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A friend of mine remarked the other day that the owner of a local cafe gallery (popular here in Japan) had made the observation that there's been a decline in gallery sales this year – as she saw it as a result of the decluttering mania that is sweeping the nation with its emphasis on reducing how much you own.
By this estimation it would seem that the concept of "decluttering" has turned into something akin to "downsizing," and that in this new wave of minimalism the precedence is given to things that can define their value in terms of efficacy, practicality, function and utility; leaving little room for anything else.
I have no idea if she is correct in her estimation or not, but if she is I think she's put her finger on something of a misapprehension; not so much a "misunderstanding" as an "incomplete understanding" of what "danshari" (decluttering) is really all about.
According to my (admittedly somewhat subjective) understanding, removing the clutter from your life and then reorganising what is left are only the initial steps in the decluttering process.
It doesn't stop there. Rather the space you have created by removing the things you no longer want or need opens up the arena for something different to come into your life; presumably something that – to use Marie Kondo's words – sparks joy.
Now once again I'm advancing an entirely subjective opinion but, for me, things that are designed with only function and utility in mind rarely succeed in sparking joy.
Take my rice cooker and bread maker, for example. They're wonderful inventions which I'm delighted to own because they serve a useful function in my life. But I don't feel my heart being uplifted with joy when my gaze alights on them. (A fact which, admittedly, says a lot about the high standard of living we pretty much take for granted in first world countries).
I'm grateful for them (and other such modern conveniences) and the way they contribute to the ease and richness of my life. But the objects in and of themselves don't have the power to gladden my heart and make my day. Any spark of joy they produce comes from the function they perform, rather than some quality intrinsic to themselves.
Things that combine function, utility and a pleasing aesthetic can sometimes instigate that elusive spark of joy – take my recently acquired MacBook Air for a start.
Now you must understand that I'm not a person who is particularly interested in technology. While most people of a similar age here in Japan are decked out with smartphones, digital TVs, tablets and other such phenomena of the digital age, I am content, for now, to use my old "garakei" mobile phone until it gives out on me and the only TV in my house is an analog one, kept in case I want to watch a DVD.
I do, however, extol the virtues of computers and the Internet – both of which are essential features of my working and personal life. Having spent years deliberating whether to stay with Windows or opt for a Mac, at the end of last year I finally decided I would never be able to make an informed decision without at least trying a Mac.
Now, as I mentioned, I'm not really into technology as it goes; but when I opened the box and saw the beautifully streamlined design of my new computer… Well, there was a spark of joy that quite surprised me in its intensity.
And now we're getting closer to the truth of it; for me personally the objects in my life that spark joy are the ones that are, to my mind and eyes, beautiful.
Some of them combine attractiveness with utility; the Mac laptop is not only beautiful to look at but also pleasing to use. I'm also rather fond of the bamboo chest of drawers that one of my friends gave me from her mum's old place which now contains my bath products; the hardly-30-centimetres-square small but elegant table that stands in my "genkan" (hall) – perfectly placed to hold a vase and a flower plucked as I walk my dog in anticipation of guests; and the simple white teapot that sits in my kitchen and is used every day, its gentle curves creating a pleasing graciousness of form.
Noticing these things as I walk through my days – the way they stamp their identity on the space; the way they interact with the room they're in and the other objects in it to create a sense of a unified whole which turns the space I live into from "a house" into "my home" – gives me a sense of pleasure and a very real sense of belonging that uplifts; sparks joy.
But the things that spark the most joy?
Well, they tend to be the non-essential embellishments that are beautiful to look at and expressive of who I am, but are not really necessary in strictly functional terms.
I went through my own "danshari" process last year, (if you like you can read more about it here and here), and as I released years and years of clutter from my life and living space it was of the greatest importance to me that the space I created anew was one of beauty; one that evoked in me a response of joy.
I wanted to create a living space which reflects the essence of who I am, expressing my unique ideals of beauty – both in the way the space is laid out and in the objects with which I choose to surround myself. A living space that would uplift and enliven me, support me in being the best version of myself that I can be.
So what are these beauty-giving objects in my life that uplift my heart and expand my joy?
Well, there's the candle holder I made that lay unused for years but now sits in pride of place on my kitchen table; its subtle off-white slip and the ash glaze's tender green making it an attractive centrepiece whether it has candles in it or not.
There's the one of a kind wall vase – for want of a better word – that looks somewhat similar to a partly rolled narrow scroll hanging on the wall and holds just enough water to sustain a wild flower for the best part of a day.
There's the traditional blue and white tie-dyed "noren" (a piece of fabric often hung in doorways in Japan) that delineates the line between my kitchen (personal space) and the hall (the "public" space where I welcome guests) with a singular grace that still causes a warmth to spread in my chest, even now years after it was gratefully received from friends who no longer had a use for it.
There's the perfectly imperfect flattened round vase made by a local potter that sits on the chest of drawers in my bedroom, a welcome sight each morning that helps me start my day on an uplifting note of beauty and joy.
And there are the lamps – scattered around the house – joy-giving in the softness of the light they impart, as well as in the attractiveness of their well-crafted forms.
Most of these joy-giving objects in my life are quite small and easily overlooked. It has been my experience that although a few of the visitors to my house notice these things and the particular quality of beauty they impart, many more pass them by failing to notice they are there. If asked and forced to answer honestly they would call my old house in various stages of disrepair far from beautiful.
But to me these things and the way they are arranged in the space give the place I live in a beauty all of its own.
Many of them also have personal meaning for me, combining beauty with a deeper significance in the fabric of my life.
There's the picture of a mother and baby elephant that I carried carefully cradled in my arms through two more countries and then safely home to Japan from Laos. Bought from a local artist with talent bigger than the town or village in which he was born, a beautiful reminder of a wondrous time and place.
There are the various lace and patchwork items my mother has made for me her only daughter; each stitch a symbol of her love.
There are stones and driftwood I've found on beaches and by rivers, and various shapes and sizes of pinecones and feathers I've discovered in my path.
All of these things add to the beauty of my surroundings and, in doing so, they incomparably enrich my days.
I've always been a lover of beauty. I remember as a child ornaments lined the top of my bookcase and the window ledge, the only available surfaces in my room.
When I first moved into this big, old house I took delight in creating a beautiful and welcoming feel – covering unsightly walls with throws, placing carefully chosen objects around. These things were still in place, but over the years I'd managed to accumulate an excessive amount of things and much of the sense of beauty was lost as the objects I'd so carefully placed lost their significance submerged in the sea of stuff.
As I progressively peeled back the layers of clutter and refined my space through my clearing process, the beauty reemerged. I began to delight in my living space again and this brought me moments of a pure and quiet joy.
Like many people who find themselves on the spiritual path, my year of space clearing coincided with a period of energetic clearing. The emerging beauty in my living space was a healing balm to my spirit as I went through what felt like a dark night of the soul – it was both a tangible representation of my own healing process and a physical presence that inspired a deeply felt tranquility and calm that supported my healing, assisting my return to wholeness.
In an act laden with symbolic meaning I gave away the plain white bowls that had come from the 100 yen store and that I was in the habit of using most days – knowing they were microwave-safe; unlikely to break and, on the off chance they did, easily replaced…
Out with the practical and convenient but notably uninspiring; in with the joy-giving, life-enriching, far more fragile few pieces of handmade pottery that I'd purchased over the years, one treasured piece at a time.
Purchased and then never used in some cases, waiting for that special occasion…
Well, I decided at some point during that year and more of protracted clearing and extensive healing that every day of my life is a special occasion; every day a day to celebrate the gift of being alive. That not only is it my right, but that I owe it to myself to surround myself with and interact with things that speak to me of beauty and spark my joy.
This is a simple but profound gift that I give to myself each and every day. Deceptively simple. For it is nothing less than a sacred act – when I connect with beauty I connect with my own divine nature, with the divine nature that is in all things.
The conscious creation of beauty in my space is an avowal of self-love, an honouring of myself, a pronouncement of my worthiness.
It is also an action of self-love for, as I surround myself with beauty, it impresses itself on me; inscribes the signature of its harmonic resonance on my cells; edifies me in the process.
Even in the midst of my year of darkness, as I consciously immersed myself in beauty (that of the natural world as well as the pockets of beauty I was creating within my home) I found myself taking on something of its nature. The world within me, doing what comes naturally to it, mirrored the world without and so the stillness, the order, the quietude of the beauty around me became qualities that I unearthed within myself, embodied and integrated into my life.
The simple acts of walking in nature; using cups, plates and bowls that were handmade and held a special significance for me; lighting candles and/or placing a wildflower in a vase to create beauty in my table setting as I ate my meals became a reprieve; rituals that brought some joy and equilibrium back into my life and helped me to know the world I lived in as one of goodness, joy and beauty again; even if that knowing sometimes only lasted for a few short moments.
It was the beauty that I responded to; hand in hand with beauty's capacity to heal goes its ability to draw us wholeheartedly into the present moment. The conscious creation of and interaction with beauty urged me to be more fully engaged in the here and now. Who can look, really look, at a flower, the flame of a candle, and not be drawn into its beauty, forgetting everything else?
We may be complex creatures, but despite the fact that we have the word "bittersweet" in our language our experience in the moment can only be either bitter (characterised by pain and suffering) or sweet (characterised by life-affirming joy). It can never be both at the same time.
The presence of small segments of beauty in my life helped me to create small pockets of "sweet" life-affirming joy in my days; my absorption in the here and now beauty in front of my eyes releasing me from my pain if only for a while.
Beauty's unique ability to bring us fully into the present also helped me to ground and, in doing so, to come back to myself; to know, as the beauty without was mirrored as harmony within, myself as a calm and centered presence again. In those dark days when I'd lost sight of myself as anything other than fragmented and broken this was a much-needed lifeline; the pockets of beauty I'd created reviving in me the knowing that I was (am) whole.
The same centeredness and a peace and stillness in my heart come about whenever I'm engaged in the active appreciation of beauty, whether the beauty of nature or the consciously created beauty of a physical object or space – a picture, a piece of furniture, a room, a temple, a cathedral, a museum.
I'm stopped in my tracks and brought forcibly into the present. In that moment the things I carry around with me – the worries, the fears, the doubts, the suffering, the pain, the regrets… – ebb away and I find myself suddenly naked without my stories, face to face with the now moment and beauty as a physical presence – one that has the power to heal.
When I am weary or discouraged; tormented by my thoughts; drained of energy after injurious interactions with others, I seek solace in nature.
What I am seeking in part is the healing presence of beauty.
Beauty soothes the troubled mind and quiets the troubled soul.
Beauty replenishes, aligning us with a natural order and harmony that revives, revitalizes, restores.
We have an unfathomable affinity with beauty. It captivates our souls, drawing us in with its mysterious pull.
And beauty, like nothing else, allows us to experience for a fleeting moment a sense of our divinity as, in that moment of surrender, as we lose ourselves in rapture, the grip our ego stories hold over us is loosened and we are free, for that moment, to experience our connection to Source, to know ourselves as one with All That Is.
As we yield to beauty, submerging ourselves in it eyes and senses wide open, beauty yields its offerings to us. We are nourished by it; nurtured back to wholeness; receive into our lives its gifts of peace, calmness, serenity, equilibrium.
This is the transformative power of beauty. Its ability to touch us to the core.
It is a transformative power that I want to consciously harness. If beauty has this power to seep into our heart and cells, to inscribe itself there, to impart its peace and harmony creating a sense of relaxed joy, a tranquility within that mirrors the beauty without and is what we then reflect back out into the world through our interactions with others; then surrounding ourselves with beauty not only enhances our own well-being and joy and enriches our lives, it also empowers us to embody the highest expression of ourselves. It hones our hearts so that we can be more loving and compassionate, more harmonious in the ways we interact with the world. It liberates us from the bindings we have put on ourselves and inspires us to shine more of our light in the world.
Imagine how differently we would think, speak and act if we made a point of consciously nurturing ourselves with beauty; inviting its gifts into our lives.
Imagine what different people we could be and how different – because as each of us transforms the world around us is also inevitably transformed; our light, as it impacts the people around us, changes our corner of the world for the better in some small way – how beautiful our world could be.
When we lay it out like this the advantages of creating more opportunities in our everyday life to interact with and consciously appreciate beauty are persuasive. And there are a multitude of ways in which we can: spending more time in nature; filling our homes with harmonious music and sound; spending an afternoon watching children play; a weekend appreciating art in galleries and museums; enjoying the play of light as it comes through our window and the rich and burnished look it gives to everything it comes into contact with… Beauty is all around us; the opportunities to appreciate it endless.
What I'm choosing to focus on here, (the missing piece to decluttering being the impetus behind this post), is bringing more of the healing presence of beauty into our homes. This really brings beauty into the everyday spaces we inhabit, makes it a part of our day to day life.
Meaningful as this is – and I truly believe that the sheer physical presence of beauty can rejuvenate, inspire harmony, heal – this in and of itself isn't enough if we really want to harness the power of beauty.
The impact that beauty can have on our lives will be determined to a large extent by our capacity to open ourselves up to it, to receive its gifts. Even a living space that is in perfect integrity with our soul will only be able to support us in embodying our highest vision of ourselves if we actively create the time to be present in it, to absorb its vibration and receive its gifts – the "consciously nurturing ourselves with beauty" I mentioned before.
This conscious creation of and appreciation of beauty, though it may require an effort of will at first, soon becomes a labor of love; a pleasure-filled ritual that can create moments of awe and wonder in even the most drab and lacklustre day.
And it's so easy. We don't have to go anywhere, study anything, or ask the advice of anyone in order to be able to start.
We can begin right now, right where we are.
One surface cleared of clutter with a few things attractively arranged on it can make a difference to the feel of a whole room. The same goes for a beautiful picture on the wall, or a single flower placed in a vase.
Pockets of beauty that transform a space, strewing joy and harmony in their wake.
And it oh so doesn't have to be perfect.
However many times I clear it the far corner in my kitchen has a tendency to descend into chaos again as it takes on the overflow from my cupboards, and I have a chair in my living room that I have to take something off practically every time I want to sit on it.
Heck, I have a hole in my wall that's stuffed with newspaper and a dip in the hall floor through which weeds grow every summer.
But my eyes don't linger on these things; they stop instead on the things that captivate my heart, call to it to silently sing with joy.
Notions of beauty aren't constant – my ideal of beauty is without a doubt not minimalistic enough for some people, too simple for others, not colourful enough for many more – and that's kind of the point; all that is required is that you ask your heart and do what "sparks joy" in you.
While notions of beauty may not be constant, its healing and transformative power are.
This is what I encourage you to make space for in your life – decluttering's unsung anthem that has the power to transform both our inner and our outer worlds.
Welcome the gifts of beauty, invite still more of them into your life.


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242237432019-05-20T04:59:25.777-04:00Cranial SoupPeas, carrots, green beans, and gray matter.Apphttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-75646402611288283042009-05-14T02:35:00.001-04:002009-05-14T02:35:56.428-04:00How do you move an entire country?
A number of small island nations are in danger of disappearing, as they sink into the sea due to global warming induced rises in sea level. This is not if, it's when, and it's soon.

These tiny countries need serious help and they need it now.

Over 500,000 people from Bhola Island in Bangladesh permanently lost their homes when half of the island sank in 2005.

The Carteret Islands will be fully submerged by 2015. It's 10,000 residents need a new home now, but their government can't afford to move them off the island.

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Tuvalu will be gone by 2050. Where will its 10,000 residents go? And what will become of its .tv top level domain? GoDaddy is recommending people not to buy one, because the island is sinking. The island needs the revenue generated by the sale of those domain names if they ever hope to be able to afford to buy a chunk of land big enough to relocate. But if the island disappears, there is a good chance that the .tv domain names will disappear with it, leaving anyone that bought one holding something worthless. It's considered a risky investment. The only real reason for buying one of their rather expensive domain names is to help them, not to actually use it.

And speaking of relocation, the UN doesn't recognize climate change as a qualification for official refugee status. This means no official international aid to help these small disappearing countries find a new home, people that are in danger as a direct result of the actions of those living in industrialized nations. Technically, nobody has to take these people in and all countries have the right to turn them away and tell them to go back home to a place that doesn't even exist.

It's our carbon emissions and green house gasses that are responsible for permanently taking away the homelands of all these people and while you may not personally agree with it, it's our collective agreement as industrialized nations, that they be left with no place to go and no help. Think about that the next time you go for a nice leisurely drive.

So what are we going to do with all these people? It's not like they can just buy a chunk of land from private citizens in Texas and set up a new country within the borders of the US. Neither the US or any other country would ever willingly allow something like that.

No country wants to give up any of their land to another country. This fact has been the basis of many wars throughout history. It's seen as a hostile invasion, even if it is attempted peacefully. Look no farther than Israel and the Palestinian conflict if you want to see how it works out in the long term.

 What is the alternative? Split everyone up and scatter them around the world and make them assimilate to living in a new country, destroying everything…their culture, national identity, and perhaps even their native language in the process? That doesn't seem right either.

While I would personally be willing to temporarily take in one of the displaced families and help them adjust to their new life in a new country, I know in my heart this isn't what is best for them.

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Whatever solution we come up with better happen soon, because we don't have time to waste. The islands are sinking and their residents need our help.
 Apphttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-88251138040783824442008-06-12T10:30:00.004-04:002008-12-11T02:24:14.575-05:00I survived the Bad Storm In Northern New Jersey
On Tuesday night (June 10) we had an incredible storm here, in the Nutley, NJ area.

My husband was watching the Lakers game, I was on the computer (as usual), and my daughter was in the shower.

Right around half-time, the heatwave we were having ended when a violent storm rolled in, the worst in over 20 years, with heavy rain, hurricane force winds, dangerous lightning, and hail. Some say it was golf ball sized hail, I don't really know. All I know is that it sounded like we were under attack, with 1000's of children throwing rocks at all of our windows. I was so afraid the windows were going to break, especially the two skylights in the hallways.

I was screaming at my daughter to get the hell out of the shower and trying to shut down my pc (that takes forever).

Total time of the storm was around 30 minutes...30 very frightening minutes.

When it was all over, that was when the real fun began...

The power went out, and not just for a few minutes or an hour.

The night wasn't so bad for my husband, who is a day person that sleeps at night. He caught the rest of the Lakers game on a battery operated radio, sitting on the front porch, trying to stay cool, and then went to bed.

But my daughter and I are not day people. We live our lives at night.

With candles on the kitchen table and my husband sound asleep, I attempted to read a book. It wasn't so bad, till my daughter came out with more candles to heat things up, looking for company and wanting to talk. No more reading for me. It's not that I don't appreciate her company, it's just that I was really starting to get into the book.

It was too hot in the house, and too quiet outside for talking. With no fans and air conditioners running, and everyone with their windows open, even a whisper would have been loud enough to disturb our neighbors that were sleeping. So at about 3:30 am we walked to a diner not affected by the power outage, to take advantage of their air conditioning and never ending supply of coffee.

We left the diner when the sun came up, hoping that when we got back home we would have electricity. That was around the time that things really started to cool off with a very pleasant cool breeze.

Sadly, we didn't have power yet. We were left with no electricity for over 24 hours.

When my husband woke up, he made the discovery that he really needs to get a life. He needs a hobby other than TV watching, something that doesn't require electricity. I ended up teaching him how to play Solitaire, just so I could get some sleep.

At least I had many things I could do to keep me busy, such as reading, crocheting, etc. He has no other interests other than watching sports and game shows on TV. I might have to stock up on kids toys, coloring books, and crayons, for next time we have a situation like this.

I sent him out on a mission, to find ice and lamp oil, since the reports on how long it was going to take to restore our power weren't good. They didn't expect to be able to restore our power till some time on Friday, if we were lucky.

I ended up losing all the food in my refrigerator. Stuff in the freezer, although partially thawed, was still ok and not spoiled.

All the stores were sold out of ice, batteries, flashlights, ice chests, and all the other good survival stuff, at least the stores that had power and were open.

My daughter ended up calling a friend in another town to ask him to help us find some ice for the freezer, which thankfully he was able to get for us.

I did manage to make one really great purchase at the supermarket around the corner, that will be useful for many years to come. I picked up 2 flashlights that don't need batteries. They have a crank that you turn, and 3 minutes of cranking gives you around 30 minutes of light.

One of these flashlights can provide enough light with it's powerful LED's, to light an entire room. Maybe not as good as my old battery operated 5 inch flourescent tube light, but these flashlights will more than pay for themselves over time, with the money saved by not having to buy batteries.

The only reason why I was able to get any of these was because they were in a different part of the store that didn't make any sense, far away from the other flashlights. Everything else was sold out, as I mentioned before.

I was sitting on the porch at about 11:30 PM on Wednesday, reading a book with one of the new flashlights, when the power came back on. I could hear the entire block emit a simultanious cheer.

I am really glad we didn't have to wait till Friday to get our power back.

I started up my pc and got my ass online, to let people know I was ok. The last my friends heard from me was a quit message on IRC that said "Bad storm". While I was doing that, my daughter boiled water to cook our half-thawed raviolis. Right after they hit the water, the power went out again, and you could hear the whole neighborhood screaming profanities, or that could have just been my daughter swearing enough for the whole block.

For the next few hours, the power wasn't all that stable, so I decided not to run the computer again till it was.

Now that things seem stable, I can finally make a blog post about my experiences and get some work done, beginning with my inbox jammed with 2 days worth of email.

You know, thinking back to how upset I was a few years ago when they cut down all the really old big trees on my block, to make street repairs, I am now glad they did. The little cherry trees they replaced them with couldn't cause the kind of damage that other streets around here had problems with.

If they hadn't cut those trees down, it all could have been much worse here, with a lot of property damage and potentially deadly, with live wires & such. I never thought I'd live to see the day where I would actually be happy about what they did to our block.Apphttp://firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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For our municipal partners, a fix is when a problem in a town is solved.
But most of the time, it's a whole lot more than that.
A fix can be an empowering moment for a citizen.
A fix can be a way for a city hall to say "We're listening".
A fix can make a neighborhood a more beautiful and safe place to live.
A fix can be a moment of openness and collaboration between citizen and government -- the main ingredients to trust.
SeeClickFix certainly brings light to issues in a town; but, in the end, it's real purpose is to help fix those issues.
Here's a fix for you:
With SeeClickFix, even the most dedicated citizen can still be delightedly surprised by her local government.
Aly Heimer is a lifelong New Haven resident and a frequent user of SeeClickFix. She was walking around downtown on her lunch break and noticed a pothole on the side of the street. It had clearly been there for a while, filing with wrappers and cigarette butts blown into it by the wind.
Not only was it dangerously close to the bike lane, but it looked pretty bad too.
Aly took out her phone and reported the pothole on SeeClickFix. She figured that it might take a while for the city to fix it; after all, she knew they were dealing with many potholes in the rest of the city.
She reported the pothole at around 12:30pm. To her surprise, at around mid-afternoon that same day, she received a notification that the New Haven Department of Public Works had commented "We received your issue and will address it as soon as we can. Thanks for reporting."
The next morning at work, Aly heard a soft thumping sound outside the office window. At 10am, the New Haven Public Works crew was outside pounding the cold pack into the asphalt fixing the very same pothole Aly had reported less than 24 hours earlier.
She waved down to the crew and they waved back.
This "fix" experience for Aly impacted her in a few different ways.
"Not only was it amazing to have such a fast turnaround time," said Aly about the fix, "But it also made me feel like I was responded to and listened to."
In particular, this experience was formative for the way Aly will approach the issues she reports on SeeClickFix from now on. "This experience makes me take SeeClickFix more seriously," she said, "I used to tend to report minor issues that were only annoying to me as opposed to reporting issues that actually need to be fixed."
"Because my government took me seriously, it's makes me take their effort and their time more seriously."
When local governments take their citizens seriously, their citizens take them seriously. SeeClickFix can be a channel where these small (or large) moments of respect and exchange can easily and publically take place.
Now it's your turn: what's your favorite SeeClickFix "Fix"? Let us know by tweeting #FixFriday at @SeeClickFix.


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Amazon has these NFL Tail Swoop Classic Caps starting at just $6.50 ($25.99)! There are quite a few different teams to choose from, bur prices will vary based on your selections.
These hats come with some pretty great ratings…4.8 out of 5 stars to be exact. 😉
These will also ship to you for FREE with an Amazon Prime membership, or an order over $35. Don't forget to check out our post on How to Get Free Shipping from Amazon! Need a few more items to add to your order to get above $35? Check out the Amazon section of Bargain Blessings for more great deals!


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Haringey Council
The Brief:
Haringey Council needed an large informative poster for an event to promote the work of the West Green learning Centre. Our web and graphic designers are keen to work with other companies around Enfield, Haringey, Finchley and North London. Please contact us here
See design details below.
<< Back to showcase


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Pro Bono Project, Conversations Committee present 'A Conversation With Robert "Hoppy" Elliot ('77) on April 12
Campus | Comments Off
Office of Communications and Public Relations
April 4, 2011
The Pro Bono Project and the Conversations Committee will present "A Conversation With Robert 'Hoppy' Elliot ('77)," a Winston-Salem employment law attorney who has received numerous awards for his pro bono work, at noon on Tuesday, April 12, in Room 1312.
Elliot does a substantial amount of pro bono work, and has been named Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year by both the Forsyth County Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar Association.
Among his most interesting pro bono cases, he has represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay, engaging Wake Forest law students to help with research in those cases, according Jonathan Williams ('11).
Elliot is also involved in many local community initiatives, such as the Crossing 52 Initiative to improve race relations in Winston-Salem. He has served on the board and as general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. In addition to this important work, Elliot has maintained a successful private practice in employment law as a plaintiff's attorney. He has received several awards for his private practice, including being named the top employment lawyer in North Carolina in 2008 by Business North Carolina.
Elliot is also married to the law school's Associate Dean of Academics Suzanne Reynolds.
"We're sure her former family law students will want to come and meet the famous Hoppy Elliot," Williams said.
As always, lunch will be provided, but please bring your own drink.
Category: Campus | Tag: A Conversation With, Pro Bono Project, Suzanne Reynolds, Suzanne Reynolds


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Lascivious Amora the Enchantress in wig, panties and stockings opens up wide for a swollen member and eats sperm. The most responsible part for cock-loving cuties from Avengers is to be engaged in wild banging parties with some of the best endowed dudes and provide their tight fuck holes to be totally destroyed by the stiffest dicks… Another sexy hottie from Avengers sports an awesome pair of tits to demonstrate us and she never says "no" to any fuck-ready dick…
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Archive for the 'Videos' Category
Welcome to the Jungle, Baby!
We finally got all five "fingers" working and can now play songs on Hard and Expert difficulty. We thought it was appropriate for Slashbot's first full performance to be "Welcome to the Jungle". We are happy with the results: 80% accuracy. Once we have the "strum" actuator mounted we expect our scores to improve. More videos to come!
Update with Pics & Video of Testing
Only two weeks remain before Demo Day and we've been very busy getting Slashbot functioning properly. The actual robotic portion of the project is complete and we are in the final testing stages. The software (all LabVIEW!) has gone through many revisions over the past month and, like the hardware, it is being tested for final release.
There has been one major modification to the software within the last week. Reluctantly, we removed the functionality that would allow the system to detect the tempo of the song and adjust delays appropriately. The original motivation for this function stems from the delay that occurs between note detection and when the note should be played. As it was, our system was unreliable. In the interest of creating a robust design we implemented a manual delay adjustment control. It is slightly less elegant, but makes Slashbot much more reliable.
Below are some pictures and a video of our current setup.
The controller apparatus – we definitely plan to clean up the presentation
A closeup of the solenoid actuators used to press the controller buttons.
A very short demo of the first test of our "working" system. We still need to make plenty of tweaks. This is a video of Slashbot playing on Medium difficulty. Our circuit was not completely working at the time this video was shot so we could not play with more than four buttons (which would allow Hard and Expert play modes).
We plan to have more complete and hopefully more impressive videos up soon!
NI Week Demo Submission
We have submitted our project to be considered in the NI Week Demo contest. NI Week will be held August 5-7, 2008 in Austin, Texas. The convention brings together the community of scientist, engineers, and educators in order to discuss developments in their technical fields and to exhibit how NI products can be used to further such developments.
Users who have created innovative applications and solutions with NI products are asked to submit demos. If chosen, we will have the opportunity to exhibit SlashBot! Here's the video we submitted which shows our current progress and where we are headed.


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Police in NC push back against human traffickers
Six people arrested and another who pleaded guilty in Fayetteville this month are part of a dark human trafficking industry that flourishes across North Carolina, police and victims' advocates say.
Whether it's because the industry is growing, or because more law enforcement efforts are being made to try to stop it, "The number of cases has climbed every year," said Vincent Picard, spokesman for the southern region of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which includes North Carolina. "We know it's happening, and it's happening in every community in every state in the country."
Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to get another person to provide labor or sexual service. In North Carolina, investigators say they see more cases of sex trafficking than labor trafficking, and that victims most often are young women. But they also find cases involving children – male and female victims. Some victims are immigrants who have traveled or been smuggled across borders, while others were born and raised here.
The difference between sex trafficking and prostitution is that prostitutes are older than 18, are in the sex trade willfully and earn money or other payment from the enterprise.
Many trafficking victims get none of the money paid for their services, and they may be physically restrained or held captive in other ways, such as by threats or the withholding of immigration documents. Others – children, especially, who may have run away from families or foster care – may stay because they crave the attention that the traffickers give them to lure them in the first place. They may have nowhere to go and don't know how – or whom – to ask for help.
In 2013, the N.C. General Assembly passed the Safe Harbor Law, increasing the penalties for human sex traffickers and their customers, and protecting the victims from being prosecuted as prostitutes.
Last year, ICE got a conviction in the case of Shahid Hassan Muslim, who agents said operated a sex trafficking enterprise in Charlotte and other cities for at least three years. He recruited girls as young as 16 by promising them a loving family if they had none. He then advertised the girls on the Internet, and brutally beat and threatened them to control them.
Kevin Roughton, a special agent with State Bureau of Investigation's computer crimes unit in Raleigh, said that when the SBI or other agencies develop cases, they often ask the U.S. attorney in their district to prosecute because federal court has mandatory sentencing. Cases prosecuted in state court, Roughton said, are treated inconsistently across jurisdictions.
"Many times, we'll see the exact same statutes violated, sometimes identical circumstances, where you have a charge and a conviction of second- or third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor – typically child pornography – and in one jurisdiction you end up with probation and no active jail time," Roughton said. "In another jurisdiction you end up with an eight- to 10-year sentence."
Sgt. James Jones of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said his department began pursuing human trafficking cases several years ago, first as an outgrowth of the illegal drug trade.
"Some of the guys who were into selling narcotics sort of expanded into this," Jones said. "There was a lot of heat on drug dealing and they found they could do this and maybe not get caught, and make a lot of money."
He said his team has worked dozens of human trafficking cases in the past year, from all corners of the county. Jones and others can't say whether Cumberland County, home to Fort Bragg and traversed by Interstate 95, has a higher incidence of human trafficking compared with other North Carolina counties or just sees more cases because it has officers dedicated to finding them.
Jones said traffickers often target women and girls who are vulnerable, including those who are homeless or runaways. They may befriend them, provide them shelter and other necessities, drugs if they're addicted, even shower them with gifts and affection to gain their trust. Gradually, they ask or demand that they work in the sex trade.
One way to reduce sex trafficking is to go after customers, as the Sheriff's Office did in the six arrests last week. Using websites traffickers are known to frequent, investigators placed an ad for sexual services for sale. When the men responded to it, the investigators posed as a 15-year-old girl.
The men made arrangements to meet for what they thought would be a sexual encounter with the girl at a hotel, and when they texted for her to appear, agents arrested them.
Two of those arrested are soldiers based at Fort Bragg.
Each of the men was charged with soliciting a minor for the purpose of prostitution. They are: Alexis Santos, 18, Randall Jerome Knapp, 41, James Daniel Bradford, 26, and Reginald Bateau, 32, all of Fayetteville; Charles Ray Moore, 50, of West End; and Roberto Carlo Morales-Rivera, 30, of Lumberton.
Also this month, Derek Wayne McKoy of Fayetteville was sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison after pleading guilty to prostituting a minor. McKoy, 25, was arrested last year after investigators found he was advertising and selling the sexual services of a 17-year-old Fayetteville girl. The victim told police McKoy would take her to motel rooms in North and South Carolina to meet with customers.
Kelly Twedell, director of the Fayetteville Dream Center, which helps the victims of human trafficking get shelter, counseling and other services, said she sees about one new victim per month.
Quillin: 919-829-8989
Get help
Victims can call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, 888-373-7888, or text BeFree (233733).


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Welcome back, friend. Here's my update for toda… well, it's past midnight already, so here's my update for yesterday.
Random Thoughts
- This is the time for music entrepreneurs to rise up. It's getting harder for musicians to sell albums and make money. That's exactly why we need to start innovating and problem-solving. There is no cure-all, but there are new developments happening. It's a question of whether or not we choose to be a part of them. Put your mind to work, music entrepreneurs!
- I want to be more generous with my time and energy, so I've been thinking about interacting on forums and groups more, and answering whatever questions I can. Generosity and servitude is really the only way to add value to the world.
- Money is a renewable resource. I feel justified in taking some chances. Entrepreneurship is having money and people work for you, and since I only have 24 hours in a day, I need to duplicate my efforts by outsourcing and hiring.
What I've Been Listening To
Think Act Get. Wow, I've really been enjoying this business podcast. I've been a fan of James Schramko for a while now, but Ezra Firestone is also a really neat guy, and I watched a couple of his videos too – also great stuff. This one on Hustle 'N Grind is something all of us entrepreneur types would do well to heed.
As far as music goes, I've been listening to quite a bit of Mr. Big and The Winery Dogs today. These bands are on pretty regular rotation here at the DAW office. I keep circling around them too, and by that I mean I listen to a lot of projects the individual band members are involved in, like Paul Gilbert solo or Richie Kotzen solo. All really great stuff.
What I've Been Working On
Well, there's one project that I'm not really at liberty to disclose anything about just yet. What I will say is that we had another meeting this morning to discuss it.
Other than that, I've been working on new content for Music Industry How To – I've been a staff writer with them for a while now (a little over a year). That's been an amazing experience for me.
And that's about it. I guess it may not sound like much, but the reality is that these two things really ended up dominating my day. In particular, there was one large scale project in there.
Feel free to let me know what you've been working on too.


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Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist takes readers on young Santiago's journey to live out a dream. Like Santiago, many of us have dreams and passions. Some of us pursue them, others let them go. For Santiago, his dreams call to him with enough urgency that he seeks out a gypsy for advice. The gypsy discerns his dream and tells him to go to the Pyramids of Egypt. Later, a king tells him that he needs to go and find it setting him off into a journey of self-discovery.
Only four things can limit Santiago:
1) The belief that it's impossible.
2) Love, and leaving it behind.
3) Fear of defeat.
4) Realizing it come to pass.
In his intro, Coehlo reminds us (and Santiago) to be aware of all of these – especially the fourth. He goes on to remind us of a famous quote by Oscar Wilde:
"Each man kills the thing(s) he loves."
Many would rather live in a dream-like-state of thinking about it, but never living it out. Many also feel too guilty about being so close to obtaining their dream while others have never come close. They forget how much they have sacrificed without ever giving up, when others just threw in the towel (See The Alchemist intro for more).
The Alchemist teaches Santiago of the valuable lessons of living within life's limitless possibilities. He shows Santiago that each Personal Legend is a Master Work that must be lived out within each human soul.
I found Coehlo's style to be bold and from the heart. This was a very inspiring piece that has encouraged me to re-examine and pursue my own heart. I recommend reading it and applying these lessons to everone's life.


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Smart Korea Move?
Responses to my personal mailbox are running 3-1 in support of my commentary on Bloomberg that the New York Philharmonic's visit to North Korea is morally and culturally unacceptable. That's high, but not overwhelmingly so.
There is, if course, considerable substance to the opposing case - that is is usually better to make jaw-jaw than war-war, and that the way to unfreeze tensions is not by hiding behind high walls of political preconception.
It seems to me, none the less, that there are two disabling flaws to the cultural diplomacy argument. The first is to apply it to Hitler's Germany. Would a 1938 trip by the NY Phil have averted WW 2 and the Holocaust?
In Pyongyang, New York's finest will be entertaining seasoned killers who, contrite today, may kill again tomorrow - if only by picking up the phone to Teheran and having another quiet swap of nuclear know-how.
The second qualm relates to consumption. Every calorie eaten, every bath taken, every light switched on by the 130 New York musicians and their entourage of 150 handlers and journalists is one kilojule of energy, one tub of water, one volt of energy stolen from a population that has been systematically starved by its unrepentant government. Playing a symphony concert to the Beloved Kim gives nothing back to his malnourished nation.
Source: Artsjournal


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How I Met Your Mother Music Video: Robin Sparkles, "Sandcastles in the Sand"
Faux Music Video: Robin Sparkles, "Sandcastles in the Sand"
Oh, How I Met Your Mother. Not only did they bring us a legen — wait for it — dary kiss last night, they also premiered the long-awaited B-side to Robin Sparkles' "Let's Go to the Mall," a mournful breakup ballad called "Sandcastles in the Sand." We got a preview of the video last week, but that didn't make the ultimate reveal any less amusing. (Admittedly, my biggest laugh in the episode came from a well-timed Degrassi joke — but that could just be me.)
The overwrought, obviously-written-by-a-16-year-old ballad included lines like "Together we were going to travel the globe/from Alberta to Ontrario," an awesomely bad makeout session with a character played by James Van Der Beek, and cameos from Tiffany and Alan Thicke to bring real '80s cred. I think the best description might be Barney's from the episode: "You know, if you re-edit it, there's a tampon commercial in there somewhere." It also made me think of this Wilson Phillips video for the first time in a decade or so, which I suppose is something to be proud of.
Did you think "Sandcastles in the Sand" lived up to the promise of "Let's Go to the Mall" and "You Just Got Slapped"? To check out the full video, just read more.
Photo courtesy of CBS
— Additional reporting by Kate Emswiler and Kimra McPherson


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Adobe Contribute CS5 for Mac OS X
Simplify website management
True WYSIWYG web authoring
Enable content authors to see the results of their edits and additions instantly with enhanced CSS rendering, without writing code or knowing HTML. Contribute immediately updates edits to XML content and Spry widgets.
Collaborative publishing
Establish collaborative workflow processes to author, review, and publish content. Define different review paths at the template level, whether a single approval for an internal web page or multiple sign-offs for a public page.
Predefined content types
Define content types that specify the design template and review process that will be used automatically when a new page is created for that content type. Content type can be HTML or XML.
XML file editing
Edit XML file content without opening an XML editor. Easily update Spry data sets and other pages that render content from XML files or dynamic XML-based sites by editing the corresponding XML file.
Rich media support
Easily drag and drop images, FLV and SWF files, or PDF documents into your web pages. Contribute automatically uploads the dependent files to the web server when the pages are published in predefined locations.
Dynamic website editing
Add content to dynamic websites powered by Movable Type, TypePad, or WordPress. Simply define the Contribute connection with the proper settings, and site content is instantly available for updating.
Cross-browser preview
Verify the look and feel of updated pages in multiple browsers. Preview edited pages in any installed browser. Windows users can view three browsers simultaneously for side-by-side comparison.
Publish to websites and blogs
Publish with a single click to a wide variety of websites or blogs. Contribute is the one web authoring tool that supports FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, MetaWeblog, and Atom protocols.
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Simultaneous shared reviews
Enable multiple reviewers to comment on drafts simultaneously with in-context collaboration tools for faster and more effective web publishing cycles.
Top new features of Adobe Contribute CS5
Predefined content types
With predefined content types, web administrators can specify particular Dreamweaver templates, XML templates, and workflows that will be used when creating new pages based on content type. This allows new pages to be created quickly, drawing on existing site designs, preserving current page functionality, and defining content regions for secure editing by contributors. Set edit workflows to hold new pages for review or to have them go live instantly. Set expiration dates automatically as new pages based on predefined content types are created. The content types can be defined for both XML and HTML pages. Defining content types can greatly simplify the administrator's task of site management.
Published pages based on content type can be tracked as a Smart List--an XML file providing the metadata about each publish operation of the content type, such as author name, date and time of publishing, and so on. This list can be used as dynamic data in another file or can be used as data for site analytics.
XML editing
Edit site-associated XML content natively, without having to leave Contribute in order to open an XML editor. Easily update the contents of XML files that are rendered by dynamic pages. Allow modification of XML element and attribute values, while protecting document structure elements such as nodes and tags. In the past, XML data editing has typically been assigned to an expert, but now content authors themselves can easily update XML data without fear of disturbing the underlying structure. This feature also enables editing of Spry data sets and other dynamic pages that render data content from an XML file, or even entire dynamic sites built using XML; the content author simply browses to the corresponding XML files to edit them.
Cross-browser preview
Another task that normally falls to web administrators is the dreaded browser compatibility check. With Contribute CS5, content authors can verify the look and feel of updated pages themselves, in multiple browsers. You can preview edited pages in three popular browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari, and they need not be installed on your system. Running Microsoft Windows, you can view three different browsers simultaneously in split windows for side-by-side comparison. In Mac OS, you can preview using any browser installed on your system. Just specify the browser or browsers for comparison, and they're automatically launched when Browser Preview is invoked.
Spry widget editing
With Contribute CS5, content authors can edit data contained in a variety of Spry widgets, including data within accordion, tabbed, and collapsible panels. This is accomplished with the new Widget Properties button in Edit mode, which allows the user to access and edit the displayed data, and to change certain properties of the visual effects.
Multipage search and replace
Use the enhanced search-and-replace capability in Contribute CS5 to update information on multiple open draft pages. Streamline the update process by performing in minutes what used to be a tedious task. Search based on text, images, and other elements.
Subversion support
An important aspect of any web administrator's duties is the archiving and redeployment of content. One of the most popular solutions for this task is Subversion, an open-source version control system. Contribute CS5 lets you work with Subversion with minimal configuration, or with the built-in Contribute rollback system. (Subversion is not included with Contribute CS5; see subversion.tigris.org for more information.)
Image hotspot support
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W3-compliant code when embedding SWF and FLV files
Embedding SWF and FLV files in a web page is traditionally a task left to the Dreamweaver web experts--and with good reason, as the coding required to ensure smooth and consistent operation across platforms isn't exactly the stuff you can copy and paste. Insertion of SWF and FLV files was possible previously, but now Contribute CS5 automatically creates Dreamweaver-compatible web standards-compliant code when you insert the file into your page. This helps enable predictable behavior within the Adobe Flash Player while allowing cycle-accelerating drag-and-drop authoring in Contribute.
Server Side Include editing
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This new capability of Contribute CS5 facilitates quick editing of included PHP, CFM, or any other SSIs from within a web-page edit workflow. When a content author selects a region in the page that is coming from an SSI, Contribute provides an Edit Included Files menu to quickly edit the included file. The user doesn't have to identify the Included file's path manually by looking at the code.
Text and image enhancements
One of the strongest benefits of using Contribute is its word processor-like WYSIWYG editing environment, which facilitates the update process. With several new enhancements in Contribute CS5, this functionality helps Contribute take a big step towards becoming a real-time web page layout solution. Now content authors can create superscript and subscript text directly in Contribute. Image-editing capabilities are greatly expanded with direct editing of embedded images in Photoshop or Fireworks software, if the user has them installed. Changes are displayed accurately with enhanced CSS rendering.


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Enrollment is now open and will close on Sunday October 27th at midnight. This is NOT a first come first serve event. All who enroll at any time during the week that enrollment is open, have a ticket in the lottery.
The participation fee is NOK 2750. To register, you will need a valid credit card, either Visa or Mastercard.
Please note that when you register, we will request an authorization for NOK 2750 on your credit card. We will NOT charge your card unless you are awarded a slot in the 2014 race.
Due to our very limited capacity, we can only accept individual applications.
We expect to finalize the lottery by November 4th.
Race manual
Prior to registration you will be required to carefully read and u n d e r s t a n d our Race Manual. The manual for the 2014 is available for preview and download here.
When you are ready, click here to register
We will award a total of 310 slots. By experience, this will leave us with 250 athletes on race day. We have given careful attention to putting as many slots as possible into the lottery. This year we drastically reduced the number of athletes seeded as elite, and we have also trimmed down the sponsor, media and race director quotas. The same will apply for 2014.


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David McConnell is the author of The Silver Hearted (February 2010). His novel The Firebrat came out in 2003. His short fiction and journalism have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies. He lives in New York City.
NEWS and BOOKS
Some links for American Honor Killings...
Great True Crime Books on Huffington Post
Author Lee Gutkind has included American Honor Killings in truly illustrious company
I had an amazing time in Decatur this year.
Interview Magazine
A review of American Honor Killings by Chris Bollen
The Oxford American
A great, long article on the book
An interview with Patrick Ryan of Granta
The Paris Review
An article I wrote about a too well-known poem
The Good Men Project
An amazing review by Cameron Conaway
Book Notes
An article I wrote about music and the book
∞ ∞ ∞
The blurbs and some early notices...
"David McConnell has written with beautiful clarity and power about a very specific kind of murder. Not only is this book the best sort of true-crime writing, but it is also a stunning exploration of the concept of manhood in America. Refusing to judge or to gloss anything over, McConnell turns is impressive skills as a writer to a topic that all of us think about and few dare to discuss. If I taught non-fiction in a college I would teach this book."


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Kuwaits Pull Out Pummels Dow Chemical
Source: ChemicalProcessing.com
Dec 29, 2008
The spiraling economy spins a little further south just before the New Year on news that funding for Dow Chemical Co.'s purchase of Rohm & Haas Co. fell through because Kuwait pulled out of a proposed deal. The news raises concern other companies won't complete deals as financing disappears.
Dow Chemical's stock plummeted following Kuwait's decision to scrap a deal that would have provided $9 billion in cash to pay for Rohm & Haas ($7.5 billion in pretax proceeds from the sale of a 50% stake in the assets of its five global businesses to the Petrochemical Industries Corp. -- a wholly owned subsidiary of the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp., plus an additional $1.5 billion in cash that both partners planned to take out of the new company.)
The Kuwaiti deal, along with the Rohm & Haas purchase, would have increased Dow's exposure to specialty chemicals from 55%, to nearly 75%, of its total business.


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Press Release
EMC Delivers Annual Sustainability Report, "Redefine the Future"
Story Highlights
- The 2014 EMC Sustainability Report is now available, highlighting commitments, successes and challenges.
- The report showcases progress on mid-term and long-term goals.
- Seven detailed reports provide a deeper dive into how different business functions are acting on EMC's sustainability strategy.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced the availability of its 2014 Sustainability Report, "Redefine the Future." The report sheds light on the company's sustainability performance, underscores and explains areas of priority and how EMC approaches them, and showcases how the work done by employees every day is relevant to the world.
EMC is redefining the future through its business approach, a sustainability-minded model built for today's ever-changing and resource-dependent world. The company's goal is to focus on the areas where it has the greatest potential to create positive change, and to hold itself accountable by measuring and reporting progress, maintaining open and candid communication with internal and external stakeholders, and collaborating with peer companies. This year's report highlights EMC's commitment to become a more sustainable business and create a more sustainable future.
Watch Kathrin Winkler, CSO at EMC and learn more about EMC's global sustainability programs
This year's report emphasizes EMC's sustainability principles and is centered on the most material sustainability factors for the company, stakeholders, and the IT industry as a whole. Highlights from the report include:
- Progress on Goals – Updates on how the company is progressing on both mid-term (2020) and long-term (2050) goals.
- Detailed Reports – Seven detailed reports describing how the company is building sustainability into the way it works. Reports include: people & workforce, operations, products, supply chain, governance, customers, and communities.
- Customer Engagement – To celebrate EMC's customer-centric culture, offices around the world welcomed customers and employees to participate in Total Customer Experience Day.
- SMaRT Library – In 2014, EMC launched the Supply Chain Sustainability Management and Resource Training (SMaRT) library, which provides training modules, case studies, and other resources to help suppliers address social and environmental responsibility issues.
- eWaste – 100% of IT Asset Disposal vendors that receive EMC equipment at the end of its useful life are certified to R2 or e-Stewards standards for responsible recycling.
- Implicit Bias Training – More than 500 EMC managers participated in sessions focused on recognizing implicit biases and their impact on the workplace.
- Role of IT in Society – EMC architects and data scientists are applying their skills to enhance the information being collected on bird migration and the effects of climate change on these patterns.
- Global Impact Corps – In 2014, EMC launched Global Impact Corps, allowing EMC employees to use their professional skills and expertise to build capacity in NGOs around the world.
David Goulden, CEO, EMC Information Infrastructure
"At EMC, we are redefining the future through a sustainability-minded model to focus on areas where we have the potential to create positive change. This includes delivering sustainable and responsible products, helping customers maximize the value of data, and inspiring our employees to use their skills. By capitalizing on our greatest assets – our innovative employees and our industry-leading technologies – we can create value for our customers, partners, shareholders, the planet and society."
Kathrin Winkler, SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer, EMC
"Companies are responsible for more than a healthy financial bottom line; they also are expected to contribute to a healthy global economy, environment, and society. EMC's 2014 Sustainability Report is our opportunity to celebrate the progress we have made and reflect on areas of opportunity during the past year. Our goal is to convey the extent to which employees throughout EMC have embraced environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable outcomes in their daily work."
About EMC
EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset — information — in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com.
Press Contacts
Christine Carosella


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STARmeterSEE RANK
Down 3,897 this week
Stuart Milligan (I)
Stuart Milligan was born on September 10, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), Spy Game (2001) and Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990). See full bio »
Born:in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro


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Advertising is a crucial part of any business, and is composed of several activities that help promote a product or service. Advertising makes use of oral or visual materials that address the public and try to influence them on their buying decisions.
More often than not, advertising generally involves an element of cost, although it is possible to do it for free if you know how to go about it. Free advertising is easier to get with an online business than a traditional offsite concern. Generally, however, advertisers will pay publishers or media and broadcasting companies to provide the advertising platform of a newspaper, radio or television.
What is Advertising
1. Advertising consists of written and oral messages that are directed to a target audience.
2. Advertising persuades the public to purchase a certain product or service.
3. Each advertisement is related to a certain advertiser who is selling the product or service involved.
4. Advertising requires the advertiser to pay the publisher in return for the advertisement.
In summary, advertising is any paid form or message that presents goods or services of a certain advertiser or sponsor, and should present the product in such a way as to persuade the reader or listener to purchase the product.
Objectives of Advertising
Its objective is to stimulate sales, create customer retention and increase cash flow. However it also be intended to brand a product, since branding can do more for sales than simply advertising it. When one thinks of specific items, they often think of a brand name rather than the product itself.
Hence, vacuum cleaners became so connected to the brand name Hoover, that it became synonymous for a vacuum cleaner. It even entered the English vocabulary in the sense of 'hoovering up' being given the meaning of clearing something away.
The functions of Advertising for a company can be classified into two groups. These are known as the primary and the secondary functions.
Primary Objectives
1. Advertising helps increase sales of the service or product because it helps promote it to a bigger market. People who don't previously know about that product or service become aware of it because of the advertisement about it.
2. Sales persuasion is frequently used to help buyers decide on their next purchase.
3. Advertising also helps dealers or franchisees to sell the product or service being featured.
4. Advertisement makes it easy for a company to adjust to a new product or service. People are most likely to welcome a new item or service if they have already seen it in an advertisement. Many companies commence the branding of a product before it has hit the shelves.
5. Buyers tend have a better view of a well advertised product or service as compared to those that don't have any advertisements or are poorly advertised. People tend to purchase products they are familiar with, and a well thought out advertising campaign can achieve that.
6. Advertising leads to branding and promotes brand loyalty as well. Once a user has become satisfied with a specific brand, they tend to stay with it.
7. Products and services that are advertised are deemed as better and higher quality products or services by the public. Many take the erroneous view that if it is well advertised then it must be good.
Secondary Functions
1. To encourage salesmen and provide that feeling of support especially when they are dealing with hard to get customers. Sales staff find their job easier with a good advertising campaign behind them.
2. When a company makes use of advertising, it helps employees feel more secure in their jobs. If a company can pay a substantial amount just for advertising purposes, then the workers will feel that it's a good company to work for and remain loyal with.
3. Advertising helps the company to attract better or more qualified employees.
So, advertising has many facets and objectives, and its functions are more than just letting the world know of the existence of a specific product.


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[Sat, 31 Aug 2002 18:01:39 +0000 (GMT)] Ian Hickson: > >On Thu, 29 Aug 2002, Coises wrote: >> >> CSS is not concerned with the "semantics" of the document language: only >> its form. It's seems to me illogical that CSS would treat <B> and <STRONG> >> differently. CSS doesn't care that <B> is presentational and <STRONG> is >> purposeful. On the other hand, <CENTER> and <DIV ALIGN="CENTER"> --- >> though *HTML* may consider them equivalent --- appear completely different >> to CSS. > >No they don't. > > B { font-weight: bold; } > STRONG { font-weight: bold; } > > CENTER { text-align: center; } > DIV[ALIGN=CENTER] { text-align: center; } > >They seem the same to me. If I recall correctly, some recent and rather popular browsers don't support attribute selectors --- that would make the last of your rules rather problematic. If you're arguing that B and STRONG should be treated differently... then you're apparently claiming that it should make sense to a user, writing a user style sheet, that: STRONG {font-weight: normal;} works --- unless the author has defined STRONG in a style sheet, in which case the author's definition is respected --- but: B {font-weight: normal;} has no effect (unless !important is added, in which case author specifications are ignored too). I think the simple fact that their formal syntax is parallel is much more compelling than relatively arcane considerations of whether they are "semantic" or "presentational" tags in the document language. On the other hand, if you're arguing that CENTER and DIV[ALIGN=CENTER] should be treated the same... then you're either saying that: CENTER {text-align: left} should fail (like the B rule above, only an !important declaration could have any effect), or that: DIV {text-align: justify} should not just set the *default* for DIVs, but force every DIV (even those that specify an ALIGN attribute) to be justified --- unless the author used CSS instead of HTML to specify the text-align. If I want *every* DIV (regardless of what alignment the author specified, and how the author specified it) to be justified, I'd write: DIV {text-align: justify !important} whereas if I wanted merely to override the user agent style sheet default for DIV alignment (but still honor author specifications when they're given) I'd expect to write: DIV {text-align: justify} (as I can in most current CSS 2 implementations). But I'd be surprised if I had to write: CENTER {text-align: left !important} to get a result, just because I'm supposed to remember which of these very similar-looking things are "presentational" and which are "semantic." I repeat that it doesn't seem to me that CSS is --- or should be --- concerned with the semantics of the document language. Why in the world I'd want to override the author's suggestion if it was made in HTML, but not if it was made in CSS (as the CSS 2.1 proposal would have it) I can't imagine at all. >Since this is all UA stylesheet stuff, we can even posit UA extensions to >CSS, such as: > > FONT[color] { color: -ua-attr(color, color); } > FONT[size] { font-size: -ua-attr(size, html-font-size); } > >Why is this any different the B and CENTER rules above? Because they can't be included (and hence, in practice, made subject to controlled override) in a user style sheet. And it's user style sheets --- *and*nothing*else* --- that are affected by this whole matter. -- Randall Joseph Fellmy aka email@example.com on Saturday, 14 September 2002 01:55:12 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Monday, 2 May 2016 14:27:03 UTC


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Whiplash Treatment and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Thoracic outlet syndrome is felt as numbness, prickling, soreness or decreased blood flow in the shoulders, arms or hands.
The thoracic outlet is a bottleneck where an important bundle of nerves and blood vessels pass between the head and arm. The space is narrow and damage to the neck can cause swelling of the muscle tissue in the region, which can then constrict the nerves and result in symptoms.
Because the neck is a very intricate area, it can be complicated to pinpoint the exact source of your pain, and other disorders can mimic the symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome.
If you have been in a car wreck and have signs of thoracic outlet syndrome, Dr. Bhasin is here to help. We can help pinpoint the root source of your problem and develop a complete plan of action to help you reclaim your health. We have helped many people in Salem, OR recover from these sorts of problems since 1990 and we might be able to help you, too!
Call our office today at (503) 390-1552 for an appointment or for more advice.


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While working on the first book in the Strickland Diaries yesterday, I realised that the way I'm writing it mirrors to a large extent what happens in the story. I've had a number of structural problems since I first started working on it a few years ago, but I am finally in a place where writing it now feels right -- the story feels like it is being told in the right way.
There are several reasons, I think, why it took me such a long time to get a handle on how the story needs to come through. I had problems with perspective, changing from first, to third, back to first, and finally ending up with all but one character being written in third.
This happened for several reasons, the main one being that I wanted to create an additional viewpoint of the protagonist from the perspectives of those around her, this viewpoint being shaped by events of the story and the observations of those around her, while the reader gets another perspective of the protagonist through her actions and subjective observations.
I have ideas about why the story works this way. To a large degree it has to do with thematic content. The story is an interpolation of magic and science, often leading me to have to speculate about how interactions between the two will pan out. A lot of this feels similar to the way in which the different informed/uninformed aspects of the different character perspectives affect events.
It's a lot fun -- and sometimes surprising -- to see what characters assume about others when they don't have the complete picture. What's more fun is leading the reader along with these assumptions, and then making characters do something completely "out of character", when really, all you're doing is revealing another personality trait.
This is definitely something I have assimilated from my own reading. I am quickly bored by characters whose actions I can predict. I want characters to surprise me. I'm not entirely sure I agree with the notion of "out of character"... I can only speak for myself, but in 36 years, I have done plenty of things that would by others be considered "out of character". Frequently, these actions were pivotal in some way or another, giving me greater insight into my own sense of self, my identity.
I'm currently standing on 60K. The book being the first in a series, the end result will probably be around 80/85K. Soon, then.


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Assisting individuals to register (Assisted Registration)
Assisted Registration is a way for Healthcare Organisations to help individuals register for a My Health Record.
If a Healthcare Organisation chooses to provide this voluntary service to individuals, it does so by submitting an individual's details to the My Health Record System Operator using compatible software. In doing so the organisation asserts that it has checked the individual's identity and obtained their consent to being registered and having their health information uploaded to their My Health Record. If successful, the individual will be registered almost immediately and the organisation will be able to upload clinical information about the individual to their My Health Record straight away.
Assisted registration does not have to be time consuming, it can be completed by handing out the assisted registration application form (Adult or Child) and the essential information. Forms are to be returned to the administrative staff who are also able to input the individual's information into their practice software.
Online training videos are available on the Australian Digital Health Agency website. Select your conformant clinical software and work through the videos.
Assisted Registration Guide for Healthcare Providers
Assisted Registration Readiness Checklist
Assisted Registration Identification Framework
Assisted Registration Essential Information and Privacy Collection Notice
Assisted Registration Form – Adult
Assisted Registration Form – Child
Assisted Registration – First Access Consumer Guide to Access your My Health Record
Assisted Registration – Step by Step Guide to Registering or Accessing a My Health Record
Assisted Registration Legislation changes
Changes have been made to the legislation that governs the My Health Record system (previously named the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record or PCEHR system).
From 18 December 2015, organisations providing assisted registration services no longer need to use or store an Assisted Registration application form, however:
- organisations are still required to provide an individual with the Essential Information prior to helping them to register for the My Health Record system;
- organisations are still required to obtain an individual's consent to register with the My Health Record system and the individual's consent to healthcare providers uploading documents to their record;
- organisations can choose to provide individuals with the application form to complete in order to collect the necessary information from the individual, however this is optional; and
- if an organisation chooses to use the application form, the organisation is not required to send the form to the My Health Record System Operator.


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"Do What Thou Will, Shall be the Whole of The Law"
Aliester Crowley
There's a fire burning inside.
And you Barely stand on two feet.
There's Scars arranged all over you,
I'm governing my needs.
Hear an ego bleeding.
Regarding your thoughts
in intrepidity.
I'm in progression.
While you Regress
In Idolitry.
I'm Reading what i want to read.
You Read what you're expected to.
I'm Thinking what I want to think.
As your mind denies the TRUTH.
I don't need your elections
I don't need your systems
I don't need your Deities to Purge me.
What's so wrong with craving?
Satisfy Instinct.
Homo Sapien.
You want to Shit, Eat, Fuck, and Sleep....
It's Law vs Law.
I want to walk the streets with my genitals
bouncing free, But you "law" cuts me loose
Takes me away.
'Cause I'm hung better,
And if i'm not he be'd to scared to prove it.
That proof is all I need.
It's gonna infiltrate your sectors
And the young adults that you've failed to raise
Already know the score.
And in one solid blow
We Will Crush Religion and Politics.
And your mind denies the Truth.........


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Oh Panty and Stocking… what a strange strange anime. I saw the preview for this anime probably around the same time as my wife and we both knew that we would love it. I was a LITTLE bit hesitant until I saw Gainax has their hands in it? Then I knew it was going to be amazing. Short of the ending? I loved this anime from start to finish.
As the title shows, this is panty from the anime Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, made by Alter, whom I think did a damn decent job on this. To my knowledge this is the second scaled PVC figurine of her, the wife and I decided we didn't want to get the first set of them because the faces on the figurines looked poor. We recently got this one from Hobby Search for about 90 bucks I'd say.
Now Panty is probably my favorite character from the series, she is a nymphomaniac and has a rocking body. Dani prefers Stocking over Panty however and while I think Stocking is pretty damn cute its more her personality that I like vs her looks. Panty is pretty darn close to exactly what I look for in a chick body type and I bet Dani could do a SMOKING cosplay of stocking. A few things stand out for me on this, that I find super sexy. The breasts are smaller yet still not underplayed, the mid drift is just amazing and like, lets be honest, this figurine does carry the air of "I'm panty and I'm fucking sexy".
There is a few things on the figurine that bother me right off the bat. The detail on the hands and the rings and the smaller things is just not as crisp as I'd like to see however that can be expected from an Alter figurine. Another thing that falls a little bit more on the "unacceptable side" would be the molding for the skirt. While it does sit well? It just doesn't sit exactly how I'd like it to. I prefer to see these sort of things molded to the shape of the hips and body so they cannot move. Move them up ok? Move it down ok? But being able to wiggle it a little bit side to side, no I like to see a firm mold to the body.
The standout features of this figurine at least for me is the face and her stance. Just before reviewing this I looked at the transformation scene. I must admit, I was addicted to that video for a long time but it wasn't until I just looked at it right now that I realized that this figurine was torn right out of that video. This is basically her pose in the transformation scene perfectly.
This is in my opinion the best panty figurine out there, or at least as I write this it is. I like the fine details on it even if they are a little bit poorly done its still good to look at from 1-2 meters away, its not something you could notice until you gave it a closer examination. I must admit however. I am getting a little sick of ordering figurines and paying the same price I pay for a Good Smile Company figurine and just not finding the same quality…
Overall however the figurine is a great representation of the character from the anime. I am really REALLY excited to get our Stocking version, in fact I probably should of waited and done a double review but oh well ;). I'd give this figurine an 84% and that is mostly based on the fact that it does do such a good job of representing the character. That is a huge mark for me, can you look at the figurine and see it right out of the anime and this one gets a giant check mark in the yes box. As a side note? I should point out that yes, her panties are pink just like in the anime ;).
Here's the transformation scene in case you were interested.


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Buying a new wireless phone typically means hearing a sales pitch for cell phone insurance. It sure sounds reasonable. "Peace of mind for that important device that might be lost or stolen," says the sales rep.
But many consumers later find their insurance policy isn't everything they thought it was.
"The U.S. Cellular representative suggested that I needed insurance because the phone was expensive. I figured it wasn't a bad deal for an additional $5.00 per month, so I agreed and signed the paperwork," says Riki of Madison, Wisconsin.
When his phone's speaker was damaged, Riki called his insurer -- The Signal -- and was told that although his model of phone had been discontinued, he would be sent a comparable phone with the same features.
"I constantly use the MP3 feature on my phone, so it was very important the replacement phone have this feature," he said.
Riki received his replacement phone and was shocked to discover it was nothing like his first one.
"The replacement phone didn't have external memory, radio or voice recording, and it didn't even have an MP3 feature, the one thing that The Signal promised I would have."
Contacting the cell phone company usually won't help because the insurance policy is between a third-party insurer and the cell phone owner.
"I called US Cellular and they agreed that I should have at least received an MP3 phone, but there are limits to what the carrier can do because the policy is with another company," says Riki.
He again called The Signal and this time spoke with a supervisor.
"She explained that if they do not have the same phone as a replacement, they could send whatever phone they wanted and if I didn't like it, I could purchase a new phone."
Not Uncommon
In fact, what Riki experienced isn't uncommon because most policies state that a replacement phone might be a different model. Additionally, most consumers don't take the time to read the small print and seldom will a salesperson tell you all the details.
For instance, some policies won't cover a device such as a Treo or BlackBerry, but to know that you would have to read the policy which will tell you to visit the website of the carrier for a list of "ineligible" devices.
Furthermore, the policy will include the amount of your deductible, something that many consumers aren't aware of until they file a claim.
In Riki's case, he paid his premiums for 14 months and then paid a deductible, ending up with a replacement phone nothing like his previous one. He comments, "I've warned my family about this fiasco because they are paying for insurance just as I was."
Most carriers will give you at least fourteen days to decide if you want insurance, so don't be rushed into a decision that will come back to haunt you.
Like extended warranties, phone insurance may wind up being worth a lot less than you pay for it.
Keep an eye on your inbox, the lastest consumer news is on it's way!


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by Julia Robinson
In early November 2012, Kempsey (NSW) racegoers and townsfolk will attempt to break the world record for the greatest number of people wearing Akubra hats. 'We need at least 1,000 proud Akubra owners in the CBD on Race Day to make the world record official', say the organisers. 'And everyone in the local community is invited to take part.'
Akubra is a proprietary name for an iconic brand of Australian bush hat, now made in Kempsey. It is a shallow-crowned, wide-brimmed hat, extremely hard-wearing, and traditionally made of felted rabbit fur. Originally it was worn by people who lived and worked in rural Australia, such as bushmen, squatters, stockmen, station workers, and timber-getters. The word Akubra is 100 years old. A Sydney company registered the name as a trademark in 1912, and the first newspaper evidence for the term is an advertisement seven years later. From the first, national sentiment was invoked as a selling point:
'Akubra', Australia's best HAT, made for Australians by Australians; support home industries; full stocks now showing in stone, steel, slate, drab, beavers, and black; ask for 'Akubra'. (West Australian, 19 December, 1919)
In 2012 the Akubra brand is going strong, but the word is now also used generically of similar hats. Still worn by bush workers, Akubras can be seen as well on fashionable townies at play, as can other items of traditional Australian bush clothing such as moleskins and elastic-sides. It is no surprise that some politicians have been associated with the Akubra, perhaps most notably the former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer. However the wearing of a bush hat, although emblematic of bush values and the true-blue, dinky-di, down-to-earth bush character, is no guarantee of rural favour:
Six months after the Premier donned his Akubra hat to woo the goodwill of rural NSW, the bush is in revolt. (Sydney Morning Herald, 7 October, 1995)
The origin of Akubra remains unknown. Although it is sometimes suggested it comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'head covering', there is no evidence to prove this theory. The word has been recorded in Australian dictionaries for quite some time, but recently it achieved a new status beyond Australian shores. Last month the bible of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, included it in the dictionary for the first time. A hundred years on, Akubra has achieved lexical respectability.
Now for that world record.


text: Feature extraction performs an important role in improving hyperspectral image classification. Compared with parametric methods, nonparametric feature extraction methods have better performance when classes have no normal distribution. Besides, these methods can extract more features than what parametric feature extraction methods do. Nonparametric feature extraction methods use nonparametric scatter matrices to compute transformation matrix. Nonparametric Discriminant Analysis (NDA) is one of the nonparametric feature extraction methods in which, to form nonparametric scatter matrices, local means of samples and weight function are used. Local mean is calculated by k nearest neighbors of each sample and weight function emphasizes on boundary samples in between class scatter matrix formation. In this paper, modified NDA (MNDA) is proposed to improve NDA. In MNDA, the number of neighboring samples, when measuring local mean, are determined considering position of each sample in feature space. MNDA uses new weight functions in scatter matrix formation. Suggested weight functions emphasizes on boundary samples in between class scatter matrix formation and focus on samples close to class mean in within class scatter matrix formation. Moreover, within class scatter matrix is regularized to avoid singularity. Experimental results on Indian Pines and Salinas images show that MNDA has better performance compared to other parametric, nonparametric feature extraction methods. For Indian Pines data set, the maximum average classification accuracy is 80.34%, which is obtained by 18 training samples, support vector machine (SVM) classifier and 10 extracted features achieved by MNDA method. For Salinas data set, the maximum average classification accuracy is 94.31%, which is obtained by 18 training samples, SVM classifier and 9 extracted features achieved by MNDA method. Experiments show that using suggested weight functions and regularized within class scatter matrix, the proposed method obtained better results in hyperspectral image classification with limited training samples.


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Timex Women's T5J151 1440 Sports Digital Black/Pink Resin Strap Watch
List Price: $22.95
Sale Price: $49.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Description
The Timex Women's T5J151 1440 Sports Digital Black/Pink Resin Strap Watch offers a crisp, digital dial with a 24-hour chronograph and a daily alarm. The light-weight and durable resin construction make it ideal for your daily running, swimming, or jogging routine. Plus, it offers a two time zone setting that makes traveling easy. An Indiglo night-light features allows you to tell time even in low-light conditions while a strong acrylic window offers protection from scratches and nicks. The watch is equipped with a reliable quartz movement and is water-resistant to 165 feet (50 meters).
- Indiglo Night-Light
- Durable and Lightweight Resin Case and Strap
- 24-Hour Stopwatch
- 24-Hour Chronograph
- Water resistant to 165 feet (50 M): suitable for swimming and showering