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Mapumental just became self-service! Now you can order maps as images or data, right from the Mapumental website.
Mapumental creates maps that display transit time rather than distance. The results, showing time bands in an array of colours, are both useful and rather beautiful (see the example, right).
We've added new functionality so that you can download your maps direct – just go to www.mapumental.com and click the 'try it' button.
Once you've input a postcode and moved the slider bar to reflect the maximum travel time you want to display, you can go ahead and click on 'order this map', and choose parameters including direction of travel, zoom level, size and title.
Mapumental maps as data
Choosing the 'data' option will export your map as a 500m resolution GRASS ASCII raster, which can be imported directly into your preferred GIS software.
Mapumental maps as images
You may prefer to simply download the end product – a graphic image that you can save to your own hard drive and use in presentations or reports, on websites, or anywhere else you choose.
It's as easy as that
Payment is via a credit system: the more credits you buy, the cheaper each map is.
We hope you'll find the self-service Mapumental useful – we'd love to hear feedback about your experience using it, and how you utilise the resulting maps.
Don't forget that we can also create bespoke maps with your own data – get in touch to find out more.
Not many people realise that we fund a proportion of our charitable work by carrying our commercial development and consultancy work for a wide range of clients.
Last year, we scoped, developed and delivered a real variety of digital tools and projects. Some of the projects were surprising. Some of them made us gnash our teeth, a bit, as we grappled with new problems. But all of them (and call us geeks if you like) got us very excited.
Here are just twelve of our personal high points from last year. If you have a project that you think we might be able to help you with in 2015, we'd love to hear from you!
1. We Changed the Way in Which Parliament Does Digital
This time last year, a small team from mySociety was poring over analytics, interview content and assorted evidence from Parliament projects dating back last 2-3 years, to help us put together a simple set of recommendations to conclude our review.
11 months later, Parliament have announced their first Head of Digital, fulfilling one of our key recommendations.
2. We helped the MAS and the FCA protect financial consumers
Two of our projects helped people financially.
We built the Money Advice Service's (MAS) first responsive web application, the Car Cost Calculator.
This tool takes one simple thing you know (the car you wish to buy) and tells you roughly how much it'll cost to run that car against any others you might be interested in. It has been one of MAS' most successful online tools in terms of traffic and conversion.
We also built the Financial Conduct Authority's Scam Smart tool, aiming to prevent financial scams.
This tool helps users considering a financial investment to check a potential investment. Users enter information about the type of investment, how they heard about it and the details of the company offering it to them and get back tailored guidance and suggested next steps to help them ensure the investment is bona fide.
3. We Gave Power to the People of Panama (soon)
Working with the The National Authority for Transparency & Access to Information (ANTAI) and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), we set up our first government-backed instance of our Freedom of Information platform, Alaveteli, in Panama.
This project will ensure that Panama's FOI legislation is promoted and used, but it will also shine a light on ANTAI, who are responsible for ensuring ministries and organisations publish their information, and handling case appeals.
4. We Mapped All the Public Services in Wales
After we extended the Mapumental API to produce data output suitable for GIS (geographical information systems), the Welsh Government were able to map public services in Wales for their Index of Multiple Deprivation calculations.
Over the course of the year they have calculated travel times for over seventy thousand points of interest.
5. We Launched a New Organisation in Four Weeks
Simply Secure approached us in dire need of a brand, an identity and a website to accompany the launch of their new organisation to help the world build user-friendly security tools and technologies.
Cue four weeks of very intense work for mySociety's designer, supported by members of the commercial team. And we did it.
6. We Printed Stuff BIG (and found people jobs)
mySociety developer Dave Arter figured out how to generate A1 sized maps from Mapumental for every job centre in the UK – all 716 of them.
Xerox will be using these with the DWP to help job seekers find work that is within reach by public transport. As a byproduct, Mapumental now handles high-fidelity print based outputs: get in touch if that is of interest.
7. We Opened Up Planning Applications
With Hampshire County Council we had the opportunity to build a new application to help assist members of the public and business better understand what was happening around them. For us, it was also the first application in which we worked closely with a provider of a linked data store, in this case Swirrl.
When Open Planning goes live, it will look to help improve social engagement and the economy of Hampshire through better understanding and transparency of planning data.
8. We Proved (Again) That FixMyStreet Isn't All About Potholes
After a spate of cyclists' deaths in London last year, we felt that the moment was right to build something that would support cycle safety in the UK.
We launched Collideoscope on October the 7th with our first sponsor—Barts Charity, with the aim of generating data both on incidents involving cycles, and near misses.
9. We Helped Launch a Film
We built a tool for the British Museum, to go alongside the general release of Vikings Live. The Norse Names project brought a sense of context and personalisation to a dataset gathered by the University of Nottingham.
10. We Made Data More Exciting
In 2013, we built an interface to help people explore the data in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) data explorer for Passenger Focus.
This year, they asked us to build something similar for bus users. We're entering the final week of development now, and the finished product should be launched in March.
The main aim of this site? To take data that could be considered pretty dry, and make it a lot more engaging.
11. We Fixed Yet More Potholes
This year Warwickshire, East Sussex, Hart & Harrogate joined the list of councils using FixMyStreet as their main street fault reporting platform.
That means that residents of those places can now make their reports direct from their council's website, or via FixMyStreet, and either way they'll have all the benefits of FixMyStreet's smooth report-making interface.
12. We Showed Parliament the Way
And so, we end where we began. While Parliament were busy interviewing candidates for their new 'Head of Digital' position, we were commissioned to demonstrate what Hansard might look like were a platform like SayIt used instead of the largely print-based publishing mechanisms used today.
The result was shared internally. While SayIt may not be the end solution for Parliament, it's great to have had some input into what that solution might be.
And in 2015…?
Got a project that you'd like us to be involved in?
Get in touch and tell us about it.
Image credits:
Eggs: Craig Sunter; Parliament: Greg Dunlap; Bubble car: Allen Watkin; To the Trains: Nic McPhee; Potholes: Tup Wanders; Parliament Duncan Harris. All Creative Commons.
Mapumental can turn vast datasets into visual tools that everyone understands. Faced with highly complex, yet crucial data from the Fire Protection Association, we had a chance to really put our technology through its paces.
Just how quickly could fire engines reach a given postcode in case of a fire? It's a question that's pivotal to decisions made by both the emergency services and the insurance industry.
But previously, it has been a challenge to present the data simply, because it involves so many variables.
Every region has its own factors, each of which will impact on fire engine response time. The number of vehicles at each station, the hours during which the station is manned, and the response policy of each individual fire authority will all play a part – and that's before you even consider how geography might affect things.
Dr. Jim Glockling is Technical Director at the Fire Protection Association and Head of the Risk Insight, Strategy and Control Authority (RISCAuthority), an organisation for the advancement of risk management within the fire and security sectors. Jim approached mySociety with this question: how could we map this crucial, yet complicated data in a way that could be understood by RISCAuthority members at a glance?
It was clearly a job for Mapumental. Our transit-time mapping software was originally built to visualise public transport journey times, but its beauty is that 'layers' of data can be swapped out, allowing it to be used for all kinds of purposes.
Read more about mySociety's data visualisation services here.
Assessing a property or postcode
And here's the result of our pilot project. The maps on the right answer the following questions (click each image to see it at full size):
How quickly could 4 fire engines get to AL10 0XR ?
How does that change if the severity of the fire just requires one fire engine?
A user inputs a postcode, and can assess exactly how quickly a fire could be tackled in that area. The different levels of severity are measured by how many response vehicles are required, and changes in this number are immediately reflected on the map.
Assessing the general area
Which areas can four fire engines get to within 9 minutes 30 seconds at midday on a Saturday?
It's also possible to assess the region's overall response capability, without inputting a postcode. The user sets severity levels (number of fire engines, or High Volume Pumping or Aerial Appliance (ladder) is needed), the time and day of the week.
Where can an aerial appliance get to within 15 minutes at 2am on a weekday?
The FPA tool immediately highlights the areas that are accessible within the chosen parameters, drawing on the underlying data of journey times and information such as vehicle numbers and hours of operation for each individual fire station in the region.
Simplicity itself
With RISCAuthority, we tested the concept using data from one fire authority – Hertfordshire. mySociety's task was to create a usable, elegant web interface that was as simple as possible to use, while still giving insurers the key data they needed.
The project called on everything we knew about clean design, usability and data structures. A key part of what makes Mapumental's data visualisation so intuitive are its sliders: this enables the user to quickly explore variables on a map.
A tool with purpose
Dr Glockling explains: "Whilst not necessarily used as a component of insurance pricing, this information helps insurers administer risk control and fire protection advice to their customers in the context of what the Fire and Rescue Services will be able to achieve on their behalf."
The response time is just one factor that insurance surveyors will take into account when they are assessing a building. "Where response and arrival times are not coherent with protecting the viability of the business in the event of fire, additional forms of in-built protection and control might be recommended, such as the installation of sprinkler systems."
"In the longer term it is hoped such information will impact beneficially on the annual cost of fire in the UK."
The pilot tool was well received by the FPA community, and the plan is now to work with RISCAuthority to roll it out to more fire authorities shortly, and then nationwide.
Dr Glockling explains the pilot study helped them to understand two factors:
Would they get buy-in from both insurers and Fire and Rescue services on the viability and usefulness of the project?
Was it possible to present such a massive amount of data in a format that was readily palatable to the intended audience?
He says, "Mapumental's team displayed an immediate understanding of our requirement. Delivery was to time and the result has perfectly satisfied the de-risking ambition. The working relationships were very good throughout and we intend now to extend the pilot to full UK rollout."
During this phase, we will be inputting still more detail to the data, including information on the types of fire engine available to each region, and the plotting of fire stations on the map.
The tool will be a valuable resource for the FPA and the insurance industry, and we really look forward to the roll-out later this year.
Mapumental specialises in visualising complex geographic data sets on intuitive, easy to use map tools. If you have a data visualisation project that will benefit from Mapumental, just get in touch. Or read more about mySociety's data visualisation services here.
Photo by William Murphy (CC)
If you're searching for a new home, give Mapumental Property a try. lt narrows property results down, only showing you houses that fall within a decent commute time from the places you visit regularly – like work, school, or the shops. Here, have a go – it's fun.
Irritation is the mother of invention
Several years ago, some of our colleagues were looking for a house to rent.
They weren't set on a particular town. There were two important factors: that it was within a reasonable commute from central London, where they frequently attended meetings; and that the rent was affordable.
Faced with these requirements, most of us would sift through property sites and cross-reference the listings manually with public transport information. It's rather time-consuming, and slightly irritating, but hey-ho, it has to be done.
But mySociety is in the business of building useful web tools, so when something irritates us like this, we look to see if we can solve the problem through the magic of code. In a stroke of good timing, it was at just around this time that the Department for Transport approached us to ask us to work with their public transport data – and Mapumental was conceived.
Early days
The key was to combine Ordnance Survey postcodes with the DfT's data about journey times, NPTDR (National Public Transport Data Repository). This data set takes a 'snapshot' of every public transport journey in Great Britain for a selected week in October each year.
Sounds simple? The process was not without its challenges. Prime among them was the problem of displaying map tiles, plus the vast quantities of transport data, within a reasonable amount of time, no matter which postcode or zoom level the user chose. As we know, a 'reasonable amount of time' for a page to load is a metric which is forever shrinking.
By 2006, we had created Mapumental's first iteration. Users could input a postcode and see all areas of the country that could be reached by public transport, divided into coloured travel-time bands. In 2009, Francis Irving, the mySociety coder behind Mapumental's early endeavours, explained the technology he'd used. It was Flash-dependent, and a few years later, developer Duncan wrote about some of the technical hurdles he overcame replacing the Flash elements, in view of the rise of the iPhone, which famously doesn't 'do' Flash.
Hoorah! Now our colleagues could type in a central London postcode and see everywhere that fell within a 40-minute journey from there. It wasn't long before we added median house price data, too.
Beauty is in the eye of the crowd
We even added a 'scenicness' rating: if the beauty of your surroundings was important to you, you could rule out anywhere below a certain level of attractiveness.
How did we assess how scenic every area in the UK is? By crowdsourcing the information – our ScenicOrNot website displays a random photograph from every square mile of the British isles, inviting people to rate them. It is surprisingly compulsive.
A showcase tool
Mapumental may have been born from our own needs, but we knew from the beginning that it would have wider applications. It has always been the sort of project that got people excited, once they saw it in action.
We wanted to show how elegantly Mapumental can handle all kinds of data, starting with houses for sale and rent – so we developed Mapumental Property. It's not intended as a serious competitor to the giant property websites out there. Rather, it's an all-singing, all-dancing demonstration of Mapumental's strengths.
In this case, the data is from the property website Zoopla, and you can narrow it down to show rental or sales property within your chosen price bands and commute distances. You can even add multiple destination points, so that households of two or more people can find their optimum location.
Versatility rules
But Mapumental is not just about property: swap out that Zoopla layer, and you could put in anything else you can imagine – hospital locations, supermarkets, schools, job vacancies… you name it.
The beauty of Mapumental is that now we've done the really hard part, incorporating new data layers is relatively simple. Recent work for the Fire Protection Association and the Welsh Government, among others, has shown its versatility.
Now how about you?
We believe that Mapumental's possibilities are pretty much endless. Have you got an unloved, difficult-to-navigate dataset that Mapumental could breathe new life into? Or would your stakeholders benefit from being able to see your data displayed on a map? Let us know.
I am Duncan Parkes, a developer for mySociety, a non-profit full of web geeks. One of the things we try to do well here is to take complicated data and turn it into really usable tools – tools which are attractive to people who aren't web (or data) geeks.
For some considerable time I've been working on Mapumental – a project that is about turning public transport timetable data into pretty, interactive maps featuring isochrones, shapes that show people where they can live if they want to have a commute of a particular time. You can play with the new version we just launched here. That particular map shows the commuting options to where the Queen lives. Slide the slider for full effect.
There are a couple of hard problems that need solving if you want to build a service with an interactive journey times overlay like this. You need to be able to calculate a *huge* number of journeys extremely quickly, and you need to be able to make custom map layers so that it all looks nice. But what I think might be most interesting for you is the way in which the contours get rendered on top of the maps.
It all started about three years ago, when the first version of the app – co-developed with the geniuses at Stamen – used Flash/Flex to draw contours on the maps, and to let people play with them. You can still play with a couple of versions of that technology from way back in 2007, that is, unless you're using an iPad or iPhone, which of course don't do Flash.
Colour Cycling
What was going on inside this Flash app was as follows. We needed to show the user any one of hundreds of different combinations of journey times (5 minutes, 12 minutes, 56 minutes, etc) depending on where they set the slider. Sending each one from the server as a tiled map overlay would be dead slow. Even Google – who have chosen to send new tiles each time – end up with a service which is surprisingly slow (try choosing a different time on this map).
With some help from Stamen, we decided that the way of making it possible to show many different contours very quickly was send the client just one set of tiles, where each tile contained all the data for a variety of journey times. What does that mean? Simple: each colour in the tile represented a different number of minutes travelling on the map. So a batch of pixels that are colour X, all show places that are 15 minutes from the centre of the map.
So, in this old Flash system, when you slide the slider along, the Flash app makes some of the coloured pixels opaque, and the others transparent. It was, in short, a form of colour cycling, familiar to lovers of 8 and 16 bit computer games.
However, from about 2010 onwards, the march of iOS spelt the end of Flash. And that meant that we couldn't launch a shiny new site based on this technology, as lovely as it was. We had to work out some approach that would use modern web standards instead.
The Death of Flash Makes Life Difficult – for a while
How do we replicate the experience of dragging a slider and seeing the map change like in the original Mapumental demo, but without Flash? One of the things that made the original Mapumental nice to use was how smooth the image changes were when you dragged the slider. Speed really matters to create that sort of organic effect that makes the demo so mesmerising.
So as we started to tackle the question "How do we make this work in a post-Flash world?". And the first thought was "Let's do away with those map tiles, filled with all that journey time data!". After all – why send any tiles to a modern browser, if it can just render nice shapes on the fly?
So we had a go. Several goes. At first we tried rendering SVG circles around each public transport stop – but that was too slow, particularly when zoomed out. Then we tried rendering circles in Canvas, and whilst that was OK in sparsely populated places it sucked in the cities, where people would actually want to use it.
Back to Colour Cycling – Using Web Standards
So, we thought, why not look again at colour cycling the pixels within pre-rendered map tiles? After all, there are some examples out there, like this waterfall, all in Javascript.
So, I had a bit of a look at the waterfall. It seems to work by holding in memory a structure which has all the pixels which change and all the colours they should change to and when. This works beautifully for the waterfall picture, but only a limited number of the pixels in that image actually change colour, and the image is quite small. For a full screen web browser with a big map in, this didn't seem promising, although I'd love to see someone try.
Unfortunately, there is no way to change the palette of an image that you've put on the canvas. In fact, there's no way to change the palette of an HTML img element: all you can do is assign it a new src attribute.
But this gets back to the original problem – we don't want to download new mapping for every different position on the time slider. We definitely can't afford to have the client downloading a new image source for every tile whenever the slider is moved, so we had to find a way to make that src at the client end and get that into the src attribute.
The Breakthrough – Data URIs and Base64 encoding
So we started trying data URIs. For those of you not familiar, these allow you to put a whole object into your HTML or CSS, encoded in Base64. They're commonly used to prevent pages having to make extra downloads for things like tiny icons.
So I thought, "Here's a way we can set an image src in JavaScript to something we've calculated, rather than something we've downloaded." And this turned out to be the key insight that allows for the relatively smooth, attractive overlays you see in Mapumental today.
My new plan was that the client, having downloaded each palette-based image, would make a Base64 encoded version of it, which it could then use to build a version with the right palette and assign this as a data URI of the tile.
However Base64 encoding all these images in the JavaScript seemed like unnecessary processing to do there, so the final evolution of this technique was to do the Base64 encoding at the tile server end, and while we're at it, not to bother sending over the parts of the image that we always replace at the client end.
So in summary, what we built does this:
- The server calculates the journey times and renders them to palette-based tiles.
- It sends these to the client, encoded in Base64, and with the initial bits up to the palette and transparency chunks removed.
- At the client end, we have a pre-prepared array of 255 'starts' of PNGs that we combine with the later parts of the 'tiles' from the tile server to make data URIs.
- When you drag the slider it combines the appropriate 'start' of a PNG with the bulk of the tile that has been downloaded from the server, and assigns that to the src attribute of the tile.
And that's how the nice overlays on Mapumental work. But as so often in coding, the really interesting devil is in the detail – read on if you're interested.
Diving into Base64 and the PNG file format – The Gnarly Bits
So – why are there 255 of these 'starts' of these PNGs, and what do I mean by a 'start' anyway?
PNG files are divided up into an 8 byte signature (the same for every PNG file) and a number of chunks, where each chunk consists of 4 bytes to tell you its length, 4 bytes of its name, some data, and 4 bytes of cyclic redundancy check. In this case, what I call a 'start' of a PNG is the 8 byte signature, the 25 byte of the IHDR chunk, and the PLTE (palette) and tRNS (transparency) chunks. The PLTE chunk has 12 bytes of overhead and 3 bytes per colour, and the tRNS chunk has 12 bytes of overhead and 1 byte per colour.
Base64 encoding is a way of representing binary data in text so that it can be used in places where you would normally expect text – like URIs. Without going into too much detail, it turns groups of 3 bytes of binary gumpf into 4 bytes of normal ASCII text without control characters in it, which can then be put into a URI.
Why do we have 255 colours, rather than the maximum 256 which are available in a palette? Because we need the break between the end of the tRNS chunk and the start of the IDAT chunk in the PNG file to align with a break between groups of three bytes in the Base64 encoded image. We need the length of these starts to be a multiple of 3 bytes in the original PNG format, which translates into a multiple of 4 bytes in the Base64 encoded version, so we can cut and shut the images without corruption.
Which just goes to show that even though web GIS technologies may feel like they are approaching a zenith of high level abstraction, there's still some really gnarly work to be done to get the best out of current browsers.
If you've been following mySociety for a while, you'll know that we have been interested in making maps that show commuting times for several years.
However, we've never made public a simple, free, useful version of our slidy-swooshy Mapumental journey times technology. Until today.
Today we pull the wraps off Mapumental Property , a house-hunting service covering England, Scotland and Wales, designed to help you work out where you might live if you want a public transport commute of a particular maximum duration. Have a go, and we guarantee you'll find it an oddly compelling experience.
We think it's a genuinely useful tool – especially since unlike some of the other players in this space, we've got all the different kinds of public transport, right across the whole of Great Britain. We hope that some of you will find it helpful when deciding where to live.
However, this launch doesn't mean mySociety is bent on taking over the property websites sector. Mapumental Property isn't a challenger to the likes of Rightmove, it's a calling card – an advertisement for our skills – which we hope will help mySociety to attract people and organisations who want beautiful, useful web tools built for them.
In particular we'd like people interested in Mapumental to note that:
- We like to build attractive, usable web tools for clients of all kinds.
- We know how to use complex data to make simple, lovely things.
- We can do some mapping technology that others haven't worked out yet.
If any of that is of interest, please get in touch, or read about our software development and consulting services.
I'd like to thank quite a few people for helping with this launch. Duncan Parkes was the lead developer, Matthew Somerville ably assisted. Jedidiah Broadbent did the design. The idea originally came from the late Chris Lightfoot, and me, Tom Steinberg. Francis Irving built the first version, and Stamen came up with the awesome idea of using sliders in the first place (and built some early tech). Kristina Glushkova worked on business development, and Zoopla's API provides the property data. I'm also grateful to Ed Parsons of Google for very kindly giving us a hat tip when they built some technology that was inspired by Mapumental. Thanks to everyone – this has been a long time coming.
We'll follow up soon with a post about the technology – and in particular how we got away from using Flash. It has been an interesting journey.
After a great deal of hard work we are pleased to announce that Mapumental Property will be launching on the 8th of November 2012.
Mapumental Property uses public transport open data from across the country to show you areas you can live that are an acceptable commute from your office, school or other destination. We have data on buses, trains, trams, tubes – so we look into all the combinations that might help you get to work quickly.
We've built the site to solve a problem that these other big sites don't quite get right – commuting. Nobody likes to commute a minute further than strictly necessary. But in a world of complex public transport networks, especially in our big cities, it can be highly unclear where you might be able to live and still get to work in 30 minutes. Mapumental Property will help, and it works anywhere in Britain. It works in Aberdeen just as well as Shoreditch.
From next week people in Britain can easily see areas that are less than a specified amount of time away from a place of work, study or other importance, by public transport. So if you've ever thought "I wish I could see a map of everywhere less than half an hour's commute from this office", this is your answer.
Look for more updates next week!
It's high time we updated you on Mapumental, our journey-time mapping project. For those who may not remember, Mapumental is based on a simple idea: to visualise transit times, by public transport, from or to any postcode in Great Britain.
It all began in 2006, when the Department for Transport approached us to see what we might do with public transport data; in 2009 we won an investment loan from Channel 4 and Screen West Midlands which enabled us to build a beta tool – you might have played with it. If not, go on, have a go. It's fun!
It's been quite a long journey to where we are today. Unlike many mySociety projects, funding for Mapumental's development came from a commercial investment loan, with a condition that we set it up as a business. For that reason, it's not enough that it's beautiful and useful – we need to find ways for it to be profitable, too. All revenues are set to come back to fund our not-for-profit activities.
We could tell from very early on in the project that Mapumental would be a sought-after tool for all sorts of purposes, from business to personal use. For example, you can see commute times at a glance, so it's great for house-hunters and job-seekers. Consequently, it's also great for the property and recruitment industries.
"Your maps look amazing, such a great way of representing what could be really boring data, but isn't." – A jobseeker
We can see loads of other possibilities too – like urban planning. This sort of analysis would have been far more expensive in the past; with Mapumental, planners can see at a glance how accessible a new development would be by public transport. Its potential uses are wide-ranging, answering questions for businesses, organisations, charities, and public facilities – especially those wanting to maximise accessibility or encourage use of greener transport options.
"The maps are a fantastic, a great tool and should be used for every planning application. I will be using Mapumental for all of our projects!" – Lee Taylor, Veridis Design
We've recently refined a product that's pared down from the dynamic maps you may remember from that beta tool: static maps. These are simple, non-interactive maps which show transit time in bands. They're flexible in that they can be generated for any postcode, with any maximum travel time, and depict travel at any given time of day.
We can provide a one-off map for personal use, or batches of many thousands of maps – as we have done for estate agents Foxtons, who now have a Mapumental map on every property listing.
As we generate more and more maps for different uses, showing different parts of the country, we're really enjoying digging out all sorts of surprising facts – like how it's quicker to travel from Watford to Westminster than it is from some parts of Harringay. Or how Cardiff University students might sensibly live at all points east as far as Newport, but will be stymied for transport in the west if they live anywhere other than Barry or Bridgend.
In fact, our very favourite use so far has come from an individual who centred his map around his home postcode. He tells us he has printed it off and put it up by the front door, so that on his way out of the house, he can find a new and surprising destination for day-trips.
Find out more on the Mapumental website – and please do spread the word among friends and colleagues who might benefit from a Mapumental map.
This project became Mapumental. Please visit that site for details of our travel-time maps services.
The work was funded and supported by the Department for Transport.
We released our new service yesterday, which allows anyone to order personalised travel commuter maps for any location in Great Britain. Those of you who've followed this project for a while might be interested to know how we came to take this route.
Having finished working on the backend and hosting infrastructure of the Mapumental technology last year, we started thinking about the products that should be built with it. To help us work this out, we talked to lots of people in sectors where journey times matter a lot: residential and commercial property, job search, tourism and public services. What we found is that while everyone loved the dynamic location search technology, there were many situations when people wanted to have a simple static map of commuting times.
We heard that these maps would be useful to individuals looking for jobs or property – but also organisations, from property sites to providers of public services, businesses and entertainment venues who'd like a map to put on their website and brochures, or to use in internal analysis.
At first we were surprised, but the more we thought about it, the more sense it made. Our search tool, which we are currently working on updating, serves a different purpose: it shows a combination of search criteria, including travel times, and lets the user play with different parameters interactively. But it did not provide a simple snapshot of travel times for a location, divided in bands which are very helpful in assessing commuting times. So we set out to make the map image service, which is what we launched yesterday.
This was not particularly straightforward to make, and there were many things to consider: how exactly should the shop work, and what should it offer people? We have settled on four core options for the standard maps: total time mapped, direction of travel (whether the location is where one arrives at, or departs from), arrival or departure time, and custom map title. These maps are really easy to order from the website, and we can make them very quickly.
Online ordering works really well for small quantities, but is not ideal for high-volume clients. So we also created a new API – a URL fetcher which allows to create maps in high quantities, as and when needed. These maps can be fully customised, from the choice of colours to number of bands and zoom levels.
The the very first user of our API is Foxtons, the estate agent, who added commuter maps to their property listings last week. It is suitable for any property, jobs or hotels site who hold location information (postcodes, or latitude and longitude) for their listings. The API can equally be used by those needing maps for internal purposes, such as city planners, public services and businesses with multiple branches.
We are really excited that the service has gone live, and we hope that it helps people and organisations in all sorts of ways. A big thank you to Channel 4 and Screen West Midlands, who have provided the commercial investment to enable the development of Mapumental technology and the new service.
If you have any feedback or comments, we'd love to hear them.
Sample map: travel times to Wembley Stadium
We're delighted to announce that leading London estate agent Foxtons has become the first property player to use Mapumental maps on its website. Visitors to Foxtons.co.uk will now see that every property listed includes a travel time map, highlighted in Foxtons' brand colours.
Foxtons, whose website just won an award for Best Interface Design at the 2011 International Business Awards, were quick to see the value of travel time maps for house-hunters. Thousands of listings now display a simple, beautiful, map showing how long a commute to work or visit to friends will take on public transport – vital pieces of information to consider when looking for a new home.
The property sector is not the only area of business that stands to benefit from Mapumental's ground-breaking mapping technology. Mapumental is already talking to major players in the travel industry and recruitment sectors. Virtually any business that needs to show users how much time it takes to travel to or from a given spot will find these maps very valuable.
One of Mapumental's core strengths is its flexibility when it comes to volume – it can provide anything from a single map at a great price to tens of thousands at a significant volume discount.
The service utilises travel-time mapping technology developed by mySociety, drawing journey data from the NPTDR dataset. The same data also drives mySociety's newest project FixMyTransport.com, which launched just last week, and covers all modes of public transport within GB.
For the maps service, our algorithm calculates journey times from any given point (postcode or latitude and longitude) to every other point in Great Britain. These journey times are displayed as a heatmap, on a background from OpenStreetMap.
Foxtons has made use of the new Mapumental API which enables clients to define the maps' appearance precisely according to their company preferences. Parameters for choice include:
- maximum travel time
- number of time bands to show
- colour scheme
- the direction of travel (to or from the chosen location)
- target arrival or departure time
- other information (such as title and legend) that goes on the map.
The image is then automatically created and can be published on a website and/or included in printed materials. Website owners can publish the maps themselves, or we can create bespoke integration solutions for them..
To find out more about how Mapumental might work for you, please drop us a line.
Here are some samples of our maps:
Travel times from a residential development in Sevenoaks, departing at 7am
Travel times from St Pancras Reneissance Hotel, departing at 8am
Travel times to reach Cardiff University by 10am


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Nathalie Carter Movies and Career Information
- Movies Written by Nathalie Carter
- Love Crime (Crime d'amour) 2011
- Secrets of State (Secret Defense)
Although updated daily, all theaters, movie show times, and movie listings should be independently verified with the movie theatre.
Contact mrmovietimes.com for information or comments. Please read the mrmovietimes.com Privacy Policy and terms of use. Enjoy the movie!
Copyright © 2016 Movie Times, Inc. Site Map | Google+

subset: commoncrawl


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A medical emergency can occur anytime, or anywhere. If you are prepared with training and certification in basic First Aid and CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), your assistance can be the difference between life and death!
If you don't currently have these skills, pledge to get this invaluable training through the Red Cross or an area school or hospital.
Problem on this page? Briefly let us know what isn't working for you and we'll try to make it right!


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Point: Innovation tournaments can be run either competitively or collaboratively, with each approach yielding better results for different purposes.
In his second book, Best Practices are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition, (named the 2011 best book on innovation by CEORead) innovation speaker Stephen Shapiro offers 40 tips on how to innovate efficiently. His tip #11, for example, tackles the topic of innovation competitions and tournaments. The tip focuses on what role, if any, collaboration should play in these bounty-driven events.
Innovation tournaments can be run either competitively or collaboratively, Shapiro says. In a competitive tournament, such as ones run by Cisco and LG Electronics, no participant can see rivals' submissions. In a collaborative tournament, such as GE's Eco-Imagination challenges, anyone can see a submission and comment on or vote on the entry. The Netflix Prize and X Prize use a hybrid version, running the tournaments as competitions for prizes but allowing for collaboration within each submission.
Which approach generates the best solutions? Collaborative tournaments work best in areas where problems require "cumulative knowledge" or "building on best practices," Shapiro says, citing research by Kevin Boudreau and Karim Kakhani in the Sloan Management Review. The collaborative approach lets players build on to each other ideas and create more refined ideas based on feedback from other participants.
Competition, in contrast, is most effective when the problem requires broad experimentation with an emphasis on truly new ideas rather than refined ideas The competitive aspect means that many different ideas are pursued simultaneously.
Whereas collaboration enjoys the benefits of players influencing each other, competition enjoys the benefits of players being independent of each other, thereby avoiding problems like group think, which might artificially narrow the ideas along the basis of the first idea suggested. In some cases, a hybrid approach will use competition in phase one of the tournament to gather a lot of ideas and then use collaboration during a second phase to flesh out and refine the most promising ideas.
- Hold an innovation tournament to access the innovative energies of suppliers, customers, and smart people from around the world.
- Use a collaborative tournament if you need ideas that are cumulatively built and more carefully refined by the players.
- Use a competitive tournament if you want a wider range of "left-field" ideas and plan to do your own refinement or hold a two-stage contest in which the second stage refines the ideas of the first.
Don't miss an article (3,900+) – Subscribe to our RSS feed and join our Innovation Excellence group!
Author of more than 450 company case studies and contributor to 28 books, Andrea Meyer writes & ghostwrites about innovation, IT and strategy for clients like MIT, Harvard Business School, McKinsey & Co., and Forrester Research. Follow her at www.workingknowledge.com/blog and twitter.com/AndreaMeyer.


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Isaac Ben Hagins
Position: WR
Height: 5-9 Weight: 179 lbs.
Born: March 2, 1954 in Shreveport, LA
High School: C.E. Byrd
College: Southern (school history)
Drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the 9th round (262nd overall) of the 1976 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 11 (6880th overall since 1950)


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Armanti Fredrico Edwards (twitter: @ArmantiEdwards)
Position: QB
Height: 5-11 Weight: 191 lbs.
Born: March 8, 1988 in Greenwood, SC
High School: Greenwood
College: Appalachian St. (school history)
Drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the 3rd round (89th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 1 (13070th overall since 1950)


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While the battle continues for winners medals, safety from relegation, promotion to the Premier League, the conclusion of the Sky Bet League One is shaping up to be one of the most exciting finishes to a season ever. The finale of last season was something to behold, Brentford's missed penalty in the last minute causing them to miss out on automatic promotion was one of the most memorable moments in Football League history. Dramatic events such as these are likely to occur on a regular basis this year as teams get tenser as they gradually edge (or go further away) towards their goals. But who is likely to get promoted and relegated this season?
Wolverhampton Wanderers are looking more likely by the week to at least secure promotion back to the Championship after their shock relegation last season. Since their last slip-up back in December where they were shocked by MK Dons, Wolves have not panicked and are unbeaten since that defeat. The manner in which they have beaten teams have been somewhat convincing, which is what you would expect from a team that was in the Premier League two years ago. Meanwhile, the battle for the other automatic spot has mainly been between Leyton Orient and Brentford, who have had a little blip of late which followed a fantastic run of form which saw them go 19 games without defeat. Despite this, Brentford have two games in hand on their London rivals Leyton Orient. If Brentford go on another streak of unbeaten games, they will be sure to get an automatic promotion place this time! Although the Bees will be hoping for their fate to be sealed before the final game after last seasons events!
Now, arguably there is about 12 teams that could feasibly be relegated. Despite being in a relatively safe position of 12th, the likes of Coventry City will be sure to know that they will need another few wins to keep them away from getting into a relegation battle after such a tumultuous season. A certainty for relegation would unfortunately have to be Notts County. After having a mini revival under the guidance of manager Shaun Derry, the Magpies have now lost 6 out of their last 7 games and that kind of form will be of no help as the season draws to a close. Meanwhile, Stevenage have a little hope after a small upturn in form where they are now unbeaten in 3, however if their form decreases then they will be certainties to face the drop. I am going to stick my head out and say that Colchester United and Gillingham are my favourites to join Stevenage and Notts County to League Two because both teams have endured an awful run of results of late.


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Brian Forrester, the University of Akron Throws Coach, shows you a drill that takes all of the concepts and drills, and combines them to challenge the athlete. Coach Forrester explains that the more advanced the athlete, the more advanced the drill can be.
Setup: The athlete starts in the beginning position for the shot put in the ring. The coach tells the athlete a specific position or drill. The athlete listens to the coach, and quickly accomplishes the drill. This is a good drill to simulate the reaction time a thrower has in competition.
This video came from Championship Productions' DVD The Big Throws System. To view more track & field videos from America's top coaches and athletes, click here.
We have recently released two Track & Field DVDs to work on your throws. These videos contain instruction from some of the best throwing coaches around. Become more powerful to increase the distance of your athletes' throws in future meets.
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Strong Field Awaits Men's Tennis at Blue Gray
Seven ranked opponents will await the Princeton men's tennis team at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic this weekend in Montgomery, Ala.
Princeton, ranked No. 60, will join (11) Mississippi State, (21) Clemson, (28) Auburn, (36) Alabama, (37) VCU, (41) Boise State and (55) Texas Tech.
The Tigers will open play against Clemson at 2:30 p.m. ET Friday, followed by either Boise State or Alabama Saturday and Mississippi State, Auburn, VCU or Texas Tech Sunday.
Princeton has faced six of the other seven teams in the field at some point in program history, but Mississippi State is the only opponent that any of the current Tigers have faced. The Bulldogs took a 4-0 win from Princeton to open the 2012 season at the ITA Kick-Off event site at Texas A&M. Mississippi State is also the alma mater of current Princeton coach Billy Pate, who took over the team last season.
Against Clemson, Princeton has a 3-7 all-time record with the last meeting coming in 2008, a 4-3 Tiger win in Clemson. Should Princeton face Boise State, it'd be the first meeting between the schools, and should Princeton face Alabama, it'd be the third meeting in a series that Alabama leads 2-0 with the most recent meeting in 2007. Alabama is where Pate spent 10 seasons as the program's head coach from 2002-12 prior to coming to Princeton.
Princeton is 0-1 all time against Auburn, with that meeting coming in 1990, and 5-3 against Auburn's first-round opponent, Texas Tech, with the last meeting coming in 1995. The Tigers are 0-2 all-time against VCU, most recently meeting in 2009, and 0-1 against Mississippi State, with the 2012 contest as the only meeting in that series.
Princeton will enter the weekend with a 6-1 dual-match record after starting 5-0 for the first time since 1979 before taking its first loss to Columbia to open the ECAC Tournament. Princeton rebounded with a win over George Washington last Sunday.
Rookies Josh Yablon and Alex Day are among Princeton's leaders in singles wins in the dual-match season, with Yablon going 6-1 so far and Day 5-1. Senior Augie Bloom is the only Tiger to have appeared in a singles dual and still be undefeated, putting together a 5-0 record between fourth and fifth singles. On the doubles courts, seniors Bloom and Dan Davies are 6-1 with freshmen Yablon and Tom Colautti at 5-0.
Following the matches, Princeton will return home for two weekends of matches against Buffalo and Stony Brook on March 1 and Penn State and Denver on March 8 and 9. The Ivy League season will begin March 29 at Penn.


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Sep 24, 2012 8:55 AM
The faux leather beneath the elegant overlay on the Lime Green Filigree Cuff ($23) is pretty spot-on traffic safety green. If somebody starts veering towards us on our way home from the bar, we'll just flash our accessories at them.
If you've got a product or service that you'd like to promote on Outblush, click here to find out about our advertising opportunities.
Outblush is a blog for girls who love to shop. Our staff digs up the best clothes, home stuff, beauty items, and more. New items are posted every day — bookmark us and check out:


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March 11, 2013
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Sophomore guard Levi Randolph has been selected to the 2013 Southeastern Conference's Community Service team, it was announced on Monday afternoon by the league office.
Randolph's community service has included his participation in summer long clean-up projects from the April 27, 2010 tornado in the Holt community. He also assisted in Sarrell Dental free basketball camp for under-privileged children and with Halloween Extravaganza for young children for two straight years.
In addition to giving back to the community, Randolph is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Earlier this year, he was selected to the 2013 CoSIDA/Capitol One Academic First Team All-District Team and has made the Dean's List every semester during his college career.
The annual award handed out from the league office recognizes the accomplishments of student-athletes beyond the field of competition.
This marks the 15th year for the SEC Community Service Team for men's basketball as well as for women's basketball. All 20 league-sponsored sports have had a Community Service Team since 2004, with at-large teams for men's and women's sports being chosen from 1999-2003.
2013 SEC Community Service TeamLevi Randolph - AlabamaKikko Haydar - ArkansasJosh Wallace - AuburnPatric Young - FloridaJohn Florveus - GeorgiaNerlens Noel - KentuckyAndre Stringer - LSUNick Williams - Ole MissTyson Cunningham - Mississippi StateLaurence Bowers - MissouriBrian Richardson - South CarolinaKenny Hall - TennesseeJarod Jahns - Texas A&MEric McClellan - Vanderbilt


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Systemic Sclerosis
Wnt/β-catenin signaling is hyperactivated in systemic sclerosis and induces Smad-dependent fibrotic responses in mesenchymal cells
Version of Record online: 27 JUL 2012
DOI: 10.1002/art.34424
Copyright © 2012 by the American College of Rheumatology
Arthritis & Rheumatism
Volume 64, Issue 8, pages 2734–2745, August 2012
Additional Information
How to Cite
Wei, J., Fang, F., Lam, A. P., Sargent, J. L., Hamburg, E., Hinchcliff, M. E., Gottardi, C. J., Atit, R., Whitfield, M. L. and Varga, J. (2012), Wnt/β-catenin signaling is hyperactivated in systemic sclerosis and induces Smad-dependent fibrotic responses in mesenchymal cells. Arthritis & Rheumatism, 64: 2734–2745. doi: 10.1002/art.34424
Publication History
- Issue online: 27 JUL 2012
- Version of Record online: 27 JUL 2012
- Accepted manuscript online: 10 FEB 2012 04:39PM EST
- Manuscript Accepted: 2 FEB 2012
- Manuscript Received: 8 SEP 2011
Funded by
- NIH. Grant Number: AR-42309
- Scleroderma Research Foundation
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Fibrosis in human diseases and animal models is associated with aberrant Wnt/β-catenin pathway activation. The aim of this study was to characterize the regulation, activity, mechanism of action, and significance of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in the context of systemic sclerosis (SSc).
The expression of Wnt signaling pathway components in SSc skin biopsy specimens was analyzed. The regulation of profibrotic responses by canonical Wnt/β-catenin was examined in explanted human mesenchymal cells. Fibrotic responses were studied using proliferation, migration, and gel contraction assays. The cell fate specification of subcutaneous preadipocytes by canonical Wnt signaling was evaluated.
Analysis of published genome-wide expression data revealed elevated expression of the Wnt receptor FZD2 and the Wnt target LEF1 and decreased expression of Wnt antagonists DKK2 and WIF1 in skin biopsy specimens from subsets of patients with diffuse cutaneous SSc compared to the other distinct subsets. Immunohistochemical analysis showed increased nuclear β-catenin expression in these biopsy specimens. In vitro, Wnt-3a induced β-catenin activation, stimulated fibroblast proliferation and migration, collagen gel contraction, and myofibroblast differentiation, and enhanced profibrotic gene expression. Genetic and pharmacologic approaches were used to demonstrate that these profibrotic responses involved autocrine transforming growth factor β signaling via Smads. In contrast, in explanted subcutaneous preadipocytes, Wnt-3a repressed adipogenesis and promoted myofibroblast differentiation.
Canonical Wnt signaling was hyperactivated in SSc skin biopsy specimens. In explanted mesenchymal cells, Wnt-3a stimulated fibrogenic responses while suppressing adipogenesis. Taken together, these results indicate that Wnts have potent profibrotic effects, and that canonical Wnt signaling plays an important role in the pathogenesis of fibrosis and lipoatrophy in SSc.


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In past years the New Orleans Saints have been known for their prolific offense with Drew Brees in control, but Erik Frenz writes that the Saints' defense is now taking some of the spotlight.
The news keeps getting worse for the Falcons. Wide receiver Julio Jones has suffered a foot injury that could have him out for the season, Jay Glazer is reporting.
One yard and a good enough push from the Falcons offensive line on fourth-and-goal at the end of the first half is all that stood between them and a victory over the New York Jets on Monday night, Vaughn McClure writes.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Falcons coach Mike Smith justifies decision to go for it and not kick a field goal at the end of the second quarter, but after the 30-28 loss Monday night he concedes he probably should have taken the three points, D. Orlando Ledbetter reports.
Associated Press
Recently cut quarterback Josh Freeman is excited about his new opportunity with the Minnesota Vikings.
Tampa Tribune
Bucs sign former Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers to a free agent deal, Roy Cummings reports.
After missing two weeks with a staph infection in his toe, left guard Carl Nicks used the bye week to work on conditioning and to study playbook while his teammates take took it easy, Roy Cummings writes.
Charlotte Observer
Wide receiver Steve Smith believes it poor officiating and not Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson that held him back during the Panthers loss, Joseph Person reports.
The Panthers already injury-riddled offensive line took another blow Sunday when left guard Amini Silatolu suffered torn ACL and MCL and will miss the remainder of the season, Jonathan Jones reports.


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Rapidly chill your wort in a short amount of time. The wort chiller has garden hose fittings to allow you to easily attach it to a spigot and run cool water through the coil. The water will be hot when it exits out the other side so be careful not to touch it and make sure it is securely fastened into the sink if using the chiller inside your home. The wort chiller can cool your wort from boiling to around 75 degrees in about 24 minutes.
The chiller is approximately 7" to the top of the coils, 9.5" in diameter and 15.5" to the top of the chiller. The copper tubing can be easily bent to allow you to fit the coil in your kettle but be careful not to kink the copper.
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Miss Ruth's Cottage
Miss Ruth's Cottage is located on the poplar Lakeview Dr between Seminole State Park and Ray's Lake on the Fish Pond Drive area of Lake Seminole. Skiing, fishing, and hunting is only minutes away from boat house. A canal takes you to th
Water's is a spacious 3 bedroom 2 bathroom waterfront home with game room and hot tub on the screened porch. This home is located on the Fish Pond Drain in Lake Seminole on Clearwater Dr. It is just south of the Seminole State Park. You can ski or
Stephen's Clearwater
This waterfront home is located on Clearwater Dr on Fish Pond Drain south of the Seminole State Park. Fishing and watersports can be done right in front of dock. It is in a centralized location for all activities Lake Seminole provides.
The Lane's Retreat
This is a nice brick home with 2 bedrooms with king size beds, living room with satilite tv, sitting room, treadmill on sunroom facing the lake, kitchen, washer/dryer, and everything you need for a wonderful trip.
Cumming's Beauty, Lake Seminole, Ga
This waterfront fully furnished home is located just north of Cumming's Landing on Fish Pond Drain. It is minutes from Seminole State Park, the Flint River, and the Big Water of Lake Seminole.
This is a 3 bed 3 bath that sl
Dollar Bill, Reynoldsville Ga
This cozy 2 bedroom 1 bathroom has a huge living room area and is fully furnished. It sleeps up to 6 people. There is a nice dock with enough room for 2 boats to be covered, there is also 2 separate fishing areas on the dock. This part of the lake


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Leanna Decker Naked On The Roof
May 31, 2012 | Playboy Cybergirls, Leanna Decker | 5 Comments
Leanna Decker returns to her rightful place in front of the camera. She proves that she is fully worthy of her Playboy Cybergirl of the Year title. One look at her in this pictorial and you will be immediately spellbound.
There is something about this sultry redhead that sparks with untamed sexuality whenever she looks into the lens. She radiates sensual heat and once those decadent breasts are released, nothing else in the world seems to exist. She will suspend you in your want of her.
Leanna treats us all to her hot curves as she strips out of her black lingerie and puts her remarkable nudity on unabashed display.
See all of Leanna Decker's nude pics inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Monika Leszczynska Playboy International Model
May 30, 2012 | Playboy International Models, Monika Leszczynska | 4 Comments
We readily admit that we have no idea how to pronounce the last name of Playboy International Model, Monika Leszczynska, but she leaves us so speechless with her beauty that it really doesn't matter.
This gallery is genius at work. Putting the busty blonde babe from Poland outdoors and having her go nude in nature is nothing shy of spectacular and seeing her get that decadent physique wet is absolutely wondrous. The water running off of her thighs looks like the perfect way to quench thirst.
Monika Leszczynska Bio
Measurements: 35C-25-34
Height: 5′ 3″
Weight: 104 lbs
Birthplace: Zielona Gora, NA
Birthday: November 7, 1982
See all of Monika Leszczynska's nude pics inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Join Monika Leszczynska at Playboy
Andrea Sadia Alluring Playboy Amateur
May 29, 2012 | Playboy Amateurs | 4 Comments
Although petite Andrea Sadia has an exotic look, she is actually a native of San Diego and a very enticing California girl.
Posing as a Playboy Amateur, the dark-eyed dream girl invites you to join her in bed as she peels her perfect natural body free of black bra and thong panties.
Small breasts and round butt are brought into view and you will not want to tear your eyes away from the magnificent nude display.
Andrea Sadia Bio
Measurements: 32B-24-34
Height: 5′ 1″
Birthplace: San Diego, CA
Birthday: March 12, 1991
See more of Andrea Sadia nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Joy Glass Shows Off Her Spanish Curves
May 28, 2012 | Playboy Cybergirls, Joy Glass | 2 Comments
Cybergirl Joy Glass has gorgeous assets. Her sultry dark eyes and voluptuous breasts are nothing shy of spellbinding. She is an erotic enchantress.
This gallery features the shapely goddess undressing from black bra and thong panties in the bedroom. She exposes her figure in the buff while meandering around the room and positioning herself for your visual pleasure.
Born in Madrid, Spain and now taking up residence in the fantasies of men every where, Joy is exactly what you need to get you in a good mood.
Joy Glass Bio
Measurements: 36C-25-35
Height: 5′ 3″
Birthplace: Madrid, Spain
Birthday: April 1, 1985
Get more of Joy Glass nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Playboy Coed Audrey Nicole Undresses Her Perfect Body
May 27, 2012 | Playboy Coeds, Audrey Nicole | 20 Comments
Playboy Coed, Audrey Nicole, describes herself as being fun, open-minded, and a dreamer, but she left out the most obvious… she is drop dead gorgeous!
A fit brunette with a body to build fantasies on, Audrey steps in front of the camera and begins peeling off her bra and underwear.
The sight of her big firm boobs will steal your breath away, and those rock hard nipples poke out like a naughty bonus. Audrey even unveils her smooth pussy for you to appreciate.
See all of Audrey Nicole's nude pics inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Sarah Pipkin Playboy Cybergirl May 2012
May 26, 2012 | Playboy Cybergirls, Sarah Pipkin | 7 Comments
Once again, Playboy has found a stunning beauty to pose as one of their Cybergirls and sweet Sarah Pipkin is not only a natural in front of the camera but also natural in body.
Her beautiful soft breasts are free of her top and fondled by her hands as you get the opportunity to caress her with your eyes. She provocatively positions her perfect nude body for you to enjoy. She is unapologetic in her erotic display.
Sarah Pipkin Bio
Measurements: 34D-25-35
Height: 5′ 4″
Weight: 115 lbs
Birthplace: Katy, Texas
Birthday: November 11, 1989
See more of Sarah Pipkin nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Jessica Workman Shows Her Busty Naturals at the Pool
May 25, 2012 | Playboy Cybergirls, Jessica Workman | 9 Comments
Jessica Workman has a bright, happy smile and peppy demeanor. That is just what we would expect of a former high school cheerleader and seeing the Cleveland, Ohio cutie posing nude definitely motivates us.
This pictorial has Jessica pulling her top off over her pretty brunette head and unveiling her delectable set of all-natural 34D breasts. Good genetics have really blessed the babe with assets other women would pay good money to have.
Continuing her strip at the pool, Jessica loses her panties and walks nude into the water.
See more of Jessica Workman nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Join Jessica Workman at Playboy
Leanna Decker Playboy Cybergirl of the Year 2012
May 24, 2012 | Playboy Cybergirls, Cybergirl of the Year, Leanna Decker | 13 Comments
Leanna Decker is the Playboy Cybergirl of the Year for 2012. Our BUSTY redhead from Kentucky beat off a bevy of beauties to take the crown held by Bethanie Badertscher last year. Keep your eyes fixed on the Playboy Cyberclub for the amazing pictorials and videos that are on the way, just check out how smoking hot Leanna is looking in these brand new pictures. Her small top can't contain her big boobies and a healthy showing of underboobage is on show, before her puppies get the full release they are looking for! Once the panties find their way to the floor, you can admire Leanna Decker's all natural sizzling body!
Leanna Decker Bio
Measurements: 34DD-24-35
Height: 5′ 4″
Weight: 110 lbs
Birthplace: Ashland, KY
Birthday: August 31, 1991
See more of Leanna Decker nude at the Playboy Cyberclub.
Shelby Chesnes Announced as Miss July 2012
May 24, 2012 | Playboy Playmates, Shelby Chesnes | 8 Comments
Shelby Chesnes has been confirmed as the Playboy Playmate for July 2012, in the double Playmate edition of Playboy Magazine for July / August. Shelby is an all natural busty 21 years old beauty hailing from West Palm Beach, Florida. At 5′ 2″, 100 lbs, Shelby has a smoking hot body which we will get to see naked very soon! In the meantime enjoy these non nude pictures, and you can follow Shelby on twitter @ShelbyChesnes
Join Playboy to see Shelby Chesnes Nude
May Andersen Playboy Magazine May 2012
May 23, 2012 | Playboy Special Features, May Andersen | 4 Comments
If you are wondering where you have seen beautiful May Andersen before, then perhaps Victoria's Secret and Sport's Illustrated will ring a bell. Now thanks to Playboy, you can finally see the hot bodied blonde in even less than lingerie or a bikini!
A 5'10" object of desire, May was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and her alluring good looks have since taken her to world wide success.
These images show the busty blonde as she shares the view of her big breasts outside in the sunlight. From the water of the pool to the dry ground of the outdoors, she is every thing you've fantasized that she would be.
May Andersen Bio
Measurements: 32C-24-34
Height: 5′ 10″
Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark
Birthday: June 16, 1982
See all of May Andersen nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Coed Casey Connelly Shares Her Lovely Shape
May 23, 2012 | Playboy Coeds, Casey Connelly | 6 Comments
Casey Connelly is a coed from Arizona with a body so hot that it just has to be shared. With the help of the camera, she makes that happen and you will not be at all disappointed.
The busty brunette poses for these pictures outside while her clothes come off and the breeze caresses her bare skin. Those luscious breasts and firm nipples are unforgettable.
Casey Connelly Bio
Measurements: 34D-24-36
Height: 5′ 7″
Weight: 123 lbs
Birthplace: Kingman, Arizona
Birthday: January 28, 1987
See more of Casey Connelly nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Join Casey Connelly at Playboy
Playboy Magazine May 2012
May 22, 2012 | Playboy News | Post A Comment
In the May 2012 issue of Playboy:
Miss May 2012
This SoCal beauty, Nikki Leigh, is a world traveler who hopes to be a "sex-symbol with brains." You'll give her an A+.
May Anderson
You may know May Anderson from Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated. You'll remember her differently now.
Amber Paxton, coming soon.
Playboy Interview
David Brooks: The New York Times columnist and self-described moderate conservative tells DAVID SHEFF how to fix everything.
Join Playboy now to get this issue online!
Chloe Emerson Is a Sensual Cybergirl from Texas
May 22, 2012 | Playboy Cybergirls, Chloe Emerson | 6 Comments
Chloe Emerson is no stranger to Playboy fans. She has been an Amateur, Coed, and now a Cybergirl. Seeing these stunning pictures, there is no questioning why so many desire to see her so often.
Chloe has a hot all-natural body. She stands 5'4″ with alluring 32C-23-34 measurements. Her strip is soft and sensual and she has no trouble luring in admirers.
Enjoy her perky breasts and perfect ass as her tank top and thong disappear for these pictures.
See more of Chloe Emerson nude at Playboy Cyberclub
Jill Vandermulen Playboy International Model
May 21, 2012 | Playboy International Models, Jill Vandermulen | 6 Comments
Jill Vandermulen is a true beauty from the Netherlands with an irresistible body and striking eyes.
She straddles a horse nude in these images with her pale flesh pressing against the creature's dark coat. Once she dismounts, she wanders through the wilderness with her thick mane of hair worn long and loose and boots on her feet. She eventually seeks shelter in a cabin and warms her nude body at the hearth.
Jill Vandermulen Bio
Height: 5′ 7″
Weight: 119 lbs
Measurements: 34C-28-34
Birthplace: Uccle, NA
Birthday: March 12, 1987
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Shantal Monique Playboy Cybergirl of the Month May 2012
May 19, 2012 | Playboy Cybergirls, Cybergirl of the Month, Shantal Monique | 10 Comments
Shantal Monique is the Playboy Cybergirl of the Month for May 2012. The gorgeous Shantal was our Playboy Cybergirl of the Week back in November 2011, and she is finally back for the entire month of May showing off her sexy body, and more importantly her juicy big breasts! You can follow Shantal Monique on Twitter @Shantal_Monique and keep in touch with her there!
Shantal Monique Bio
Measurements: 32D-25-34
Height: 5'4″
Weight: 120 lbs
Hometown: Tempe, AZ
Birthday: April 2, 1989
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Ultimate Playboy Giveaway Unlocked by Harley-Davidson
May 18, 2012 | Playboy News | Post A Comment
What's the best contest ever? Playboy's The Ultimate Playboy Giveaway Unlocked by Harley-Davidson of course!
One lucky winner will win a trip to the Harley-Davidson Museum to hang out with 2012 Playmate of the Year Jaclyn Swedberg at the exclusive "Worn To Be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket" exhibit opening bash in Milwaukee, WI on June 15, 2012, including airfare, accommodations, and transportation. On top of that, the winner will take home a brand new Harley-Davidson Seventy-Two™ motorcycle.
Playboy is also giving away 250 awesome bonus prizes. Think Harley-Davidson leather jackets, an electric guitar signed by Playmates Jaime Edmondson, Jaclyn Swedberg, Mei-ling Lam and Heather Rae Young, 1-year subscriptions to Playboy magazine and tons of other great prizes.
How do you play?
Go to Playboy Giveaway and enter to win!
Join Playboy Plus for more of Jaclyn Swedberg!
Jaclyn Swedberg is the Playboy Playmate of the Year 2012
May 18, 2012 | Playboy Playmates, Jaclyn Swedberg | 19 Comments
Hugh Hefner last night announced Jaclyn Swedberg as the Playboy Playmate of the Year for 2012 at a party held at the Playboy Mansion. "It's such an honor," said Jaclyn, who hails from Southern California. "And to think that I got there is surreal still."
As Playboy's 53rd Playmate of the Year, Jaclyn joins an exclusive club of talented women.
"My favorite is Karen McDougal," said Jaclyn. "She's so beautiful; she's so classic … All the girls that I come after I look up to because they've accomplished something and they're all so unique and different."
The brunette beauty admitted that her family's support helps make the announcement all the more fulfilling, saying, "I don't think this would be the same experience if they weren't behind me all the way, and my mom is my biggest fan!"
Jaclyn's cover will be on Playboy's June issue, which hits newsstands Friday, May 18, but you can check out the pictorial today inside the Playboy Cyberclub.
Join Jaclyn Swedberg at Playboy
Shelby Nicole Playboy Coed May 2012
May 18, 2012 | Playboy Coeds, Shelby Nicole | 14 Comments
Shelby Nicole is a sweet and sexy blonde who is busy with her studies when she isn't mesmerizing in a bikini on Malibu Beach.
A petite coed from Orange County, California, Shelby shows that she has enchanting natural beauty and the confidence to show it all off.
Peeling out of a gray tank top and cotton panties, she holds her perfect breasts in her hands and reveals that she likes to be shaven smooth.
Shelby Nicole Bio
Height: 5′ 2″
Weight: 110 lbs
Measurements: 32C-24-34
Birthplace: Orange County, California
Birthday: December 2, 1992
See more of Shelby Nicole nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub
Amelia Talon Playboy Playmate June 2012 Online Exclusives
May 17, 2012 | Playboy Playmates, Amelia Talon | 8 Comments
Miss June 2012, Amelia Talon has had her online exclusive pictorial released today inside the Playboy Cyberclub. Our previous Playboy Coed of the Week from 2011, has upgraded her breast size, and Hef has chosen her to be Playmate in the PMOY edition of Playboy.
Amelia Talon Bio
Measurements: 34D-24-36
Height: 5′ 7″
Weight: 115 lbs
Birthplace: Port Angeles, Washington
Birthday: January 5, 1990
See more of Amelia Talon nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub.
Join Amelia Talon at Playboy Plus
Alyssa Marie Busty Coed Unveiled
May 16, 2012 | Playboy Coeds, Alyssa Marie | 6 Comments
Alyssa Marie is a captivating coed with creamy skin, dark hair, and dreamy eyes. These images of the busty beauty are sure to have you at full attention with no room to focus on anything else. Her gorgeous features are all-consuming.
First taking off her top and then sliding off her pink thong, Alyssa unveils her pointed pink nipples, firm butt, and shaved pussy… all for your pleasure.
Alyssa Marie Bio
Golden West College
Measurements: 30D-24-34
Height: 5'3″
Date of Birth: May 2, 1984
Birthplace: Roseville, MI
See more of Alyssa Marie nude inside the Playboy Cyberclub


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QQFS is an international fieldwork agency dedicated to providing both quantitative and qualitative data-collection services across Europe, with a particular focus on the challenging markets such as the Nordics, Benelux, Austria and Switzerland. Our key executives have worked in international market research for over 20 years and have a vast experience of the global healthcare and B2B markets. As such, QQFS is keenly aware of cultural and national differences and can make recommendations on the most suitable methodology, target group and feasible sample sizes for your study. Our fieldwork team has considerable experience fielding both quantitative and qualitative multi-country studies and is dedicated to providing clients with the highest level of service and support.
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Top Definition
the word "yet" is a word that can change your life!
Boy:do u have a boyfriend?"
Girl:"Not Yet"
Girl:"Not Yet"
di isa22 28 febbraio 2011
Trending Now
redneck word meaning huge perky tits
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di feller 12 novembre 2006
Nickname given to individuals from areas commonly referred to as "the sticks" like Iowa or Kansas. These individuals often use the word yet as a filler word similar to "umm" or "uhh", but in an improper manner which is not related to time or tenses.
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di K-Not So Fat 23 novembre 2009
The best word ever invented.
Girl 1 - You got a boyfriend?
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di The_unknown_dude 26 aprile 2007


text:
Malpass Corner students trade sunshine bands for privileges
Published: Sunday, February 17, 2013 at 5:33 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, February 17, 2013 at 5:33 p.m.
Watch the students in Leah Creswell's third-grade class at Malpass Corner Elementary School closely, and you'll notice that their movements bring tiny flashes of color.
Encircling the little wrists that peek out of shirt sleeves are brightly colored, fabric-covered rubber bands. And every student has a story to go with their armful.
Jania Lewis and Carolina Maurilio each lost one today. Francisca Acevedo kept all of hers. And one time, Isiah Smith remembered, he got seven.
The bands represent Creswell's reward system, called Sunshine Club. Students start each day with five bands on their wrists. Less than satisfactory behavior means they lose bands, while positive actions mean they get more. At the end of the week, students with 25 or more bands participate in Sunshine Club: a bit of fun to finish off the day.
It's a system that Creswell and her fellow teachers started at least seven years ago – and one that's proven successful. Creswell's students are enamored with the system, making it obvious that Sunshine Club is a frequent topic of conversation in the classroom.
James Turner, for example, said he loves getting extra computer time during Sunshine Club. Acevedo backs that up with a grin and some good-natured teasing.
"He asks Ms. Creswell every day if he gets to play on the computer," she said.
Those rewards motivate the students to try for extra bands by staying on their best behavior, students said. But they also serve as a reminder to try a little harder when they have a bad day and lose a band.
When that happens, Carolina said, it's a horrible feeling.
"It makes your cheeks turn red and hot," she said, hands flying to her face in demonstration. "It makes you want to run out of school."
But keeping all your bands – or even getting an especially coveted extra – is elementary-school success.
To Carolina, that means "we pay attention, and we listen so good," she said – the hallmark of a student well on her way to this week's Sunshine Club.
Pressley Baird: 343-2328
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Secrets of Success
REM cycles and quitting diet coke
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
So I've been doing an experiment. Recently I realized that given my schedule, trying to maintain a 10:30 pm bedtime is beyond impossible, and it wasn't REALLY doing much for me anyway. Even when I made it to bed on time I woke up feeling like crap. So I decided to try what I call REM Cycling (it may not actually be that, just my term).
Here are the stages of sleep:
Non-REM sleep
Stage N1 (Transition to sleep) � This stage lasts about five minutes. Your eyes move slowly under the eyelids, muscle activity slows down, and you are easily awakened.
Stage N2 (Light sleep) � This is the first stage of true sleep, lasting from 10 to 25 minutes. Your eye movement stops, heart rate slows, and body temperature decreases.
Stage N3 (Deep sleep) � You�re difficult to awaken, and if you are awakened, you do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes. In this deepest stage of sleep, your brain waves are extremely slow. Blood flow is directed away from your brain and towards your muscles, restoring physical energy.
REM sleep
REM sleep (Dream sleep) � About 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep, you enter REM sleep, where dreaming occurs. Your eyes move rapidly, your breathing shallows, and your heart rate and blood pressure increase. Also during this stage, your arm and leg muscles are paralyzed.
The theory I am working under goes somethig like this:
One full cycle of REM sleep averages about 90 mins, so by counting back in 90 minute intervals from when my alarm rings, I can get an idea of ideal bedtimes (or more accurately, sleeptimes). My alarm goes off at 7am, so workable bedtimes are 1am (not ideal), 11:30pm (mostly doable), and 10pm (ahahahahahaha!). So now my bedtime has been pushed back to 11pm so that I can be mostly unconsious for 11:30. Thus far (for the last week) this has been FAR more doable and I feel less like I've been hit by a truck. Now, I'm still tired (still not getting 9.25 hrs of sleep, unfortunately), but I've been feeling less like I'm being pulled up from the depths of my unconscious.
Also, since starting this, when I get to bed a bit late I've been waking up at 6:20 (I assume due to being at the end of a cycle) and then snoozing until 7, so that I'm not mid-REM cycle when the alarm goes off. So, all in all, I ca't call the experiment a full success as I still "need" more sleep than I'm getting, but I'm feeling better than I was.
Now, as for the other half: I am quitting Diet Coke. Now I drink Diet Coke for one reason: it tastes good. I mean, sure, the caffiene is nice, but really, when it comes down to it, I drink it because I like the flavour. However, Diet Coke is one of my few unhealthy habits (yes, I am aware that aspertame can cause headaches, no, it doesn't affect mine: I've been off the stuff for years at a time in the past with zero effect one way or the other). So, I am giving it up. Not for New Year's or anything like that. I just decided that it would reduce my grocery bill significantly to not have it in my house, and tea -- the most obvious substitute -- gets me almost 3 times as much liquid for the same price.
Last Tuesday I took the plunge and decided to quit, and kept one bottle in reserve for Satruday when I was going to be immensely busy. Didn't need it then. So I drank it yesterday so that it wouldn't be lying around my home, tempting me. Have I really wanted one? Yeah, a couple of times. They really are pretty tasty. But I can certainly live without it. This will also decrease the amount of pop I drink at home next Xmas :P
Oh! And both dates went startelling well. Date number 3 coming up in the near future :) I think I like this guy!
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Thank you for the sleep study results. I'll look into those cycles for me too. Sounds like some good info for the sleep frustrated.
1249 days ago
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Wow what a lot of really good info about sleep! I'm not even sure how to know how many cycles I'm going through and sometimes I think I skip a few of them...I wonder how I can find out.
About the diet coke, I quit it a long time ago and it was maybe even harder to quit than smoking, once I got in my head to do it. I quit because the carbonation of any soda literally leeches the calcium right out of your bones. What I did was make a pledge to the Goddess that I would not drink it for one year (I make pledges on Imbolc--its one of my holidays). I didn't quit forever, just for that year. Then after the year, I found that I didn't need it anymore, and that when I drink it, it burns my throat and is very very sweet...
oooh dating, how exciting! I am going to have to read back and see what I've missed to catch up on this! =)
1253 days ago
Comment edited on: 1/23/2013 4:16:56 PM
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With the entire planet's media covering the 2014 Super Bowl, it was inevitable that the issue of cannabis would be broached at some point. With both teams representing states that have legalized adult, recreational use of cannabis, how can one ignore the fact that the Denver Broncos hail from the "Mile High City" and the Seattle Seahawks are based in "The Evergreen State?" If ever there was an opportunity for cannabis to piggyback upon an event watched by the world, this is it.
Leave it to affable Seahawks coach Pete Carroll to give a reasoned, articulate opinion on pot: "I would say that we have to explore and find ways to make our game a better game and take care of our players in whatever way possible," he said at a news conference. "Regardless of what other stigmas might be involved, we have to do this because the world of medicine is doing this."
Earlier this month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell left the policy door open ever so slightly for pro football players to eventually use legal medical marijuana — even if the commish never did actually utter the "M" word. Asked if players would ever be allowed to toke up in states where it's legal, Goodell replied: "I don't know what's going to develop as far as the next opportunity for medicine to evolve and to help either deal with pain or help deal with injuries, but we will continue to support the evolution of medicine."
How courageous. Goodell's position is significantly more encouraging than the NFL's zero-tolerance reaction in 2012, when Colorado and Washington legalized recreational pot. At that time, the NFL flatly stated the current collective bargaining agreement prohibited marijuana use by players. However, the CBA only bans the "illegal" use of cannabis, it permits use — but not abuse — of all legal drugs and alcohol. If the players' union seeks to specifically include legal marijuana into the next CBA, it must wait until after 2021 when the current ten-year agreement expires.
In other Super Bowl pot news, Marshawn Lynch, the hard-running back for the Seahawks has had a strain named after him — "Beast Mode."
"It's extremely strong," says Nate "Diggity" Johnson, owner of the Queen Anne Cannabis Club in Seattle, WA. "Marshawn has gears when he's running and it's kind of like that. It has a little bit of a slow start and then kicks in." (We highly doubt that Beast Mode is that powerful. Because if a strain even approached the force of Lynch actually hitting you, we doubt if you'd ever toke up again.)
The growers responsible for Beast Mode say it was a happy accident. They thought they were growing Girl Scout Cookies. But once they tried the strain, they realized it wasn't. It was something much more powerful. One of the growers explained the name's origin: "It hit me like Beast Mode."