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Merriam-Webster defines soldier of fortune as "one who follows a military career wherever there is promise of profit, adventure, or pleasure."
The recent arrest of Eric Hourran at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., has brought with it many questions from media outlets and the American public. Who is Eric Hourran, and why would an American choose to fight with an al-Qaeda associated group such as al-Nusra?
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subset: commoncrawl


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WASHINGTON -- Among senators who must confirm or reject President-elect Bush's Cabinet choices, Republicans cited a need for more ideological ''balance'' Sunday while Democrats promised to raise ''tough'' and ''troubling'' questions for his attorney general nominee.
Senators in both parties, making the rounds of the talk show circuit, generally agreed that Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., an aggressive champion of religious conservative causes, is likely to be confirmed as top enforcer of the nation's laws.
Democratic senators, meanwhile, vowed to challenge Ashcroft's views, primarily on civil rights issues. Ashcroft lost his bid for re-election last month to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan. Carnahan's wife will replace Ashcroft in the Senate next month.
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Team USA's Boo Weekley watches his tee shot off of the 15th tee during four-ball match play against the European team in the first round of the Ryder Cup at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky on September 19, 2008. (UPI Photo/Mark Cowan)
United Press International is a leading provider of news, photos and information to millions of readers around the globe via UPI.com and its licensing services.
With a history of reliable reporting dating back to 1907, today's UPI is a credible source for the most important stories of the day, continually updated - a one-stop site for U.S. and world news, as well as entertainment, trends, science, health and stunning photography. UPI also provides insightful reports on key topics of geopolitical importance, including energy and security.


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A family of beavers has constructed a home in the Guadalupe River in San Jose -- and excited environmentalists say that it means the river is healthy.
The last reported beaver in the Santa Clara Valley area was in 1855.
WATCH: Beavers Dwelling in Downtown San Jose Creek
There's a mother and two "yearlings" at the beaver lodge, which is close to the city's downtown, which can be viewed on a video provided by the Urban Wildlife Research Project. The video was made on April 7 and 8.
The mother is pregnant, environmentalists said.
Published at 1:30 PM PDT on Apr 11, 2013 | Updated at 1:35 PM PDT on Apr 11, 2013


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Thread: Are Latinos Natural Republicans?
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Are Latinos Natural Republicans?
Are Latinos 'Natural' Republicans?
November 23rd, 2012
Jason Sattler
On election night, former NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw appeared confused at how dismally Mitt Romney had performed with Latinos. "Latinos are a natural constituent of Republicans," Brokaw said.
This is a sentiment Republicans have been offering again and again as they try to understand how they have done worse with Latino voters in every presidential election since 2000.
The subtext is, "Aren't they Catholic and pro-life? Why wouldn't they vote for us?"
It doesn't take Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball to understand why Mitt Romney did even worse attracting Latino voters than John McCain and George W. Bush.
Bush vehemently supported comprehensive immigration reform — as did McCain, before AM radio convinced him that building "that damn fence" was his only way into the White House. In the GOP primary, Mitt Romney went right on immigration to beat Rick Perry, endorsing a policy that you'll surely never hear any mainstream Republican mention again: "self-deportation."
Americans of Hispanic or Latino descent are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States. They now make up 11 percent of the electorate and Pew says that they're likely to double that share by 2030.
But did they cost Mitt Romney the election? No.
"The bottom line is that even if Romney had made historic gains among Hispanic voters, he still would have lost the election," writes the Washington Examiner's Byron York. The New Republic's Nate Cohn confirms that if Romney had performed 20 points better with Hispanics, Obama still would have won 303 electoral votes.
So what's behind the freak-out over Romney's miserable performance with Latinos?
In one word: Texas.
The Lone Star State's newest senator-elect, Ted Cruz, explained the predicament to The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza:In not too many years, Texas could switch from being all Republican to all Democrat. If that happens, no Republican will ever again win the White House. New York and California are for the foreseeable future unalterably Democrat. If Texas turns bright blue, the electoral college math is simple. We won't be talking about Ohio, we won't be talking about Florida or Virginia, because it won't matter. If Texas is bright blue, you can't get to 270 electoral votes. The Republican Party would cease to exist.But as many Republicans seek to correct Romney's alienation of this voting bloc, others are cautioning against the conclusion that supporting immigration reform or simply nominating Marco Rubio will save the Republican Party.
In his column urging Republicans to support immigration reform, Charles Krauthammer, a noted expert on Latino culture, wrote, "The principal reason they go Democratic is the issue of illegal immigrants."
Krauthammer is echoing Mitt Romney a bit in this argument, suggesting that Latinos only supported the president because he stopped deportation of young people who would be eligible for legal status under the DREAM Act. This "gift" bought their vote.
But this assumes that Latinos aren't aware that the president deported criminal undocumented immigrants at a faster rate than President Bush. Under Obama, undocumented immigration is at the lowest rate in decades, basically net zero.
This complicated record forces a look at Latino's stands on other issues. Do this and you recognize that the Republican caricature just doesn't hold up.
Two-thirds of Latino voters think abortion should be legal. A majority supports gay marriage.
In two important ways, they are also more liberal than the general population – 3 out of 4 support an expanded role of government. Latinos are also 9 percent more likely to call themselves "liberal" than Americans as a whole.
In many ways, this matches how Catholic voters in general—who supported President Obama in 2012—feel about government and the Church's role. In a recent poll, Catholics said they wish the Church would focus on poverty more and social issues less.
Byron York seems especially afraid that the GOP has serious misconceptions about the Latino community that he wants to clear up. He quotes social scientist Charles Murray, who has looked at the data and found that Latinos "aren't more religious than everyone else … aren't married more than everyone else … aren't more conservative than everyone else." He's suggesting, in a very condescending manner, that Latinos actually sound more like… Democrats.
And he's probably right.
When it comes to the long list of groups that Mitt Romney struggled with—single women, "urban" voters, gay people—none of them seem inclined to sway toward to the Republican Party because of one single issue. Republicans will likely still tout immigration reform because the business wing of the party has always supported it.
But they shouldn't do it expecting to suddenly reap a bounty of Latino voters.
The National Memo » Are LatinosJoin our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & to secure US borders by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn
Having lived over 35 years in and near Hispanic communities I've watched it change much like the rest of America,I don't believe the majority of Hispanics(legal) care at all about the immigration issue however like many voters they look for benefits and worry over the loss of those benefits.
I grew up back east in an area that voted predominately Democrat however they lived there life as conservatives,why did they vote that way, simply handed down over generations that Democrats were for the working/poor people,I believe that idea is in the Hispanic communities today and it certainly is not helped with liberal public schools where little is explained about capitalism, socialism or communism nor is love of country.
The GOP is failing via education basically the public schools are turning out little workers for the socialist cause, until that is fixed the GOP could be all the way left and still lose the vote sadly the GOP hierarchy is so out of touch it's unbelievable.I'm old with many opinions few solutions.
11-24-2012, 02:20 PM #3"Latinos are a natural constituent of Republicans," Brokaw said.
WSupport our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn
11-24-2012, 02:27 PM #4Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn
11-24-2012, 02:57 PM #5AprilGuest
11-26-2012, 01:50 PM #6Join our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & to secure US borders by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn


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- Name: Booto Guylain
- MMA Record: 0-2-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)
- Nickname:
- Ending Streak: 2 Losses
- Date of Birth: N/A | Died: 2014.03.05
- Last Fight: February 27, 2014 in EFCA
- Weight Class: Middleweight | Last Weigh-In: 178.6 lbs
- Affiliation: Steve's Gym
- Height: 6'0" (184cm) | Reach: N/A
- Career Disclosed Earnings: $0 USD
- Born: Tokai, Cape Town, South Africa
- Fighter Pages: Sherdog | The UG
- College: N/A
- Foundation Style: Judo
- Head Coach: Steve Kalakoda
- Other Coaches: N/A
Tapology Regional Rankings Rankings FAQ
Booto Guylain is ineligible for regional rankings due to inactivity.
Fighters must have at least one completed MMA bout in the past two years to be ranked.
Booto Guylain MMA Fight Record
|Pro Results
|Cancelled Bout
|Gareth Sawyer
|EFC Africa 28
Loss | KO/TKO | Elbows
3:25 Round 3 of 3, 13:25 Total
Keron Davies
EFC Africa 27: Mynhardt vs. Naumann
|Weigh-In: 178.6 lbs (81.0 kgs)
Loss | KO/TKO | Punches
3:38 Round 1 of 3
Shaun De Lange
EFC Africa 25: Madge vs. Mynhardt 2
Booto Guylain Wiki Update Wiki
Following a third-round TKO loss in his last fight, Guylain was taken to a hospital to deal with critical injuries, including bleeding in the brain. On Wednesday, March 5, 2014, Guylain was pronounced dead. He is survived by his wife and son.
Booto Guylain News View All
(Props: @GrabakaHitman via r/MMA) Words cannot even begin to describe how abhorrent an... (over 3 years ago)
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones had quite the busy Wednesday. In addition to off... (over 3 years ago)
Booto Guylain, lutador do Extreme Fighting Championship Africa, morreu nesta quarta-feira... (over 3 years ago)
(Image via efcafrica.com) A South African middleweight MMA fighter named Booto Guylain... (over 3 years ago)
South African middleweight Booto Guylain died tragically this week after succumbing to in... (over 3 years ago)
South African mixed martial artist Booto Guylain has died due to injuries suffered in a F... (over 3 years ago)
Two-time Extreme Fighting Championship Africa veteran Booto Guylain has died as a result ... (over 3 years ago)
Booto Guylain has passed away after sustaining serious injuries in a third round TKO loss... (over 3 years ago)


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Written on: 22/07/2014 by luoto (1 review written)
Prompt international delivery, easy ordering, rapid response to a query (pre sales). Now I am just waiting for my case (from another vendor) to arrive so I can use this product.
There's not a lot ore one can say. Competitive pricing. Easy ordering. It just works.


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The ballots for this year's Oscars are all in and being counted which means that after a long awards season its time to begin a rundown of final predictions. First up is the best supporting actor category and a showdown that should bit "The Fighter's" Christian Bale versus "The King's Speech's" Geoffrey Rush. That being said, let's take a quick look at all of this year's nominees, shall we?
[Note: You can also find watch a rundown of all the nominees with predictions and upsets in the video embedded at the top of this post.]
Jeremy Renner's performance as a hotheaded thief is the sole nomination for Ben Affleck's hit thriller "The Town," a film that many expected to land a best picture nod, but couldn't make the cut. This is Renner's second Oscar nomination after being honored in the best actor category last year for "The Hurt Locker." The third time is going to have to be the charm for Renner.
After a long under the radar career in films such as "The Perfect Storm," "Me and You and Everyone You Know" and TV"s "Deadwood," John Hawkes landed his first nomination for his work in the indie hit "Winter's Bone." Like Renner, he's going to have to try and win his first Oscar statue down the road.
Another veteran finally getting some awards recognition this year is Mark Ruffalo. It's amazing that before his role in "The Kids Are All Right," Ruffalo had received only one significant acting honor, an indie spirit nomination a decade ago for "You Can Count On Me." Ruffalo has many friends in the Academy, but this isn't a powerful enough performance for him to top the remaining two contenders: Geoffrey Rush and Christian Bale.
Geoffrey Rush is no stranger to Oscar having won best actor for his breakthrough performance in "Shine" way back in 1997. That was followed by subsequent nominations for "Shakespeare in Love" and "Quills." Many would argue that Rush's charismatic turn in "The King's Speech" is actually a leading role, but hardly anyone will debate it's not worthy of critical acclaim or an Academy Award.
The final nominee is, of course, Christian Bale. Like Ruffalo and Hawkes, this is the actor's first go around at the big dance, but he's already won the Golden Globe and SAG Award for his impressive turn in David O. Russell's drama. The Los Angeles area resident also refused to campaign during this awards season except to appear at ceremonies where he was nominated. In some cases, that could seriously hinder an actors chances at winning, as a late start might affect Annette Bening's chances in best actress, but Bale was so quiet and nonchalant about not playing the game it might have actually solidified his win. Most importantly, however, Bale underwent a significant physical transformation for his role in "The Fighter" and that always gets the Academy's attention.
Winner: It's got to be Bale for "The Fighter." He's the most celebrated portrayal in a movie the industry adores and it's hard to see him losing in the final round. And yes, it also means director Christopher Nolan will have four Oscar winners to work with on "The Dark Knight Rises" this summer (Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Marion Cotillard).
Upset Contender: If you believe in surprises, however, place your money on Geoffrey Rush. The love for "The King's Speech" is also strong in the Academy and, in a surprise, the Aussie already upset the British born Bale the same honor earlier this month at the BAFTA"S letting everyone know the title for best supporting actor could still be up for grabs.
We'll find out the results when the 83rd Academy Awards are announced this Sunday at 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT on ABC.
Look for more predictions every day this week from Awards Campaign.
Predict the Oscars and you can win a brand new iPad. Check your picks against other players and more. Play today.
Click here for to download a printable version of the Oscar ballot.


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"Sight" is a short futuristic film by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo, that shows a future where technology has changed everything, and almost everything in our lives would be gamified.
Del Off al On, un viaje sin vuelta atrás
Cualquier buen vendedor lo tiene claro: lo importante es vender, da igual cuándo, dónde o incluso cómo. Hay que saberse adaptar a cada perfil de comprador, adaptarse a las distintas épocas del año o incluso a los distintos momentos del día. Cada venta es única y diferente, al igual que necesaria. En algunos casos la venta es casi inmediata, al dejarse el consumidor guiarse por un impulso consumista o por una necesidad que debe cubrir en ese momento. En otros casos la venta es más lenta, e incluso algunos compradores necesitan varias visitas a la tienda, o incluso visitas combinadas con llamadas telefónica para resolver dudas o aclarar características del producto a comprar. Pero da lo mismo, son ventas y hay que dar lo mejor del vendedor en cada una de ellas. Y eso sí, cuidar al comprador para que vuelva a comprar en el futuro, por lo que nunca hay que vender a cualquier tiempo.
Vender, eso es lo que al final del día importa.
Lo curioso es que, aún teniendo esto claro, muchas veces el vendedor es reticente de nuevos canales de venta. Somos seres de costumbres, y por tanto el cambio casi siempre nos impone ciertas barreras. Por eso para mucha gente adaptarse a la nueva realidad de los consumidores es tarea más que complicada. Y esta nueva realidad se llama Internet, un canal sin límites, sin fronteras y sin barreras. Un canal tan fácil de acceder por parte de los usuarios como complicado de controlar desde la perspectiva del vendedor. Un canal donde las reglas del juego cambian radicalmente, pero que también abre nuevas posibilidades nunca exploradas anteriormente. Un canal con claro-oscuros, donde ya no recibimos a los consumidores en nuestra tienda, si no que nos colamos directamente en el salón de casa de nuestros compradores. En definitiva, un canal donde ya no tenemos la sartén por el mango, y eso nos genera inseguridad, desconfianza o incluso miedo, pero que ya hace tiempo dejó de ser el futuro para convertirse en el presente.
Vender, lo que ahora más necesitamos.
Porque el consumo ha caído y sigue cayendo. Porque el tiempo libre que tienen nuestros compradores cada vez es menor y está mejor gestionado. Porque la competencia es cada vez más global y tenemos más amenazas. Y porque la forma de vida de cualquier vendedor se basa en justamente eso….vender. Ya dejamos atrás los días de vacas gordas, y aunque esperamos quitarnos las pulgas en breve, tardaremos muchos años, en el mejor de los casos, en volver a esos días de oro para el comercio donde nuestros consumidores compraban casi sin criterio.
No queda otra, amigo vendedor, es ahora o nunca, o mejor dicho, pasó ayer y ya estás tardando. Y muy seguramente tu ya lo estés pensando, porque tu competencia dio el paso y ahora tu estás jodido. Ya no eres el número 1 en tu sector, o ya no vendes lo que vendías hace unos años. Algunos de tus clientes te dejaron de comprar hace ya unos meses. Ahora compran a través de su iPad, aprovechando los anuncios y sin moverse del salón de tu casa. Y lo peor de todo, le compran a unos frikis que sin saber lo que tu sabes de tu producto, han sido capaces de robarte a tus clientes. Y esos frikis…joder como venden. Y como venden mucho más que tu, negocian mejor con tus proveedores. Y tus proveedores ya no te dan facilidades por tener una tienda física como antes, prefieren dárselas a esos frikis porque venden desde un polígono de Alcorcón a toda Europa. ¿Y cómo conseguirán vender tus mismos productos a un Finlandés cuando tu no eres capaz de vender a la vecina del cuarto? Claro, es que esos frikis de tontos no tienen un pelo. Están donde tienen que estar, donde están el 80% de los vecinos del barrio cuando están en su casa, en el trabajo o de camino a tomar unas cañas. Están dentro de esos smartphones que ya tiene todo el mundo. Esos frikis son listos, muy pero que muy listos. Te han quitado los clientes a ti, pero también a la tienda del pueblo de al lado, y al del lado de ese…también. Y todo por saber dónde tenían que estar. Por estar donde tu no has querido estar.
Pero aún estás a tiempo. Eso si, no te despistes. Aún puedes dejar tus prejuicios y la incomprensión de un nuevo canal atrás y montar una tienda online. Eso sí, recuerda que cuando montaste tu primera tienda, ese pequeño local en la acera de enfrente de tu casa, no tardaste ni un día, ni una semana ni un mes en tenerlo todo listo. 2 meses y medio estuviste reformando el local, eligiendo los mejores productos, preparando el almacén y montando el escaparate para llamar la atención de tus potenciales clientes. Y aquí la cosa tampoco va a ser menos. Si para vender en tu barrio engalanas tu tienda, para vender en todo el mundo tienes que ir incluso más allá. Y claro, vender en Finlandia, con el frío que hace durante todo el año no es lo mismo que vender en el Mercado de La Boquería en pleno Mayo. Ojalá fuera tan fácil como pedirle al hijo de la Luisa, que también es un rato friki, que te haga una página web de esas y te pongas a vender por Internet. Que digo yo, si fuera tan fácil ya estaría todo el mundo haciéndolo, ¿no? Hay que tener en cuenta muchas cosas, como cuando te pones a vender en plena calle. ¿Cómo vas a conseguir que los que pasean por las calles de Internet se fijen en ti? ¿Cómo vas a lograr que compren en tu tienda cuando casi todas las tiendas que ellos conocen ya están online? ¿Cómo vas a conseguir vender más allá de España cuando ni siquiera sabes si vas a vender en el pueblo de al lado? Claro, fácil no es, y sobre todo para alguien que no conoce el canal. Pero al igual que para decorar tus tiendas llamas a esa decoradora que tiene tan buen gusto, para vender por Internet necesitas muchos profesionales que te ayuden en ese nuevo mundo.
Y necesitas aprender. Al igual que aprendiste Alemán cuando montaste tu primer tienda en Mallorca. Al igual que aprendiste a utilizar el programa ese para gestionar el stock de tu almacén. Necesitas aprender para saber donde tienes que ir. Porque a los remeros los puedes contratar, pero tu eres el capitán. Necesitas aprender para poder luchar con lo que se te viene encima. Necesitas saber, necesitas conocer las nuevas reglas del juego para que no se te acabe muy rápido la partida.
Esfuerzo, en definitiva lo que tienes por delante significa nuevos esfuerzos. Pero ya no hay vuelta atrás, lo quieras o no lo quieras. Porque si no das el paso…ya no hay vuelta atrás. Ya no estarás. Ya no venderás. A lo mejor no es mañana, ni pasado, ni el año que viene. Pero lo dejarás. Porque si no quieres dar el paso ya no es decisión tuya. Porque ese tío tan majo que te proveía de esos productos tan únicos e interesantes ya vende online. Porque si hasta tu hijo se gasta su paga en comprar juegos para su iPhone y no te compra a ti juguetes nadie del barrio, tampoco hay mucho más que pensar. No estarás.
Y si das el paso…tampoco hay vuelta atrás. Porque estarás, lucharás y te costará. Pero venderás, vaya si venderás. Claro, no será el primer día, ni la primera semana, ni incluso el primer mes, pero ese día llegará. Y te gustará, porque te permitirá seguir vendiendo en el futuro, porque te permitirá crecer y llegar a vender donde nunca te habías imaginado que venderías. Y lo disfrutarás, porque enfrentarse con éxito a grandes retos reporta grandes satisfacciones, y porque lo que tu pensabas que era imposible al final no era tan complicado ni incomprensible. Y ya no añorarás. No añorarás dedicar el 50% de tu tiempo a recolocar los productos en tu tienda después de que los clientes no se decidan a comprarlos. No añorarás la esclavitud de horarios de tu tienda porque podrás estar vendiendo mientras duermes, o mientras disfrutas de ese fin de semana tan merecido. No añorarás la falta de contacto directo con tus clientes porque descubrirás cómo conocer de verdad las necesidades de tus compradores con maravillosas herramientas que antes no conocías. En definitiva, habrás cambiado, y evolucionado con tus clientes. Habrás ido desde donde estás ahora hasta donde deberías estar y por tanto no te caerás por el camino.
Y seguirás vendiendo, porque al final del día, lo que importa es vender.
Firmado: Un friki aprendiz de vendedor
Without Meaningful User Experiences there is no Gamification Success
A couple of days ago I met with a couple of students interested on learning how to apply gamification techniques to a project they were developing. We talk about a lot of gamification stuff, and at some point, we started to discuss if it made sense to create a standard set of gamification rules for each possible business application. My point of view about standardizing gamification is clear: you can make a set of predefined game mechanics for each business, but for achieving success with gamification, you need to create meaningful user experiences, so businesses applying a bunch of predefined game mechanics wouldn't be able to achieve their business goals.
And the reasoning for me is quite clear. Part of the success of gamification is that gamification pioneers have been able to offer their users and customers awesome user experiences by introducing game mechanics in their business processes. But if every company in a given sector is doing the exact same things and applying the exact game mechanics in the exact ways, nobody would be providing different user experiences that are able to make users engage your product, platform or company.
So gamification provides us tools to create new user experiences that helps us to modify user's behaviors. We shouldn't forget that it's all about user experience. For instance, the initial FourSquare success was to use game mechanics in order to make geolocation sharing fun, so if every location service will user the same game mechanics, there would be no reason for users to prefer FourSquare to any other geolocation service. And the main failure for FourSquare is that they are not being able to generate meaningful user experiences for advanced users of their service, so as I wrote in a previous post, the problem is not that gamification is not helping them to engage advanced users, the problem is that they have only focused on giving new users a reason to share their location, and they should design game mechanics focused on the user experience of advanced users.
If you are thinking about how gamification can help your business, you should state what is your actual state and problems, and what are your desired goals, and then design game mechanics and a coherent game narrative in order to generate the user experiences that will encourage your users to behave as you need them to behave in order to achieve your business goals.
Gamisfaction raises €180.000
Gamisfaction is a startup founded by Luis Ignacio Diaz and José Vicente Sogorb, and that was born inside BrainSINS, when Luis Ignacio was working for us. I know Luis Ignacio since 2006, when I was his teacher at UEM (European University at Madrid), and he always was looking for creating new things. So, I saw Gamisfaction to grow as an idea and Luis and José Vicente to work hard to make it a reality.
I have been an advisor to Gamisfaction since their beginnings, and now I'm happy to announce that after their acceleration period at Wayra Barcelona, they have been able to raise €180.000 of seed capital. For this round, I have coinvested with Alberto Benbunan, founder and managing director at Dreams Factory, Akola Capital, Wayra, Enisa and several other business angels.
Why FourSquare's Decision of Phasing Out Gamification is a Great Mistake
Several days ago I read an article on Gamification.co about FourSquare's decision of phasing out gamification. In this article, Ivan Kuo said that he thought this decision was a mature design decision and not a mistake. But I can't stop thinking that this is probably the greatest mistake FourSquare could make.
Let's stat thinking from the user perspective. Why on earth would anyone check-in on places to share their location. There exist 3 main motives for users to check-in in places:
- They are forced to do so by their employers in order to track their work away from the office
- They get something (offer, coupons, etc.) when checking-in
- You make a game from geolocation sharing
FourSquare is focused on end users, so most of its user base are not checking-in because they are forced to do so, so in order to make users to continue checking-in in FourSquare, they should continue to being a game, or rewarding users check-ins with offers and/or coupons (which they are actually offering for mayorships and other mechanics). If you remove gamification from the equation, you get only direct rewards (check-in in one place and get a discount), which maybe interesting for customers, but not so for business, because you get customers used to check-in in any place in order to pay less for what they want to buy.
I don't think that FourSquare could be able to continue growing and engaging their user base and business base removing gamification. But I'm absolutely sure that actual FourSquare's mechanics are too simple and focused on engaging first time users and not heavy or long term users. So, as in any good online game that heavily relies on gamification (such as World of Warcraft), what FourSquare should do is to analyze what their users expect from them and adjust and create new game mechanics that allow them to re-engage users that are tired of actual mechanics.
I was a FourSquare heavy user and now I hardly use FourSquare. For me, the problem is that when you become the mayor of your preferred places, and get several badges, there exist no mechanic in FourSquare that engages you. If I were Dennis Crowley, I would focus on helping users to discover new challenges in their platform. Instead of giving me badges after I have performed several actions, they should recommend me badges I could earn by completing a challenge, such as discover a new restaurant on my city because I haven't gone to a new restaurant since 6 months ago. So, if we combine gamification with new discovery (and gamified) features, I'm sure that FourSquare would become something pretty interesting for newcomers to FourSquare but also for registered users that haven't used FourSquare in months.
Workshop: Gamification para Startups (23 de Abril en Granada)
La gente de Spiral Startups me ha invitado a impartir un Workshop de Gamificación para Startups que se celebrará el próximo 23 de Abril en Armilla (Granada). Os dejo la información por si alguno está interesado en asistir.
6 Reasons Why Feedly is the Best Alternative to Google Reader
I have been testing several alternatives to Google Reader in order to make a fast transition, after Google announced they will close Google Reader by July. There are tons of posts listing alternatives to Google Reader, but after testing several tools, I have decided to use Feedly as my new RSS aggregator, and I'm sharing my thoughts about why Feedly is the best alternative to Google Reader, just if I can help anyone to make a faster decision instead of trying several alternatives.
It is an RSS aggregator
In most listings containing Google Reader alternatives, almost half of alternatives are not pure RSS aggregators, but applications that add an additional layer that helps you choose the best contents (RSS + discovery). I already use Zite as a content discovery tool (and it rocks), but for an RSS aggregator, I don't want this additional features of reordering or help me filter the content. I have all my feeds ordered and I was looking for some tool similar to Google Reader that helped me continue processing those feeds as I'm used to. So I was not looking for Zite, Flipboard, Pulse, or any Twitter tool. I was looking for a "typical" RSS aggregator on the web.
Easy (and fast) transition
One of the first tools I have tested is The Old Reader, who states that preserves the essence of Google Reader. This RSS aggregator seems nice but when importing my subscriptions, The Old Reader shows a queue of users waiting for their subscriptions to be imported. After a couple of days, I have almost 30K users ahead of me. I have dismissed The Old Reader as an option, not only for having to wait a lot of time for my subscriptions to be available, but because I can't rely on a service that can't scale up when several thousands of users want to try it.
With Feedly, the transition is easy and really fast. You connect with your Google account and in a few seconds you have your subscriptions imported and ready to be consumed.
Really nice interface
I loved Google Reader, but I have to admit that Google Reader's interface was not their best asset. Feedly has a really nice (and up to date) interface, not only in their web version, but also in their apps for smartphones (I'll write about it later). During the firsts minutes, you need to adapt to this new interface, but as you use Feedly, you get used to it and find nice features such as being able to share the content on Google Plus, Twitter or Buffer (and it seems they are integrating also other services such as Pinterest and Evernote), tag content or even save it for later.
It has version for both iOs and Android
I have also installed Feedly for iOs on my iPhone, and I find it a really well designed RSS aggregator for smartphones. It's really easy to navigate through your feed categories, and also to list articles and read any post. They also offer an app for Android devices, and for Kindle Fire, so Feedly is probably the RSS aggregator compatible with most devices. I'm sure we can find a better iPhone/Android app, but for me it's interesting to use the same application in several devices so I can continue using my workflow when reading blogs (check them by priorities, choose the best news, tweet some of them, mark some other for being read later, etc.) in any device I use, so I don't have to check and recheck all the feeds when using different devices.
They are working on several nice integrations
As I said before, Feedly have stated they are working on some nice integrations with services like Evernote and Pinterest. I'd like to use those integrations. In fact I'm used to send interesting news from Zite to Evernote, so being able to do the same when checking my RSS feeds is a nice feature for me. But what I think about these integrations is that Feedly seems to be continuously working on improving their product, so gives me some confidence about not needing to change my RSS aggregator in a few months.
Most Google Reader users are joining feedly
In less than 48 hours, Feedly has picked up 500.000 users from Google Reader, so it seems that most Google Reader heavy users are moving to Feedly. For me, that's also a sign of confidence. If most heavy users are chosing Feedly, it's more likely we are making a good decision (or at least not bad). And it also shows that the service's user base will grow (a lot) in the next months, and that's a good indicator because Feedly's valuation will grow up, and they will be able to get more funding or grow in revenues (I'm not sure if Feedly has a revenues source right now) so they will be able to develop new features, etc.
The Full Stack Marketer
A week ago, Jorge González Marcos invited me to talk to his students at EUDE about what startups expect from marketers. I prepared a few slides about the concept of Full Stack Marketer, a concept I first read about in a post by Marcelo Calbucci and that I found pretty relevant for those who want to join a startup as marketers.
Glasses vs Watch: A Battle for the Future Internet
Google is working on it's awesome Google Glasses, and Apple is supposed to be working on iWatch, a next generation watch that I suppose will be another kind of device that can be connected to the Internet. I'd love to try both devices, and I think are great ideas, but when we scratch the surface, we find a possible future war among Google and Apple, both looking for gaining control on the Internet (or at least the access to Internet).
But let's start analyzing what is happening right now. Google and Apple are actually in the middel of the mobile war: Google supporting its more open Mobile Operating System (Android), and Apple supporting iOs, their own approach to Mobile Operating Systems. This is a battle about mobile supremacy, and the mobile ecosystem (apps), but also a battle related to Internet. In the last 3 years we've seen an important change of habits related to Internet access. Nowadays, we are used to access Internet through our smartphones or tablets, so dominate the mobile market means to dominate the device we will be using to access Internet in the next 5 years/10 years.
We adopt technology faster than ever, and mobile is a good example. 15 years ago, you were a freak if you had a mobile phone. 10 years ago, it was cool to have a mobile phone. 5 years ago, everybody had a mobile phone. And nowadays what is weird is not to have a mobile phone, and almost everybody has an smartphone. And for the next generation of devices that will allow us to access to Internet, the adoption cycle will be even faster, so it's logical that several companies such as Google or Apple are working on this next generation of devices.
So when we read about Google Glasses and iWatch, we should not focus on how cool they are as gadgets, we have to analyze how they will impact in our everyday life. In the last 15 years we have learn to manage our life through a mobile phone: we get in touch with the people we want, we schedule our meetings, send emails, organize our tasks, etc. And we have learn to carry our smartphones with us to every place we have to go. We tweet from our smartphones when attending an event, we use Google Maps in our mobiles as a GPS, and we read the news in our smartphone when going to the bathroom. So actually, the smartphone is the device 'better connected' to the humans right now.
But a smartphone is an (physically) independent device, and what Apple and Google are working on are devices better connected to the human beings. For the people that, like me, use glasses everyday, Google Glasses are a natural way to connect our reality to the virtual world. And for a lot of people, carrying a watch is so natural that if you are able to insert into a watch all the functionalities that are actually present on an smartphone, they will prefer to use that watch.
This year (probably), we will be able to buy the Google Glasses and/or the iWatch (I suppose we will see the iWatch in the market in 2014). The next 3/4 years, those will be cool gadgets, but won't get to the mainstream. And by 2018, we will see the real battle between glasses, watches and whatever new device that will try to overcome the smartphone supremacy.
As Apple Fan Boy, I'd love to try the iWatch, but I'm sure I will get in love with the Google Glasses (those are natural for me). What kind of device do you prefer to be your next access point to Internet and the virtual life?
Top 5 Myths of Starting a Business
Most entrepreneurs talk about how great is to start your own business, and that's why so many people decides to start a business and then they find it is not what they thought starting a business should be. I've started 3 business and invested in another 7 startups, and I love to start new ventures, but the reality is that starting your own business is harder than the average people think it is.
Through the years, I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs, and I'd like to write what I think are the top 5 myths about starting a business:
A Good Idea Is The Key to Success
Wrong! Most entrepreneurs (including myself) are passionate people that when starting a business are devoted to their idea. But there exist thousands of good ideas, and what makes the difference is the execution of the project based on that idea. In fact, most successful business are not based on a great idea, but covers what a good company should cover: they solve a problem, in a way that really helps people, and their management team has executed a good plan to achieve their main goals. For instance, Facebook was not the first Social Network, and as an idea, it was not better than any previous social network. And Twitter wasn't the first "Twitter", Google wasn't the first search engine for the web, the iPad wasn't the first tablet (not to mention that the iPhone wasn't the first tactile smartphone), etc.
So don't you think that a good idea will make you rich, but also don't be afraid to start a business (if you wan't to start that business) if you have a mediocre idea or an idea that initially isn't something very innovative. It's better to focus on how to turn that idea into an usable product, and how to market that product in order to get the consumer's attention.
And if you're still considering that a good idea is key to success, you should watch to some of the strongest sectors nowadays: eCommerce. The idea behind an eCommerce is pretty simple and is not innovative at all: put a products catalog online and try to sell those products. You can innovate on how to show those products, in how to market your users, etc. But in the end, you will be starting a business very similar to thousands of other online business. And that's not bad, in fact if there exist similar business already in the market, it means that you are covering an actual business, and you need to focus on executing the idea better than the competitors.
You Will Be Your Own Boss
This is one of the biggest fallacies of building a business. I've worked for big companies, in a University, in Institutes, for small companies… but I have never had so many bosses as when I have started my own business:
When you start your own company, your first "bosses" are your customers, as you need to cover their expectations and you need their money to run your business. You shouldn't develop your product as you think it should be, but as your customers say it should be. A key to any company is to be user/customer centric, so if you don't consider that your customers are, in some way, your bosses, you'd probably fail.
And your employees would also become your bosses, as you need an awesome team and if you have completed an awesome team, it's hard to find a good replacement to anyone of your team. And you can continue adding 'bosses': your investors, core partners, key providers, etc. You will receive pressures from a lot of people, and probably you'll miss to have a boss that let you focus on your tasks and main goals.
You Will Do What You Like Most
Really? As you may become 'your own boss', you will start managing people, and maybe management is not what you want to do. I've always been happy as a developer, and I really miss the time when I could spend several days coding awesome features or improving processes. But nowadays I have to manage teams, I have to talk to customers and potential customers and sometimes I have to give bad news, or even to fire people.
It's not what I thought it was when I started my own company, but I don't complain about it. In fact I'm really happy to learn to manage all these new thing I have to manage, I develop new skills, I love to try to understand what our customers want and need, and I've learn a lot about a lot of things, which makes me think that if I had to start my business again, I'd do a lot of things in a different ways, and also wouldn't do a lot of things that I did in the past or wouldn't worry about things that I can see now were not relevant in some moments. So I'm happy to be doing what I do now, but I also know that I'm not the average people, I've always been a 'full-stack worker' in whatever task I've done (development and marketing, mainly), and I like to learn new things and get in front of new challenges. And a lot of people prefer to stay in the comfort zone, and continue doing what they do best.
So if you start a business thinking that you'll be doing what you like most, think about it, and question if it's better for you to find a job where you can continue doing whatever you want to do, or if you are ready to start a business and become a CWO (Chief Whatever Officer), which means that in the beginnings you'll be doing whatever is important to your company and you have no employee qualified to do, and when the company grows, you'll be managing people and loosing to code awesome features or make beautiful designs for your app or whatever you love to do.
You Will Have Time For Yourself
The first time I heard a person that he hated his job because he worked so many hours and he wanted to start a company in order to have enough time for himself, I couldn't avoid to laugh. I'm always looking to have more time for doing sports, and for relaxing a little bit, but the reality of an entrepreneur is that you are always looking ways to improve or to optimize critical processes for your company, so it's harder for you to have time for yourself, compared to being an employee.
In fact, I think that if you start a business and you really start to have more time for yourself, something is wrong (or you had a really horrible job) because it's hard for me to understand that if you're more committed to your work, you can dedicate fewer hours to it.
You Will Become Rich
In fact if you calculate the odds, I think it's even easier to become rich with the lottery than starting a business. Every week, a lot of people from around the globe win million dollars gambling, but only a few entrepreneurs per year makes several million dollars selling their companies.
In fact, to start your own business, you'll need to invest your money. Probably, you won't have a salary during the first months, and maybe you'll convince your family to invest in your company. If your company fails (and that's most probable), you'll loose a lot of money (what you and your family invested), and you'll be loosing the opportunity to earn more money in any other company. So when you start a company, it's normal that you want to make money selling the company, but you also have to think if you want to be managing a company that won't make you rich (but maybe can pay the bills).


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Telecom equipment makers must build on Linux to remain viable
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In the last 18 months, Linux has gone from running software-based routers and firewalls on spare white-box computers to deployment in high-volume dedicated networking applications. Linux now boasts ubiquitous design wins on the control plane and a highly visible ascendancy in standards-based management plane applications.
Why build next-generation communication systems on Linux? The current woes of Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturers (TEMs) and Network Equipment Manufacturers (NEPs) have been described as a "perfect storm" with no signs of abating. Slow demand growth and the accompanying glut in carrier bandwidth and goods-in-channel, conspire to depress communications markets ecosystems, with repercussions upstream for technology providers. For the past year, the storm has swamped traditional suppliers and has created an opening for Open Source and Linux.
While, TEMs and NEPs look to Linux initially to cut top line development and deployment costs, but they end up realizing a series of benefits from the shelter that Open Source and Linux provide: compatibility with existing/legacy investments in UNIX-based middleware and applications; rich and integrated IP networking for current datacommunication and nascent IP voice requirements; and support for general-purpose and specialized blade processors and legacy line-card CPUs.
Not only are troubled U.S. and European manufacturers turning to Linux to remain viable but traditional and emerging suppliers in developing markets, such as China, Korea, and Brazil, are building both direct legacy replacement and new designs on Linux for the same reasons.
Architecture SupportLinux is gaining design wins both in telecommunications and data communications at the same time that several trends are changing the structure of communications systems. Even before the current slowdown, TEMs and NEPs had begun moving away from specialized, vertically integrated architectures to COTS-based (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) approaches, to reduce design costs and accelerate product cycles. In most marketplaces, movement away from circuit switching to digital voice technology bolstered this trend more generic hardware handling pure IP streams, with specialized front-end hardware pushing last-mile applications into premises and POP racks.
With this "IP-ification" of voice and the movement of data access further from the Central Office, what once was "heavy iron" begins to look more like specialized enterprise server farms where Linux is traditionally most at home. Out at the edge of the 'Net, on client networking devices, and in handsets, Linux is now accompanying the introduction of IP-based voice and ubiquitous data.
In this overhaul of voice and data networks, Linux is also able to track specific CPU architecture migration trends. For example, in prior generation systems the typical line card (E1/T1) boasted a 16/32-bit dedicated CPU, like the Motorola QUICC (683xx) with minimal ROM and RAM a prototypical RTOS application. In the last five years, that same node moved up to PowerQUICC (8xx) and more recently PowerQUICC II (82xx) or equivalent processors, gaining capacity/bandwidth through faster cores and higher integration. This ascent to full compute-peer CPUs, armed with abundant RAM, ROM, Ethernet, and MMU-equipped processors, and the descent of data plane operations into specialized communications engines and network processors, meant that the lowly line card could now run a "real" operating system (OS) like Linux, with bandwidth to spare for complex control and management tasks.
The overall transition is dramatic. Many Central Office applications now run on Linux-based IA-32 servers, made robust and highly available with "carrier-grade" Linux implementations. Front-end, access, and client devices are now as likely to build on IBM 4xx PowerPC, Intel IXP, and various MIPS processors.
Network client devices and enterprise routers, switches, gateways and access points have evolved similarly in the same period. Once dominated by custom ASICs, highly proprietary 16-bit processors, and low-end MIPS designs, they are now as likely to boast the very same high-integration COTS CPUs. Linux, for its part, is successfully ousting proprietary embedded OSes from these voice and data nodes, and now offers CPU coverage that equals and surpasses traditional RTOSes in breadth and depth. In handsets, the action revolves around ARM CPUs.
More backing
Convergence among voice and data is creating a new vs. old split in protocols. To support existing infrastructure, Linux-based communications designs need traditional protocol support SS7, ISDN and ATM while newer pure IP designs demand requisite VoIP support.
Finding support for protocol stacks and underlying drivers presents some unique challenges to developers leveraging Linux as well as for embedded Linux platform vendors that market to and support those developers. While developers may choose embedded Linux for its strong core IP networking, they often must look to independent Open Source projects or to proprietary ISVs for specialized protocols. Even when the Linux kernel includes native support, they may need an ISV for comprehensive, standards-compliant stackware.
A good example lies in the Open Source implementation of the ATM family of protocols. While relatively few new designs get built on ATM, Linux is winning new spins of legacy designs using ATM fabric, as with use of key ATM-family protocols, such as LANE or AAL in broadband access. As it turns out, developers can leverage Linux kernel support for an interesting subset of ATM, including raw ATM ("AAL0"), AAL5, IPoATM (NULL/SNAP), ATMARP (RFC1577), Arequipa (Application REQuested IP over ATM), LAN Emulation, LANE 2, and ANS.
Even if a subset of a given protocol family is sufficient, device OEMs may still need to turn to ISVs such as Hughes Software, IPinfusion, Intoto, NextHop and Trillium since Linux vendors don't necessarily support every feature of the Linux kernel, and to specialized hardware vendors (like Interphase) for NICs and device drivers.
Communications systems developers, like other embedded designers, crave both raw network throughput and deterministic response to events. Embedded Linux offers both, but delivers performance differently than legacy RTOS products.
Linux networking is often cited as a "gold standard," in that the OS offers comprehensive core IP networking and high throughput. As with any OS, Linux networking delivers on this promise best for its most mature implementations (such as IA-32, PowerPC, and MIPS) with stable, optimized network device drivers.
The other area of concern to developers is real-time responsiveness. While market studies reveal that at least 90% of respondents are satisfied with Linux real-time performance, many applications in networking and elsewhere still need certain response guarantees. While Linux makes no pretense of delivering RTOS-like determinism, its performance is impressive for a General-Purpose OS (GPOS).
Line cards and various client devices of old featured 16/32 bit processors that either carried limited EPROM resources on-board or used network fabric and backplane resources to boot and run from remote code images. For on-board storage, code images were limited to scarce ROM and available address spaces on 68K, 80C186, and other classic line-card CPUs. Leveraging more plentiful remote stores, like hard drives on shelf/system controllers, solved the space issue but presented bottlenecks when racks of hundreds or thousands of line cards needed to boot at the same time.
Today's better-provisioned line cards and blades, based on 32/64 bit CPUs, leverage more massive on-board stores and faster fabric-based network boot options. Resource-rich Linux presents memory footprints several times larger than legacy RTOS kernels, but offers far greater functionality in that footprint.
Proponents across the embedded space cite the inherent synergy among embedded, desktop and server versions of Linux as proof positive that Linux will continue to build on its impressive gains in embedded networking. Linux upgrades embedded devices from the status of "poor relations" to full peers of enterprise systems, and assures the rapid migration of new technologies from desktop and server into embedded and vice versa.
TEMs, NEPs, and the carriers they support seek to emphasize their own value-add and simplify their infrastructure expenditures by building on a single common platform. While Microsoft promotes the same end-to-end vision, only Linux has been able to deliver simultaneously on servers and embedded devices, while cutting the training and design and deployment costs of formerly divergent efforts.
Even as this troubled telecommunications sector continues to downsize, it is also optimizing, most visibly by building to deliver its next generation products on Linux and Open Source.


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Back by popular demand, here is my oh-so-yummy apple pie recipe, just in time for your holiday festivities!
I think the secret to making the perfect apple pie comes down to 2 very important things-
1. Homemade butter crust
2. Lots of ooey gooey brown sugar
Aside from these two things, of course the apples and only the best ingredients will make your pie the best tasting. Using either Rome, Empire or Red Delicious apples are always the best, so don't use just any old apple.
So, I thought in the spirit of Christmas, I'd share my apple pie recipe. It's evolved a bit over the years, because I used to make it with a top layer of crust, but have since done away with that, thanks to my father who once asked me to make it with a brown sugar crumble top. I gave it a whirl, and have been doing that way ever since.
Here's my recipe below, but I will admit, I'm not big on measuring. My preference is to "taste my way" through the process!
Pie Filling:
- 2-3 lbs of Rome, Empire or Red Delicious apples. (I lean more toward 3 lbs for a nice hearty pie)
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/2- 1 cup of brown sugar (the more the better!)
- Juice of 1/2 of a lemon
- 3-4 tablespoons of flour
- Cinnamon (optional)
Pie Crust:
- 1 stick of cold butter (taken right out of the fridge– it should be very cold)
- 1 cup of flour
- a few tablespoons of water with ice cubes (this should also be very cold)
(An important aspect to a perfect butter crust is to make sure the butter and water are very cold)
Crumb Top:
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 1/2 stick butter
- about 3 tablespoons of flour
Prepare the crust:
1. Place 1 cup of flour in large bowl and cut 1/4 inch slices of 1 stick of butter into bowl. With your fingers break up the butter and blend into the flour until the mixture resembles corn meal.
2. Add a small amount of the cold water into the mixture, working the dough with your hands. Keep adding very small amounts of the water until the dough stops sticking. Form into a flat disk, and cover with clear wrap or place in a baggie. Place in freezer for about 5 minutes to chill.
3. While the crust is chilling, peel, core and slice the apples. Place into a large bowl and add a sqeeze of lemon so the apples do not brown. Add the sugars, flour and cinnamon. Mix until combined.
4. Grease a 9 inch pie pan. When crust is chilled, place it on a floured surface and carefully roll out into a circle. It should be slightly larger than the pan, and be careful not to crack the dough. If that happens, add a touch of water and re-roll. Shape crust into pan, and cut excess dough off with scissors, or if you want to get fancy, make "bear claws," which I especially love to do.
5. Prepare the topping by placing 3-4 tbs of flour and 1/2 cup of brown sugar into bowl, and cut in butter the same way as for pie crust. (see picture to the left) When the topping resembles corn meal, it's ready. Drizzle on top of pie. Place a few pats of butter on top, place pie on cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Serve warm of course, and to add even more decadence, some vanilla Häagen-Dazs on the side will put a smile on everyone's face!
Happy Holidays!


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¼ cup butter
⅔ cup milk
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix (1¼ oz.)
2½ cups mashed potato flakes
1 lb. ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup barbecue sauce
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 medium tom
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text: The Key to the Fingerboard - Mr. Karr would you teach me How to Drive a Double Bass - Lesson No. 8 - YouTube Michael Klinghoffer presents a series of video lessons based on his book entitled: "Mr. Karr Would You Teach Me How to Drive a Double Bass" Mr. Klinghoffer studied under Maestro Gary Karr and has developed the book and video series based on Karr's techniques. This lesson series is great for both the beginner and the advanced bassist looking to improve their own technique. On a personal note, I've started with Lesson 1 myself and have been very pleased with it so far.


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The NYPD and forensic specialists from the medical examiner's office are back searching for evidence at the site of the former SoHo bodega where a man allegedly confessed to killing 6-year-old Etan Patz more than 30 years ago.
Detectives from the NYPD's crime scene unit and missing persons squad, along with the medical examiner's forensic anthropology experts, arrived just after 10 a.m. at the Prince Street location they've been searching for the past few months in connection with the child's long unsolved disappearance.
A high-ranking member of the Manhattan district attorney's office was also at the scene. The authorities wrapped up their search for the day shortly before 1 p.m.
Friday marks the second time this week detectives returned to the basement area where suspect Pedro Hernandez, a stock clerk at the former bodega in the 1970s, allegedly told investigators he killed Patz.
Friday's search is a follow-up to other searches police have conducted at the location in hopes of finding forensic evidence that could place either Patz or Hernandez in the basement.
Police were last there Wednesday, when they removed items from the basement location. Those items, including hair, fiber and a book, are being analyzed by a police lab.
Sources familiar with the investigation said they didn't expect anything recovered in Wednesday's search to yield any clues to assist the investigation.
Hernandez was arrested in May after he allegedly told police he killed Patz 33 years ago in the basement of the bodega. He had also made claims to members of his New Jersey church group back in the 1980s that he once had harmed a child in New York City.
So far, police have not found any physical evidence to substantiate those claims. Investigators have been searching the basement for anything that could help corroborate Hernandez's confession.
Patz vanished in SoHo in 1979 as he walked to the corner to catch his bus to school.
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Learning How to Use My Nikon D3200 in Manual Mode [PHOTOS]
Do you remember the first day you started a new job? Everything was so confusing, you felt like you were never going to understand what this person was trying to tell you. I remember my first day in radio and David Crawford was explaining traffic to me, and clocks and logs and scheduling. My head was spinning. It took me several weeks to figure out what the heck he was talking about.
It feels the same way today while I'm learning how to take photos with my new Nikon D3200 in manual mode. There's ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, White Balance, fast, slow, high, low. It's VERY confusing to say the least.


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Legal Question in Family Law in Kansas
My ex-husband is in the National Guard. He has just informed me that 5 out of the next 7 months, his monthly weekend training falls on his weekend with our daughter. He refuses to take her or find any other option on those weekends, and will in turn only be seeing her once a month for 4 months straight at one point. Since our parenting plan says that he take her every other weekend, do I have any say in this, or are my hands tied? Is there nothing I can do but sit back and watch him come and go as he pleases?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The short answer is no, your hands are not tied. The parenting plan is supposed to be followed. A motion to enforce parenting time may be filed where an existing parenting plan is not being properly followed. A motion to modify parenting time may be filed where a parent seeks to change the current parenting time arrangements in the best interest of the child.
The other side to this question is the reality that you will need to consider what it is worth to you to enforce the parenting plan as it currently exists or what you are willing to do to pursue having it changed. If the issue is really just something you will have to deal with over the next four months it may very well not be worth the trouble of enforcing the agreement. However, if your ex-husband's behavior is part of a larger pattern of not complying with the parenting plan, then it might be worth taking some action. For me to give you a more thorough evaluation of your situation I would be happy to provide a free consultation. My phone number is (785)274-9040.


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Inject is program which can generate, inject and withdraw BGP routes, with a primary focus on network testing. It supports route and peer flapping, generation of random routes with (pseudo) random BGP attributes via a Cisco like CLI. Other features include a configuration file based on XML, test cases, help functions, and displaying of peer and route information.
RayHttp is a PHP class that provides an HTTP client for sending requests to Web servers. It can configure and send HTTP GET and POST requests using the Curl extension or PHP file access functions. When using the Curl extension, all Curl options may be set changing a class array variable.
W-Meter is a tool for testing the conformance and evaluating the performance of 802.11 products. The tool is meant for injecting arbitrary frames to test the conformance of any wifi product. The tool has templates for generating various kinds of frames which can be customized for generation of specific frames. The tool can be used to elicit responses from other wifi cards to check the conformance of the card to the protocol. At present, 802.11g frames are completed.
mod_asn is an Apache module that uses BGP routing data to look up the autonomous system (AS) and the network prefix (subnet) which contains a given (client's) IP address. mod_asn is highly scalable. To do lookups in high-speed, it uses the PostgreSQL ip4r datatype, which is indexable with a Patricia Trie algorithm to store network prefixes. This is the most suitable algorithm, being able to search through around 250,000 existing prefixes quickly. mod_asn is usable as a standalone module, and the lookup result can be used by scripts or other Apache modules. For instance, a download redirector could base its decisions on the lookup result provided by mod_asn.


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John Namey, a man from Sarver, Pennsylvania, woke up on July 5 to find a swastika had been burned into the grass of his front lawn, reports WPXI Channel 11.
"It's a hateful thing. There is no place for that in this world, but unfortunately some people thrive on putting others down," Namey told WPXI.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Namey's family has been the target of a hateful attack. A few days earlier, his stepson's truck had been vandalized. Coins were super glued to the hood in the form of a derogatory image and pink paint had been splattered over the vehicle. Namey believes the reason his family is being routinely targeted is because his 16-year-old daughter is an out lesbian and has also been targeted in school as a result.
The crimes are now being investigated by the Buffalo Township police and the FBI has offered their assistance as well.
Namey described his family's attackers as "ignorant and uneducated" and had a message for anyone who would attack another person because they are different. "Grow up. Let people be who they are," Namey said. "Don't judge people based on race or sexual orientation. Everybody is different. Just let people live their lives and be happy."


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In two different interviews, Bo Caldwell explains how being diagnosed with stage one breast cancer affected her approach to completing City of Tranquil Light, and she answers questions about the inspiration for her novel - her grandparents' lives as missionaries in China.
This page includes two interviews with Bo Caldwell and a letter she wrote on her experience writing City of Tranquil Light. In the video Q&A below, she explains how being diagnosed with stage one breast cancer affected her approach to completing City of Tranquil Light, and in the written interview she answers questions about the inspiration for her novel - her grandparents' lives as missionaries in China.
A Video Q&A with Bo Caldwell
In Conversation with Bo Caldwell, Author of City of Tranquil LightIt's been nearly ten years since your first novel, The Distant Land of My Father, was published. What took you so long?
On Writing City of Tranquil Light by Bo CaldwellWhen I began writing City of Tranquil Light, I was jumping ship. I had been working on a novel I knew nothing about save that it was set in London in 1953 and that it told the story of an American couple who move there after losing a child. The choice of a specific time and place was the result of my first novel, which was my first try at historical fiction. I had found I loved writing with the parameters of a historical setting, and I wanted to do it again. Never mind the fact that I didn't know what the story was.
Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. This interview may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the copyright holder.
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Christina Fights Against Domestic Violence
Christina definitely seems to have her stuff together these days. It could have gone the other way considering she had a very rough childhood. She has spoken in the past of coming from an abusive home. She even wrote about the time her father threw her against a set of stairs in the song, I'm Okay. She went through her dirrty stage but now she's cleaned up and stronger than ever. She's even trying to help other victims of domestic violence. Here's highlights:
On her homelife:
"I was brought up in a household of chaos and I never felt stable at home. At a really young age, I decided I was never going to feel helpless, I was never going to feel weak around a man, and I was never going to rely on anyone. Independence was a big, big thing for me. I saw my voice as a way out - when my parents fought, I'd run up to my room, put on The Sound of Music, open the window and sing out. My voice was my escape."
On her work with victims of domestic violence:
"I work very closely with a shelter near Pittsburgh. One day I hope to open a shelter of my own. I think it's really important to share my own story with women who've been abused, because going through that experience has lead me to where I am today: It's given me the strength and motivation to be the best that I can be."
It's great that she's taken something so painful in her own life and used it as a motivation to help others. For the whole article just


text: Anyone know of a simple organizer app to keep track of books that you've read? I used to have a group in my contacts called strangely "books" on my BB storm. In the notes section I could keep an unlimited amount of information. Now on my Fascinate the notes section is limited and unusable for my needs. Thanks, Dave.


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Mariah Carey's career has been all over the place. First she was riding high,
then everyone realized her music was wanting for any general quality,
and then everyone forgot they didn't like her and liked her again.
Her career hasn't just been singing either, she's also an actress. She was in that over-the-top flop Glitter, and she's appeared in tons of porn flicks. Oh wait…that wasn't her in the porn…that was someone named Mary Carey, but you see where the confusion can come in, right?
Well so does Mariah Carey, and she's pissed. That's why singer
is suing the pants off the skin-flicktress (maybe literally)…because
her performance name is way too similar to Mariah's own.
Mariah Carey is suing Mary Carey, a porn star with a name a little too close for comfort as far as the songstress is concerned. hecklerspray
believes it entirely possible that the porn star doesn't like the
similarity either, as she doesn't want to be compared to a mediocre
singer apparently fond of boring middle America to the point of tears.
Of the lawsuit, the porn-stress says:
"It's kind of funny because I'm a porn star and I've
been being myself for a long time. I think she's being silly…I'm
ready to battle Mariah over this because I've been Mary Carey for a
long time."
While the porn star's lawyer said:
"My first thought was, does Mariah Carey realize what
her lawyer is comparing her to and are they seriously concerned? Do
they seriously think the fans are going to be confused?"
Sounds serious, doesn't it? Lawsuits always do. With Mariah apparently
taking impostors so seriously, we just hope she doesn't find out we
just insured our legs for 1 billion dollars, want to make a Glitter II, and have hired someone solely to keep our skirts from touching the floor.
Yes, sometimes we wear skirts. Once you get used to it, that weird pendulum motion they allow is pretty darn soothing.
Read More:
Can Mariah Carey win her porn trademark battle? – itwire.com.au


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Decorative magnets in the nature of various interchangeable magnetic shapes which allow users to position the magnetic shapes on a magnetically receptive surface to create artwork
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Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, hello. I can actually clear off the counter now while I count to 60 as you mix for me... methinks I've opened to a new world.
These little golden toasted almond sables lightly adapted from Heidi who lightly adapted it from Alice, were the first thing I made with the famous machine newly slotted in the back corner of my counter where I am able to slide it at its will forward when it calls for usage.
The method: I creamed salted Irish butter and organic cane sugar along with vanilla and sea salt, threw in toasted, finely chopped almonds, then blended in a mix of both whole wheat pastry and all purpose flours, swirled in a handful of diced golden raisins, chilled the ball of dough overnight then rolled it out and stamped shapes with, not, I'm afraid with a vintage cookie cutter, but with the twist of the top of a spice jar. Which happens to be the perfect small circle size I like cookies.
I love how they nicely crisped around the edges and maintained a buttery base while delivering that nice nuttiness of whole wheat. Very nice browning is possible here without burning if you keep your eye on the oven as they finish up. You're going for color. And, even after halving this one from the original (because, well, I still get a bit frugal about using 2 sticks of butter in the same baking extravaganza) I still ended up with two jars of cookies on my counter. I mean, they are small little things, but since they're shortbread, they'll be good for a week. The bonus of the eggless cookie : )
The delicate whole wheat combined with the deeply toasted almonds gives the flavor a toasted sandy nuttiness. And that phrase quite reminds me of being a child and always wanting a Good Humor Toasted Almond Crunch ice cream bar. You see, even then I had a thing for toasted, chopped nuts. And now I put them in everything--salads, cookies, yogurt, you name it.
So if you're looking for that perfect, sandy afternoon cookie without delving into the chocolate realm, a few of these alongside a little milky, honeyed black tea just might make your day. xo MN
Toasted Almond Whole Wheat Sables
1/2 c (1 stick) salted good butter (I used Kerrygold), softened (left out for about an hour)
1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/4 c sugar
1/8 t fine sea salt
3 T toasted, finely chopped almonds
1/4 c finely chopped raisins (or whole currants)
1/2 t vanilla extract
Larger grain sugar for sprinkling
In a medium bowl, sift the flours together and set aside.
In a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, salt and vanilla for about a minute until creamy, then add the almonds and give it a light stir. Add the flour and mix until barely combined. (I just briefly used the mixer stir setting and really watched it). Add the raisins and stir again until just incorporated.
Scrape dough into a ball, dump onto a piece of plastic, shape into a round patty, and tightly wrap. Refrigerate at least a few hours or overnight.
15 minutes before you're ready for baking, take out your dough. Preheat oven to 350, position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven, line sheet pans with parchment.
Roll the dough out 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured counter top, cut into desired shapes. You can re-roll scraps. Just place the dough in the freezer for a moment if you find it getting melty. Cold is important. Line the pans with the cookies about an inch apart, sprinkle each with a tiny pinch of larger-grain sugar, and place the trays in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Bake 13-15 minutes until edges are golden and crisping. Watch the color. Rotate the sheets about 9 minutes in. I changed the back to front angle and switched the top and bottom racks. Let cool on the tray 2 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in jars.


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Thiara Rhudene Moreland Calhoun, 77, of 5511 Commerce St. died Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2001.
A native of Carroll County, Mrs. Calhoun was a daughter of the late Newton and Lottie Bell Moreland and was the widow of J.C. Calhoun.
Services will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Emanuel United Pentecostal Church, Nicholson, with the Rev. Jerry Wheeler officiating. The body will be placed in the church at 1:30 p.m. Burial will be in East Lawn Memorial Cemetery.
Survivors include four daughters, Maxine Wright, Athens, Retanza Wheeler, Cartersville, Pamela Calhoun, Ila, and Carolyn Turner, Commerce; five sons, Rufus Calhoun, Decatur, Donnie Calhoun, Macon, Victor Calhoun and Ricky Calhoun, both of Ila, and Dexter Calhoun, Commerce; two sisters, Mildred Hammitt and Miriam Barringer, both of Dayton, Ohio; three brothers, James Moreland and Tommy Moreland, both of Dayton, and Orville Moreland, Canton, Ohio; 20 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Jackson-McWhorter Funeral Home, Athens, has charge of arrangements.
Athens Daily News, Friday, Feb. 23, 2001
This article published in the Athens Daily News on Friday, February 23, 2001.
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Poultry rule under pressure
Members of Congress are urging Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to rescind new rule for poultry slaughter.
MeatPoultry.com, 3/18/2014
by Meat&Poultry Staff
WASHINGTON – The US Department of Agriculture's plan to modernize poultry inspection has gained more detractors. At least 60 members of Congress added their names to a letter dated March 17 and addressed to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urging him to suspend action on the new poultry processing rule.
The Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection rule would allow company employees in most poultry slaughter plants to check eviscerated carcasses for visual defects such as bruising and sorting out those that are unlikely to pass federal inspection. A single federal inspector would be stationed at the end of the line, just before the chill tank, to conduct a final visual inspection. Additionally, plants would be permitted to run their evisceration lines at higher speeds than allowed by the existing inspection systems.
The Modernization of Poultry Slaughter Inspection rule builds on the HACCP-based Inspection Models Program (HIMP), a pilot program that has been running at 20 plants since 1998. USDA said HIMP plants perform as well, or better than, other plants in terms of reducing contamination of poultry carcasses by pathogens.
of the new rule, including some members of Congress, have raised concerns that USDA hasn't given enough consideration to the rule's potential impact on food safety, worker safety and animal welfare, among other issues. In their letter to Vilsack, the members of Congress expressed grave concerns that the new rule could undermine food safety and animal welfare policies.
"We must improve poultry inspection and reduce contamination from pathogens associated with poultry such as
. However, it is unclear whether FSIS's poultry slaughter proposal will actually reduce illness rates; in fact, there is evidence that rates may increase."
The letter also noted a "connection between humane treatment and food safety". The rule would allow poultry slaughter companies to increase line speeds, but "faster line speeds also cause more birds to bypass backup slaughter devices and enter the scalding tank alive", the letter states.
However, in defense of the new poultry slaughter rule industry stakeholders have argued, for example, that faster line speeds wouldn't occur overnight — plants would need to install new systems to achieve the new maximum line speeds.
Additionally, the National Chicken Council and US Poultry & Egg Association have refuted claims that the new rule would jeopardize
worker safety
Also, other members of Congress have written to Vilsack in support of the new slaughter inspection rule. A letter to Vilsack dated Dec. 12 noted that "...the peer-reviewed risk assessment included in the proposed rule demonstrates that at least 5,000 foodborne illnesses would be prevented if the poultry inspection system were modernized. Additionally, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) projects that almost $80 million in health care costs would be saved on an annual basis by preventing foodborne illnesses."


text: I've saved the Showdown info from past years because I kinda covered everything in it, soooo here it is again. Vendors, your passes will be on the way in the next couple of weeks at the latest. Consider vendor registration closed at this point. CAMPING The camping has always be set up for the HOT RODDERS that come a long distance to the show. That was also the reason it was always free. As with most shows that get bigger over time you have to make adjustments. Because Latimore is so open it is hard to control who gets in and out of the property, this is why we decided to make the camping $20 per camper or tent site (not per person). We had some small incidents last year that I just do not want to deal with. This show is about the CARS! I dont care about your party & I will not let it ruin our show. I think everyone knows me well enough that I will not bother you if you respect the property & your camping neighbors. If I get called to your site, it is time to start packing!! We will also have a police presence this year. I dont want to give the impression that we had any real problem last year...I DO want to give the impression that we will NOT have one this year! Handle yourself like an adult...easy enough. If you have furniture that usually sits on your porch at home, leave it there. It is a one day car show, you do not need to bring furniture to it. Ive gotten a LOT of help from the full time museum member campers. I was up this week and met with Perry who is going to head up the parking/camping group. He has about 30-35 people to help you with parking & camping. They will be wearing orange vests & patrolling 24 hours. People with HOT RODS will get the closest & best camping we can provide. People without cars will be farther away. We do the best we can with the limited space at the fairgrounds, and like I said camping was for the people that drive from a long distance to come to the show & support the museum. We will have the usual fancy porta-pots from the front to the back of the property ROCKET RIDE, MUSEUM BUS, SHUTTLES We will have a pick up drop off for all three just across the bridge in the parking /camping area at the small pavilion. Shuttles should run through the parking area all day moving people in & out. It is only a short walk from there to the infield. We are hoping this helps with the track crossing issues. If you have a handicapped sticker we have some parking by the infield gate. INFIELD As always, the infield is reserved for traditional styled, non-billet hot rods. Yeah, I know there is a percentage of horrible rat rod types that get in, but it is a small percentage and the cars seem to get better every year. Dont waste the gate guys time by debating if your car should get it...dont like their decision, just leave. Or you can park and still have a big time at the show...up to you. If you show up at 10 or 11, trust me, the infield will be full! Also the once you are in, you stay in until you are finished deal we did with the cars last year really helped with the track crossing downtime, so it stays this year. Once your car leaves the infield, there is NO RE-ENTRY of the car for the day! Yes, you can walk back in. Also no go carts, mini bikes, tractors, 3,4 or 6 wheelers, or golf carts on the property, it is just toooo crowded. Still no pets, no bottles. The new restrooms are working! Please be kind to them. ; ) THURSDAY/FRIDAY Well be there Thursday getting some things ready. You are welcome to come in Thursday but do not get too situated in a space until you talk to one of us about where you are located (see CAMPING). Friday VENDORS can get in their space AROUND NOON. Please have your space # card in the window & wrist bands we sent you on. The pre-registration has really streamlined the vendor deal for us. Vendors please remember that the spaces are 10 wide. Make sure your canopy & car/trailer will fit or be prepared to work it our with your neighbor! Remember, like a Carlisle spot, 10 wide 30 deep. You can camp in your vendor space, but will also have to pay the extra $20 to camp. The BBQ guys will be at the show Friday & Saturday. DiDi Deluxe & the Dirty Devils will play Friday from around 6-9 PM. The Museum will also be open extended hours, 10 AM to 9 PM Friday. Be sure to see the new drag race section & addition!! Kim will be selling shirts & posters as we did last year. WE will also set up a table where you can get your wrist band paid & bring your car by for a window sticker IF it should be on the infield, should save us all some time Saturday morning. We'll shut the infield down & close the gates after the band finishes. SATURDAY We'll start letting people in when I get enough help to do it! We will park you on the infield. Try to come in with your group & we'll try to keep everyone together if you let them know. Metal Shapers will be here all day, jump in and bend some tin! Bands: 10:30- 11:30 DiDi Deluxe & the Dirty Devils, 12:15 noon to 1:30 Diamondheads, 2:30- 3:45 Garnet Hearts Noon, Track Time Drivers Meeting & my Ten Year Gettysburg Showdown Address at the Starter Stand Track time shortly after. PLEASE DO NOT WALK ACROSS TRACK DURING THE TRACK TIME. Go to the 4th turn infield entrance and cross there. I know it's a long way around, but as always an insurance problem. We will ask you to leave if you cannot follow this rule. Only photographers with a pass will be allowed on/near the track during track time (see me). We will have to limit track time to hot rods, customs & 1/2 ton pick ups. The bigger trucks do not work for our insurance company, sorry! That's it, same as always, just seems like a lot when it is laid out this way. Respect our/your neighbors, clean up after yourself, no burn outs leaving, and watch out for cops when you are on Rt. 15...we'll have another great year. Thanks for supporting the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing!! Feel free to camp until Sunday.


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Palm Beach
Glenn Close Leaves Wellington; Rabbits Relieved!
Actress Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons) sold the townhouse she's owned in Wellington since 2004, and left town.
According to real estate records, the movie star actually made a few bucks on the sale of the 2,000-square-foot, three-bed, three-bath crib at the Equestrian Club Estates. On the paperwork, she listed her address as 610 West End Avenue, New York City.
— Click here for the Gossip Extra gallery of celebrities' homes
Close bought in Wellington for $530,000 so that her daughter, Annie Starke, 23, could train and compete in show jumping. Starke's interests have now switched to acting on Broadway.
So Close sold the place to Texas equestrian Becky Gochman, for $540,000. She wanted $575,000.
Close, 64, whose disturbed character in the 1987 flick Fatal Attraction famously boiled Michael Douglas' pet rabbit, had become a fixture on Antique Row, the stretch of South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach with world-class antique stores.


text:
All quotes by Donna Jaegers
(14 quotes found)
"For Level 3, this helps their wholesale positioning because they can sell more to carriers if they can deliver it all the way to that customer's doorstep."
"Level 3 is trying to consolidate the small players, trying to amass enough local scale so they don't have to build everything (from scratch)."
"If this works for Level 3, this is a real turning point. This really gives them a good footprint in the mid-Atlantic and the Southeast."
"It shows it's not just running after (just) any customer. The future trend is pretty positive but I don't expect any major moves in the share price."