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The Ministry of ICT Kenya has the responsibility of formulating, administering, managing and developing the Information, Broadcasting and Communication policy.
In May, 2016, through an Executive Order No. 1/2016, the Ministry was split into two state Departments. These two state departments are:- The State Department of Broadcasting and Telecommunications and the State Department of ICT and Innovation.
Mandate of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT)
The mandate of the Ministry of ICT as derived from Presidential Executive Order No.1/2016 of May 2016 comprises the formulation of policies and laws that regulate standards and services in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector, Telecommunications and the Media industry. It is also charged with the responsibility of developing and administering ICT standards, building capacity of mass media and ICT, and the dissemination of public information through the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).
Function of the Ministry of ICT Kenya
The function of the Ministry is executed by the two State Departments as outlined in the Executive order No.1/2016.
Functions of the State Department of ICT and Innovation
- National ICT policy and innovation
- Promote e-Government
- Promotion of software development industry
- ICT Agency (E-Government ,Kenya ICT Board and Government Information Technology Services)
- Provision of ICT technical support to MDAs
- Policy on automation of Government Services
- Development of National Communication Capacity and Infrastructure
- Management of National Fibre Optic Infrastructure
Functions of the State Department of Broadcasting and Telecommunication
- Telecommunication policy
- Broadcasting policy
- Language policy management
- Public Communication
- Government Advertising Agency
- Coordination of National Government Advertising services
- Postal and courier services
- Government Telecommunication services
- The Kenya Brand
- Communications Commission of Kenya
- Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
- Kenya Film Classiication Board
- Kenya Film Commission
- Kenya Information Communication Technology Authority
- Kenya Institute of Mass Communication
- Kenya Year Book Editorial Board
- Konza Technopolis Development Authority
- Media Council of Kenya
- National Communications Secretariat
- Postal Corporation of Kenya
- TelkomKenya
Ministry of ICT Kenya Top Management
Cabinet Secretary: Joseph Mucheru
Principal Secretary: Victor Kyalo (State Department of ICT and Innovation)
Principal Secretary: Sammy Itemere (State Department of Broadcasting and Telecommunication)
Ministry of ICT Kenya Projects
Digital Literacy Programme(DLP)
The government initiated the program out of the conviction that technology has the power to bring about systemic change in basic and higher education by transforming teaching and learning through integrating technology in the learning environment. The learners are entitled to a luminous green tablet while the teachers receive a blue laptop.
In the on-going implementation targeting all public Primary schools in Kenya.
Over 75000 teachers in public Primary Schools have been trained in readiness for the project implementation. With full implementation of the DLP project, the government expects increased national digital literacy levels and revolution of the countries digital economy.
Presidential Digital Talent Program (PDTP)
The project was conceived through the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Master plan. The program is aimed at growing ICT through leadership and increase the relevance of ICT in business principles in management and public service delivery. It is also aimed at building ICT technical capacity in government for effective service delivery. The program provides internship to ICT and engineering graduates. The trainees undergo mentorship in private and public institutions for a period of one year. The first 100 trainees graduated in March 2016 and another group of 400 are already onboard undergoing training.
The program aims at achieving workforce development for effective and efficient services delivery leveraging on ICT.
Constituency Digital Innovation Hubs
The projects in its initial stages has had its first proof of concept successfully set up in Limuru. Procurement process is being undertaken. The objectives of the project is to support entrepreneurs and access to free Wi-Fi in all the 290 constituencies countrywide. It will also enhance awareness and uptake of on-line platforms for employment and business opportunities.
Konza City
KonzaCity is set to be a world-class Smart City and a prime economic driver for the nation, with a robust mix of businesses, workers, residents, and urban amenities. It will be the country's heart of innovative solutions for ICTs, business, and health and education.
The government purchased 5000 acres of land for the project located in Konza in Makueni County. Cadastal survey has been completed and a perimeter wall constructed around it. The 4.1 Km auto boulevard (main road) and another 8.1Km access roads to individual parcels at the KonzaTechnopolis have been completed and are in use. Provision of bulk clean water from Nol-Turesh main supply has been completed and the commodity is now available for construction works and residential purpose. Plans are at advance stage to for the provision of power from three power stations to the site. Establishment of trunk fibre connectivity to the Techno city is 70% complete. It is expected to generate 16, 000 direct jobs.
Optic Fibre Cable
NOFBI Phase 2
By June 2013, 4,300 Km of the National Optic Fibre Backbone (NOFBI) Network had been laid in 27 Counties. In June 2016, over 6, 000 Km of NOFBI network had been laid across all the 47 Counties. 44 out of 46 OSP and LAN survey in the Counties have been completed. Installation of equipment has been completed in 29 Counties while installation works is in progress in 9 Counties. OSP and LAN has been completed in 29 Counties.
Ministry to Work with Private Sector Players to Complete NOFBI Project
The Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology Mr. Joe Mucheru has said his Ministry will engage with the Private Sector players to conclude the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) which aims to enhance universal access to affordable ICTs countrywide. Mr. Mucheru said the completion of the project will make internet services more reliable, besides enabling citizens to access government services online with ease. "The Government is committed to increasing internet penetration in the country
Digital Migration
Migration from analogue TV to digital TV broadcast
Following migration to the digital platform, rapid growth in the TV broadcast industry has been witnessed. Already there are 65 Free to air TV stations in the country. The progress of digital migration is 80% complete. Out of 20 Transmitters that have been delivered, 10 have been installed and are on air at: Lamu, Kitui, MbuiNzau (Makueni) Namanga (Kajiado) , wajir, Nyamninia (Siaya), Vuria (TaitaTavetta), Nyadundo (Nyandarua), Nyambene, (Embu/Meru/Isiolo), Webuye, Londiani.
Migration from Medium Wave to FM radio Transmission-KBC: The programme is on-going and it is 50% complete. The following stations have been installed and commissioned: Limuru, Timboroa, Kapenguria,Kisii, Nyamninia (Yala), Vuria, Malindi, Lamu, Garsen, Nyambene, Kitui, Garissa, Kisumu, Nyeri, Mazeras, Kapsimotwo and Nyadundo Migration to FM radio transmission is expected to contribute to sector development and growth, increased access to information that will lead to improved education and health services and promotion of local cultural heritage.
Communication strategy for migration of Kenyans from the analogue to the digital broadcasting platforms
Communication strategy for migration of Kenyans from the analogue to the digital broadcasting platforms The Digital Television Committee (DTC) in July 2013 reconstituted the Consumer Awareness Sub-committee. The Committee was tasked with the mandate of providing the DTC with the strategic advice on the required education and awareness activities on the digital migration process in Kenya.
Studio Mashinani
This is a new project which is at procurement level. The project aims at enhancing availability of accessible recording studios and enhancement of self-employment opportunities for artists in the robust creative music industry.
Ministry of ICT – Ministry Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Contacts
Ministry of Information, Communications and Telecommunication
Physical Address: Telposta Towers, Kenyatta Ave. Koinange Street
Postal Address: P.O Box 30025-00100
City: Nairobi Kenya
Telephone: (+254) 4920000 / 1
E-Mail: email@example.com
Website: www.ict.go.ke
Ministry of ICT Video
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Refine your search
Porters Lodge
Self-catering with 1 unit £426-£664 pupw sleeps 4
Our friendly Reservations Team
The Old Crab Shop,
1 Cross Street,
Station Lake,
Porters Lane,
Porters Lodge is situated beside a lake in the village of Lenwade in the north west of Norfolk. This detached property is in acres of grounds and has decking with railings that overlook the lake which has a large range of wildlife, good for fishing and birdwatching. Lenwade, which is known for its Dinosaur Park, has the Marriotts Way, for walking or cycling, at the edge of the village, and is only ten miles from the cathedral city of Norwich.
• Size: Sleeps up to 4, 2 bedrooms
• Nearest amenities: Less than 1 mile
• Pets: 2 pets allowed
• Short breaks: Available at this property
• Smoking: Not allowed at this property
• Rooms: 2 bedrooms, 1 shower room, open plan sitting/kitchen/dining areas
• Beds: 1 king-size bed, 2 single beds
• Luxuries: Wall mounted flat screen TV, DVD player, CD player
• General: Night storage heaters
• Utilities: Electric cooker, microwave, fridge with icebox, freezer, washing machine
• Standard: Kettle, toaster, iron
• Other: Bed linen, towels, lockable shed for bikes, fishing equipment provided. Deep water, steep banks so no children under 5 and care at all times. Fishing can be arranged directly with owner at a small charge.
• Outdoors: Enclosed patio, seating, access to grounds and lake
• Parking: Ample parking next to property
• Mobile signal - variable
• Good Housekeeping Deposit: Please note that a refundable deposit of £150 is required for this property
You may need to pay an Accidental Damage Deposit or Accidental Damage Deposit Waiver for this property. Where applicable we will contact you in good time before your holiday with further details and to take payment.
Children welcome from any age.
Search availability for Porters Lodge and book online
Porters Lodge has availability from 2 Jan 2021.
To book for more than a year in advance, please contact the property directly.
Due to Covid-19, online bookings cannot be made before 1 May 2020. This date will be revised in line with Government announcements.
- Children welcome
- Private parking
- Freezer
- Linen provided
- Washing machine
Children welcome from any age.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Unlock your smart home with a Yale smart door lock In the home of the future, a smart home will open with a smart door. 55% of homeowners want the ability to control their home security remotely and this means the days of worrying that you've forgotten your keys are over*. We've all been there when you've had your hands full coming home from work and struggled to unlock your door? Or maybe you've wanted to let your family, friends or visitors in if they've arrived on your doorstep early before you've reached your home. All of this is achievable with the ENTRâ Smart Door Lock from Yale. Using the latest technology, ENTRâ provides a completely keyless solution to give you peace of mind over your home security. With a Smart Door Lock from Yale, you have the option to use a PIN code, fingerprint reader, remote fob, or even a smartphone to unlock your door. Kate Clark, Managing Director for Yale EMEA, said: "Yale is renowned for its expertise in locking solutions and we're using the latest technology to keep your home secure. "The ENTR lock offers convenience, security and control and is easy to install. With no drilling or wiring required, it is an ideal security product for first time buyers looking to take their first steps into the smart home." For more details contact us. About Yale Yale, one of the oldest, international brands in the world, is the best-known name in the lock industry. A family business started in America, Linus Yale Jr. was experimenting with a lock based on a mechanism first employed by the ancient Egyptians over 4,000 years ago. This was how he came to invent the famous pin tumbler mechanism which is still used extensively in the security industry today. In the early 20th century, the company expanded worldwide and employed more than 12,000 people. In August 2000, Yale was purchased by the ASSA ABLOY Group About ASSA ABLOY ASSA ABLOY is the global leader in door opening solutions, dedicated to satisfying end-user needs for security, safety and convenience. Since its formation in 1994, ASSA ABLOY has grown from a regional company into an International group with about 47,000 employees, operations in more than 70 countries and sales close to SEK 71 billion. In the fast-growing electromechanical security segment, the Group has a leading position in areas such as access control, identification technology, entrance automation and hotel security.


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(0 votes)
Dispense volumes as low as 1/1,000,000ml with this ultra-low dosage dispenser.
- Good for ultra-low volume dispensing, precision dosing, and for filling items with a highly precise volume.
- Dispense low viscosity materials in doses as small as 1/1,000,000 ml.
- Proprietary plunger system eliminates drips without using vacuum.
- Small volumes may be dispensed slowly to eliminate bubble formation.
- Digital controls allow excellent ease-of-use and high repeatability.
- Remaining fluid alarm function is standard.
- Centralized control is possible using a host computer.
- Microsyringes can be installed with custom options.
Additional Info
- Ito America: Sells this product.
- Ito Europe : Sells this product.
- Ito India: Sells this product.
- Ito Thailand: Sells this product.
- Ito China: Sells this product.
- Ito Japan:Does not sell this product.


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What is trending right now? (Top Trending Topics)
How to sell more jewelry – Online marketing for jewelry stores
Contact Us
Why should you have your own self hosted jewelry WordPress theme?
Self-Hosting, and using Wordpress is definitely the only way to set up your ECommerce Jewelry business Online. This post is going to be about why to choose a premium WordPress theme for your jewelry business. You see, we come online for four things - we come to play,...
A product Viability Comparison Post – Leather handbags VS Leather Backpacks
Which item do you think will be a better business prospect? Hi - I am going to keep it simple here today. This post is a keyword strength potential comparison between two closely related keywords. I took the product Leather Handbags and the Product Leather Backpacks ...
How to find the top sellers on Etsy (Etsy top seller research tips)
Read how and why to find bestselling products to use as a guide for your business ideas Powerful Research Tips... Do keyword research for the Etsy top sellers popular products It is important that I explain the need for you to do decent GOOGLE keyword research for the...
Custom Doors Boston MA – A business Idea Explored
Digging into the idea of a custom door business in the Boston area If you want to start up a door business in Boston MA - especially a custom door business - then this video is going to be really important Local search keywords will be the strongest signal that there...
Custom Door Business idea Perth – A business Idea Explored
Checking up on the viability of a custom door business in Perth This is just a deeper look into how much of a demand there is in a local area - this time in Perth Australia - to see what the keyword strength really is. I always maintain that you can tell how strong a...
Custom Door Business Idea – The keyword Video
This Video shows you how strong the demand is for this custom door business idea This is the first of two videos I have done so far looking into the idea of doing custom doors as a business. This one looks into the searched for keywords and helps you see what...
How and WHY you should be aware of what the latest trends are in your business niche.
Look, if you are just a quizz-lizz and are just curious to learn how to find the latest trends then I welcome you along for this ride, BUT if you have a business that manufactures or sells anything, you need to stay on top of the latest trends so you are never left behind.
Try this trending research thing – it can be interesting and will be fun.
So, the why is obvious – now let me show you the how to keep up to speed with the latest trends.
Trend research step one – The obvious – Social Media.
This is like a Duh-moment, we are all on social media all the time, right? But do we actually stop for a few seconds every now and again and actually search within our favorite social media platforms to see what crops up?
Please go and search inside the following social media sites using your core keywords and see what is happening there.
To be honest this will just show you the activity, and some of it will be old, but nevertheless – go and do it.
Use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, Linkedin, StumbleUpon, and Instagram.
Trend Research Step Two – Google search.
Yes I know, stop shaking your head, I am aware that we are still doing the obvious, but this can be very enlightening when you set the search thing to recent activity.
see here –
Trend Research Step Three – Google Alerts.
I love this Google Alerts thing. Go to the Google Alerts page ( see it here – https://www.google.co.za/alerts)
and set up an alert – or 10 if you like – for your core keywords or interests. I have a video that I did on this below, so perhaps you would prefer to scroll down and watch the video.
Trend Research Step Four – Google Trends.
Well (LOL) I finally got to one of the main trending research methods. Go direct to Google Trends and search around there using your keywords naturally, and you will be able to see if – for example – the main product that you manufacture is gaining in popularity or waning.
People, this is a massive thing to know – if you knew that what you did for a living was going down by 24% on average every year, would you consider adapting your business?
Think about the Blockbuster Video guys 🙂
Here is the link to the Trends site – https://trends.google.com/
Trend Research Step Five – BuzzSumo.
Ah man, This is a site that has the most amazing stuff from a trending research point of view.
To say that I love these guys is an understatement. No matter what your business is, this site will unearth the most amazing stats and details relating to the keywords and product trends for your business.
Watch the video I did below for some info, but in truth, the site is easy to navigate and will be fun to play on. Here is a link to their site – https://app.buzzsumo.com/
Watch the Video


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Back to: Accessories
Le Bonnet beanies are knitted on traditional machineries, with a technique that has been passed down through generations. After the knitting process, all beanies are washed, pressed and checked thoroughly for quality.
All products feature a Caregora certificate. The Caregora criteria of keeping and caring is founded on all these carefully selected judged guidelines, as to assure the quality of the valuable fibres and the highest standards of husbandry and animal care. All fibres are sourced in Scotland.
- Fabric: 75% Lambswool, 25% Caregora
- Fit: One size fits all
- Treatment: Dry clean only


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Louise A. Walker has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of First Northern Community Bancorp and its subsidiary, First Northern Bank, since January 1, 2011. She joined First Northern Bank in 1979, and has been a member of the Senior Management Team since 1989. Louise is a member of the following Board of Directors oversight committees: Asset/Liability, Asset Management and Trust, Asset Quality, Loan, Information Services Steering, Nominating and Corporate Governance, and Profit Sharing.
During her career, Louise has held a variety of positions, which included managing Operations and Data Processing, as well as overseeing Human Resources, Risk Management, Compliance, Accounting, and Finance. Prior to becoming CEO, Louise held the position of Senior Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer for 14 years.
Louise is Vice Chairwoman and a member of the California Bankers Association's Board of Directors; Treasurer of the Solano Economic Development Corporation; and is a member of the State Controller's Financial Literacy Advisory Committee. She is on the Board of the Yolo Food Bank, a member of Dixon Rotary, and Past President of Soroptimist International of Dixon. Louise is a member of Lambda Alpha International, Sacramento Chapter. Her prior activities include serving on the Board of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization, serving on the Western Independent Bankers Service Corporation Board and on several local sports education boards. Her extensive service as a board member of both private and public organizations has provided Louise with extensive knowledge of banking, financial management, risk management, corporate governance, and marketing.
Louise holds a Bachelor of Arts in Management from Saint Mary's College of California.


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Beautiful Decisions – Buy/Sell
Welcome to our final series for the year – over the next three weeks we will try to highlight just how much is added to your life with beautiful decisions.
This final 2016 series is about getting the most out of buying and selling a home via a beautiful decision.
We are splitting the series into three parts:
1. Understanding there are beautiful decisions you can make.
2. A process of rigour that allows for beautiful decisions to be made by you.
3. Practically, how that all may look and work for you.
A beautiful decision is one that allows you to live your life with meaning – it allows time as we Anglo's say to smell the roses and as we Orientals say to live in the moment – as we Christians/Muslims/Jews say to be closer to God and as we Buddhists/Taoists/Hindus say to find the way.
A beautiful decision comes from within, by dealing with the outside in a beautiful way.
Lost you already? Load of crap – just show me the money?
Buying and selling a home in a beautiful manner is about seeing the money and having a meaningful life; whilst managing some of the "mistakes", we all will inevitably make along the way.
Personally, in my life I have got so many things "wrong" – in business you may say I'm a dunce – why only this year I made an internal business decision that cost near on $250,000, produced no income and caused some stress to me and to my co-workers, who I care about. Unfortunately it's part of my life's learning process, as generally in certain aspects, I'm a slow learner.
From time to time I have parted with work and "life" partners, due in part to my inability to communicate on levels satisfactory to them.
At times I have felt under stress. However, basically I am a very happy person – well I feel I am.
As I live in Melbourne, there have been three key vehicles that have allowed me to be happy, to basically do whatever I wanted to do – outside a loving family, highly skilled staff and some sensational clients.
Those three things for me, have been:
1. My ability to think and to feel and to do. Like any Grammar School boy with European ancestry, most of my life has been within a relatively rigid logic/scientific based brain framework – I have from time to time been able to think and make decisions instinctively using a intuitive/feelings based framework – and I am getting better.
2. Business. If there is one thing I would encourage a lot of younger people to do it's don't get a degree and follow a life of 9-5, unless that is what you really, really want to do. Instead I would encourage a life of continuous real learning, real education, real knowledge building. There are many paths to a meaningful life and ladder climbers and non-climbers can all be happy.
3. Understand how property works and use it to make it, make your life better.
And so point 3 – the point of this 3 part series, understand how property can make your life better.
Property is "the asset" of immense value in monetary, emotional and spiritual terms.
Understand property and you could well find a healthier connection with money, a stronger connection with your family and a greater freedom in your relationship with yourself.
Understanding property and you buy and sell in a beautiful manner – in other words make beautiful decisions.
Geez, Mal you are taking your time in getting to the point. Am I?
Or Am I trying to encourage lifting your eyes from a tidbit, that gives you a quick thrill at the next auction – to a place, a focus and a vision that will set you right for life – even allowing for a few "mistakes".
Beautiful decisions I have found rarely come from reading a "how to" article one day and applying the next.
Beautiful decisions come from deeper than that.
Let's get more personal. And I am doing so to help, not to boast (ask my children, I have little to boast of and a lot to be humble about). My life is not one of incredible success in what much of society labels as success these days.
There is nothing special about me in terms of rags to riches.
My main difference from the norm, is that I say, and I actually am, for the most part very happy – and it is property that has been a conduit, not the only one, but a key one.
In the mid 80's I got divorced.
Sold the home we had only just bought in Ferny Creek and successfully negotiated a $14,000 loss on a $46,000 purchase. That takes some doing.
Two years later while living in East Doncaster by myself in a rented home, my mother said, "son you useless human being, you should buy the home you are living in and here is $15,000 for the deposit".
I paid $66,000. A year or so later somebody offered me around $130,000 and I sold.
The beautiful decision was selling Ferny Creek – it was always going to be a loser and so good to have moved on. My first mistake in property was selling East Doncaster, instead of leveraging it.
Around the mid 90's I had married again and on the cusp of having children, a property opportunity came up in Brighton.
It was unexpected, but I had been reading some property books – Jan Somers (Australian teacher and property writer – the matriarch to all those books on zero to a gazillon homes in 3.6 seconds) and so we as a family shelled out no money down and took over a bank loan of $350,000.
The property was cash flow positive from day one. That deal was offered to two others as well, but they couldn't see the value.
Over the next few years we leveraged the property and bought more homes, some of which we gave to family members and ten years later we sold the Brighton investment for $2,250,000.
I sold it poorly (from a financial point of view) – Why? Well, because I sold it.
10 years later, whilst still being cash flow positive it fetched $4.5m in an auction sale.
I pushed for the sale because I was getting concerned about debt levels and I just wanted to see a bank account that had money in it.
Along the way I successfully traversed not getting sucked into off-the-plans, tech bubble and mezzanine financing and…………Henry Kaye (great showman with a good story, just left his good story in the seminar room). I recently ran into a Henry Kaye associate, hidden in the bushes of life – not good people.
So we get to the GFC – the family has splurged on renovations and bitten off more than we could chew or in truth what I felt comfortable with, as I was being spooked by the noise of world doom and gloom.
So in another brilliant property move I sold a home in Durrant Street, Brighton for around $800,000. The home was worth $1,200,000 in 2007 and $1,200,000 in 2009 – but I brilliantly moved it on in 2008 and sold for $800,000 – a bit less than double what we had paid for it less than 10 years before – but stamp duty, CGT, fees – nope, not that smart.
There were other sales and purchases along the way and occasionally I got it right as I feel property has covered off on;
3 lots of private school fees.
A couple more business mistakes.
World travel for family to Tanzania, New York, South America, Europe, India, Vietnam and …………………
A stable family life for our extended family……….
Supporting family members into their own homes……
Property will also be a way of helping our children into their homes in the future, just like my mother and father helped me in the mid 80's.
Part of a very meaningful life, for me, so far.
I reckon I'm in the mid to higher range for beautiful decisions on the property scale. I'm not talking about property developers or serial renovators – I haven't lifted a hammer in anger in my life or bought an extra letterbox for any of the addresses I've owned. I am just talking about passive, family ownership.
At the lower end in property happiness are the many who make decisions that are less than beautiful – they buy the wrong type of homes, in the wrong positions – they build mortgages, they constantly swap homes, incurring fees and they buy for too much and they sell for too little – all the time.
They are unhappy, they are striving for something "more", something "better". They are unknowledgeable (about property) and they are impatient.
Also at the lower end are those frozen in fear of making decisions. For most of us good property decisions seem to happen around once or twice a decade. However, when those opportunities come up, many people freeze – they are too scared to make a leap of faith for fear of error.
I have found that if the PPP (Price, Property and Position) fundamentals and the emotional connections are right, then around the edges of price is irrelevant. Edges of price are not beautiful decisions – beautiful decisions revolve around the bigger picture and to be beautiful you eventually have to make a decision – otherwise inaction becomes your decision and yes that can be beautiful in relation to a specific instance, but as a constant strategy, unless you've inherited well, inaction does not work.
Then there is a minority at the higher end – they make beautiful decisions on property.
I'm not saying money is the only determining factor on property.
Is an unhappy person in a $20,000,000 Toorak mansion with $14,000,000 debt a better property person that Mr and Mrs with 3 kids in Camberwell on 700 sqm and no debt, valued at $2,900,000; having just got back from an around Australia family trip? I think not necessarily.
Smart and happy property people know clearly what it is they want, they don't take excessive risks and no they don't buy and sell all the time.
They could have 3 homes (saving them for children), maybe only 1 – no mortgage or reducing mortgages – they understand that the hard yards are best done in the 3-18 month decisions of a buy/sell, not the 10-15 years post decision and they know that getting 2 out of 3 right, means basically the hard yards in life are greatly reduced (if they so choose).
These sorts of people rarely sell and if they do, it's not primarily to realise a profit (for profit's sake), but to buy better or to enjoy the fruits of their previous beautiful decision(s).
To make and enjoy a beautiful decision – we think it's important to firstly know that there are ones to make.
In our third week – we look at the wash around a beautiful buy/sell decision.
We see that on $3m homes – some will pay $2,800,000 and others will pay $3,400,000.
We see that some will sell their home for $2,700,000 and others will get $3,300,000.
Some will renovate wildly and some not at all.
and then we will watch as that $1,200,000 "profit" turns into $2,000,000 in 7 years.
That $2,000,000 then turns into $4,000,000 "tax free profit" in today's money in the period of time it took to educate all the kids – all of which were paid for by your home (I mean correctly, your beautiful decision) – also paid for was your overseas travel and your ridiculously expensive new car and, hey, your significant donation to poverty and the homeless and ……….
Meanwhile the $0 Property man or woman remained battling with their second job, examining the insides of their superannuation fees and interest rate and fighting with the missus as to why they just can't afford the holiday they want.
The first step in making a beautiful decision is understanding that they are there to be made.
Until next week then,
Welcome to the 2nd of our 3 part series on Beautiful Decisions.
Beautiful decisions – buying and selling a home.
Last week we outlined that there are beautiful decisions to make. Click here for that article
This week we are looking at a process that will help you make beautiful decisions.
Next week we will look at how your beautiful decisions may look in real life.
Process, smocess – how bloody boring. If you're talking spreadsheets etc. Na, I'm not interested Mal, I'm winging it and besides, the good property things only happen to other people – not me – I had a birth defect that prevents me from making beautiful decisions on property.
Beautiful decision processes are not difficult and they are not monopolies.
There is the long term Jewish family beautiful decision process, the Greek/Italian migrant beautiful decision process, the new wave Chinese people's beautiful decision process, the boring Mum and Dad beautiful decision process and there is the James Home Rating beautiful decision process.
The differences on the above are minutiae.
The sameness of them all is remarkable.
The sameness is:
· The content of the process is almost identical.
· The content of the process is almost identical and it works.
· The content of the process is almost identical and it works – when you follow it.
Lets look at the process content (PPP's) of a beautiful decision:
· Buy good land at a good price, don't pay too much for the home, hold it for a long time.
· Good land is not always sized based, although that is a great starting component – the most common denominator is position.
· The best homes are free – and remain relatively free for the lifetime of the ownership – meaning renovations are modest as a percentage of overall value.
· Good position has a number of common denominators in relation to CBD, schools and amenity – with the train being the most solid of indicators of good position.
· Price – what is a good price? Market value is a concept that is only subscribed to on good land/homes. Discounts are looked for and sought after, but never on rubbish – eg High end apartments are like junk bonds, financially. High end apartments only work when the lifestyle component dominates your beautiful decision process of rigour (which is fair enough, we do buy apartments where it is an informed lifestyle decision).
Okay, but Mal there is more to a home than PPP's – what about I want a pool – what about where my kids go to school, what about the new bench top for the Missus or a big garage for my toys, buddy?
Of course you can have a pool and ……..? Put that into your beautiful decision process.
Good processes for beautiful decisions only work if you are buying what you really, really want – otherwise, what is the point.
Our view is just add a few more things into your process than a pool, shiny benchtop and eight car garage. Add in good land, not too far from the train, in a home that you are not paying a poultice for.
In other words, add in good PPP's (Price, Property, Position) as well as your greatest desires such as a 12 car garage – why stop at 8.
Your three 3P's – Price, Property and Position are the levers you can manipulate in your matching. Make a beautiful decision on what may be good for you versus what there is versus what you want.
Why not get a good benchtop and a good land size, a good bedroom and a good price, a good pool and a good position near the train.
James Home Ratings is a process for making beautiful decisions by combining what you really want and what is really good for you and at the right price.
Three key steps to a beautiful decision:
- What is it I really, really want? (Clarity)
- Is this it – is this any good? (Assessment)
- How much, how do I best get it? (Negotiation)
Can we dispel the myth that James Home Ratings or any beautiful decision process requires an enormous amount of intelligence (we are living proof, no rocket scientists at James) or that it requires some incredible god given skill, only possessed by the wealthy. In fact a beautiful decision process, will in all likelihood take less time, be less effort and require less brainpower/stress than an ugly decision.
All a beautiful property decision requires:
- is a small amount of inner strength to
- follow a proven process (no shortcuts) that works and to perhaps modify (not completely ignore) some of your wants in relation to a more holistic beautiful decision and;
- an experienced guide to assist you along the way.
So Mal – you lied – you said a good, a beautiful process involved getting what you really, really wanted – yet you are saying in some cases I will need to modify my wants.
No, but yes – a beautiful decision will get you what you really, really want as it will help you clarify what it is you really, really want.
After a while you may well work out that a shiny benchtop is important, but so is a short walk to the train and lower mortgage payments, or you may work out in fact that you need a 16 car garage (why stop at 12) and you are prepared to pay for it when the opportunity arises and therefore you will go further out into the 'burbs, accept longer travel time to school and poorer capital growth – because that is what you really, really want OR you may work out that a 2 car garage, shorter travel time to school, wooden bench top and better capital growth is what you really, really want – more money in your pocket after mortgage and more in your super, plus free world travel and free private school fees is better than the stress of a Blockhead, travertine, designer sink with gold plated wing nuts at an auction where the final bidding scene resembled an international war zone.
That's what I think makes a beautiful decision – it's what you really, really want; not what just happens to pop into your brain this hour/week/month.
Below is the James Home Ratings beautiful process checklist that over 1000 families, over 15 years have followed.
This is direct from our James Home Ratings – you may think it's a boring process, we follow it time after time and guess what it produces and we don't find it boring. Almost no mistakes and almost always beautiful decisions – if that's boring – give me boredom any-day baby!
Some perspective on following a beautiful decision process and getting what it is you really, really want.
You probably won't require big changes to your property life.
You just require a focus, a commitment to be better off.
Western Bulldogs didn't win the premiership because they were a superior team by an incredibly large margin.
They won because they matched on most and were superior on a few more things than Sydney and GWS and Hawthorn and West Coast.
They had a game plan and executed well – not perfectly – but well.
They also had a first rate guide.
I so loved Luke Beveridge's comments when he said:
Most people at the start thought we were a 90% chance of losing and a 10% chance of making it and we chose to focus 100% on the 10%.
That is such a brilliant comment about negotiations and beautiful decisions – some of which at the start seem impossible to achieve.
- What is it I really, really want? (Clarity)
- Is this it – is this any good? (Assessment)
- How much, how do I best get it? (Negotiation)
Until next week then, when we outline what beautiful decisions look like in real life.
Welcome to the final in a our 3-part series on beautiful decisions.
A quick summary of Beautiful Decisions so far.
Article One: Understand there are beautiful decisions you can make. Click here
Article Two: A process of rigour that allows for beautiful decisions to be made by you. Click here
Article Three: Beautiful Decisions in under a minute and each one could make you a million dollars without any effort.
Three key steps to a beautiful decision:
1. What is it I really, really want? (Clarity)
2. Is this it – is this any good? (Assessment)
3. How much, how do I best get it? (Negotiation)
Most of our clients, at the start, thought we were a 90% chance of losing and a 10% chance of making it and together we chose to focus 100% on the 10% (quote re-worked by us from premiership winning coach Luke Beveridge).
Beautiful Decision number one – Play Monopoly
When I was young I used to love playing Monopoly – it is such an instructive game on property and the main play that works for you, compound interest.
This is how real life Monopoly works.
You can make $70,000 a year for the rest of your life for nothing, except a beautiful decision – if you understand compound interest and buy one home a decade.
In 2010 you buy a home at $1,000,000 and you get $30,000 in rent – it costs you $50,000 to own the home in interest.
In 2020 your home is worth $2,000,000 and you get $60,000 in rent and hopefully you are still paying $50,000 in interest.
You go to the bank and you now buy another home at $2,000,000 and you get $60,000 in rent and it costs you $100,000 interest. You can do that because of your capital growth.
In 2030 you have a home that is worth $4,000,000 and you get $120,000 in rent and it costs you $50,000 in interest and you have a second home worth $4,000,000 with rent at $120,000 and interest at $100,000.
You go to bank and buy a third home at $4,000,000 and you get $120,000 in rent and it costs you $200,000 in interest but you also have a $90,000 surplus on the other two homes and so its costing you – well actually nothing – you are being paid $10,000 to hold three homes as they go up in value.
In 2030 you are holding $12,000,000 worth of homes for nothing.
And so in 2040 when you have $24,000,000 of homes, you either buy another home or you sell one of the homes for $8,000,000 – you pay off you debt and you have two homes left (two million dollars in todays money) for free or of course you can do nothing.
There are tax implications – and you can't rent if you live in it and ………………… interest rates may change.
Hello – wake up – Negative Freddy – manage around that, as the home may go up a lot more (historically doubles every 7 to 8 years), rent may work for you better, you might get a work windfall, what about tax concessions and or ……..
By making a beautiful decision now, in 30 years time you have $2,000,000 in today's money, in your pocket by doing absolutely nothing – except a beautiful decision.
Not enough, have to wait too long, what if……………
And that's the rub isn't it Blockheads – this doesn't all happen in eight weeks and $2 million is not enough.
But think about it – if you were given nearly $70,000 annually, increasing in line with the cost of living, for the rest of your life, with almost no risk and all you did was make a beautiful decision today then would you……………….. most wouldn't and most don't.
You can make a million dollars in today's money without lifting a hammer, depriving yourself of anything and you could travel the world for free and get all the Scotch or St Leonards school fees for free ……… all because you understand compounding interest and beautiful decisions.
Ain't that the truth Jane and Ian, Jo and Jim, Lyn-Li and Graham.
The formula is only slightly different if you involve one home to live in – in the process.
Beautiful decision two – Gentrifying or Improving Suburbs
In the 1990s it was Albert Park. In the New Millenium we were buying in Yarraville and Sunshine and Burwood and Highett.
Even in 2015 we were still buying less than 5 km from the city under $2,000 per sqm for clients.
You can buy in the same suburb at 2/3 of the price.
You can buy in the next precinct at a 25% discount.
I feel you smiling David and Joanne.
Three tips to Gentrification (google it):
- Don't be first in – you're not that smart.
- Don't be last in – you're paying too much.
- Don't buy over the median and don't buy crap that you have to renovate too much as it always cost you more.
Beautiful Decision number three – Upscale on the Gap
We love it when the market goes off – there is that opportunity to close the gap on the homes above you and trade up well; especially if you are a doctor or somebody with a reliable income. So your $2m home today will be worth $1.8m on a market dip – but $5m home could dip to $3.8m – that's how you make a million dollars – timing and some courage. Looking good now Marina and Malcolm, Alicia and Craig, Zara and Andrew, Karen and Bruce.
Beautiful Decision number four – Love of the home – Frank
One of my favourite guys Frank, who I miss deeply – loved the home he and his wife, Louise, bought and lived in. He absoluuuuuutely loved it – it was down at Rye backbeach – we bought it smart – he hired me after I beat him at auction on another place a long time ago – he paid a fair bit – but he was soooooo happy. We became friends. Life is short.
Beautiful Decision number five – Look from the In Out – not always from Out to get In. Look down, not always up and look sideways occasionally. Look behind, not always ahead.
Some of the best homes to live in, some of the nicest suburbs, some of the best coffee and just as close to the CBD is 50-75% the cost of what you are looking for now.
Oh Mal, you are bulltishing.
1. We bought a home recently in Toorak, less than 10 minutes from Lauriston under $2,500,000 – ready to move in and on its own land. Look sideways.
2. We bought a home and land with a tennis court near Camberwell Junction under $3.5 million – when the client's budget was $5m. Don't always reach for the sky – look down as well.
3. How long does it take to get from Camberwell or Kew to Scotch in peak time – 30 minutes? How long is the trip from Richmond? 10 minutes going against the traffic and there are homes at $2 million. Look In to Out not always Out to In.
4. We recently bought a home – that we recorded was for sale two years ago, but didn't sell and we followed up off market. Look back not always forward.
Hat's off to Jayne and Jason, Helen and Richard, Joel and Esther, Trudie and Mark.
Beautiful Decision number six – Period beats New
Wanting the right home – land plus build is for the birds right now, unless that is what you really, really want to do. $4,000,000 plus $2,000,000 build on land without overlays versus $3,500,000 plus $1,000,000 reno on land with heritage.
Talk about a beautiful decision and even better in 10 years time when the $6,000,000 newbie grows to $9,000,000 and the $4,500,000 period home grows to $10,000,000.
On those numbers who are the real Blockheads! 50% growth with higher mortgages versus 100% growth, lower mortgages, free world travel and free school fees – whilst in all likelihood being closer to where you want to be. Like your work Simone and Ben.
Beautiful Decision number seven – Don't
A lot of the help we give clients is don't. D-O-N-T.
Don't sell now.
Don't buy this one.
Don't overcapitalise and then sell soon after.
Don't make a big mistake.
Just Don't. Good move Kerrie and Michael.
Every time you move it's 10% – on a $3 million home that is $300,000 tax free – just gone. Every time you buy a home, that doesn't work for you it's $300,000 to sell and rebuy and every time you hold onto a goodie – well that's probably a million dollars in you pocket – especially if you don't buy an apartment or an off the plan or ……………. there is another $ 1 million by simply …… Don't make big mistakes!
Speaking of apartments – which we love and buy – but not as you build your wealth.
Tell me why it makes sense to buy an apartment that costs $18,000 per sqm when land is $6,000 per sqm and building a home is $5,000 per sqm. What am I missing?
One more, D-O-N-T keep repeating the same mistakes – change your mindset, hire a Buyer Advocate and don't give up. Well done Liz and Henk, Alec and Shirl, Alicia and Shaun.
Beautiful Decision number eight – $1,000,000 in two months
Numbers count. We recently bought a home at $3,700,000 and we had $4,500,000. We may have paid $4,500,000 but the agent refused to deal with us beforehand on three occasions – wouldn't even allow us to talk – despite our client instructing us to offer. So our client is $800,000 better off and the agent's client is $800,000 worse off.
Now, if those numbers were repeated on the seller buying, but in reverse meaning the seller now paid $4,500,000 – when they could have paid $3,800,000 – then that is $1,600,000 because they received poor advice from others or most commonly poor advice from themselves.
Now, if you want me to confuse you a bit – add to this, that if the original buyer (our client) had of sold for $4,500,000 instead of $3,700,000 – they would be $1,600,000 better off than they could have been without the good advice.
Is that a $3,200,000 difference in three months between the two – or am I getting confused or exaggerating?
WOW, that's a lot of mortgage and………. imagine if this was also a person, who played Monopoly and bought period instead of new and…………………
Numbers do count towards happiness.
Beautiful Decision number nine – Happy Wife, Happy Life
Please excuse me ladies while I'm politically incorrect for us blokes.
For the most part women nest and women control the happiness of the home and women make many of the real homebuying decisions (over 90% in our opinion).
Understand this and you will buy in the right position, the right feeling home and you'll increase your chances of staying happily married.
You can maybe ask for a garage, try and manage the process and…….. just pay the price, buddy – it's easier.
Look, we are getting better at the cricket again and it's almost Boxing Day – enjoy a coldie…… move on.
As one of my favourite $13m-plus clients learnt and often correctly repeated – Happy wife, happy life. Evening John!
Hopefully it won't cost you $13m.
Beautiful Decision number ten – James Buyer Advocates and timing
Homes have gone up 15% to 30% in the last two years and a Buyer Advocate costs you 1% to 2% – if they can suggest a better alternative and buy for you now – even at "full price" plus fee – then you may be in front by a tad. Well done Alan – despite the mental difficulty you had in coughing up our fee, you seem to be well in front – you were great to work with and we both benefited from our mutual association – as it should be, or there is no charge from us at James.


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In IdoSell Shop, on a daily basis, we handle hundreds of thousands of on-line orders generated by thousands of our clients. Everything that we describe in this section really influences the Polish and the Global e-market.
The IdoSell.com on-line stores can now automatically generate shipping documents and labels for DHL international services.more
The IdoSell.com administration panel has been expanded with new function - you can now check, which customers observe which products for their re-availability in store.more
On-line stores from the Euro zone or the United Kingdom will be surely very happy with the newest option - capability of automatic currency exchange rates calculation on basis of rates offered by European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England.more


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The last sentences on my last post raised some interesting comments from readers. Some were posted on here, others were received via other messenger apps. In order to dispel any thoughts readers might have about me being all alone in this world with no friends, let me quite clear that I have a large circle of friends, some are closer friends than others. The situation is that nearly all of my close friends are couples, and couples seem to connect better with other couples rather than with someone who is single for whatever reason, that is widowed, divorced, never married, or separated which is my condition. From my own observations it seems that single women connect better with other single women than single men do with other single men. Another observation I have made is that very rarely do single older men have friendships with single older women. Furthermore I believe that kind of friendship would not be acceptable behavior to a lot of my friends, no matter how platonic the friendship.
I meet weekly with up to four other men, all happily married, for coffee for an hour or so. Typically the conversations are about, but not limited to, holidays and travel, either past travels or upcoming planned travels, or cars and caravans. Since we are all in the age range of 74-80 years old we like to compare our experiences with the health system. These are mostly about surgeries performed on us and the benefits or otherwise of the outcomes. That is surgery for "mens problems", joint replacements, heart surgery, skin cancers, and in my case brain surgery. https://labtad.com/bleedingbrains/. A couple of the men are involved as members of a Men's Shed.
Another of my social activities is a weekly walking group, where we walk for an hour then have a long coffee and chat at a cafe nearby. Attendances vary from about 15-20 people in winter, up to 40 in summer. The coffee time follows the usual Australian tradition of social division of the men from the ladies. Most of the participants are couples, with perhaps 2 or 3 single ladies and only 1 or 2 single men. Usually the men walk as a group separate from the ladies.
A few days ago ABC Life published an article on the ABC website http://www.abc.net.au/life/habits-to-help-you-avoid-loneliness-later-in-life/10554144
This article says a lot of things I agree with. Wives/partners do organise a couples social life, well it seems that way to me as I observe couples that I have known for decades and it was my wife that invited friends over for a meal or an outing together. When that usual way of organising a social life is disrupted, for whatever reason, divorce, death, long-term illness, separation due to placing in aged care, it can take months, if not years, to come to terms with the fact that the evenings are going to be lonely times. Not only have you lost your social secretary, but also someone to talk with over dinner, or someone to share an evening out at the cinema or a concert or a drive in the country for a picnic.
I don't know the solutions to this situation. I am just putting this out there for readers to think about.


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In this edition of the development blog, we're listing the minimum and recommended system requirements needed to play Freeworlds: Tides of War.
System Requirements
As any PC gamer will know, there's no such thing as one-size-fits-all when it comes to your gaming rig. System requirements are an unfortunate but necessary reminder of just how far our hard-earned systems can be pushed before they just cannot keep up any longer. Keeping that in mind, it's time we have an honest talk about what is needed to run Freeworlds: Tides of War.
The first, and probably most important thing to note is this: Being able to run vanilla Freelancer and/or some of the other Freelancer mods out there without issue does not mean you will be able to run Freeworlds: Tides of War at an acceptable level of quality.
Freelancer came out in early 2003, and the majority of mods out there have not overhauled the graphics engine in the complete fashion that Freeworlds has. Freelancer and its many other mods should not and can not be used as your benchmark. The following should allow you to run Freeworlds:
Freeworlds: Tides of War – System Requirements
- Operating System: Windows Vista (Minimum) / Windows 7 or Windows 10 Recommended
- Processor: Intel / AMD CPU with Dual Cores / Preferably Better
- RAM: 4GB Minimum / 8GB+ Recommended
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GForce GTX460, AMD Radeon HD5830 (Minimum) / GForce 500-series, AMD 6000-series or later Recommended
- DirectX: DirectX 11 Required
- Network Speed: 5mbit/s Up/Down Minimum
- Storage: At Least 10GB Available on HDD
For anyone who is unsure if their PC meets the basic requirements, there is a tool available from the Starport that will let you know if your system is compatible: Freeworlds: Tides of War Compatibility Checker.
Simply download the tool and run it. You will be see the following screen:After waiting a moment, you will see the results. A positive result will look similar to the following:
Do take heed of the tool's warning, however. Even if your system is compatible, that does not absolutely guarantee good performance. The requirements listed above are still necessary for a quality experience.
Also worth noting is that our game server is located in Eastern Canada, North America. A reasonably speedy internet connection is necessary, but the further you are from the server location, the worse your ping will be.
To get a rough idea of how steady your connection to the game server will be, we suggest running an internet speed test.
Before you initiate the test, choose a server located in one of the major eastern cities in Canada. Montreal, Quebec or Ottawa should suffice as test locations. For best results, your ping should be around 100ms or lower. At 150ms or more you may notice some lag issues, and anything over 200-250ms you will likely find that connection issues will get in your way.
As always, please feel free to reach out to the development team on our Discord server (links below). If you have questions related to system requirements or need help troubleshooting the game, please don't hesitate to ask!
Community Links
Recruitment is now open for all factions! The New Republic, Imperial Remnant, Corellian Protectorate and Hutt Syndicate are all waiting for you! Want to join the community? It couldn't be simpler: Join our Discord Channels! Click on the links below:
- Text Channel: https://discord.gg/x8Tb59X
- Voice Channel: https://discord.gg/0WWiTSVTnEf6ZoLQ
For the latest development videos, please check out our YouTube Channel! Or, visit us on the Freeworlds Forums, Facebook, or leave us a comment or question here and the developers will respond! We also have a Steam group that's updated weekly with our news posts, and our community is always welcoming new gamers!
Don't forget to like, subscribe and share!


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Odyssey's Air Supply tubes are specifically sized to fit modern BMX tires, and they are manufactured with a stronger emphasis on quality versus simply chasing the lowest possible price. On average, the Air Supply BMX tube retains air significantly longer than others currently available on the market. This is down to both the rubber that is used, and because of strict quality control during manufacturing. It is normal to assume that a "tube is a tube," but a higher quality tube will always last longer than a cheap tube during comparable everyday use.
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Performance is by nature slippery–the work exists only in the moment of its enactment; later, as something remembered or recounted in stories, it's filtered through someone's lens. What's more, performed work itself is inherently fickle. The congeniality of the venue and its relation to the set design, the mood of the performers, the vibe and composition of the audience, and even the weather outside that day are variables that affect the tenor and character of a given show, rendering each iteration of even the same piece as unique and ephemeral as a proverbial snowflake.
So, if you're a museum that "collects" performing arts—and there are many that have made it a practice to do so in the past half-century—where does this leave you?
In early November, the Walker flew in various experts from around the country to discuss this very question. The timing coincides with the institution's work on the development of new, open-source cataloguing software for performing arts, and on the occasion of its acquisition of a vast collection of sets, costumes, and props from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, some of which are on view now in the exhibitions Dance Works I: Robert Rauschenberg/Merce Cunningham and Dance Works II: Merce Cunningham/Ernesto Neto.
The assembled group for a daylong workshop on issues raised by cataloguing and collecting performance consisted of independent scholars and writers, web developers and software wonks, videographers, performers, presenters, archivists, and curators representing the Andy Warhol Museum, the Cunningham Dance Foundation and Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the New York Public Library, Wexner Center for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Ann Arbor's University Musical Society, and the University of Minnesota.
Participants quickly got down to brass tacks: What does it even mean to collect performance? Given its intrinsically fleeting nature, what, precisely, is an institution to tag and catalogue? Who owns this material? If you're dealing with recordings, where does the notion of authorship, of creative control, and profit sharing come into play?
Surely such a catalogue should amount to more than mere accounting, more than just a bare record of payments received and sent, performance dates and times, and video recordings to satisfy the bean counters. Even the archive should have "real life," says Bonnie Brooks of the Cunningham Foundation, and offer a meaningful experience of the performance, even to newcomers to the work who will never actually see it onstage.
But what might that look like? And just as important, why collect this information in the first place?" Ben Harrison of the Andy Warhol Museum, put it, "What's it all for? Is it just a time capsule?"
It becomes clear as participants talk that, for them, "capturing" a history means digitizing information as well as assembling news and interviews about a work and gathering audience responses (for "valuable texture," one says). Such a history also involves not only collecting the sets, props, costumes, and media recordings of the event, but also artists' notes, scores, and documentation of script readings, workshops, and open rehearsals. The aim seems to be to gather in one place a record of all the steps that go into the making of a thing, and to begin doing so long before the premiere. The assembled professionals discussed cataloguing this work as an active process, the cultivation of a living archive. If you want to really understand a work, they say, you must know something of its makers.
And there are pragmatic concerns for comprehensive behind-the-scenes records, too. Trevor Carlson, of the soon-to-be-disbanded Merce Cunningham Dance Company, observes: "For us, the question is: how do we continue to serve Merce Cunningham's legacy through the licensing of his work, and for scholarly and educational study, when our lighting director, stage manager, wardrobe supervisor, development staff, general manager, visual artist, etc. are no longer available? Our interest is in making that information accessible and reliable, and on our terms, for the sake of paying respect to Merce's legacy."
But Carlson also cautions: "The artist needs to be part of the conversation about what will go into the archive—the catalogue—and how and by whom the information gathered will be used. This has to be a two-way conversation. It's just not something the institution can or should decide on its own."
Indeed, as the group conversation progresses from the constitution of archival content to questions of access, it's clear that everyone in the room imagines a 21st-century web-based catalogue of performance works that could be utilized by a pool of users that includes but far exceeds the usual assortment of library patrons. Among them are documentarians, scholars, museum professionals, and working artists, of course—all of whom tap an archive for practical information about staging or remounting work, for historical context or behind-the-scenes research. But one must also consider more casual cultural consumers who might happen upon such an archive by way of a random Google key word search, a moment's web-surfing whim.
Ben Harrison, of the Warhol Museum, asks: "How do we invite these users of a web-based archive in, engage them in our institution's offerings and encourage them to seek out more, but without giving away too much sensitive data about the work to just anyone who happens by? If we give access to too much, we risk not serving the best interest of either the artist or the institution." Walker visual arts curator Betsy Carpenter follows up: "And who has the privilege of providing both public access and stewardship of these archival materials? Who ultimately owns the documentation about work in the collection? And what if the artist's and institution's needs aren't aligned?"
Ownership is a loaded notion, especially in this context, but it's also an inescapable part of the lexicon of the museum, where the object is central and terms like "commissions," "collections," or "acquisitions" are part of everyday parlance. But is it even appropriate to use such language in the context of performing arts? If not ownership, then what, exactly, is the museum's stake in its commissioned works for the stage? What sort of investment—one of the assembled curators calls it "reputational capital"—is tied up in its performance history?
Joan Rothfuss, curator and art historian, suggests shifting our thinking from "ownership" to conservation and keeping culture for the public trust: "An institution's holdings are not really about collecting and buying, at their heart. 'Collecting' works is primarily about preserving and protecting them, presenting them for the public. The process of documenting a performance work for the 'collection' provides an institution with the opportunity to delve into what that work is about, to introduce it to people, to expand the context and place it in conversation with other objects and projects also important to the museum. 'Collecting' a piece is a way an institution declares its commitment to making the work a community resource, something shared, not to be held separate."
Philip Bither, the Walker's William and Nadine McGuire Senior Curator of Performing Arts, affirms: "A bedrock value [here] is that ownership stays with the artist. It's written into all our commissioning agreements at the Walker: We don't own the meat of the performance itself. Maybe, if 'collection' as the working lexicon is a distraction, perhaps we should change the vocabulary—call these performance commissions our 'archive collection' or something less loaded with connotations of ownership."
Bonnie Brooks, with the Cunningham Foundation, agrees: "Commissioning performance simply isn't acquisitive. It's a transactional relationship between the artist and the institution. You can discuss the trail of the performance, the tracings left behind—but the work and its documentation is simply not a collectible, as such."
So what do these archives offer, then? If "tracings" of performance works, this extensive catalogue and accoutrements gathered and preserved after the fact, are to have "real life" of their own, and provide a meaningful, stand-alone experiences for their viewers—given the absence of the animating players onstage, what might that look like?
A friend and dance writer I work with, Lightsey Darst, recently wrote on the notion of "dance as still life" for an online arts magazine; it's a response piece to the Walker exhibition Dance Works I: Merce Cunningham/Robert Rauschenberg. Her provocative insights have been mingling, in my mind, with the issues of this "cataloguing performance" workshop from a month ago.
Of the Walker's display of the lauded dance company's famous-artist-rendered apparel and décor, she writes: "The historicizers have plundered what was live and frozen it to the walls. Some of it is arranged in vitrines, little contrary-to-life dioramas of costumes and props.… Costumes are squashed in narrow drawers, like dead butterflies, and some few things hang from the ceiling in corners, looking tatty and saggy.… I admit to a fundamental reservation about dance décor being mounted as artwork; this is not the use for which these objects were created. Also, I must confess that I have no respect for history, where history means that things are valuable because of their associations, because Robert Rauschenberg put them together, because Merce Cunningham wore them."
Later, she writes: "So everything here looks a little muddy at the edges, the costumes a little sweat-stained—well, it is over after all.… What is this detritus of your love? Are you glad that someone has archived it?"
And, on the one hand, of course, she's right: these objects are but peripherals to the main event; and seen alone, bereft of both purpose and performers, they're dimly visible shadows of the resplendent and transient work from which they spring.
There are stories in these objects all the same, and stories worth seeking out. They're of a different nature altogether than those spun by the performances for which they were made, but the tales told by this tangible flotsam and jetsam are nonetheless integral—interwoven through the warp and weft of the making of the work. The value of the stories in these objects, to my mind, lies in the seams they make visible in what appears seamless, even immaculately conceived, onstage: the sweat stains, worn corners, and tatty edges speak of the manifold labor, the human ingenuity and long hours spent involved in making something appear effortless.
Susannah Schouweiler is editor for arts writing and criticism at mnartists.org, as well as the site's twice-monthly e-mag access+ENGAGE. She blogged November's discussions on collecting performance for the Walker Performing Arts blog.


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Clu Clu Land (NES) review
"The origin of Nintendo begins before the epic quests with the simple games. Clu Clu Land is one of those simple games, but is immensely fun. Personally this is an NES game with alot going for it. It's a puzzle game, as many original NES games were, but it is entertaining and very innovative. "
Community review by ratking (November 14, 2002)
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A Message From The Principal
Mr. William R. Galati
September 2016
The 2016-2017 school year is off to a great start. We welcomed students on September 6th with a greeting from student council in the gym followed by students making their way to first period class. Student assemblies followed on September 7th where students were provided with a discussion pertaining to a review of building expectations and student learning responsibilities in addition to aspects of the Dignity Act was reinforced. On September 8th we hosted Open House where families had the opportunity to follow their child's schedule and meet with their child's teachers to receive a brief summary of course expectations and more. In the event you were not able to attend Open House, please email your child's teachers to receive a course syllabus and other pertinent information distributed/discussed during that evening.
High school spirit week took place this week (Week of September 19th) with Spirit Day celebrated on Thursday, September 22nd. On Friday, September 23rd Our Girls Varsity Soccer Team tied with PJ that same evening we hosted the annual Homecoming Dance for students in grades 9-12. Homecoming is Saturday, September 24th with the Boy's Varsity Soccer Team competing against Greenport. Please visit our district website to gain additional insight and information pertaining to our districts sports programs and fall sports team accomplishments.
State Assessment results in mathematics, ELA and science will be posted on the Parent Portal. We will no longer be mailing detailed student reports summarizing student achievement on State Assessments. In the event you have concerns pertaining to access to the Parent Portal, please contact Mr. Ryan Case at firstname.lastname@example.com. Questions pertaining to results can be discussed with your child's ELA/mathematics teacher(s) or guidance counselor.
To further support our teachers with the latest trends, meaningful methodologies, and authentic venues to instruct students; teachers are provided with on-going professional development. On Friday, September 16th a group of teachers in various curricula domains were provided with professional development in methodologies to further support the ESL student and more. The session was facilitated by Mrs. Linda Scalice, well respected former school administrator for World Languages and ESL. We look forward to working with Mrs. Scalice on October 7th where different teachers will be provided with a similar session of learning.
Southold Junior-Senior High School students are encouraged to make the most of their Junior-Senior High School years by enrolling in diverse academic offerings as well as by participating in extra-curricula activities and athletics. A current offering of extra curricula activities will be provided to students as well as posted on the principal webpage for your reference. Questions pertaining to specific extra curricula activities should be directed to advisors of such activities by email.
A rigorous, challenging, and meaningful curriculum is provided to students and supplemented outside of the classroom with a plethora of enrichment activities that help students develop into well-rounded individuals. To further support students in their overall academic development, I encourage you to make contact with your child's teacher to assess their overall progress, schedule appointments with teachers to attend parent-teacher conferences (November 21st – MS and November 22nd – MS/HS) and for students to attend extra help that is offered daily from 2:30pm-2:45pm. Interim Reports will no longer be mailed – reports will be posted on the Parent Portal on/about October 13th. Please review comments shared on the report and if you desire any clarification, please contact your child's subject-specific teacher or guidance counselor. Additionally, parents have access to their child's academic standing in all classes on the Parent Portal detailing grades their child has earned on assignments, assessments, and more. Please know that your child's guidance counselor (Mr. Crimi or Ms. Cavallaro) as well as myself are always available to meet with you to best support you and your child in their overall development (academic, social, and emotional) at Southold Junior-Senior High School.
Thank you for your continued support and cooperation. It is essential that we continue to establish and sustain a collaborative relationship (with all stakeholders) to foster a meaningful and valuable education for all students at Southold schools. Please like us on Face book, read my blog, access Twitter, and review information posted on the building webpage to be connected with our school. Have a great year!
Ms. Rizzo, Family and Consumer Science
Community Service:
The annual Southold Town Foodie Tour was held on September 11th. Middle school students Miles Hoffman and John Spinelli volunteered to give tours when visitors came to the Southold School garden. Several students, parent volunteers along with Ms. Rizzo picked crops of fresh vegetables for visitors to sample. The students picked a fresh crop of green peppers that turned into a Culinary Arts I High School farm to table lesson where the high school culinary class made stuff peppers.
Mrs. Dougherty-Johnson, Library Media Specialist
News from the library: There has been an abundance of reading (we all love those new September books!) and research (we missed you this summer, Virtual Reference Collection!) going on in the library already. In addition, we're teaming up with the Southold Free Library to provide a great program. The Jane Addams Book Group for grades 5-8 is based on the 2016 Jane Addams children's book award winners. We'll meet on Wednesdays (September 21 & 28 and October 5 & 19) from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. at the Southold Free Library. We'll have a great time reading and talking about this year's six winning books as well as researching the authors/illustrators and discussing the themes that are explored. On Friday, October 21, we'll attend the Awards Ceremony in New York City and meet the winning authors and illustrators. There are still a few spots left, so interested readers should talk to their librarian for more information.
Besides all the class visits and book checkouts this month, we're celebrating the Constitution in the library. Come see if you can answer the Constitution trivia questions: Are there spelling errors in the Constitution? How long did it take to write the Constitution? Who was the oldest signer? Who was the youngest? What presidents signed the Constitution? In addition, there are a few more weeks left for the Preamble Challenge: Can you memorize and recite the Preamble, the first sentence of the Constitution? Will you win the grand prize?
See you soon and happy reading!
Ms. Gilmore / Mrs. Salmaggi, Co-Advisors for Interact
Two of our Interact students, Althea Mignone and Alexandra Apadula, have been invited by the Southold Rotary Club to attend the Rotary conference which will be held at the Ocean Place Resort in New Jersey from October 13 to October 16.


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Medicine Beaded Earrings Orange
We asked our lovely Columbian community if they would kindly make these lovely earrings from an old traditional Lakota design and to use gold beads and real silver backs so that they are nicer to wear.
They are so beautiful and seem to uplift our faces and sparkle in the sunlight, you won't want to take them off - they are definitely power pieces.
We are really inspired by the skilful craftsmanship, the outstanding beauty and skill of these handmade pieces of Jewellery - or should we say - sacred adornments that are made by specific medicine communities in Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador.
These are age old skills and inspired by the visions of sacred Plant teachers such as Peyote know to open the heart and blow the mind.
We ask the communities to make each piece and imbue it with their prayers for this often out of balance western world to build a bridge with them, to honour their reverence of our Sacred Earth - Pachamama. Each piece takes up to 3 - 4 days to make by people that offer there lives in service.
MUDRA make very little profit on each piece so that we can pay as much as possible to keep this level of exquisite and valuable craftsmanship alive.


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My intention in writing this piece is to educate people who have had no contact with the mental health care system in this country. It is also to tell the story of how a mental illness can sometimes present itself.
Although great strides have been made throughout the years to reduce the stigma associated with serious mental illness it is there all the same. Where I find it most surprisingly is in the facilities that are set up primarily to treat such disorders.
For over five years our family has been caring for a son who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at the age of seventeen. The onset of the illness itself was slow and insidious. When a teenaged boy starts to act differently or express views on life that seem foreign it is expected. When teenagers are making the transition from childhood to adulthood it is rarely a smooth ride. This was round three for us on the teen scene and we were experienced parents and ready for rebellion. We were not ready for a battle with an unknown enemy.
Imagine having a thief come into your home and steal your child right out of his bed. It really does happen to some parents and the reality is horrible. How can a parent cope with that? Now, imagine the thief coming into your home at night and taking just a little bit of his personality. Not a lot at first just enough to know that he does not seem like himself lately. Over the course of weeks and months this thief keeps coming in night after night and taking a little more each time. It takes a little bit of your child's sense of security in his surroundings. It takes a little bit of his view on reality. This thief keeps on getting in the house every night no matter how many times you change the locks and put security measures in place.
Those security measures for us were his primary care doctor and his first counselor. After being given a diagnosis of disthymia and a prescription for Paxil we breathed a sigh of relief. Disthymia is not so bad. It is a chronic low grade underlying depression that can be managed very well with medication. Only the medication was not helping at all. As a matter of fact the medication was throwing the door wide open for the thief to come in and really get to work. Paxil increases dopamine in the brain and dopamine is not what you want to increase when reality is slipping away. Too much dopamine increases hallucinations in a person with schizophrenia. As our son was spiraling down the counselor called my husband in to inform him that he was not spending enough quality time with our son. What does a father think when he hears that he may be to blame for a baffling illness? I can tell you what a mother thinks. For a split second I thought selfishly, " thank-god it is not my fault"! As it happens in the end it really was. I have bi polar disorder type 2 and my precariously balanced brain chemistry is very hereditary.
After a few months we withdrew our son from the counselor because he wasn't hearing us. I would bring in pages upon pages of poems that our son had written that were so unreal. They clearly gave anyone who would read them or study them some insight into the inner workings of a mind in turmoil. There were incredibly intricate pencil drawings also that seemed as if they were the works of a genius if the content had not been so disturbing. The doctor actually congratulated us on having such a talented son. That's when we quit him. He couldn't see what was right in front of him and although we were starting to suspect that this was more than disthymia we still were at a loss.
Then, obvious paranoia set in as it will when a person has schizophrenia. Our sons thief began to follow him around now day and night. Bold as you please not caring to be cunning and sly anymore. I recall with such clarity a particularly painful summer night. My young daughter and I were watching T.V. and my son was heading off to bed early. As he was ascending the stairs he froze and turned to look at me with such pain in his face. I asked him if he was alright. He said, "mom, did you call me a freak"? " Oh God, my mind reeled, "no, of course not honey, I would never call you that". He went to bed. I kept thinking, " what is this,? I know what this is, but it can't be, no, it isn't, I won't let it happen".
Then, it just did. I forced him to go to school and he begged me not to. "If I could just keep him going until this passes him by he will be alright." That is all I was thinking about. Until, the afternoon of that day that I made him go to school. I called him from work when I knew he had gotten home and I asked him how his day was. It was the only time he every cried. He told me he didn't have to tell me because I knew what he was thinking. "How could I know that"? I asked him. He said, "everybody knows that's why I don't have to talk anymore". He had tested this theory at school that day and in his mind he asked the boy in front of him if he could hear him. He told me that he did this over and over again until the boy turned around and answered him. The boy said, "I can hear you and the other voices too". That's when my legs went out from under me and I could no longer stand up. I literally knew in that instant that he had schizophrenia. I told him I was coming right home and to please stay there. Then I called his primary care doctor and told a nurse I needed to speak to the doctor urgently. After relaying the conversation word for word to the doctor that I had just had with my son he told me this. "Mrs. Moreau, your son is very sick". "You need to pack a small bag and take him to the E.R. right now for a psychiatric evaluation".
After all these months of recieving psychiatric care from a trained professional. I am told that my son needs a psychiatric evaluation. As if every Tuesday night previously for four months we were going out to a picnic! So, after it was discovered via a blood test that he ingested too much opiates and most likely did try to commit suicide we left our local E.R. and were referred to a larger hospital with a psych ward. This hospital had a lock down unit and we were told it was where he needed to be at that moment. My husband had to sign him in even while our son begged us to please take him home. He felt better he said. He was fine now he kept saying. All the way home we kept saying, "at least we know he is safe there'. Ten days later he was booted because insurance only covers ten days of psychiatric evaluation. He was spitting small chips of teeth out on the way home because the Haldol that he had been on caused him to have severe, uncontrollable jaw spasms. At our insistence we told the nurse under no circumstances was he to be given that drug ever again. Even when she said the doctor had ordered it I had to tell her that he had to unorder it because I said his teeth were breaking.
Finally home again, we waited for Risperdol to do it's magic. It magically put my son into a semi coma as he slept almost sixteen hours aday and gained eighty pounds in the first year. Then his new doc added Abilify to the mix. After that addition he needed to wear diapers at night. He was on three medications that made him obese, incontinent, incoherent and he still had auditory hallucinations and paranoia. Somehow, he did manage to graduate from high school through an alternative program but it was very hard for him to go there.
Little by little we stopped being afraid he would kill himself. Little by little we got used to living with the thief and began to understand and learn as much as we could about schizophrenia. We told people about schizophrenia and how it became a part of us all. Some of our friends disappeared and some drew nearer. Most of our extended family has remained very supportive and understanding. A few were critical about our decision not to institutionalize our son. By that I don't mean send him away to live but to put him into programs designed to help the sickest people. I am not saying that I did not want my son to be one of "those" people in the group home.
I just knew from seeing the varying degrees of schizophrenia that he was somewhere in the middle range on the sickness scale. He was not so far out of touch that he talked out loud to himself or rocked back in forth. He was sick and he was scared but he accepted help. He always trusted us to make decisions for him with his doctors. He never stopped taking medications no matter how difficult the side effects were. It would bother me so much when someone assumed he had violent tendancies because of his illness. That was so far from who he is or ever was. If anything this illness has made him more compassionate and caring. More concerned about others feelings. He used to apologize for being so much work for me. I finally had to come out and ask him what he was really trying to tell me. He said he was affraid that taking care of him would eventually be too much for me and he worried about that. This young man who battled such internal turmoil could still step out of that to consider how I was holding up. So, it was because of his intelligence and his ability to acknowledge and understand that this was indeed illness and he couldn't always trust his perceptions that spurred us on to seek out better care for him. We finally found it in his fourth psychiatrist and a medication called Clozaril. She told us that she was not surprised that he was sleeping so much and incontinent. She withdrew the Paxil and told us why as mentioned above. Also, she slowly withdrew Risperdol because it never did a thing in the first place. Then she added Geodon and a smidge of Lorazapam to help with anxiety.
A new doctor, a new drug cocktail and a new outlook on life. Our son has become more like himself in the last couple of years. He has emotions again. That, "deer caught in the headlights" look has left his face. He communicates with us all the time now about what he thinks about and how he feels. He has lost over fifty pounds and he quit chain smoking. So, when we found out this doctor was leaving the clinic where he was getting all of his care. We abdicated with her under cover of darkness. The institutionalized way of treatment that the clinic provides did not allow for him to continue to get his meds there if he had an outside doctor. We had to choose between a doctor that got our son up off the couch, walking and losing weight, while quitting cigarettes and sleeping in boxers as apposed to diapers and a clinic that at best provided an easy way to get his meds.
I always told that doctor that if she ever tried to leave I would stalk her and sleep on her doorstep until she took in our son as a patient in her private practice. I did and she did.
So, now our dilemma is this. In order to get his Clozaril he has to have specific bloodwork done before he can fill his prescription. There is a very rare side effect that has occured with this medicine and it can cause a rapid decline in white cells that can leave a person so immune difficient that death can happen if not caught early. At the clinic the blood work was done and on that day we took home a bottle of pills. In private practice the doctor has to fax a lab order to a lab. The lab has to draw the blood, perform the tests and then follow the faxing instructions. The faxing instructions are to fax a copy to the doctor and the pharmacy at the same time. The pharmacist cannot fill it unless the bloodwork is normal for the patients own safety. Here in lies the rub. The lab has consistently failed to fax the labwork at all by day three. I was told that it only takes twenty four hours to complete the testing. The lab technician herself told me this as I told her I was worried it would be held up.
As we are about to celebrate July 4th and all that it means to us as a country, as the home of the free. Why is an american citizen not allowed to choose a doctor in private practice that has made such a difference in his life without paying a high price? Why would this country choose to corral mentally ill people into clinics where all the care is absolutely managed with very little choice? Especially if the patient has a willing family that will love and support him. In actuality taking a burden off of an overtaxed medical facility. Why can't he access just a part of the clinic that works for him and reject as a free person a part that doesn't? In the three years that my son had been recieving services at the clinic he had at least four counselors. No one stayed long enough to remember much about him. Each one sat with his file on their lap and asked questions that my son had answered a hundred times. There was no moving forward. He would go in and choose a number just like at the deli. After that he would go through a door that automatically locked and he would disappear down the hall. There he would wait in a large room where there were long tables. Everyone sat there until there number was called. Then they would get weighed, have their blood pressure checked, have their blood drawn, get their bottle of pills and go home.
If they were part of the large population that got taxied in from a group home sometimes they would wait for over an hour for the taxi to come back to take them "home". How sad it was to see an ill person, nervous, shaking from the cold and knocking on the glass to get the receptionists attention. I do mean knocking too because many times the receptionist had a way of not bothering to look up when a person was standing right there in front of her. After knocking I would hear a small voice say, 'could you please call my ride again because it is so cold out and they didn't come yet"? In answer often, "well, I already called give them a few more minutes". Eyes cast downward the person would back away mumbling….'okay'. My son got two rides there by taxi because the counselor thought it was best to foster independence. I thought it would foster more feelings of abandonment and paranoia after witnessing that. So, I opted to drive him in and out. On a few occasions I opted to go up to the window after someone had been asking repeatedly for a ride home. It's funny how when a person looks pretty together on the outside and has her hair combed and is in ironed clothing that glass window practically flies open by manicured nails attached to the long arms of the taxi law! Oh yes, I did but nicely. I just pointed out that it seemed a bit harsh that a person had to wait almost an hour to get home when they were already taxied in an hour too early followed by an hour until their number came up. Three hours is a long time to be somewhere stressful when a person is dealing with a serious mental illness. Usually I got a look and occasionally an eye roll but I always got that phone call. Maybe little victories here and there is the best we can hope for when surviving with a mental illness but I am not satisfied with that. I want to win the war.
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