text:
- Lior Zoref
- Ramat Gan
- Israel
Crowdsourcing advocate, @liorz
This conversation is closed.
Do you use crowd wisdom to think? Be part of creating the first ever crowd sourced TED talk
I'm about to speak at TED 2012 and present the first ever crowd-sourced TED talk :-)
I'm inviting you to be part of this process and create together my presentation.
Before asking for your help, here's my main idea:
Wisdom of Crowds theory exists for many years. The theory states that the collective wisdom of big crowds is smarter than experts as we solve problems or make decisions.
Until recently, the use of the wisdom of crowds was possible primarily for organizations that have invested resources in developing technological solutions that transformed crowd wisdom into products such as Wikipedia.
This means that anyone with enough social network friends can ask questions that will require them to think. The collective wisdom from all the answers is probably the smartest thing to do.
There are already a few people who are using this method. By doing so, they upgrade their ability to think and make decisions significantly.
That's it…
I'm creating my TED talk using crowd wisdom, your wisdom. It will be the first ever crowd sourced TED talk.
I hope that you'll join me in this journey and take part of this process.
I'm looking for exceptional individuals (not organizations) who are using their own social network profile in order to get crowd wisdom in a way that improves their personal or professional lives significantly.
I'll share their stories in my TED talk :-)
Here are a few areas of interest – musicians, educators, designers, spiritual leaders, marketing experts, people looking for relationships etc.
In addition, if you have interesting stories or ideas that might add value to this topic, I'll be happy if you share them with me.
You can join my journey and get more information at my blog http://liorz.co.il/blog
Looking forward to read your insights.
Thank you.
Closing Statement from Lior Zoref
Thank you for the amazing insights and feedback.
You can read the text of my talk here - http://www.ted.com/conversations/8326/the_first_ever_crowd_sourced_t.html
Thank you so much.
Nov 30 2011: Hello Lior,
I love your idea and I can't wait to see the result.
I believe the Open Translation Project (https://www.ted.com/OpenTranslationProject) is very close to what you describe (if I understand it correctly). We have this huge network of volunteer translators from around the world and we all contribute and collaborate to improve the quality of the subtitles and help spread TED ideas even further.
Lior Zoref
Nov 30 2011: Hi Dimitra,
- +2
Yes and No. Yes because it's a perfect example of crowdsourcing to deal with the very difficult challnge of translations. And no because I'm looking for examples where it's being practiced for personal use. This means that regular people are using their own profile on social networks to think with others and gain crowd wisdom in the personal or professional life.
Besides that, the open translation project is amazing. Keep on doing the good work!
LiorDec 3 2011: Education should be a 3 way system
Student - Teacher - Market expert
Simple logica tells me that many teachers never visit a business or company so they just only chew the letters in the books so the students eat them easy.! It should be able to sign up for teaching when a company can affort to work with 1 employee less for a certain time. Or someone who is goin to retire or maybe even have a depression. This can be good therapy too i think. Students should get more access to to knowledge and be able to discuss around the table with the teacher and market expert.
If companies decide to make time for employees to help out with teaching they should get credits that can be used for advertising job vacancies : for example students who pass get tour and/or additional information.
It's important that the reward is unfair high so the market will wake up and challenge. May the best win! Students who can't find a job can join too! People who got sick can join too! There should be a "flying army" of people around every class/school. Meshed up international perhaps or set up non-profit projects in holidays/weekends. To reach the people who would never go to study.
Schools with high scores help the schools who do less good. This should be monitored and controlled and documented here is the science behind teaching. An army of students of any sector that can help joins. And will go step by step class by class school by school. The more work u do the less u pay for ur education, if pay more u can contact anyone who then will be rewarded. like this even the worst students are important, and they will get boosted.
Get people to hunt just like in nature, addept to new situations, travel, explore, communicate, work together, protecting, playing, invest, harvest, observe, hunt to find weakness, love to find the good. All connected to the three elements given earlier : Student : Teacher : Market expert.
The system should work like tax but then the tax are working hours.
Dec 5 2011: market expert is profit driven, but it has nothing to do with, for example happiness, that makes life worth living.. why not teacher - student - philosopher or - shrink?Dec 2 2011: I work in the development aid sector and am currently based in Kampala, Uganda, as a young post-grad originally from Montreal, Canada.
Crowdsourcing as a concept is the wave of the future in development work. ICT4D, or Information and Communication Technologies for Development, is already taking off in Africa. Developers have already produced applications that enable cheap, Java-based mobile phone users in major cities to upload and share current gas prices, for example, farmers to share health concerns and agricultural yields to better inform policy both from a governmental and NGO perspective, and the organisation I'm based at, the Uganda Red Cross, is designing a mobile phone survey with our donors to improve the incentive structure underpinning blood colleciton. These are just some of the solutions that are taking off, very much made possible by the exponential rise of mobile phone technology and the expanded reach it has provided.
Most development workers will tell you that one of the problems with development organisations in the South is fragmentation; there are way too many organisations performing similar functions, with limited information sharing and collaboration between them, one of the reasons why such projects are slow to begin, difficult to implement, and often unsustainable over the long-term. For this reason, I wonder whether the wisdom of crowds theory is relevant not only in social networks, but also as an ideal to pursue within the professional sphere. Even going part of the way sometimes makes a huge impact. My home-based NGO, Pepal, for example, brings together the corporate sector, domestic NGOs, and academic participants to work on development projects together. As such, there is a huge skillset transfer as the partnerships flourish, and as the project takes off each actor gains input all the way down to their teams. The end result is a more refined project with the power of multiple actors.
Good luck with the presentation!
Pam Drake
Dec 1 2011: On the one hand: In the world of genealogical/family history research, we've been helping one another even before the interweb. Absolutely massive amounts of data from research, transcribed records, and contributed history-from individuals who have walked through their local graveyard and taken pictures of gravestones, transcribed old docmts, or participated in indexing the ENTIRE US Census -- all donating their time to collect and share millions of records, through free sources like Rootsweb, Findagrave and the USGenWeb projects. There's even a site for Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, where a person can ask someone across the country to look something up for them that they can't access locally. In return, the "pass it forward" rule applies. Why? Because we are all related, if you just go back far enough. (Why? My study results from 2000, psych.fullerton.edu/genealogy/ )
- +1
On the other hand, this new world of communication works very well for those who have adopted it and have been able to figure out how to maneuver in it. Not to be a buzz-kill, but I wonder about those of us who've fallen behind.
My parents don't use any social media. Their network of friends is huge, based on years of face to face contact, letters, phone, emails. They use a "Google" search to look things up, and I doubt they've ever looked up a blog. I don't worry about them much, because they have the "old fashioned" network folks to rely on.
What I worry about are slow adopters like myself, who are nervous about the loss of privacy, about the need for acceptance in a 140 character or less world. I worry that those of us who aren't smack in the middle of the crowd are being marginalized. If a person can't get a job interview because they don't have a presence online or don't have enough followers, does that mean their contributions are less worthy? Or on the purely statistical question - when do those of us who are outside the middle 2 standard deviations get a say? Crowd? A Little Scary
Dec 1 2011: Hi Pam,
I totally agree with you. My parents use the web in a similar way to your parents.
As for people our age (I'm 41), in the next few years we'll find the people who are using social networks to think with their friend, will be able to succeed much easier in life. It doesn't mean that others will not succeed but technology will give people more power. My insight is that social networks will evolve from a place for sharing into a place for thinking. Maybe then, more people will jump in.Dec 1 2011: very cool!Nov 30 2011: Honestly... I think you miss two major obstacles... One being that when you crowd source, you create an authoritarian figure. It's just like the basic nature of socialism, in the sense that, all wealth should be distributed among the workers, sounds like a decent idea. Someone has to count the productivity, and distribute the wealth, and that person always seems to live in a nice house. So my biggest question in relation to that obstacle, is who decided what argument took hold in the crowd sorce? Does someone get to say "ya, 20% of people just love that dumb idea, but if we included it, the model would collapse, so we can't use it" Or, even worse, to we include pieces of even the worst ideas if they have a consisten support base?
Also, much like with crowd sourcing the news... now there is no such thing as news. Ted, is way closer to news than most media organizations. There's a billion percievers, but no reporters. No one who has experience watching polliticians and corporate giants lie. No one with the legal rights, and lawyers backing them up, to investigate major fraud and abuse. People can watch things, reporters investigate things. We may overcome this over time... but it's a tough road.
Dec 1 2011: Hi David,
When practicing crowd wisdom, one should try to find out the collective wisdom from the crowd. Usually this comes when looking for the most common answers.
When looking for creative idea, it's completely subjective but most of the time it's an objective process. At least this is how I leverage crowd wisdom.
Dec 1 2011: I think there is a large future, in crowdsourcing, I just think it is limited constantly by it's presenter, in this case you. You will try to represent the conversation in this crowd sourced TED talk, in an unbiased way, showing a collaboration of wisdom from the crowd... but, in being the person who is doing so, you are selecting which portions of the wisdom of the crowd enter the final presentation.
So, ultimately the crowd has little control over how you choose to present the information obtained from it... And thus this will still, in essence, be your own personal TED talk. Having used your own bias and personal perspective to filter the results, whether intentionally, or unintentionally, you have created yourself as an entity that speaks for the crowds wisdom, and that is a responsibillity that one cannot enter into lightly. That's not to say that power of that kind cannot be wielded with integrity, it's just to say that maintaining that integrity will be difficult given that as a unique human being, you have a unique reaction to each piece of the discussion.
It's something to guard against. And, crowdsourcing the news is just stupid : p. I know, most people disagree, but I'm a fan of developing investigative skills before you become a CNN investigative reporter... Call me old fashioned.
Dec 3 2011: Every decision we make is subjective to our own thoughts.
When using crowd wisdom, this doesn't change. The decision is still subjective and based on the person who is managing the process. The big change is in the quality of wisdom that is taking place when considering the options.
So you are right, I am biased and I will ultimately choose the ideas I think are best, but using this process I will probably have the best ideas I can possibly get to choose from.
LiorDec 5 2011: to break a leg, is it a good or a bad thing? it depends....... you can miss the dancing, but jou can avoid beeing called upon duty to srrve ina war......is it a good or bad thing ....it depends and so on. every topic can be explored from multiple sides and croud can help to reveal them all. what it is like to be a human.
Colin Ly
Nov 30 2011: how interesting, i feel this will catch on
- +1
Dec 3 2011: Thanks :)Nov 30 2011: I posted this to your Facebook, please excuse the repeat. So you know, currently I am a lecturer at CSULA and still have my side hobby of moderating the U2.com online community that I started doing as a graduate student.
I use twitter, Facebook and also message boards, primarily the ones from U2.com of which I am the head moderator. We have thousands of members, and your comments about crow sourcing and using crowd wisdom are very familiar to me. For the last 10 years, I have seen the U2 fan community use this type of "wisdom". From personal problems, to financial to ad hoc support groups due to death, or disease.
When Facebook facilitated the social networking aspect of these relationships, the connections became stronger. Some of these relationships have resulted in marriages,babies, and in some instances have allowed people to become stronger mentally and even get out of bad situations.
This crowd of U2 fans is used by everyone in the group to bounce off ideas, and as you state it to improve their personal and professional lives. The group is quite large, several thousand, with a core group of about 1000 and geographically they are all over the world. We meet every year or so when u2 is not on tour, and at specific dates when they are.
IF you are interested in learning more about this group or my experience with interacting with this group, or the U2 fan community overall (much much larger) or the smaller uberfan community just drop me a note. Heck, once we even helped find the runaway teenage daughter of one of the community members, she was from the south, and using contacts, she was found in NYC."
Nov 30 2011: Hi Claudia,
This is so cool...
I'd love to hear more. I've sent you an email.
One last thing, besides my dream to speak at TED, I have a dream to see U2 concert :-)
Nov 30 2011: Hahaha, ill see what I can do about helping you out.
kal busman
Nov 30 2011: i am the lead pastor of a church and we employed your 'crowd sourced' method for 9 weeks within the context of worship in delivering the primary teaching message for around 350 in attendance. in the religious world we refer to this as 'communal orthodoxy' and it serves the purpose of combining the wisdom, insight, and experience of all those in attendance. this method is set opposite from what we've labeled "speaching"( speaking + preaching), or trying to convey truth in an entertaining way.
- +1
we found two surprising results in our use of this.
one, younger people gravitated to the front thru our 9 weeks of experimenting with this. that says to me this is the future...or ancient past if we know our history, of teaching. two, the process of using communal orthodoxy to teach is equally if not more important than the end result.
and a final bonus. it's difficult to weave all of the input into a coherent thread but it's so much fun.
Comment deleted
Nov 30 2011: we didn't use this method in the prayer part of the service. we used it in the actual forming of the truth from the teaching passage.
~//~Nov 30 2011: Kal, this is very interesting and creative!
I'd like to further learn about your experience and maybe integrate this story in my TED talk.
Can you please send me an email?
Thank you so much.
Nov 30 2011: i tried to send you an email with an enhanced version of what we did and it wouldn't send. my email address is firstname.lastname@example.com if you want to know more.
~//~Nov 30 2011: As an educator I am frequently confronted with the struggling of American students with any project that looks like a group project. Students hate group projects and are taught to hate them from the manner in which we assess progress in our school system. We all know the drill: each group gets one control freak who takes over, one grind who dos the bulk of the real work (and they are not always the same person), two or three people who do what they are told, no more and no less, and at least one tailcoat rider who coasts.
This crowdsourced TED talk is the ultimate group project. As life itself is a group project, what do we need to do to promote people's willingness to participate in and profit from group projects? (Even mentioning profit brings to mind the idea that w crowd does something wonderful and then some one takes the product and makes money from it - think Huffington Post)
I think all of our current issues are found in the tensions that lie between the edges of the crowds, the tensions between the fringe groups, so how do we get the middle groups, the "I'll do the work but I better get a good grade" people to buy in to the ideas?
How do we develop an educational system which fosters cooperation while rewarding innovation? How do we adequately reward the crowd? The collective wisdom is the end result, how do we reward the process?
Life is a group project. How do we get at its benefits without sacrificing individualism?
Nov 30 2011: Hi Sharon,
Thank you for your insights and questions. How do we reward the process? I think that's it's all about relationships. If we build strong relationship with others, they will get inspired by being part of this process.
Do you want to give your students a group project about crowd wisdom that might be integrated in my talk?
If you have ideas, let me know.
Life indeed is a group project...
LiorNov 30 2011: Hi Sharon and Lior,
You ask..."how do we reward the process?"
I ask..."what if people believe that the process IS the reward"?
I percieve life to be an adventurous exploration, so every moment of the process offers its own rewards and opportunities.
People are looking for something (rewards) that are right in front of our noses in each and every moment.
How do we do this? Be mindfully aware in the moment and stop searching outside our "self" for the rewards:>)
"Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination"
(Roy M. Goodman)
Nov 30 2011: Hi Coleen,
I couldn't have said it better!
Thank you so muchNov 30 2011: I couldn't agree more Colleen, but that is not what we are taught here. It is not the perspective from which students approach most learning processes. I despair some days of their utter focus on getting the grade. I cannot even get them to focus on learning for learnings' sake let alone taking it beyond the minimum demanded. (OF course there are ALWAYS exceptions and wonderful students who are a joy to teach.) More of my students now are working 30+ hours per week while attending college full time than any semester previously. Many are so focused on finishing they are not rpesent at school or at work. So that becomes part of my question: How do we begin the process of refiguring a group consciousness that values the journey anough to do group projects?
Nov 30 2011: Time to start teaching, learning and applying it huh? As I understand it, we are "doing" and "being" right here and now...are we not? We ARE the "crowd", and we are sharing our wisdom and creativity here and now. What we focus on expands. Let's start by modeling what we want to see? Be the change we want to see in our world. I like focusing on what we DO have, rather than what we DON"T have. It's good to be aware of both, and focus on the things that are working...like TED for example:>) Then we build on what is working, rather than spending time and energy with what we DON'T yet have. I believe this is the process of creativity that works best because it starts to flow:>)Dec 29 2011: The latest crowd wisdom event is the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. The man who developed this event is from England and is involved in organizing demonstrations. The intent of the demonstration was to protest America's wealthy or as President Obama refered to them as the 1%. However, as the movement spread the resons for the protest became fuzzy. Signs and interviews covered issues like Illegal Aliens, homeless, wars, racial hatered, global warming, police states, socialized medicine, and much more. I found myself organizing a map of the US and plotting the issues geographically. The needs of one area has little relationship to the complaints of another area. The high welfare areas wanted socialized medicine and government housing. The Southwest wanted border control. California complained of a police state. Detriot stated racial bias. The media has the ability to show the issues they would like to highlight. However, the interviews revealed the local organizer had a cause they wanted highlighted. At little surprise to me, the unions entered the protest to support the political agenda against the 1%. Even though the movement was "Master Minded" to a specific agenda it failed in that mission. Using crowds, movements, polls, surveys, and mass media are tools for those who wish to manipulate the public. It is our choice to do the homework prior to adding our support to any cause. Always ask why and play it out to end game in terms of impact, cost, advantages, and disadvantages. Lior, I am being the Devils Advocate, and appreciate input from all sources. I was selected to attend a think tank years ago and it was a experince of a lifetime. Best of luck.
Dec 30 2011: Well, the OWS is not well-organized as a united whole, so parts of it would focus on different issues than the other parts.Dec 30 2011: Hi Robert,
Thank you for your feedback and insights.
I come from Israel. Last summer a huge movement started by the crowd asking for social justice. It was well organized and its impact is big.
I'm not an expert in civil protests and it's an interesting question to see what is the role of crowd wisdom in these events.
LiorDec 28 2011: On Friday, 12/23/2011, a nurse friend was killed. I found out, from another county at a distance, from a post. http://manhattanbeach.patch.com/articles/female-motorcyclist-dies-from-crash-injuries
Then, a news article appeared about her sons' situation (her youngest is disabled, and the older one is in school full time). http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_19617094
Now we are starting fundraising to benefit her sons. I put the word out, and others have passed it on. The idea of using social media came from reading about your project. I'm hoping that it works well.
Dec 29 2011: It's sad to hear. good luckDec 28 2011: Crowd Sourcing Stories with Musical Background http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/12/28/do-your-thoughts-deserve-a-soundtrack-one-hello-world-thinks-so/Dec 28 2011: I don´t think crowd wisdom like a universal true. I'm in the middle of that my own experience and scientific true. Despite, nowadays, there are a lot of liers, a lot of credulous. You must be cautious. It's my guess and I thank your attention.Dec 28 2011: Being the subject of a lynch mob would probally be a bad thing. Agencies that provide polls for industry, politicians, products, X country has talent, dating services all use a collective system of opinions. A major university had attempted to isolate a specfic gene for years and finally put the model on the web and made it a game to find X. In three days a 14 year old boy solved the problem. Even though this was an appeal to crowd wisdom to refine the area of interest a conclusion was reached individually. We are under the impression that we, the people, elect a leader. we only select from the options provided. In effect we choose the lesser of two evils. If crowd wisdom was a reality we would have decision making from the ground up instead as we have it now from the top down. I once asked a man for whom he would support in the coming election. He stated Mr X. I asked why. He is already a millionare and would take less from the people that the other guy who aspired to become a millionare. All crowds have a different perspective and seek different goals. The truth is that most of the people in crowds do not know the facts and just digest what is fed to them. In the US most people believe what their party tells them even when confronted with facts. Many have tired of this party dogma and have become independents. That leads directly to the question do crowds have "wisdom" or just numbers. In the Europe has Talent Show Susan Boyle lost out to a rock band because the public (crowd) voted her into second place. I have since asked many people the name of the band that won. Not a single person could recall. I wrote it down and lost the note and cannot remember myself. However, the world knows Susan Boyle. Wisdom or numbers ......
Dec 29 2011: Well, crowds think more emotionally than logically compared to the individual and the individual thinks more logically than emotionally compared to crowds. Crowds do have power in numbers because that is the only way morals and ideas can spread to a range of people. Crowd wisdom is more of a filtered, focused way of obtaining ideas and can be described as a brain trust in a way. Of course, there can be problems with it, but, as means of obtaining quick, great ideas, crowd wisdom is useful in many ways.
Dec 29 2011: Zared, we it comes to thinking and decision making, emotions are often stronger than rational thinking. I like to term master-mind as an analogy for crowd wisdom.
Dec 30 2011: Yes, emotions are usually stronger then rational thinker because it often has passion in it. This does not mean it is a better idea, just a greater feel towards it.Dec 29 2011: Robert, you make a good point.
Crowds are not only right the same as experts make mistakes.
Thanks for the insight.Dec 23 2011: Great topic, Zoref. I am trying to use crowd wisdom to create a great idea. Join my conversation to find out more about it.
Dec 23 2011: Thanks for sharing this and good luck with this cool project.
Si Xie
Dec 22 2011: Hi Lior,
- 0
I am also amazed by how the collaboration of people, ideas, resource that make the world closer and more intellectual. Maybe you can put something like multicultural environment and people with diverse background may have some unique contribution to others. The interdependent relationship can enrich the content and areas of crowd wisdom. Like different theory or tradition in different culture or countries, etc. From the benefits to individuals, then to the community.
Dec 23 2011: Hi Si,
This is an interesting idea.
I'm asking a question at the beginning of my talk in which everyone can use their smart phones and answer.
Maybe I should add something which relates to your idea.
Thank you!
Si Xie
Dec 23 2011: :) That will be great!
- 0
Dec 24 2011: It has to be a board statement in order to have a large range of people to feel a relation with the statement and themselves.Dec 21 2011: This is an incredible example of crowdsourcing:
Dec 21 2011: Hi Marsella,
Thanks for sharing this web-site. It looks very impressive.
But I am more interested in crowdsourcing for personal use. People who are using social networks to think together with others.
Thank you.
LiorDec 19 2011: This conversation reminds me of two topics that my be helpful. One is a TED talk, Learning from the Barefoot Movement by Bunker Roy:
The other is from a TED conversation I was reading about the topic Corporate Rebels. One person, Lois Kelly had posted an interesting presentation on what makes a corporate rebel. It is a different topic but I thought it did relate since these 'rebels' tend to act based on wanting their company to succeed rather then for self branding.
Both these these topics were about using 'non-leaders' expertise or natural talents to create innovate change. Is it possible to have a crowd wisdom consisting of experts? I don't know if you believe crowd wisdom must incorporate every single voice but it certainly seems that people weed themselves out by being lackadaisical. Meaning, not everyone cares to put the effort in to be apart of a movement or change.
Hope it helps and good luck with your talk. Enjoy!Dec 19 2011: You need to be very careful when talking about the wisdom of crowds. A simple example is America's problem with obesity. A Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index poll found that 63.1% of American adults were either overweight or obese in 2009. If we look to the crowd for wisdom, we would conclude that being overweight or obese was a good thing. Why else would the majority choose to be that way? Who am I to say that being overweight is a bad thing in front of the millions of people that obviously believe otherwise and show it through their very actions!
- How do you know whether the decision of the crowd is wise or stupid?
- What happens when the crowd's choice goes against science (as in evolution)?
- What do you do when a crowd decides that Jews are evil and need to be destroyed?
- Who decides what the crowd can decide on in the first place? Can a crowd say whether or not slavery is wise, or is that simply off the table? But who says it is off the table, an expert I assume.
A crowd is wise only after an expert has decided that the crowd did a wise thing. You ignore all the times when the crowd does the stupid thing at your own peril.
Crowd wisdom appears to me to be another argument for collectivism. I thought Ayn Rand killed that bug a long time ago.
Poll Source:
Dec 19 2011: Hi Mark,
Thank you for your feedback.
You are right, crowds could be wrong, just the same as experts can (and are) sometimes wrong.
But you gave me food for thought.
Thank you,
LiorDec 14 2011: Hi Lior,
I do believe nothing happens by accident.
Before I came into this conversation, i am thinking of posting a question in Facebook, to solicit reactions from social friends. Now I am starting to understand about "crowd wisdom".
For the meantime, i have bookmarked your blog and will share info with you hoping it can help in your talk.
To begin with, let me share to you this...
Proverbs 9:10..."The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
The Bible NIV
God bless you with wisdom.
rey del rosario (aka heavenian)Dec 14 2011: You should definately incorporate Duolingo into your speech or way of thinking... It's basically what I was talking about the other day "crowd work", combined with crowd wisdom. Beautiful.
In case you haven't seen it.
http://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_massive_scale_online_collaboration.htmlDec 10 2011: Hi Lior,
My experience with crowd wisdom is very practical. For years we've used a group collaborative system to generate insights, ideas and strategies that actually get implemented, mostly because of the crowd dynamics that created the ideas in the first place. Bringing together a group in person, the right group, is not much different than what's needed to make online crowd wisdom work well. Some of the comments in this conversation bring up similar points, but here are a few of the basics that we've discovered over thousands of hours facilitating insight, ideation and strategy sessions.
You need some experts, but not too many or they will act as blinders to the crowd, keeping the conversation too narrow or dismissing ideas that are too far out there.
People tend to be linear in their thinking so you have to introduce instigators that break them out of their traditional thinking patterns. Metaphors, pictures, music, creativity exercises get our brains to another place quickly. Once we're there it's much easier to discover new things we would have otherwise missed, or connect dots that would have never made sense until we opened our minds.
Focus is critical to outcomes. Focus doesn't mean preventing exploration. On the contrary, it helps groups to see opportunities more clearly. One of the jobs of a facilitator in a crowd is to take the nuggets, hold them back up to the crowd and say, "hey, look at this. Can this help us get to an answer we can use?"
If you'd like more detailed explanation I have a number of articles on my blog site that can help. You can get the link from my profile if you're interested. I don't want to come across as promoting. From your responses to comments I see that you've already tapped into some of the great books on the subject.
Good luck on your Ted talk. I'm looking forward to it.
Dec 11 2011: Hi Morry,
Thank you so much for your insights.
I'd love to take a look at your blog.
LiorDec 9 2011: Wisdom does not come from crowds, stupidity does... all great wisdom comes from those who can navigate amongst the crowds, amongst everything that is said and done and find the common truth that links us all together. Crowds block self improvement, it hinders one to truly discover reality for what it is, it boxes you in, it makes you follow a certain regime, a certain norm. Those who hear a different drummer are truly those who hold the spark of wisdom. 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...and I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference'. Ideas come from crowds, not wisdom,that comes from self thought, self questioning and only the lone wolf can achieve that.
Dec 10 2011: Dear Tiago,
I recommend that you'll real about Wisdom of Crowds theory here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds
It is true that stupidity can also result from crowds but in many times, crowd wisdom is an amazing outcome of many people thinking together.
LiorDec 9 2011: it doesnt, it was supposed to be an answer to Rhona Pawis, who wrote me: Hey, if you want to look at life from a strictly monetary point of view, go ahead. Perhaps tax incentives for charitable giving mitigates the value of charitable giving to the giver and receiver. but was misplaced. sorry. nobody is perfect, neither can be crowd wisdom. people make mistakes and are not aware about that, To get the message, you find in intrnet, jou shold be smart enaugh. What about those 1 from 100, of human population that are at some level mentaly restricted and can not imagine the the consequences of the proposed unfamiliar actions they are advised to take? for example from campers you learn that when you lite your fireplace instead of kindling wood or standard lighting fluid you can use petrol, that ignites and burns slowly, is mutch cheeper and never goes out of stock .But if in petrol station you get confused and buy gasoline that ignites rapidly and can explode instead, you burn your house down and are happy to stay alive. such things unfortunately make news every winter.Dec 8 2011: The problem is separating crowd wisdom from crowd stupidity..... and each of us decides which is which in solitude.Dec 8 2011: Hi Lior, great idea...crowd wisdom is the start to get closer to "crowd democracy" without borders and nations. Crowd wisdom is a way to unleash the huge humanitarian and intellectual potential that lies below the surface of politics and lobbies interests...for me the great challenge would be to pose the right "questions", "triggers" and choose the right channels to pose these...i will think about it, but first of all great idea!! and good luck
Dec 10 2011: Thanks you so much!Dec 7 2011: the crowd shoud be large enough to contain a couple experts humanists or a person with the same situation, who has recently consulted an expert and wants to share. then it could work.
For example a child with rare desease. crowd wisdom will say - find an expert or i know one or give some aspirin in double dose and see where it goes, i reciently did so! the last advice if you are lucky will only waste time,
Dec 7 2011: I totally agree.
Thanks for the idea.
LiorDec 7 2011: charitable giving is always a trap.Say, You give aid to africa - milk powder, when it is cheep to produce. local goat mikl farmers go bust and eat their livestock. in few years if africans want milk, they have to buy the milk powder from You at your price. .Aafter gaining independence from ussr, we, a small country fell in the same trap. We were flooded with cheap sugar and everything. in 2 years our sugar factories and all the other production went aut of buisnes and were sold for scrap metal. sugar beet farmers sold the farmland to rich europeans for peanuts. after that guess what - the price of the imported sugar and everything has doubled call it managed consumer surplus.now we import most of the food, because our climate is cold and food production on a large scale in the open is not profitable enough, so nobody invests in agriculture any more. people are out of work and emigrate as skilled cheep labour to west europe 10% last ayear. and we export only cheap timber, as we still are one of the greenest countries in europe, but at this deforestation rate it cannot last. We are foced to learn to look at a life from strictly monetary point of view and have an expensive lesson in charity, trust,buisiness and global trade or we can just die. we have no other options, have we?
Dec 7 2011: Hi Artis,
How does this relate to crowd wisdom?...
LiorDec 5 2011: Okay I just stumbled across this on "Storify" which is a way to collect things which others have done on the web and make it into a quick blog story.
Home to twitters 1st comic
Shameless self plug on my "Storifies". I did the Twitter town hall Storify while the town hall was happening and was able to publish it the same miniute it was done. It used 20 different Twitter users with responses from the Mayor Included.
It is my belief that when we all collaborate we change the desire for creating a strict profit driven model for consuming. In a highly controlled market such as education or textbooks the desire to profit reduces the access to the product. However this is highly counter productive to creating a strong educated society. education costs should be low, but by design they are not. Websites like the www.Khanacademy.com are trying to change this. If our governments and educational institutions worked together they could create a library of information for everyone to use at an extremely low cost. Publishers would just have to find something different to publish!
Good luck on the talk!Dec 3 2011: *educatorsDec 3 2011: I use my Facebook page (facebook.com/erinklein), particularly my status updates and notes, to initiate and encourage discourse on a myriad of isseus and ideas that intrigue me. I am a firm believer that perspective is everything and that one cannot see something "clearly" until they have seen it from all possible perspectives. And so, I do what I can by encouraging my network of friends, collegues, and educative to contribute their own perspectives.Dec 3 2011: I understand. Free education is a bit off-topic anyway.
Dec 3 2011: Interestingly enough, as an educator at the elementary school level, I never had a good experience with crowd sourcing. Elementary teachers I have worked with tend to be, oh,I want to say selfish, but I'll use reluctant instead, to share their wisdom with incoming teachers. Very few freely share ideas or lend a helping hand to a fellow educator. I always found it perplexing. .what good is knowledge if you can't share it. Teachers tend to hoard not only things, but ideas also.......I can't explain it. I mean, why let others struggle, when you can help them out. The word wisdom in and of itself implies the ability to use knowledge and understanding successfully to solve problems, avoid or avert dangers, attain certain goals, or counsel others in doing so.
- 0
Yours is a very interesting project Lior, love this thread of conversation.
Here's a quote for you: "None of us is as smart as all of us." (Eric Schmidt)
Hope my contribution though small, helps you in some way.


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Luna Twilight Makeup Bella Palette
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This lovely palette reflects the natural beauty of our heroine, Bella, with a harmonious collection for lips, cheeks and eyes in neutral and soft shades. Palette includes two eye shadows, one powder blush and two moisturizing lip tints.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Walking is generally distinguished from running in that only one foot at a time leaves contact with the ground: for humans and other bipeds running begins when both feet are off the ground with each step. (This distinction has the status of a formal requirement in competitive walking events, resulting in disqualification at the Olympic level.) For horses and other quadrupedal species, the running gaits may be numerous, and walking keeps three feet at a time on the ground.
The average human child achieves independent walking ability around 11 months old.
While not strictly bipedal, several primarily bipedal human gaits (where the long bones of the arms support at most a small fraction of the body's weight) are generally regarded as variants of walking. These include:
Mankind evolved because he was a long distance animal--and walking is at the core of our being.
For humans, walking is the main form of transportation without a vehicle or riding animal. An average walking speed is about 4 to 5 km/h (2 to 3 mph), although this depends heavily on factors such as height, weight, age and terrain. A pedestrian is a person who is walking on a road, sidewalk or path.
Human walking is accomplished with a strategy called the double pendulum. During forward motion, the leg that leaves the ground swings forward from the hip. This sweep is the first pendulum. Then the leg strikes the ground with the heel and rolls through to the toe in a motion described as an inverted pendulum. The motion of the two legs is coordinated so that one foot or the other is always in contact with the ground. The process of walking recovers approximately sixty per cent of the energy used due to pendulum dynamics and ground reaction force.
Walking differs from a running gait in a number of ways. The most obvious is that during walking one leg always stays on the ground while the other is swinging. In running there is typically a ballistic phase where the runner is airborne with both feet in the air (for bipedals).
Another difference concerns the movement of the center of mass of the body. In walking the body 'vaults' over the leg on the ground, raising the center of mass to its highest point as the leg passes the vertical, and dropping it to the lowest as the legs are spread apart. Essentially kinetic energy of forward motion is constantly being traded for a rise in potential energy. This is reversed in running where the center of mass is at its lowest as the leg is vertical. This is because the impact of landing from the ballistic phase is adsorbed by bending the leg and consequently storing energy in muscles and tendons. In running there is a conversion between kinetic, potential, and elastic energy.
There is an absolute limit on an individual's speed of walking (without special techniques such as those employed in speed walking) due to the velocity at which the center of mass rises or falls - if it's greater than the acceleration due to gravity the person will become airborne as they vault over the leg on the ground. Typically however, animals switch to a run at a lower speed than this due to energy efficiencies.
Many people walk as a hobby, and in our post-industrial age it is often enjoyed as one of the best forms of exercise.
Fitness walkers and others may use a pedometer to count their steps. The types of walking include bushwalking, racewalking, weight-walking, hillwalking, volksmarching, Nordic walking and hiking on long-distance paths. Sometimes people prefer to walk indoors using a treadmill. In some countries walking as a hobby is known as hiking (the typical North American term), rambling (a somewhat dated British expression, but remaining in use because it is enshrined in the title of the important Ramblers' Association), or tramping. Hiking is a subtype of walking, generally used to mean walking in nature areas on specially designated routes or trails, as opposed to in urban environments; however, hiking can also refer to any long-distance walk. More obscure terms for walking include "to go by Marrow-bone stage", "to take one's daily constitutional", "to ride Shank's pony", "to ride Shank's mare", or "to go by Walker's bus." Among search and rescue responders, those responders who walk (rather than ride, drive, fly, climb, or sit in a communications trailer) often are known as "ground pounders".
The Walking the Way to Health Initiative is the largest volunteer led walking scheme in the UK. Volunteers are trained to lead free Health Walks from community venues such as libraries and GP surgeries. The scheme has trained over 35,000 volunteers and have over 500 schemes operating across the UK, with thousands of people walking every week.
Professionals working to increase the number of people walking more usually come from 6 sectors: health, transport, environment, schools, sport & recreation and urban design. A new organization called Walk England launched a web site on the 18th June 2008 to provide these professionals with evidence, advice and examples of success stories of how to encourage communities to walk more. The site has a social networking aspect to allow professionals and the public to ask questions, discuss, post news and events and communicate with others in their area about walking ,as well as a 'walk now' option to find out what walks are available in each region.
The world's largest registration walking event is the International Four Days Nijmegen. The annual Labor Day walk on Mackinac Bridge draws over sixty thousand participants. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge walk annually draws over fifty thousand participants. Walks are often organized as charity events with walkers seeking sponsors to raise money for a specific cause. Charity walks range in length from two mile (3 km) or five km walks to as far as fifty miles (eighty km). The MS Challenge Walk is an example of a fifty mile walk which raises money to fight multiple sclerosis. The Oxfam Trailwalker is a one hundred km event.
In Britain, the Ramblers' Association is the biggest organization that looks after the interests of walkers. A registered charity, it has 139 000 members. Regular, brisk cycling or walking can improve confidence, stamina, energy, weight control, life expectancy and reduce stress. It can also reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure, bowel cancer and osteoporosis. Modern scientific studies have showed that walking, besides its physical benefits, is also beneficial for the mind — improving memory skills, learning ability, concentration and abstract reasoning, besides reducing stress and uplifting ones' spirits. Source
In Europe Walk21 launched an 'International Charter for Walking' to help refocus existing policies, activities and relationships to create a culture where people choose to walk.
"Walking is convenient, it needs no special equipment, is self-regulating and inherently safe. Walking is as natural as breathing". John Butcher, Founder Walk21, 1999
There has been a recent focus among urban planners in some communities to create pedestrian-friendly areas and roads, allowing commuting, shopping and recreation to be done on foot. Some communities are at least partially car-free, making them particularly supportive of walking and other modes of transportation. In the United States, the Active Living network is an example of a concerted effort to develop communities more friendly to walking and other physical activities. Walk England is an example of a similar movement.
Walking is also considered to be clear example of sustainable mode of transport, especially suited for urban use and/or relatively shorter distances. Non Motorised Transport modes such as walking, but also cycling, small-wheeled transport (skates, skateboards, push scooters and hand carts) or wheelchair travel are often key elements of successfully encouraging clean urban transport (Source: Non Motorised Transport, Teaching and Learning Material). A large variety of case studies and good practices (from European cities and some world-wide examples) that promote and stimulate walking as a means of transportation in cities can be found at Eltis, Europe's portal for local transport.
However, some studies indicate that walking is more harmful to the environment than car travel. This is because more energy is expended in growing and providing the food necessary to regain the calories burned by walking compared to the energy used in the operation of a car These studies have been criticised for using inefficient food sources (i.e. those that use large amounts of energy to produce) such as milk or meat to skew the results..
On roads with no sidewalks, pedestrians should always walk facing the oncoming traffic for their own and other peoples' safety.
When distances are too great to be convenient, walking can be combined with other modes of transportation, such as cycling, public transport, car sharing, carpooling, hitchhiking, ride sharing, car rentals and taxis. These methods may be more efficient or desirable than private car ownership, being a healthy means of physical exercise.
The development of specific rights of way with appropriate infrastructure can promote increased participation and enjoyment of walking. Examples of types of investment include malls, and foreshoreways such as oceanways and riverwalks.


text:
WholeFoods Magazine SourceBook: The Natural Products Directory
New York—Representatives of Sprouts Farmers Market, headquartered in Phoenix, AZ, recently made the trek to New York City to take part in NASDAQ Fit Week, which promotes NASDAQ-listed companies that are focused on health and healthy lifestyles. This is the fourth year that NASDAQ has held an official Fit Week in the first week of January.
Hoboken, NJ—A recent study published in Panminerva Medica suggests that a pine bark extract supplement may be able to reduce the symptoms, severity, and duration of the common cold.
Golden Valley, MN—Food mega-company General Mills has disbanded two segments of its business, the Small Planet Foods organic division and its frozen foods division, absorbing the brands into other parts of the company.
The natural products industry is host to a treasure trove of creative, intelligent and dedicated individuals that contribute to its success daily. This year, WholeFoods Magazine is starting a tradition of naming a Natural Products Industry Person of the Year, someone we believe has made a tremendous impact on the industry in the previous year.
News and notes from industry suppliers.
Barons Market expands to Alpine and Murrieta, CA.
News from industry food companies.
Acquisitions, mergers, awards, charity, certifications, company news and more.
At the fifth annual coffee-tasting event hosted in New...
Did you know that omega-3 deficiency can be deadlier...
all products


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Office for Education Abroad Staff
Peggy Retka
Director of Education Abroad
I started at OEA in September, 2007. Prior to joining the office, I spent three and a half years at the Center for International Studies at St. Cloud State University, also managing study abroad programs.
I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Business Administration, with a concentration in International Business, from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. I completed my Masters of Science degree in College Counseling and Student Development at SCSU in December 2008.
Travel has been my passion since my first exposure to France when I was 15. Since then, I have traveled extensively throughout France and other areas of Europe; including a 10-month home-stay experience with a French family. I have also visited Australia, India, South Africa and several countries in Asia (briefly!).
Originally from Hastings, Minnesota; I now live in St. Joseph. In my free time I try to take in the many outdoor activities that this area has to offer, read, and explore as much of the US and the world that I can!
At OEA I have two main roles: 1) Advising students about the great international opportunities CSB/SJU offers; 2) Managing the Australia and South Africa programs. Stop by sometime to find out how Study Abroad can fit into your future.
Contact me: 320.363.5962
Joy Ruis
Education Abroad Advisor
I joined the CSB/SJU community and OEA staff in July 2008. Before that time, I worked for the Minnesota Historical Society, Wells Fargo, and then the International Education Center at University of St. Thomas. While I was at University of Saint Thomas, I also received my M.A. in Leadership in Student Affairs.
I also have a Bachelor of Science from University of Wisconsin-River Falls in History with a double minor in Political Science and International Studies. While there, I studied abroad for a semester with the Wisconsin in Scotland program just outside of Edinburgh. Prior to college, I started my love of travel with a high school language program to Germany where I stayed with a host family for a week and then traveled to different areas in Southern Germany.
Growing up in the area, it is great to be close to family and friends. When I am not at work, I like to spend my time with my husband and 2 children. We like to spend a lot of time on the golf course, being on the lake, playing volleyball, or watching the Minnesota Twins baseball games.
Here at OEA, I manage and advise semester programs including: Australia, China, England (Coventry and London, Fall & Spring), India, Galway & Cork-Ireland, Northern Ireland, Japan, and External study abroad programs. Come into our office to see how you can fit study abroad into your time here at CSBSJU.
Contact me: 320.363.5590
Nicole Clements
Education Abroad Advisor
I joined the OEA staff in January of 2011, bringing a variety of experiences with me to the position. Previously I served as an AmeriCorps volunteer, a college admission counselor and academic advisor, a corporate human resources specialist, and the on-site recruiter for a study abroad program in Lithuania.
I received both my bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Minnesota. As an undergraduate I was fortunate to spend an academic year studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain, and as cliché as it sounds, that year changed my life. I gained a passion and appreciation for connecting with new cultures, a love of language learning, and a desire to experience more of the world. And while my career path has been a bit circuitous, I credit my year in Spain with leading me to the role I have today!
I enjoy helping students be successful in college - providing support, guidance, and troubleshooting as they navigate their undergraduate careers. I have a particular passion for helping students incorporate an international experience into their undergraduate career. At CSB/SJU I manage and advise for the following semester programs: Austria, Chile, France, Germany, Greco-Roman/Roman-Greco, Guatemala, South Africa, and Spain. I encourage you to stop by our office to learn more about any of our programs, and to explore how an international experience can work for you!
Contact me: 320.363.5961
Merry Hoppert
Office Coordinator
I joined OEA in November 2007, having previously worked in the St. John's Health Center for the past five years. I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology and accumulated twenty years of experience in that field. So, with my medical background how did I end up working in the Office for Education Abroad?
I give credit to my uncle for sparking my interest in travel to learn about other countries. When I was sixteen years old I traveled to Europe with my uncle who was an art teacher, and a friend. We went to Amsterdam, London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Florence, Geneva, and Berlin. We learned a little bit about everything while we were abroad. We returned home realizing there was so much more to learn.
As a second year student at St. Olaf College, I took a theology course and studied abroad in the Rome program. It was intensive, truly a tremendous learning experience, and a time of spiritual growth.
Several years after finishing my college education I moved to Hawaii, and lived and worked there for twelve years. Many fond memories come to mind as I reflect on Hawaii as a true melting pot of peoples, with their various customs, foods, and history.
I currently live in Sartell with my husband, two children, a cat and a dog. We enjoy camping, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, biking, soccer and basketball.
Contact me: 320.363.5958
Student Employees - Pat, Mike M, Sarah, Kabao,
Kabao Vang, Sociology
On-campus involvement: HAIS and Asia Club
Study Abroad/Travel Experience: I studied abroad in China in Fall 2014
Dream Vacation: My dream vacation would be in Thailand riding on elephants, scuba diving, parachuting, etc.
Sarah Manning
On-campus involvement:
Study Abroad/Travel Experience: gap year in Belgium
Dream Vacation:
OEA is always a busy place and we are on the front line! We greet students and faculty that come into the office; answer telephone calls; schedule appointments; update brochures, bulletin boards, websites, and other marketing materials.
We are happy to assist you in finding more information about studying abroad through CSB/SJU. We can answer basic questions about the study abroad programs, Study Abroad 101, applying to a program and passports. We can also show you how to fully utilize the OEA website.
Contact us: 320.363.5952


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Barney Ross, Lee Christmas, Yin Yang, Gunnar Jensen,Toll Road and Hale Caesar -- with newest members Billy the Kid and Maggie aboard -- are reunited when Mr. Church enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy paycheck for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time - six pounds of weapons-grade plutonium; enough to change the balance of power in the world.
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout.
Visit the official site
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren
Produced by: Avi Lerner, Kevin King Templeton
Directed by: Sylvester Stallone
Written by: Ken Kaufman, David Agosto
Running time: 1hr 42min
Opens: Aug 17, 2012 Nationwide


text:
Dynasty: Season 1 & 2 DVD
$40.99Add to Wish list
You Save: $9.00 18% off
- Additional Details
- Format: DVD
- Rating: Not Rated
- Number of Discs: 10
- Run Time: 1774 Minutes
- Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen
- Studio: Paramount
- DVD Release Date: August 14, 2007
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese
- Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Mono
PORTUGUESE: Dolby Digital Mono
- Cast: Heather Locklear, Joan Collins, Linda Evans, John Forsythe
- Genre: TV Series
- Color: Color
- Includes:
Season 1
Selected Episode Commentary by Series Co-Creator Esther Shapiro and Actor Al Corley
"Family, Furs and Fun: Creating DYNASTY" Series Overview
Character profiles: Fallon Carrington Colby and Steven Carrington
Season 2
Interactive Dynasty Season 2 Family Tree
Dynasty Season 1 & 2 begins the saga of a wealthy Denver family in the oil business, headed by Blake Carrington, the patriarch, and Krystle, his former secretary and current wife. His children include Adam, lost in childhood after a kidnapping; Fallon, pampered and spoiled; Steven, openly gay; and Amanda, hidden from him by his ex-wife, the conniving Alexis and they are all waiting for you in Dynasty videos. Most of the show features the conflict between two large corporations, Blake's Denver Carrington and Alexis' Colby Corporation. Dynasty Season One and Two will take you back to a series filled with passion, glamour, catfights, and the biggest shoulder pads in Denver. Dynasty was the primetime soap fueled by an all-star cast and "sexsational" story lines that are now available on DVD. Relive the wrestling matches between Alexis and Krystle, Steven's scandalous romances, Fallon's affairs with practically everybody, and of course, the power struggles at Denver-Carrington, led by the magnetic Blake Carrington.
Actors: Joan Collins, Linda Evans, Christopher Allort, William Beckley, Brandon Bluhm, Janet Brandt, Justin Burnette
Years: 1981 - 1982
Buy Dynasty Season 1 & 2 for a nostalgic look back at the 1980s when oil was flowing, everyone was rich and catfights were more fun than the intrigue.


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Asian-themed decor adds an exotic, classy touch to the backyard, interior of a home, and the reception areas of hotels and restaurants. However, for such decor to make an impact, it should be of the highest quality. Just as top shelf Asian-themed decorations add to the atmosphere of a backyard or room, low quality items do the exact opposite and in tragic fashion. Fortunately, when you shop at the Basil Street Gallery, you won't have to worry about buying tragically bad decor because all of the Basil Street items and objets d'art were chosen for their unique and exquisite appearance.
Among the many Asian-themed offerings in Basil Street are stunning wall decor such as the Tibetan Sculptural Dragon Wall Mask and the Serene Buddha Grande Wall Frieze. Both of these striking pieces make excellent additions to a living room or the walls of a restaurant and will get guests talking with their eye-catching, artistic nature.
Unique table top accents are also found at Basil Street and include beautifully detailed Chinese Guardian Lion Foo Dog statuettes, and other quality gift items such as The Emperors Tang Horse Sculpture. These works of art were also modeled after sculptures on display in museums and will thus add a distinguished, elegant Asian touch to your home.
Enjoy a 15% discount on these and other items from our Basil Street collection when purchased today or tomorrow, September 11th.
This sale cannot be combined with other offers.


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DEFUNIAK SPRINGS — The office of the Walton County sheriff's Cyber Crime Unit isn't your typical cubicle.
The office is similar to an evidence room because of the information stored on the equipment and its level of security, Investigator Joshua Sconiers says.
The office is locked when he and the other investigator aren't inside. They work on a separate Internet network from the rest of the county and serve as their own IT support.
Walton County Sheriff's Office's cyber crime unit began with Sconiers in 2009 as a way to combat child exploitation. Since then, the second investigator was added and the unit's focus has expanded to network intrusion, fraud, and even non-electronic-based crimes.
Almost everyone has a smartphone, which can contain evidence of a theft or burglary, Sconiers said. His job is to find possible evidence and extract it.
"They're no different from a regular computer," he said.
The same rules apply for evidence gathering from computers and phones as a private building. A warrant is needed for the initial scope of a search and another warrant is needed for any search beyond that.
Sconiers compared searching for evidence on a computer to looking for a certain line in a book that sits in library with no card catalog or index.
No official training requirement exists for computer forensic examiners, Sconiers said. Still, he spends hundreds of hours each year in training.
Every new product and computer or phone update must be learned. That gives him the tools to find evidence and the credentials needed when he is called to court as an expert witness.
"I need to know the ins and outs of how everything works," Sconiers said.
Even if he doesn't understand a particular device or needs a specific resource, local law enforcement agencies share information and tools, he said.
The Sheriff's Office also helps with national cases. Sconiers discovered a computer virus attached to what looked like an email from the U.S. Postal Service. That brought in Homeland Security, the FBI, Secret Service and local agencies.
Recently, Sconiers received an award for his work on a nationwide online sextortion and cyberstalking case.
Christopher Gunn, a former Walton County resident, allegedly befriended girls between the ages of 13 and 17 all over the country either by posing as Justin Bieber or by pretending to be a new kid in the area after he looked at information the girls' social media accounts.
Eventually, Gunn would convince the girls to send nude photographs, and then blackmail them to continue doing so.
It took investigators three years to gather evidence and find Gunn, Sconiers said. Gunn was eventually indicted in May.
Cases involving children are difficult, said Sconiers, who is a family man. He tries to leave work behind when he comes home.
"We see the worst things a person can see," he said.
Sconiers is a firm believer in overseeing a child's Internet usage through monitoring software. He also recommends turning on the GPS in their cellphones. The data gleaned from those programs can help investigators in case of a kidnapping or abduction.
"Protect your children at all costs," he said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Delgado at 850-315-4445 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenDnwfdn.


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Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depression, major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and depression may make you feel as if life isn't worth living.
More than just a bout of the blues, depression isn't a weakness, nor is it something that you can simply "snap out" of. Depression may require long-term treatment. But don't get discouraged. Most people with depression feel better with medication, psychological counseling or both. Other treatments also may help.
Although depression may occur only one time during your life, usually people have multiple episodes of depression. During these episodes, symptoms occur most of the day, nearly every day and may include:
For some people, depression symptoms are so severe that it's obvious something isn't right. Other people feel generally miserable or unhappy without really knowing why.
Depression affects each person in different ways, so symptoms caused by depression vary from person to person. To clarify the type of depression you have, your doctor may add information to your depression diagnosis called a specifier. Specifiers include having depression with specific features, such as:
Common symptoms of depression in children and teens are similar to those of adults, but there can be some differences.
Depression is not a normal part of growing older and it should never be taken lightly. Unfortunately, depression often goes undiagnosed and untreated in older adults, and they may feel reluctant to seek help. Symptoms of depression may be different or less obvious in older adults, including:
If you feel depressed, make an appointment to see your doctor as soon as you can. Depression often gets worse if it isn't treated. Untreated depression can lead to other mental and physical health problems or troubles in other areas of your life. Feelings of depression can also lead to suicide.
If you're reluctant to seek treatment, talk to a friend or loved one, a health care professional, a faith leader, or someone else you trust.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, get help right away. Here are some steps you can take:
If you think you may hurt yourself or attempt suicide, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.
If you have a loved one who is in danger of committing suicide or has made a suicide attempt, make sure someone stays with that person. Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately. Or, if you think you can do so safely, take the person to the nearest hospital emergency room.
It's not known exactly what causes depression. As with many mental disorders, a variety of factors may be involved, such as:
Depression often begins in the teens, 20s or 30s, but it can happen at any age. More women are diagnosed with depression than men, but this may be due in part because women are more likely to seek treatment.
Researchers have identified certain factors that seem to increase the risk of developing or triggering depression, including:
Depression is a serious disorder that can take a terrible toll on individuals and families. Untreated depression can result in emotional, behavioral and health problems that affect every area of your life. Complications associated with depression may include:
You may see your primary care doctor, or your doctor may refer you to a health provider who specializes in diagnosing and treating mental health conditions (psychologist or psychiatrist). Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment, and what to expect from your doctor.
These steps can help you make the most of your appointment. Make a list of:
Take a family member or friend along, if possible, to help you remember all of the information provided during the appointment.
For problems related to depression, basic questions to ask your health provider include:
Don't hesitate to ask questions anytime you don't understand something.
Be ready to answer questions from your health provider, such as:
These exams and tests can help rule out other problems that could be causing your symptoms, pinpoint a diagnosis and check for any related complications:
To be diagnosed with major depression, you must meet the symptom criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association. This manual is used by mental health providers to diagnose mental conditions and by insurance companies to reimburse for treatment.
For major depression, you must have five or more of the following symptoms over a two-week period, most of the day, nearly every day. At least one of the symptoms must be either a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure. Other symptoms may include:
Your symptoms must be severe enough to cause noticeable problems in day-to-day activities, such as work, school, social activities or relationships with others. Symptoms can be based on your own feelings or may be based on the observations of someone else.
There are several other conditions with symptoms that can include depression. It's important to get an accurate diagnosis so you can get appropriate treatment. Your doctor or mental health provider's evaluation will help determine if your symptoms of depression are caused by a specific type of depression or another condition, such as:
Make sure you understand what type of depression you have so that you can learn more about your specific situation and treatment options.
Numerous depression treatments are available. Medications and psychological counseling (psychotherapy) are very effective for most people.
Your primary care doctor or psychiatrist can prescribe medications to relieve depression symptoms. However, many people with depression also benefit from seeing a psychologist or other mental health counselor.
If you have severe depression, you may need a hospital stay, or you may need to participate in an outpatient treatment program until your symptoms improve.
Here's a closer look at depression treatment options.
Many types of antidepressant medications are available to treat depression, including those below. Discuss possible major side effects with your doctor or pharmacist.
If a family member has responded well to an antidepressant, it may be one that could help you. Or you may need to try several medications before you find one that works. This requires patience, as some medications need several weeks or longer to take full effect and for side effects to ease as your body adjusts.
Don't stop taking an antidepressant without talking to your doctor first. Antidepressants aren't considered addictive, but sometimes physical dependence, which is different from addiction, can occur. Stopping treatment abruptly or missing several doses can cause withdrawal-like symptoms, and quitting suddenly may cause a sudden worsening of depression. Work with your doctor to gradually and safely decrease your dose.
Inherited traits play a role in how antidepressants affect you. In some cases, where available, results of genetic tests (done by blood test or cheek swab) may offer clues about how your body may respond to a particular antidepressant. The study of how genes affect a person's response to drugs is called pharmacogenomics. However, other variables besides genetics can affect your response to medication.
If you're pregnant or breast-feeding, some antidepressants may pose an increased health risk to your unborn child or nursing child. Talk to your doctor if you become pregnant or are planning on becoming pregnant.
Most antidepressants are generally safe, but the FDA requires that all antidepressants carry black box warnings, the strictest warnings for prescriptions. In some cases, children, teenagers and young adults under 25 may have an increase in suicidal thoughts or behavior when taking antidepressants, especially in the first few weeks after starting or when the dose is changed.
Anyone taking an antidepressant should be watched closely for worsening depression or unusual behavior. If you or someone you know has suicidal thoughts when taking an antidepressant, immediately contact your doctor or get emergency help.
Keep in mind that antidepressants are more likely to reduce suicide risk in the long run by improving mood.
Psychotherapy is a general term for treating depression by talking about your condition and related issues with a mental health provider. Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy, counseling or psychosocial therapy.
Different types of psychotherapy can be effective for depression, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, dialectic behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and mindfulness techniques. These therapies can help you:
In some people, depression is so severe that a hospital stay is needed. Inpatient hospitalization may be necessary if you can't care for yourself properly or when you're in immediate danger of harming yourself or someone else. Psychiatric treatment at a hospital can help keep you calm and safe until your mood improves.
Partial hospitalization or day treatment programs also may help some people. These programs provide the outpatient support and counseling you need while you get symptoms under control.
For some people, other procedures may be suggested:
Depression generally isn't a disorder that you can treat on your own. But in addition to professional treatment, these self-care steps can help:
Make certain you understand the risks as well as possible benefits if you pursue alternative or complementary therapy. Don't replace conventional medical treatment or psychotherapy with alternative medicine. When it comes to depression, alternative treatments aren't a substitute for medical care.
Examples of herbal remedies and supplements that are sometimes used for depression include:
Keep in mind that nutritional and dietary products aren't monitored by the FDA the same way medications are. You can't always be certain of what you're getting and if it's safe. Also, because some herbal and dietary supplements can interfere with prescription medications or cause dangerous interactions, talk to your health care provider before taking any supplements.
Complementary and alternative medicine practitioners believe the mind and body must be in harmony for you to stay healthy. Examples of mind-body techniques that may be helpful for depression include:
Relying solely on these therapies is generally not enough to treat depression. They may be helpful when used in addition to medication and psychotherapy.
Talk to your doctor or therapist about improving your coping skills, and try these tips:
There's no sure way to prevent depression. However, these strategies may help.
Original article: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/basics/risk-factors/CON-20032977
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Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support our mission. Mayo Clinic does not endorse any of the third party products and services advertised.
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Martin Short
News about Martin Short, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
Chronology of Coverage
Jan. 25, 2015
Night Out With column on actors Martin Short and Matthew Broderick, who are starring with Katie Finneran in Broadway comedy It's Only a Play. MORE
May. 13, 2013
Comedian and actor Martin Short strikes deal with HarperCollins imprint to write memoir; as-yet-untitled book will be released in fall 2014. MORE
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Clothes and Character: 'Inherent Vice'
Mark Bridges talks about translating Thomas Pynchon's descriptions into fashions that will work on screen.
February 11, 2015, Wednesday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Anderson, Paul Thomas , Pynchon, Thomas , Short, Martin , Waterston, Katherine , Movies
Martin Short's Night Out With Matthew Broderick
The co-stars in the Broadway meta-comedy, "It's Only a Play," dine with their co-star Katie Finneran.
January 25, 2015, Sunday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Theater , Finneran, Katie , Broderick, Matthew , Short, Martin , Inherent Vice (Movie) , It's Only a Play (Play)
Honors for Some, but a Roast for Obama
The 37th annual Kennedy Center Honors featured a night of performances that occasionally seemed more roast than tribute — and much of the ribbing was reserved for President Obama.
December 8, 2014, Monday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Colbert, Stephen , Goldberg, Whoopi , Letterman, David , Obama, Barack , Short, Martin
Martin Short to Replace Nathan Lane in 'It's Only a Play'
Mr. Short will replace Nathan Lane in Terrence McNally's hit Broadway comedy.
November 6, 2014, Thursday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Lane, Nathan , Short, Martin , Theater
Wise Words From Four Funny New Autobiographies
Andrea Martin, Amy Poehler, Martin Short and Neil Patrick Harris bare their souls (and other bits) in their upcoming memoirs.
October 13, 2014, Monday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Harris, Neil Patrick , Poehler, Amy , Short, Martin , HarperCollins Publishers , Books and Literature
A Glittery Prelude to Oscars' Big Night
The Governors Awards banquet, in its fifth year, was held on Saturday and has become a place for Oscar hopefuls to be seen.
November 18, 2013, Monday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Martin, Steve , Lansbury, Angela , Academy Awards (Oscars) , Hanks, Tom , Movies , Short, Martin
Martin Short to Write Memoir for Harper
Martin Short announced Sunday that he had struck a deal to write his first book, a memoir of his life and enduring career in show business.
May 13, 2013, Monday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Books and Literature , Short, Martin
Spielberg and Affleck Get the Last Laughs
At the DGA Awards, Steven Spielberg and Ben Affleck were delivering the one-liners, though it was Mr. Affleck who walked away with the trophy.
February 5, 2013, Tuesday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Argo (Movie) , Lincoln (Movie) , Affleck, Ben , Cranston, Bryan , Short, Martin , Spielberg, Steven , Directors Guild of America , Movies
Peters and Short: They Might, They Might
The Tony Award-winning actors Bernadette Peters and Martin Short will meet with a team of theater producers this month to discuss a possible Broadway revival of ''I Do! I Do!,'' the 1966 Tom Jones-Harvey Schmidt musical about the trials and...
November 18, 2011, Friday
Bernadette Peters and Martin Short Linked to Possible Revival of 'I Do! I Do!'
The show "I Do! I Do!," the Tom Jones-Harvey Schmidt musical, has never been revived on Broadway since it was first produced in 1966.
November 17, 2011, Thursday
MORE ON MARTIN SHORT AND: Schmidt, Harvey , Peters, Bernadette , Jones, Tom , Short, Martin , News , Actors and Actresses , Theater , Broadway Across America , I Do! I Do! (Play)
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Reverb Pedals
Dr. Scientist BitQuestThe Dr. Scientist BitQuest is an astoundingly full-featured multi effect in an incredibly tidy 125B package. There are eight onboard effects, each with Clean and Dirty modes, and each patch contains some seriously powerful controls that make the BitQuest a joy to play.$265.00
Dr. Scientist Mini-Reverberator Silver LaserThe Dr. Scientist Mini Reverberator is a small footprint reverb pedal that offers 9 different reverb types in one little box. Using a heretofore unknown dimensional technology, the Dr. Scientist Mini Reverberator fits rooms, halls, and plates all into one durable little box.$225.00


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iHerb Customer Reviews
Items 1-2 of 2 total
2 people found the following review helpful
Posted by Reviewer1336522 on Aug 29, 2011
I was researching for a natual muscle relaxant. I initially tried another glycinate product, but it had malic acid which seemed to affect my stomach. This is definitely easy on the stomach, I can even take on an empty stomach. However, I do not feel any effects from it. I traveled for 3 weeks so I did not take these (warning: these are horse pills, if you can't take big pills, you'll have a hard time). I noticed no difference. Since I've been back, I started taking them again and I notice no difference. I still have locked muscles and feel no sedating effect or sleep any deeper. Perhaps it works differently in other people, but for me these did absolutely nothing, just $21 less in my account.
Was this review helpful to you?
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical claims from this review. Disclaimer.
1 person found the following review helpful
Posted by Reviewer1301566 on May 02, 2011
Great brand and great product, but the pill size are huge!
Was this review helpful to you?
Note: iHerb does not imply any medical claims from this review. Disclaimer.
Items 1-2 of 2 total


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La Grande Real Estate Listings & Rental Properties in Oregon
Looking to buy a home or rent an apartment? Whether you are looking for homes for sale, new homes, apartments finder, guides and rentals, foreclosures or apartment communities for rent; Find all La Grande real estate for sale or rent in Oregon on OregonLive.com.
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Homes For SaleView More Listings »
60181 Morgan Lake Road
La Grande, OR 97850
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La Grande, OR 97850
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La Grande, OR 97850
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View More: Homes For Sale in La Grande »
When searching for in La Grande, OregonLive.com wants you to have all of the right information to help you make the best decision possible. We know that the search can be difficult and we strive to make it easier for you. Since we have thousands of for you to browse through, there's no need to go anywhere else. Our rental listings feature photos, amenities, maps, detailed descriptions, and denote if the apartment is pet friendly to help you make the best choice.
OregonLive.com can help you find La Grande real estate agencies & realtors or a broker who will help you find an apartment to rent in OR, and get you useful information about the neighborhood, schools in the area and more!
You can also browse all real estate types and MLS listings by La Grande above, or you can also view results by neighborhoods or regions.


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Moderator: Regulators
DTM wrote:Tree hugger...
Nah, I recycle though, having a competition in class. Who ever recycles the most wins some sort of prize. That prize was little talked about, but our class alone is beating the others by atleast 100 lbs. In yo face!
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In honor of Slow Art Day, six artworks that reward you for taking your sweet time. More»
Presidential Death Beds & Independence Day
Here's a little history trivia about this special day.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Founding Fathers and the second and third Presidents of the United States, both died on July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of Independence Day.
Because of their opposing views on politics as well as their contrasting personalities, the two men were not on friendly terms, and rumor has it that Adams' last words on his deathbed were "Jefferson survives." Little did he know that Jefferson had actually died five hours earlier.
Leaving you with that conversation starter, we hope you celebrate this day with friends and family and feast like the Romans!


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Let the general-election fun begin. Less than 24 hours after Mitt Romney rebooted for the umpteenth time, the Obama campaign announced the official start of rally season. The campaign announced an impromptu press conference call Wednesday evening to announce campaign swings through Ohio and Virginia by the president and first lady on May 5. "We understand we've pulled one or two of you out of the bar and we apologize for that," said campaign Press Secretary Ben LaBolt. "I want to go on record: I was opposed to pulling you guys out of the saloons, I didn't think that was the right thing to do," echoed senior advisor David Axelrod, who was joined by campaign manager Jim Messina.
Once they finished pandering to reporters' alcoholic tendencies, the two ripped into Mitt Romney, laying the groundwork for the next six months of talking points. "Welcome to the general election," Messina opened. "As you've all been reporting today the Republicans have settled on their candidate, or should I say settled for their candidate." Their message throughout the call accused Romney of seeking to return to a previous era. "Mitt Romney wants to go back to the future," Messina said. "Mitt Romney's economic scheme is familiar and troubling: more budget busting tax cuts for the wealthy, fewer rules for Wall Street, the same formula that benefited a few but that crashed our economy and punished the middle class."
Axelrod pushed those points even further, questioning Romney's stump resume. "What was most striking about his speech [Tuesday] night: He ... neglected to mention that he was once governor of Massachusetts," Axelrod said, "which seems like a pretty relevant point. Why?" He then listed negative facts from Romney's tenure in charge of that state, including a drop from 37th to 47th in job creation. Yet more than any damning statistics, Romney's silence about his Massachusetts record is largely a byproduct of his recent primary campaign. Most of the policies that caused conservatives to label him a Republican apostate come from his tenure as governor, forcing Romney to push aside that experience over the past year. It will likely enter the spotlight once again now that he is in the general election, though he'll have to walk a fine line as his primary accomplishment—passing a universal health care program—is now a feat he would rather forget.
The attacks weren't limited to Romney; they've clearly been prepping dossiers on possible Republican vice presidential candidates. When a reporter asked how selecting Senator Rob Portman—the new favorite choice of the Washington chattering class—might swing Ohio, Axelrod jumped in swinging. "I think ultimately this will be a contest between the two men at the top of the ticket and their competing philosophies," he said. Yet only a few moments later he added, "The challenge for him with Senator Portman is Senator Portman was one of the architects, as the budget director, of the last administration's economic policies. It's just one more sign if he does that that he wants to go back to those policies."
The specter of the Bush years hovers over Romney's potential running mates. Broadly speaking, there are two groups of VP contenders. On one side, nearly every possibility with extensive Washington experience has some ties to the Bush era, whether that's Portman's stint at the Office of Management and Budget, Bobby Jindal's experience at Health and Human Services, or a former Florida Governor whose last name will instantly propel the Bush years into the spotlight. On the other hand, the second set of options carry their own liabilities. These are the young fresh-faced politicians from the class of 2010, Marco Rubio or Nikki Haley, for example. They don't carry as much baggage, but they also lack experience and vetting, a prime consideration among Republicans as the memory of the Sarah Palin debacle casts a pale over the decision.
Fri, 2012-04-27 14:07
Sun, 2012-04-29 11:37
Mon, 2012-05-07 16:50
When an incumbent runs a "nasty" re-election campaign, it means his last term was an absolute disaster and his only prayer of winning a second term is to spend ungodly amounts of money to make you think his opponents wants to eat babies with a cianti and fava beans.
You said yourself this will be a nasty campaign, so in effect you are admitting Obama has nothing to run on, out of any useful ideas, and his performance on the economy has been so abysmal his only prayer to make the electorate think evil nasty thoughts about mormonism.
Pretty pathetic, I guess Obama can trout Bin Ladens dead body everytime he needs a bump in the polls, which would be everyday because his campaign is falling apart at the seems.
Mon, 2012-05-07 18:59
Well, "Elem187," in this instance, a nasty campaign means the president isn't going to sit back and allow all the vituperative garbage from the right rule the debate. Campaign is "falling apart at the seams?" What planet do you inhabit? I assume you actually believe that the Republicans have "useful ideas?" Amazing!
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For the driver who wants an even sportier edge. The XF R-Sport range combines unique, assertive R-Sport body styling with Jaguar performance.Find Out More
R is intensity. It provides more and delivers the ultimate expression of F-TYPE: the most powerful, the most dynamically capable, the most thrilling. F-TYPE R is the sports car at its most honed, sensuous and exciting.Find Out More
C-X17 is the first concept vehicle to be built on Jaguar's highly advanced new aluminium monocoque aluminium architecture.Find out more


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I'd like to reset the timezone through editing
/etc/timezone. However, after I am done editing and save the file, the system time would not change accordingly.
On the other hand, when I take advantage of the command
dpkg-reconfigure tzdata to change the timezone, the time will change immediately. Plus, the
/etc/timezone file is modified accordingly.
Could someone please explain me what steps I could be missing after editing and saving the config file in order for the new time to take effect?


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Delay Pedals
Earthquaker Devices Rainbow Machine
The Rainbow Machine from Earthquaker Devices is a polyphonic harmonizing modulation machine. Utilizing a modern digital signal processing and modern oscillation circuitry The Rainbow creates some real time pitch shifting, but not in the way you are probably used to.$225.00
Earthquaker Devices Dispatch MasterThe Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master is a digital delay and reverb that combines both effects in one pedal. From cavernous, natural sounding reverb to sweet, organic delay the Earthquaker Devices Dispatch Master provides delay times up to almost 2 seconds.$185.00
EarthQuaker Devices Disaster Transport Sr.The EarthQuaker Devices Disaster Transport Sr. is two delays in one. The Disaster Transport Sr. offers up to 600ms modulated delay of an old tape unit, and a brighter reverb delay with up to 300ms of echo in independent, parallel, or series operation.$345.00
Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Jr
The Earthquaker Devices Transport Jr is an analog voiced delay that gives you 625 ms of delay time, an all analog dry signal path, and an emulation of tape echo for you vintage enthusiasts. The Transport Jr is a brilliant delay pedal that brings the real vintage echo tones - th... read more$165.00
Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Delay
The Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Delay is an analog voiced delay with 625 ms of delay time, modulation, and nothing but old school tape echo with all the inherent idiosyncrasy of those old devices. This is an anti-modern styled delay - nothing but vintage tone that yo... read more$215.00


text: Otherwise I'm liking Mick Foley and CM Punk rivalry, and on smackdown I'm getting ready for Dolph Ziggler cashing in and hopefully carrying the title to Wrestlemania. This is about it. Not really a fan of the AJ, John Cena Storyline. Ryback is good I don't want to see him start main eventing PPVs already, I mean his first meaningful storyline is with CM Punk. It should have been someone like the Big Show.


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What prompted former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva to quickly change his tune about a rematch with new titleholder Chris Weidman? A little mental clarity.
Silva suffered a shocking second-round TKO loss to Weidman on July 6 at UFC 162. Immediately after the pay-per-view loss, which snapped Silva's 17-fight win streak and his string of 10 consecutive UFC title defenses, the 38-year-old said he didn't want a rematch and was done with title fights.
However, UFC President Dana White quickly promised the rematch would happen, and a week later, Weidman (10-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) vs. Silva (33-5 MMA, 16-1 UFC) II was booked UFC 168 on Dec. 28.
So why the change?
Earlier this month in the heavily hyped title fight, Weidman caught Silva after the Brazilian had dropped his hands and taunted the challenger. Weidman connected on a left hook and then battered Silva with a few follow-up punches to score the victory."I was so sad with myself, with my lack of control on the moment, that I said some words that weren't nice," Silva recently told the Brazilian radio show "Mundo da Luta." "I said that I wouldn't fight for the title. But after I signed the contract (earlier in the year), Dana told me that he would give [me a rematch if I had lost the belt]. I was so out of myself that I didn't think about it."
According to Silva, the fact he lost the fight didn't actually set in until referee Herb Dean raised Weidman's arm after the bout.
The game plan obviously led to some criticism, including some from Weidman, who could be seen on one camera apparently calling Silva a "disrespectful piece of s---" immediately after the stoppage. Even Silva fans complained and said the loss was more a matter of the Brazilian's showboating than anything Weidman did."I lost my focus and made a technical mistake," said Silva, who suggested his desire to put on a memorable performance superseded his goal to win. "It was one of the things that I left the philosophy of the martial art and it cost me the belt. I always fought with this felling of keeping the martial art philosophy and keeping the control of the situation trying to be as calm as possible for me to keep the balance of the octagon, which is very hard to do."
Of course, all the drama has led to intrigue for the rematch, but it's also put Silva in the crosshairs, which he said he understands.
"The criticism is valid, but I'm human," he said. "I made a technical mistake, and it was good for me and for the people around me to learn. I had to be able to know that focus is always needed. I lost focus, and now I will get better."