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Stone Hotel & Hostel
Real Reviews
Real reviews from fellow travellers
These are trusted reviews from guests who have actually stayed here. We hope you find them helpful.
Note: we only give a property a rating once it has received a minimum of 3 reviews.
- Page:1/1
- " The staff was great! The bathrooms were a little dingy. The rooms were nice. Overall, great experience! "
- 24 Jun 2016 Anonymous USA
- " The staff was really, really nice and the kitchen was clean, even though it was kinda small I still like the atmosphere there. "
- 29 Dec 2015 Anonymous Taiwan
- " Clean, with lovely staff and within a walking distance from the city center! "
- 28 Dec 2015 Loukia Greece
- " Good equipped hostel with friendly staff in a nice location, but my mattress was saggy and the bathroom (of room 10) should get a ventilation system for reasons of hygiene. "
- 22 Nov 2015 Anonymous Germany
- " friendly staff, excellent location, familiar atmosphere, things were easy, international (young guests from different parts of the world) "
- 15 Oct 2015 Holger Germany
- " wifi is just too slow. had to wait 5 minutes from one page to another. it's like not having wifi "
- 16 Sep 2015 Anonymous USA
- " Nice hostel and nice staff. We stayed only one night, it was full due to students looking for a flat to rent. "
- 10 Sep 2015 Davide Italy


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SACRAMENTO — Citing a third consecutive year of drought conditions, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday declared a state of emergency and called on urban residents to cut their water usage by 20 percent.
The announcement could intensify talks in the Capitol about upgrading the state's water infrastructure — a contentious debate that has pitted environmentalists who favor conservation against proponents of building new dams to boost supplies. Negotiations in the Legislature have stalled repeatedly in recent years over the issue of dams.
The governor's proclamation directs state agencies to expedite water transfers to needy areas, take measures to ensure water supplies to farmers and streamline environmental regulations for projects, such as desalination and water recycling plants, that could help alleviate the drought.
The governor said drought conditions are causing enormous financial harm to the state's agriculture industry and businesses. Losses to California farmers could approach $3 billion this year, he said.
In an interview with the Mercury News on Friday, Schwarzenegger said the water crisis is "self-inflicted, it's not mother nature's fault" and said he hopes to convince opponents of new dams and reservoirs that "the emergency presents an opportunity," including creating jobs. He also said the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which supplies water to much of the state, must be repaired.
"We have a water system built for 18 million people. We now have 38 million people," the governor said.
Despite heavy rainfall this month, state water officials say there is only a 15 percent chance that California will replenish its diminished water supply caused by the past few years of below average rain and snowfall. Storage levels in the state's reservoir system are at historic lows, they say.
Schwarzenegger in June declared that California had reached a state of drought. Friday's announcement ramps up the sense of urgency even more, and could cause water districts around California to take more aggressive steps to clamp down on water use.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District board is expected to consider recommending mandatory reductions of 10 to 20 percent for customers, which include more than a dozen towns and cities, including San Jose.
An earlier voluntary drive to cut water usage by 10 percent fell short, achieving only a 7 percent reduction. Mandatory conservation could be encouraged with water rates that would spike once a home reaches a certain amount of usage, or with fines for watering lawns during daylight hours.
"Our board was already considering calling for mandatory conservation, and the governor's proclamation will give them another reason to move ahead with it," said Susan Siravo, a spokeswoman for the district.
The governor could impose mandatory water rationing by executive fiat — and on Friday he held out that possibility in the future — but for now has chosen to allow local water districts to pursue their own conservation efforts.
Jim Metropulos, a senior advocate for Sierra Club California, did not dispute that the state is indeed in the midst of a drought. But he urged Schwarzenegger not to use that as ammunition to renew his case for additional dams, saying the governor instead should launch a statewide water conservation campaign.
Dams would take years to build and face numerous court challenges, Metropulos said. "It's not going to help us now, tomorrow or five years from now," he said.
But Schwarzenegger, along with Republican lawmakers and Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have called for additional dams to be included in a multibillion dollar water infrastructure bond. Conservation alone, they say, won't solve the problem.
Mercury News Staff Writer Mary Anne Ostrom contributed to this report.
Contact Mike Zapler at firstname.lastname@example.com or (916) 441-4603.

subset: commoncrawl


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Haast tokoeka kiwi
The Haast tokoeka kiwi is a beautiful, unique bird that lives in the foothills of the mountains in South Westland, New Zealand. It is critically endangered, with the number of known birds numbering in the low hundreds. This kiwi is a smart bird that uses passive solar energy when nest building, choosing large flat sun-facing rocks to build its nests under to take advantage of the stored heat. Though once widely eaten by native Maoris and early European settlers, the kiwis are under threat today from loss of habitat and predation from invasive species.


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The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief Chapter 56 Summary
The Sky Stealer
- That air raid was actually a false alarm.
- No bombing occurs.
- But, the next air raid, the air raid of September 19, 1942, is very real.
- The radio alerts them this time.
- Again, the people of Himmel Street make their way to the Fielders' basement.
- Again, Hans leaves behind the accordion, for good luck.
- In the basement, Rosa holds Liesel's hand so tightly she has to ask Rosa to stop.
- Liesel who has, again, brought all her books, begins reading aloud from The Whistler.
- Rudy is the first to start listening, but soon everybody is.
- Liesel realizes that her reading is, for these people, like Hans's accordion-playing is for her—very comforting.
- As she reads, she thinks of Max and reading to him when he was sick.
- She wonders if he's "stealing a glimpse of sky again" (56.22).
- After some time, the sirens alert them that the air-raid is over.
- Liesel calmly finished the paragraph she's reading.
- We are given the fourth word from Liesel's dictionary, "Wort – Word" (56.29).
- As they are leaving, people thank Liesel for reading to them.
- The bombs haven't reached Himmel Street.
- At home, they gather around Max in the basement.
- Hans tells him everything that happened.
- Rosa prompts Hans to tell about Liesel reading The Whistler to the people.
- Death thinks that when Max imagines Liesel reading to the people in the bomb shelter, he gets the idea for the title piece in his book, The Word Shaker.
- Liesel asks Max if he peeked out at the sky this time.
- He didn't.
- Death doesn't know about Hans and Rosa, but he knows what's in Liesel's mind:
[I]f the bombs ever landed on Himmel Street not only did Max have less chance for survival […], but he would die completely alone. (56.46)


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Month: May 2008
Self interest always wins out…
Deep down, every single one of us is driven by self-interest. As much as we would like to think that's not true; that we can look beyond ourselves and do what is in the common good, the fact is, more times than not, we will do what is in our own self interest. Or at minimum, leverage the decisions we make to benefit our self interest.
When deciding what should and shouldn't go into a release, we try to look at the market needs, at the competition, at the strategic direction of the company etc. etc. But when push comes to shove, and we have to make a hard call on including something or not, our subconscious will have a significant impact.
In a conversation about prioritizing some requirements, I had to make a hard choice between two important items of roughly equal effort. When another PM asked me why I chose one instead of the other, I said that if we implemented the one I selected, it would get a lot of people off my butt. And that I was tired of hearing people complain about the issue. The other one wasn't causing the same stink to be raised.
As I said it, it surprised me somewhat. I told the other PM, "I'm being honest here."
I like to think that I focus on what will help drive revenue, better position us against competitors, help strengthen relationships with key strategic partners and all that good stuff. But seriously, when a hard decision needed to be made, my reasons were none of those.
It's not as if that functionality wasn't needed or that it wasn't something we should add to the product. Don't get me wrong. People were complaining about it because it was a gap in the product and customers needed it. But, the main reason for my choice was firstly self-interest.
So let me ask you a question. Have you ever been in that situation and made a decision for similar reasons? In retrospect, any thoughts on whether that was the right decision?
Forget research, let's build something!
Let's start with a haiku:
Research a concept?
How accurate will it be?
Build something, then see.
I've written a couple of articles recently on the difficulties in developing successful products and innovating in large organizations. A lot of what I wrote had to do with research and ROI on initiatives. And certainly for companies such as McDonald's or Proctor and Gamble, the cost of launching a new product is significant, and the cost of launching a failure is even greater.
But in the software world, launching a product or service is very different. One (or two or three) people can successfully create something, launch it on the web, get feedback quickly, modify the offering, get more feedback, modify the offering some more, grow the audience, get more feedback….you get the picture.
Pierre Omidyar started eBay (originally AuctionWeb) in his spare time when he was working at another software company in Silicon Valley.
Yahoo! started off as a simple directory listing of websites called Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web and was originally hosted on Jerry Yang's machine at Stanford: http://akebono.standford.edu.
And of course, Google started out as a Ph.D research project for Larry and Sergei, with the idea being that pages that have more links pointing to them should be more relevant in a given set of search results.
While these are three HUGELY successful companies, there are many other smaller ones that follow the pattern these companies had in their origins. i.e. build something simple, useful, cool or different, get people to use it, get feedback, build it out a bit more etc. etc.
There was little or no market research in the founding of these companies. What research could actually have been done? Who could have predicted the success of any of these companies very early on? No one.
On a slightly smaller scale, and a little more recent success, here's an interesting example of a 1 (OK now it's 2) person company, started in 2003, that is generating about $10,000,000 of revenue per year. The NYTimes article provides a bit more detail. The article title alone — From 10 hours a week, 10 million per year — says a lot. The site was started as a way for the founder, Markus Frind, to teach himself ASP.NET.
The point of all these examples, and there are many more like them in the software world, is that given the very low barrier to entry, a "good idea" can be quickly iterated on and developed and become a successful endeavour without a lot of research, and market segmentation, and problem identification, and persona development etc.
Just take your idea, write some code, put it out there and see where it takes you.
Is this a valid model for developing software, particularly in the context of the WWW? I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Product success is not easy….part 2
Scott Sehlhorst wrote a good post entitled Successful Products:Lucky or Intentional? about my comment on Phil Myers post entitled Chasing Outcomes. Did you get that? 🙂
Phil had summed up his Chasing Outcomes post with the following line:
|At the end of the day, its simple. Create a product or service that your buyers want to buy and the rest takes care of itself.
I argued that things don't take care of themselves and asked for other people's comments.
Scott took my comment, that product success is not easy, and analysed Phil's post and then provided guidance on how to increase the likelihood of product success. He states 7 steps should be followed. These are:
Note: Step 7 should occasionally replace step 6, so that you stay focused on your market, and not just an out-of-date snapshot of what used to be important to your customers.
This is a good list that describes a good standard process for developing products. It basically says one should do their homework before implementing solutions to problems, and then iterate on the solution based on feedback from the market.
And while this should reduce chances of failure, and help develop something the people want, it doesn't mean that there will be product success or that anything will take care of itself.
There are several reasons for this.
First, even if you follow the steps above, none will be done perfectly, and there will be aspects of the market, the problem, your solution etc. that are not fully taken into account or addressed. It could simply be because there are things you cannot know for certain, or because your resources or budget don't permit more accurate research or for other reasons. Regardless, it goes without saying that your research and your efforts will not be perfect at each step. Think of these imperfections as "error bars" associated with decisions made at each step.
And remember, decisions are what we make when we have imperfect information. When we have ALL the information needed, we no longer are making a decision, but a calculation. Now, when do we have ALL the data? Well, almost never, or almost certainly when the market or opportunity has passed us by. And keep in mind that the error bars from these decisions can compound over the product development process.
In addition, the marketplace is not static. Customer needs or preferences may change. New competitors may appear. Economic conditions may change. The market may not develop as expected. Thus the solution you provide may no longer address the market need the way you thought. Now step 7 wisely says you should revisit step 1 and step 2.
While this is going to help reduce some of the error in the solution, it will not eliminate it. Thus no matter how hard you try, there will always be a delta between what you offer and what the market needs. That delta could be small or it could be large, but it will always be there.
Remember McPizza? McDonald's can be accused of a lot of things but not for rushing to market with this product. They did a lot of research and test marketing. They had a well defined target audience. They advertised and promoted heavily. It was hard not to know about their pizza.
Yet it failed miserably. Why? In short, people didn't associate McDonald's with pizza and they could get better pizza elsewhere. Now why didn't any of the market research turn up this insight before McDonald's invested untold millions on pizza ovens and marketing on the nationwide launch?
And this wasn't the only failed product from McDonald's. Remember McRib? Yum!!! And how about the Arch Deluxe? And McDonald's isn't the only such company with these kinds of failures.
Here's a great recent article from the LA Times about Proctor and Gamble — the company where modern Brand Management was developed. While part of the article refers to a new book by P&G Chairman and CEO A.G. Lafley, there is a great line in the article that is relevant to this topic.
|The book's strongest message comes not from successes such as Olay, Febreze and Swiffer but from failures, such as Fit, a fruit and vegetable sterilizing wash launched in 2000 and sold three years later at a loss of $50 million.
After all the changes, the company still has a success rate of 60% on innovations. But that "is as high as P&G wants to go. Any higher would be playing it too safe," the authors say.
Even at P&G, they view a failure rate of 40% as acceptable. Later in the article:
|He also insists on disciplined control of innovation that weeds out failures before they become painfully big. Each innovation team must, from the start, identify the issue that represents the biggest threat to its success and explain how to deal with it.
There will be plenty of failure to go round — and also, probably, innumerable new versions of Whitestrips.
So, what can be concluded from this? Bringing new successful products to market, even for large well established companies, take a real disciplined process. There is no guarantee for success with a disciplined approach. In fact innovation has to be measured and carefully managed. And for those products that make it to the market, but don't succeed, there needs to be enough discipline in the company to know when to kill them or sell them off and focus efforts and resources on more lucrative or potentially rewarding ventures.
P.S. There is a good article called "Why Startups Fail" that covers some of the things I've talked about here.
Emotional intelligence?
This has nothing to do with anything in product management, but maybe something to do with how well you get along with your co-workers, and your emotional intelligence. I just thought it was cool. Here's a site that allows you to rate your own personality, and have your friends rate you. Then compare the two. Based on my articles, what would you say about me? (This is Alan writing … to be fair, Saeed has been writing most of the articles on our blog … so maybe our blog is weighted to his personality … maybe Saeed will also post a "come and guess me" link too.)
Sales Axiom: Sales is not customer service
Being in sales is an interesting experience. So much of it is about self perception and perception of others. I have worked for my whole career with sales people, and often shook my head at some of the reactionary behavior, but having been in the seat myself now for over a year, I can see how the mind starts to play tricks on a person.
Here's a big one to get over: Sales is not the same as customer service. (Corollary: The customer is not always right.)
Quite often the customer calls up looking for information. They're researching the market, looking for information, looking for prices, educating themselves. That is fine and normal, but you must realize that when they are talking with you, you are funding their education. What are you getting in return?
Many of my friends in sales are hyper-responsive to customer requests. "The customer is always right …" … "The customer asked for X, I am going to give them X …", and the good ones will even throw a popular PM-line right back at you: "Your opinion, while interesting, is irrelevant!" (you can buy the mug here).
There is no question that the customer's goals and problems need to be understood. Of course they do. No one buys anything without a problem or a goal, even if that goal / problem is as basic as satisfy the discomfort created by envying the product.
But it is an entirely different thing to say we give customers exactly what they ask for… we don't! And neither do we give it to them for free.
In the next few posts I'll dissect this issue further. Stay tuned.


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The Working Together book contains 21 chapters and is divided into four parts.
Part 1 contains four chapters that outline the historical, social, cultural, and policy contexts that have shaped Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing.
Part 2 contains seven chapters on a number of issues that are particularly relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing.
Part 3 contains five chapters that focus on practice within the field.
Part 4 presents examples of models and programs for practitioners working with different groups
Hard copy
Hard copies of the 2010 edition are out of stock. To go on the waiting list for the revised edition (available 2014) please fill in the order form.
Electronic pdf copy
You can download the complete book as a single pdf or download individual chapters and sections.
Please note: A correction has been made on page 94 which is reflected in the full pdf above and chapter 7 below. If you would like to replace this page in the original printed book or pdf, you can download the single page below.
Components of the book:
Citation, map, contents, forword, message from the Minister, acknowledgements, contributors, abbreviations, introduction [492KB]
Part 1 introduction - History and contexts [128KB]
Chapter 1 - Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health: An overview [136KB]
Chapter 2 - A history of psychology in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health [152KB]
Chapter 3 - The social, cultural and historical context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians [184KB]
Chapter 4 - The policy context for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health [184KB]
Part 2 introduction - Issues of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing [128KB]
Chapter 5 - Mental illness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples [124KB]
Chapter 6 - Social determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing [368KB]
Chapter 7 - Preventing suicide among Indigenous Australians [644KB]
Chapter 8 - Anxiety and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people [132KB]
Chapter 9 - Substance misuse and mental health among Aboriginal Austalians [164KB]
Chapter 10 - Trauma, transgenerational transfer and effects on community wellbeing [128KB]
Chapter 11 - Indigenous family violence: pathways forward[288KB]
Part 3 introduction - Mental Health Practice [128KB]
Chapter 12 - Working as a culturally competent mental health practitioner [312KB]
Chapter 13 - Communication and engagement: urban diversity [116KB]
Chapter 14 - Issues in mental health assessment with Indigenous Australians [184KB]
Chapter 15 - Reviewing psychiatric assessment in remote Aboriginal communities [132KB]
Chapter 16 - Promoting perinatal mental health wellness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities [588KB]
Part 4 introduction - Working with specific groups: models, programs and services [128KB]
Chapter 17 - Ngarlu: a cultural and spiritual strengthening model [268KB]
Chapter 18 - Principled engagement: Gelganyem Youth and Community Well Being Program [136KB]
Chapter 19 - Dealing with loss, grief and trauma: seven phases to healing [160KB]
Chapter 20 - The Marumali Program: Aboriginal model of healing [112KB]
Chapter 21 - Mental health programs and services [112KB]
Feedback and evaluation
We will be using an online process to obtain feedback on the readability and effectiveness of the book across disciplines, year levels and sectors. The Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Health and Ageing is intending to maintain the book, Working Together as a living document to be updated every two years or so based on contributions and feedback from course lectures and students and practitioners. Your assistance in this will be greatly appreciated. Please email us with your contact details so we can include you in the feedback process - firstname.lastname@example.com


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Fine Japanese Bronze Flower "Dragon" Vase
browse these categories for related items...
Directory: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian: Japanese: Metalwork: Pre 1900: item # 1137719
Please refer to our stock # 115 when inquiring.
Schneible Fine Arts LLC
837 Bay Road
Shelburne, Vermont 05482
(802) 279-7601
Guest Book
This spectacular Japanese bronze flower vessel was cast in futabana style with a classic low body, crisply cut shoulder and wide flaring trumpet-shaped mouth. Mid to late 19th century. Just above the shoulder and completely encircling the neck, which is decorated with a low relief Chinese-style lappet design, is a sculpture of a sinuous 30 long three-toed bronze dragon holding a pearl in one of its claws. This dragon is cast in exquisite detail, illustrating the animals horns, whiskers, beard and claws as well as individual scales on the body. The shoulder and base are fully decorated with low relief casting of stylized frothy waves. These more extensive and freely drawn representations of high waves, foam and spray are known as araumi (rough sea) motifs. Following the artistic traditions of Tang China, such seas were initially portrayed with fearsome creatures among the waves. In Japan the dragon is often associated with Buddhism, and it is frequently paired with stylized cloud or wave design motifs, reflecting the animals association with both the sky and the oceans. There is a round bronze plate at the base of the interior which is cast in low relief with plum blossoms surrounding four karahana or China flowers within a circle. This type of bulbous bronze flower vase was used by the Ikenobo school, the oldest school of Japanese flower arrangement (ikebana). Kyoto was the birthplace both of ikebana and of the bronze flower vessel, and scrolls dating from the second half of the 17th century show the first examples of this most characteristic of Japanese bronze forms, the so-called futabana (two-flower) vase. By 1698, the futabana seems to have become one of the most popular ikebana vase forms, with handles that predominantly included dragons, shishi, butterflies and hares. With the emergence of flower arrangement and the tea ceremony as distinctively Japanese cultural pursuits, bronze casters began to develop new and innovative forms of vessels loosely based on Chinese originals but with an unmistakable Japanese elegance. These culminated in large bronze vases cast in exaggerated form for the classic, formal rikka style of flower arrangement, prevalent in the 17th century and early 18th centuries. With the re-opening of overseas contacts from the 1850s, traditional styles were combined with the skills of the metal craftsmen and sword smiths in the manufacture of these magnificent showpieces, many of which were displayed at exhibitions in Europe and the United States. (See similar examples illustrated and discussed in the sumptuous book entitled FLOWER BRONZES OF JAPAN by Joe Earle.) CONDITION: This important Japanese flower bronze is in incredibly fine condition with a beautiful rich patina that comes with age. DIMENSIONS: 14 high, 12 diameter of mouth; weight 15 pounds. Ex private American collection. It is unsigned.
LIFETIME GUARANTEE OF AUTHENTICITY: All of our Asian works of art come with our Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee. This guarantee never ends.


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Icons are representations of products, services, and user interface elements that give developers the ability to fit information into smaller areas. Hand drawn icons are a great way to spice up your web design, and showcase a playful side. By using these types of icons the visitor/user fells a creative and unusual type of approach. [...]
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The Time Is Now for Concentrates
Here are five consumer trends that suggest concentrates have the potential to capture consumers' attention once again.
Gen Y has grown up with the ability to express their individuality through nearly everything they touch, from Facebook posts to the car they drive. Companies have capitalized on this desire to personalize, creating online platforms such as Nike ID, which allows shoppers to design their own sneakers by choosing colors, graphics, and even signatures. Toyota Scion has taken a similar approach with the "build your Scion" section of its website.
What if this ability to personalize could extend into the home—to such things as shampoo, soda, and fragrances? Ordinary household items designed to facilitate individual expression would provide Gen Y consumers with value above and beyond the competing one-size-fits-all option.
After the recent financial crisis, the American dream no longer includes a McMansion. In the downsized dream home of the future, space will be at a premium. Imagine if an entire cleaning arsenal could fit on one shelf or if the stacks of sodas in our garage were something that could be mixed up on demand, like Kool-Aid?
In the laundry category, this shift has already happened. Experiential products such as fizzy drinks may not take the same path. But the technology is available—just look at SodaStream, a countertop appliance that carbonates water from your tap. Using one carbonated canister and a variety of flavorings, SodaStream makes it possible to store the equivalent of seven cases of soda in one 10th the space.
People are living increasingly on-the-go lifestyles. This means they need to carry around more daily necessities. But that doesn't mean they need to carry water. Water is everywhere—it doesn't make sense to carry it around.
Starbucks VIA instant coffee and Listerine Pocket Packs take advantage of liquid sources away from home (yes, your mouth is a source of water). With VIA, the challenge was to get consumers to believe that quality coffee could come in powdered form. But first-year sales (2009) hit $180 million, indicating Starbucks met this challenge and proved that premium products can exist as concentrates. Imagine how many other formerly liquid products could be stashed unobtrusively in your pocket or bag, available whenever you need them if you just add water.
It may seem counterintuitive to argue that concentrates can be fresh. And compared with freshly squeezed orange juice or milk from a local dairy, they are not. But compared with ready-made products, concentrates seem fresher.
Think about instant oatmeal—no matter how long it sits in your cupboard, it still feels fresh every time it is prepared. Dry packets of mix-your-own salad dressing not only feel fresh when you whip them up in your kitchen; they also don't contain the preservatives that shelf-stable salad dressings often do.
Beauty products that come in jars with expiration dates start to feel old after a while, but a powdered mud mask that gets mixed with water before being applied feels fresh every time. While concentrates will never replace made-from-scratch versions—especially when it comes to food—they can deliver convenient, authentic-feeling, freshly made experiences.
Most concentrates require some act of assembly. Traditionally this has been considered a negative, because it requires time and elbow grease. Yet there are countless examples of consumers choosing to do more work because they know it will make the result special.
We need only look at the resurgence of such activities as home brewing, canning, and cheese making to see that the Ikea effect—that people become more attached to things they construct themselves—is felt in categories far outside furniture. Concentrates designed to provide thoughtful preparation experiences can deliver this feeling of pride.


text: Louis Armstrong was the most influential American musician of the 20th century (both vocal and instrumental) and "St. Louis Blues" from 1927 was perhaps his greatest recording (from his most important period). I happen to own the 78, purchased via eBay a few years ago. Here is the King of them all, inventing modern music:


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Local/Regional Partnerships
Two graduate students recently made substantial steel sculptures that now have a permanent home at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence.
more information »
Students participating in RISD's Pre-Orientation Service Experience (POSE) volunteer together with local nonprofits.
A production assistant on the set of Hollywood's most iconic directors, Danielle Glynn 15 FAV kept close tabs on a celebrity cast.
Students in a newly created spring seminar worked with immigrants at a housing project to create a permanent installation reflecting their shared vision of home.
Landscape Architecture students are researching possibilities and proposing sustainable strategies for a 120-acre waterfront site in Rhode Island.
An experimental spring studio sheds light on changing ecosystems by focusing on migrating marine duck species that winter in Rhode Island.
Birch, an award-winning restaurant in Providence, commissioned Ceramics students to create tableware to complement its menu and décor.
President Somerson and RISD students introduced a new interactive tool at last week's House STEAM Caucus briefing in Washington, DC.
Work by Landscape Architecture students helps seal the deal on a 250-acre land conservation project in Connecticut.
Since arriving at RISD Mariah Robinson 17 FS has been happily making everything from eye-catching puppets to splendidly strange animations.
Students in Creature-Creation recently suited up into their self-made puppet costumes and descended on downtown Providence to film impromptu interactions with the public.
Students in RISD's first-ever theatrical design studio create sets and costumes for the Providence Ballet Theatre's spring premiere of an all-new ballet.
As part of RISD's MLK Day of Service, paint-smeared students led art workshops at a local elementary school.
Students enrolled in Votelab: Designing for Democracy are applying design thinking to help solve some of the systemic kinks in the US election process.
Headed by Sara Kellner 89 PT, Houston's Arts in Transit program brings the vision of local artists to the city's expanding metro system.
RISD students enrolled in Dialogue Across the Diaspora are traveling to South Africa to curate a powerful exhibition that communicates their incisive research on the global slave trade.
Students refurbished an urban farm and took on other civically minded projects as part of RISD's Pre-Orientation Service Experience (POSE).
Care New England's Michael Esordi 91 GD is working to foster greater collaboration between designers and healthcare professionals.
Dana Hamdan MA 13 presented digital projections of exotic animals designed to run across the walls of an austere human cage: the Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge, MA.
Eleven ambitious Rhode Island teenagers got a good feel for designing and building in 3D thanks to a weeklong Project Open Door summer studio.


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Mike Miles: Bold reformer?
Boil down my hopes for the new DISD superintendent to the fewest words and it would be: Bold reform.
Lots of superintendents start out promising that — but they seem to always get sucked into the status quo. They start out saying many of the right things, but then Ross Avenue just keeps ticking along, business as usual.
As a DISD watcher since 1980, I've never seen any superintendent have success in busting up what, from the outside, seems like a patronage system — loyalty to the right folks wins you a good job and, once there, you can't be blasted out of your chair. This "jobs program for adults" has kept a school system that shows flashes of excellence from breaking through district-wide.
Is it possible that Mike Miles could be the status-quo buster? So far, I'm hopeful as I'm hearing and seeing things from him that I haven't seen in any of our previous supers. For example, look at his decision today to hire Teach for America executive Charles Glover as the "chief talent officer for DISD," a new position.
Teach for America can't solve all of DISD's problems, but stats show that these teachers are doing something special. For example, in the 2010-11 school year, DISD students taught by first-year Teach For America graduates outperformed students in classes led by non-TFA first-year teachers in reading, math and science. That same group of first-year TFA instructors even ranked in the top third of all DISD math and science teachers.
Read that last sentence again — first-year Teach For America instructors ranked in the TOP THIRD of ALL math and science teachers in DISD.
So getting a TFA talent scout into the mix is a good idea, especially given that he will be recruiting principals and academic coaches. And kudos to teachers association president Rena Honea for her welcoming words to Glover. The association has been icy toward TFA at times, so it's great to see that spirit of cooperation.
UPDATE: Neglected to include two links that offer more evidence of what I'm writing about here:
On Unfair Park, more details about new hire Charles Glover, Miles' new hire.
On the DMN Education blog, some interesting Mike Miles remarks, courtesy of Tawnell Hobbs' reporting yesterday. Note that he addresses the "patronage" issue.


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Blog Archives
Blue Like Jazz Movie Review
I saw the movie Blue Like Jazz with my wife. Only one other couple was in the theater. They left during the bookstore scene about 30 minutes in. We stayed. I really enjoyed reading the book by Donald Miller, on which it is based. So I really wanted to like the movie.
But I agree with other honest critiques. I couldn't care much for anyone but Penny, the female lead. Everyone else seemed like a sophomoric cartoon of real people.
Many church going Christians without a sense of humor will be offended by language, abuse of alcohol, sexual dialogue, and the aggressively negative portrayal of most Christians. Can I admit that eventually these got to me, too? No need to sanitize everything, but a bit too much.
More importantly, I feel like it violated everything that has made Donald Miller so awesome. It's not worthy of the book nor Miller's widely enjoyed speech on script writing called "Story". They tried to use this in the film, but it was altered in key ways that didn't work for me. The story lacks focus. Characters lack authenticity. And there's no way things get resolved so quickly in real life as they do in the final scene. It needed 10 more minutes to play out some implications. And at the 1hr 45min movie length, time was available to do more. The book version of that scene was so much better. I don't get why they changed it.
Over all, soul-crushingly disappointing. Nobody wanted to like it more than me. Ugh!
Can I blame Steve Taylor, the director? Not sure it's that simple. It's like it tried to be "Thin Ice" (1988 Christian Movie) in reverse. In the end I found it to be a formulaic "not-a-Christian-movie" Christian movie. The same critiques always offered applied here. All about a decision that changes everything but doesn't get explored or realistically played out.
There are many schools of thought about how Christians should make movies. But if a movie has a spiritual decision as its climax, at least be more thorough and realistic. And don't try to pretend that's not what it's about. I would love a little more gospel there, more clarity about Jesus. But even without it, the ending needed more time to seem real. That's what drew me to Miller's writings again and again. Good storytelling. This movie/script didn't achieve the same level of on-screen meaning. At least not for me.
I hope Christians keep making movies. But this proves how hard it is to go from a written work to a screenplay.
Oddly, I hope others like it enough that nobody loses money on this project. I don't think Christians should boycott it. That would accomplish nothing edifying. Consider seeing it just to support Donald Miller who sold his house to make it. But it has to stand on its own merits, especially if they're going to insist its a different kind of movie.
Exploring Blue Like Jazz DVD-Based Study (DVD and Trade Paper)
Exploring Blue Like Jazz DVD-Based Study (DVD and Trade Paper) by Donald Miller | Thomas Nelson | Publisher of Christian Products.
This looks like an interesting resource for parents, mentors, and youth leaders. It takes on this issues of the transition from teenager living at home to college student/young adult. It covers issues of dealing with new found freedom vs. the consequences of choices made. It uses clips from the movie and excerpts from the book to start discussions on the topics. I'm wondering if anyone has reviewed this resource and can share their experience with it.
Trailer for Blue Like Jazz The Movie
For those who are interested, below is a link to the official trailer for the movie and the website. Again, I haven't seen this movie so can't make a specific recommendation at this point. But I am intrigued at the effort to tell an honest story about searching for meaning and faith in our broken world.


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New York's Latest Dogfight
Friday brought new signs that things really are on the up for America's laggardly airlines.
With the whole sector up 52% over the past year, many investors, and passengers, sense real change is in the air. For years, the industry had become synonymous with price wars, bankruptcies and creaking planes.
But Friday in New York saw a welcome development: two major airlines competing not merely on how cheaply they could sell their seats, but on actual customer service—you remember, that old luxury passengers used to get before airlines started charging for the privilege of stuffing bags in an overhead locker 16 rows from their seat.
Delta Air Lines opened its shiny new $1.4 billion Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, featuring such goodies as a streamlined baggage system and a fancy lounge with an outside terrace. Meanwhile, rival United Airlines said it was now offering flat-bed seats and on-demand entertainment in premium cabins on every one of its long-haul, international flights from airports in and around the Big Apple.
Passengers, especially well-heeled ones, will be pleased. But so will investors: having airlines compete on product quality, not just pushing excess capacity, really is a breath of fresh air.


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Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko (C) reviews documents on June 16, 2009 with Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyria (L).
Nemyria: EU to consider whether to impose sanctions against Ukraine on Feb. 10
Foreign Ministry: no comment on annulment of Kuzmin's US visa
Kuzmin sends letter to Obama saying he was deprived of US visa
Hryhoriy Nemyria, deputy head of the Batkivshchyna Party and deputy prime minister of Ukraine from 2007-2010 issued this response to Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin's open letter criticizing the U.S. Congress for the Sept. 22 Senate resolution condemning human rights abuses in Ukraine.
"Legal language is often dense and impenetrable, but sometimes legal phrases cut to the bone. One such phrase is res ipsa loquitur – the thing speaks for itself. Certainly, the recent open letter to the US Senate by Ukraine's Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin speaks for itself, because it speaks not only of his unprofessional conduct as a prosecutor, but of the vendetta being waged by the regime of which he is a loyal factotum.
"Let me begin by addressing Mr. Kuzmin's unprofessional conduct. Although there is no official international code of conduct for prosecutors, there is a "Draft Code of Professional Conduct of the International Association of Prosecutors" which does point us in the right direction, and certainly reflects the standards to which all honest prosecutors should seek to adhere. Although Mr Kuzmin violates many aspects of this code on a regular basis, let me point out just two to which his letter to the US Senate is clearly in breach: Point 5 of the above code requires that prosecutors "Respect the fundamental rights of suspects and accused persons to a fair trial." Yet in his letter, Mr. Kuzmin clearly pronounces Mrs. Tymoshenko as guilty of doing grave and irreparable harm to her country.
"Point 9 in the code requires that prosecutors 'Be and appear to be consistent, impartial, objective, and independent.' But how can a prosecutor who roams the world denouncing Mrs. Tymoshenko, who writes public and open letters to legislative bodies such as the US Senate, and engages on public platforms to denounce a person that he has brought criminal charges against maintain impartiality? He cannot, and Mr Kuzmin does not even attempt to do so.
"By his unprofessional conduct, Mr. Kuzmin's letter speaks for itself: it is a blatant attempt to smear a defendant internationally, nothing more.
"Mr. Kuzmin is so obviously a partisan that he, to all intents and purposes, accuses the U.S. government of perverting the course of justice in refusing to cooperate in his prosecutorial campaign against former prime minister Tymoshenko. Moreover, his offer to present his claimed 'evidence' against Mrs Tymoshenko in any court, or in the public media, is also a violation of the professional standards of a prosecutor, for any prosecutor interested in the rule of law presents evidence in a court of law, where a defendant has a chance to cross-examine and rebut. But of course, given the record of Mrs Tymoshenko's previous trial, this fundamental aspect of justice is also denied to her.
"Mr. Kuzmin's note is simply further confirmation of the judicial vendetta the government of President Viktor Yanukovich is waging against not only Yuliya Tymoshenko, but all those who wish to defend freedom in Ukraine. That so mendacious an attempt to influence American opinion was even attempted suggests the contempt which Ukraine's rulers hold for true democratic representatives."
Halya Coynash: Russia resurrects Soviet repression in Crimea
Athletes blame lack of state support for low Olympic medal count
Vox populi with Anna Yakutenko: What do you think Ukraine will be like in 25 years?
Ambassador: Turkey will stay strong in NATO, strong on Ukraine
© 1995–2016 Public Media


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STOCKTON - St. Mary's Catholic Church, 203 E. Washington St., will hold a special Mass at noon today dedicated to the victims of 9/11.
"We also will remember those who have suffered as a consequence of that day," the Rev. Dean McFalls said.
This year marks the 12th anniversary of the coordinated hijacking of four jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon and a field in southern Pennsylvania, killing 2,996 people and injuring more than 6,000.
Location, ST | website.com


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Census Links is a growing catalog of links to transcriptions of census, tax lists, birth, death, marriage and military records, all freely available to help with your genealogy research.
|Dawes Roll Index: Seminole, Citizens and Freedmen
From the UsGenWeb Census Project
|Carolyne's Genealogy Helper
Native American Genealogy Research "How-To" Articles
|Cherokee Woman rkg 2Yi
|Darlene Gadley's Nez PerceGenealogy Page
My site includes a Nez Perce GEDCOM with over 2200 tribe members going back to the early 1800s. Surnames include, Chief Joseph, Looking Glass, Craig, Blackeagle, Lawyer, Rueben, Redheart, Yellow Wolf, and Three Feathers. Plus 1890 census images of Nez Per
|Dawes Roll Index (Five Civilized Tribes)
Scanned Image Dawes Roll Index (Five Civilized Tribes)
|Cherokee (Minor) By Blood
Cherokee (Minor) By Blood
|Cherokee (Delaware Cherokee)
Cherokee (Delaware Cherokee)
|Cherokee (By Intermarriage)
Cherokee (By Intermarriage)
|Cherokee (Freedmen)
Cherokee (Freedmen)
|Cherokee (Minor Freedmen)
Cherokee (Minor Freedmen)
|Chickasaw By Blood
Chickasaw By Blood
|Chickasaw (New Born) By Blood
Chickasaw (New Born) By Blood
|Chickasaw (By Marriage)
Chickasaw (By Marriage)
|Chickasaw (Freedmen)
Chickasaw (Freedmen)
|Choctaw By Blood
Choctaw By Blood
|Choctaw (New Born) By Blood
Choctaw (New Born) By Blood
|Choctaw (Minor) By Blood
Choctaw (Minor) By Blood
|Choctaw By Marriage
Choctaw By Marriage
|Choctaw (Freedmen)
Choctaw (Freedmen)
|Choctaw (Minor Freedmen)
Choctaw (Minor Freedmen)


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Want it sooner?
Style: 24508228 Color Code:
Printed skinny ankle jeans. 5-pocket style. Zipper and button fly closure. Just the right amount of stretch for the perfect fit. A different print for each day of the week!
98% Cotton, 2% Spandex
Machine Wash Cold
*Made in USA
Measurements for Size 27:
Waist (all around): 31"
Rise: 7 1/2"
Inseam: 27 1/2"
Printed Ankle Skinny styled by the FP Me community


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- Automobile
- September 4, 2012
Honda wins the ultimate recognition in the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program
For the second consecutive year the Company is granted the Gold Seal for its gas emission inventory
São Paulo, Brazil, September 4, 2012 - Honda Automóveis do Brasil was granted, for the second consecutive year, the Gold Seal related to the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program. The release ceremony was held on last September 4, at BNDES (National Development Bank) headquarters, in Rio de Janeiro. The recognition was granted to Honda in view of the results published on its greenhouse gas emission inventory.
In 2011, Honda was one of the program highlights. The company was the first one from the automotive business to release the inventory of CO2 emissions in the three scopes assessed (sources of direct emission, indirect for use of energy and indirect for generation of customers and suppliers), and the only representative of this market among the 37 companies which obtained the ultimate recognition. To Arthur Signorini, Environmental Planning Manager, the GHG Protocol Gold Seal is an important recognition of the company's constant commitment to the environmental issue. "The GHG Protocol is certainly one of the world's most important certificates concerning the efforts by companies to reduce the carbon emissions. Therefore, receiving this Gold Medal is greatly important to Honda as it is a recognition of the work done by the company in sustainable technologies at our facilities and products".
The GHG Protocol was created in 1998 by the World Resources Institute (WRI) with the purpose of serving as a tool to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions. It is, today, the most used methodology in the world by companies and governments for the preparation of emission inventories. It was adopted for the first time in Brazil in 2008, with the encouragement by the Ministry of Environment and has, ever since, recognized the companies with the best figures in their publications.


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Roto-Cam® Mechanical Clutch
TB Wood's easily installed Roto-Cam® mechanical clutch completely eliminates external, separately mounted fulcrums, yokes, levers or trunnions and permits a simple, clean compact control system for direct or remote -- manual or powered -- actuation. Roto-Cam provides smooth easy engagement typical of a spring loaded clutch plus a positive, over-center "lock-in". The clutch can be "inched" or "Jogged" for complete operator control.
Product Features
Technical Product Data
- Couplings
- Sheaves & V-Belts
- Synchronous Drives
- Variable Speed Drives
- Clutches & Brakes
- Commercial Castings
- Hydrostatic Speed Variator
- Bushings
- Sure Grip® Pulleys
eCatalog Part Search


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The W3C Internationalization Checker is a free service by W3C that provides information about internationalization features of your page, and provides advice on how to improve your use of markup for the multilingual Web.
Getting internationalization features right at the beginning saves a lot of time and trouble if you ever need to use your content in a language-sensitive way in the future. However, the test will also throw up issues that could cause you problems straight away, such as those related to character encodings and to non-normalized class and id names.
The first part of the report for a page lists key internationalization settings related to character encoding, language declarations, text direction and class/id names. This information includes that coming in HTTP headers, which can be particularly useful for troubleshooting problems.
The second part of the report lists errors, warnings and helpful suggestions based on your use (or not) of internationalization-related markup. The report also points you to resources where you can read more about the topic in question.
The checker is currently a pre-release version, so please let us know about bugs and missing features using the feedback form. We already have plans to add a number of new features over the coming months, and to translate the user interface.
The information panel at the top of the page should work for most formats. In terms of issue reports, the checker currently targets HTML5, HTML4, and XHTML 1.0/1.1 (served as text/html or application/xhtml+xml). It will soon produce issue reports for XHTML5 or Polyglot pages.
The hope is to eventually merge features of this checker with other checkers and validators at the W3C, once it reaches an appropriate level of maturity.
The Internationalization Activity section of the W3C site points to some internationalization-related tools.
In addition to this checker, the W3C is offering a number of other tools to help you check various types of documents (HTML, XHTML, CSS, RDF, P3P, ...), find broken links in your Web pages, and so on. All these tools are listed on the W3C's QA Toolbox.
The W3C also hosts a number of other Open Source software projects.
Richard Ishida and Thomas Gambet are developing the checker at the W3C. The MultilingualWeb project partners are also providing feedback on the checker.


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Lighting test with old lens by mr-MINTJAMWatch
©2011-2016 mr-MINTJAM
As title suggests, I used my original kit lens as the subject to test the lighting on the light table I used at college. I have decided that I love light tables. I'll probably love light boxes and tents and stuff too. I have a long road of discovery in studio photography.


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Friday, March 8, 2013
LAURENS, S.C. (AP) -- The State Law Enforcement Division has been called in after threatening letters were sent to Laurens County's two school districts.
The letters arrived Thursday and Friday at Presbyterian College and Clinton Police.
Investigators won't detail what was written in the letters, but say they had to do with security at the schools. They said the letters were typed, but the addresses were handwritten.
SLED helped Laurens County deputies and other agencies put officers at every school in the county Friday.
Authorities reported nothing unusual at Laurens County schools Friday.
(Copyright 2013, The Associated Press)


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5.11 Tactical Tactical Polo for Ladies - Short Sleeve
Sale price: Clearance price: Starting at: Sale starting at: Clearance starting at: Reg. price:
Women Law enforcement, military and fire professionals worldwide consistently choose 5.11 Tactical® Women's Professional Polo shirts for both on and off-duty wear. Made to meet the demands of law enforcement organizations, they stay looking neat, clean and professional in almost any duty assignment. The professional polo shirts have been selected for casual uniform wear throughout the country. Two pen pockets are located on the left sleeve; melamine buttons are virtually unbreakable and will withstand the heat of an iron. Specially treated not to fade, wrinkle or shrink, these professional polo shirts provide a neat, clean and professional look even after over 20 washings. Made of 100% cotton. Machine wash. Imported.
- 100% 6 oz. cotton jersey
- Specially treated not to fade, wrinkle or shrink
- Two pen pockets on the left sleeve
- Mic loop pockets at each shoulder
- Durable melamine buttons
Manufacturer style #: 61164
Need Help? 7 days a week: 7am to 10pm CT or call 1.800.227.7776 anytime


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Originally Posted by willeyboards
No video footage yet, just some pics. Just started make the cork top boards this month. I can add fcs plugs to the standard answer boards also. If your local to the ocean city md area, just give me a shout and id be happy to let you borrow one to demo. - Grab your Willey and Get Wet!
appreciate the info - i'm interested but i have several hundred other questions, like this one: i'm all for sustainability, but i passed on cork flooring for my home because i found i could pick it apart with my fingernail, thereby raising questions about it's durability. if you just started making the cork tops recently, do you have any idea how they are going to hold up after 1-2-3 years?
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The Big Question everyone should be asking is "What is Google Hiding" and for those who don't care, "what is Google going to do with what they are hiding"?
The answer is simple, "Information" and the answer to the second question is, they intend to sell it back to you and make an obscene amount of profit in the process.
They are collecting information about what we do on the internet, what keywords we search, what pages we visit, how long we spend surfing the internet, what devices we use, types of browsers, demographic breakdowns, mobile technology used and any other Information they can turn into an endless cash stream.
Some of my readers will remember my article on Google's change to "https://" whereby they started to withhold vital keyword information from website owners and SEO specialists. Google Holds The SEO Market to Ransom
Others will remember my article on how Google are using "Google Author Rank" to blackmail website owners into using Google+ – their socially defunct Social Media product offering.
While others may have read my article on the "Accuracy of Google's Keyword Research Tool".
Well it may come as no surprise that Google has now removed their Keyword Research Tool from their site and replaced it with Keyword Planner.
The significant difference between the two product offerings boils down to this, the Keyword Research Tool identifies the number of times specific and related keywords are searched on a global and national basis each month. This information is invaluable for any company looking to better understand the keywords used to search for products/services offered by their website.
Users were able to download a CSV file that listed keyword search volumes that could be ranked highest to lowest and determine the best keyword combinations to use on their website. From an SEO perspective, this information is invaluable, it's like having the combination to the safe.
In contrast the Keyword Planner is nothing more than a means of turning Google's keyword database into a tool to sell more keywords to Google AdWords customers. From an SEO perspective the Keyword Planner offers very limited value and while it still comes in a downloadable CSV file format, the report only includes the keywords entered. Google's intuitive associated keywords have been excluded from the final report.
The image below is a copy of a Keyword Planner search for three keywords, Marketing, Google and AdWords. Clearly, there is one focus and one focus only associated with this CSV file, to sell Google AdWords and drive revenue growth for Google.
The image below is from Google Keyword Research Tool and is a report any SEO specialist would consider to be of great value. This report is 600 lines deep.
Finally, let me talk about Google Analytics. Great product, great reporting structure but stop and think for a minute how Google is using this information to increase the keyword pricing for their AdWords product and the depth of information they are collecting from all internet activity.
If you have a Google AdWords, Google Analytics, Gmail, Google+ or YouTube account and you are logged on while searching the internet, Google tracks and records every keyword you search, page you visit and action you take. Not in the cookies stored on your computer, instead they drag this information back onto their servers.
Google's take on this from Alma Whitten, "Our new privacy policy makes it clear that if you're signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we'll treat you like a single user across all products, which will mean a simple, more intuitive Google experience."
They state that it makes using the internet simple for you because the intuitive part is using your history to predict what you are looking for and to present this information faster! At least that is what they would have you believe. Me I just look at the volume of data they are collecting on all internet users and the different Google sources this data comes from. What I do know is all this data in being merged into one large database and is going to be used by Google to generate revenue.
So, what is Google Hiding? Information.
And how are they going to turn it into an endless cash flow?
If you want to make a person hungry deny them food, if you want to make them desperate deny them food for a long period of time. When Google are ready to launch their next product offering to the market their customers will pay anything for the information that guarantees them a stranglehold on page one rankings.
Google SEO will dominate 80% of each search page and turn the organic SEO section into an alternative AdWords section.
What can you do to stop them? Individually you would have to believe nothing, they own too much market share to stop using them or dismiss them outright.
However, just like they are denying you access to information that allows you to make the most out of your internet marketing efforts, you can deny them the information they need to collect before they can sell it back to you.
If you don't want to do any of these things then at the very least make sure you have logged out of your Google AdWords, Google Analytics, Gmail, Google+ and YouTube accounts before you start using the internet.


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The Future Of Nuclear Power In New England
From WGBH
Last month Entergy announced its decision to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, leaving just three remaining power plants in New England. The closure of nuclear power plants in New England seems to be indicative of what's going on across the nation, WGBH science editor Heather Goldstone told WGBH's Morning Edition on Wednesday.
New England relies heavily on nuclear power in comparison to the rest of the country. Across the nation nuclear power provides about 20 percent of electricity, but here in New England we get about 31 percent of our electricity from nuclear power, according to Goldstone.
Nuclear power was originally seen as a clean energy option that would fix the problem of carbon emissions, but since a tsunami hit Japan in 2011 causing a nuclear disaster at Fukushima (a plant that has a similar design to the Pilgrim Nuclear plant in Plymouth, Mass. ), there's been backlash against nuclear power. Some countries, such as Germany, have begun to abandon nuclear power completely.
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August 18, 2009 by Terra Plana
VivoBarefoot Yukam featured in Cooler Magazine: surf, snow, street and style. Click to enlarge: Read More
Barefoot, Vivobarefoot, Yukam
August 10, 2009 by Terra Plana
Vivo Barefoot "Yukam" shoes – Not only are these little guys a cute simple slip-on to go with any casual outfit, but they are ridiculously comfortable. When I first heard that they were built to mimic walking barefoot, I thought, huh, that doesn't sound very comfortable, not to mention the price is a bit steep. The company is "based on the simple principle that being barefoot is the healthiest way for you and your feet to be. An ultra thin (3mm) puncture resistant sole allows your feet to be – as millions of years of evolutionary design intended – Barefoot!"... Read More
Dailywd, Review, Vivobarefoot, Yukam
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Katy Perry Promotes Perfume in Manila, Philippines
Gabrielle Chung
| January 21, 2012 - 1:48 pm
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AHCI and IDE are two modes in which a hard drive communicates with the rest of the computer system using a SATA storage controller. SATA hard drives can operate in a backward-compatible PATA/IDE mode, a standard AHCI mode or vendor-specific RAID. AHCI stands for Advanced Host Controller Interface and is a faster mode of operation compared to IDE. RAID mode also enables and makes use of AHCI.
AHCI provides a standard system that designers and developers can use to configure, detect, or program SATA/AHCI adapters. Note that even though AHCI taps into the more advanced features of SATA (e.g., hot swapping) for host systems, it is a separate standard from those set for SATA.
Comparison chart
|Stands for / AKA
|Advanced Host Controller Interface
|IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics / PATA: Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment
|Supports new technologies such as native command queuing
|Maximum compatibility
|Hot plugging (add/remove component while the computer is running)
|IDE interface does not support hot plugging
|Not always compatible
|Lacks support for new technology such as native command queuing and hot-plugging hard drives
|Defined by
|Western Digital
|Operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host bus adaptors
|Operation of a parallel ATA drive
|Operating modes
|Legacy Parallel ATA emulation, standard AHCI or vendor-specific RAID
|Operating system support
|Windows Vista, 7, and 8; Linux, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OS Z, eComStation and Solaris 10
Operating Modes
IDE only has one operating mode. But AHCI is a newer standard that was designed to be backward-compatible with legacy systems that could only "speak IDE". So AHCI offers several modes of operation: legacy Parallel ATA (Parallel ATA, PATA and IDE are the same thing) emulation mode, standard AHCI mode or vendor-specific RAID. Intel recommends the use of RAID mode on their motherboard, as it is more flexible.
Advantages of AHCI over IDE
IDE is considered adequate for the average computer user, and is the most compatible with other technology, particularly older devices. However, it lacks support for new technologies.
AHCI supports some important new features that IDE does not, such as native command queuing and hot-plugging hard drives. It also offers an improvement performance (speed) over IDE.
How to Enable AHCI Mode to Boost Performance
The video below shows how to enable AHCI mode in SSD (solid state drive):
AHCI is supported by all versions of Windows Vista and newer, Linux and Mac OS. However, Windows does not configure itself to load the AHCI driver upon boot if the SATA-drive controller was not in AHCI mode at the time of installation. So the PC will not boot up if the SATA controller is later switched to AHCI mode. The drive controller should be changed to AHCI or RAID before installing the operating system.
Operating System support
AHCI is supported by Windows Vista and newer versions of Windows, Linux, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OS Z, eComStation and Solaris 10.
IDE is supported by all operating systems.