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Talk of strategy brings us to the heart of what Nelson's and Maxwell's appointments may be about, and at a time when the government's uses of, and attitudes to, data are firmly in the spotlight.
Open data strategy
Recently, the government's Open Data policy took a major step forward with the formal announcement of (and funding for) the Open Data Institute (ODI), which looks to exploit the commercial potential of open datasets, while working towards sustainable policy.
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude has also spoken of the need to create a dynamic data-sharing culture at the heart of government and within areas such as the NHS. This policy trend was reinforced by the publication in May of the NHS information strategy, which talked of local innovation among a mix of public and private suppliers to find new ways of sharing data.
In other areas, however, the government has been accused of rather less transparency than it claims for itself, such as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's use of the veto to prevent publication of the NHS Transition Risk Register. This led Information Commissioner Christopher Graham to urge the government – in a strongly worded statement – to clarify the Freedom of Information Act in terms of the circumstances in which information can be suppressed.
As CIO, information policy and the technology to support it must, at the very least, inform Nelson's role – a role made doubly interesting by his Justice focus and experience.
"Inevitably in government you will have some genuine debates about what data is kept private and what is kept open," he told Computing.
"In my world – the criminal justice system – you ask 'what sort of data do you make open?' You can lay open general data around cases and crime statistics, but how hard do you go down on individual data? There have to be lines drawn in some cases."
"Some cases", of course, is the question: what are those cases? In other words, where does open data end and private data begin? From an ICT strategy perspective, Nelson said that the government intends to be transparent, but each category needs to be analysed to determine how much information within it can be shared.
"In our One Year On report, of the first set of metrics I ask, is the data as complete as I would like? No. Is the data as clean as I would like? No. But we didn't shy away from publishing it.
"To have absolute intent to be transparent and open, you have to recognise that there are elements of data, and areas of it, where it is not the right thing to do and I'm sure the public would agree. If you ask citizens to what degree they would share their private data, [they would say] only a summary of information," he said.
Nelson was insistent that his role as government CIO does not have to be full-time, as issues around open data and the government's so-called "snooping" plans do not, he said, fall within his remit.
"If you are thinking about the data agenda, things like transparency, then there are other people in other teams that are working in that space.
"What myself, government departments and CIOs have to do to support government is find out how we technically provide data. And in terms of sharing data I need to be looking at the ICT space and not the broader remit. Government decides the stance to take from this data," he said.
Nelson underlined two of the main challenges for government in implementing its ICT strategy.
"The first is to try to align the digital strategy, transparency agenda and civil service reform to ensure that we've got an integrated strategy. The digital agenda is crucial, as departments come up with their digital strategies by the autumn. The CIO Delivery Board are doing some work to ensure that it looks at that in terms of any implications for the ICT strategy.
"The second challenge is a cultural one, for the government departments to work together. I'm encouraged by our Delivery Board people working together as a group, and this is one of the reasons we've had some success in the past year," he said.
• Additional reporting Chris Middleton


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HENDERSON, Ky. - Betty (Thornberry) Ezell, 86 of Henderson, Ky passed away Monday July 8, 2013 at 2:15 AM at Redbanks Nursing Home.
She was born in St. Petersburg, Florida on July 17, 1926 to Walker Lott and Velma (Fryer) Thornberry.
She was of the Methodist faith and was one of the original members of Chapel Hill Methodist Church in the 1960s. Betty was also an avid reader and UK basketball fan.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Smith H. Ezell and sister Katie Robards.
She is survived by 1 son: Don Ezell and wife Mary Lou of Henderson; 1 sister: Mary Ruth Richardson of Bowling Green, KY; 3 Grandchildren: Jeff Ezell and wife Sheryl of Henderson, Anthony Trent of South Bend, IN, Larry Trent and wife Kelley of South Bend, IN; 3 Great-grandchildren: Kendall Ezell of Henderson, Laura Crawley and husband Nick of Evansville, Kevin Jolly of Evansville; Several nieces and nephews.
Roommate and close friend who offered Betty comfort during her final days, Margie "Chubby" Varble
Services will be 2:00 PM Thursday July 11, 2013 at Tomblinson Funeral Home Henderson Chapel.
Rev. Wayne Burt will officiate.
Entombment will be in Fernwood Cemetery in Henderson.
Visitation will be Wednesday 4-8PM and Thursday noon until service time at the funeral home.
Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to St. Anthony's Hospice.
Pallbearers will be Jodie Thornberry, Tommy Thornberry, Jeff Ezell, Robert Earl Slaughter, Anthony Trent and Larry Trent.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Real Estate Specialist
This job posting is no longer active
- Tempe, AZ - United States
- Network - Full-Time
- Job #
- Date posted -
This job posting is no longer active
Document and communicate Real Estate Team results including renewals, modifications, and new site leases. Track projects and field questions regarding delays. Analyze results vs goals for monthly rent, rent increases, annual escalators, etc. Verify online tool accuracy by comparing to site reports. Work with outside consultants and manage their progress on specific projects to obtain landlord consent, lease negotiations, zoning, etc.
3+ years of experience in the wireless industry. Ability to read and comprehend legal documents such as legal descriptions, surveys, ground leases, etc. Excellent organizational skills required. Ability to negotiate contract terms, and conduct meetings exhibiting clear, confidencecommunication. Intermediate to advanced computer skills required in Microsoft applications such as Excel, Word, Outlook. Database knowledge helpful. Four year degree preferred. However, Assoc. Degree along with 3-5 yrs experience will be considered.
Equal Employment Opportunity
We are an equal opportunity employer m/f/d/v.


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Companies that distribute and sell propane or LPG fuel. Many sell or lease tanks to customers, and then fill them from delivery trucks. Many sell and service appliances like furnaces, hot water heaters, ranges, and dryers for use with propane.
Pages in category "Propane"
The following 3 pages are in this category, out of 3 total.


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World's Greatest Nazi Love Story Born in Southern California in Time for Valentine's Day
Categories: Breaking News, Court, Crime-iny, Moxley, The Hilarious Haters, Where you from?
|Kinky love is in the air!
Think: Hezbollah soldier hooking up with an Orthodox rabbi.
Think: Gazillionaire, Mormon Republican presidential candidate hooking up with a dirt-poor, illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Think: Los Angeles Crip hooking up with Elton John.
Now that you've been prepared for the impossible, consider a real-life Orange County-born love story that gives hope that anything is possible on Earth.
Meet Christopher R. Brown, a 30-year-old plumber with a great smile when he wants to use it. Brown is a convicted felon, a member of a criminal street gang, a burglar, a thief and, if police are right, a violent white supremacist Skinhead. He is so committed to the notion of Caucasian superiority over other races that he's covered his body with pro-Adolf Hitler symbols designed to terrorize minorities. On his chin he prominently tattooed "88"--meaning "Heil Hitler." A "1" and a "4" are tattooed respectively underneath his right and left eyes--a reference to the importance of maintaining racial purity.
As it turns out, Cupid has a terrific sense of humor because he simultaneously fired his magical love arrows into Brown and McClain, and the rest is history: The white supremacist who is currently in custody for attacking a black man while yelling racial epithets during an alleged 2009 Costa Mesa robbery hooked up with the black sheriff's deputy.
Well, the rest isn't history yet.
|McClain: Perfecting deputy-style sex?
McClain found herself in handcuffs when fellow deputies arrested her on suspicion of intensely pleasuring an Orange County Skinhead, or some similar charge. Never mind that OC Skins are vicious soldiers (along with Public Enemy Number One Death Squad and Nazi Low Riders) in the Aryan Brotherhood's murderous underworld empire. Deputies aren't allowed to have sex with inmates even when the lovemaking is consensual.
For her protection (or was it to deny other white supremacist inmates the chance for unexpected bliss?), McClain was booked in the Santa Ana city jail and released from custody on her own recognizance. No formal charges have been filed, according to court records. Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, said prosecutors are "still investigating" the matter and will announce any filing decisions on a future date.
In the wake of McClain's arrest, Jim Amormino, an OCSD spokesman, told reporters that the deputy and an unidentified inmate had "sex more than once" during November and December. Sources tell the Weekly that the sex happened at least 20 times and included every type of intercourse imaginable. The passion allegedly even took place inside a guard station.
|Brown: Ebony and ivory come together in perfect harmony?
"The allegations being made against one of our own are very serious," Dominguez said in a prepared media statement. "It is my understanding the deputy has fully cooperated with investigators. We are confident that the investigation will be thorough and we anticipate a fair and just outcome."
It's not surprising that AOCDS would come to McClain's aid and comfort. But the white supremacist, who remains wildly goo-goo eyed about his favorite deputy, is full of surprises. He chose for his upcoming March trial a--drum roll, please--Jewish criminal defense lawyer.
|Schultze! Umm, err, I mean, Brown!
Tustin-based attorney Brian N. Gurwitz is a former high-ranking prosecutor who played key roles in the grand jury investigation into the Orange County Jail murder of John Derek Chamberlain, the Haidl Gang Rape trials and the corruption prosecution of Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo.
I called Gurwitz and asked him if Brown knows he's Jewish.
"Of course," replied a laughing Gurwtiz.
|Gurwitz: I can feel the love tonight.
Who would have known that an avowed Orange County white supremacist could lead the way to, well, world peace by repeatedly screwing a black cop and hiring a Jewish lawyer?
--R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
Sponsor Content


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Legal Case Against IMF Chief Strauss-KahnAnnemarie McAvoy in myFOXNY, May 16, 2011
Media Source
MYFOXNY.COM - The head of the International Monetary Fund faces charges in New York City of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. He is accused of forcing himself on a maid at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan. He was arrested on board a plane in JFK Airport returning to France. Good Day New York asked Fordham Law Professor and former federal prosecutor Annemarie McAvoy to weigh in on the legal case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
"It is a he-said, she-said case. We have to find out what the facts are. It's early in the process," said McAvoy.
The women accusing the IMF head is a 32-year-old woman with a good record working at the hotel.
According to police, Strauss-Kahn, 62, was naked when he chased the maid down a hallway and pull her into a bedroom where he sexually assaulted her.
"He is a high flight risk," added McAvoy.
An arraignment scheduled for Sunday was postponed while investigators gather more forensic evidence.


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Freshwater West, one of Wales' premier surfing beaches, has been inundated with Harry Potter fans.
The Shell House was constructed as one of the set's for the final Harry Potter film - Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows starring Daniel Radcliffe and based on the book by J. K. Rowling.
Actual filming took place between the 11th and 15th May 2010.
Freshwater West; a beautiful wind swept, exposed beach, it is arguably the most consistent surf spot in Wales. It picks up any swell going and holds waves up to around 6ft before becoming unmanageable. The Welsh National Surfing Championships are held at Freshwater West annually during the first bank holiday in May.
When it's big, most people surf elsewhere or hit the reef in the middle of the bay for high tide. The rip currents at this beach are it's biggest drawback.
Many a good day can be spoilt by unyielding rips dragging you off the peak in all directions so make sure you're a good paddler and keep an eye on where you're being taken.
A number of people have drowned here over the years, so do not go swimming here. On a calm, sunny day it can look very inviting but you can't see the rips beneath the surface.
Immediately after the filming of the Harry Potter scenes, another major film was shot at the same location.
Robin Hood was filmed during the weeks 15th to 30th June. This was directed by Sir Ridley Scott and will star Russell Crowe.
Some reconstructions of the seaweed drying huts used in the film can be seen here...
Shell cottage, set amongst the sand dunes of Freshwater West was built as a home for one of the elves featured in the film.
The Shell House has now been removed from the beach, we can however, find you a cottage nearly as close to a beach if you wish!
© Nigel Davies 2015 Pictures on this page were taken specially for Welsh Coast & Country.
They cannot be used for any other purpose without permission.
A higher resolution copy is available, on request, for approved purposes. A fee may be charged.


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Q: I have pain in my knee. My doctor thinks it might be ITB syndrome. What is it? Is it treatable?
A: "ITB syndrome" is short for iliotibial band syndrome. It refers to a common cause of knee pain.
The iliotibial band is a tough fibrous (scar-like) tissue that extends from the region of the hip to the knee along the outside of the leg. Along with other muscles of the leg, the IT band helps stabilize the knee, especially when the knee is stressed during physical activity.
ITB syndrome develops when there is damage, irritation or inflammation of the IT band. The most common site is at the outside of the knee where the tissue of the IT band rubs over a bony bump.
Pain over the outside of the knee is the most common symptom, although some people complain of pain higher up, along the outside of the thigh or hip. Repetitive knee flexing tends to make it worse. Rest usually relieves the symptoms.
While ITB syndrome may occur for no apparent reason, it's common among people who are:
--young or middle-age athletes, particularly if not very flexible
--engaging in activities that require repetitive flexing and extending of the knee (especially running)
--increasing their exercise intensity (such as upping the miles they run)
--bow-legged, have flat feet, or have legs of unequal length
Treatment options include:
--adjusting one's exercise routine
-- physical therapy that includes stretching and strengthening exercises
--applying ice to the area where you feel the strongest pain
--improving footwear (including using shoe inserts for flat feet)
--anti-inflammatory medications (such as ibuprofen or naproxen)
In cases where these measures don't work, doctors may recommend a cortisone injection or even surgery to remove a bony bump that's irritating the IT band.
(Robert H. Shmerling, M.D. is associate physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass., and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. He has been a practicing rheumatologist for over 20 years at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. )
(For additional consumer health information, please visit www.health.harvard.edu.)
(c) 2010 PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.


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This "Torch" model is set apart by herringbone top purfling. Made with all-solid woods and featuring the most authentic pre-war-style features, this classic guitar is perfect for all styles of playing.
The "Torch" with herringbone has a solid Sitka spruce top, your choice of solid rosewood or solid mahogany back and sides, fully scalloped forward-x bracing, a one-piece mahogany neck, a vintage-style beveled pickguard, an ebony fretboard and vintage-style slot-through bridge.
This guitar has the redesigned "torch" abalone/M.O.P. headstock inlay and abalone snowflake position markers.
© Copyright


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I see lots of people offering Yahoo Answers services, but I don't see anyone offering to post related links to Answers.com.
This seems like a service someone here should offer.
Submit Your Webmaster Related Sites to the NB Directory
I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.


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Terra Paris Rectangle Area Rug Grey/Black/White
Bring the sophistication and romance of the Eiffel Tower to your space with the Terra Groovy Rectangle Area Rug. This elegant and fun design is made in neutral shades of grey and black. Easy to clean and soft to the touch this rug will provide both color and fun to complete your look.
Terra Paris Rectangle Area Rug Grey/Black/White:
Reader Reviews
I bough this same exact rug, but in the "London" design and I like everything except the fact that it isn't soft at all. It is about 2 shades darker than what the picture portrays, but I still LOVE this rug. For $69 it cannot be beat and will fit perfectly in my studio's bedroom :))


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Absolutely no reason
Published 12/10/2010 | 09:05
GERARD 'GER' O'HARA, a thirty-two-year old man from Fenagh, was last week handed down a life sentence after he pleaded guilty to murdering his fiancée, Lisa Doyle.
O'Hara admitted to strangling Lisa (24) to death in the home that they shared in Leighlinbridge on September 20 last year.
The court heard that when he turned himself in at Carlow Garda Station, O'Hara was clutching a letter that said he could never explain why he'd done what he did to his fiancée and that 'she deserved better' than him.
Lisa Doyle's heartbroken family have vowed to keep a dignified silence and have refused to discuss O'Hara or his actions. Instead the Doyle family have pledged to keep Lisa's memory alive.
'We're concentrating on Lisa's life and what she gave up. We think about how much we adored her and that's what's kept us strong,' said Lisa's sister, Angela. GERARD ' GER' O'HARA, a thirty-two year old man from Fenagh, was last Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his fiancée, Lisa Doyle, (24) after admitting strangling her with his shoelace. O'Hara told Gardaí that as he was strangling her, she didn't call out but whispered his name instead.
O'Hara, who'd been with Lisa for more than four years, also admitted to attempting to strangle another woman about five years ago during a onenight stand. He said that after a struggle, the woman escaped. The Central Criminal Court in Dublin also heard that O'Hara had ' urges' to strangle people about twice a year but that he couldn't explain why he murdered Lisa.
He strangled Lisa at the couple's rented home in Leighlinbridge on September 20 last year, sending shock waves across County Carlow.
Lisa was well known in her home town of Bagenalstown and in Carlow where she worked in Argos. She also came to the public's attention when she entered the Rose of Tralee competition and was known for her love of life.
Unemployed O'Hara presented himself to Carlow Garda Station shortly after he strangled the beautiful Bagenalstown girl, in an agitated state and pulling his hair out.
'I have done a terrible thing to Lisa,' he told Gardaí, according to local detective Brendan Murphy.
Detective Murphy, who was one of the key investigators in the case, attended last week's sentencing along with Superintendent Gerry Redmond.
The court heard that when he presented himself to Carlow Garda Station, O'Hara was clutching a letter that said he could never explain why he'd done what he did to his fiancée and that ' she deserved better' than him.
At his own request, O'Hara was placed in a cell, Detective Murphy said, and then removed his shoes. He then told the Gardaí that he'd used one of the shoelaces to strangle Lisa.
The couple, who planned to get married this summer, had been out socialising in the village of Leighlinbridge on the night of the murder. Eye witnesses said that they were in good form with CCTV coverage even showing them holding hands as they left the local pub.
O'Hara told Gardaí that later that night as they lay in bed together, Lisa had her back to him and that he strangled her by tightening his arm around her neck. He said that she didn't cry out but merely whispered his name before she died.
Gardaí were also told by him that he then removed a shoe lace from his shoe and strangled her again with it. He dressed her and left her body in their bed, where it was discovered by Gardaí later that morning.
Prosecutor Aileen Donnelly SC told the court that Lisa had died from asphyxiation due to the mechanical compression of her neck.
The sentence hearing was attended by members of Lisa's family and during it, a victim impact statement by Lisa's sister, Angela, was read out.
The statement described how much the family loved her and what a nightmare it was for them since her death.
'A poet, an athlete and a blessing' was how Angela described her beloved sister.
A statement was also read out on behalf of O'Hara in which he said that he regretted the heartbreak he caused the Doyle family.
Related Content
- County remembers a beautiful, happy young woman
- Family vows to keep memory of Lisa alive
- Thoughts of community with the families


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Posts Tagged 'WordPress Tips'
New Breed of Web Metrics Can Help Marketing Executives Make Better DecisionsMonday, November 19th, 2012
As online marketing processes have evolved, the number and sophistication of software tools to support specific functions has exploded. Every discipline within marketing and PR has its own tools, among them:
Content development: CMS tools (WordPress, Joomla, HubSpot, 100s of others), Adobe CS, tools for creating infographics, etc.
SEO: backlink tools (Backlink Watch, SEOmoz, Majestic), keyword research tools, page optimization tools, SEO plugins.
Social media: social media monitoring (Radian6, Sysomos, SM2), social media management (HootSuite, SocialOomph, Buffer), Twitter tools, etc.
Web analytics: Omniture, WebTrends, Google Analytics, Clicky, and more.
All are very helpful, even essential, but most are designed for practitioners, that is: they help a specialist in a particular discipline do his or her job more effectively. Not only are they tactical, each focuses on supporting one functional silo or another. Not surprising, since this is how digital marketing is managed today—as a set of largely disconnected specialties. So much so, companies utilize different tools, resources, and in some cases, even different agencies to manage web visibility for brand, SEO, social media, PR, and paid advertising.
And of course, search has evolved—it's no longer just 10 blue links. Today, web presence goes way beyond a company's website. News and social links are as vital as are other points of visibility. What's missing is the larger strategic picture needed for top-level decision-making and for managing digital marketing and PR in a coordinated manner. We're all missing this because there aren't tools to help us do it. Or are there?
A "Eureka" Moment
A couple of weeks ago, we blogged about the web presence optimization (WPO) framework. This model (evolved from a 2010 post) came about from KC Associates' (KCA) client consulting projects. Operating as a cross-functional team, each consultant knew that a framework for optimization is useless unless there's a way to track and measure gaiting factors that can be adjusted in order to move the optimization needle. So the group took a long, hard look at the tactical tools each consultant uses with a more creative mind of how they might be repurposed for WPO.
For example, SEO backlink tools can provide detailed lists of the precise backlinks to a competitor's website. This can be quite valuable to an SEO consultant, but it's mind-numbing overkill for a VP of marketing.
However, a graphical comparison of the type and quantity of backlinks pointing to the firm's website and the sites of close competitors may be very enlightening (e.g., discovering that competitor A has twice as many media links and three times as many social links pointing to them)—particularly if these measures have changed significantly in a short period of time.
This simple change in thinking was truly eye-opening.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
First and foremost, the WPO framework provides the strategic and structural approach to the unified management of web visibility. And WPO metrics that support this framework provide the critical measurement necessary to enable the overall coordination of these disciplines to improve presence optimization and performance.
The set of 100+ WPO metrics that the group developed for KCA clients is driven by data collected by a host of off-the-shelf tools as well as some custom developed sources. As a collection, the attributes of these metrics differ from what most other tracking and measurement tools are set up to provide in six distinct ways:
- • Focus on management, not execution. WPO metrics are designed to support management decision-making (e.g., where should we devote more resources) rather than tweaks to specific tactics. Put another way, they are about the "what" rather than the "how."
- • Provide a unified view of results. They provide leaders and team members with an overall picture of press (media outlets), social, website (organic search), industry (e.g. associations, research organizations) and paid web presence. The tactical tools available tend to focus on one or two of these areas.
- • Include competitor metrics. An organization's digital marketing results don't exist in a vacuum; it's critical to be able to view results in the context of competitive activities. Competitive benchmarking is vital to developing strategy and allocating resources.
- • Reflect the value of owned, earned and paid presence, not just the company website. What customers, analysts, journalists, bloggers, and others have to say about you is sometimes more important than your own content. WPO metrics show the value of all of your points of web presence, whether it's your content or something produced by a third party.
- • Are actionable and NOT "everything but kitchen sink." Too many tools try to report every possible detail, rather than just what's important. The result is data overload and analysis paralysis. It's confusing and too much to absorb, and therefore doesn't get acted upon. Best-practice WPO metrics focus only on measures that support concrete action.
- • Identify clear priorities. While WPO metrics cover a lot of ground, not every measure matters all the time. For example, if your media share-of-voice remains about the same from one month to the next, but your AdWords conversion rate drops by half, WPO metrics focus on the latter result.
WPO metrics won't replace tactical, execution-level tools, but they will help guide decisions about which functional tools to use and how to coordinate the tasks of different disciplines for a larger purpose. They fill a critical gap by giving marketing executives, and everyone on digital marketing and PR teams, a unified view of web presence that reflects a more integrated optimization effort.
12 (of the) Best WordPress Guides and Plugin Reviews of 2011Monday, January 30th, 2012
WordPress is not only the most popular blogging platform, but is increasingly becoming a leading website content management system (CMS) as well.
Cost and ease of use are certainly factors, but one of the important reasons is its extensibility through plugins. These add-ons make it easy to add an incredible variety of functionality to the platform, from contact forms and photo galleries to social sharing and ecommerce capabilities.
How did WordPress emerge as the leading blog platform? What are some techniques, beyond the obvious, for search-optimizing WordPress content? Which plugins are the most popular / useful / vital? Get the answers to those questions and more here in a dozen of the best posts and articles about WordPress from the past year.
WordPress Guides and Commentary
How did WordPress win? by majordojo
Byrne Reese—former Product Manager of Movable Type and TypePad and employee at Six Apart, now a Partner at Endevver, a Movable Type and Melody consulting company—dissects the strategy used by WordPress to become the dominant blogging platform, in order to "see what lessons can be learned from WordPress so that others seeking to build a successful product can learn from it." This brilliant article delves into the technological, economic, cultural and environmental factors behind the success of WordPress, and inspired more than 70 comments.
Web Traffic Tracking Alternatives to Google Analytics by uber.la
John McElhenney provides helpful reviews of three simple and free alternatives to Google Analytics for tracking WordPress site metrics: JetPack Site Stats, Wassup Plug-in and Widget (which provides real-time stats including how many visitors are on your site or blog at any given moment) and Gaug.es (another real-time tool, which works on any website).
WordPress SEO – 10 Essential Actions by WP Blog Talk
Rob Cubbon details 10 best practices for optimizing WordPress content, from ideal use of keywords and plugins to sitemaps, redirects and image optimization.
WordPress Plugin Compilations and Reviews
90+ WordPress CMS Themes and Plugins by Tripwire Magazine
Contending that "It's actually pretty easy to turn WordPress into a CMS if you are using the right WordPress CMS Themes," Dustin Betonio showcases a huge collection of "the best plugins and (premium WordPress) themes to turn WordPress into a CMS and build a professional website fast."
Top 50 WordPress Plugins for 2011 to Zoom SEO, SMO & Audience Engagement by Zoom Factor
Pam Moore reviews 50 of her favorite WordPress plugins, divided into categories for social sharing & engagement, design and image enhancements, search engine optimization, and development (e.g., the Flexi-Pages widget for adding sub-menu navigation and Mass Edit Pages for WordPress for making small changes to a large number of pages at once).
14 WordPress Plugins Worth Considering by JT Pedersen
JT Pedersen provides a short list of his favorite plugins for personal and corporate (non-ecommerce) blogs, including both popular favorites (the AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget, BackUpWordPress) and some interesting but lesser-known add-ons (Twitter Mentions as Comments, and WP Smush.it to improve load times).
11 WordPress Plugins You've Gotta Have by Social Media Today
Writing that he gets the opportunity to work with a lot of different plugins, and that "Every once in a while I'll come across a new one that is just amazing and I wonder how I ever blogged without it," Zubin Kutar shares his favorites including Google XML Sitemaps (also on my list of must-haves) and Contact Form 7 ("Probably the easiest to use contact form available" according to Zubin).
8 Excellent WordPress SEO Plugins by Six Revisions
Matt Krautstrunk offers list of "top-notch WordPress plugins for SEO to improve your WordPress site's search engine rankings," among them SEO Rank Reporter, All in One SEO Pack (another of my personal favorites), SEO Friendly Image (automatically updates images with alt and title attributes) and SEO Smart Links.
33 WordPress Plugins To Power Up Your Comment Section by 1stwebdesigner
Dainis Graveris presents 33 plugins to "power up and evolve comment form possibilities and security," including Disqus, WP Ajax Edit Comments, Comment Rating and Twitter Avatars in Comments. The English is a little rough but the list is fantastic.
20 Great WordPress Plugins by Online Income Teacher
Once you get past the spammy blog title and the annoying pop-up, Matt Smith has put together an outstanding list of plugins to perform a wide variety of tasks, from the Ackuna Language Translation Plugin (which, as the name implies, allows readers to translate your posts into many different languages) to Google Analytics Dashboard (which lets you quickly check on your GA stats without logging into GA) to Sharebar, a plugin that keeps social sharing buttons visible while visitors scroll down through your content.
15 Essential WordPress Plugins (Presentation) by Mykl Roventine
In the presentation from the Minnesota Blogger Conference, Mykl Roventine (one of the smartest WordPress gurus I know personally) presents 15 of the best WordPress plugins that meet his strict criteria: he's used it (or someone he trusts has0: it solves a specific problem; it doesn't hog resources and degrade performance; it's supported; easy to use and configure; and free (in most cases).
Blog Technology: Most Downloaded WordPress Plugins by Marketing Technology with @iamreff
John Refford lists the top 15 WordPress plugins in order of popularity. Not too surprisingly, All in One SEO Pack, Akismet and Google XML Sitemaps top the list.
The 4 Critical Elements of an Effective Business WebsiteTuesday, October 25th, 2011
The first step in optimizing your online presence is making sure you have a website worth optimizing. That means creating a site that your target visitors will be glad they found once they arrive, and will spend some time with because the site provides the information they need in an easy-to-find manner.
It's like planning a large event or party in your home. If you had a noisy furnace, an unfinished bathroom, or paint peeling on your eaves, you'd want to take care of those issues before you send out invitations. Your website similarly has to be in great shape before you "invite" visitors to it through optimization.
Four key elements of designing an effective business website are:
- • Technology (Platform)
- • Graphic Design
- • Information Architecture
- • Content
The first decision is the technology, or platform, the site will be built on. The options are almost endless, from custom code, to a development environment such as Adobe DreamWeaver, to hosted content management systems (CMS) options, to free platforms like WordPress. Among the key considerations to keep in mind when selecting a platform are:
Capabilities—will the platform support the sophistication of your design? Do you need extra features, like a built-in CRM system, the ability to easily integrate with external systems, create secure areas of the site, or manage ecommerce transactions?
Usability—does the platform make it easy for non-technical users to add or update content? Is it easy to add new pages and even entire new sections to the site?
Search engine friendliness—does the platform or tool produce clean, W3C-vaild underlying code? Is it easy to add meta tags and customize page URLs? Most modern CMS systems are relatively search-friendly, but this is a critical component for optimization, so do some investigation to make sure the platform you select is strong in this area. One way to check is to run the URLs of some other sites built on the tool through a tool like Website Grader to see how well they score (though keep in mind that factors other than just code quality can affect these scores).
Scalability—will the platform chosen support the planned size and complexity of your website, as well as providing room for growth?
Mobility—though website visits from smart phones and tablets currently accounts for only seven percent of online traffic worldwide, that figure is expected to grow rapidly. Make sure your chosen platform can serve up an optimized experience on both desktop and mobile devices (and automatically detect the visitor's device) without a separate mobile development effort.
Make this decision carefully as you will be essentially "stuck" with your chosen platform until you reach a point where you need to redesign your site—depending on your industry and growth rate, generally two to five years. Avoid obscure platforms that force you to rely on a single consultant or agency for support.
Graphic Design
Though design considerations are often subjective, two key questions to ask when developing the overall look and feel of your website (fonts, colors, images and other design elements) are:
- • Does the design reflect the "personality" of our brand (e.g. bold, conservative, leading-edge, safe, sophisticated, intelligent, friendly)?
- • Will the design appeal to our target audience?
Special effects such as texture, transparency, typography and motion can enhance a design and provide a distinctive look—but these should be used carefully to enhance the user experience, not simply to "dress up" the site in ways that don't help the user, or worse, that make the site seem complex and confusing.
Information Architecture
Possibly the most critical element of website design, this is the "map" of your site: what information will be included, where, and how different areas of information be connected. And the single most important consideration in developing your information architecture is your audiences: your website shouldn't be about what information you want to provide, but rather about what information your key audiences want and need in order to engage with you.
The primary audience for most business websites is sales prospects. To determine their needs, first identify them as precisely as possible by title, role, industry and other attributes. Then put yourself in their shoes: why are they looking for information? What are their burning issues? What information do they need when they come to your site—at different stages in their buying process? How can you help move them through that process, and convert them into identifiable leads?
Secondary audiences may include existing customers, prospective employment candidates, investors, analysts (industry or financial), partners, and the media. Most of these groups are likely to have some information needs in common with your sales prospects, as well as some unique needs. Make sure your site meets the information needs of these audiences without detracting from the prospective buyer experience.
The output of this stage of the design process is an information architecture map, which may look something like this:
This information architecture map also serves as a guide for scoping out the work required to create the new site; establishing priorities; collecting any required images or website assets; and assigning content to writers.
Content should be developed using two primary guides: the information architecture map (what to write), and keyword research (how to write it). Keyword research helps to identify the specific phrases your prospects most commonly use when searching for your types of products and/or services, as well to determine which terms have the best potential for optimization.
Knowing the keywords and topics, writers should be able to develop content that answers the five key questions every business website needs to address:
- • Who are you?
- • What do you sell?
- • Who do you sell to?
- • Why are you the best?
- • How do I buy from you?
Once you've designed and developed a site that uses a search-friendly platform, is designed and written with your key audiences in mind, and answers the questions and potential concerns of your sales prospects , you have a site truly worth optimizing as the core of your web presence.
Review: Six Small Business CMS and Web Marketing SystemsMonday, August 29th, 2011
What's the best web content management system (CMS) for your small business? Should you look at something beyond a CMS—a web marketing system (WMS), that provides additional functions like customer relationship management (CRM) and email? There's no shortage of options, and the decision is an important one: you'll be "married" to the platform you choose for as long as your current site is up.
Content management systems are valuable tools for small businesses that 1) don't want to make a big investment in IT infrastructure, 2) don't have web development (HTML, CSS etc.) expertise on staff, and 3) want to be able to maintain their own web content (adding new pages, text and images) over time, without needing to learn web coding skills.
"Free" CMS options such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal have an obvious appeal (price) to small businesses, but none are cost-free. All require some level of technical expertise, and Joomla and Drupal particularly have steep learning curves. Low-cost, fee-based tools are generally more user-friendly, provide more features, and most importantly come bundled with support. For businesses looking beyond "free" tools, here are six CMS and WMS options that can help you get more sales and marketing productivity out of your website, while being easy on your web content contributors.
Keep in mind that all of these tools impose some design limitations; if you need a truly custom look and feel like these sites, your only option is to hire a professional web design and development firm. But if you can live within a template (and most of these tools do offer a respectable array of options), you can save thousands of dollars on design and coding costs.
CMS Only
These platforms offer website building and content management tools with hosting, but no "extras." If you are just looking to get a site up on the web and already have systems in place for CRM and marketing automation, these tools are worthy of consideration.
Pricing: $150-$600 per year ($12-$50 per month)
Squarespace is a generally well-regarded tool with reasonable design functionality for building natively search-optimized websites and blogs. It offers a solid set of features including site search, multiple permission levels for different types of contributors, a form-builder, and built-in analytics. The learning curve is far less daunting than most free CMS alternatives, and a strength of the tool is its mobile support. For anyone looking for an inexpensive, easy-to-use, basic website building and management tool,
Squarespace is definitely worth consideration.
UPDATE: After closer examination, SquareSpace is not worthy of consideration, due to weaknesses in search engine optimization, specifically:
- • Custom meta title tags for high-level pages are limited to 50 characters (even the most conservative SEOs recommend 65 characters for the title tag).
- • Meta title tags inside a section (e.g., "blog") will always begin with the section name. You can customize the section name, but you can't override the fact the all-important first few characters of every page title in that section will contain it.
- • You can't create custom meta description tags (!) which are essential in "selling the click."
- • The people behind SquareSpace seem to lack understanding of how SEO works. True, manipulative tactics don't work, but solid, white hat SEO is essential to getting a website ranked highly. Their information is both inaccurate and offensive to legitimate SEO professionals.
$240-$1200/year ($20-$100 per month)
Like the other tools listed here, LightCMS is low-cost, easy to use, search-optimized and provides tools like a forms builder. What sets it apart is better design flexibility than most of the alternatives, calendar tools and built-in ecommerce functionality. For developers and agencies, LightCMS also offers one of the most attractive partner programs. Considering all of its features, LightCMS is another shortlist-worthy tool for basic website creation, particularly for smaller B2C companies who want an easy-to-manage online store.
$300 per year ($25 per month)
Another website building option that includes extras like ecommerce functionality with credit card processing, and nightly backups. The site is a bit cheesy, but the functionality of the tool is solid. Solution Toolbox provides their own comparison of their system to Squarespace and LightCMS, but take it with a grain of salt; it's biased in their favor of course and some of the specifics are out of date (for example, Squarespace now includes a forms-builder). Still, for smaller consumer marketers who want to run an online store in addition to their basic website, this is worth a look.
Web Marketing Platforms
These suites combine CMS functionality with additional web marketing applications to provide more than just a website, but a complete online marketing software system.
$480 per year ($40 per month)
Business Catalyst combines the features of the products above—a CMS, forms builder, and ecommerce tools—with email marketing functionality and a basic CRM system. It provides respectable design flexibility and support for mobile devices. Though the product had issues in its original incarnation, Adobe has fixed many of these issues since acquiring it in late 2009 and continues to invest in product development. The catch? Business Catalyst isn't sold directly to users, only through web developers and agencies (though there are ways around this).
$2,400/year ($200 per month)
Genoo is a solid, easy to use tool, very strong on email marketing / marketing automation. It offers some of the best built-in SEO tools of any of these packages. Genoo doesn't provide native CRM functionality, but does have a pre-built integration to Salesforce.com. This is ideal for midsized companies with at least moderately sophisticated internal marketing resources who are already using a separate CRM system and are ready to graduate from hosted email marketing services. Genoo's offering includes training on how to use its lead-nurturing capabilities.
$1,800/year ($150 per month)
This is a complete web marketing package for smaller, non-ecommerce businesses. It provides a robust CMS for a website and blog along with native CRM, email marketing, and forms-building tools, as well as comprehensive strategy guidance for making all of the pieces work together. The ePROneur package uniquely combines hosting, software, services and strategy to help companies with limited resources effectively generate leads and revenue online. The web marketing resources section of the company's website also offers a wealth of free strategic and tactical web marketing information.
Any of the alternatives above can help small to midsize companies cost-effectively build and manage their web presence with no IT infrastructure and limited technical expertise. The key from there is to choose a platform whose strengths match up with your business type and needs. And also to investigate multiple options to determine which tool, and company, you are most comfortable working with.
FTC Disclosure: Webbiquity has no affiliate relationships with any of the vendors in this review.
12 of the Best WordPress Guides, Hacks and Plugins of 2010Thursday, February 10th, 2011
WordPress is no longer just the leading blog platform, but is now the most popular open-source CMS (content management system) as well. Among the many reasons for the popularity of WordPress: it's affordable, search engine-friendly, reasonably easy to use, and extensible through an incredible array of plugins.
Discover some great sources for free and reasonably-priced themes, essential plugins you may not be aware of, SEO tips, and other interesting techniques and hacks here in a dozen of the best WordPress guides of last year.
WordPress Themes and Plugins
31 Websites Where To Find Free HQ WordPress Themes by W3Mag
The English is broken but the list of free template sources, like Wp Mojo, eBlog Templates and ThemeLab is excellent.
20 Excellent Free WordPress 3.0 Themes by Blogfreakz
Another excellent selection of free themes, including Heliumified which has a nice Apple-like look and feel.
10 Free WordPress Themes for Small Businesses by American Express OPEN Forum
Zachary Sniderman highlights 10 interesting free themes, along with recommendations on how each could be used and optimized.
32 Essential WordPress Plugins I Use…And You Don't! by Andy Beal
An outstanding list of useful WordPress plugins from Andy Beal, author of Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online and the brain behind the Trackur social media monitoring tool.
25 Top WordPress Plugins You Should Know About by Ask WordPress Girl
Angela Bowman shares her "clean and simple list of the plugins I use most often on my WordPress sites" for SEO, feeds, forms, security, Twitter and more.
WordPress SEO
10 SEO Tips To Get Your WordPress Blog Ranking Highly In The Search Engines by SEOheap
Helpful guidelines on plugins, post titles, pages, permalinks and pinging improve the search engine rank of and increase search traffic to your WordPress blog.
8 Effective SEO Techniques Every WordPress Blogger Should Use by BloggingPro
Robyn-Dale Samuda offers guidance on navigation setup, image tagging, sitemaps, permalinks, plugins and more for search-optimizing a WordPress site or blog.
WordPress Tips, Techniques and Hacks
How I Create and Manage A WordPress Website by Graywolf's SEO Blog
Michael Wolf likes to use WordPress to create "magazine or newspaper style site(s)…(because) it's easier to administer, easier to get writers to upload and format their own content, and it has RSS and other social tools built in or that can be integrated very easily with plugins," and in this post explains his process for setting up a WordPress site from keyword research and "evergreen" content to design and backups.
The Comprehensive Guide for a Powerful CMS using WordPress – Part one: 101 Techniques for a Powerful CMS using WordPress by Noupe Design Blog
***** 5 Stars
A nicely crafted and illustrated reference to how to do a variety of things with WordPress from setting up a static home page and custom navigation bar to adding breadcrumbs and widgetizing a theme, footer and page menu.
5 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do with WordPress by Let's Do It!
Zeke Camusio shows that WordPress isn't just for blogging; it can also be used to build an e-commerce site, social network site, image gallery, email auto-responder system or message board.
Code to Create Custom Share Buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Delicious by B2B Online Marketing
If you want to make it easy for readers to share your blog posts socially—but find social media sharing tools such as ShareThis overkill because of the overwhelming number of options they present—here are simple code snippets to create custom sharing buttons for the most popular social networking sites.
35+ Most Essential WordPress Tricks and Hacks by Artatm
Ever wondered how to insert some standard text after each post? Automatically display each post's word count? Number your comments, or make author comments stand out? Learn how to do all of that and more in this outstanding list of WordPress tricks, categorized into Post Hacks, Comment Hacks, Tags,categories and Archives hacks, Search hacks and Other General Hacks.


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Special Events
Special events are usually larger, one-time events where the participation and spectators would be interested in staying around for the duration of the event. This may also include a new event that may be only offered upon request (i.e. Big Pink Volleyball).
Special intramurals and recreation events are held on and off campus, some competing with other schools locally or regionally. Oozeball, Battleship, NCCS Flag Football, Desert Cup and Summer Golf are some favorites.
To request a special event, contact the Program Coordinator for Intramural Sports, Special Events, and Sport Clubs, Steven Kinsey, 702-774-7128.
Volleyball in the mud! Oozeball is a fall tradition at UNLV. This year is the 25th Annual Oozeball Tournament and will be held on Friday, October 2, 2015. Teams compete in a day-long event that includes open pool play and single-game elimination. Participants will receive a t-shirt for playing. Lunch, DJ, refreshments, inflatable slides and twister were all part of this year's event. Pictures and videos can be found on our YouTube and Facebook pages. The tournament is a co-ed event that requires a minimum of 6 players: 3 men and 3 women. You can register at the SRWC front desk beginning August 24, 2015.
The recreational and competitive events offered by the Intramurals Sports program are available to students, staff and faculty at UNLV. Not all events are the same, and not all events are for every person. Review our policies and learn more about each below.
Rules and Registration
|Registration Form
|Video Preview
|View PDF
|Not available
|View on YouTube
|Big Pink Volleyball
|View PDF
|Not available
|Not available
(mud volleyball)
|View PDF
|View on YouTube
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Steven Kinsey
Program Coordinator for Intramural Sports, Special Events, & Sport Clubs
Jason Moran
Graduate Assistant for Intramural Sports, Special Events, & Sport Clubs
Brigette Sohn
Graduate Assistant for Intramural Sports, Special Events, & Sport Clubs


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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
© Copyright 2015 Albany Herald
ALBANY, Ga. -- The Albany State University Symphonic Band and the Albany Marine Band of the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command will perform in their ninth annual joint concert Thursday evening.
Formed in 1990, the Albany Marine Band is one of only 12 bands throughout the Marine Corps. Members spend much of their time performing across the country and abroad as musical ambassadors. In addition to their musical duties, these Marines are fully qualified in marksmanship, Marine combat training and physical fitness.
During the concert, the ASU Symphonic Band will perform "Punchinello" by Alfred Reed, "Incantation and Dance" by John Barnes Chance, Irish tune from "County Derry and Shepherd's Hey" by Percy Grainger, "Nabucco" by Giuseppe Verdi, March Medley: "The Vanished Army" by Kenneth Alford and "Americans We" by Henry Fillmore.
The ASU Symphonic Band consists of about 60 musicians conducted by Dr. Michael Martin and Jesse Walker. This band is one of several instrumental ensembles in the Department of Fine Arts.
Martin holds degrees from Kent State University and Youngstown State University. He is a professor of music education and music history.
Walker holds a bachelor's degree in instrumental music education from Florida A&M University, a master's degree in music education from Georgia State University and an educational specialist degree in music education from Troy University in Troy, Ala. Walker has taught band, choir and general music in the public schools of Southwest Georgia for more than 32 years. He also performed with the U.S. Army Band, Chorus Europe, and the Seventh Army Symphony during his military career.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in the ACAD Auditorium. There is no admission charge. For more information, contact the ASU Department of Fine Arts at (229) 430-4849.
More like this story
- Veterans Day events planned for Albany State University, Darton State College and Veterans Park ( November 10, 2014 )
- Darton Concert Band sets its fall concert ( November 21, 2012 )
- Marine band will be missed ( February 7, 2012 )
- Battle Color Detachment ceremony coming to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany ( February 17, 2015 )
- Darton concert band to present free fall concert ( November 17, 2012 )