text:
On Food Network
Original Aired On 03/16/2009
Episode: Family Favorites
Service is great the menu is limited with high prices. The pizza was poor and lackluster. This was a total dud! $24 bucks plus tip for a large with 4 toppings. %0AThe building is a dump its dark and dank inside. Sorry I went there.
Went Sat waitress service was great. Pizza ok.
My family and I had to go to Dallas today for business and as usual, we look for DDD spots to try when we are out and about. We stopped at Louie's today. When we found the restaurant, it was appeared to be closed up and out of business. Truly didn't look like a restaurant from the outside as there aren't but 3-4 parking spaces at the most to be had. We were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot when a family pulled up and walked right in.... we felt like goobers...It was close to 5 pm and the joint didn't open up til 5:30. We asked if we could wait it out til time to open and they were more than eager to let us! We got our menus and our teeth nearly fell out of our head at the prices. I mean, you would think for the price of the food that the joint would look, well, less like a joint...Anyway, the table next to us got their food before us and it looked so good it was all I could do to contain myself to my table. Our food finally arrives and you have never seen 3 happier people! I got the special of the night, which was lamb chops...YUMMY! Hubby got a burger that smelled and looked incredible! Judging by how quickly he devoured it, it truly was incredible. Daughter got a heaping plate of pasta with oil & garlic and ate more than I've ever known her to while eating out. She even was adventurous enough to taste my lamb and LOVED it! She ate one of my chops! It was a wonderful meal! The staff was very friendly! It is a great experience to dine here! Good idea to show up early as it fills up QUICKLY!
Louie's was at one time I'm suspecting a gas station and garage. The atmosphere was nice. Exposed brick walls, high backed wooden booth seats, low lighting and casual. Had a direct view to the kitchen and it was neat to see Chris Canelakes back there cooking. We ordered the special that night which was grilled portabella mushrooms, mulligatawny soup and pizza. The portabellas score a 9 on my foodgasm scale. I could have made a whole meal out of that. The soup was very flavorful, spicy and filling. By the time the pizza came I wasn't as hungry, my tastebuds were a little numb from the beer, and it was hot! I kinda seared my taste buds with the first bite so I didn't get to experience the flavors. The crust is very thin and not rigid so beware if you have a lot of toppings. They want to slide off. I did get a pie to go and this is the first pizza I've had that tasted better the day after. That was some really good day old pizza.
Bring cash or your American Express card; Louie's doesn't take anything else.
There are no beers on tap, but there's a full bar and plenty of brews by the bottle, including Newcastle, Pilsner Urquell, Negra Modelo and more.
No parking
Simple no bullshit martinis that get the job done.
Our food editor Hanna Raskin says their garlicky Caesar, may set a salad standard.
Great food.
If you're looking for a nice quiet evening on a Saturday night. This may be your place. . .if you grew up in a war zone.
Best pizza and stiffest drinks
Fresh made pies by Louie's moms everyday. The Key Lime is my fav.
I heard Louie's mom makes the desserts! Choc silk pie is my favorite!
Hey, don't complain about the lack of high chairs and booster seats, 'cause ya know, ITS A BAR.
Bring cash or an Amex. I'm over it!


text:
"At the most basic level, the algorithm helps people make tough decisions—or any decisions really," he says.
It's leveraging its user base to make it more the algorithm more intelligent.
That was working until this spring tax season, when the algorithm struck back with all its unpredictability.
The answer, not surprisingly, is hidden in an algorithm that Google never quite explains.
The algorithm is forever ratcheting up spending and ratcheting down revenues.
"Today we will learn the algorithm for receiving presents," the instructor tells her students.
Asked what happens if the algorithm suggests one thing, but his gut suggests something else, Jackson says he pauses and thinks.
As long as that double-standard persists, no algorithm can fix its injustice.
The biggest challenge for the Amiigo before its 2015 launch is perfecting the training portion of the algorithm.
Then the CAD people added an algorithm that would take the sensor data and generate random variations on the same basis.
1690s, from French algorithme, refashioned (under mistaken connection with Greek arithmos "number") from Old French algorisme "the Arabic numeral system" (13c.), from Medieval Latin algorismus, a mangled transliteration of Arabic al-Khwarizmi "native of Khwarazm," surname of the mathematician whose works introduced sophisticated mathematics to the West (see algebra). The earlier form in Middle English was algorism (early 13c.), from Old French.
algorithm al·go·rithm (āl'gə-rĭð'əm)
A step-by-step protocol, as for management of health care problems.
A set of instructions for solving a problem, especially on a computer. An algorithm for finding your total grocery bill, for example, would direct you to add up the costs of individual items to find the total.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Revamp a sofa that's seen better days. Center the coverlet, leaving at least three inches of fabric puddling on the floor in front of the sofa. Use a wooden spoon to tuck the coverlet deep between the cushions, smoothing as you go. Fold back any excess material at the front edges of the sofa and pin it underneath.


text:
FDA Drug Safety Podcast for Healthcare Professionals: Addition of another concentration of liquid acetaminophen marketed for infants
Welcome to the FDA Drug Safety Podcast for Healthcare Professionals from the Division of Drug Information I'm Steve Jackson, a pharmacist in the Division. Today's topic: Addition of another concentration of liquid acetaminophen marketed for infants.
On December 22, 2011, the Food and Drug Administration issued a Drug Safety Communication notifying the public that an additional concentration of liquid acetaminophen marketed for "infants" (160 mg/5 mL) is now available at local stores. Until now, liquid acetaminophen marketed for infants was only available in 80 mg/0.8 mL or 80 mg/mL concentrations. This change in the concentration will affect the amount of liquid given to an infant, and should be especially noted if someone is accustomed to using the 80 mg /0.8 mL or 80 mg/mL concentrations of liquid acetaminophen.
In addition to this change in concentration, this product may also be packaged with an oral syringe instead of a dropper.
To avoid confusion and the potential for dosing errors, consumers, parents, and caregivers should carefully read the Drug Facts label on the package to identify the concentration of the liquid acetaminophen (in mg/mL), dosage, and directions for use. Do not depend on banners stating that it is a new product to identify different concentrations of liquid acetaminophen. Many products have similar banners.
It is also important to use the dosing device provided with the product in order to correctly measure the amount of liquid acetaminophen to be given. Patients and caregivers should contact their healthcare professional if they find the measuring device confusing or are unsure how to measure a dose for a child using the device provided.
Healthcare professionals should make sure to provide directions to patients that specify the concentration and dose of liquid acetaminophen that should be given to a child.
FDA has prepared a list of questions and answers and has issued a Consumer Update to provide an additional overview of these changes to OTC liquid acetaminophen marketed for infants.
At this time FDA recommends that Healthcare Professionals be aware that:
- Another concentration (160 mg/5 ml) of liquid acetaminophen marketed for "infants" is now available in stores. This product is less concentrated than other liquid acetaminophen products marketed for infants. The other products currently available are in 80 mg/0.8 mL and 80 mg/1 mL concentrations.
- Clinical judgment should be used to recommend the most appropriate liquid acetaminophen product for children under the age of 12, and they should counsel caregivers on product differences.
- The 160 mg/5 mL acetaminophen marketed for infants may be packaged with an oral syringe instead of a dropper. It is important to use only the dosing device provided with the product. Do not mix and match dosing devices.
- The concentration of liquid acetaminophen should be included on a prescription because multiple products with different concentrations are available.
- Adverse events involving OTC infant acetaminophen products should be reported to the FDA MedWatch program at www.fda.gov/medwatch.
Thank you for listening. The FDA is committed to keeping healthcare professionals informed of the latest safety information. A link to this communication, including additional background information and pictures, can be found at www.fda.gov/DrugSafetyCommunications. If you have drug questions, you can reach us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Follow us on Twitter @FDA_Drug_Info for up to the minute important drug information. Know the moment it happens.
Related Information
FDA Drug Safety Podcast for Healthcare Professionals: Addition of another concentration of liquid acetaminophen marketed for infants - mp3(MP3 - 7MB) [ARCHIVED] FDA Drug Safety Communication: Addition of another concentration of liquid acetaminophen marketed for infants[ARCHIVED]
Acetaminophen Information


text:
Waaaay back in November I wrote a DataMapper and Sinatra tutorial. DM was still pretty immature at the time, and it quickly became outdated. I promised I'd update it once 0.9 was released.
Better late than never, right? Anyway, without further ado, here's Toopaste Tutorial 2.0:
What We're Building
Today we're going to learn how to write a dirt simple pastie clone using Sinatra and Datamapper. For those of you unfamiliar with pastie systems, they're commonly used in IRC to paste bits of code to a globally-visible place outside of the channel. So you copy some code from your IDE, paste it into a web page, submit it, and the Pastie system fancies it up with some syntax highlighting or whatnot. You can then copy the resultant URL and paste it back into the channel so other people can view it.
Examples of this type of service include pastie.caboo.se and Nopaste @ rafb.net. Those sites do a lot of extra cool stuff, like allow you to select the language for different syntax highlighting rules, select themes for viewing, and so on. But the core concept itself isn't a terribly complex one, and our example is going to be about as barebones as they come.
The interesting thing isn't the application we're going to build here so much as it is the tools we'll use. That is, we'll be using the pastie example to introduce you to two cool new pieces of Ruby tech: Sinatra, a Ruby web micro-framework, and the DataMapper ORM package.
Sinatra, on the surface, is a lot like Camping, another Ruby web all-in-one-file micro-framework. Camping hasn't seen much active development lately though, and the syntax can be a bit strange for new users. Sinatra is much more straight-forward and accessible. It's really a kind of domain-specific language for writing simple web applications, used to define RESTful actions and how they should be handled. This makes it perfect for lightweight mini-apps. It's also ORM-agnostic, instead of being married to ActiveRecord like both Rails and Camping are.
Sinatra has been making cameo appearances supporting a number of high-profile Ruby-based web apps, including Heroku and GitHub. It runs on top of Rack, which means that it plays nice with a wide variety of Ruby web app servers, including Mongrel, Thin, and Ebb. It also means that you can host your Sinatra applications easily with Apache and Phusion Passenger, as of Passenger 2.0. For more information, check out the 'official' Sinatra tutorial (oops dead link). There's also an open source Sinatra book in the works.
DataMapper is the new ORM package on the block, and an alternative to ActiveRecord (and Og and Sequel and so on). It just moved into town but it's already sitting at the cool kid lunch table. Whereas AR implements the ActiveRecord Pattern, DataMapper (surprise!) implements the DataMapper pattern.
There are a number of reasons why I prefer this approach, but that's fodder for an entirely separate blog post, so I won't get into it here. Besides, the team has already written a great summary of why DataMapper rocks. Read it. It's good stuff. Oh, and performance kicks ass too.
Take that, non-believers!
OK, anyway. Tutorial time. Found your plastic hat? Good. Let's go. First let's get the gems we'll need. As of this writing, DM is at v0.9.2 and Sinatra is at v0.2.2. We're also going to retrieve the Syntaxi gem, which we'll use for syntax highlighting.
sudo gem install sinatra data_mapper syntaxi
data_mapper gem is a "meta gem" that includes the most commonly used gems from
dm-more, and others. We'll be using a couple of these additional libraries —
dm-timestamps and
dm-validations — in this tutorial.
Since DM uses the DataObjects.rb (DO) drivers, you'll want to install them too. For this tutorial we'll be using Sqlite3 as a data store. If you want to use MySQL or Postgres or any other database supported by DO, well that's cool too (just make sure to get
do\_mysql or
sudo gem install data_objects do_sqlite3
The Code
Now that our prerequisites are satisfied, let's get started by creating the file
require 'sinatra' require 'dm-core' require 'dm-validations' require 'dm-timestamps' require 'syntaxi'
DataMapper.setup(:default, "sqlite3://#{Dir.pwd}/toopaste.sqlite3")
class Snippet include DataMapper::Resource
property :id, Integer, :serial => true # primary serial key property :body, Text, :nullable => false # cannot be null property :created_at, DateTime property :updated_at, DateTime
# validates_present :body # validates_length :body, :minimum => 1
Syntaxi.line_number_method = 'floating' Syntaxi.wrap_at_column = 80
def formatted_body replacer = Time.now.strftime('[code-%d]') html = Syntaxi.new("[code lang='ruby']#{self.body.gsub('[/code]', replacer)}[/code]").process "
#{html.gsub(replacer, '[/code]')}
" end end
# new get '/' do erb :new end
# create post '/' do @snippet = Snippet.new(:body => params[:snippet_body]) if @snippet.save redirect "/#{@snippet.id}" else redirect '/' end end
# show get '/:id' do @snippet = Snippet.get(params[:id]) if @snippet erb :show else redirect '/' end end
Next we'll dissect this code listing to give you a brief look at how DataMapper and Sinatra work. We'll show the code listings for our views as we get to them.
Code Analysis: DataMapper
The first couple lines require the libraries we'll be using in this example.
dm-core represents the DataMapper core libraries, and
dm-validations and
dm-timestamps both add extra bits of non-core functionality to DataMapper. In this case, requiring timestamps means that fields such as
created\_at and
updated\_at automatically get branded with the current Date/Time when a model is created or updated. As for validations, well we'll see them in use shortly.
Before we create out first DataMapper-backed model we have to set up the database. The following line sets the default database connection and tells it to use the Sqlite3 file-based database in the current working directory. It won't exist yet but don't worry, we'll be creating it automatically when we migrate.
DataMapper.setup(:default, "sqlite3://#{Dir.pwd}/toopaste.sqlite3")
Persistent Models and Properties
Next we define our model,
Snippet. Since we want to persist snippets, we include the
DataMapper::Resource module in the class definition. From an end user point of view this is the same as inheriting from
ActiveRecord::Base in Active Record. It's a nice bonus that we don't have to use inheritance to accomplish this any more.
include DataMapper::Resource
The property declarations in our model are DataMapper's way of specifying attributes, which translate to database table columns. This might look a little bit odd at first if you're coming over from Active Record…
"OMG I don't have to put comments in my source file to remind me what attributes are available on my models?!"
It's like a little slice of heaven, isn't it?
property :id, Integer, :serial => true # primary serial key
property :body, Text, :nullable => false # cannot be null
property :created_at, DateTime
property :updated_at, DateTime
The only two required parameters are the name of the property and the type, but you can also add other options to mark a property as the primary serial key, prevent it from being null, and so on. Properties get public accessors by default, but you can modify that by setting the
:accessor option to
:private or
:protected (
:reader and
:writer options are also supported for even more control).
Another interesting DM optimization worth noting: by default, the text field (
body) is lazily loaded. Text columns are expensive in databases, and by using lazy loading, we only access them when they're needed. This speeds things up significantly in most cases. However, if you don't want to do this for whatever reason, you can just pass a
:lazy => false option in the text column property declaration.
The validators we're specifying should look relatively familiar to anyone familiar with AR. They're only available to us because we required the
dm-validations library, as mentioned. This is part of DM's Merb-like minimalist approach; start with just the bare essentials, and allow developers to mix in extra functionality as its desired. The kitchen sink is so fail, right?
# validates_present :body
# validates_length :body, :minimum => 1
So why are these lines commented out then, you ask?
Well, we could explicitly add the
validates_present :body to specify that the body property must be present, but that's already handled for us in the property declaration since we specified
:nullable => false. If
dm-validations is not required, the nullable option will simply ensure that the database column isn't null, but if validations are in use it will augment this behavior to assume that we not only mean 'not null', but also 'not empty'.
validates_length could be useful in certain situations, but in our case we just want to make sure that the paste body isn't empty, which is already handled for us by the nullable option on the body property.
There are lots of other validations that we can add in this manner, of course. For more information see the DataMapper API documentation.
Syntax Highlighting with Syntaxi
The only custom method we've added to our model,
formatted_body, is pretty straightforward. It just takes the body of our snippet (a property on the model) and wraps it in some code that gives us pretty syntax highlighting and line numbering. Syntaxi leverages Jamis Buck's Syntax gem to mark up the specified code, wrapping CSS span tags around things that should be colored, adding line numbers, and some other goodies too — you'll see the CSS in our layout shortly.
def formatted_body
replacer = Time.now.strftime('[code-%d]')
html = Syntaxi.new("[code lang='ruby']#{self.body.gsub('[/code]', replacer)}[/code]").process
"
#{html.gsub(replacer, '[/code]')}
"
replacer stuff just keeps us from stumbling on syntax coloring markup in our output HTML.
Now that we're done defining our database-backed model, we're just about ready to move on to the web-serving portion of the tutorial. But first, we need to tell DataMapper to create the appropriate database table if it doesn't already exist. We do this by using the
DataMapper.auto\_upgrade! method, which checks to see if the database table that corresponds to our model(s) need upgrading and then creates or updates them as appropriate. It's a non-destructive way to do auto-migrations (the destructive equivalent is
Code Analysis: Sinatra
Moving on to the Sinatra portion of our tutorial, you'll see that routes and actions are intimately married in Sinatra. Although this may not be desirable for a larger application, it's great for smaller, simpler web apps like this pastie project. In this case we're talking uber-simple; we only have three actions and they're only ever available at these three URL patterns.
The Index Action / New Snippet Form
The first of our actions needs to display a form to create a new paste. It should always be available at
'/', the application root.
get '/' do
erb :new
This tells Sinatra that when a GET request for
'/' comes in, that we should use the erb helper to render the new.erb template, which is stored in the
views/ subdirectory by convention and marked up with embedded Ruby (ERb). We can render our responses inline as well, which works for dirt-simple applications, but in most cases you'll prefer to keep the view templates outside of this file.
In any case, the
new.erb template is shown below:

<form action="/" method="POST">
<textarea name="snippet_body" id="snippet_body" rows="20"></textarea>

<input type="submit" value="Save"/>
The Create Action
Our next action is analogous to a
#create action in RESTful Rails. The action is requested by a POST to the application root. Sinatra supports the standard GET and POST HTTP methods as well as PUT and DELETE, meaning that you can build 100% RESTful applications with it.
post '/' do
@snippet = Snippet.new(:body => params[:snippet_body])
if @snippet.save
redirect "/#{@snippet.id}"
redirect '/'
Pretty standard stuff, right? We retrieve the parameter passed to us from the new paste form, instantiate a new model and try to save it. If the validations pass, we redirect to the
#show action equivalent. If not, we're just going to dump you back to the
#new form again. Since the only way the action will fail is if the
body property is empty, we're not going to bother with any sort of error message at this time. We're not rendering anything here (merely redirecting), so no template is required.
The Show Action / Show Me The Snippets!
If our post is successful, we're going to be taken to the
#show action, which lives at
/:id, where
:id is the primary key of the corresponding database record. This action will also get accessed directly when you paste that URL to the chat room, and people click to view your code.
get '/:id' do
@snippet = Snippet.get(params[:id])
if @snippet
erb :show
redirect '/'
In the code listing above, we look up the particular snippet specified in
params[:id] and set an instance variable by calling DataMapper's
get method (equivalent to Active Record's
find and one of many ways to do record lookups with DataMapper). If the
@snippet is not found we'll redirect back to the new snippet form. Otherwise we render an ERb template, which of course has access to that instance variable. Here's the code you'll want in

<%= @snippet.formatted_body %>

Created on <%= @snippet.created_at.strftime("%B %d, %Y at %I:%M %p") %>

New Paste!
The Layout
We're pretty much done at this point. However, to dress up our output we'll use an ERb layout template with some CSS to handle the syntax highlighting that Syntaxi provides for us. If it exists, Sinatra will render a special view template (just like Rails does) named
layout.erb in the
views/ subdirectory. This layout will be used to wrap the output of the other views rendered when the
erb helper method is called.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">   <title><%= @title || 'Toopaste!' %></title>    <%= yield %>
Hallo Pastie!
You can fire up your new Sinatra and DataMapper-powered application by issuing the following command:
ruby toopaste.rb == Sinatra has taken the stage on port 4567!
Sinatra sits on top of Mongrel by default, making it super-easy to use (and thread-safe to boot!). If you open up a web browser and point it at http://localhost:4567 you'll see the results. Copy and paste away. You now have a fully functional (albeit slightly retarded) pastie clone with syntax highlighting for Ruby code snippets. And the core logic is all contained in a single file, with a few external ERb templates for cleanliness.
Wrapping Up
As we mentioned earlier, Sinatra is based on top of Rack which means you can deploy it in a number of ways. It's incredibly useful for lots of quick tasks and is definitely my "micro framework" of choice at the moment. DataMapper is well, just awesome. What else can I say? Lots of Merb developers already know this, of course.
OK enough blathering for now. Longest blog post. Ever. If you like, you can play with the finished app or check out the sources on GitHub. Enjoy, and please comment if you have any problems or suggestions for improvements. This code was written and tested on OS X 10.5 and Debian Etch. Special thanks to Jonathan Stott for the early review and fact checking.


text:
Is It a Harm if I Use Depiltory Creams on my Face Between Photoepilation Treatments?
- linderine
- Last updated: 5 years ago
I made my first IPL treatment.They applied me a gel and lighted me .The things is,there isnt a single hair removed.They told me that after the second or third treatment I will see the effect but it seems weird to me. Meanwhile they told me to use a depilatory creams inbetween sessions if I cant stand my face and NOT to use wax(this is what I usually use). Any advices?Anyone had the same treatments as me?Anyone used depilatory creams on his/her face?


text:
Sister Madeline Hanot was a woman who lived as though she expected to win the lottery, but never got around to buying a ticket.
She was an impractical person, but always full of joy. said Sister Mary Lancaster, who knew her well. She loved these people (the developmentally disabled) and thought that money should be no object when they needed help, and nobody dared refuse her.


text:
You'll Never Look at Joaquin Phoenix's Forehead the Same Way Again
sense of humor.One of the most beautiful films of 2013 is getting a second look, thanks to a few viewers with a
Take a closer look at Joaquin Phoenix in a scene from Spike Jonze's Her. Now rotate it 90 degrees.
If you can get past the laughing (from the video, not your own) and vertical video syndrome, join the thousands of eyeballs in celebrating the gem that is Joaquin Phoenix's forehead.
Brilliant, right?


text:
hey, so I am haveing a problem today i am trying to run a deauth in BT5.
here is the command
aireplay -0 0 -a my mac address eth0
here is the error
ARP linktype is set to 1 (Ethernet) - expected ARPHRD_IEEE80211,
ARPHRD_IEEE80211_FULL or ARPHRD_IEEE80211_PRISM instead. Make
sure RFMON is enabled: run 'airmon-ng start eth0 <#>'
Sysfs injection support was not found either.
any help is appriciated
People who ask, "Can I ask you a question?" Didn't really give me a choice, did ya there, buddy?


text:
Arin Greenwood prepares the prison dish, known as "nutraloaf," while Mark Thornton discusses the impact of prohibition and fast food bans. Matias Viegener and David Burns advocate harvesting and eating public fruit, Jonathan Gold discovers the puffy taco and Kelly Alexander pays tribute to long-forgotten food writer, Clementine Paddleford. Plus, Victoria Coulter creates household cleaning products from food items, Deborah Tull talks tips for creating a sustainable kitchen and Laura Avery has a fresh Market Report.
Banner image "in private holdings"
Jeffrey Alford
Bob Carlson
Jennifer Ferro
Thea Chaloner
Candace Moyer
Connie Alvarez
Holly Tarson


text:
Advertiser specials
Legal notiLegal notices - pdfsces - pdfs
Best of Bluff Country
Help wanted display
Harmony city-wide
Submit a classified
Spring Valley city-wide
Submit news & letters
Letter to editor
Story idea
Submit news
Candidates forum
Happy ads
Submit a Happy Ad
Happy ads
Photo gallery
Minnesota news
DNR news
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota Twins
Mayo Clinic
Special sections & topics
Home improvement
Lawn and Garden
Spring Valley - Wykoff FFA
Fall Home Improvement
Ag Days
Health & Wellness
Early Childhood
Living 50 Plus
Special sections/topics
Western Days
Wykoff Fall Fest
2014 Elections
Volunteer Week
RSS feeds
Job application
Contact Us
Search only accepts letters and numbers.
Bluff Country Reader
Bluff Country News
Reader columns
Public notices
Advertiser specials
Bluff Country Videos
The Chatfield News
Trash & Treasure
Chatfield area news
Chatfield sports
Public notices
Community links
Staff Directory
Chatfield football team
News Leader
Area news
In the Schools
In the Schools
Public Notices
Staff Directory
Business search
Harmony|Mabel|Canton news archive
News-Record obituaries archive
Photo galleries News-Record (archive)
Schools (News-Record) archive
Sports from News-Record (archive)
Columnists in News-Record (archive)
Public notices News-Record (archive)
Letters to the News-Record (archive)
Spring Grove Herald
Headline News
Sports - High School
Letters to Editor
Opinion Columns
Legal Notices
Contact Us
Sports and Outdoors
Syttende Mai
Fair Results
Voters Guide
File Gallery
Persons & Places series
Student Journalism
Reader Photos
Staff Directory
Spring Valley Tribune
Tribune photos
Spring Valley area news
Guest Book
(Community Chat)
Kingsland school news
Kingsland sports
Tribune commentary
SV community links
Tribune public notices
Glimpses of Yesteryear
Staff Directory
City-wide rummage sale
Letters to the Tribune
Tri-County Record
Rushford Sports
Rushford area news
Editorials and Columns
Letters to the Tri-County Record
Public Notices
Football Contest
Taking a stab at archaeology in the Slim Buttes
Journey vs. Destination
By Lisa Brainard
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 4:31 AM
I hold the bayonet our PIT crew found in the Slim Buttes in northwestern South Dakota.
Northwestern South Dakota might appear to be on the road to nowhere. That would - and would not - be true since mixed in with the miles of wide-open ranch terrain you'll find Highway 85, the "Can-Am Highway," which stretches across the U.S. into Canada.
Also, you'll find a few, scattered units of the Custer National Forest. With the consolidation of Forest Service units, this one's headquarters are clear over in Billings, Mont. Yes, it's quite a ways from anywhere. Facilities are almost non-existent with little to no usage.
Therefore, I loved the area.
Especially the Slim Buttes unit, located between Buffalo and Bison (that highway sign made for a cute photograph). In July of 2007, my summer road trip had wound its way from Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains back to Slim Buttes to take part in a Passport in Time (PIT) volunteer archaeology project.
For the third year, I would be part of a team under rock art expert Linea Sundstrom's watchful eyes. This time around we would do interviews with ranchers to get oral histories of the area. (I figured I should be able to do an interview, right?), plus doing a pedestrian survey.
Linea had given me the OK to arrive Wednesday morning. After setting up camp late Tuesday in the unknown area, the next morning dawned to a bunch of familiar faces. Linea and her husband, Doris, Larry and Lonnie... plus new people.
This location featured the Battle of Slim Buttes, which occurred Sept. 9 and 10, 1876. A monument by the road marks the area, since the battlefield itself is on private land.
A sign stated: "Following the disastrous battles of the Rosebud and Little Big Horn (Custer) in Montana in June 1876, the Sioux, save Gall and Sitting Bull with 400 lodges who went to Canada, and Crazy Horse and his band, in the main, started to drift back to the agencies on the White and Missouri Rivers burning the grass as they went.
"Crook, Terry and Miles started to hunt Indians and by Sept. 7th Crook's destitute and weary column detached Capt. Anson Mills with 150 men on the best horses to go to Deadwood for supplies. On the 8th he discovered a village on the east slope of Slim Buttes and at dawn on the 9th attacked the teepees, tightly buttoned up against the rain, by a cavalry charge, scattering the Indians.
"The Oglala Chief American Horse with his family and six warriors fled to a ravine. After a six-hour siege, where most of the white casualties occurred, with four warriors dead and the Chief fatally wounded, they surrendered.
"That afternoon Crazy Horse made a show of force, but the balance of Crook's command came up and there was no battle, but a constant harassment. A great supply of valuable dried meat was captured, the village destroyed and on the 10th, the command moved on to Deadwood, on a diet of horse meat, marking the end of the summer campaign.
"Killed: Winzel, 3rd, and Kennedy, 5th Cavalry, and Jonothan White, civilian scout. Wounded: Lt. Von Leutiwitz, 3rd Cavalry and 12 EM of the, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Cavalry."
No, I don't know what the "EM" means in the last sentence. And we can't be sure what all happened at this battle. But from my time with the PIT crew, I did learn that there are soldier's initials carved in a rock wall in one area of the Slim Buttes, that the soldiers got horses from a big horse ranch in the area, and that in trying to go through the rocky, at times narrow spine of the Slim Buttes, in one location a wagon (or cannon?) had to be let down by hand with ropes wound around trees. The rancher I interviewed, along with Forest Service archeologist Mike Bergstrom, told us you could still see those rope marks today if you knew where to look.
Travel; searching
Basically one field road runs north and south through the Buttes and another, slightly better road goes east and west. You know I'd love to get up in there and backpack, although permission would be needed if it goes through private parcels of land.
We found a location in some badlands-like terrain that had lithic scatter (flakes from arrowheads, essentially), a sign of occupation at some past point in time. Also, I spotted a couple very big bones in eroded walls of soil, but, hey, we weren't on a paleontological excavation trip.
As Wednesday ended, Mike and I drove into a rancher's yard to see if we could do an interview. The nice man welcomed us into his house and regaled us with three hours worth of history. (Which also taught me, I need to have a tape recorder along when I have no base knowledge or background on an area.) He also showed us an incredible record of times long past, but I won't share that here.
On Thursday, we went into the northern part of the Slim Buttes, locating the gravestone of a settler woman. It read, "In memory of Mrs. Otis Tye, wife of a homesteader, who perished here in a blizzard on January 12, 1888, while trying to save their team, her husband being away from their rude home."
We also looked around for evidence of a tree burial of a Native American. Again, I won't go into details.
We bushwhacked down hillsides and ravines to reach a stream bottom, where we followed an old grade. Unlike the Indians and the Cavalry, we didn't have to fear hostile attack. It was a fairly mundane expedition... until...
We headed up another draw, when there were excited shouts. Larry, a bank president from a southeastern South Dakota town, had made a discovery, as he always seems to. (I was pleased to have found a lithic flake this trip, when he was looking hard for one.)
He pointed to a bent piece of metal, very rusty, sticking out of the soil in the dried-up streambed - apparently a bayonet tip for a gun. Yes, it seemed we might be retracing the steps of the U.S. Cavalry through this very draw.
We were thrilled and awestruck, as such a discovery always seems to leave a person. Each of us in turn either photographed Larry with the find (he was looking fittingly dapper and Indian Jones-ish that day), or held it ourselves for a picture (I did both).
It was a humbling experience in a strikingly beautiful, remote area, where I also appreciated the fiercely independent ranchers who love and work the land.
Linea said we'd finished our work that day and could leave a day early. I camped there yet that night (despite the rumors of a fresh mountain lion kill in the area - and making sure I had what I felt was appropriate protection in the tent) and explored a bit more Friday, before making my first-ever trip to North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
I hope to return to the general Slim Buttes area this summer. It sounds like Linea just might have another project there calling my name...
Lisa Brainard is the news editor for the Republican-Leader and Chatfield News. She writes for the Phillips Bluff Country Publishing group of newspapers, which also includes the Spring Grove Herald, Bluff Country Reader, News-Record, and Spring Valley Tribune. She can be reached at THIS NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: firstname.lastname@example.com. She also photographs many scenic landscapes in her travels near and far, in addition to taking numerous newspaper photos.
Newest ▼
Oldest ▲
the massively rusted bayonet was found on the eastern slope of the Slim Buttes historical grounds as a lover of south dakota, went to augustana college in sioux falls in the east...it was always the western half of the state that touched my heart..intend to travel back in coming years and silently replace this military device of indian dis respect back to the soil of lost promises.....
This comment has been hidden due to low approval.
m. ben rittgers
Report this comment
where is the marker located?
This comment has been hidden due to low approval.
lynn manley
Report this comment
I cant tell 100 % from the photo but that may be a picket pin for horses and not a bayonet. there were infantrymen with gen crook @ the battle so i could be mistaken, but i have found a couple of picket pins in the past and that one looks like some of the private purchased ones i have seen. i could be wrong. just a though.
This comment has been hidden due to low approval.
James Guenard
Report this comment
Just found this article and loved it as I too have explored the Slim Buttes battle area. Some relatives and I went in both the summer of 2009 and 2010. My great-great grandfather, Sgt. Patrick Flood, participated in the fight so that's what drew us to the place.
What state / area is your publication distributed?
John Flood
Winchester, VA
This comment has been hidden due to low approval.
John Flood
Report this comment
I've been doing a bit of research on the battle of Slim buttes, The photo in your site is actually not a bayonet but appears to be a picket pin, missing the ring attached to the groove at the top for a rope which in turn the horses were tied to. the ring may have been jerked loose by horses spooked in the battle, so it is still a great find....
This comment has been hidden due to low approval.
Steven Towne
Report this comment
Mr. Peters is correct. It sounds as if the bayonet was discovered on public land. What did your group do with it?
This comment has been hidden due to low approval.
Diane Merkel
Report this comment
Consider the "EM" to refer to as "enlisted men" from those respective calvery units.
This comment has been hidden due to low approval.
Report this comment
Please fill out the form below to submit a comment.
Message is a required field.
Captcha entry is not valid, please try again.
A comment must be approved by our staff before it will displayed on the website.
Minnesota's attorney general filed a lawsuit against CenturyLink, claiming that the company had billed customers higher amounts than its sales agents had quoted. Have you experienced a similar problem from providers of television, telephone or internet services?
Not sure
Content 2014 ©
Bluff Country Newspaper Group
(507) 346-7365 •
1up! Software
, All Rights Reserved


text:
Imagine getting a bra-fitting from an expert and helping raise breast cancer awareness.
From October 20-22, the Nordstrom Fits America event will do just that!
During the event, Nordstrom will donate $2 from every bra sold to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. And if you spend $50 or more (in-store), you'll receive a reusable tote, while supplies last.


text:
what are you grateful for ~ please share
Thank you!
Because life is too overrated to ignore
Inspirational Thoughts By Geraldine Gillard
Spiritual Moments in the Human Experience
Poetry gives insight to the world,it speaks to us in the rawest form.
Home of Lukas Kondraciuk Photography
Semper Ad Astra
Interesting and informative articles
Wander with me
The song of a heart can never be caged...
The Expert Of Anything Was Once A Beginner.
Honest. Satirical. Observations.
welcome to my secret blog, theres tonnes here, get stuck in!
Occasional musings of a wandering Mystic: Explorations in Myth and Magic
The Casual Way to Discuss Movies
Discovery, self-improvement, exploration, happiness
Personal website sharing life experiences and vision
Tigers not daughters
Words to God in the Spirit of A COURSE IN MIRACLES and A COURSE OF LOVE. . .with Celia Hales
Daily Life, Sewing, and DIYs
Greetings fellow Earthlings. The blog is about getting some perspective about daily life things. The not so boring stuff.
My Journey to Everest Base Camp
Learner, Traveller & Music Lover.
Just another WordPress.com site
A great WordPress.com site
Because, every moment of life is a story worth living and sharing!! 😊
Fatos e Curiosidades sobre a Natureza e tecnologia
Cooking. Baking. Crafting. Writing.
thoughts, experiences, travel, feelings, stories, diaries and many more...
Dismantling my heart
What I've always wanted
" Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. " Mark Twain
Where delicious food, fashion, art and world travel are incorporated into the home with a feminine twist!
There is no heartfelt love than the ardor of FOOD……
Make Some History
Create the future you want to see
The life of a not so ordinary college girl
My Incredible Journey with God
Science - Simplified
Bringing You Posts Every Monday and Friday!


text:
Looking for a new place to call home? From a 3-family townhouse across from a community garden, to a 2-bed co-op that's in the right place for this National Donut Day, we've rounded up a few places for sale that are hosting open houses this weekend and have broken down the offerings below. What do you think?
646 Warren Street
Open House: Sunday, June 8, 12-1:30pm
List Price: $2,495,000, via Douglas Elliman
Details: This squat 3-family brick townhouse is currently configured with the owner's 3-bed, 2-bath duplex with a private garden on the lower levels; a 2-bed, 1-bath floor-through on the 2nd floor; and a 2-bed, 1-bathroom floor-through on the top floor. Your tenants don't have to be bummed about not having garden access — they can join the community garden located across the street.
282 9th Street
Open House: Sunday, June 8, 12-1:30pm
List Price: $1,395,000, via Halstead
Details: Another multi-family, this brick townhouse (pictured above) has two units — a garden and parlor floor duplex with 2-3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and a top floor 1-bedroom unit. It's just a half a block from the F/G/R trains at 4th Ave-9th St, and if you like chicken tacos, you'll be a regular up the block at Fatty Daddy in no time.
396 8th Street, #1L
Open House: Sunday, June 8, 12:30-2:30pm
List Price: $825,000, maintenance $500, via owner
Details: This 2-bed, 1-bath floor-through co-op has private access to the backyard, an in-unit washer/dryer, a separate dining area, and extra storage available in the basement. Cats are allowed, but not dogs. Just around the corner from the F/G at 7th Avenue, and, of course, donuts.
904 Union Street, #1B
Open House: Sunday, June 8, 2-3:30pm
List Price: $599,000, maintenance $637, via Brooklyn Properties
Details: This duplex co-op has a spiral staircase and either 1 or two bedrooms (if you don't mind the open stairs leading into one of them). There are 1.5 bathrooms, a shared garden, and built-in bookshelves, and you're half a block from Grand Army Plaza and its Greenmarket and subway lines.
317 3rd Street, #2B
Open House: Sunday, June 8, 3:30-4:30pm
List Price: $399,000, common charges $599, via aptsandlofts.com
Details: This 1-bed, 1-bath condo is just across from JJ Byrne, so you can easily enjoy the park, the farmers market, the hawk, and some fun events. The apartment has a dishwasher, and the building is pet-friendly. Just mind your small dog around that big bird.
Photo via Halstead


text:
IPTV has taken years to get right, and even longer to make an impact in Canada's communications landscape. After years of experimentation with weaker technologies, both Telus and BCE Inc. settled on Microsoft's lauded media room software - which enables these new features - and began heavy marketing campaigns. But they can only offer the service where they have built out fibre optic networks, a process both slow and costly. (Old copper phone wires don't have the capacity or speed.)
Bell is able to offer its Internet-based TV service only in Toronto and Montreal, and then only in certain neighbourhoods. But Telus began pushing its product, called Optik TV, much earlier and most of British Columbia and Alberta are now wired for service. And it is also being extremely aggressive: Those who sign contracts for Optik and Telus's Internet service get a free home PVR and a free Xbox, a gaming console by Microsoft that can act as a set-top box to hook up another TV.
David Fuller, Telus's chief marketing officer, says Telus and others are starting to bring the interactive feel of personal computers onto the household's main TV set. "It can become much more of a media hub than a traditional TV service," he says, in that it brings the ability to search, customize and use software applications.
The number of IPTV customers is still puny compared to cable. Telus had managed to pull in around 266,000 TV customers by the end of its last fiscal quarter. Bell hasn't even officially started reporting subscribers to its new service. On the other hand, Rogers and Shaw each have about 2.3 million TV customers. Quebecor Inc.'s Vidéotron Ltée has 1.8 million.
Those uneven numbers are also why, in Shaw's Calgary offices and at Vidéotron's offices on Rue St-Jacques, there's more an air of derision and dismissal than of fear.
"There's a perception that we're under siege," says Shaw president Peter Bissonnette. But it isn't that IPTV from Telus is vastly better, he suggests. "The differentiation that's taking place right now is, frankly, taking place on price. A lot of it is driven by price. A free Xbox?"
But beneath the unending cable bravado, there is tension. The cable industry is in serious flux. Shaw, Rogers and Videotron are all preparing to react over this next year, implementing what some consider extremely costly upgrades to improve their own aging but formidable networks in customers' homes.
Manon Brouillette, Vidéotron's executive vice-president of strategy and market development, says Vidéotron will confront the IPTV threat this year with an Internet-enabled TV service that allows cable subscribers to pull up YouTube, Twitter and other social networking sites on living room TVs. Since Vidéotron just launched a wireless smart phone network that plugs into Quebecor's huge store of broadcasting content, she envisages something more dramatic than the current IPTV offering. "You can pause it on your TV and continue on your mobile," she says.
'TV Anywhere'
Telecom companies' technology gurus are betting that this "TV Anywhere" phenomenon - of pulling up live TV on their iPad or laptop in the kitchen or finishing last night's shows on the morning commute - will coalesce in the coming year ."Will it be widespread across 90 per cent of the homes this year?" asks Telus's Mr. Fuller. "No. But you'll start to see it."
Mr. Bissonnette doesn't plan to miss out on that mainstreaming. He says that in the coming months, Shaw will begin offering a new service with a brand new boxes that significantly improves on its existing cable service, and counters the Telus threat.
"You can access Internet video content, like YouTube and Flickr and those kinds of things, from this device," Mr. Bissonnette says, adding that users could wirelessly drag movies from their computer to watch them on the household's big screen. "It will also hold a whole host of apps for entertainment - just like iPads and [Google's]Android devices do - to bring you news, sports and social media."Report Typo/Error
Follow us on Twitter: @GlobeTechnology
- Telus Corp$45.030.00(0.00%)
- Shaw Communications Inc$27.690.00(0.00%)
- Rogers Communications Inc$65.040.00(0.00%)
- Quebecor Inc$43.990.00(0.00%)
- Bce Inc$58.170.00(0.00%)
- Updated at previous session's close. Delayed by at least 15 minutes.


text:
The most important population
Unnoticed dwell,
They have a heaven each instant
Not any hell.
Their names, unless you know them,
'Twere useless tell.
Of bumble-bees and other nations
The grass is full.
Poet: Emily Dickinson
Poem: 1746.
The most important population
Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Year: Published/Written in 1955
Poem of the Day:
Jun 21 2006
There are no comments for this poem. Why not be the first one to post something about it?
Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, The most important population, has not yet been commented on. You can click here to be the first to post a comment about it.
More Poems
(1775 poems)
Emily Dickinson books


text:
Thu Feb 7, 2013, 07:16 PM
Peace Patriot (24,010 posts)
Poverty and Progress: Comparing the US and Venezuela
Poverty and Progress: Comparing the US and Venezuela
By ERIC DRAITSER COUNTERPUNCH , February 4th 2013
...since the onset of the economic crisis beginning in 2007-2008, many of the economic problems of those traditionally poor countries have become ever more apparent in the so-called developed world. Socio-economic maladies such as extreme poverty, hunger, and unemployment have skyrocketed in advanced capitalist countries like the United States, while politicians and the media continue to trumpet the mirage of an economic recovery. Naturally, one must ask for whom this is a recovery for the poor or for Wall St? Moreover, it has forced the world to examine what progress looks like. One way of doing so is to analyze what the statistics tell us about the United States versus Venezuela. In so doing, one begins to get a much clearer picture, free from the distortions of media and politicians alike, of just how much progress has been made in the Bolivarian Revolution while the situation of the poor and working classes in the US continues to deteriorate.
What the Numbers Show
When one examines the statistical data compiled by the Census Bureau in the United States, many very troubling facts emerge. First, its critical to note that, in 2012, the poverty line for a typical family of four was at a combined gross income of $23,050.ii Note that this indicator is derived from gross income as opposed to net income, so it doesnt even reflect the gravity of the situation faced by these families. Anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of the current costs of living in the United States can immediately surmise that the poverty line is a cruel joke. This level of income means abject poverty, it means a lack of basic necessities for human life. So, in essence then, were not talking about the poor, but those on the verge of death with problems such as malnutrition, serious illness from treatable conditions, and countless other hindrances to basic existence. In addition, it should be noted that median family income (for all families, not just those in poverty) continues to decline dramatically, with a decrease of 8.1% since 2007.iii Therefore, it becomes apparent that, not only is poverty widespread, it is growing.
California, long touted as the most economically vibrant state in the US, is now known as more than just the home of Silicon Valley and beautiful coastline, it is also home to the highest levels of poverty in the United States. According to the Supplemental Poverty Measure of the US Census Bureau, California boasts a 23.5% poverty rateiv which, if included with those who do not technically fit the poverty measure but who still live very much on the economic margins, shows that poverty is fast becoming an epidemic in California. As University of Wisconsin Madison economist Timothy Smeeding explained, As a whole, the safety net is holding many people up, while California is struggling more because its relatively harder there to qualify for food stamps and other benefits.v Essentially then we see that, in the nations most populous and, arguably most economically important state, the situation of the poor is a dire one as more and more people become dependent on government programs just for survival. This is, of course, against the backdrop of austerity or so-called entitlement reform championed by both Republicans and Democrats, which would cut these same programs which are becoming ever more critical for millions of Americans.
Income cannot and should not be seen as the only indicator of poverty and economic status. Indeed, there are many other factors including access to proper nutrition, particularly important for children growing up in situations of poverty. In fact, the most recent data from the USDA suggests that at least 18 million households in the US were food insecure as of 2011.vi This is merely the tip of the iceberg when one considers that there are millions of households who are not categorized as food insecure but who cannot afford high quality food and the still more families who are only food secure because of government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) formerly known as food stamps. Lack of access to highly nutritious foods is characteristic of poor, urban neighborhoods where primarily people of color struggle to feed their children with something other than fast food or low quality food purchased at the corner store.
What becomes apparent in even a cursory examination of this information is that food security and poverty are not merely indicators of economic hardship, they are class designations. The United States is home to an ever-expanding underclass, one that is encompassing more and more formerly working class people and white people, but which still afflicts communities of color most acutely. In every major city and more and more formerly affluent white suburbs, poverty has become an ever-present reality, one that remains hidden as Americans engage in the collective self-deception of economic recovery.
The Venezuelan Model
In contrast to the United States, Venezuela continues to make tremendous strides in eradicating poverty from a nation that, for decades, had been one of the poorest and most exploited in the Americas. Despite vast oil wealth and abundant resources, Venezuela was characterized by extreme poverty, particularly among the indigenous and peasant populations. This was the product of the colonial and post-colonial system wherein a small, light-skinned elite dominated the country and kept the rest of the people in abject poverty. This situation began to change with the ascendance of Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution. Immediately Chavez, already a hero to poor Venezuelans, set about implementing his socialist model that would make the fight against poverty the centerpiece of his public policy. Indeed, this is precisely what has happened in the fourteen years since he took office.
As mentioned previously, Venezuela uses a comprehensive set of criteria to measure poverty including access to education, clean drinking water, adequate housing, households with more than three people living in a room, and households where the head of the household had less than three years of education. Using this rubric, known as the Unsatisfied Basic Needs system (NBI), the statistics are intriguing. In the last ten years, the number of Venezuelans living in extreme poverty (those who experience two of the five indicators of poverty) has decreased from 11.36% to 6.97%, a reduction of almost one half. At the same time, life expectancy and total population have increased significantly, showing the impact of better and more comprehensive health care services. One particularly important piece of data has to do with indigenous people, the group most marginalized historically. In the last ten years, their numbers have grown significantly as well, now making up almost 3% of the population.vii This shows that, not only have the quality of health programs and related services increased, but access to them has grown as well, particularly for those traditionally disenfranchised segments of the population.
It should be noted that one of the centerpieces of the anti-poverty programs of the Chavez Bolivarian government has been the exponential increase in construction of public housing and affordable units. President Chavez announced the Great Housing Mission (GMVV)viii in 2011 to combat the extreme poverty that so many Venezuelan families faced as they lived in inadequate or unsafe homes. As of September 2012, more than 250,000 homes had been constructed and given to poor Venezuelan families.ix This number is surely set to increase in the coming year as the program continues to expand and housing becomes ever more accessible and plentiful.
In the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, the Chavez government continues to expand spending on anti-poverty programs such as housing construction and health care while much of the so-called developed world engages in the mass hysteria of austerity. The Bolivarian Revolution set before itself the task of reducing and ultimately eradicating poverty in a country where poverty was a historical tradition and a seemingly immutable reality. The post-colonial era of Venezuelan history is one fraught with domination and oppression by the United States and subjugation to multinational corporations while the poor and working classes lived in wretched conditions. Chavezs commitment to reversing that legacy is what has, more than anything else, enshrined his legacy in the hearts and minds of Venezuelans.
Conversely, the advanced capitalist economies of North America and Europe are desperately trying to maintain their hegemony and economic survival by means of austerity programs which shift the burden of the depression from the wealthy financiers and speculators who created it to the poor and working class who must pay for it. Draconian cuts to necessary social services upon which millions of Americans depend for their very survival serve to illustrate this point further. Unlike in Venezuela, the Western imperial powers seek to destroy the social safety net and drive their populations into further destitution and desperation. This is, to put it another way, the crisis of advanced, post-industrial capitalism an economic system which must expand the divide between rich and poor, create extremes of wealth and poverty and generally perpetuate itself on the misery and poverty of the lower classes. Seen in this way, Republicans and Democrats, President Obama and House Speaker Boehner alike are culpable for the massive suffering and despair of the poor in the US who can look to Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution as a model for a truly progressive vision of the future.
Eric Draitser is the founder of StopImperialism.com. He is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City. You can reach him at email@example.com.
(my emphasis)
(See article for footnotes.)
This work is licensed under a Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Creative Commons license
No need to wonder why the corporate press never stops vilifying the Chavez government (and, by implication--though never stated--all the people who have voted this "New Deal" for themselves). It's quite clear: The corporate press supports the 1% getting richer and richer by inflicting "austerity" on the 99%, here, while the Chavez government provides a highly successful example of the opposite--a government "of, by and for" the people which is reining in the 1% for the good of the society and is pouring resources, thought, energy and planning into numerous social programs to UPLIFT individuals and society.
This article doesn't mention it, but the Chavez government also produced sizzling economic growth, most of it in the private sector (and not including oil) of 10% during the five year period, 2003 to 2008, went flat during the Bushwhack-instigated worldwide depression (2009 to early 2010) BUT REFRAINED FROM CUTTING ANY SOCIAL PROGRAMS, and has bounced back to over 5% (with a similar phenomenon occurring among Venezuela's leftist allies, such as Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia). Lesson: "New Deal" policies WORK; "austerity" DOESN'T.
The Corporate press doesn't want us to know this.
This economic growth that the Latin American Left is producing includes high employment rates, good wages and benefits and strong labor unions. It also includes not only drastic reductions in poverty but also dramatic increases in the number of people in college or other training, as well as in public participation in politics and government and in public access to the broadcast media (democratization of the media).
The Corporate press doesn't want us to know this either. Democracy WORKS; corporate oligarchy DOESN'T.
4 replies, 2413 views
Always highlight: 10 newest replies | Replies posted after I mark a forum
Replies to this discussion thread
|4 replies
Poverty and Progress: Comparing the US and Venezuela (Original post)
|Peace Patriot
|Feb 2013
|Feb 2013
|Feb 2013
|Feb 2013
|Feb 2013
Response to Peace Patriot (Original post)
Fri Feb 8, 2013, 10:16 AM
Bacchus4.0 (6,502 posts)
1. if it were a democracy, there would be new elections scheduled
given Chavez's absense/death. Here is a better depiction of abject poverty PP. You might want to reassess your comparison between the USA and Ven.
Response to Bacchus4.0 (Reply #1)
Fri Feb 8, 2013, 11:02 AM
Bacchus4.0 (6,502 posts)
2. God-given Hair's (DiosdadoCabello) house in Maturin
Response to Bacchus4.0 (Reply #2)
Fri Feb 8, 2013, 01:20 PM
Bacchus4.0 (6,502 posts)
3. more
Response to Peace Patriot (Original post)
Fri Feb 8, 2013, 04:21 PM
Bacchus4.0 (6,502 posts)
4. non-derivatives license means you can't alter the author's work (even if its bs)
it doesn't mean it allows to select those paragraphs over 4 that you want to.


text:
When Sheridan told him in February that she was fired, Meyer said he was "it struck me as retaliatory."
In order to satisfy the husband of the initial victim, the village chief decided that he would carry out the retaliatory rape.
Timely intelligence was proving key in combating the gang problem, where many of the shootings are retaliatory.
It was just after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the American public was in a retaliatory mood.
It was just after the September 11 attacks, and the American public was in a retaliatory mood.
The German artillery was opening a retaliatory fire against its lost positions.
It was the fear of retaliatory punishment that kept them aloof.
The Girondists knew to whom they were indebted for many of the most skillful parries and retaliatory blows.
But Briggs had recourse to what he believed to be a retaliatory taunt.
The choice here of town-rabble for retaliatory death supports the account of .
1610s, from Latin retaliatus, past participle of retaliare "requite, retaliate" (see retaliation). Related: Retaliated; retaliating.


text: TAIPEI ( TheStreet) -- We already know Chinese consumers with enough money will line up for Italian hand bags, drive German cars and use electronics from South Korea or the United States.Shoppers consider stuff from outside China to be a durable and high-status, a value to them despite the prices. Cheaper local brands, they'll tell you, break down easily and if you can find the maker at all, good luck getting the warranty honored. The thing might be counterfeit to start with. But market researchers to whom I've spoken over the past half-year point to a list of Chinese brands that have firmly broken out of the white box, a term for cheap, non-branded stuff made in China with sketchy results. I've picked five here that I expect to do especially well in 2013. I base predictions on recent company financials, long-term performance (what Chinese call a "lao zi hao") and their odds of filling a real, long-term market need in China. I also know that Chinese people eagerly use these brands. Four of the five are listed either in Hong Kong or New York. Many have consumer bases overseas, as well as in China, seasoning them to offer the foreign-styled goods and services that their home market wants. As far as I can see and as far as Chinese companies go, their shares are also decent long-term investments. I should also repeat the often-repeated: Consumer spending in China made up 51.6% of the economy in 2011, up from 37.3% a year earlier. The government hopes to use this trend to reduce dependence on exports to the West, where a parade of U.S. economic problems and euro zone debt crises have eroded demand since 2008.


text:
Expectations are a problem with this year's Secret Cinema event. After the jaw-dropping, goosebump-inducing surprises of both 2014's Back to the Future and 2015's Star Wars, this immersive take on Danny Boyle's classic zombie movie feels rather undercooked. But there's a lot of fun to be had (if not many scares) spending several hours trying to survive in a world overrun by the undead.
The set-up is very clever: you are given an appointment at an NSH hospital in a secret London location, and told to wear scrubs or protective clothing. On arrival you're handed a surgical mask and ordered here and there for interviews, physical examinations and eventually an oral vaccination that seems to make everything go blurry and then pitch black. When you "wake up" all hell has broken loose, and you are sent running through a series of blood-drenched corridors and stairwells, encountering characters and settings from the film as zombies lunge from every corner. In the safe zone, food and drink is for sale, and you get a chance to relax a bit, play a game, have a dance. Finally, you're led into an inventively themed cinema to watch the 2002 film as on-screen elements are performed around you.
Through all of this, medical and military officials harshly shout instructions at you, while TV screens show news reports of chaos on the streets. Combined with the dimly lit post-apocalyptic setting, the atmosphere is enjoyably claustrophobic, only broken by the nagging sense that money is draining out of your wallet at an alarming rate. Not only is the ticket £67 (or £134 for a "premium experience"), but there are things to buy at every point, from the scrubs or coveralls to pricey cocktails served in small bottles or coffee mugs and a relatively slim selection of restaurant-priced food options.
Continue reading: Secret Cinema Presents: 28 Days Later Review
Meet Tom and Gerri, a happily married couple who're closer to the end of their life to the start. Another Year is a touching and true-to-life story that explores the meaning of friendships and relationships through all stages of life.
Another Year was written and directed by British film maker Mike Leigh and sees him collaborate with Lesley Manville for the eighth time, his seventh with Jim Broadbent and fifth with Ruth Sheen.
Another Year is released in the UK through Momentum Pictures on November 5th 2010
Directed by: Mike Leigh
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman, David Bradley, Martin Savage, Michele Austin, Philip Davis, Imelda Staunton, Stuart McQuarrie, Eileen Davies, Mary Jo Randle and Ben Roberts
The unimpeachable talents of Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan and Emily Mortimer go for naught in "Young Adam," a film of dark, disenchanting characters who tread water in moral ambiguity for 98 minutes.
McGregor plays Joe, a nebulous, failed beatnik writer who has deliberately dropped off the face of the earth by taking a grimy, hard-labor job, working (and living) on a cramped little coal barge that travels the shallow, narrow backwater canals of 1950s Glasgow. Vacant of disposition and void of moral fiber, he's become both a reluctant drinking buddy to his boss Les (Mullan, "Session 9") and an opportunistic lover to the boss's weary, vinegary wife Ella (Swinton, "The Deep End"), which soon upends all their lives.
Proving he hasn't abandoned his provocative sensibilities to Hollywood, McGregor makes Joe's soulless impalpability curiously absorbing in a performance full of furtive nuance and vague instability -- the signs of which grow as he finds a young woman's dead body in the water and director David Mackenzie slowly reveals that his protagonist may have had something to do with how she got there in the first place.
Continue reading: Young Adam Review
Linkin Park have returned to America's Billboard Chart following the tragic suicide of their frontman Chester Bennington last week.
U2 took to Twitter to share a picture of 80,000 fans at their Dublin gig, but their photograph has hit headlines for the wrong reasons after a guy in...
The actor spoke following his time on stage at San Diego Comic Con 2017.
The singer was discovered dead on Thursday morning.
Get hold of one of these t-shirts exclusively in UK stores.
Expectations are a problem with this year's Secret Cinema event. After the jaw-dropping, goosebump-inducing surprises...
Meet Tom and Gerri, a happily married couple who're closer to the end of their...
The unimpeachable talents of Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan and Emily Mortimer go for...


text: [ Win The Kat Country 102 Studio Guitar By ryanmcdonald-willey November 16, 2010 3 cans of food equal 1 entry for the Kat Country 102 Studio Guitar. Read More Category: Amarillo News, Videos Tags: Giveaway, High Plains Food Bank, Kat Country 102, Red Dirt Music, Studio Guitar, texas country Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


text:
A 55-year-old woman was taken to York Hospital with a head injury after a traffic accident brought chaos to York city centre this evening.
The woman was on foot when she and a vehicle, believed to be a taxi, collided on Rougier Street near the Arriva offices shortly before 7pm.
Police immediately closed the road as they started an investigation into the crash and traffic backed up into the city centre and the city centre approaches. The road was reopened within half an hour. The woman's injuries are not said to be serious.


text:
Geno Auriemma stresses U.S. women won't overlook France
LONDON – Before the Olympic women's basketball competition began, point guard Sue Bird narrowed the USA's potential opponents in the gold medal game to three teams.
"When asked the $2 million question of who's your toughest competition, of course 'Australia' was the first word out of my mouth," Bird said. "And then Russia second, and then, to me, the sleeper team who no one was talking about was France."
After the USA beat Australia 86-73 in one Thursday semifinal and France defeated Russia 81-64 in the other, France it is. The USA will play France for gold at 4 p.m. ET Saturday at North Greenwich Arena.
"France is that team that in my opinion right now is on fire," Bird said after the USA extended its Olympic winning streak to 40 games. "They're really the team of the tournament right now, in a way. It's the team that's got buzz around them."
France finished 5-0 in Group B, beating Australia and Russia in group play. It eliminated the Czech Republic, another potential contender, before topping Russia again.
The U.S. Olympic women's basketball team has never played France, which is playing in only its third Games and its first since a fifth-place finish in 2004. The teams have played three times in the past decade in the world championships, and the USA has won each time —101-68 in 2002, 76-41 in 2006 and 81-60 in 2010.
France has improved greatly. It has decent size, with two 6-4 and two 6-3 players. But France relies on speed and shooting, making 45.7% of its shots from the field, including 41.5% on three-pointers.
Guard Celine Dumeric, who scored 11 points against Russia, is averaging 15.1 points and has made 15 of 26 three-pointers. Forward Emilie Gomis is averaging 11 points. Centers Isabelle Yacoubou and Sandrine Gruda are France's top rebounders and have been in double-figures in scoring multiple times.
Bird's job: stop France point guard Edwige Lawson-Wade, who had 18 points, five assists and made four of four three-pointers against Russia. She is shooting 42.1% on three-pointers in seven games.
France coach Pierre Vincent practically conceded victory. "I am going to party," he said after beating Russia. "This is an exceptional moment in time for us, and we have to make the most of it. We will chill out then we will do our preparatory work.
"In a way, the only team that can beat the USA is Australia because of the incredible strength that team has. I don't think we could play the same match Australia did. They (USA players) are exceptional athletes, the best players in the world. They can't be beaten, but in a way, saying that is good for us because it relieves the pressure."
Vincent perhaps was displaying gamesmanship, aimed at making the USA overconfident and ripe for an upset. He also suggested France is recipient of supernatural forces.
"We are all possessed with Olympic magic," Vincent said. "We were carried on by a magic force. It makes you do something you would not be able to do on any other day.
Yacoubou said, "We have nothing to lose. We are in the Olympics. We can dream here. I want to keep on dreaming."
Though Australia is often regarded as the second-best team in the world, U.S. coach Geno Auriemma warned his team not to overlook France.
"Many people think and say that USA and Australia are the only good teams in women's basketball," Auriemma said. "But I hope my players don't think that because this was the semifinal and not the gold medal game."
The USA struggled against Australia and trailed at halftime and midway through the third quarter. But a big second half took care of Australia's upset bid.
As U.S. men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has said often in London, the days of complete U.S. dominance are over, a sentiment Bird echoed.
"Everybody thinks we are going to steamroll," she said. "Go and look at previous Olympic games. Sometimes, it's the case, but not always."


text:
Second Journey
Barnabas and John Mark went to Cyprus and Paul and Silas went through Asia Minor, then to Macedonia and Greece.
If you login, more information will be available for this lecture. You will have the ability to download the lecture audio file and access other information (if available) such as links, other resources, Head and Hands.
Part 8
VIII. The Second Missionary Journey
A. Two New Teams
1. Barnabas and John Mark - Cyprus
2. Paul and Silas - Syria, Cilicia, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch
3. Derbe - The circumcision of Timothy (Acts 16:3)
B. The Call to Macedonia
1. Plan - Go to Asia
2. Troas, Samothrace, Neopolis
3. Philippi
a. Missionary strategy - Acts 16:13
b. Conversion of the jailor - Acts 16:31ff
c. Fear of the magistrates
4. No mission in Amphibolis or Apollonia
5. Thessalonica
a. Missionary strategy - Acts 17:1-2
b. Length of stay
c. Forced to leave
6. Berea
7. Athens
a. Silas and Timothy
b. Paul on the Areopagus
8. Corinth
a. Port city
b. Mission to the Gentiles
c. Rome's view of Christianity
9. Cenchreae, Ephesus, Caesarea, Jerusalem, Antioch


text:
12-21-2016, 02:58 PM (This post was last modified: 04-27-2017, 11:39 AM by GeTroLLeDBro.)
Hello everyone,
This will be a rule book xd...
Please do follow it or you get vac xd.
First and foremost, use common sense. If you shouldn't do it, Dont.
This will be a rule book xd...
Please do follow it or you get vac xd.
First and foremost, use common sense. If you shouldn't do it, Dont.
- Dont disrespect any admin or the admin team. PERIOD *If you do have a problem with an admin, please do contact any other admin. Best way is to contact @GeTroLLeDBro or join our AnomaDiscord @ : https://discord.gg/T2TjVtj to find me*
- Admins are ALLOW to PVP. There is no such thing as no PVP Admin. *The only time an admin wont PVP is when someone reports something within the server, for example, glitch bases. They will stop PVP, go into GOD and MAYBE VANISH to help out.
BUT if you lie to an admin saying there is a problem and you want them to TPA and kill them, we will ban you for a day or two. Depending on your group size. Another way, you would know if an admin is not PVP or is off duty is by their name. For example, "RestartingServer" or "CleaningUpRaidedBases" You can tell what the admin is doing.
- Please do not ask another admin to unban you when you are rightfully ban. *If you complain about your ban to another admin or lie about something you did and say you did not to get unban , we will extend your ban. NO QUESTION ASK. But if you believe you did not wrong, make a post about it or just speak to @GeTroLLeDBro via discord*
- Admins WILL NOT and CANNOT admin abuse. *Admins CANNOT spawn anything for anyone. If an admins tp's to you, there is a reason, do not assume admin abuse right away. For example, if you are using hacks and the spy command does not pick it up, we will tp to you and watch you... If an admin tp's you to somewhere, it means an admin will like a word with you. If you do happen to tp out or leave the servers, you will get a 7 day ban.*
- Please don't glitch base... If you are caught doing it , you will be punish with a 2 day up to a 7 day ban. If you are caught base glitch and killing people inside you base, it will be longer. Admins will get final words. NO QUESTION ASK *We WILL NOT care if it's your friends base or not. We see you, you're out. If you do happen to see a glitch base, please contact an admin so we can handle it , and the admins will give you all the loot in that base*
- Please don't make a mega base aka Great Wall Of China or any sort. *Making a foundation base is a different story, but we do not want people making walls that are 20x20 and covering up the place. If we find any that are just spam, we will remove them , even if your base is inside...*
- Do not impersonate anyone or an admin. *If someone tells an admin there is someone with the same steam name or ingame name , we will ask you to change. If you do not, we will two day ban you. Same group or not. No questions asked*
- Please do not use slur words in chat. We , admins , understand you may get mad. But please try to common sense. *If caught , we will ban you for 3-7days. Depending on the admin. Try to find a loophole or being smart will get you ban. For exmaple, spelling it out or replacing letters. *
- Please do not switch groups to sabotage someones hard work base or to gain an advantage. *We can not really do anything about this, but if it gets to a point where we , admins , get enough report for this person to pull a dirty trick , we will have to ban you up to ten minutes or a day. To fix this problem, please kick the person or put your group on private*
- DO NOT SPAM IN ANY CHAT *If we see you spam in any chat, we will kick you at first and if you come back doing it again, we will ban you for a day or two.*
- Please don't hack... *If you believe someone is hacking, please report it through a form. If there is no evidence , the admins will not look into it right away. If there is evidence or video proof, the admins will look over it right away."
- Do not destroy/glitch vehicles on The Liberator by any means. *If you do, you will be issued a temporary ban.*
If you do see someone destroying or glitching a vehicle, please have proof or we admins cannot help you
- Best way to contact an admin is in our discord @ https://discord.gg/T2TjVtj . You can see the admins list on the right hand side.
Not the best way to contact an admin is not on the website, due to all the applications.
- This is all I can think of right now, please do contact @GeTroLLeDBro if you wish to add more rules or what rules can be change.Thank you for following these rules and for playing our servers !
- GeTroLLeDBro


text:
In this episode of the Digital Publishing Podcast (which you can find a full transcript of below), I cover 6 topics from bribing readers for reviews to voice dictation.
It would be awesome if you rated and reviewed the podcast in iTunes. If you're using something other than iTunes, the podcast's feed is http://blog.osmosio.com/feed/podcast/. The podcast is now available through Stitcher, too.
You can also listen to the episode online by clicking the play button on the player below this. (If you don't see the player, click here.) It's about 20 minutes long.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
- 1:03 – 1. Feeding people unhealthy content
- 3:13 – 2. One simple productivity hack
- 5:15 – 3. Bribing readers for reviews
- 9:15 – 4. Update on the effortless blog
- 11:34 – 5. The easiest blog post idea
- 14:46 – 6. Voice dictation
- 18:00 – 7. Pick of the week
DPP025: Unhealthy Content, Bribing Readers, Voice Dictation, and 3 More Ideas
Hey everyone, I'm Tristan Higbee, and this show is all about the things I see and would like to see in the world of digital publishing, from blogging to ebooks to membership sites and more, plus things related to internet business and online marketing. At the end of the podcast I'll mention my pick of the week, so be sure to stick around for that. You can find a full transcript of each episode of the Digital Publishing Podcast at DigitalPublishingPodcast.com.
I'd love it if you rated this show in iTunes. Go to itunes.digitalpublishingpodcast.com and then click the blue "Rate in iTunes" button in the left sidebar to pull up the podcast in iTunes so you can rate and review it, and it'll only take a minute or two.
Ok! I've got 6 topics to talk about today, so let's get started.
1. Feeding people unhealthy content
A few days ago I saw a link pop up in my Twitter feed. The name of the article was "Top 25 iPhone Apps to Track Your Website Stats On the Go". Does that strike anyone else as being a bit… unnecessary? Why not pick the one or two best apps? I'll tell you why, and there are two reasons:
- Because this way the person writing the article doesn't have to actually download, install, and use all 25 apps, which would take a lot of time and research, and
- Because this is the kind of list that we think people will like and share. I mean, everyone likes big lists, right?
It's like feeding your kids junk food. It's easy for you and it seems like the kind of thing your kids want, but in reality it's not very good for them. It's not healthy. An article listing 25 apps that all do the same thing isn't good or helpful. I can just search in the app store for "Google Analytics" or "web analytics" and come up with a big list of apps. So before you excitedly make a big ol' list of tools or resources, ask yourself if that's really the most useful thing you can offer people. More is not always better. Writing about the single best iPhone app for tracking your stats on your go would be much more valuable than listing out 25 of them. There's enough junk on the internet already.
And in case you're now wondering about a great iOS app for checking your analytics, I've recommended Fast Analytics in the past and I still use it and like it a lot. gAnalytics is apparently a really good one for Android devices, and both of those apps are free.
2. One simple productivity hack
I'm usually not a fan of "productivity hacks" because they tend to turn you into someone who is so concerned about being productive that you never get anything done because you're so busy learning about how to be productive. And I say "you" here but I'm obviously talking from experience. The very best productivity hack I've found is to just turn off the internet, sit your butt in a chair, and do whatever it is that you need to do.
Now, having said that, here's something I did recently that has helped me avoid mindless web surfing. In my browser—and I use Chrome but this applies to most browsers—I used to have a bunch of my most frequented sites saved in the browser's bookmarks bar. This is a bar right underneath the box where you enter in website URLs, and in mine I had put bookmarks for Reddit, Evernote, Gmail, Facebook, Feedly, Twitter, and a few other sites that I go to a lot. On one hand, this was great because it meant that I didn't have to type anything in. I could just click once on the bookmarked website. On the other hand, once I could just click on all of those bookmarked sites without thinking, the result was that I ended up spending a lot of time browsing those sites automatically because it was so easy to do.
So to fix this, I just hid the bookmarks bar. All of those bookmarks are still easily accessible via the bookmarks menu at the top of the screen, but there's now an out of sight, out of mind thing going on. I have to actively want to go to those sites to click on them, and the result is that it's cut down a lot on the absentminded browsing and procrastinating that I used to do.
3. Bribing readers for reviews
Amazon has a no-bribes policy when it comes to Kindle book reviews (and reviews for everything else, for that matter). According to Amazon's official customer review creation guidelines:
"Reviews written for any form of compensation other than a free copy of the product [are not allowed]."
That seems pretty clear, right? "Any form of compensation" is prohibited. In practice, the line isn't so clear cut. In the past, I've offered $5 Amazon gift cards to some reviewers. I had 5 of them to give out, and I told my blog readers that if they bought the ebook and left a review, they could possibly win one of the 5 gift cards. The first time I did it, I got five reviews from doing that, so it turned out that each reviewer did get a gift card. I didn't specify that the reviews had to be positive or anything like that.
Is that against Amazon's policies? Honestly, yeah, probably, even though it's not a direct transaction. But at least I didn't pay for the individual reviews; the reviewers had to buy the book and review the book honestly and then were eligible to win something in a raffle.
So that's probably not the best thing to do if you want to stick with the spirit of Amazon's review policy 100% of the way, but it worked for me, and I'm not averse to doing it again in the future. But how about this. There are a couple sci fi/horror writers I follow named Sean Platt and David Wright, and I'm on their email list. Last week they sent out a call for people to leave reviews on a boxed set of one of their book series. And they did give an incentive, even though it was a very different kind of incentive. They said that if the book got to 100 reviews, Dave (who again, is one of the co-authors of the series) would record a video of himself dancing to a song of the readers' choice. The other co-author, Sean, had done this several months ago after meeting a review goal, and he danced to Gangnam Style. Horribly, I might add.
When they sent out the email asking for more reviews, the series had 49 reviews. As of recording this, seven days after they sent out the email, they have 68 reviews. So 19 new reviews, nearly all of which are five-star reviews, in a week. Not bad, right? I'm sure some of those could have been gained by just asking for them in the email, but I'm also sure that some of those reviewers genuinely want to see Dave dance.
Technically speaking, I think that even this kind of reward isn't allowed under Amazon's policies because it's a form of compensation, isn't it? It's an odd form of compensation, but it still is one. But I think that this kind of bribery is not the kind that Amazon is worried about, and it seems like a great way and reason to ask for reviews. It's less of a bribe and more of a thank you, and I like that. But it's worth noting that it doesn't look like they're going to reach that goal of 100 reviews anytime soon, so then you have to weigh the effectiveness of this kind of bribe or thank you or whatever you want to call it. 68 reviews is better than 49, but it's still not 100.
4. Update on the effortless blog
In the last episode of the Digital Publishing Podcast, I talked about how I wanted to see if I could create a blog to help sell ebooks, but do next to nothing when it came to actually creating content for the blog and marketing the blog. So I created a Tumblr blog called Daily Climbing Videos to sell my 101 Rock Climbing Tips and Tricks book, and the idea was that I'd just post a different climbing-related YouTube or Vimeo video each day. I put a little ad for my ebook in the blog's sidebar and said that I would track the outgoing clicks via Google Analytics.
When I recorded the last podcast, I had made 2 posts and had 4 subscribers on that Tumblr blog. As of recording this now, I've done 9 posts and have 31 subscribers, so I'm averaging about 3 new subscribers or followers for every one post.
So now the million dollar question is: Did the ad get any clicks? And the answer is… Nope. Not a one. This isn't too surprising, since looking at the Google Analytics shows that there are only between 2 and 4 people visiting the site every day. That's the thing about Tumblr; people follow other blogs on Tumblr and then view the updates in their Tumblr dashboards. This means that while they do see new updates, they don't see the ad or anything else that's in my sidebar unless they actually go to dailyclimbingvideos.tumblr.com.
I'm going to keep doing things the way that I've been doing them for a couple more weeks, and then re-evaluate. I might end up adding a text link to my ebook in every update I do. We'll see. People might think that that's too annoying. If not much has changed by next week, I probably won't talk about it in the podcast, but I will the week after, so stay tuned for that.
5. The easiest blog post idea
One of the websites that I run for fun is called TradClimbingVideos.com. This is different from the Daily Climbing Videos Tumblr blog, which is a recent experiment and likely won't be a long-term thing. TradClimbingVideos.com is something I've been doing for several months now. Trad climbing is a sub-category or sub-discipline of rock climbing in which you generally don't clip in or anchor into bolts, but to things that you place and wedge into cracks in the rock. It's a type of climbing that people are very passionate about.
Anyway, so on this website I post cool trad climbing videos. For each video, I write a one- or two-sentence description, list the climbers in the video, where they're climbing, and what routes they're climbing, along with a couple other things. Then I embed the video from YouTube or Vimeo and include a small screenshot of the video, which also shows up as the thumbnail on the main TradClimbingVideos.com page. And then for the blog post title, I describe the video in my own words; I don't just copy the title of the YouTube video.
So the reason that I'm talking about this is that I've been surprised by how much search traffic these posts pull in. There are only like 29 or 30 posts on the blog, but it gets between 50 and 100 visits every day from search traffic. That's pretty darn good for posts that just take a few minutes to write. This is a great blog post idea if you want to churn out a lot of posts to bring in more search traffic.
And you can even take it a bit further. Let's say you want to create a bunch of these kinds of posts to hopefully get some long tail search traffic, but you don't necessarily want to bombard your current subscribers with all of these posts. If you're on WordPress, you can use a plugin called Ultimate Category Excluder. It makes it so that posts from a certain category or categories don't show up in your RSS feed and/or on the main front page of your blog. So you could put all of the video posts into their own category and they'd never show up on the front page but would still bring in search traffic. This is also a great tip for writing specific articles around long tail keywords that may bring in search traffic but might not appeal to the wider audience that you've developed.
6. Voice dictation
If you've listened to this podcast for a while, you'll remember that several episodes ago I talked about how I write out the transcripts for each episode and then read the transcripts into a microphone. That's how I create and record these podcasts because speaking coherently is a skill that doesn't come to me very naturally whereas writing is one of my strong points. And I don't remember if I mentioned this on the podcast or not but I did mention it in my weekly newsletter that I was in a car accident several weeks ago. I was riding my bike and was hit by a car and almost broke my wrist, though it ended up just being pretty badly sprained. It's healing well but it still hurts a little bit when I type. This is a problem not only for the podcast but also for the fact that most of what I do throughout the week is write. I can write with the splint on my wrist but I have to hold my arm in a weird angle and it gets tiring after a while.
That's when I remembered that Mountain Lion, which is the latest release of Apple's OS X operating system for laptops and desktops, comes with voice dictation capabilities. I've been using it on and off for the past week and it's pretty good. It's not perfect; it messes up about one word every sentence or every two sentences or so, but in general it works pretty well. I have it configured so that I hit the function key twice to start the voice dictation functionality and then when I'm done talking, I press the function key again and it stops. It's definitely not perfect, but it's helped me limit the amount of strain I have to put on my wrist. I can take long pauses between sentences and thoughts and it will still transcribe what I say. About half of this episode's script was first written out with this voice dictation thing.
It's been a while since I've used Windows but I think Windows has something similar called Windows Speech Recognition. And then there is software called Dragon Naturally Speaking, which is supposed be really good voice dictation software, but it's $200.* So if for some reason you can't or don't want to type, look into using dictation software. If, unlike me, you're more of a talker than a writer, using some speech recognition and dictation software can make writing ebooks or blog post a lot faster and easier for you.
*EDIT: It's $200 for the Mac version and $54 for the Windows version.
Pick of the week
And that brings us to my pick of the week. This is where I pick one thing to share, and it can be an app, a website, a podcast, or just about anything else. My pick this week is a Chrome extension called QuickTweet [link]. It makes it easy to log in and out of different Twitter accounts. I have a ton of Twitter accounts for my various projects and it's a pain to keep track of the passwords and everything for all of them, but this extension really helps here. It's a pretty simple extension. You install it and open up its options. You then enter in the username and password for each of your Twitter accounts and save them. Then when you want to switch between accounts, all you have to do is click on the extension's icon next to the browser's address bar and select the appropriate account from a list that appears. You are automatically logged out of the account you were logged into and then automatically logged in to the new account you selected. It only takes a few seconds to switch between accounts. The extension supports up to 10 different Twitter accounts and between this extension and tools like HootSuite, you'll be able to manage a relatively large number of Twitter accounts for free.
Final words
And that's all for episode 25 of the Digital Publishing Podcast. Be sure to check out digitalpublishingpodcast.com for complete transcriptions and other blog posts there at the blog.
Please don't hesitate to email me any question you might have regarding digital publishing. I love talking about this stuff, and I'd love to help you out. You can follow me on Twitter by going to twitter.digitalpublishingpodcast.com. That will redirect you to my Twitter account, since my name is a bit tricky to spell. And again and as always, I'd really appreciate it if you went into iTunes and rated and reviewed this podcast, and thanks for listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download


text:
You have no items in your shopping basket.
Fork Recall Notice for the Marin Pine Mountain 1 2016 and Pine Mountain 2017, attention required.
Save up to 42% off a new bike when you purchase as part of the bike to work scheme.Find Out More
Need your bike fixing up? Don't worry, our expert bike mechanics have you covered!
From changing a tyre, to building a new wheel, learn it all! Book your place on our new classes today.Find Out More
We're not just based in Edinburgh! We also have shops in Aberdeen, Leeds and Newcastle.
Read our latest news and articles on our blog. It's stacked full of useful info.Find Out More