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|General Motors Company : GM Realigns Global Manufacturing Organization
GM Realigns Global Manufacturing Organization
DETROIT/SHANGHAI - General Motors today announced a realignment of its manufacturing organization to optimize the company's global manufacturing footprint and to drive greater efficiencies and cost savings.
Tim Lee will become GM vice president, Global Manufacturing, effective immediately. Lee will also retain his position as president, GM International Operations, overseeing regional markets which account for 40 percent of GM's global sales volume and include China, Russia and South Korea. Lee will continue reporting to GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson.
The move underscores the reality of GM's manufacturing footprint and regional operations around the world. GM and its partners currently build vehicles in 30 countries for more than 100 global markets. Seventy percent of GM products are built outside of the United States in accordance with the company's longstanding philosophy of building where it sells.
"Leading a portfolio that includes more than 60 plants in 15 countries gives Tim a terrific vantage point for this job," said Akerson. "His extensive manufacturing experience coupled with this alignment will help deliver great, quality vehicles that keep pace with GM's global growth."
Lee will have responsibility for GM's manufacturing operations globally, supervising the regional manufacturing leaders who will report to him, while collaborating with the leadership of the company's regions in North America, South America and Europe. In his new role, Lee will also be responsible for global manufacturing engineering, labor relations, safety and manufacturing strategy and planning.
With Lee's appointment, Diana Tremblay transitions to North America vice president, Manufacturing, also effective immediately. She will report to Lee.
"Our realignment now allows Diana to focus her considerable talents and experience exclusively on North America - our single greatest manufacturing region," said Akerson. "Diana's work toward greater North American manufacturing flexibility has helped drive GM's recent progress of renewed plant investments and job creation."
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM's brands include Chevrolet and Cadillac, as well as Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com.
Tim Lee, GMIO President and newly appointed President of GM Global Manufacturing meets employees at the company's vehicle and powertrain plant in Rayong, Thailand.
Tim Lee will become GM vice president, Global Manufacturing, effective immediately. Lee will also retain his position as president, GM International Operations.


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Let the fun begin!
May is here, and you know what that spells: Maximum Amusement, Yes!
Most amusement parks north of the Mason-Dixon-Dollywood line open their gates, spin their tops, and drop their riders during May. It's never too early to jolt the last ounce of winter blues from your system and embrace warmer weather by screaming your ever-living brains out.
Seven parks within reasonable driving distance open this month. Several feature new attractions worth screaming about.
Ohio's Cedar Point -- which has won Amusement Today's Golden Ticket award for best amusement park for 15 straight years -- may boast the flashiest new addition.
GateKeeper, the park's 16th coaster, will set seven world records for winged coasters -- including tallest drop, longest track and most inversions. A winged coaster simulates flight by having the coaches extend sideways from the track. Riders don't feel a track below or above them.
As its name implies, GateKeeper also dramatically alters Cedar Point's entrance. Two large towers now stand by the main gates, each with a "keyhole" that GateKeeper will zip through, giving riders a sense of imminent death.
Fun, huh? The coaster, and alterations at the main gate, cost Cedar Point more than $30 million.
Closer to home, Waldameer Park & Water World has added Music Express, which zips riders forward, then backward, around an inclined circular track while pop and rock hits blare over speakers.
"It has tremendous capacity," said Waldamer owner Paul Nelson. "It's always one of the top rides in a park of our size, so we felt we needed the capacity."
Waldameer also hired a new arcade operator, so look for all-new games. It refurbished the L. Ruth Express cars and, oh, yeah, tinkered with a park favorite.
"We did extensive work on the Ravine Flyer," Nelson said. "It's actually a little bit faster than it was when we built it, and it's smoother. We had nine guys who helped build the coaster here for a couple of months."
Ravine Flyer is ranked No. 6 on Amusement Today's list of top wooden coasters, making it a huge draw for coaster lovers. Nelson said recent park closings in Ohio, especially, have also helped to boost Waldameer's attendance. 2012 was the park's best season, yet, and he assumes 2013 will follow suit if the weather is good.
"It's going to be an excellent season," Nelson said. "We're reaching out farther and have been having very good results getting industrial and school picnics from 50 to 75 miles out, which we didn't do before."
He expects season passes will sell out before June. Nelson said the park is also planning ahead: It hopes to double the size of the water park in 2015, mostly by adding a 30,000-foot wave pool.

subset: commoncrawl


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When South Carolina and Florida kick off Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, the Gamecocks will have a good idea of what's at stake in the game.
USC and Florida will kick off 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2. Georgia and Auburn will kick off 3:30 p.m. on CBS in the SEC's premier game, the network announced Sunday. CBS waited a week to announce which game it will air Saturday, choosing between Florida's trip to South Carolina and Georgia's trip to Auburn.
USC may have missed the SEC's top timeslot – surprisingly, it will go the entire 2013 season without playing on CBS – but the schedule works to its benefit.
The Gamecocks need the Bulldogs to lose Saturday to have any chance of winning the SEC East. Both teams have two conference losses, and Georgia owns the head-to-head tiebreaker because of a win over USC in early September.
Georgia's final SEC game will come against Kentucky in two weeks, but it will be heavy favorites in that game.
USC needs more than a Georgia loss – namely, one more Missouri defeat. Mizzou plays at Ole Miss and home against Texas A&M to end the season. Without a Georgia loss, it doesn't matter what Mizzou does the rest of the way.
USC's goal is to make it to Atlanta, site of the SEC Championship Game. Surely, the Gamecocks will keep one eye on the scoreboard Saturday as it prepares for Florida.


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Fleck Named NEC Special Teams Player of the Week
Oct. 21, 2013
PITTSBURGH - Junior punter Aaron Fleck (Oakdale, Pa./West Allegheny) was named NEC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in Saturday's 21-20 win at Robert Morris.
Fleck, who dropped three of his seven punts inside the RMU 20, played a key role in DU's 21-point third quarter.After the Dukes' opening drive of the second half stalled, Fleck launched a career-long 51-yard punt that landed at the RMU 9-yard line. Four plays later, the Dukes forced a safety. His next punt, a 33-yarder, rolled out of bounds at the RMU 3. The Colonials fumbled on the next play from scrimmage and it was recovered in the end zone for another safety. Fleck's second attempt of the game went for 39 yards and was downed at the RMU 16.
This is the second consecutive week a Duquesne player has earned NEC Special Teams POW honors as last week junior punt returner Devin Rahming was named.
Duquesne (4-2, 2-0), winner of three in a row, heads to Rhode Island to face Bryant (3-4, 1-1) in an NEC match up on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 1:00 p.m.


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Enterprise Architecture Lifecycle
27 June 2013
The Enterprise Architecture team has a lifecycle of its own, but doesn't operate in a vacuum. The Enterprise Architecture capability fails if it is seen too much as blue sky thinking in an ivory tower.
The Enterprise Architecture team will interact closely with all the other management processes in an organisation, especially the IT management processes. When all these processes work together effectively, an enterprise will be able to successfully manage strategic changes and drive business transformation effectively and efficiently. Often in organisations little thought has been given to the integration of the EA processes to the other management processes. This contributes to making the EA team into an ivory tower, seemingly unconnected with everything else. The aim of this post is to shine some light the EA lifecycle and its interactions.
One of the goals when establishing or maturing an enterprise architecture capability is to make sure that the enterprise architecture a fundamental and normal part of the business-as-usual decision making flow rather than considered as an afterthought.
Too often I have seen major changes apparently started directly at the project initiation phase before there has been any serious appraisal of the business fit, technical fit and feasibility of that change undertaken, not least by the enterprise architects.
The Enterprise Architecture capability is driven by understanding the business strategy and strategic scenarios which drive the business and IT enabled changes in an organisation. It is there to ensure that any strategic change is viable in the future, but it also identifies the dependencies, feasibility, risks, issues, costs, and informs the subsequent investment decisions that need to be made.
The current state and future state enterprise architecture models will be developed (typically using the TOGAF ADM).
In the EA roadmap, the strategic changes will be prioritised and arranged into a meaningful sequence to inform the decisions made by the programme and project portfolio management and before any projects are initiated.
The Enterprise Architecture capability will govern what parts of the future state enterprise architecture are developed and delivered by the projects, and thereafter ensure that the delivered solutions and services remain compliant with it. The compliance stage will also capture and approve any innovations that are identified as useful. The enterprise architecture team and/or a technical design authority will provide design assurance for the projects, to ensure that principles, standards, patterns, policies and guidelines are being followed.
It's worth noting that the EA lifecycle is not a part of the project solution development lifecycle as many organisations seem to imagine it is, but is a separate lifecycle that operates in parallel at a strategic level. Neither is the EA lifecycle the same as the TOGAF Architecture Development Method.
After a solution has been delivered, the enterprise architecture team will harvest the results in order to update the current state enterprise architecture, to measure performance and to publish a dashboard for the senior management team.
The following diagram illustrates the major stages and processes that are undertaken by an Enterprise Architecture team, for each iteration they undertake.
These Enterprise Architecture processes can be best understood in the wider scope and context of all the processes defined by the COBIT5 framework for the governance and management of enterprise IT. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBIT http://www.isaca.org/cobit/pages/default.aspx
I'm surprised that COBIT is not used more in UK based organisations, but it is more popular in Europe. I would recommend COBIT5 is used as a broad framework for assessing the risk and value of IT and the governance of all IT management processes.
The following view is broadly based on the COBIT processes, and illustrates the position of the Enterprise Architecture processes relative to the other IT management processes identified by COBIT.
Starting from the Strategy & Vision there is an overall clockwise cycle through all the processes. The Enterprise Architecture capability is responsible or accountable for the processes shown in red, and is consulted and informed about the other processes. The responsibilities will, of course, vary in each organisation and in many cases the enterprise architecture team will be additionally responsible with many more of the Solution Development processes (for example, Select, Acquire, and maintain COTS software products).
In a more mature enterprise Architecture environment, all these processes will be expected to consume and contribute to the knowledge, information and models held in the Enterprise Architecture repository (illustrated in the centre of the diagram). The management dashboard of performance metrics, charts and graphs will be generated from the EA repository.
The above diagram is based on the COBIT processes. The latest version of COBIT5 is more explicit about enterprise architecture than earlier versions were. The following table shows the COBIT5 processes that directly relate to or are supported by an Enterprise Architecture team and an Enterprise Architecture Governance Board.
|COBIT5 reference
|Managing Enterprise Architecture
|Define Strategy (in this context this usually means the IT strategy)
|Manage Innovation (via the Enterprise Architecture Governance Board)
|Manage Knowledge (via the EA Repository)
|Manage Changes (i.e. Strategic changes and IT enabled Business changes that drive the future state enterprise architecture)
|Monitor and assess compliance with external requirements (via the Architecture Governance Board)
|Manage Portfolios (with EA Roadmap)
|Manage Quality (via EA Appraisals)
|Manage Risk (via EA Appraisals)
|Set and Maintain Governance Framework
|Ensure Value Optimisation
|Ensure Risk Optimisation
The following table shows who is Responsible, Accountable, Informed or Consulted in regard to the services provided by the Enterprise Architecture team and an Enterprise Architecture Governance Board.
Implementing the EA lifecycle and integrating it with the IT management processes in an organisation will help the Enterprise Architecture capability to avoid the challenges and misperceptions that it is some kind of ivory tower that can be wilfully ignored and disbanded when looking for budget cuts.
Senior management teams will instead come to appreciate the valuable contribution that Enterprise Architecture makes to strategic planning, appraising investments in change, driving business transformations, finding opportunities and innovations, and to understand the value EA has to the organisation as a whole.
Business Capability based EA Roadmap
16 June 2013
As Business Capabilities are directly derived from the corporate strategic plan and are designed to satisfy the enterprise's business strategies, goals and objectives, so they provide an excellent basis for the creation of an Enterprise Architecture Roadmap.
What are Business Capabilities?
A Business Capability represents the ability of an organisation to perform an activity that results in an outcome of value. Business Capabilities are as far as possible expressed in terms of those business outcomes and value. As far as I know the concept originated from MODAF and was later adopted by TOGAF. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_management_in_business
Many Enterprise Architects and organisations fail to really use them, but in fact they are slowly becoming a common EA deliverable and a way of developing a target operating model view.
The key to their increasing popularity is because the Business Capabilities are expressed in terms of business outcomes and value rather than in purely functional or IT terms (i.e. Not just in terms of business unit needs or in terms of IT Solutions) thereby ensuring IT alignment with the business. Being expressed in terms of outcomes and values also means that Business Capabilities are tied to the outside in perspective of the Customer Journey and Strategic Scenarios, rather than the inside out perspective.
A good book to read about the outside in perspective is "Outside In: The power of putting Customers at the Center of Your business" by Harley Manning et al. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Outside-In-Putting-Customers-Business/dp/1477800085/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371351364&sr=8-1&keywords=outside+in.
In order for an organisation to perform an activity, many parts of the organisation need to be involved. Consequently a Business Capability is modelled as grouping of other EA concepts including the following:
- People
- Organisation Units
- Functions
- Processes
- Business Services
- Information & Data
- Application Services
- Applications
- Infrastructure Services
- Infrastructure
In this way a Business Capability can be seen as a cross cutting slice through a typical enterprise architecture model.
A Business Capability is used for managing units of strategic business change and providing the mandate for programmes and project portfolio. Subsequently, project will develop a solution that either creates a whole new Business Capability or updates a Business capability by implementing a Capability Increment.
Thus, Business Capabilities and Capability increments provide the basis for the development of the EA Roadmap.
Business Capability Model
Figure 1: Example Business Capability Model Source: UK Government Reference Architecture (UKRA) v1.0
This diagram illustrates the start point for a Business Capability Model. This is a static view based on the style of IBM's Component Business Model. This is a style diagram that has become quite popular.
The whole matrix represents all the Business Capabilities that the organisation performs. Each cell is a Business Capability.
The Columns usually reflect the high level value chain for the organisation or are major groupings of Business Capabilities that are meaningful to the business.
The Rows reflect the fundamental purpose of a Business Capability and there are normally three rows:
|Aligned to the Viable System Model (VSM) system type
|Direct (or Strategy)
|System 5 and system 4
|Control (or Management)
|System 3, system 3* and system 2
|Execute (or Operate)
|System 1
For details about VSM, the Viable system Model see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viable_System_Model and my earlier blog posts.
Business Capabilities also have dependencies between them. I.e. one Business Capability has to exist before another Business Capability can be achieved.
Implementing Business Strategies requires new or changed Business Capabilities, but for the most cases we are just changing some aspects of the Business Capability rather than introducing brand new ones. This is the Capability Increment.
Figure 2: Diagram showing Business Capabilities Source: TOGAF
The diagram above shows the relationships between Business Capabilities and Capability Increments, and also related the Enterprise Architecture development method phases and definition of work packages for the Programme and Project Portfolios.
Capability Increments document the changes to each Business Capability that are needed to implement the Business or IT Strategies.
Each Business Capability is decomposed into one or more Capability Increments that are typically implemented at different points in time and in different Transition Architectures. Each Capability Increment represents a unit of change.
Capability Increments also have dependencies between them. I.e. one Capability Increment has to be implemented before another Capability Increment can be achieved.
Figure 3: Capability Dependency Model
The diagram above shows the dependency relationships between the Business Capabilities and between the Capability Increments.
The Capability Increments can be rearranged to show the dependency order in which they need to be applied. This sequence forms the basis for the EA Roadmap.
Figure 4: EA Roadmap structure
Often it is may be useful (and politic) to represent several tracks in the EA Roadmap. For example tracks may be introduced for Strategic changes, Business changes and IT changes, since Capability increments may be identified in such a way that they can be implemented in parallel.
The Capability Increments can be grouped into Transition Architectures. A Transition Architecture is an intermediate Architecture model somewhere between the current state and the future (target) state Enterprise Architecture model being aimed for. A Transition Architecture will typically be aligned to intermediate and temporary stages in implementation.
Groups of one or more Capability Increments will provide the mandate for a solution or service to be developed in a project.
A Business Capability Model should be at the core of all Enterprise Architecture Models.
Often the Architecture Vision Model or Core Model is produced as a Business Capability Model to provide a strategic view that helps all stakeholders in an organisation to develop a common understanding of what needs to be done and what needs to be changed.
(With thanks to Lee Hepplewhite for some aspects of this approach)
Enterprise Architecture Survey
16 June 2013
A friend of mine Ian Glossop, is doing a survey of views on Enterprise Architecture, and as many of you are Enterprise Architects he would appreciate your views on the subject.
I know your time is precious, and the survey is a little long, but nevertheless may I urge you to take a little time to complete it.
The survey is implemented as a PDF form, with the ability to save the data you enter and so may be completed and emailed back to:
Ian Glossop ( firstname.lastname@example.com) at your convenience.
The form may be downloaded from here:
Ian is doing this as part of an MSc course in Technology Management with the Open University, so he would very much appreciate your help.
The thesis that Ian is testing is twofold really:
- That there is a common core to the diversity of EA methods/methodologies and
- That it is a new-ish (if you can call 25 years old 'new') integrative discipline.
If you would like a copy of the results, simply let Ian know and he'll send you something in September or October.
Enterprise Architecture as the Office of the CEO
30 December 2010
We are used to the idea of a Programme/Project Management Office (PMO) but often organisations fail to understand (or perhaps deliberately misunderstand) what the Enterprise Architecture function does. I propose that the Enterprise Architecture function is, in effect, an Office of the CEO, or an Office of the CEO and Strategic Change Management.
The book 'Enterprise Architect as Strategy' (http://www.architectureasstrategy.com/book/eas/ ) gives us the right way of thinking and talking about what enterprise architecture is for – creating a foundation for the execution of the Business Strategy.
This book is an essential read for senior executives, business leaders and enterprise architects.
Many people within an organisation will understand the big picture view of the business strategy, such as the CEO of course, but perhaps only at a shallow level of detail.
Would the C-level executives understand all the potential nuances and wrinkles that come with that business strategy? Perhaps not unless they were a 'details' person.
What does the CEO do? They will spend time in evaluating ideas, formulating the mission and vision of their orgnaisation, innovating the business model to ensure the company remains competive in their market, looks for future opportunities for expansion and carving out a niche market.
It is the Enterprise Architect who has the job of maintaining the big picture on the behalf of the CEO, in sufficient detail to ensure that it becomes a knowledge base to support the executive's decision making and help them to realise the business strategy and govern the implementation of that strategy.
In this way the Enterprise Architecture function is effectively the Office of the CEO, providing strategic support to the CEO and the other C-level executives. It's also worth stating here that effective companies focus on enterprise architecture and don't jump straight into IT architecture. Enterprise Architecture is not the same discipline as IT Architecture.
We can look at the the Enterprise Architecture function in terms of Deming's Plan-Act-Do-Check process improvement process:
The CEO and other C-level executives will stablish the mission, vision, goals, objectives, principles and metrics to identify the main outcomes of the business strategy.
The Enterprise Architect will help executives, business leaders and strategic planners to develop the business model, operating model, and other enterprise architecture models supporting business model innovation
The CEO and other C-level executives will evolve and innovate the Business Model.
The Enterprise Architect will take the business strategy and business model and support the development of the target operating model, communicate the business strategy, model the target and interim enterprise architecture models, plan an EA roadmap of strategic initiatives, identify and define the required capabilities, define the mandates for the investment programmes and key projects, define standards and process improvements. They will usually define the IT strategy to ensure that it fits with the business strategy rather than being developed in isolation (as unfortunately often happens).
The Enterprise Architect will perform EA governance, compliance and design assurance against those programes & projects implementing the strategic changes and new capabilities. They will perform gap analysis and impact analysis, measuring the performance and compare the results against the expected outcomes.
All the while the Enterprise Architect will report to the CEO and act as their trusted advisor. They will analyze the gaps, risks, costs, issues, assumptions and dynamics to determine their cause and determine where to apply further strategic changes in the next iteration of the cycle and improve the overall maturity level of the enterprise.
The mission of Enterprise Architecture is to improve the implementation and excecution of the business strategy, ensuring that the enterprise will survive, continue to develop and remain profitable in the future.
An interesting example to look at is the US Department of Health and Human Services which has established an Office of Enterprise Architecture as part of the Office of the CIO. http://www.hhs.gov/ocio/ea/index.html
As the the book 'Enterprise Architect as Strategy' says – 'When it comes to executing your Business Strategy your Enterprise Architecture may matter more than your strategy itself… '
Smart Enterprise Architecture
5 September 2010
Organisations need a new paradigm. In order to survive, old dogs are going to have to learn new tricks. They need to start fundamentally thinking about how to change the way in which they innovate, think and make decisions. To allow future operations to be more efficient, c-level executives and senior managers will need more accurate and real time information for better decision making and to optimise business strategy execution.
At a strategic level they need to leverage existing expertise and technology to deliver the capabilities they desire. Organisations will need to provide their decision makers with access to enterprise knowledge, allowing them to gain the insights that will enable the best alignment of operational performance with business strategy and objectives.
For effective knowledge management and information sharing they will not only need Enterprise Architecture, but will need Smart Enterprise Architecture.
The vision of Smart Enterprise Architecture is an approach that will enable information to be captured in real time, analyzed and proactively used to enhance business performance through predictive risk-based decision-making.
Sign up to Download the Diagram
See also IBM on predictive Analysis at http://tinyurl.com/39sdn3p
In the past, the technologies used in organisations have been relatively simple, now organisations will need to become 'smart'.
What can make Enterprise Architecture smart is not new technology in itself, but rather innovative ways of combining existing state-of-the-art measurement and feedback mechanisms that can respond to changing conditions and allow an organisation to be agile and adaptable.
This vision is similar to that of Stafford Beer in his Viable System Model which he first described back in 1972. A Viable System is any system organised in such a way as to meet the demands of surviving in a changing environment, primarily by being adaptable. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viable_System_Model
If he was still around today Stafford Beer would probably have been an enterprise architect.
To make Enterprise Architecture smart we have to gain value from examining the approach to process optimisation in other industries, such as the car industry.
In the not too distant past when a car was serviced, the diagnostics and fine-tuning of its systems were performed manually, with simple tools, skills & experience and heavy lifting. By contrast, the modern car engine is simply plugged into a computer diagnostic system which interfaces with the car's onboard computers. The computer is linked to dozens of digital sensors that instantly monitor all the car's systems and informs the mechanic what adjustments are needed. The car's computer continuously controls its engine management system in real time as you drive along, optimally adjusting the engine parameters to adapt to the driving conditions and your driving style to maximise economy and minimise emissions.
So for Smart Enterprise Architecture we need the same kind of continuous state-of-the-art measurement and feedback value stream to control and adapt the organisation in real time. The following diagram illustrates the use of Enterprise Architecture in a continuous value stream or 'value loop'.
See paper http://tinyurl.com/2em3k3m and also Deming's Plan, Do, Check & Act cycle and Six Sigma's Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control cycle.
Once the Enterprise Architecture models are established it will be possible to make them the centre of predictive analysis, enabling the generation of strategic options in response to the real time changing behaviour of the enterprise.
Those strategic options can be kept in compliance with the business strategy, goals and objectives to continuously provide the best way to optimise value.
Organisations will need to look outside themselves and their traditional partners to find new skill sets and capabilities in order to develop a Smart Enterprise Architecture.
Join the Enterprise Architect community
This post is also available at http://tinyurl.com/29qunfd
Enterprise Architecture Strategies
8 July 2010
I recommend you read Chris Curran's excellent blog entry on 16 Enterprise Architecture Strategies Learned The Hard Way
I've included his list below with my views and comments following that.
1. An exhaustive enterprise level blueprint is virtually impossible to build – it's too big and no one will buy-in
2. The best strategy blends a direction-setting enterprise blueprint and business unit and domain blueprints
3. Centralized accountability for the EA function is a predictor of success
4. A centralized team of architects is critical in driving EA standards and approaches
5. Architects must be assigned to projects as core team members (60%+ of total EA FTEs) rather than "advisors"
6. EA should be measured in 2 ways: business capabilities delivered and costs of core services
7. Measure EA as an asset – what does it cost to provide the service and what return does the business get from the business capabilities delivered?
8. Architecture leadership requires strong management, business operations and technology skills, most likely in 3 different types of people; don't expect your chief architect to run the EA function
9. Methods and governance must be integrated into existing work processes (eg, project approvals, SDLC) rather than a new overlay
10. Enterprise Architecture is not always the best name for communicating; maybe Strategy & Planning or Enterprise Transformation is better
11. The best large companies have "business architecture" teams reporting to the business (or dual reporting to business and IT)
12. Leading companies have reference architectures in place for 90% of the technical domains
13. Your senior enterprise architects must have the right cultural skills and awareness to integrate well with upstream business partners and downstream technical users
14. High performance groups maintain consistent, formalized EA involvement in the SDLC to translate blueprints into sufficiently detailed starting architectures for each project as well as accurate cost and resource estimates
15. Mature organizations target 40% EA resource time for strategic planning and 60% on SDLC tasks, and typically err on spending more time on SDLC tasks
16. Strong credibility and trust amongst Business and IT partners is a predictor of EA success. Credibility has typically been gained via joint strategic planning efforts, one project at a time.
My Views
These are my comments on Chris's list.
1. The enterprise architecture blueprint (i.e. the enterprise architecture content) needs to be developed in iterations, and treated as a living document/model that will never be complete. Aim for each iteration to provide value in it's own right, to both the business and the rest of the organisation.
2. I agree that there needs to be different aspects to the business and IS strategies that address different segments of the enterprise. They shouldn't conflict with each other though. Enterprise Architecture is all about aligning the IS strategy to the Business strategy and target business [operating] model.
3. The EA function needs an executive sponsor such as the COO that is accountable for the success of EA. I'm increasingly of the opinion that the EA function should not report to a CIO that is only focused on IT. This sends out the wrong message to the organisation as a whole. The COO should be focused on the success of the business and how it operates as a whole and not just the success of IT. In some cases success for the business may mean less IT as business capabilities in the cloud are used instead of local IT capabilities.
I've seen some suggestions that a new C-level post is needed to manage Strategic Change and Enterprise Architecture , that of a Chief Strategic Officer (CSO). This new role makes sense if the COO is only responsible for service delivery operations & support activities.
4. I agree – A centralized team of enterprise architects is critical in driving EA standards and approaches. There is also room for federated EA teams in large global organisations where centralised control is not feasible or even possible with local regional and country based regulatory environments.
5. Its the Solution Architects that should be assigned to projects as core team members. Enterprise Architects will be involved from a governance, compliance and design assurance perspective in quality gates/steering group meetings, and as an advisor. There are usually not that many enterprise architects and too many projects for them to be core members of every project.
Being a 'Core' member of a project team implies that they are managed by the project manager, whereas the relationship should be the other way around – the project manager needs to heed the advise and direction coming from the enterprise architects who have a governance sign off at the end of each project phase in project steering group meetings.
6. I agree that EA should be measured in terms of business capabilities delivered, but also in terms of value delivered. Cost of services is just one of many ways of measuring value. The value of EA is indirect though and value is only realised by solutions that deliver the business capabilities in the future many months away. To measure EA properly though means that there need to be a good record of decisions that are made by EA and the eventual outcome of these decisions in the future. This doesn't happen much in my experience at the moment.
7. EA is a core business function in the same way that Finance Management or Sales & Marketing are core business functions. We should treat the Enterprise Architecture content as a knowledge management asset. The value is the return on knowledge (ROK) that is used in supporting decision making.
8. The EA function does need strong leadership. Doesn't always get it though. In all the EA teams I have encountered, the Chief Enterprise Architect does also run the EA function. Within a larger EA team, there are often specific managers for the Business Architecture, Information Architecture, Application Architecture, Infrastructure Architecture aspects.
9. I partially agree. Aspects of EA Governance, Compliance and Design Assurance processes should be integrated into existing Strategic Planning, Portfolio Management, Programme and Project Management, Software Development and Service Delivery processes, but the Enterprise Architecture Development process (i.e. TOGAF ADM) will be a new overlay.
10. The name 'Enterprise Architecture' is all too easily confused with 'Solution Architecture', 'IT Architecture' which is a source of confusion so there are often suggestions for new names for 'real' Enterprise Architecture. I've not yet found a new name I like though it is becoming common to include Enterprise Architecture within a Strategic Change Management team.
11. Business Architecture is just one of the domains of Enterprise Architecture. All of Enterprise Architecture should be reporting to the business (i.e. the COO) rather than to IT (i.e. the CIO).
12. A Reference Architecture is a key component of the target Enterprise Architecture as a whole. In some cases these are provided by industry reference architectures.
13. I agree in general although I'd say that Enterprise Architects probably need to be much more business focused than IT focused. IT is often seen as part of the 'problem' and EA needs to be in alignment with the business.
14. This is more the responsibility of the Solution Architects who need to liaise with the Enterprise Architects to translate the Enterprise Building blocks into Solution Building Blocks. The Solution Architects should ideally form part of a 'virtual' EA team.
15. The 40% EA resource time on strategic planning and 60% on SDLC tasks mainly reflects the current overemphasis on IT Architecture being done by Enterprise Architects. I think the ideal percentages should be the other way around i.e. 60% strategic planning and 40% project related work.
16. I agree that the credibility of the Enterprise Architects and their trust relationships is critical. Building that credibility and trust starts with working closely with the business on strategic change programmes
Dealing with Complexity and Chaos
27 June 2010
I was thinking about System Thinking and how very few organisations that I have worked with have made use of this approach and associated System Thing tool such as iThink.
The same applies to Enterprise Architecture modelling and associated EA tools.
There is often a cry from some people that the resulting models are too complex.
'Can't I simplify it ' they cry. 'It's too difficult to understand'.
In one case the diagram in question was a relatively straightforward Application Architecture diagram showing 180+ Applications and a simplified view of the interfaces between them. At the time it made me smile since I'd previously worked with an Application Landscape that contained over 3000 applications!
However there is a real problem here of a general resistance to the use of Enterprise Architecture modelling (and also of the use of system thinking) revealing the underlying complexity of systems, and a wider problem of aversion to getting to grips with complexity.
Many people I think are afraid of complexity in general and are afraid of any model that reveals the underlying complexity. These people would like the world to be simple and straightforward (perhaps due to their limited education?).
It's important to understand that the world is not at all simple, and simplistic solutions will not be sufficient for all problems.
The application of the right modelling tools, expertise and approaches will need to vary depending on the type of problem that needs to be solved.
The Cynefin model is useful for helping people understanding that different approaches are needed for different classes of problem.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin
The Cynefin framework defines five context spaces: Simple, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic and Disorder.
For problems that fall into the Simple context space, the relationship between cause and effect is obvious to all, and the approach is to Sense – Categorise – Respond and we can apply best practice.
For problems that fall into the Complicated context space, the relationship between cause and effect requires analysis & investigation with good models and/or the application of expert knowledge, and the approach is to Sense – Analyze – Respond and we can apply good practice.
For problems that fall into the Complex context space, the relationship between cause and effect can not be instantly perceived without testing and simulation, including using System Thinking / System Dynamics modelling and simulation approaches. The approach to use is to Probe – Sense – Respond and look for emergent meaning.
For problems in the Chaotic context space, there is no obvious or intuitive relationship between cause and effect at systems level, the approach is usually known as JFDI (Just Effing Do It) and consists of trying something out and seeing what the hell happens – an Act – Sense – Respond approach.
The Disorder context space is the state of not knowing what the problem is in the first place and doing nothing and hoping for the best.
Unfortunately 'Hope is not a Strategy'.
Complex models can only be made as simple as possible but no simpler. Ultimately you'll have to live with complexity.
Knowing when to use the right modelling tool to manage complexity is the best strategy.
Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses handle it.


text:
Winter Guard Wins National Competition
It's official: the Georgia State University Winter Guard puts on the best half-time show in the country. On April 14, they beat out 80 other teams to win the 37th annual Winter Guard International World Championships.
Media Contact
Winter Guard is the official name for teams that perform their crowd-pleasing dance routines indoors – on a basketball court, say, instead of a football field. At Georgia State, they are an auxiliary unit of the marching band, and like the marching band have only been in existence for four years.
"It was a real Cinderella story, the three-year-old winter guard rehearsing for six months and rising from a number 11 ranking to the top," said Andria Foerch, director of the marching band color guard and winter guard.
The Georgia State team honed their 2014 competition performance, "Before My Time," for six months before beating powerhouses such as Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame for the Independent A Class World Championship.
Chester Phillips, director of athletic bands and associate director of bands, said, "We are all so proud of this accomplishment by our outstanding students and staff."
Robert Ambrose, director of bands for the School of Music, put it more simply in a note he sent to the students in the winter guard: "Absolutely amazing! Bravissimo!"
As members of the marching band staff, Andria Foerch, Rick Subel and Danny Acevedo also helped prepare the guard for competition. For more information about the winter guard and other aspects of the Georgia State marching band, visit www.marchingband.gsu.edu.


text:
> Anyone know a vendor or model number for a PCI-E SCSI adapter that's Ultra
> 160 with 50 pin external connector. We've got a Quantum Superloader 3 tape
> system and a Dell PowerEdge 1850 but upon opening the PowerEdge up, I've
> discovered it's got PCI-E, not PCI-X as expected.
> PCI-E SCSI cards seem a little rare...
Ohh and it needs to be LVD on the external connector I think.
Cheers, Rob.


text:
An 18-year-old woman from Granite Falls is dead following a car crash in Redwood County Wednesday evening.
It happened at about 8:35pm at the intersection of Highway 19 and Redwood County Road 7 near Belview. Kaylie Olson failed to yield to an eastbound Pontiac Grand Prix and was broadsided in the intersection.
She was pronounced dead at the scene and her passenger, 20-year-old Michaela Busenbark of Granite Falls is in critical condition at North Memorial in Robbinsdale.
The driver of the Pontiac, 27-year-old Briana Nething of Morgan was treated at the Redwood Area Hospital and released. One of her 2 juvenile daughters in the vehicle suffered minor injuries as well.
The Belview Fire Department assisted at the scene.


text:
SAGINAW, MI — The Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office is losing another longtime assistant prosecutor, this time to retirement.
Jon Sahli, who has served as an assistant prosecutor in the office for nearly 18 years, will work his final day in the office today, Friday, May 30.
"He served the people well," said Prosecutor John McColgan Jr.
McColgan had to talk the 67-year-old Sahli into staying earlier this year when he first expressed an interest in retiring, he said. Sahli agreed to stay indefinitely, but recently experienced some health problems and "decided it was time to move on," McColgan said.
"The people of Saginaw County were very fortunate he stayed as long as he did," McColgan said.
Sahli, who lives in the Saginaw area during the week and in Battle Creek with his wife on the weekends, acknowledged his recent health problems played a role in his decision.
"I've always bounced back" from previous issues, he said. "This time, it's taken longer."
Sahli said he still holds "a little apprehension" about retiring.
"I still don't know what retirement is going to hold," he said. "There's a certain fear of the unknown."
Sahli's retirement comes more than a month after longtime assistant prosecutor A. George Best died one week after suffering a heart attack.
"You can't replace these guys," McColgan said. "You need about five people, and they still wouldn't replace what they could do."
Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd said he will miss Sahli's wit but also his experience and "the breadth of his knowledge." Sahli came to Saginaw after working in the Calhoun County Prosecutor's Office for 18 years, including six as the head prosecutor.
Boyd, who served as a district judge for a majority of Sahli's career in Saginaw County, said he "knew what his capabilities were" as Boyd came back to the prosecutor's office along with McColgan at the beginning of 2013. Boyd would use Sahli as a "sounding board," he said.
"I knew his common sense and discretion were excellent," Boyd said.
Sahli tried all varieties of crimes throughout his career and could not immediately point to one that stuck out in his mind, noting that "every case is a little bit different." He added, however, that while "some are a little more enjoyable to try," he "always disliked" cases where the victims were children or elderly individuals.
He recently secured a first-degree murder conviction for the murder of Michael Kuhlman, who was shot to death in May 2012 while he hosted a high-stakes poker game at his Saginaw Township home.
Sahli also recently tried the homicide case of Gregory Gross, who was beaten to death in February 2013 by four men in the late teens and early 20s. Sahli secured a first-degree murder conviction against one of the men, and the three others pleaded to second-degree murder.
Sahli said the Gross incident "was one of the most senseless" murders he's seen.
As was the case with Best, police officers and detectives also will miss Sahli, McColgan said.
"He's always been available for anybody that needs anything," McColgan said. "I think they value his opinion."
Sahli said he didn't feel "very comfortable" with providing a senior-level, experienced voice in the office, but said he was happy to do so.
"I'm always glad to do what I can to help somebody," he said.
— Andy Hoag covers courts for MLive/The Saginaw News. Email him at firstname.lastname@example.com or follow him on Twitter @awhoag


text:
NORTH PLAINFIELD — A 19-year-old Dunellen man was scammed out of his own cash when a promise to share a larger amount of cash with strangers turned out to be a sham, police say.
Ramirez told the men that he did not lose the cash, so the men suggested that the three of them split up the money among themselves, police said.
Ramirez said that the men then led him to a side street where they claimed to have hidden the bag full of money in the snow, police said.
The two men then took $1,100 from Ramirez's wallet and told him to wait on the street where the $6,000 was buried while they went to investigate further, and that they would all split the money when they came back, police said.
Ramirez said the two men never returned, and the bag turned out to be empty, police said.
The North Plainfield Police Department asks anyone with information on this incident to call the department at 908-769-2937.
• More Somerset County news: NJ.com/somerset | Twitter | Facebook


text:
This paper wreath from Sweet Paul Magazine doesn't call for reclaimed paper, but you could totally do a recycled take on this paper craft project!
Rather than using new paper, raid that recycle bin! You can use the backs of bills or the reverse side of paper that you've printed on to make this paper wreath. I also think it would be really pretty if you make one using the insides of security envelopes. They're often blue and white, which has a perfect, wintry feel. Maybe you could even make your wreath out of old maps?
h/t: Re-Nest


text:
WSC 2005 Review
World Snooker Challenge 2005 works remarkably well on the handheld, and is well worth a purchase even if you already own a home console or PC version.
Snooker was a big part of my life from the age of around 12 to 18. I played three or four times a week and my dream was to become a pro. As I got older I knew I could never be a pro, but my love of the game continued. I was a massive fan of Virtual Snooker and Virtual Pool on the PO and then World Snooker Championship on the PlayStation 2. I was pleased when SEGA announced that the game would be making its way to the PSP, but also a little worried about how the handheld would handle the game. Thankfully World Snooker Challenge 2005 is a solid port, with only a few changes over its home console brother.
One of the nice things about World Snooker on the PS2 and Xbox was the cue control using the analogue stick. Although a little awkward at first, the analogue stick soon became like an extension to my arm. One of the PSP's most talked about issues is its rather strange analogue stick, but it works pretty well with World Snooker, although it's by no means easy to get the hang of. Power shots are easy to pull off, as are soft shots thanks to the aid of the left trigger, but it's the shots in-between that cause most problems and take some practice to get right. The problems with the analogue stick may well cause some players to switch to the old style power metre to set shot strength, but I feel that those who stick with it will get the most from the game.
Although never going to be anything spectacular graphically World Snooker looks very sharp on the PSP's screen. The frame rate gets a little choppy when you break off or when lots of balls are flying around the table, but this in no way hinders the game. Player animations are present, but I find they get in the way so tend to turn them off, something I also do with replays. The game's sound effects are clean and crisp, but the in-game music is dire and I don't think much of the commentary either. It's not so much that the lines they come out with are bad, but more to do with the fact that the game slows down dramatically with it on, with prolonged pauses between each shot. When playing exhibition games there is no commentary and the gap between shots is perfectly acceptable.
Many people think that the player AI in the PS2 and Xbox versions is too harsh and that computer opponents give newcomers no chance. I do agree with this criticism and have been on the receiving end of some painful defeats, but the same is true of Snooker in the real world. As a professional player you must take the chances that you are given or your opponent is likely to make a frame winning break. This won't happen as much down your local club, and perhaps a club player difficulty should be included in future versions, but you are playing as a young up and coming pro and the route to the top is a tough one.
'Easy mode is far too simple and I was knocking in hundred breaks after only 30 minutes with the PSP version.'
Instead of changing the AI ability, you have the option to make the game easier for yourself by altering the aiming aids you are given. On easy you get a nice long line coming from the object ball in both normal and overhead views. At the other end of the spectrum, hard mode gives you a tiny line that is only available in normal view (an overhead aiming line is only present on easy). Easy mode is far too simple and I was knocking in hundred breaks after only 30 minutes with the PSP version (I have played the PS2 version extensively though). Because you can move the PSP around you can actually position it so that you are looking right down the line of the shot in overhead mode. This makes it far too simple to pot difficult shots and is a bit of a cheat. In the real game you don't get this luxury, so anyone who wants to bump up the challenge should move to medium difficulty, as the lack of an overhead aiming line makes things much harder.
The main single player mode has been changed slightly over the version on the home consoles. Rather than playing in the Professional Snooker tour you are instead made to play through a series of challenges at different events and are even given a number of retries should you fail to beat your opponent or pass the challenge. I really can't see any reason why the tour mode was not included in the PSP version, but the challenge mode is still pretty good fun.
As well as the standard game of snooker, a number of other games have been included, such as Pool (8 and 9 ball), Billiards, Bar billiards and Snooker Plus (Snooker but with two extra colours on the table). Of these games I would think most people will enjoy Pool, but only those that have previous experience playing Billiards and Bar Billiards will really appreciate these games being included.
If you're totally new to Snooker there is no need to worry as a comprehensive coaching mode is included along with a rundown on all the rules. In coaching you will learn all about spin and positional play as well as helping you understand how to use the aiming aid. There are a variety of table set ups to practice with, plus a shot by shot coached match with Dennis Taylor.
I was quite excited when I saw an online mode in the game's menu, but was later disappointed to discover that although labelled 'online' it is in fact just AD HOC and is therefore limited to local wireless play. Still, multiplayer works well, but after playing the single-player game you will be frustrated at not being able to skip through your opponents shots as they knock in a frame winning break - such is the reality of snooker.
I really love this game and it works great on the PSP, but there is one issue in particular that really annoys me. As with the home console versions there is a problem to do with the use of the rest and spider. Sometimes when reaching down the table, where you would need to use a rest, the game decides that you must use the spider when there is clearly no ball in the way to infringe the shot. Using the spider gives you less control over the cue ball and limits your shot options. This tends to happen at least once a frame and I really hope this is fixed in any future games in the series.
Despite some twitchy analogue stick cueing, loading issues, lack of a proper career mode and that irritating spider problem, I really have enjoyed playing World Snooker Challenge 2005. I expect most snooker fans will buy this game even without my approval, but the fact that it works remarkably well on the handheld makes it well worth a purchase, even if you already own a home console or PC version.


text:
Those finned jukeboxes from the late '50s were homely, often hideous transportation. And they weren't assembled as well as the American cars built earlier in the decade.
They did have one redeeming virtue, however. They were the last domestic automobiles with one-word names. They marked the last time people could simply say, I drive a Ford, or, that's my Chevy. Things got more complicated after that. As the list of models offered by car lines lengthened, so did the names of the cars.


text: April 21, 2013 The folks over at Boone Hall took the Lowcountry Strawberry Festival to the next level after taking 2012 off. Adding more than 30 attractions and rides, two days and additional hours to the event, the festival opened itself up to a whole new crowd of attendees. In addition to the tradition of picking berries and enjoying a day on the farm, Amusements of America adding to the fun with about 25 rides for the whole family. And additional attractions such as pig races, juggling and magic shows, and a variety of festival-type foods and vendors just rounded out the family-friendly event.


text:
River Colors Journal
Sunday, January 01, 2012
The Schaefer Yarn Company
The Schaefer Yarn Company is located in the Finger Lakes region of New York. They are a family owned business with years of experience creating fantastic silk, wool, wool blend and pima cotton hand-painted yarns. Their website offers examples of their patterns and yarn styles. Visit Schaefer Yarn Company at www.schaeferyarn.com.
Permanent Link to The Schaefer Yarn Company
posted by River Colors Yarn Store at 4:17 PM
posted by River Colors Yarn Store at 4:17 PM
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text:
Horane Hogate
Horane Hogate, of Jamaica, is a psychology research scholar whose skills, knowledge and competence in research during his undergraduate years have earned him a graduate research fellowship award in the Ph.D. program at Purdue University.
A member of the track team, Horane graduated Summa Cum Laude. His personal research is in cognitive and educational psychology with an emphasis on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) achievement. He was one of 16 psychology scholars to win the Regional Psy Chi Research Award at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association in Nashville, Tenn., March 7, 2014.
Horane has also participated in the Stanford University Gateways to Science and Mathematics Summer Program, and the Davidson University Summer Research Program.


text:
- Text Size:
- ASmall Text
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- ALarge Text
A student brought a pellet gun to Cleveland Elementary School on Friday, police said.
The weapon was found in an eighth-grade classroom, according to the Stockton Police Department.
Police are in the process of checking classrooms and backpacks in the school.
The weapon was made to look like a real handgun, but it's a replica, officers said.
A deadly shooting took place at Cleveland Elementary in 1989. Five children died and 29 others were hurt in a school yard.
Stay with KCRA and KCRA.com for the latest information.


text:
The rarity of thrombo-angiitis obliterans in women is revealed by the fact that a total of twenty-two case reports have appeared in the literature. We have recently had a very unusual experience in observing this disease in two sisters. To our knowledge this is the first observation of its kind. We are thus prompted to present the clinical histories.
Case 1.—
P. L., a Polish Jewess, aged 34, who came under observation on Sept. 4, 1937, had noticed five years before that walking produced an aching pain and cramps in her feet and legs. Her claudication became progressively worse, so that at the time of examination she was unable to walk more than one-half block. The pain was relieved only after a few minutes of rest. She also complained of cold feet and noticed their pale appearance. She had formerly been employed as an artificial flower worker
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text:
Top Definition
The past tense version of getting some "strange"
Dude, I got stranged with that girl from the club last night.
מאת makingupwordsiswhatIdo 9 בפברואר, 2011
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
to feel awkward about something that has happened
I was stranged when he told me that he didn't remember me.
מאת bentobon 29 בדצמבר, 2011
Gave somebody a strange look, esp. one indicating confusion or irritation.
"Dad, what's the problem -- you stranged me when we were talking to mom just then."
מאת FitofPeak 12 באפריל, 2010


text:
The Small World Designer Edition is available for everybody: order your copy on June 9!
R'hka and his dwarf companions were digging for gold, but nothing could prepare them to the discovery they were about to make.
With shovels and pickaxes, they were progressing in... Read more
Shipping Update
And there they go... All the Designer Edition Boxes have left our warehouses!If you haven't already received your shipment Tracking Number you should...
- check your spam folder or your... Read more
Designer Editions are sheep-ing!
Designer Editions shipment has just started and we expect it to take the next two weeks for all the games to leave the warehouse.
Designer Editions will go out via... Read more
Shipping Update
We are getting ready to send you two very important shipments: Your personalized custom-engraved Trophy Plate and your copy of the Small World Designer Edition.
Because both of these items are very... Read more
Production update
Last week, we finally received the Army boxes we'd been eagerly waiting to see since last update.
The inside tray of each box is flocked, with each tray customized to... Read more
The Wooden Box
It took all summer, but we finally received our final pre-production box sample! and here are the very first snap shots of it we were able to take:
This box is... Read more
The Designer Edition - coming together...
Just as we were receiving some of the final sample components, one of our most ardent supporters and Small World enthusiast, Jesse Rasmussen and his family, stopped by our offices... Read more
Small World 2.5 goes Beta!
The new digital version of Small World that our whole team has been working on ever since the release of Small World 2 last Christmas has finally gone into beta... Read more
Designer Edition - Some progress and a few cool pics!
Ten days ago we received our first complete set of miniatures for the Designer Edition.
Here's what a complete set looks like, once all laid out:
Initially, we wanted some... Read more
Small World Pocket Encyclopedia at Sea
We just received our very first copy of the Encyclopedia via Fedex this morning!
The books are all being loaded on a ship this week, and on course to reach our... Read more
Pocket Encyclopedia at the Printer and Progress on the Designer Edition
Despite a busy Christmas, we've been making steady progress on the remaining rewards for this campaign.
The Small World Pocket Encyclopedia is now officially at the Printer. We've received a... Read more
iPad version in sight!
After months of intense coding, and the help of backers who spent countless hours beta-testing Small World 2 on their device, we are now mere weeks away from shipping Small... Read more
Physical rewards coming next Quarter
By popular demand, here is an update on information recently posted on our private Small World 2 backers forum at http://www.daysofwonder.com/en/forums/?c=2:1_22:0_10:1
But first an Important Reminder- There are still 297... Read more
Behind the shrubs, the forest...
Woohoo!! Backers have been coming out of the forest en masse these last 24 hours! We're incredibly honored by all of your support and we'll work hard to make every... Read more
Rock & Troll - and more...
Stretch goal # 3 is now within reach...
Yes, Kobolds aren't quite there yet, but close enough. And yes, this means a lot of Backers will be listed in the... Read more
Giving Credit(s) Where Credit Is Due!
With 6 days to go, we've now reached our second stretch goal; Necromancer Island will definitively be coming back into print!
We know many of you would like to see... Read more
Behemoths for Chocolate
By popular request, here's a sneak preview of the new Kickstarter backers Special Powers that will be released with Small World 2.
The Behemoths like mud just as much as... Read more
EU shipping & Meet the Igors
First off, some good news for backers of our campaign who live in the European Union (sorry, this doesn't include Switzerland or Norway): If you've pledged $ 370 for the... Read more
Stretch goals in sight
A little bit after 7:00am French time this morning, less than a week after the launch of Small World 2 on Kickstarter, we passed our initial campaign goal ;-). Looks like... Read more
New Avatars & Off to Europe
Wow! A big thank you to all of you Backers for your support this far! Needless to say, based on our prior experience, little did we expect Small World 2... Read more


text:
Rent Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge 1st edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Imre Lakatos. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Cambridge University Press.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our tutors now.


text:
We stand behind the quality of our products.
Learn more
Journeyman Toolkits
Make the right start.
Reece wants you to get off to the right start with your career. That's why we've put together the journeyman toolkit specially designed for apprentices. Available as either 24 or 34 piece kits, they come in tough long lasting toolboxes equipped with all the tools you will need during your apprenticeship. The tools are well known brands and tradesmen quality so they'll last beyond your apprenticeship years.
But can you afford it? Of course you can.
Tools For Your Trade Initiative
Tools For Your Trade is an initiative from the Australian Government that provides eligible apprentices periodic payments totalling $5500 over the life of your apprenticeship. You receive your first payment of $800 after 3 months of employment which is the perfect time to invest in your future with a tool kit that will help you make the right start.
For more information regarding the Tools For Your Trade initiative you can visit www.australianapprenticeships.gov.au or call 13 38 73.


text:
Since 1967, Peter McKee has been an admirer and student of Seeger's banjo playing and political activism.
Peter is a co-founder of the Seattle folk band, "Clallam County", which has performed throughout Washington State for 32 years.
Peter with "Clallam County" -(Pat McIntyre, Judy Oerkvitz & Jim Douglas)
Home >


text:
Top Definition
SLapdick, someone who doesnt know what the hell their doing, and proceeds to fuck up
what in the hell where you thinking you slapdick!
Fred tarafından 23 Temmuz 2004, Cuma
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
slap dick- one for whom even the simplest task represents a monumental challenge. One who is forced to re-learn all tasks on a daily basis due to exceedingly low intellect.
When Evan confessed he accidently scalded himself in the shower every morning he was instantly recognized as a total slap dick.
JPMcTeague tarafından 1 Eylül 2003, Pazartesi
Someone who doesn't know what the hell they are doing or what is going on. An idiot who never knows anything.
- "Doesn't Brett know that the street he just turned into is a dead end?"
- "Damn what a fucking slapdick, he always gets lost"
- "Damn what a fucking slapdick, he always gets lost"
Aubtin tarafından 10 Mart 2008, Pazartesi
a shit-for-brains who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.
Rob is such a slap dick. He pissed all over his roommates key board last night.
Pot Luck McBeer tarafından 1 Nisan 2003, Salı
Slapdick,Someone who doesn't know what the hell they're doing and proceeds to fuck up
what in the hell where you thinking you slapdick!
wolf15668 tarafından 10 Ekim 2013, Perşembe
usually referred to as "that guy" at a party or anywhere for that matter who just can't seem to say or do anything remotely intellectual or worth-while..
John: "hey baby, do have a mirror in your pocket?"
Betty: "what a slap-dick, get lost."
Betty: "what a slap-dick, get lost."
Ikaika tarafından 12 Kasım 2006, Pazar
A word that an old white drunk guy calls someone to get their attention. The guy is usually the village idiot and has a scrap pile in his backyard.
Heyy Slapdick how about you come over here and drink a beer?
TheSauce01 tarafından 25 Aralık 2013, Çarşamba


text:
Dragonfly Film and Television Productions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with DragonflyTV.
Dragonfly Film and Television Productions is a British independent television production company. It is a subsidiary of the Shine Group and has produced factual programmes for BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, ITV1 Channel 4, Channel Five, Sky1, Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel.[1]
The company was proimant in 2002, tested in 2003 and formed in 2004 and its output mainly consists of documentary series such as Kill It Cook It Eat It, The Hotel, World's Toughest Trucker, Beat The Ancestors and Tony Robinson's Crime and Punishment.[2][3] Its documentary for Channel 4 One Born Every Minute,[4] based on a maternity ward, won the Best Factual Series BAFTA in 2010.[5][6]
- ^ http://www.dragonfly.tv/about-us.php About Us
- ^ http://www.drg.tv/Programmes.aspx?SearchProdCompany=490 DRG profile
- ^ http://www.dragonfly.tv/productions.php?genre=factual_series
- ^ http://lifebegins.channel4.com/faq
- ^ http://realscreen.com/2012/10/16/c4-renews-one-born-every-minute-the-hotel/
- ^ http://www.bafta.org/press/tv-awards-winners-announced,100,SNS.html
External links[edit]
- http://www.dragonfly.tv Dragonfly Film and Television Productions website
|This article relating to United Kingdom television is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.


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2008 Weingut Kunstler Hochheimer Holle Riesling Erstes Gewachs
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90 Points | Stephen Tanzer's IWC - January/February 2010
($70) Pithy aromas of peach, lemon oil and woodsmoke. Taut in texture, with rich, toasty nectarine fruit supported by a well-integrated acid structure. Finishes with very good depth and length. In a classical style.


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Watch more Boy Sexy Girl Videos, share videos and find the latest funny videos at Viduu.
- Here's a funny commercial where a girl is checking herself out in a mirror then takes too big of a bite of her Crunch bar.
- This guy doesn't know he's on camera while a girl gets him to hold all her clothes. He sniffs her Bikini!!!
- This guy slaps this girl as hard as he can. She even tells him not to hold back!
- That Japanese show is back! This time they bet they can make a pretty girl into an old man!
- A funny collection of clips where girls do stupid things, fall over or get hurt in sport and everyday life.By: nearlygood l Tags: funny girls, bloopers, painful
- Footage from a recent FHM bikini shoot with Holly Valance and some other sexy girls.
- Now, I don't know whether you'll laugh at this or love this... but here's a girl kissing glass.
- Some photoshoot footage of the cute and sexy Kari.
- Heres a clip of Lacey, a sexy model doing various photoshoots on location.
- Sexy Tila Nguyen takes a hot bath for a photo shoot. (Nudity Warning)By: nearlygood l Tags: tila nguyen, bath, naked, nude, wet, sexy
- This girl seems really motivated on doing her homework! I wonder why...
- A Ludacris video compilation of the hottest Babes around the world. A must see for guys who love their women.
- Here is a hot commercial for WWE, featuring loads of sexy babes washing a car.
- Some hot Coyote Ugly girls dance on tables in sexy clothing.
- A sexy babe with big boobs parades in a small, barely on bikini top and shorts.


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Jonathan Bales: I think the Cowboys' No. 3 WR has to be this guy ...
Special contributor Jonathan Bales answered questions in a chat Thursday. Here are some highlights.
Mel Kiper III ... Is DE or DT a more pressing need for the transition to 4-3? Is Tank Carradine or Damontre Moore worthy of the second round pick?
Jonathan Bales: I think those positions are of equal need right now; you have your starters, but they're all veterans who probably won't be around too much longer. I'd love Moore or Carradine in the second, but I don't think either player will be available. I really think Carradine will get drafted higher than most people think.
Tug ... Who do you expect to be the 3rd and 4th wr's? harris and beasly or someone not on the current roster?
Jonathan Bales: As it stands right now, I think it has to be Harris. I really like Harris, but I also think the chances of the Cowboys drafting another receiver are pretty high. That guy will likely be big and physical, and depending where they select him, he could be the No. 3 receiver playing on the outside with Austin in the slot.
Wolverine ... Do u see Alex Albright as a LB or DE, he already has the height/size to be a DE to backup Ware or Spencer? What about Sterling Moore, safety or CB, New England seem to like him and was pretty upset we got him.
Jonathan Bales: I see Albright as a DE and Moore as a true flex type of player. Moore's versatility could be really valuable to Dallas, especially because they don't really know what they have with their current safeties.
curtisco ... do you think the Cowboys will get a chance at Barrett Jones?
Jonathan Bales: Yeah, they'll probably have two shots at him. I think there are some better options than Jones in the area where he's going to get selected, though.


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How to Eat With Chopsticks!
Learn how to eat with chopsticks:
Do you prefer Asian food, & want the full experience by eating it as it was meant to be eaten - with chopsticks? Watching others using chopsticks can make it look so easy, but when you try it, you end up asking for a fork. Here's how to say goodbye to that fork for good and put those chopsticks to work!Other Posts:
Pencil Furniture.
Amazing Hand Art.
Elevator Floor Illusion.
How Do You Perceive!
Anti-Smoking Ads.


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Kobe said this about him..."But like, the game before we
traded for Pau, were playing Detroit and I had like 40 points towards
the end of the game. This is back when Detroit had Rasheed [Wallace],
Chauncey [Billups] and those guys, so we had no business being in the
game. So down the stretch of the game, they put in a box and one. So I'm
surrounded by these players, Detroit players, and Kwame is under the
basket, all by himself. Literally, like all by himself. So I pass him
the ball, he bobbled it and it goes out of bounds.
"So we go back to the timeout and
I'm [upset], right? He goes, 'I was wide open.' 'Yeah, I know.' This is
how I'm talking to him, like, during the game. I said, 'You're going to
be open again, Kwame, because Rasheed is just totally ignoring you.' He
said, 'Well, if I'm open don't throw it to me.' I was like, 'Huh?' He
said, 'Don't throw it to me.' I said, 'Why not?' He said, well, 'I'm
nervous. If I catch it and they foul me, I won't make the free throws.' I
said, 'Hell no!'
Copyright © 1995-


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Earth Island Institute
Home › Get Involved › IslandWire: News & Action Alerts
IslandWire: News & Action Alerts
The latest campaign updates from Earth Island's global network of environmental projects.
Get Involved
Get Your BYA Tickets Today
Tickets are available for the 17th Annual Brower Youth Awards! Come celebrate our next generation of environmental leaders on October 18 at San Francisco's beautiful, historic Herbst Theater. Tickets are free! There are many others ways to get involved and support Earth Island's New Leaders' Initiative as well. You can get tickets to meet the BYA winners at the special Opening Reception preceding the awards ceremony. (The early bird ticket rate for the reception is available through August 31.) Earth Island is still welcoming 2016 BYA Host Committee members if you are interested in providing an additional level of support, and sponsorship opportunities remain available for forward-thinking, sustainable-minded entrepreneurs.
Thursday August 4, 2016
Malaysia Protects Sharks
In May, Malaysia established the biggest marine protected area in the country, a 1 million hectare marine park that will also serve as a shark sanctuary. Earth Island's Shark Stewards played an instrumental in efforts to establish the park, and is now working with the government to develop a marine management and enforcement plan. Shark Stewards Director David McGuire will also be participating in a Swim for Sharks on August 14. Supported by the group Night Train Swimmers, he will swim across the San Francisco Bay to raise awareness for sharks and to raise funds to support Shark Steward's education and conservation programs. Learn more and support the swim.
Thursday August 4, 2016
Project Coyote's New Virtual Home
EII's Project Coyote is excited to share its new and improved website featuring more timely content, nearly 100 additional videos, a timeline of key accomplishments, an improved resources page, and the original Project Coyote blog, Notes From the Field. The new site highlights Project Coyote's work on behalf of North America's native carnivores, with a special section that informs visitors about the history, habits, and challenges facing wolves, bears, mountain lions, bobcats, and of course our native Song Dogs, the Coyote. Join the project's E-Team to get involved!
Thursday August 4, 2016
Garage Sale for The Borneo Project
A neighborhood in Berkeley is coming together to host a mid-summer garage sale to benefit EII's The Borneo Project. The sale will take place on Saturday August 20 from 10am-2pm, at Beverly Place near Hopkins – follow the posted signed to the exact address. All proceeds from the sale will benefit The Borneo Project.
Thursday August 4, 2016
Filmmaker David Vassar at the Brower Center
Join Earth Island and the David Brower Center on August 25 for an intimate film night with Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker David Vassar. The evening will include a screening of A Walking in the Park with David Vassar – an epic film retrospective through American's national parks – as well as a presentation by Vassar and a VIP meet and greet reception. Celebrate the National Park Service centennial by joining the Brower Center for this special evening. Additional information and tickets.
Thursday August 4, 2016
The Best of Earth Island Journal
Get the latest environmental news from Earth Island Journal. Here are our favorite web-only stories from the last two weeks:
Most Popular: American Farmers Are Struggling to Feed the Country's Appetite for Organic Food. Reporter Leah Messinger examines why only 1 percent of cropland is dedicated to organic farming, despite growing consumer demand for organic food.
Editors' Pick: "If Animals Matter Morally, Then We Cannot Treat Them As Commodities." Fifteen-year-old Aazan Amhad, the Journal's youngest contributor, interviews controversial animal rights activist Gary Francione about his "abolitionist approach" towards animal rights.
Thursday August 4, 2016
Save the Snag Forest
The Forest Service is finalizing its ill-conceived Rim Fire "reforestation" plan for California's Stanislaus National Forest, which will determine whether it will maintain the unlogged burned areas of the forest or clearcut them to fuel the local biomass industry. Learn more and take action with Earth Island's John Muir Project. Email Deputy Regional Forester Barnie Gyant and Regional Forester Randy Moore by July 27, and tell them that the remaining snag forest within the Rim Fire area should be valued and preserved as wildlife habitat. This is our last chance to tell the Forest Service to preserve the remaining snag forest habitat in the Rim Fire area!
Thursday July 21, 2016
Call for Kitchen Supplies
Food Shift recently launched the Alameda Kitchen, a new initiative that will transform surplus food into nutritious products for the community while providing employment for the formerly homeless in Alameda County, CA. Now, the Earth Island project is in need of kitchen supplies! Key items include a commercial dehydrator, stock chiller, and tilting kettle. Here's the full list. If you are able to donate an item, donate money for supplies, or have connections in the restaurant or corporate sponsorship world, please email Hanna.
Thursday July 21, 2016
Book Club Launch
Real Food Real Stories is launching a book club series to deepen knowledge of the changes necessary within our food system. In addition to live storytelling gatherings, the EII project is now sharing written stories from inspiring changemakers with our RFRS community. The first book club gathering will take place on Monday, August 8, at 6 p.m. at The Perennial restaurant in San Francisco. We will be discussing radical farmer Joel Salatin's book, Folks, This Ain't Normal, over light snacks provided by the restaurant. The discussion will be based on the book, but join in if you are simply interested in discussing issues related to farming, food, and sustainability. Sign up today.
Thursday July 21, 2016
Fundraising Masters
Want to hone your fundraising skills? Don't miss the Nonprofit Fundraising Masters series, hosted by Darian Heyman, director of EII's Numi Foundation. Raise more money for your cause with tips from some of the world's most successful fundraisers on July 27 in Silicon Valley, and on October 19 in San Francisco. The series will feature Greenpeace Executive Director Annie Leonard, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, and author Beth Kanter, among other speakers. Register now, and save $20 using the code: "EII"
Thursday July 21, 2016
Responding to Oil Spills
ALERT has responded to a call from a multi-state coalition asking for technical assistance with comments to the EPA regarding the 2014 BP Whiting refinery oil spill, which released more than 1,600 gallons of oil into Lake Michigan. EPA's proposed settlement for the spill enables business-as-usual by this repeat offender. EII's ALERT has developed a model for future spill settlements, requesting maximum fines and independent citizens' oversight. The model also calls for environmental monitoring, as currently exists in Prince William Sound in Alaska, and as promised by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. ALERT's comments can be tailored for other spills of conventional or unconventional oil.
Thursday July 21, 2016
Earth Island Lunch
Please join Earth Island Institute and former Brower Youth Award winner Marcus Grignon for a brown bag lunch on Monday, August 8 at the Earth Island office in downtown Berkeley. Grignon, who now serves as campaign manager for Hempstead Project Heart's new Native Hemp Initiative, will discuss the ancestral wisdom of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and how knowledge of regenerative agriculture is being applied today. The presentation, which will begin at 12 p.m., will also highlight the early hemp economy in the US and stress the importance of Industrial Hemp cultivation to sustainable agriculture and a thriving green economy. Additional information
Thursday July 21, 2016
Congress for Conservation Biology
This week, Project Coyote's Executive Director Camilla Fox and members of its Science Advisory Board (SAB) attended the North American Congress for Conservation Biology Conference in Wisconsin. SAB members presented talks on decisions that undermine wildlife conservation and the Public Trust Doctrine; overhunting, overfishing, and the annihilation of megafauna; and what canines teach us about lethal control and unregulated killing of a territorial species. Learn more by visiting Project Coyote's Science and Stewardship program page.
Thursday July 21, 2016
The Best of Earth Island Journal
Get the latest environmental news from Earth Island Journal. Here are our favorite web-only stories from the last two weeks:
Most Popular: Tidal Power Project Makes Waves in Canada. Author Kevin Bailey writes about why a plan to install giant turbines in Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy has both fisherman and environmentalists worried.
Editors' Pick: The Young and the Restless. Author and biologist Jessica Groenendijk tells the story of Isla and Dedo, two endnagered giant otters growing up in Peru's Manu National Park.
Thursday July 21, 2016
GWWI's Gemma Bulos on Sea Change Radio
Gemma Bulos, executive director of EII's Global Women's Water Initiative, appeared with Alex Wise on Sea Change Radio, a nationally syndicated weekly radio show and podcast covering the shift to social, environmental, and economic sustainability. On the episode, titled "Turning a Drop Into a Wave," Bulos discusses how GWWI builds capacity among women, the connection between water access and girls' education, and the story of how she arrived at this work. Listen to the podcast now.
Thursday July 7, 2016


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Your ferret is acting aggressively! It could be fighting, biting or attacking humans and/or other animals. This flowchart can help you identify the type of aggression and — hopefully — find a reason and treatment. Ferrets are individuals, so while this chart can help identify most reasons for aggression, exceptions always exist.
This chart combines and separates some traditionally defined behaviors for the simplicity and clarity of the flowchart format. No flowchart can capture the complexity of behavior or the subtle interaction of various types of aggression. Multiple factors could cause a ferret's behavior.
Also, not all the listed behaviors are intended by ferrets to be aggressive. Many ferret play behaviors are included because these get misinterpreted as aggression.
Use this chart only as a guideline. If your ferret does not respond to suggested therapies, please consult a veterinarian for advice.
For the full article, pick up the 2011 issue of Ferrets USA or click here to buy the issue.
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She considers it a challenge, in this age when there's a designer stamp on so many mass-produced items, to encourage her customers to "find value in things made by hand," and to help them discover that you can have both beauty and function in a piece.
These sentiments echo those of the shop's owner for its first 58 years, the late Helen Winnemore, who began selling her friends' handmade crafts in the living room of her Columbus home in December of 1938. Because of space limitations, she filled dresser drawers with handmade items and encouraged her customers to explore and discover the pieces on their own. The business soon outgrew her living room, and she moved into a commercial space just east of downtown Columbus. In 1966, she settled the shop in German Village, at the onset of the neighborhood's renaissance. Today, German Village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Winnemore, who graduated from Iowa's Penn College in 1928, attended The Ohio State University's College of Fine Arts, and started her own business during a time when most women did not pursue either higher education or a career. Still, she was reportedly so shy that she began offering customers something to drink as a conversation starter. She was often quoted as saying, "No shop is worth anything unless it is a gracious place."
Brimming with what she called "crafts of exceptional quality and design," the shop featured Winnemore's favorite work. She was particularly fond of wood and established a long-term relationship with the internationally known woodworker Bob Stocksdale of California. "The way he makes his pieces, they just balance out," she once said. "It's really truly art."
Winnemore also featured many Ohio artists: glass blower Robert Eickholt, goldsmith Jack Siebert (whose own shop has been in Columbus for more than 25 years), sculptor Ann Entis, and the early work of sculptor Don Drumm, who now has a nationally known studio in Akron. Helen Winnemore Craft has been recognized for its support of Ohio artists and its contribution to Ohio's crafts industry by the Ohio Designer Craftsmen and the Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, among others. Nationally, Niche Magazine, a publication dedicated to connecting art galleries and craft retailers with artists and their work, specifically noted Winnemore and her shop in its special "Millennium" issue, which saluted the crafts movement in the United States, and named the shop "One of the Top 100 Retailers of American Craft" in 2003.
Winnemore died in 1996 at the age of 95. Early on in the business, she had hired a young designer, Jack Burrows, who became not only a close friend, but also the store manager and eventually its second owner. He was with the shop for more than 37 years before he sold the gallery to Harpham, who credits him with teaching her everything she knows about the business. Burrows stayed on full time for a while after the store changed hands, then stopped in every Saturday morning for the next few months to check in. He accompanied her on her first trip to the Buyers Market of American Craft in Philadelphia, from which she now purchases nearly all items for the shop.
As only the third owner in the business' 67-year history, Harpham is well aware of the Winnemore legacy. Both her grandmother and mother were regular customers, and she fondly remembers her many visits there as a young girl, when she loved to discover the "treasures" in those drawers. Through the years, Sarah and her family exchanged countless gifts from the shop, but one in particular led to her most beloved acquisition of all.
When she was in college, Harpham purchased a whimsical mobile for her mother, and several years later her mother stopped in the shop to buy the same mobile for Sarah. Coincidentally, the staff had begun spreading the word among their regular customers that Helen Winnemore's was for sale.
Within a few months, Harpham, then 28, began to guide the shop into the 21st century. She compares taking the plunge to having a child: "You have no idea what you're getting into, but you do it anyway."
She says that what she always loved about Helen Winnemore's was simply "the feel of it - stimulating yet comfortable. There has always been a constant stream of new work, yet the shop manages to feel the same."
And of course, she continues the founder's gracious traditions. Customers have more than 40 drawers of jewelry alone to explore (more drawers were added at the request of longtime customers after the shop's move to German Village) and each guest is promptly offered tea or coffee, served in miniature stoneware mugs - the same ones that Winnemore offered customers before Sarah was born.
During the first few years she owned the gallery, Harpham was surprised to hear countless customers use the word "magical" to describe Helen Winnemore. Not the shop, but the woman herself. Perhaps it was her easy elegance and quiet manner, her gracious hospitality, or even the way she dressed, often in flowing, colorful fabrics and bold, original jewelry. But it was more likely the intense passion she had for the artists and their artwork that infused her and the shop with that magical aura.
Harpham maintains that genuine affection for the artists whose work she sells. With just a handful of exceptions, she has met and knows the history of all of the artists selling pieces in the shop. "After all," she proclaims, "I carried my baby around in a sling to all the craft shows - these artists have held my baby!'" She also encourages customers to engage with the art by touching the pieces and reading about and discussing the artists' history with her and her staff.
After eight years at Winnemore's, Harpham still gets a lot of satisfaction seeing people come into the shop and enjoy what they buy. "When customers are excited about the work, it feels like I've given a party and everyone had a good time." For example, in the 1950s and '60s, many young couples bought their wedding bands and had their registries at Winnemore's. Today, customers still come in to show Harpham and staff their rings they that were purchased 50 or more years ago.
Other dedicated customers include a woman who cherishes a silver bracelet that her husband bought at the gallery to celebrate her first Mother's Day, which literally has not left her wrist in 37 years. Another customer, whose husband discovered the shop only after Harpham purchased it, makes a point to support individual artists whose backgrounds and inspirations are detailed on a card given to customers when they buy one of their pieces. And on a practical note, she appreciates that the shop gift-wraps and mails most items.
The Christmas season is a special time for Helen Winnemore Craft, when its largest inventory is on display, and the shop is fully dressed for the holidays by the end of October. The largest downstairs room holds a tree weighted down with handmade ornaments crafted from every imaginable material, and the drawers are filled with even more ornaments and decorations. The two upstairs rooms are overflowing with handknit stockings and other fiber arts, and the best selections from toy artisans around the country.
This will be Helen Winnemore Craft's 67th holiday season, and the founder's legacy continues - not only through the shop and its promotion of "crafts of exceptional quality and design," but through the scholarship that was established in her name at the Columbus College of Art and Design. The award has been given to one or more students each year since 1991. A close friend who helped establish the scholarship in honor of Winnemore's 90th birthday said at the time, "She's recognized nationally, and she's helped a great many artists. She's the mother of the craft movement."
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