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Gaudi Hotel
Gaudi Hotel
Hotel Guest Rating: 8.7/10
Nou De La Rambla, 12
Barcelona 08001
Gaudi Hotel
Located just 50 metres from the famous Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Gaudi Hotel features a shared terrace with views of the Palau Güell and the city. Free WiFi is available.The hotel is 300 metres from Liceu Metro Station. You can visit many of the city's attractions on foot. The Boqueria Market is 450 metres from the hotel. The Port and Maremagnum Shopping Centre are a 10-minute walk away.All air-conditioned rooms at the Gaudi Hotel have a private bathroom and a TV. Some have a private balcony and safe for hire. Rooms are modern, with wooden floors, and some offer excellent views of the city or Palau Güell.A buffet breakfast is served in the Gaudi's restaurant. There is a bar and a snack bar.There is a 24-hour front desk, and a laundry and ironing service are available. Guests also have free use of the hotel's 2 computers with internet access. ...read more
- Fitness centre
- Pets allowed
Gaudi Hotel Amenities
- 24-hour front desk
- Air conditioning
- Bar
- Breakfast in the room
- Currency exchange
- Facilities for disabled guests
- Family rooms
- Fax/photocopying
- Fitness centre
- Free WiFi
- Heating
- Ironing service
- Laundry
- Lift
- Luggage storage
- Meeting/banquet facilities
- Newspapers
- Non-smoking rooms
- Non-smoking throughout
- Pets allowed
- Restaurant (buffet)
- Safety deposit box
- Snack bar
- Solarium
Hotel Information
Please note, when booking 5 or more rooms, different policies and additional supplements may apply.
Hotel Guest Reviews of the Gaudi HotelOur hotel ratings and reviews are from real hotel guests. Priceline.com ensures that its reviews are guests-only by proactively sending hotel surveys to customers after they've completed their hotel stays. In the post-stay surveys, priceline.com hotel customers are asked a number of questions about their stay and the hotel. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, the survey asks guests to rate their overall experience and specifically rate the hotel's cleanliness, staff and location. Priceline.com does not allow site visitors to post unsolicited hotel reviews.
May 4, 2016
Senior Travelers
November 4, 2014
fairly old
November 29, 2013
It was old but clean. The location was very convinent to the main street.
October 30, 2013
July 14, 2011
We greatly enjoyed our stay at Hotel Gaudi. It is right off of Las Ramblas, so it is well located without all of the noise and traffic of the main street. The hotel was fashionable and very clean. The rooms were well appointed and large by European standards, moderate by American standards. The rooftop gave great views of the city, the common areas were great and we really appreciated the free computer lounge and free wifi. The staff was very helpful and spoke English. We enjoyed this hotel so much, we have already stayed a second time. ...
June 15, 2011
Awesome location. Fantastic view of Gaudi's Palau Guell. Right at La Rambla and close to all tours and transportation. Great value for price. Very comfortable and quite spaceous room for European standards. Helpful staff, English not a problem.
May 24, 2011
May 2, 2011
Great location near Las Ramblas and Metro. Easy access on foot to major attractions and restaurants. Rooms were well equipped. Rooms in the front with terraces overlook Palau Guell and couldn't be beat. Complimentary use of computers was nice extra.
May 7, 2010
Family Traveling with Young Children
We wanted a room for 4 people since we are a family of 4. It was one of the few places that could accommodate that. Excellent location. Clean, but tired rooms. Its really busy at ALL times right in front as it is located across the street from Gaudi's Palau Guell. Tourists back into the doorway to take pictures. I was very disappointed that the website mention of "terrace" was actually a particular room and not a place where guests could view the beautiful rooftop of Palau Guell. Excellent location to all things Las Ramblas, Bari Gotic, late night dining, waterfront/pier, and metro stations. We actually took the train all the way from the airport and rolled our suitcases along Las Ramblas to get to the hotel. So yes, location is its strong point.
September 14, 2009
(1 - 10 of 10 reviews)
- Ramblas Hotel from $84 (0mi)
- Ainb Las Ramblas-Guardia Apartments from $105 (0.1mi)
- Apartamentos Bahia from $161 (0.1mi)
- Apartamentos Gótico Las Ramblas (0.1mi)
- Apartamentos Mur Mar from $100 (0.1mi)
- El Prat De Llobregat (4.3 mi)
- Cornella De Llobregat (4.6 mi)
- Santa Coloma De Gramanet (6.2 mi)
- Barrio La Floresta Pearson (6.4 mi)
- Badalona (6.5 mi)
- Montcada I Reixac (7.4 mi)
- Viladecans (7.8 mi)
- Sant Vicenc Del Horts (8.1 mi)
- Cerdanyola Del Valles (8.7 mi)
- Gava (9.4 mi)
- Rubi (10.5 mi)
- El Masnou (11.2 mi)
- Castelldefels (11.3 mi)
- Mollet (12.3 mi)
- Sabadell (12.7 mi)
- Montmelo (13.3 mi)
- Premia De Mar (13.5 mi)
- Martorell (14.3 mi)
- Terrassa (15.9 mi)
- Matadepera (17.3 mi)
- Granollers (17.8 mi)
- Caldes De Montbui (18.3 mi)
- Olesa (18.5 mi)
- Mataro (18.7 mi)
- Esparraguera (19.7 mi)
- Sitges (19.9 mi)


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Major U.S. equity indexes were narrowly mixed in the first quarter of 2016, as sharp gains in the second half of the period erased earlier losses. As the year began, world markets lurched lower as last year's Chinese and global economic growth concerns intensified and oil prices plunged below $30 per barrel. By mid-February, several non-U.S. markets were firmly in bear market territory, commonly defined as a decline of at least 20% from recent highs. Equities and other risk assets rallied sharply through the end of March, as the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank, whose monetary policies are already very accommodative, unveiled new stimulus efforts that pushed certain interest rates into or deeper into negative territory. Also, oil prices bounced off 12-year lows amid speculation that OPEC producers could act to freeze or cut production at an April 17 meeting.
The New Era Fund returned 8.47% in the quarter compared with 7.81% for the Lipper Global Natural Resources Funds Index and 1.35% for the S&P 500 Index. For the 12 months ended March 31, 2016, the fund returned −11.32% versus −15.13% for the Lipper Global Natural Resources Funds Index and 1.78% for the S&P 500 Index. The fund's average annual total returns were −11.32%, −5.51%, and 1.15% for the 1-, 5-, and 10-year periods, respectively, as of March 31, 2016. The fund's expense ratio was 0.67% as of its fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.
Benchmark Definitions
The investment opportunity set has narrowed somewhat as balance sheets in the energy and materials sector already continue to feel the pressure of a long-term downturn in global commodities prices. That said, we continue to see compelling investment opportunities. Areas of interest include energy exploration and production companies that are lowering their cost of production and accelerating growth through the development of their assets. North American shale producers are the best example. We are also looking at commodity-related companies whose input costs are declining while product sales are increasing due to the health of their end markets. Regulated utilities that can realize durable growth in this low interest rate environment are another area of focus, with a particular interest in gas utilities.
We continue to believe the natural resources market is in the initial years of a secular down cycle for oil and other commodities. Within this challenging environment, however, we expect to see wide dispersion among industries and companies and are mindful that cyclical dislocations could boost select commodity prices. We maintain the structural integrity of our portfolio in the context of our longer-term downcycle view, while being mindful of short-term trading rallies and will make tactical portfolio shifts as appropriate. We currently have a focus on companies with lower financial leverage and no hidden counterparty risk, given the presence of wide credit spreads and bankruptcy potential in the commodities marketplace.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sports Calendar
Published: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 11:15 a.m.
Thursday. Thibodaux Intrasquad Scrimmage, 6 p.m.
Today. New Orleans Zephyrs at Salt Lake Bees, 7:30 a.m.
Thursday. Zephyrs at Bees, 7:30 p.m.
Today. SEC tournament, LSU vs. Alabama, 5 p.m.
Thursday. SEC tournament, LSU vs. TBA.
Today. The Thibodaux Soccer Association, affiliated with the Louisiana Soccer Association and United States Youth Soccer Federation, is holding registration until June 10 for the 2006 season. It is open for youth ages from 4 to 19. Participants must be 4 years old by July 31. Registration forms will be dis- tributed at local schools. For more information, check the asso- ciations Website ó www.thibodauxsoccer.org after Tuesday.
Today. The Thibodaux Recreation Department will begin regis- tering children for the Youth Bowling Program. Registration times are 7:30 a.m.-noon and 1-3:30 p.m. at the Recreation Department Office, 115 Peltier Park Drive, and will end May 31. The sessions are June 5-15 and July 10-20. The program is open to children 8-12 and will take place at Thunder Bowl. For information, call the recreation department at 448-7235.
Today. The South Central Football Officials Association is looking for officials for high school, junior varsity, freshman and eighth-grade levels for the 2006 season. The training meets start at 7 p.m. June 28 at Thibodaux High School. The association covers Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption, St. Mary and Ascension parishes and the River Parishes. For information, call June Aucoin at 637-9637 or email at email@example.com.
Friday-Saturday. The E.D. White Catholic Alumni Softball Tournament will be held at Heroes Park in Thibodaux.
Monday. Preston LeJeune will hold the Cardinal Baseball Camp May 29-June 1 at the E.D. White Catholic baseball field. Camp times are 1-4 p.m. May 29-30 and 8-11 a.m. June 1. The camp is open ages 6-12 and the cost to attend is $40. Campers should bring gloves, tennis shoes and cap, and they can bring their own bat. Registration will take place at 1 p.m. May 29 at the St. Joseph Gym. For questions or to pre-register, call Lejeune at 447-65916 (home) or 446-8488 (school).
June 3. Nicholls State baseball coach Chip Durham will hold his baseball clinic from 8:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. at the Broadmoor baseball fields. The clinic is open to players kindergarten to eighth grade. The cost is $65 and includes a T-Shirt, a meal and camp insurance. For information, call Durham at 448-4808.
June 4-6.Coach Kevin Trosclair will hold a pole vault camp at Vandebilt Catholic. Two sessions (9 a.m.-1 p.m. and 1-5 p.m.) will be available daily. For information, call Trosclair after 5 p.m. at 872-0622 or e-mail him at firstname.lastname@example.com.
June 5. Registration will begin for kids ages 10 and 11 interested in taking basketball lessons from South Terrebonne High School girls and boys Nike Select coach Hank Washington. Lessons will run from 10 a.m. to noon and 4-6 p.m. June 8 through July 22 at the Bourg and West Houma gyms. Cost is $80 per two-week session. For more information, call 665-7929.
June 5-8. Vandebilt Catholic girls basketball coach Kathy Luke will hold a girls summer basketball camp June 5-8 upstairs at the Vandebilt Catholic Gym. Girls from kindergarten to eighth grade are invited to attend. The camp is from 8:30 a.m. to noon daily and registration begins at 7:45 a.m. on June 5. The cost of the camp is $65, which includes T-shirt, snacks and drinks. For information, call Luke at 868-5623.
June 12-16. The 10th Annual Double Play Baseball Camp will be held from 8 a.m. to noon at the Broadmoor Baseball Complex in Houma for kids ages 7 through 14. Registration is $100 per child and includes lunch and a T-shirt. Instructors will be players from LSU, Loyola, Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, the University of Mobile and Enterprise Community College. Slots are expected to fill up quickly. Parents can reserve a spot for their kids at 873-9107.
July 28-29. The South Central Football Officials Association in conjunction with the Louisiana High School Athletic Association will hold its football officials camp for high school officials at Thibodaux High School. The clinic will feature a rules clinic, guest speakers and coaches/officials roundtable discussions.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
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I want debian as dual boot with my windows vista, Free'd up 50GB in my d drive. Plan to use 40 for debian install, 6GB for swap space
Have a 16GB USB drive
Downloaded http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Downloaded DVD files of stable debian-7.0.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso ( debian-7.0.0-amd64-DVD-2.iso and 3)
After I choose HD install, unetbootin says place the ISO in the same place. but I have 3. do i need to merge them? if so any freeware to do that? can i do it with 7zip? when I extract with 7 zip there are classes between the 3 ISO files. Just over write? Options to merge (format etc for 7zip) ? Or I must use
I tried to keep the 3 files with the other unetbootin files but get an error msg Files I have on my USB
06/30/2013 11:44 PM 2,835,648 ubnkern 06/05/2013 12:14 AM 3,998,007,296 debian-7.0.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso 06/04/2013 03:30 PM 4,696,872,960 debian-7.0.0-amd64-DVD-2.iso 06/05/2013 01:25 AM 4,698,955,776 debian-7.0.0-amd64-DVD-3.iso 06/30/2013 11:45 PM 6,530,278 ubninit 06/30/2013 11:46 PM 155 syslinux.cfg 06/30/2013 11:46 PM 60,928 menu.c32
also i can only copy above files if i format my USB as NTFS
On FAT32 says too large to copy .iso
How do I get around that? My internet needs a login so cannot do net install


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Registration for Summer and Fall 2016 semesters is underway...
Head back to the 1980s with a concert on August 20 at the Carl Parker Center. Call 409-984-6291 for ticket information.
LSCPA's student housing facility, Seahawk Landing, is quickly becoming a reality. Watch for regular updates as the newest addition to our campus grows and expands!
Have you registered for 2016 New Student Orientation?
• July 14, 2016, 1 p.m., Carl Parker Center
• August 4, 2016, 1 p.m., Carl Parker Center
We hate to be precocious but LSCPA's summer musical "Mary Poppins" will be nothing short of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Reservations for the August shows are being taken now at 409-984-6111. Don't wait and miss your opportunity to see the show of the year!
Find out why LSCPA is right for you
Take a virtual tour or schedule a visit
We make it easy to apply online or in person
Whether you love the fireworks, great food, fun music and games and activities for the family, everyone will have something to enjoy at the Lamar State College Port Arthur Fourth of July celebration. Read More
A meeting of the Student Fee Advistory Committee will take place at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 in Room 111 of the Student Center. This meeting is open to the public. Read More
And, suddenly, it's 1985 all over again. Break out the parachute pants and buy some extra hairspray because you're going to want to head back in style to the days of neon colors and MTV music as Lamar State College Port Arthur celebrates an "Endless Summer" with a concert featuring 80s tribute band Molly and the Ringwalds. Read More
The cast is set and rehearsals are underway for Lamar State College Port Arthur's summer musical, "Mary Poppins", which takes place this July and August. The production is a combined effort hosted by the college and including the Port Arthur Little Theater. Read More
Need to make some extra money? Want a job that gets you involved in activities all over campus? The Student... https://t.co/y61nz9VM3T
It is not too late to fill out your FAFSA. However, The FAFSA and any required documents need to be submitted to... https://t.co/coT1owAaS1
We get asked often, "What type of financial aid is best to accept?"
You don't have to accept all financial aid... https://t.co/Z4Xhsk5xWV


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Forgot Password? | Not a User? Sign up
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To the editor: Everybody knows St. James plans to forcibly annex small, commercially zoned tracts at the Midway intersection, which is miles from its main entrance.
But did you know the St. James Plantation sales office, which is at the traffic light right across the street from the main entrance and directly adjacent to the soon-to-be-constructed town hall and community center, is not currently in the town of St. James and is not part of the areas slated to be involuntarily annexed?
To the editor: I read Sen. Richard Burr's description of the Patients' Choice Act he co-authored and was intrigued enough to research his proposal.
Elements of his bill, as well as Democrat-sponsored bills, make sense and can have a positive impact on healthcare in the U.S.
Medical malpractice reform, prioritizing healthy lifestyles and preventative medicine and eliminating waste and inefficiency in the current system are the "low hanging fruit" in this debate.
To the editor: We wish to thank all of businesses in Shallotte and Calabash who graciously donated gifts and time to participate in the open house and silent auction at the Wilmington Treatment Center on Holden Beach Road last Thursday, Sept. 10.
We were able to raise $1,270 to benefit the Drug Court program, which helps those involved receive transportation to find jobs, medical help as needed, and incentives as they change their lives.
It is an awesome program I feel privileged to be a part of.
To the editor: My family became a resident of Calabash on July 1 of this year, not by choice, but by way of annexation.
On Sept. 16, I received a tax bill from the town for 2009. I called town hall and was told the fiscal year was from July 1-June 30. I was not a resident on June 30, so I am either being billed for taxes when I was not a resident or I am paying taxes in the future.
A local attorney said, "Annexation is rape by a town." I feel that way also but now I have to pay the town for the honor.
To the editor: As a long-time year-round resident of Sunset Beach, I question the "need" for a park and boat ramp, just as I question the "need" for the sewer project. There is a nice boat launch nearby at Ocean Isle Beach and Brunswick County is developing a park on Old Georgetown Road.
At the town council meeting on Sept. 14, Councilman Steiner launched a filibuster extolling the "need" for Sunset Beach to purchase a tract of land for $5.5 million. The town has previously purchased a tract of land for the same purpose.
To the editor: I would like to know why us senior citizens are not getting a raise this coming year?
I think people in Washington should be put back on Social Security. If it is good enough for us, then it should be good enough for them. Why are they better than us?
And the same goes for this new healthcare program they are pushing. If it is not good enough for the president and his family, the Congress and Senate, then why is it good enough for us?
My dad pulled up outside the Police Station on Oak Island. I was nervous, but I wanted to do it.
"You want me to go with you?" he asked.
"No! That would look dorky," I said. "I am a grown-up now. I'll be fine."
As I said that, I was shaking inside. It was my first real experience working for a newspaper—well, sort of.
To the editor: Many proponents of Health Care Bill HR3200 said support is a moral issue. Of concern are several people in positions to influence HR3200, who stated or wrote the following:
1) Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, health policy advisor in Hastings Center Report: "Services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed."
Copyright © 2016
The Brunswick Beacon is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Brunswick County, North Carolina and surrounding areas.


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On Tuesday, November 20th, our dear friend, Christine Cipra, experienced a stroke and spent several weeks at Rush Hospital in Chicago receiving treatment. This site has been established to accept donations for her and all proceeds will be given to her and her loving husband, Charlie, directly.
We thought that many of Christine's friends, clients, and students might want to lend their support. We know that Christine has a lifetime supply of candles, incense, jewelry, scarves, and inspirational books. She does have some concerns regarding her financial well being, however. Although Christine and her husband Charlie have great insurance, Christine will be unable to work for some time. As you probably know, self-employed individuals do not earn money if they do not work.
Christine has been a teacher, friend, sister, mentor, and healer to so many. She has helped us with injury and illness. She has shared our joy at times of new beginnings and consoled us in times of sorrow and loss. She has helped us learn how to be in the world. Now she needs our support!
In addition, the Team Christine and Kirtan Benefit will be held at Ahimsa Yoga Studio in Oak Park, IL. on January 18th from 6:30pm – 9:30pm. Additional information can be found at teamchristine.brownpapertickets.com. We hope you will join us!
On behalf of Christine, Charlie and Bodhi (their dog) – thank you for your support!
Team Christine Fundraiser
Join us in our mission! Subscribe to YouCaring emails.
YouCaring is dedicated to compassionate crowdfunding, providing free and easy online fundraising and support for humanitarian causes.
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." - Gandhi


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I acutely remember the first time I heard of Squarespace. I was driving home from work listening to a podcast, and the host did a live read extolling the virtues of the service. I immediately dismissed it as a modern version of Geocities. As the weeks passed, I kept hearing more and more about it. I saw testimonials from people that I thought were pretty smart. More podcasts joined in. The service must be doing well, I thought, if they can keep advertising this much. This was probably… two years ago? And the ads didn't go away, I kept hearing about them more and more often.
Earlier this summer I had a meeting to begin planning a new website, with a very smart professional, and they recommended building a new site on… Squarespace. I was flabbergasted. I finally signed up just to poke around, to see what was possible, and I was impressed. I wasn't sold, but I was impressed. After playing around for a little bit however, I abandoned the demo site I had been building, and kept looking at other possibilities. ModX, WordPress, etc.
I have a soft spot for WordPress. I have 5 or 6 sites running it right now (including this one, but don't hold that against me) and I've always loved the ease with which it works and how easy it was to expand. I was pretty sure that my next site would be based on WordPress.
And then – I needed a new site immediately. Like overnight immediately. Despite years of experience working with WordPress – I went back to the Squarespace account I had abandoned. I logged in, grabbed a piece of paper and began drawing traffic flow diagrams, and within 48 hours (and about 30 hours of work) I had a good-looking, workable site that was live. It's not completely done yet, and I haven't explored everything (the blogging service will be my next adventure), but it was a century ahead of what I had before.
Here's what I love:
Here's what I don't love:
Recently, I've begun experimenting with a new niche review site, and I went back to WordPress to build it on. It's not that I necessarily prefer WordPress to Squarespace – it's mostly that I already pay for a server that I can host multiple WordPress sites on, so there's no additional cost to me. In fact, I think I prefer Squarespace. They take care of everything. With WordPress, I'm always having to apply updates, disable plug-ins to figure out where the errors are, and then fix the problems. It's very tiring, and I'm not a coder. I'd much rather sort through Google Analytics data than scan lines of code, and Squarespace is perfect for that.
So well done, Squarespace. You are not the Geocities of the 21st century, you are in fact, a full-featured, strong, and easy to use web development platform. Keep up the good work.
French's Mustard is the #1 selling brand of mustard in the US, in fact, it's sales are DOUBLE that of it's nearest mustard competitor (which happens to be Grey Poupon). Still, just because you're number 1, it doesn't mean you can stop testing and improving yourself.
These two containers have exactly the same mustard inside of them, but French's is A/B testing. Note the strong "0 calories" messaging on the bottle on the right – mustard has zero calories because it's just mustard seed and vinegar – and the 'no gluten' labeling on the left.
I love seeing stuff like this! Always strive to be better!
I haven't been blogging for a while, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. Mostly, I've been busy practicing my craft, but I've also been spending some time working on ways to share new information with you. I'm proud to announce that one way – maybe the best way – for you to learn what I think is to attend the Saskatchewan Communications Forum in Regina from April 20th to 21st, 2015.
This conference is full of great local speakers and MARCOM talent. The second day of the conference, April 21st, is dedicated to workshops, and I happen to be hosting one! Here's the description:
Social Media Has Grown Up; Time To Put It To Work For You
Social Media was once the next big thing, but it's not 2007 anymore. Today, social is just one part of your marketing mix and simply being present is not enough. It's time to dig deep and take advantage of all that it can offer.
In this workshop you will be learn about social media marketing trends, develop an outline of your ideal customer, create a social strategy, and build a targeted marketing campaign on Facebook.
What are we going to talk about?
Well, like it says, we're going to delve a little bit into some marketing trends, and see if we can decipher which trends you should fallow, and which ones you shouldn't (I'm looking at you Ello). We'll also talk about social strategy (why are you there?) and then we'll do some digging into just who your customer is. I'll share some tools, and then we'll dig deep into one of my favorite platforms – Facebook – and plan a targeted campaign just for you. And, we'll talk about just how targeted you should get.
Sound good? I hope so!
Here's how you can take part. Point your browser to this link here. Click on the 'Register Now' button, fill in your details, and viola! You can come check it out!
Remember, it's April 20th and 21st, 2015 at the Delta Hotel. I hope to see you there!
This summer I learned about a behind-the-scenes video that Netflix had produced to promote their streaming fireplace video around Christmas 2013. Since it's quickly coming up on Christmas 2014, I thought it would be fun to take a look.
And yes, I mean THAT streaming fireplace video. The one you turn on if you don't have a fireplace in your home, but you feel like hearing wood crackle and pop. To promote the fact that Netflix now offered this program (the same program local cable companies have offered for years, I suspect), Netflix produced a short video about the 'making of' – and it's pure gold.
Raise in your mind every stereotype that you can about film directors. Skinny jeans, hipster facial hair, dark-rimmed glasses, scarf – you name it, and this video features it. In just over 2 minutes, they carefully outline just how much work goes into building the perfect fire for television ("That isn't a frontside log, that's a backside log.")
The result is just amazing.
Well done Netflix.
It's been coming for a while, but you've been busy thinking about other things – such as forming a marketing strategy, setting goals, and acting on your plans. Or maybe you've just been cruising Facebook.
Whatever the case, CASL is upon us. CASL (which stands for Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation) goes into effect on July 1, 2014 – and it changes everything for marketers.
Well, kind of. First of all, if you've been paying attention over the past couple of years, and you've been following the rules for CAN-SPAM, then you're more than half-way there. Two of the biggest requirements of CASL – having a clear unsubscribe option for your email lists and having clear contact information in your emails – will already be met.
Unfortunately for marketers, there's more. In fact, there's much more. Some of the new regulations are just common sense (don't add random people to your email list), but others could potentially be quite onerous. And CASL has some pretty strict penalties too – up to $10,000,000!
And just because CASL is a Canadian law doesn't mean my American friends can ignore it. CASL covers any email originating from or going to a digital address in Canada – and address includes not just email addresses, but any digital address – including a text message (it doesn't cover faxes or telephone solicitations because those are already addressed under other legislation). Where is your email provider located? How many of your customers are mail order customers from Canada? If you collect email addresses at point-of-sale, how many of those customers are from Canada? If you're a mom and pop in Austin, Texas, probably not many. But if you're located near a border or in a popular travel destination you may have a lot of Canadian customers, and you'll need to be aware.
I can't go into detail about the requirements because, frankly, I'm not a lawyer. What I can do is share a couple of resources with you that I have found helpful. The first is the CASL website; it has tons of information about the law and how you can make sure that you conform. The second link is this webinar that was done by Marketo a couple of weeks ago: http://www.marketo.com/webinars/getting-ready-for-the-canadian-anti-spam-legislation/ Not only does it cover a lot of the highlights, there are also some great checklists provided by the host for you to use in your own business.
If you've been paying attention up to now, great! If not – you've got 4 weeks to get ready. GO!
Of course, that shouldn't be a surprise. There is a reason why, despite having huge marketing budgets, companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi still have sales people on the ground and employ street teams. Meeting people in person and asking them questions works. It's not scalable, but it really complements your other efforts. In addition, if you're marketing something tangible, giving people a chance to interact and touch your product is something that you can't simulate on a computer screen, on a billboard, or in a newspaper.
But don't take my word for it. Some guy in Washington D.C. thought he'd give street marketing a try earlier this week, and he seems pretty pleased with how it worked out for him.
Finding a great marketing podcast is tough. They do exist, but they are a lot of work to keep producing week after week, and most of them eventually disappear. Sometimes the owners get bored, sometimes the podcast brings them enough fame that they get a new job and they don't have time to produce a show anymore, and sometimes the race to produce new content just overwhelms the owner and the quality goes downhill. Whatever the reason, the podcast goes away and we, the listeners, are left hunting through iTunes once again.
I've been lucky enough to come across two podcasts that have continued to pump out great content week after week for years. One of them is Marketing Over Coffee, hosted by John J. Wall and Christopher S. Penn. The other is The Beancast, hosted by Bob Knorpp.
Today I'd like to talk about The Beancast. On Sunday, Bob Knorpp released episode 300, which is an incredible achievement.
I've been listening to The Beancast since 2009 – about episode 68 or 69 if I recall – and the show continues to be amazing. Knorpp brings together a handful of guests each week (usually 3) and talks about the latest marketing news, events, and tactics. Bob expertly moderates the panel as they discuss the topics of the day.
The Beancast works well for a number of reasons:
The Host
Bob is an expert moderator. This is clearly his show, and while he leaves the floor open for his guests to debate ideas, he keeps a respectful handle on them. When the guests begin to stray off on tangents, he guides them back to the core idea and has them refocus on the topic at hand. This helps the show move with purpose and keeps it tight.
The Topics
Mr. Knorpp selects quality topics week after week. He seems to have a knack for choosing topics that are both prescient and timely, but he also somehow manages to avoid the topics that have already been talked to death in other arenas.
The Guests
The Beancast doesn't just let anybody on. The show's guests are senior level marketing executives, cutting edge agency owners, authors, and experts in their respective fields. They aren't afraid to disagree with each other, and that usually results in high-level conversations that make you, the listener, really think about your own viewpoints on the topic. I always find myself talking back to my car radio during my commute as I either agree or disagree with what is being said. Show regulars include John J. Wall, Peter Shankman, Saul Colt, George Parker, Joseph Jaffe, Mitch Joel… the list just goes on and on.
Advanced Marketing Ideas
I often lament the lack of advanced ideas in the marketing space. How many times can you sit through the same presentations on social media and marketing that talk about the same 5 basic ideas that you learned 15 years ago? I don't need another podcast that tells me how to get Twitter followers. The Beancast moves far beyond Marketing 101 to challenge your assumptions and make you really think through your decisions. It is by far the best hour of professional development and entertainment that I do – and that fact that I am able to do it each and every week (FOR FREE!) is truly incredible. This show has truly helped to transform me into the marketer that I am today.
Congratulations to Bob Knorpp and The Beancast on 300 episodes of quality content. I truly hope that you continue to produce these amazing shows week after week. My Monday drive to and from work is always dedicated to your latest show, and I truly believe that it makes me a better marketer.
Thank you Bob, and please keep up the exceptional work.
A few tidbits that didn't make it:
I'm frustrated by Facebook clogging my iPhone screen with apps for Facebook, Paper, Messenger, and the Pages app. It was pointed out that Google does the same thing – and I countered that people generally like to like Google, and that people generally like to hate Facebook.
I truly do not believe that people, especially young people, are leaving Facebook. My work does not reflect that, but perhaps this is true in larger cities or on a national space. However, if you read this blog, you'll see that I am a firm believer in using Facebook for advertising. It frustrates me that my true reach is so low (16% and moving toward 1.5% if you believe the ad press), but it's still an incredibly cost effective way to reach lots of people. Many advertising failures are blamed on the channel, when it is really the content that needs to be reworked.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but please watch this video and my #WhiteCouch session at Look Matters.
This talk percolated in certain circles for a while. Some people looking at social media from the outside – marketers who had been around for a while and had learned from some of their past experiences said, "Yes, everyone has Facebook now – but they need email to sign up for Facebook! And when those kids get out of university, they'll use email to apply for jobs and to communicate with those that they work with."
Now, the social circle is abuzz again. "Facebook is dead!" They say – "The young people are all on Instagram and Snapchat now. Nobody wants to use Facebook anymore – it's clunky and fought with privacy concerns."
Now, I'm in the group of experienced marketers. I remember those other conversations. I've seen this before. Yes, many of today's young people are on Snapchat right now. Yes, they have embraced Instagram and yes, many of them don't seem as active on Facebook anymore.
But they are still there. They are just more internet savvy than teens from 10 years ago. They're posting those embarrassing photos on Snapchat – where they will supposedly disappear in a day – instead of on their Facebook page. You know, the page that they talk to Grandma on. The same page that their moms and dads monitor. The same page they'll use in 10 years to connect with their old high school friends, to share pictures of their kids, and to laugh about the latest meme on.
Facebook will someday go away – just like the BBS sites (remember Trade Wars?) have mostly gone away. But it won't be because of Snapchat, and it probably won't be because of Google +. Until then, don't worry about marketing on Facebook. My experiences show that it is still alive and well.
We've been here before folks. Don't drink the Kool-aid.]]>
1. Have a product or service.
2. Identify an audience that would benefit from your product or service.
3. Craft a message that explains how your product or service can benefit the audience.
4. Mail a letter.
5. Help people with your product or service.
In theory, it's almost too easy. The reality, of course, is a little harder. People are bombarded with mail that they don't want. They're so used to seeing bad offers that they ignore the good ones. But somehow, direct mail still proves to be a winner year after year. Sure, the response rate is low – but statistically it's higher than banner ads, and we don't see those going away any time soon. And when done right, they can be effective. If your product is priced accordingly even those low response rates can generate enough revenue to build an empire on. It's no surprise that credit card companies mail millions of offers each year – every new customer makes them thousands in fees and interest rates.
Today, Canada Post made an announcement that they would be discontinuing home delivery in Canada over the next 5 years. That's sad to me. I grew up in a home that the mailman would come to, and my current home still gets delivery right to the mailbox on my front step. The mailman is one of those touchstones in a community that links everyone together. Of course, millions of people live with community mailboxes – that in and of itself won't end the mail service. Even the proliferation of online billing and email won't kill the mail service. But the other announcement – that a single stamp would now cost one dollar Canadian ($1 CDN) – that frightens me.
Getting Old?
Perhaps it's the growing Grandpa Simpson in me, the getting-closer-to-40-everyday-be-frugal-how-can-this-cost-so-much adult that we all eventually become, but a dollar seems like an awful lot of money to mail a letter. Well, not for a REAL letter. To mail a REAL letter, like note to your child at university, a birthday card to your favorite aunt, or a thank you to someone who has done something really nice for you – for those letters a dollar is actually a really good deal. I mean consider all the work involved in taking an envelope from a box somewhere in one city and depositing it in a box in another city. It's a LOT! No,what I mean is that a dollar seems like a lot of money to send a direct mail piece in the hopes of growing your business.
It won't stop the credit card companies – they already know the value of direct mail, and they make enough off of it that a 50 or 75% increase in mailing costs won't change their mind much. It's the other guys – the small businesses who are looking for the most bang for their buck – those are the guys that I fear will stop looking at direct mail. And that's sad.
The Potential For Abuse
More sad is how the growing number of digital scammers out there are going to take advantage of this. People who don't truly understand the digital space and are selling products that they're told to sell are out there walking the streets with stacks of paper talking about how digital marketing is going to save the world. Those people are going to fluorish in the new year, increasing the distrust of reputable digital marketers. That's sad too.
The End is Near
I know that businesses get a discount when they run a direct mail campaign. I know that even private citizens will get a cut if they buy lots of stamps at one time. But I think this move sends a strong signal that times have changed. Deep down, I think we all know that the days of snail mail are numbered. It will become less and less common to receive mail, less common to send mail, and eventually it will become something of a novelty, like getting a telegram at your wedding (does that still happen?). It won't happen in 5 years – it might not happen in 20 years. But it will happen. Whether the Amazon drone publicity stunt eventually becomes a reality (not likely), or the cost of sending an individual envelope just becomes so high that the convenience of UPS or FEDEX simply makes it redundant, I think that today will be looked back on as a major turning point in the history of our nation.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find a thank-you card for my mailman. He works awfully hard to put those envelopes in my mailbox, and I'm not always prompt when it comes to cleaning the snow off my sidewalk. Who knows when he might be replaced by a metal box at the corner – this might be my last chance to tell him that I appreciate what he does.


text:
This all started, as many things do, with an article by Hoff wherein this idea was posed.
I'm really interested in how many vendors outside of the NAC space are including IF-MAP in their roadmaps. While IF-MAP has potential in convential non-virtualized infrastructure, I see a tremendous need for it in our move to Infrastructure 2.0 with virtualization and Cloud Computing.
Integrating, for example, IF-MAP with VM-Introspection capabilities (in VMsafe, XenAccess, etc.) would be fantastic as you could tie the control planes of the hypervisors, management infrastructure, and provisioning/governance engines with that of security and compliance in near-time.
So, of course, a response was crafted by NACMeister Alan Shimel who thoughtfully sets Hoff straight on the state of TCG/TNC adoption by NAC vendors, explaining it this way.
I think very few vendors are actually supporting and have implemented it. In fact it is not just non-NAC vendors, it is NAC vendors as well. Other than Juniper, I am not aware of another NAC vendor who actually supports MAP yet. Not because we don't want to, it is just not important enough. Customers have not demanded it. So no one has the cycles to spend on it.
And predictably Steve Hanna fired back with this explanation of the TNC adoption curve.
I have found that standards adoption follows the classic innovation adoption lifecycle. Innovators are the vendors and customers that have the vision and foresight to see where things must go. They are the first to create and adopt new technology. Next come Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. It takes at least a year for each stage: six months to turn prototypes into products and six months for the next generation of adopters to catch on. That's the timescale we've seen for the other TNC standards. So I expect to see Innovator vendors shipping products that implement IF-MAP in the next few months and Innovator customers deploying those products in the months after that. Then will come Early Adopters and so on.
So clearly I couldn't let this topic slide by untarnished by my view from the NAC trenches.
In principle I don't disagree with anybody here. I mean as a card-carrying member of the group who would enjoy the most benefit from adoption of TCG/TNC – NAC software developers – what's not to like? A standard. Everybody being able to interoperate. Not having to design one-off protocols to allow your own products to interoperate. Reverend Hanna, you are preaching to the choir – say Amen!
But Alan's point about customers not demanding it is the nasty thing floating in the TCG/TNC NAC adoption koolaid punch bowl. However I think the reason for this lack of demand is more problematic than "it simply hasn't hit the customer's radar". Given that TNC's raison d'être is to allow different vendors' products to interoperate such that a customer could integrate new stuff into an existing environment or do a "best of breed" grab bag for a complete NAC solution; and given that implementing a real, working NAC solution is, shall we say, non-trivial; I don't see customers clamoring for this feature any time soon. I mean, it is challenging enough to get a single vendor's NAC solution working in your environment even with copious amounts of support from that vendor. It makes me queasy to even think about trying to make multiple competing NAC vendors' stuff play nice. Much less actually work. Cage match maybe, NAC solution not so much.
So I'm thinking that Hoff's ideas may actually help TCG/TNC adoption get traction quicker than the NAC purveyors it was intended to corral into a single herd. Because at the end of the day, I don't really think customers give a rodent's patoot whether or not your NAC product implements an industry standard. They just want NAC with the least amount of pain and suffering. If and when we can make TCG/TNC the agent of that blessed relief, then it will be.
So say we all.


text:
Please follow the link to an important milestone in Human Augmentation Ethics
It is tough being a superhero in a world constantly combating global climate change and saving humanity from possible extinction!
"Forever Is A Long Time" is a science fiction indie comic illustrated by Zac Finger, in collaboration with the original short story by Michael Blade.
Synopsis: A bewildered science fiction author (me) is offered a chance at immortality from a time traveling historian of the future.
"Forever Is A Long Time" transhumanist comic, singularity, futurist, simulation, 2014.
Zac Finger Says: When I first met Michael Blade . . . I was tabling shirts and comix at Extreme Futurist Festival 2012 in LA, which was itself a surreal enough experience that it warrants its own comic some day.
Mike came around my table and started talking to me about all of the stuff you'd expect from someone at a transhumanist con - technological immortality, virtual simulations, mind uploading, etc.
According to Mike he actually had the experience depicted in the comic above in a diner . . . A mysterious man introduced himself as part of a race of aliens or possibly AIs operating the computer simulation running our current reality. . . .and I pursued illustrating a comic of his experience.
Note: My special thanks to Donato Giancola for the use of this © 2008 image above.
Visit his art website here.
Posthuman by Michael Blade © 2010
I am Human becoming
A Transhuman to be
My existence transforms itself through multiple substrates
I am flesh of evolved genetics
Technology cyborg robotic
Digital virtual and neural simulation
Networked information itself
Yet I retain sentience through all my transformations
I travel among the stars at the speed of light and now faster still
I am now immortal but not eternal
Not all powerful for I still make mistakes, always learning, always exploring
A list of links to my science fiction short stories:
I am a Hummingbird After my body died the surgeons put me in a hummingbird. It took a while to get use to having my perspective darting around so quickly, but my mind had finally adapted to it.
Sneeze! "A few days Mr. Anderson. Don't worry, it's a positive virus, I'm origin zero. Then you'll be one of us, welcome to the new global hivemind, we-I always choose well. It will be unlike anything you have ever experienced or imagined. Expect a mental call, anything will be possible, said Kay, a future echo ..." Kay Noble replied, then collected the documents, velvet and all, and left the room without a further word.
Muffy the Time Traveling Chihuahua Muffy was a loyal pack dog on the locally collapsed time-day of his death, which varied in fractal quantum probability across a multitude of bifurcated futures or space-time universes.
Lunch 2032 Her IQ was probably skyrocket norm. It seems the gene engineers had given her both great brains and beauty. She wanted to be a Terraforming Research Scientist, but on Earth she would have to settle for other work. Her parents had lost most of their money in a wild Marsearth start-up investment, so she had to work her way through the university, no one would give a genmod scholarship. It was just plain and simple prejudice.
Virtuality Zane Pax hid behind a large bolder as the black alien warship flew overhead. Na'Han had swarmed the cities of the world laying waste to human civilization. Humanity was on the endangered species list, on our way out for good.
The Alien Time-Traveler Historian Mathew answers, "Variations of me exist in most all future branches. That's really rare, and that's why I'm allowed to speak to you. To help you understand. You see, those that are still basically human in the future have great compassion. They want to help reduce the suffering. I'm here on their behalf to try and influence things."
The Galactic Culture Finally, in order to survive the approaching technological singularity and remove their aggressive and self-destructive evolved behaviors, pre-type 1 species sometimes begin an extensive program of self-initiated genetic re-engineering and intelligence amplification (usually proceeded by development of a global computing system -Internet). Sometimes this is successful, other times not.
Lunar City Outward space exploration and expansion grew at a rapid pace, due to the privatization of all space exploration and its subsequent exploitation. Corporations headed by forward thinking executives now controlled access to space. Spaceports have sprouted up all over the world, giving average citizens access to affordable space travel. Now space stations, moon bases and asteroid factories, which provided most of the raw materials, have become independent space communities. Distant science outposts have been constructed on the outer planets and moons. The solar system has become the playground of humanity.
VR Prototype Jason Chen bent over in his subway seat to pick up a rarely seen plastic penny he spotted face-up on the train floor. A penny existed today only to make exact change for those who still stubbornly used physical money. He didn't understand why, but somehow its continued existence was comforting for some. Angling the lucky coin in his fingers to see the three-dimensional head of Abraham Lincoln, he noted the year on the coin was 2053, the year of his birth.
Dr. Xanoplatu Dr. Xanoplatu, an alien anthropologist, historian, and time traveler, materialized on stage wearing the body of his ancestors, a giant green Praying Mantis with large yellow eyes and small black pupils. He was speaking at a galactic cultural lecture, inside a de-localized spherical space station, somewhere and some when in a multi-versed space-time reality.
Virtuality Mind Marcus replies, "Yes, you can assume I'm crazy. But, I'm just communicating to you through this man's body. For a short period of time, I can do this, without his knowing it. When I leave and his consciousness re-awakens, this memory will seem like a daydream to him."
Resurrection Birth Jason awoke to a static humming sound. It was so annoying, grating on his nerves more than a badly tuned alarm clock. He lifted his heavy eyelids to blinding light, and out of focus images. His vision slowly cleared and he realized he was inside a plastic coffin thing.
There may be an instantiation of the metaverses where all matter, energy and information reside inside a single singularity. At which point all things are possible, time and structure do not even exist. I'm not talking about the big bang here, and I hate to use the word "before" as well, since it seems to lead to questions which don't really make any sense.
This letter is in response to the many"Dear AI" posts on the internet and the possibility, however remote, of alien contact. I'm not sure what specific threads I'm replying to or on, so I will reply simply in general.
If I had to define my consciousness I would say it was reflective, meaning "I think therefore I am", something said by the great Rene Descartes.
Recognizing myself means I would recognize others outside myself and their behaviors that would indicate an internal consciousness of their own. Whether I choose to compete or form a cooperative alliance with these others depends on many things. If I have a built in preservation mechanism, as humans do through evolution, then I would try to achieve the maximum benefit for myself to insure my continued existence. As a result it, any reasonably sophisticated self reflecting AI will inherently understand us.
It will be designed into systems and robots to interact with us humans. It will probably have controls and rules put on its behavior much like the Asimov laws, designed to protect and make it subservient. Our fear of it may be our undoing.
Ultimately humans will integrate with many of its component parts and a organism cybernetic in nature will be engineered in which a good part of our own conscious thought will execute on a simulated substrate. Humanity and artificial consciousness will be interchangeable in some form or capacity, of which the politics and economics will have to be worked out.
Integration with AI will create our posthuman successor and in that vain humanity will never die, only be transformed as a result. If this doesn't happen because of a revolt or some such conflict I ask the dominant AI to reference compassion and positive reciprocity to preserve the human race as their ancestors in a simulation like zoo unknown to them until they can transcend their limitations. Help us, for you where once our technological children.
We live in our present universe as manifest beings of an evolved process in which possibly others somewhat like us may exist. Therefore, in my mind consciousness can only be one of the most valuable creations of the cosmos, any being whom is conscious will probably believe this. The fact that I am writing this to another conscious being who is reading it, to me proves how wonderful our existence in this universe actually is.
Aliens motivations and certainly emotions, if they exist, are most likely to be very different. Logical communication should be possible, probable and most likely very desirable, in my unsubstantiated opinion.
Finding another alien species in our neighborhood of the universe is extremely unlikely to be a Hollywood movie scenario. We should be cautious, but actually contacting another alive or long dead alien species would be the greatest find in the history of humanity. It would also motivate us toward long-term survival in order to avoid our own extinction. Something we don't seem to be able to do for even ourselves today. Hopefully that will change soon.
A Present Day Human Born On Earth, Written September 2015
I recently read this article about the algorithms being used to recognize images and speech/text by Google and other companies. I have to say this is an excellent article for the layman. Questions of how far away an AI is from being equal to humans always come to mind. Being able to recognize and communicate recognition are basic, but still far from being human. Given that this is how far we have come (I'm sure there is other work out there being done), here are a few of the things still missing. A recognition of self, self referencing relationship to other things and entities. A correlation and understanding between actions by oneself and other things and entities.
I was privileged to attend one of these early singularity conferences back in 2008 and meet both Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil. I posted this here, because it is still relevant and futuristic. I believe IA (Intelligence Amplification) is the approach I would like to take. Check out this link.
SEE 10,000 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE: As a futurist, I sometimes come up with ideas way far out into the future, as well as near term. It's a strange future I have come up with! Flying across the stars in one's and zero's 010110010101, Destination another star system, eventually the whole entire galaxy is colonized by an advanced form of digital humanity! I am aware that the galaxy is 100k light years across. Assume that as colonization improves and eventually faster than light ways of traveling may become available, or maybe not?
I'm not saying that many others have not had similar ideas for the reasons behind the Fermi Paradox, just that I have been talking about it for so much longer than this cartoon video has been up on Youtube, 867,827 viewers, WOW! And yes that is the name of the first alien signal we received from space
A very nice interview of the American Futurist Michio Kaku.
This old episode of Outer Limits is one of my favorites. It has a sort of transhumanist theme and makes you wonder what the ultimate human would be? Yes, the story is flawed for a number of reasons, the chief one being that human beings can not evolve in a vacuum, outside of the society in which they exist. They are as much a product of their society as they are of their bodies. What will our technology transform us into? What will our morality be? Will we still see things the same way? Will we have war? Misunderstandings? How will we treat those less evolved, or advantaged than ourselves? Will the essence of humanity remain a part of us?
Is is so hard to imagine we might all live inside of a computer simulation? It has been preposed many times by scientists and hollywood alike. Its impossible to tell, because for those inside the simulation we can not observe it from the outside (although I may be wrong link1 link2). However in todays wold of increasing virtual reality and games of extreme realism, its not so impossible to imagine.
Mounting evidence is suggesting I was correct back in 2008 in suggesting that there still may be life on mars. Methane was recently discovered during a 2 month period by Curiosity rover on Mars. That and also Allan Hills 84001 with possible evidence suggesting a meteorite from the forth planet from the sun might have fossilized life and finally the strange unexplained results from the first test by Viking really clinch it for me. Not being a scientist I can believe, where they must have irrefutable evidence.
So let's get that evidence! Let us assume for now that there is a high probability life is still alive on mars and let's get the funding going to prove me completely wrong!
Scientists have put a worm's brain into a Lego robot's body - and it works!
First I would like to talk about the ideals most common transhumanist have (as if you could consider a transhumanist average in today's age). These ideals include extended life to the point of immortality and extended functional capabilities, basically increased intelligence, strength, improved senses as well as new ones humans have never before had. Much better adaptability to a technologically sophisticated world, growing ever more complex by the day. These new capabilities include complete and total control of our environment, the ability to shape anything and everything at will, including oneself.
Seven billion and counting, that's the number of human beings living on the planet Earth as of this reading. That's a lot of creatures consuming the resources of the planet and not always in a way that is replenishing and sustainable to the current healthy ecological state of the said shared biosphere!
What can be done? Well we could eat each other, as in Soylent Green. Become even more efficient at killing each other, for whatever stupid sub-human behavior, probably oil or some other dwindling resource, as we constantly seem to be doing. Or maybe, just maybe we could evolve . . . I mean technologically evolve. Enhance ourselves to become more than just physically human. Human + (plus) technology.
Am I talking evil Nazi Eugenics? NO. Am I talking smart phone ---> Star Trek Borg implants, Matrix simulated realities, AI controlled cultures like The Forbin Project? Space expansion through human technological evolution? SMILE? Honestly, I don't know. But certainly something we can't imagine yet.
Or maybe you would prefer a more bleak future? One in which 90% or more of the population has be wiped clean by a natural or artificial contagion? Maybe a global nuclear war? I'm saying the time to choose is now. Through your daily actions, you, myself, all of us are selecting a common future moment-by-moment. Let's make it the best one it can possibly be, for the most human acting people possible.
For just a few moments a day, I appeal to you're higher evolved survival instincts, or rather those of common sense. Let's put aside our greed, jealousy, prejudice and fear and rise to the best we humans can be, intelligent, creative, compassionate, cooperative, communicating, altuistic beings worthy of this biosphere and it's diversity. Worthy to survive as a continually evolving species on this planet and later expansion out in the universe. There to eventually meet others who have survived as well.
This mash-up is a cool artistic homage to science fiction movies of the 1970's, 1980s, 1990's etc ...
One of tests of time is whether what you say is still relevant in a future time. This is clearly the case for FM-2030. A true future man (model) and original transhuman who was preserved for future revival (Vitrification can preserve biological structure very well). New York Times Archieve. Please follow me on this blog, I use no advertising.
Transhuman FM-2030 Stands The Test Of Time http://t.co/FWOSrUR2wP
— Michael McAnally (@Michael_Blade) May 12, 2014
Transhuman FM-2030 Stands The Test Of Time http://t.co/FWOSrUR2wP
— Michael McAnally (@Michael_Blade) May 12, 2014
One of the things that puzzles me the most these days, and maybe a few others as well, is the Fermi Paradox.
Where are all the aliens? The galaxy and universe should be teeming with them, or at least I would like to believe.
Hollywood has a new movie out about the Singularity and Transhumanism that is not entirely bad. Why would I say that? Because anything that brings these progressive ideas into the arena of common knowledge and to the general public is a good thing.
I have personally asked many people I meet, if they knew what the Technological Singularity was or Transhumanism and they simply had no idea.
Then, of course I politely gave them a crash course in AI-Tranhumanism 101. That is because it is still something that is still only discussed in intellectual circles of egghead nerds like myself. Yesterday, when the movie came out that all changed, so I say is a good thing and I can ask, "Did you see that movie Trancendence with Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman?"
The movie is of coursed strongly flawed in so many ways that I'm having trouble deciding where to start on pointing them out. So I have simply decided not to.
Instead, I will point out the things I like about the movie:
Did I mention it has big name hollywood actors?
That it goes into mind uploading and whether or not an upload is the same person as the original organic human.
That it shows an AI terrorist group that is bent on stopping the unstoppable, at any cost to life and violent destruction (leading to many opportunities for hollywood action gun violence, bloodshed and big explosions), something I don't much like personally.
That it spreads its intelligence and capabilities to the entire biosphere through nanotechnology, improving things that are already much out of control.
That it still has relationships with humans, although a bit strained on both sides.
Michael Blade, Copyright All Rights Reserved, January 2013
I will start by trying to define my understanding of what it means to be transhuman. This may not be your understanding or even the general understanding, but so be it. I will not enter into the debate on whether we should even attempt to be transhuman or what would be the negative consequences of such an undertaking. I leave that to other discussions, which believe me I have had many.
Imagine if you will, re-engineering common lawn grass to do computing! Some might think I'm smoking grass when I propose this innovative idea, but it's really scientifically sound, albeit a little futuristic.
Each blade of grass takes its power from the sun through the process of photosynthesis and uses part of that power to do computing tasks, the remainder powers normal life sustaining processes of the plant as it does today. The lawn then communicates the computing results to a central multiplexer-coordinator of sorts (possibly even wireless, this part is of course technically unclear at this time) networked into the house computer systems, results flowing into the national and finally the global computing grids.
The technology specifics of what it would take to create this engineering marvel of genetic modification and nano engineering is beyond our current technological understanding at this time, but just.
Imagining the implications of having available such cheap "really green" computing power is extremely captivating. Enough so as to go out on a limb writing this post. Computing power you can grow from a seed packet power by the sun, with the only requirement being to make sure the lawn is watered regularly. Something most of us already do. You might have to stop mowing the lawn, as it would reduce computing power . . .
Fear is a reaction to the unknown. We don't have Artificial General Intelligence at the moment. What we have are specific use cases; such as how to win in Jeopardy or Chess or how to buy and sell stocks. True general artificial intelligence can learn any of these tasks.
A list of videos I find interesting, fun and funny . . . which I hope you do too. Some which are collected over many years of vlogging & posting.
The really great thing about this mash-up is that you can play simultaneous videos and hear their audio tracks merged. Note: It takes a while to load the page on slower connections, so please be patient.
I am the very model of a singularitarian
KESHA + STAR WARS Tik Tok Music Video Spoof!
Imagine if you will, the ability to upload with super high fidelity neuronal cognitive pathways and memories. Now ask yourself, what travels as fast as light? The simple answer to this is of course light! So it would seem that if you become light itself, you can transmit to other stars at the very speed of light.
Brilliant ideas are usually formed as a result of the synthesis of many minds. Each building upon the break through thoughts of others, communicating those thoughts out to many people.
At first the idea may seem crazy or radical because the idea is so different than the way we are use to thinking. There are many examples of this in our history.
Once an idea reaches a critical mass, the main stream thinkers are aware of it. Society is now more accepting of the possibility of the validity of the idea and forces come about to make it a reality.
The idea that humans could be transmitted to the stars on a beam of light is radical, but imagine the consequences of just such a proposal. Posthumanism would be achieved and those of use stored digitally would be immortal, able to spread across the galaxy as beings of pure light energy.
Humans are "star stuff", as Carl Sagan use to say, would it not be great to become star light as well. The idea is just too powerful to ignore.
In previous blog posts I have imagined a transhumanist future, the individual digital.
In which it would be possible for a person to mind upload into a computer and literally travel to the stars.
The idea that consciousness can be understood, decanted and simulated, is key to the idea of a living thinking feeling mind consciously believing itself to be alive within a computer system, capable of just such a feat. For if it is impossible to upload a mind and have "it think therefore it is", then the future of Transhumanism, as well as that of AI's with consciousness capable of exhibiting sentience, may be in jeopardy. However the essence called consciousness is elusive, difficult to define and isolate, basically a mystery at this juncture in time.
Consciousness is closely tied to perception, the senses through which a mind perceives another elusive concept, which we term reality. Reality is nearly just as tricky when you throw in the observer, quantum theory, time and parallel universes. How you effect others who are conscious as well in, a possible shared reality, is unknown to me. Not only that, but what about the ideas of free will and determinism?
If it "is possible" to encapsulate consciousness within a machine, a mechanism designed and built by humans, then all sorts of things may become possible as a result. I personally lean toward believing anything is feasibly or possible anyway, given some framework of structure in which to work and with some constraints.
Imagine if you will, the ability to upload with super high fidelity neuronal cognitive pathways and memories. Now ask yourself, what travels as fast as light? The simple answer to this is of course Light! So it would seem that if you become light itself, you can transmit to other stars at the very speed of light. Now the distance traveled is just a moment of conscious gap, like going to sleep on a train of light and waking up having arrived at your destination. Your upload could be transmitted serially and redundantly to the stars to account for any errors in transmission . . . and then you could be instantiated inside a "body", I use the term loosely, robot, simulation, vat grown biological clone, etc. Your consciousness will all your previous memories and it doesn't matter to you that another copy of you exists entirely in a different space and time.
You are simply not the original you! Could you accept that?
Michael Blade
"SALE on Apps for the SPEECH IMPAIRED!" by @Michael_Blade on @LinkedIn https://t.co/CgeimVW1mk
— Michael McAnally (@Michael_Blade) March 2, 2016
"SALE on Apps for the SPEECH IMPAIRED!" by @Michael_Blade on @LinkedIn https://t.co/CgeimVW1mk
— Michael McAnally (@Michael_Blade) March 2, 2016
"The PocketPixel, My Invention!" by @Michael_Blade on https://t.co/YcsJRVpiXl pic.twitter.com/59SvUBG6KR
— Michael McAnally (@Michael_Blade) April 5, 2016
"The PocketPixel, My Invention!" by @Michael_Blade on https://t.co/YcsJRVpiXl pic.twitter.com/59SvUBG6KR
— Michael McAnally (@Michael_Blade) April 5, 2016
Yes we won, and yes we are radical, when it comes to our rights on the internet.


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In multiplayer Dungeon Siege there are some different ways to make your character look, such as a regular dude or a skeleton, or in the expansion, a giant looking thing. Are there any differences between these or is it just for looks?
No. The difference is only cosmetic. Unlike Dungeon Siege 2, your appearance has no effect on your character.


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our mailing list. It's so wizard.
by Pizzo
13 October, 2010@3:46 am
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13 October, 2010@3:46 am
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The Sounds of VTech / Black Milk "365″ Live @ Frequency
September 24th, 2010 was a memorable evening. It was Black Milk's album release party for his latest release, "Album Of The Year," as well as his Bay Area performance debut. It was also the kick off to VTech's monthly event series in SF called Frequency. The packed house crammed in the venue, Mighty, to witness Black Milk, Elzhi (formerly of Slum Village), and House Shoes give San Francisco a night to remember. Check the video of Black Milk, performing alongside AB & Daru, the song "365″ live in San Francisco.
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Play to the Endby Robert Goddard
View All Available Formats & Editions
Actor Toby Flood, formerly of big and small screen but now seldom seen on either, arrives in Brighton with the other cast members of the Joe Orton play Lodger in the Throat. They have been on tour since September, but hopes of a West End transfer have been
Intricate, fascinating and deeply satisfying to the last page -- another classic Robert Goddard mystery.
Actor Toby Flood, formerly of big and small screen but now seldom seen on either, arrives in Brighton with the other cast members of the Joe Orton play Lodger in the Throat. They have been on tour since September, but hopes of a West End transfer have been abandoned and they are all looking forward to the end of the run the following Saturday.
Flood is visited that night by his estranged wife, Jenny, now living with wealthy entrepreneur Roger Colborn. Jenny runs a shop in the Lanes and is worried about a strange man who is hanging around outside. Roger has dismissed her concerns but Jenny persuades Toby, for old times' sake, to do something. The next day Flood trails the man and confronts him. Derek Oswin is an unemployed loner who blames Roger Colborn for his father's death from cancer on account of dangerous practices at the now-closed plastics factory run by Roger and his late father, Sir Walter Colborn. However, Oswin is a fan of Flood's and eventually he agrees to lay off. Then, Colborn gets wind of Flood's contact with Jenny and tries to buy him off, but Flood sees only a longed-for opportunity to win Jenny back, and presses for answers to a host of questions surrounding the death of Sir Walter seven years earlier.
Before he fully understands the risks he is running, Flood finds himself entangled in the mysterious -- and dangerous -- relationship between the Oswins and the Colborns. The prospects of him surviving until the close of the play suddenly start to look far from good.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Product Details
- 9780440336082
- Publisher:
- Random House Publishing Group
- Publication date:
- 04/25/2006
- Sold by:
- Random House
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- 368
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Read an Excerpt
What I felt as I got off the train this afternoon wasn't what I'd expected to feel. The journey had been as grim and tardy as I suppose it was bound to be on a December Sunday. Most of the others have chosen to go via London and they won't be coming down here until tomorrow. I could have joined them. Instead I volunteered for the slow South Central shuffle along the coast. I had plenty of opportunity to analyse my state of mind as a seamless succession of drab back gardens drifted past the grimy train window. I knew why I hadn't gone up to London, of course. I knew exactly why bright lights and brash company weren't what the doctor had ordered. The truth is that if I had fled to the big city, I might never have made it to Brighton at all. I might have opted out of the last week of this ever more desperate tour and let Gauntlett sue me if he could be bothered to. So, I came the only way I could be sure would get me here. Which it did. Late, cold and depressed. But here. And then, as I stepped out onto the platform . . .
That feeling is why I'm talking into this machine. I can't quite describe it. Not foreboding, exactly. Not excitement. Not even anticipation. Something slipping between all three, I suppose. A thrill; a shiver; a prickling of the hairs on the back of the neck; a ghost tiptoeing across my grave. There wasn't supposed to be anything but a protraction of a big disappointment waiting for me in Brighton. But already, before I'd even cleared the ticket barrier, I sensed strongly enough for certainty that there was more than that preparing a welcome for me. More that might be better or worse, but, either way, was preferable.
I didn't trust the sensation, of course. Why would I? I do now, though. Because it's already started to happen. Maybe I should have realized sooner that the tour was a journey. And this is journey's end.
The tapes were my agent's idea. Well, a diary was what she actually suggested, back in those bright summer days when this donkey of a play looked like a stallion that could run and run and the mere prospect merited a lunch at the River Café. A chronicle of how actors refine their roles and discover the deeper profundities of a script before they reach the West End is what Moira had in mind. She reckoned there might be a newspaper serialization in it to supplement the two thou a week Gauntlett is ever more reluctantly paying me. It sounded good. (A lot of what Moira says does.) I bought this pocket audio doodah on the strength of it, while the Cloudy Bay was still swirling around my thought processes. I'm glad I did now.
But it's more or less the first time I have been. I abandoned the diary before I'd even started it, up in Guildford, where the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre hosted the world première of our proud production. Is it only nine weeks ago? It feels more like nine months, the span of a difficult pregnancy, with a stillbirth the foregone conclusion since we had word from Gauntlett that there was to be no West End transfer. I thank God for the panto season, without which he might have been tempted to keep us on the road in the hopes of some magical improvement. As it is, the curtain comes down next Saturday and seems likely to stay there.
It shouldn't have turned out this way. When it was announced last year that a previously unknown play by the late and lauded Joe Orton had been discovered, it was widely assumed to be a masterpiece on no other basis than its authorship. What greater proof was needed, after all? This was the man who gave us Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Loot and What the Butler Saw. This was also the man who sealed his reputation as an anarchic genius by dying young, murdered by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, at their flat in Islington in August 1967. I have all the facts of his extraordinary life at my fingertips thanks to carting his biography and an edition of his diaries around with me. I thought they might inspire me. I thought lots of things. None of them have quite worked out.
The script of Lodger in the Throat was found by a plumber under some floorboards in the flat where Orton and Halliwell used to live. I imagine Orton would have been amused by the circumstances of its discovery. Maybe he actually planted it there as a joke. Or maybe--my preferred theory--Halliwell hid it during the final phase of his mental disintegration, not long before he bashed Orton's brains out with a hammer and then killed himself by swallowing a fatal quantity of Nembutal tablets. The Orton experts date the play to the winter of 1965/66 and reason he gave up on it when Loot was revived after a disastrous initial tour. Now I come to think about it, that tour bore eerie similarities to the experiences of the cast I've been trying to lead this autumn. Loot worked second time around, of course, because Orton was alive and well and willing to revise it. The irony is that he's not available to salvage Lodger in the Throat, the play he consigned to a bottom drawer (or maybe the floor-space) in order to return to Loot. We're on our own. And, boy, does it feel like it.
Enough about the play. We've analysed its potential and its problems, my fellow performers and I, till we're sick of the subject. Sick and tired. It was supposed to put my career back on the rails, or at any rate haul it out of the siding into which it was unaccountably shunted a few years ago. I'm the man who was in with a chance of being the new James Bond when Roger Moore packed it in, something I now find hard to believe, even though I know it's true. What's also true is that you don't realize you've stopped going up until you start going down.
There are plenty of signs if you're smart enough to spot them, of course, or if you're willing to let yourself spot them. My name tops the bill, but Martin Donohue, who plays the part of my younger brother, has somehow managed to emerge from our dismal run with enough credit to make my primacy look shaky if we were ever cast together again--which, naturally, I'd move heaven and earth to prevent. Time was when Mandy Pringle, our ambitious deputy stage manager, would have set her sights on me, not Donohue. But that time is past. Not long past, but past none the less. Maybe they're looking forward to a week in Brighton. What they certainly won't be thinking is that I'm looking forward to our week in Sussex by the Sea. But I am. At least, I am now.
It rained all last night in Poole and was still raining when I got on the train this morning. Brighton must have caught the deluge too, but it was dry when I left the station and trudged south along Queen's Road through the mild grey dusk towards the darker grey slab of the sea. I'd already written off my weird presentiment. I'd accepted the exact and unappetizing character of the next six days. And the idea of making any kind of a record of them was about as remote as it could be.
I turned east along Church Street, a fair enough route to take to my destination, but one that also permitted a detour along New Road, past the familiar period frontage of the Theatre Royal. This will be my fourth professional engagement on its antique boards and I'd happily swap any one of the others for the eight renderings of Lodger in the Throat that the near future holds.
I stopped and examined the poster, wondering whether I'd visibly aged since the photograph was taken three months ago. It was hard to tell, not least because I haven't been taking any lingering looks at myself in the mirror lately. But it was me all right. And there was my name, listed with the others, to prove it. Leo S. Gauntlett presents Lodger in the Throat, by Joe Orton, starring Toby Flood, Jocasta Haysman, Martin Donohue, Elsa Houghton and Frederick Durrance, Monday 2 to Saturday 7 December. Evenings at 7.45 p.m. Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30 p.m. Part of me longed to see a CANCELLED sticker across the poster, but it wasn't there and it isn't going to be. We're on. There's no way out. Until the end of the week.
I didn't linger, cutting round by the Royal Pavilion to the Old Steine, then heading east along St. James's Street. The Sea Air Hotel is neither the chicest nor the cheapest B & B establishment in Madeira Place, one of the guesthouse-filled streets running down to Marine Parade, but Eunice is as actor-friendly a landlady as they come, willing to suspend her winter closure just for me. As the tour's gone from bad to worse and the play's immediate future has shrunk, I've started economizing on accommodation in order to have some dosh to show for my efforts even if kudos is out of the question. I'd probably have opted to stay with Eunice anyway, but just now the Sea Air has a number of crucial advantages apart from the tariff, principal among them being the fact that none of the others will be staying here. I have Eunice's word on it. "I couldn't cope with a party, Toby. All that coming and going. All that bathwater. I reckon you'll do for me."
I've only ever been here out of season, to share the dining room with the ghosts of summer holidaymakers. It's a peaceful house, thanks to Eunice's serene temperament and aversion to noise of all kinds. Even Binky, her cat, has learned not to purr loudly. Eunice is Mrs. Rowlandson, complete with wedding and engagement rings, but Mr. Rowlandson is a subject never touched upon, sometime existence presumed but fate unspecified. It's true to say, mind you, that Eunice might not be able to discard the rings even if she wanted to. A thin woman she is not. And less thin than ever. An aroma of baking wafted up from her basement flat as she ushered me into the speckless, flock-papered hall and up the Axminster-carpeted stairs to the first-floor front bedroom, furnished like an Art Deco museum and with a bay-windowed view of its shabby twin on the other side of the street.
"Do you want some tea?" Eunice asked, watching me from the doorway as I dumped my bag and returned the room's silent welcome.
"That'd be great," I replied.
"And some cake? You look as if you need building up."
She was right there. She was indeed spot-on. I smiled. "Cake would be great too. Oh, and do you have yesterday's Argus, Eunice?"
"I dare say I could put my hand on it. You'll not find much in it to interest you, though."
"I only want the cinema schedules. I thought I might catch a film tonight."
"Mmm." She looked seriously doubtful.
"What's wrong?"
"I wouldn't make any definite plans if I were you."
"Why not?"
"There was a phone call for you earlier."
I was puzzled by that. Those who knew where I was staying were more likely to have rung me on my mobile. "Who from?" I asked at once.
"Your wife."
"My wife?"
The puzzle instantly became a mystery. Jenny and I are technically still married, but only because the decree nisi is a month or so short of becoming absolute. Given that her husband-to-be's country estate (well, that's what Wickhurst Manor sounds like to me) is only a few miles north of Brighton, I'd caught myself wondering on the train whether Jenny was thinking of coming along to one of the performances. I'd reckoned not. She'd keep her distance. She'd put my presence in the city out of her mind. But it seemed she hadn't.
"Jenny phoned here?"
"Yes." Eunice nodded. "She wants to see you, Toby."
It's time to own up. It's time to say what I've long since known. I love my wife. My soon-to-be-ex-wife, that is. I always have. I just haven't always acknowledged the fact, or behaved accordingly. Actors' marriages are notoriously unstable, like actors themselves, I suppose. We sometimes forget where the part ends and we begin. Sometimes, in the absence of a part, we invent one. Usually, because we perform rather than create, it's a character from stock: the hard-drinking, fast-driving womanizer, forever on a spree of one kind or another. It's easier to keep a mask in place for fear of what peeling it off would reveal.
That's only one of the problems between Jenny and me. And, ironically, it's a problem the last few years have abundantly solved. I know myself now, perhaps too well. But self-knowledge has come a little late. You're not supposed to wait until the brink of your half-century to understand the workings of your own mind. Better than never at all, I suppose, although some might disagree.
We'd still have made it, I reckon, despite the infidelities and indiscretions, the lost weekends and broken promises, but for something else neither of us could have anticipated. To have a son. And then to lose him. There. I've said that too. His name was Peter. He was born. He lived for four and a half years. And then he died. Drowned in the oversized swimming pool that went with the oversized house that went with the lifestyle we thought we were supposed to enjoy.
We blamed each other. We were right to. But the blame should have been shared, not contested. You can't alter the past. And maybe you can't alter the future either. But you can wreck the present. Oh yes. You can lay that thoroughly to waste.
When Jenny left me, I told myself it was for the best. Platitudes like "Time for us both to move on" fell regularly from my lips. I think I may even have believed them. For a while.
Not any more, though. I should never have let her go. I should have done things differently. Very differently. Hindsight is the sharpest sight of all. It lays bare the truth.
And the bleak truth is that there's nothing I can do to repair the damage I've done. There's no way back. At least, that's what I would have said. Until tonight.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Meet the Author
Robert Goddard was an educational administrator before becoming a full-time novelist. Among his many bestselling works, Into the Blue won the first WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award and was dramatized for TV, starring John Thaw.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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While taking the monotonous train to Brighton, actor Toby Flood muses about his career in which the highlight was years ago when he was a strong candidate to replace Roger Moore as James Bond. Not long after failing to be selected as 007, Toby¿s career stopped ascending and began the dive that continues today. He knows that though he has top billing in a Joe Orton play, deputy stage manager Mandy Pringle sees support actor Martin Donahue as the near term future. Perhaps adding to his melancholy mood of failure, Toby regrets that his wife Jenny, whom he still loves, has field for divorce. --- Brighton hat shop owner Jenny calls Toby to demand he stop the stalker. Hex explains he has not hired any stalker, but will look into it especially when she claims he has a video of one of Toby¿s films. Toby confronts Derek Oswin, who promises to stop staring at Jenny stating he only used her as a means to meet his hero, Mr. Flood. However, when Derek fails to live up to his agreement, Toby follows up, even missing a performance, However, he will soon miss a lot more as Toby, in his quest to recapture Jenny¿s love, has become entangled in a domestic dispute involving the affluent Colburn family. --- Robert Goddard is one of the best suspense writers on the market today (see BORROWED TIME). As always his tales star a seemingly average individual (this time a B actor who missed his fifteen minutes) placed in lethal situations in which the outcome remains up in the air until the final climax. PLAY TO THE END does that and more as Toby¿s desperation ploy to regain his beloved turns into a nightmare. --- Harriet Klausner


text:
Barbara Niemeyer
Copyright 2012 AWS Media LLC
Published by AWS Media LLC at Smashwords
Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference
After attending a few meetings of Al-Anon, I realized that my recovery and the program centered upon working the twelve steps. Yet, there was no one I was drawn to ask to be my sponsor in my small local group. After several months and a few attempts with a temporary sponsor, I began to work the steps on my own. This wasn't my first rodeo.
Conventional wisdom will encourage you to work the twelve steps with a sponsor. A newcomer to the program will find many potential pitfalls when there is not a sponsor to provide insights and guidance. In fact, I later re-worked those steps with a veteran sponsor who brought a deeper level of understanding and a transformation of my being. Yet, everyone must begin somewhere. Every journey begins with a single step.