'm by no means an expert here. However, I think there need to be more visible intermediaries and investment products targeting the social impact market. We've seen some great progress over the last few years with groups like Sonen Capital, but it's still a very nascent industry. One of the biggest barriers we've come across is the difficulty in quantifying the social return in a format that is comprehensible to trustees. That is starting to change with ratings intermediaries like GIIRS, but recognition and uptake are essentially non-existent among most of the foundations that I interact with. I know that you and many others have opined on the progress here, but it's still not something that is on many regional/ smaller Foundation's radars. It may take a few forward thinking Foundation trustees to step up and take a chance to show others that it's ok to think outside of the endowment model mindset.
Nell: Much of your non-Foundation time is spent working for a venture capital firm where the idea of Mergers and Acquisitions is second nature; however this is a fairly uncommon concept in the nonprofit world. Do we want to see more of it in the nonprofit sector and if so, how do we make that happen?
Chris: Given the fragmentation of the nonprofit ecosystem across the country and the large proportion of small organizations , I think there is certainly an opportunity for more instances of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), particularly in cases where organizations need to grow above the $500K/ yr threshold. However, my experience is that TRUE collaboration—the accretive kind where you can quantify cost savings and/or program growth and ultimately better outcomes/ social change—is very rare in the nonprofit world simply because there are few external catalysts to get the discussion started and ultimately finished.
We've funded a few different M&A efforts over the last couple of years and my takeaway is that the M's work much better than the A's. I hate to keep pointing the finger back at myself and fellow funders, but there is a certain level of risk aversion where we'd rather ensure a successful purchase of additional direct services vs. really giving organizations what they need to grow. I've seen too many truly innovative nonprofits unable to successfully scale past the $300-500K/yr revenue threshold because of the required organizational capital required to make that pivot.
But I'm by no means idealistic here. While M&As sound sexy, there are many times where poor execution, interpersonal dynamics, Board conflicts, bad timing, or any number of external factors out of your control result in an outcome that may actually harm the organizations seeking to gain efficiencies through scale and collaboration. There are integration costs, donor overlap, brand/ identity battles, etc. that always take much more time, effort, and money before you see any of the accretive results that initially drove the decision to bring the organizations together. The same goes for the appetite of funders to backstop Executive Director salaries and/or fund transaction costs related to a merger discussion. In my opinion, lack of funder appetite is probably one of the biggest barriers to more M&A in our sector.
Nell: As a rule foundations are less interested in making capital investments in nonprofit organizations (funding things like infrastructure, systems, technology, evaluation). Why do you think that is and what can help move philanthropists to understand the need for capacity capital?
Chris: I think there are two reasons:
- The idea of "expressive philanthropy" is fairly well ingrained and many folks start out their philanthropy work wanting to "put their stamp" on a particular cause or portfolio of organizations. The challenge is that many foundations knee jerk into a risk-averse grants process that may or may not fit with their place in the ecosystem. Part of this is based on the endowment model of funding, which more often than not results in a formal, tedious grant application process. This may not be the best way to identify and screen potential grantees!
Let me acknowledge that I spent the first few years of my career as a grant writer, so I completely understand the time and effort that go into these proposals. This experience informs (or biases) my "anti-process" grantmaking strategy wherein we prefer to put the "search cost" onus on myself as a funder and try to respect the time and effort of the ever lean development dollars being spent by grant seeking organizations. It may sound like an arrogant "don't call us, we'll call you" approach to grantmaking, but I've found that making the grant process donor-centric vs. grantee centric allows the system to operate more efficiently.
- While philanthropic dollars should be fungible, the ability to restrict funds creates a tiered system of revenue for grantees. It always strikes me as a little odd that funders get so hung up about funding direct services vs. infrastructure and overhead and restrict their funding to such a degree. Ask any VC how their portfolio companies use their investments and you'll find more often than not it pays for the critical growth functions like Sales and Marketing. You can't grow without infrastructure, and unfortunately our current giving culture is much less amenable to that. I'd even go so far as to say the framework/ process that most funders use to select their grantees are, by their very nature, skewed towards less risk and greater restriction. Therein lies one of the structural problems in our industry. Even something as simple as separating the motivation of our giving ("we really like your yy program initiative…") from the structure of our giving ("…so here's an unrestricted grant to spend where you feel it is most needed") makes a huge difference for the lives of our grantees. It also shows the Executive Director that you value their ability as a manager to make decisions from the inside.
Nell: How do we get funders to get take more risk with their investments and be willing to fund things that have a higher risk, like growth capital, mergers, research & development, but could result in huge social payoff?
Chris: Similar to my earlier comments about impact investing and grant processes, I think funders need to see more celebrated instances of both success AND failure. Another solution is using less restrictive grant processes that are a better fit with the size and scope of your particular foundation. The fact that you can restrict grants does not automatically mean that you should. Until we embrace the idea that its ok to take a risk with our funding (and have a process that embraces this), even if it doesn't turn out the way we planned, we'll be much closer to creating an environment ripe for some of the larger social change that motivates our philanthropic giving in the first place.
Funding Social Innovation: An Interview with Paul Tarini
In the July installment of the Social Velocity interview series we are talking with Paul Tarini of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. You can read our previous Social Velocity blog interviews with Clara Miller and Kevin Jones.
Paul Tarini is the head of the Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio, which actively seeks innovative projects that can lead to fundamental breakthroughs in health and health care. Because the Pioneer team is dedicated to thinking and talking about new ideas and groundbreaking approaches, including those from nontraditional sources and fields, Pioneer enables the Foundation to make conceptual leaps and take risks in grantmaking that would otherwise not be possible. Since funding is so critical to making social innovation a reality, we thought Paul would have a unique perspective on what funders can do to incentivize social innovation.
Nell: The Pioneer portfolio strikes me as a more risk-tolerant approach to giving than typical foundations are used to. Why is RWJF more comfortable with the risks inherent in this kind of portfolio of projects?
Paul: RWJF is comfortable with the higher risk, unconventional, future-facing ideas Pioneer supports because it first identified a specific niche that needed to be filled within the institutional ecology. We call that ecology our Impact Framework. It was conceived of at a time when RWJF was thinking hard about how we organized our work. The Impact Framework helps us understand our grantmaking as a whole, so, not just what do the grants in a particular area add up to, but what does the whole enterprise add up to. As we were thinking about the impact we wanted to have, we knew we needed to work in fewer, more focused teams that were/are accountable for specific outcomes.
But we realized that while focus brings power and discipline, it also can be limiting. We wanted a way to look out beyond the work of these targeted teams. We were thinking about how to stay relevant for the long run as a philanthropy that operates on a national scale. We felt that in addition to the targeted work being done, we needed a place devoted to the exploration of new ideas, where we could bring in new concepts, work with different people, and support more unconventional and future-facing ideas. Such work could help RWJF stay fresh, bring in new ideas and new grantees, continue to grow, stay ahead of the curve. And, if we found some real winners, health and health care would benefit from the outcomes of those projects.
Out of this came Pioneer. Here are some examples of the work we've supported…We funded a natural resources economist to work on the problem of antibiotic resistance (Don't approach it as an infectious diseases problem; think about our stock of antibiotics as a natural resource that needs to be managed and develop new policy from that perspective; we've been funding research into whether and how digital games can be effective therapeutic interventions (Can a game that uses a breathing tube as the controller that moves characters around the screen help kids with cystic fibrosis improve their breathing therapy?); we've funded early work exploring whether there are specific health strengths which, if strengthened more, could serve to forestall disease and mitigate effects once disease strikes. We're also supporting work that builds platforms that could produce lots of new knowledge and improve care, including Kaiser Permanente's Research Program on Genes, the Environment and Health; and, efforts to link electronic health records databases with millions of patient records in order to learn much faster about what works for patients (Rapid Learning).
Nell: I understand that the Pioneer program has a rolling unsolicited application process, but I imagine you probably need to do a good bit of on-the-ground scoping and cultivation of ideas in order to get the most promising projects into the portfolio. How do you create a deal flow for innovative projects?
Paul: This is a constant challenge for us. We do have an open door, and we do accept unsolicited proposals at any time. But most of the proposals that come in through this door are not good fits for Pioneer. We were set up to explore unconventional and untested approaches to problems, to bring in ideas from other disciplines, to look to the future. We were not set up to support projects that promise incremental improvements, however important those improvements may be. We look for projects with the potential for transformative change, the kind of change that can reach beyond a single discipline or group. Most of what comes in unsolicited doesn't meet that standard. Finding ideas takes work. And because we look for ideas across the breadth of health and health care, we can't focus on just one haystack to look for needles. We network. We connect with interesting people at conferences, we go to events, we take meetings and phone calls, we visit people. We are experimenting with other ways to source ideas. We've had some success with open-source competitions, though the back end, taking a winning idea and creating a fundable project, takes time. We are putting a lot of time and energy into social media right now as another way to build networks and find ideas. Half of me wishes there was an easier way to find ideas, but I suspect that easier would also mean more passive on our part and passive is really boring.
Nell: You currently only invest in nonprofit projects, correct? Do you see the potential for investing in for-profit or hybrid organizations, through mission-related investing, down the road, particularly as social entrepreneurship grows and for-profit solutions to healthcare issues become more prevalent?
Paul: While the majority of our investments, our funding, are in the form of grants to nonprofit organizations, there is nothing that precludes us from supporting for-profit entities. The largest award to come out of Pioneer to date—$15.6 million—went to a for-profit, Archimedes, Inc. However, before we can make an award to a for-profit, we need to clearly establish that RWJF's dollars are going to fund an activity with a clear charitable purpose that relates to our mission. This is just an additional test we need to meet. The challenge we face on Pioneer is less about whether an entity is a nonprofit, a hybrid, or a for-profit. Our challenge is whether that entity is doing work that isn't merely an improvement, but is doing something unconventional, disruptive and future-facing and could produce breakthroughs in health and health care. If we're convinced the work meets that standard, we can usually figure out how to fund it.
Nell: What is holding philanthropy back from becoming more innovative and/or risk tolerant?
Paul: People who spend more time observing philanthropies are better suited to answer this question than I am. That said, I think it's hard to ask this question about philanthropy as a sector. Philanthropies have a lot of latitude; you can't assume they are fairly similar and that we can generalize our way to an answer. In the same way there are differences between a business that employs 200 people and one with 20,000, there are big differences between a multi-billion-dollar philanthropy and a small community foundation. Political contexts differ, staff sophistication differs (bigger isn't always more sophisticated), boards and donors have varying levels of influence, so I think there's a range of reasons — philanthropy by philanthropy — for being less risk-tolerant.
If I had to pick one reason, it would be that there's no inherent reason for a philanthropy to be innovative and highly risk-tolerant. A lot of good can come—and has come—from philanthropies that are cautious. As I noted above, the decision at RWJF to have a portfolio that takes on more risk came from an institutional recognition of the long-term value to us—and to the field—of such investments. So the niche-in-the-institutional-ecology point is important here. Also, frankly, our ecology is much larger than most, and so it can be more diverse. Other philanthropies would need to work though their own reasons to embrace more risk-taking.
Nell: The nonprofit capital market overall is fairly immature compared to the capital market of the for-profit world. Do you see other foundations creating new giving programs or financial vehicles to expand the types of capital available to nonprofits?
Paul: There is a great discussion and a lot of effort being devoted to maturing the nonprofit capital market. More money, philanthropic and otherwise, is examining and entering this space; and, more nonprofits are thinking about what they need to do to operate in this space. It's very exciting and I definitely think we'll see more of that over time. But I also think it will be years before we see a robust capital market for nonprofits. As much interest as there is in moving into this space, the amount of money there and the portion of nonprofits positioned to take advantage of such a capital market is still relatively small compared with traditional ways of financing and operating.
Also, I think it will take a while to understand when it makes sense for nonprofits to access capital markets and when more traditional sources of philanthropic funding are more appropriate. Philanthropies need to understand better—given what they're trying to achieve—when a traditional grant makes the most sense and when some other financial vehicle does.
Nell: What do you think is the potential for greater partnerships between foundations and individual investors to bring more capital to social entrepreneurs, particularly in the healthcare sector?
Paul: Good question. For large foundations such as RWJF, I think we need to consider carefully when looking at when individual investors as funding partners makes sense. The projects we fund, by their nature, tend to be large. The effort involved in soliciting individual investors might not be worth the result unless we are looking at folks who have considerable wealth at their disposal. It's a lift when you're trying to aggregate a bunch of $100,000 contributions to reach $5 million; fundraising is not a core competency of ours. I do think, though, that efforts such as the Social Impact Exchange, where individual dollars would flow directly to the organizations that need them, make a lot of sense. So I think the opportunities for individual investors to participate as true funding partners on projects with RWJF are probably limited, though we are open to them if they make sense. But there are definitely opportunities for foundations such as RWJF to help individual investors find groups that are worthy recipients.
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Summer 2014 Financial Assistance
- Application is the 2013-2014 FAFSA. No other application is required for Federal Student Aid such as Direct Loans. Deadline to complete June 30, 2014, or two weeks before your last date of summer enrollment, whichever occurs FIRST.
- If you qualify for Tuition Waiver, please make sure that your application is on file with the Human Resource Office.
- Hope recipients taking classes at another University should meet with a Financial Assistance Counselor to make sure the appropriate paperwork is completed.
The Office of Financial Assistance will begin processing Summer 2014 Assistance based on your registration after Easter. Your initial aid eligibility will be calculated based on your projected enrollment as noted in the registrar's file and information from your 2013-2014 Free Application.
Should your enrollment change, your projected assistance WILL change. The Office of Financial Assistance will conduct audits at the census date of each term, but it is your responsibility to notify our office ahead of time if your class schedule changes for any reason.
You must have your FAFSA completed as soon as possible, since federal aid must be processed before the end of your enrollment during the summer.
Institutional Scholarship / Grant Programs- Funds for institutional merit scholarship and need-based grant programs are reserved for use during the fall and spring academic year terms only. No funds will be awarded for the 2014 summer semester except for limited programs such as Accelerated Nursing (students must have appropriate program type listing accerated nursing for our office to make that determination).
Summer HOPE for TN Residents (Must attend at least 6 hours):
To be eligible for summer HOPE disbursement, you must have initially received HOPE in fall 2009 and thereafter. This summer HOPE will be processed from your 13-14 FAFSA on file. You must also be eligible for HOPE with your TELS HOPE GPA prior to the start of Mayterm. Students at benchmarks (24,48,72,96 TELS attempted hours) must also be meeting continued eligibility with necessary GPA. This may require evaluation of spring 2014 grades, which are to be submitted by faculty in May. More information on continued eligibility is available here. The amount you may qualify to receive will depend upon your hours enrolled, additional GAM eligibility, or additional Aspire eligibility. The amounts will range from $1,000-2,750.
Transient Students at other TN colleges this summer: You may be eligible for summer HOPE if you meet the above eligibility guidelines and are taking courses at another HOPE eligible TN college this summer. Degree seeking students at Carson-Newman that would like to take coursework at another HOPE eligible TN college or university must first be approved to take courses by your advisor and registrar by completing the Authorization to Take Courses at Another College form, and complete the TELS Consortium Agreement for Transient Students form. Please meet with a Financial Assistance Counselor for futher guidance. IMPORTANT: All summer hours will count towards TELS attempted hours and TELS GPA, every transcript MUST be submitted to the Registrar's Office at least 4 weeks prior to the start of the fall term. Fall HOPE disbursements will be held until all transcripts have been received and evaluated for continued HOPE eligibility. Also summer disbursements will be made to your student account first. Student Accounts will then need to issue you a credit balance refund, if applicable. You will then take the proceeds to your transient school. You may be required to make payments to the school prior to your TELS HOPE disbursement, so plan accordingly.
Federal Aid Programs Key Concepts and Definitions:
Academic Year- For purposes of federal financial aid programs at Carson-Newman, an academic year is a period of time (normally a minimum of 30 weeks or fall plus spring semester) during which a full -time undergraduate student is expected to complete a minimum of 24 credit hours.
Award year- refers to the specific enrollment period. The "normal" award year at Carson-Newman is the fall and spring semesters (currently the 2013-2014 year). Award years run from July 1 to June 30.
Cross -Over Payment Period- Any period that includes both June 30th and July 1. For the purposes of federal financial aid programs, this period must be assigned to a specific financial aid award year. These years begin each July 1.
Carson-Newman offers a number of summer sessions of differing lengths in an effort to be responsive to the needs of the student body. For the purposes of all federal aid programs, the separate sessions are combined into one "Cross-over" Payment Period. The 2013-2014 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be used to determine eligibility for all federal aid programs for the 2014 summer semester. Students who are entering Carson-Newman for the first time during the 2014 summer session should complete the 2013-2014 FAFSA forms online at http://www.fafsa.gov/. The Federal deadline to complete this form is June 30, 2014. Remember, if your application has been selected for verification, you must also complete that process BEFORE we can disburse aid from your FAFSA.
Federal Pell Grant- requires review of annual limit eligibility of funds and term limit eligibility of funds. Not all Pell Grant recipients will qualify for a summer disbursement. Additionally Federal Pell Grant is now under lifetime eligibility rules which limits students to the equivalent of twelve full-time semesters of attendance. Therefore students that have reached lifetime limits may not be eligible for summer pell grant disbursements.
Federal Direct Loans- required review of annual limit eligibility of funds and term limit eligibility of funds. Not all students will qualify for a summer disbursement. All first-time Federal Direct Loan borrowers at Carson-Newman must participate in entrance counseling, even if you have borrowed at a previous institution. Entrance counseling for Federal Direct Loans may be completed online at http://www.studentloans.gov/ website. You will need your FAFSA PIN and then you will need to complete the Master Promissory Note as well via the same website. Direct Loans are also subject to limitations.
Satisfactory Academic Progress (FASAP)- Students must be meeting the satisfactory academic progress guidelines at the end of the 2014 spring semester in order to continue to participate in federal aid programs for the summer. FASAP is calculated at the end of May for all students enrolled spring 2014. Therefore, if FASAP calculation determines that you are not meeting satisfactory academic progress, assistance offered will be declined on your behalf.
Enrollment Requirements- Eligibility for Federal Stafford loans is limited to the difference between the amounts borrowed during the previous fall/ spring semesters and the maximum loan limits for each specific grade level as set by the U.S. Department of Education.
You must be registered for and maintain at least half-time enrollment (undergraduate 6 credits) before we can award you summer financial assistance. Graduate students must also be at least half-time according to their program as listed in the Graduate Catalog. All courses taken must apply towards your degree requirements. An exception to the half-time enrollment rule may apply to Federal Pell Grant recipients. Repeated coursework for which you have earned credit will NOT be counted towards the minimum hours after the second repeat.
Withdrawal Information- Withdrawal from courses on or after the first day of classes may require a Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) calculation to determine amount of federal aid that has been earned, if you do not enroll in a subsequent course. Contact the Office of Financial Assistance to initiate official withdrawal procedures. Failure to contact the office does not negate the requirement to calculate the R2T4, and students are liable for student bill charges and overpayments resulting from calculation. Students should contact email@example.com to determine how their aid will be affected by withdrawal from a courses.
Loan "Exit" Counseling for Summer Graduates- Students who have utilized the Federal Student Loan Programs AND who will be completing their degree requirements will need to complete an online "exit counseling" session. The point of this requirement is to make sure that you understand your rights and responsibilities as you enter repayment.
Additional Financing Options- There may be alternatives for financing summer enrollment through a Federal Direct Parent Loan (PLUS). If the parent is denied we can offer the student an additional Unsubsidized Stafford loan (provided annual limit has not been reached), which must be requested, in writing, by the student The maximum loan limits for each specific grade level are set by the United States Congress.
Parent Plus Loan Information: http://www.studentloans.gov/.
Alternative Loans are available to research via the internet. Please be aware that alternative loans should be borrowed from a trusted source of lending. Carson-Newman College does not endorse any lenders, and is not available to assist you in finding a lender for an alternative student loan
"When Will I Receive My Aid?"- Please note that if your enrollment of at least half-time is between two summer sessions, loans will be disbursed in more than one disbursement, after you begin attendance in the first summer session. The first disbursement will occur after the census date of that term, with a second disbursement scheduled after the next census date that you will be attending. Please be aware of this when looking at your student bill. Summer fees charged in excess of summer aid are the responsibility of the student, and must be paid according to the policies of the Student Accounts Office. It is advised that you review important Summer 2014 terms and dates. Study abroad has different dates of disbursement, please see that information below.
Study Abroad Important Notes:
Please note that you will need to make arrangements to pre-pay for your program if the payment is due in advance. The earliest that aid disbursement will be set is the start date of the program. Additionally, if disbursement is from a loan period that is a single term, the loan is required to be disbursed in two equal installments. The first installment will be no earlier than the start day of the program, and the second disbursement will be at the midpoint of the program/term.
Any charges owed to Carson-Newman for the term will be deducted from the posting of assistance first and the remainder will be available for a credit balance refund. Additionally, the credit balance refund checks that are generated from aid disbursements will be paid to the student. Students should make arrangements for checks to be deposited by their financial power of attorney while abroad.
To begin your Study Abroad, please first contact the Global Education Office. They will instruct you on further steps. You will also need to meet with a Financial Assistance Counselor to complete other required forms. An Authorization to Take Courses At Another College will also have to be approved and on file in the Registrar's Office.
Remember, you must annually complete a FAFSA if you want to apply for all federal and state financial aid programs (including the TELS HOPE Program)


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© 2002 - 2014 DBolical Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 3915 modders.
Tales of Valor includes new units, additional maps and further multiplayer modes, such as 'Stonewall', where the player commands a small number of troops against waves of increasingly difficult enemies, and a feature called "direct-fire", where the player 'Points and shoots'.
some random screenies from a 4 v 4 with a mate and rest AI, during this the AI decided to go on a tank building spree and arty the f**k out of the bridge, I built a massive arty force and basically scorhed their spawn then joined in with the tank building :P


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The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, Inc. (NAPE) was chartered in 1990 in response to the states' need for support in carrying out the vocational equity duties prescribed in federal legislation. In reality, however, NAPE's roots came from a group of dedicated State Sex Equity Coordinators who eleven years earlier formed a committee to sponsor an annual, national sex equity conference. As the conferences grew and the group's leadership developed, the need for a more structured organization became apparent. In 1988, a planning committee was established to organize a "National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity."
NAPE was first housed at the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) then moved to the offices of Brustein & Manasevit in Washington, D.C. in 1995. In 2000 the national office moved from Washington, D.C., to Cochranville, Pennsylvania where it currently resides.


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Alert: The following services will be unavailable on Saturday, January 5, 2013 from 12 a.m. (midnight) to 6 a.m. CST due to system maintenance.
National Teen Driver Safety Week in October
Motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of teens. It doesn't have to be this way--YOU can help shape a different reality!
Congress established every third week in October as National Teen Driver Safety Week to raise awareness of this tragedy and find solutions to lower the fatal crash risk of teen drivers. (WisDOT press release).
"Ride Like a Friend, Drive Like You Care"
The risk of a fatal crash for a teen driver increases with each teen or adolescent passenger. For older child passengers, risk of dying in a crash involving a teen driver doubles between the ages of 12 and 14, according to a study published March 3, 2008 in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. This risk increases with each teenage year.
More than half of teens who die in crashes are passengers. Teen passengers raise their risk when they:
- Don't wear a seat belt.
- Ride with a new driver.
- Ride on high-speed roads.
Questions? Contact us: Wisconsin DMV email service
Last modified: March 3, 2014
All external hyperlinks are provided for your information and for the benefit of the general public. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation does not testify to, sponsor or endorse the accuracy of the information provided on externally linked pages. Some pages contain links to other documents and media types (PDF, Word, Flash, Video, etc.) and require free plugins to work. Visit our software information page for assistance.


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Language Spoken: English / Spanish
In her early years of adulthood, Vonreya stumbled upon the fascinating world of real estate. She was intrigued by the inner workings of it and she also loved the fact that it gave her the opportunity to work with different types of people from all walks of life. Her love for business and people motivated her to take courses in real estate that would eventually lead to her getting her license as a real estate salesperson. As an agent of Exit Realty, Vonreya prides herself on being one of the best trained in the industry. Real Estate is an industry, like most others, that is always changing and growing and it is important to keep up with real estate market trends. Vonreya is extremely dedicated to her clients and customers and provides them with support and consultation so that they are equipped and able to make the best decisions when it comes to their real estate needs.


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Dawn's "Princess Palette" Room
Room for Color Contest
Like this entry? Favorite it below!
- Name:
- Dawn
- Location:
- Ballwin, MO
- Division:
- Light
- Inspiration for my palette:
- After having two baby boys, we found out we were having a girl. She inspired this room fit for a Princess! I picked out the rug first, then the fabrics. Everything was a DIY project and put together with love. Everything is custom-sewn by myself or my Aunt Jan. I painted a sky on the ceiling, the medallion from Lowe's and the artwork on the walls. All the furniture was less than $500 found on Craigslist, Goodwill and garage sales. I found pink glass knobs at Marshall's. Accents are from HomeGoods and Michaels.
- Colors used in my room
- Fresh cut grass green, pink, aqua
- Tips for using color successfully
- I wanted the room to be romantic and feminine but not overly pink. I painted the walls grass green under the chair rail and above a paler shade all the way to the trim surrounding the blue sky. The accents of green and blue are keep the feeling of the room calm. I painted the doors a really pale shade of pink to balance the cool shades.
- Palette
- Princess Palette
More posts in this series
Room for Color 2012
24 Comments
So sweet, just how I would want my little girl's nursery...if she was still little ;(
Love the color palette of the pinks and blues!
This is super adorable!
"I wanted the room to be romantic and feminine but not overly pink."
Not quite sure you succeeded there.
Wow! What a lucky little girl! Very sweet.
@ScuttledCuttle...No kidding! Wowza!
This is a little over the top for me, but I guess the great thing is that we are all entitled to our own design aethetic...but WOW!
I meant, "aesthetic". Ergh...
Too cute! What a lucky lil girl!
Yeah, I think we have different definitions of "overly pink." It's nice for what it is -- an over-the-top, super-princessy, stereotypically-girly nursery. If it were the kid angling for a princess room, I'm sure she'd be stoked. But being this committed to a look really makes me worry: what happens if your daughter turns out to be a tomboy? Or even if she's girly, but not so into flouncy princess pink?
I dislike overly pink and girly decor too, but that's just my opinion, and when I looked at this room for the first time I have to say, I was very impressed by what you did! It's gorgeous and imaginative!
I have been an early childhood educator for over a decade, studied child psychology, and I disagree with everyone who's wringing their hands over the "girliness" of this room. Personally, I think that regardless of what your daughter will grow up to be -- girly or tomboy or in-between -- she will look back and appreciate the love and care her mother took in designing her room.
I myself was never a girly-girl, and yet when I look back at the Princess cake my mother made for my birthday or the pastel outfits in which she dressed me, I never think, "How could she?" I am always deeply touched by how much she loved me and cared for me. I think your daughter will be too! :-)
Well said Mrs Wj
Love Love Love!! I also agree with Mrs W .. I think you did a wonderful job looks amazing!!
Perfect for a Princess Nursery! Love it... lots of good finds too!
Super Sweet, perfect for a baby girl! I love it!
Agree ;)
I think it is beautiful, you little one is clearly loved. Amazing job.
Looks like a winner to me! Lots of time & effort obviously went into this darling room for a very-loved little girl. The color palette is not overly pink...the walls are green! And what an amazing feat to do all of this on such a small budget. Bravo!
Very sweet. The ceiling seems very Louis X!V to me. Great job!
I love what you've done here, Dawn and I'm so truly impressed by your thrifty remakes and sewing abilities. The furniture is especially fabulous. I've never been a fan of pastels but I really admire how you've combined these colors, tones and prints. I would have been too fearful to take on this color palette but you've really pulled it off beautifully.
I think that you're going to have so much fun in this charming room with your daughter. (Tea, Mr Bear?)
so sweet, perfect for a nursery!
Darling room, perfect for a baby girl, I like everything going on here!
I am trying to "favorite" this... and I keep getting unexpected error, but this room has my vote!
Great job, and I love how thrifty you were! Not overly pink, the green walls anchor the room nicely. Thus is a princess's dream! Well done!
oooohm... know the saying: sometimes more is less?? these colors/patters/textures are not even matching.. so according to your opinion what is the definition of `overly pink` if not this?
Whose to say what is "overly pink"? This room is very pink, and too pink for me, but I wouldn't go as far to say it's "overly pink".


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Grammy-nominated rapper Lupe Fiasco was ushered off the stage at a pre-inauguration party he was headlining Sunday night.
Happy red cup leads to happy new Miss America
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Miss New York Kira Kazantsev won the Miss America pageant Sunday night, with the help of a red plastic cup. Full Story
Police seek huge boa on loose in Nampa
NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — Police in Nampa say they're on the lookout for a 9-foot Columbian boa constrictor named Trinity. Full Story
(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Three Lions Entertainment)
Nicki Minaj says old high school doesn't want her back
"Anaconda" rapper denied a chance to talk to students at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.


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The Kills are an indie rock band formed by American singer Alison Mosshart ("VV") and British guitarist Jamie Hince ("Hotel"). Their first three albums, Keep On Your Mean Side, No Wow, and Midnight Boom, have garnered much critical praise. Blood Pressures, their fourth and most recent studio album, was released on April 4, 2011, worldwide and April 5, 2011, in the United States.
The Kills
The Kills - Interview with Nick Grimshaw
Late night new music and lols.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors and is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. If you find the biography content factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. Find out more about our use of this data.
Links & Information
- Official homepage at hostess.co.jp/thekills and thekills.tv
- Youtube at youtube.com/user/thekillsofficial
- Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheKills
- MySpace at https://myspace.com/thekills
- Wikipedia article on The Kills
- IMDb at imdb.com/name/nm2052772
- Last.fm page on The Kills
- Discogs at discogs.com/artist/202601
- MusicBrainz entry on The Kills
Links & information come from MusicBrainz. You can add or edit information about The Kills at musicbrainz.org. Find out more about our use of this data. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
BBC Reviews
Blood Pressures 2011Reviewed by Lou Thomas
At its best, album four matches the duo's darkly seductive early material.
Midnight Boom 2008Reviewed by Susie Goldring
Midnight Boom will please any skinny jean, leather-jacket wearing indie rocker.
No Wow 2005Reviewed by Chris Long
No Wow is a solid, stripped back, raw boned piece of garage blues-rock.


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AWEI ES-900i Headset Earphones Speakers with Mic for Smart Phone - Black
"Ok, this is my first review and I'm going to try to make this as simple as possible and keep it short. About a week ago, I received this pair of headphones. I've read some extremely good feedback on other sites and I though, why not? I managed to get a pair online that were on sale (0.7 dollars cheaper, how good is that?!). I received them last week, so I've been able..." --banjoanton
Ultimate Ears 200vi Noise-Isolating Headset, Grey
"Introduction - I found these at Wal-Mart (surprisingly), and they were selling for 20 bucks, so i could not turn them down. Design & Build - The design of these earphones are a bit plain. The earpieces have this two-tone, color of matte black and gloss gray. The cable feels very soft and pretty thick. It is not overly thick, and it does not feel cheap to me. The ear tip design is..." --zach8278
Awei K80
" What can I say about these? I saw a lot of people going for the Awei branded items on eBay, so I got one myself. They were surprisingly good and surprisingly bad at the same time. I will explain. Pros Housing build - For $2, an aluminum housing is quite exceptional. Accessories - While the Awei K80 only comes with one pair of tips, they are surprisingly pretty high quality. Somewhat..." --pro1137
AWEI ES800M In-Ear Hi-Fi Headphone
Gold plated plug; Wired control microphone; Aluminum ear pads won't heat even after long time working; Supports iPhone and tablet PC Brand AWEI Model ES800M Sound Excellent Hi-Fi sound Earphone Type Wired headset Sensitivity 116+/-3dB(1000Hz, 0.5Vrms) Impedance 16 ohms Frequency Response 18Hz-20000Hz Driver Diameter 11 mm Connector 3.5 mm audio jack Cable Length 1.5 m Compatibility iPhone...
Ultimate Ears 985-000359 Logitech 350vm Noise Isolating Headset - Grey
Ultimate Ears 350vm Noise-Isolating Earphones, Grey


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Zack Cozart went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI as the Reds topped the Cubs 8-2 on Sunday.
Dallas Keuchel has been shut down for the season.
Yankees activated RHP Masahiro Tanaka from the 60-day disabled list.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday that Angel Pagan (back) is "questionable" to play in the upcoming series versus the Dodgers.
Nick Markakis (shoulder) remained out of the lineup Sunday.
Tyson Ross will miss another start after feeling continued soreness in his lower forearm while playing catch Friday.
Carlos Beltran (elbow) might not play again this season.
Jason Heyward (thumb) remained out of the Braves' lineup Sunday.
John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that Joey Votto's (quad) return this season is looking "doubtful."
Jimmy Rollins (hamstring) has been ruled out through the weekend.
Mike Trout had a productive night at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a walk, a triple, a two-run home run, and three runs scored in Saturday's win against the Rangers.
Adam Jones went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI on Saturday.


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Orioles center fielder Adam Jones would love to be part of the Home Run Derby on July 9 in Kansas City, the day beforeMajor League Baseball'sAll-Star Game.
But even if he is selected by the American League captain, New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, Jones almost certainly will not participate in the annual show of clout.
"With the competitive nature of me, of course I'd want to do the derby, but I don't think the Orioles are gonna allow me to do it," said Jones who has not taken batting practice for most of the last two weeks due to lingering soreness in his left and right wrists. "I wouldn't' think they would. My hands need the extra day and a half to rest."
The All-Star rosters will be announced Sunday and Jones, who entered Saturday's game hitting .297 with club highs in homers (19) and RBIs (41), is considered likely to be selected (along with Orioles' closer Jim Johnson ) for the second time in his career.
Next week, Cano will extend the derby invitations and Jones, who was tied for seventh in the AL in homers heading into Saturday, would be a natural candidate.
"But I need to limit my swings as much as possible, especially over the break. That's important right now," said Jones, who said he would ask permission from the club and manager Buck Showalter before he accepted a derby invite. "I think they would say, 'What do you want to do? Would you want to do it?' They'll leave it in my hands. But I think the smart and responsible decision is to say no."
So would he absolutely do the smart and responsible thing?
"I don't know. I haven't been asked yet," he said, laughing. "If the opportunity arises, I definitely would need to talk to [Showalter] about it."
Jones has played through the wrist discomfort — a previous MRI showed no damage, just swelling — most of the season, and he would do the same if he gets an All-Star nod.
"I'd get as much rest as I could and just take the necessary swings if I am so fortunate to be in the game," Jones said.
Jones said he has been in two previous home run derbies, one in high school and one right after he was drafted in 2003. He won both, and actually broke a stadium light fixture in 2003 — which officials jokingly told him would come out of his signing bonus.
Wieters and the Warehouse
Catcher Matt Wieters turned on a Derek Lowe pitch and drove it into the night Friday — the ball traveling nearly 400 feet before landing on Eutaw Street. He didn't come close to hitting the B&O Warehouse, and Wieters doesn't know if anyone ever will.
The only player ever to hit the warehouse on the fly in a competition was Ken Griffey, Jr., and he did it during the Home Run Derby the day before the 1993 All-Star Game. Doing it in a game is a whole different challenge.
"I'm not going to say never,'' Wieters said, "but you're going to have to see some helping wind and it's going to be a ball that is going to be absolutely crushed. A lot of things would have to go right.
"The only place you really have a shot is probably the 10 or 15 feet inside the foul pole. Anywhere else and it's going to take a 500-foot shot. It would be impressive."
Showalter said he expects that it will happen one day.
"Yeah, these guys amaze me every day with the things they do, things that we take as everyday occurrences that years ago were like unbelievable," Showalter said. "It wouldn't surprise me. I hope it is not (by the opposition)."
Flaherty starts again, this time at third
A day after allowing an easy fly ball to drop in right field on Friday, rookie Ryan Flaherty was back in the starting lineup Saturday, this time playing third base. A natural shortstop, Flaherty has been moved all around the diamond, including the outfield.


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2012 Detroit Auto Show, Day One
Just in case you missed any of our day one coverage of the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, here it is — all zipped up into one big post for your pleasure. »
Just in case you missed any of our day one coverage of the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, here it is — all zipped up into one big post for your pleasure. »
It's noon here in Detroit and we're taking a 15-minute breather. While we catch our breath, enjoy our full 2012 Detroit Auto Show coverage — every reveal and lifted skirt — below. »
[Beams of light from the Tribute in Lights reach into the sky above lower Manhattan. Image by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images News] »
Los Angeles has been, collectively, freaking out for weeks now about the two-day closure of a long stretch of the 405 (one of the city's major highways) and now, finally, that day is upon us. And it's not really that big of a deal. »
What is it about bicycle lanes that turns people into shouty braindead panic robots? Case in point: This news report casts bike lanes as literally a terrorist threat. »
Uh oh! God is mad about Casey Anthony. So mad he sent an enormous, end-times style haboob, or dust storm, to sweep across Phoenix. (Just kidding! There is no God, only the aimless movement of sand across the desert waste.) And the fellow who filmed this video seems to have realized that the best way to confront the… »
Despite news gas prices are slipping for the weekend, your wallet's still probably feeling the hurt of your last fill-up. Don't panic! Use this comprehensive guide to help cut the cash you're sending to big oil. »
We've spent so much time talking about hatred on public transportation today, let's take a moment to consider the things that we love about it, okay? Here are a couple of cute subway-related videos that will make you go, "Awww." »
Bookmark this page for the ultimate 24 Hours of Le Mans online experience.
A race of a lifetime!— AP »
Jowly asshole Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, is a security-obsessed paranoiac who spies on his employees, installed blast-resistant plexiglass in his office windows, carries a concealed weapon, and travels with a full-time retinue of bodyguards. All of which may help explain why the cops were called to his New… »
This is the Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important? »
Welcome to 60-0, our end-of-day roundup post you can find every weekday at 5:00 PM-ish. It'll lasso up all the fast-moving auto stories from around the Internets and drag 'em to a screeching halt right here in one easy-to-find post. Never mind those other car sites — we've got everything you need right here. »


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Chronic hepatitis C infection may be accompanied by a variety of extrahepatic manifestations. Review the possibilities with one of our liver experts, Sanjiv Chopra, MD.
Tests to Predict Severity in Acute Pancreatitis What test do you use to predict acute pancreatitis? Norton Greenberger, MD, reviews a study of urinary TAP in The Lancet.
Ask The Experts Is virtual colonoscopy ready for widespread use? Read Jonathan B. Kruskal's answer. After you read the answer, feel free to submit your own question for expert consideration.
Fellow's Corner


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Stillwater Long Term Vacation Rentals(10)
10 Results
Recent Stillwater Reviews
Cozy, beautifully detailed, comfortable cottage
I stayed for 6 nights and totally enjoyed the peaceful environment, and the gorgeous cottage detail. Every space has been beautifully prepared with just about anything you might need. A pleasant walk from downtown Stillwater, and easy accessible to other attractions of the area. The owners are very warm and welcoming. Perfect for a couple getaway or a private retreat.
Better than expected
My family spent a week at this rental home in July 2007. It was the best home rental we have rented yet. We have a 2 year old and a 5 year old. Both boys loved the swing set and sand box. The home had additional fun stuff that wasn't mentioned. There were games, books and movies. The basement had a foos ball table, 2 stand up arcade games along with many other toys. While this is a rural location it was only about a 10-15 minute drive to downtown Stillwater. The rural location made for lots of wildlife. The owners had several bird feeders and a big block of food that the deer would come and eat off every morning. We saw many different kinds of birds. Cardinals, Oreal's, Canarys, Finches and many others I have never seen. We also saw 3 families of wild turkeys that would wander through the property each afternoon. There were also many fruit trees that had lots of ripening fruit. Basically, I did not feel like I was staying in a rental home but more like a home that was clean, well stocked and well cared for. Thanks for listing this home for rent. Next time I come to Minnesota I will definitely be wanting to stay again.


text: To Write Love on Her Arms Bracelets Tillys.com.To Write Love on Her Arms Background:Mission: To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.The Beginning: To Write Love on Her Arms was an attempt to tell a story and a way to help a friend in the spring of 2006. The story and the life it represented shed light on the reality of contrast – pain and suffering, addiction and sobriety, regret and the possibility of freedom. The story's title, "To Write Love on Her Arms," was also a goal – believing that a better life was possible. We started selling t-shirts as a way to pay for our friend's treatment, and we made a MySpace page to give the story a home.In the days that followed, we learned quickly that the story we were telling represented people everywhere. We heard from people searching for help, who had lost those they love to addiction and suicide, and from others asking what they could do to bring hope to their communities. It seemed wehad stumbled into a bigger story, a conversation that needed to be had. We've learned that these are not American issues, not White issues or "emo" issues. These are issues of humanity, problems of pain that affect millions of people around the world. We are honored to still be a part of this story of hope, of inviting people into this conversation, and being a bridge to healing.We at TWLOHA believe that rescue is possible and are committed to communicating hope to others who know the daily struggle of living in a broken world.The above information is from the To Write Love on Her Arms website.


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Universal Fit
Final Audio Design FI-BA-SS
"We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They cursed us. Murderer they called us. They cursed us, and drove us away. And we wept, Precious, we wept to be so alone. And we only wish to catch fish so juicy sweet. And we forgot the taste of bread... the sound of trees... the softness of the wind. We even forgot our own name. My Precious. " --tomscy2000
Final Audio Design Heaven IV
" Specs, Housing - Stainless Steel Driver - Custom-made Balanced Armature S.P.L - 112 dB Impedance - 16 ohms Cable Length - 1.2m Weight - 16g Accessories, 6 Sets of Tips Steel Carrying Case Build Quality / Fit The FAD Heaven IV like the e-Q5 is very well built imo with the stainless steel housing that looks really nice...." --Techno Kid
Final Audio Design Adagio V
" Hi Guys, this is my second review on a new earphone, just in time that my friend is looking for a good earphone, I was recommend him to look for this Final Audio Design brand. He loves detail, clarity type of earphone, and mostly enjoys vocal, acoustic music type. And hey!! He picked a final audio adagio V!! I didn't expect this will happen, but well, i got his..." --SpringBiscuit
Final Audio Design Adagio III
"I've used several earphones by several companies and at price points ranging from $50-$400 but I use these while commuting by train in Tokyo. I bought mine in Japan for ¥4500 or about $50 retail after listening to them after having read in Hi-Fi + magazine. I tried various earphones at the store but failed to find a pair that surpassed them at the price point. I prefer a crisp..." --gdbk
Final Audio Design Piano Forte X-CC
Experience the distinctive and vivid sound quality of horn loudspeakers with the Piano Forte X-VIII Series Piano Forte Series delivers a truly immersive sound experience akin to sitting in a finely-tuned concert hall. Every component has been designed with precision in a meticulous effort to integrate the core design of our Opus Speaker Series into a premium earphone. A distinct feature of the...
Final Audio Design FI-BA-SB
Type: Balance Amateur Sensitivity: 112dB Resistance:16 ohm Length of Soft Cord:1.4m Weight: 23g
The T2 represents a completely fresh approach to dual driver in-ear monitor design with a complete ground-up redesign. The all-new dual driver design and custom crossover bring improved range, clarity and accuracy to the T2 giving you an in-ear monitor with power and breadth that are ideal for the live environment whilst keeping your sound accurate enough for mix monitoring and intricate vocal...
Final Audio Design Piano Forte IX
In FAD-speak: "Piano Forte IX archived to produce space expression which bring atmosphere of live hall and a sense of reality of concert hall which is difficult to be produced by conventional earphones. Piano Forte Ⅸ has a stainless body with a mirror-polished finish. Its classy look mirrors a high-precision sound that retains the trueness of the recorded source."
Final Audio Design Heaven S
Taking balance armature design earphones to another level of perfomance. Balance armature earphone design usually comes down to a choice no audio lover should have to make : whether to sacrifice deep bass for increased sound quality throughout the listening range. The reason is multiple driver earphones often sound uneven and lack sonic clarity, while single armature driver earphones...


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International Education Main Menu
Ireland : Economy and Culture
Experience rural and urban Ireland and Wales. Much of the trip will be spent outdoors learning about the culture, history and tourism economy of Ireland and Wales. Planned destinations include the Burren, Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, the Aran Islands, Galway, Dublin, Caernarfon Castle, Llandudno, Great Orme, Llangollen Canal, and Chester; castles, churches, ring forts, a silver mine, copper mine, tower house, bird of prey sanctuary, the city walls of Chester, Snowdonia National Park, museums, a play, and the odd distillery. Transportation is likely to include buses, trains, ferries, bicycles, horses, historic narrow gauge railways, cable cars, and a canal boat. We expect to stay along the Liffey River, overlooking the harbor in Kilronan, inside the ancient city walls of Caernarfon, and in a farm cottage with a peat fire in Connemara.
Courses Available
SABR 2960 Study Abroad (Area B2)
ECON 1101 Survey of Economics (Area E3,4)
ECON 4450 Comparative Economics
Dates: May 26- June 11, 2013
Cost: $3195 plus tuition
Contact: Dr. Richard McGrath
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: 344.2626
Office: Hawes


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Launched: Fuji X20 stock status page
Weekends are a great time to catch up with infrastructure type of work and the backlog! Here is something new, we just launched the Fuji X20 stock status page which you can also find on the front page of the Stock Status mini-site. There is a February 28 estimate from B&H Photo, that's the only specific date so far.
As usual, your purchases and pre-orders through these affiliate links are the most effective way to help support this blog. We are almost entirely reader-funded using various affiliate programs, so you, the readers, decide whether these blogs live or die!
We have also Javascript-embedded the stock status page right below for your stockstatustainment...


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Weight Loss Center Details
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Fort Smith, AR 72903
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