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Travel for professional speaking is different than for academic talks. For one thing, I've almost never been invited to give an academic talk by someone who wasn't a friend. This means that academic talks often have a friendly, personal dimension to them (though if the wrong people show up for your talk, they can also have an ugly personal dimension as well).
Professional speaking, however, is far more mercantile. It's not an economic exchange layered atop an intellectual kinship network. Your talk is a commodity; it's purchased like a DVD or a long book, with a certain amount of attention to content and audience, but with the expectation on the buyer's part that they know what they're getting.
That means you're something of a commodity too. This doesn't mean you can't become friendly with the people who invited you; in my case, I'm lucky to have had some really terrific people invite me to speak at their conferences or on their campuses. But it's a professional relationship first and foremost. It's a lot more like your relationship with your dentist than your college classmate.
What this means is that you're "delivering" a talk in two senses. Obviously you're getting up in front of a couple hundred (or a couple thousand) people and speaking.
But you're also delivering yourself to the venue. And you should pay some attention to that.
While the arrangements are often physically quite nice-- I've stayed in some excellent hotel rooms since signing with Lavin-- it's not personal. You do a lot travelling alone, eating alone, working in your room alone. This isn't bad; but it's just worth knowing.
While at first I found it a bit disorienting, I now appreciate this singular or solitary mode. Not having the distractions of being a tourist or having to catch up with people, or worse yet, being caught in one of those situations where your host's sense of social obligation requires them to escort you around to museums or other places neither one of you really wants to see, lets me focus on the talk.
And after all, the talk is why you're there.
The most important thing you can do to ease your travel is this:
Don't have anything you need to do while you're travelling.
First and foremost, this means, don't write your talk on the plane.
I used to be one of those people who'd completely rewrite his talk the night before.
I did some of my best thinking on planes, and I'd show up at the venue with my talk on a jump drive, and a talk that looked like it had been run over by a truck full of Post-Its.
But after I started working with Lavin, I realized that this wasn't really productive. Sure, I might come up with some cool turn of phrase ten minutes before showtime, but it meant I was giving talks that were less polished, and often had some sections that were overprepared, and others (especially the conclusion) that were just sketched out.
Now, I'm giving versions of the same couple talks, which means I need to change them very little, and there's very little incentive to try to come up with something completely new. Remember your audience wants to hear the version of your hit song that they heard on the radio, not your new acoustic swing-time interpretation.
Plus, as my slides have become denser-- that twenty seconds per slide rule, or whatever it is, is crap-- I can't afford to just wing it. A small number of people are able to do a good job speaking spontaneously, or working with notes that serve as a scaffold, but I want to make sure I hit my marks exactly.
So now, I freeze my slides several days before a talk, and while I go over my talk and make small edits while I'm on the road, I absolutely don't make big changes the day before. At that point, and especially once your talk is loaded onto the presentation machine, you're in Tim Gunn mode: you make it work.
(And don't trust in your own ability to improvise. To paraphrase Chopin in the movie Impromptu, a talk should seem spontaneous; no one must know the desperate calculation that goes into it.)
Having your slides and talk all worked out well in advance makes an immense difference in the quality of your trip, and the quality of the talk.
For me, one unexpected benefit is that it means I'm much more relaxed, and rest better, when I'm on the road. I have plenty of work to do, but I don't have to worry about whether I'll finish the talk in time, and I don't have to worry about getting enough sleep.
This may sound trivial, but to quote the line in the movies, you have One Job-- ONE JOB-- during this trip. You don't want to blow it by getting too little sleep the night before.
So simplifying everything so you can deliver yourself to the venue, rested and ready, is essential. It also means attending to the logistics of the trip well before hand. For example, a few days before, make sure you know where the hotel is, where you're speaking, and how to get from one to the other. Once you're on the ground you want to be able to execute a plan, not struggle to figure out what to do. This will also help you travel light: the fewer pounds you're carrying the better.
Since I spend a fair amount of time in the hotel, I now carry a change of clothes specifically to wear in the hotel: a pair of sweatpants, or flannel pajama pants, and a hoodie. Changing into these helps underline that I'm In For the Evening-- no temptation to wander down to the bar-- and it's just more comfortable.
I've also gotten into the habit the night before of ironing my clothes, laying them out, putting business cards in my pocket, packing my bag for the talk and my suitcase for the trip. I don't want to have to do anything the morning of my talk except review the talk. My goal is to be able to oversleep terribly, wake up 5 minutes before I need to leave the hotel, and still walk on stage looking sharp.
Reducing the number of decisions you have to make, and the number of little things you have to do the Day Of, also leaves your mind freer to focus on the talk itself. But as should now be clear, everything you do before you leave and while you're on the road should be in the service of the talk, and doing a good job.
Posts in this series:
Because I break it down in this Health magazine article. Basically, the advice comes down to this: it's fine to weave social media into your life, but don't let it warp your life.
I thought the article was going to be me and a bunch of other people, but it turns out mainly to be drawn from a series of emails with a Health writer. Which is fine, and it illustrates something I'm learning as I become more of a talking head: you just never really know what shape an article you're quoted in is going to take. You have to just do your best to say things that are true, that don't sound stupid on the page, and that are memorable.
And I love that they illustrate it with a picture of a woman taking a picture of her dog with her iPhone:
It didn't come up in the interview, but I take a lot of pictures of my dogs with my iPhone:
A picture of someone reading the Spanish edition of The Distraction Addiction in (I believe) the Buenos Aires subway system, from a Tumblr of people reading on subways:
This is the cover:
Thanks, Male Sánchez Moccero!
First and most important: if at all possible,
Get an agent
This can't be overstated. If you think signing with an agency of speakers' bureau is a luxury, or not worth it, think again.
What do agencies like David Lavin (where I'm signed) provide?
They have access to venues that you don't know about, or could never get into. Lots of big conferences, or small conferences with big budgets, will look to an agency for a top-notch keynote speaker. If you're putting a conference together, you don't want to chase down keynote speakers, negotiate their travel arrangements, etc.; you want to hand that off to someone else. That someone else is an agency.
Agents will also ask for far larger sums of money than you'd ever get on your own. They know the market rates, they can make very well-informed guesses about how big a budget a particular client has, and they have the nerve to ask for several times what you think you're worth. If you're coming out of the academic world, you're probably used to thinking that travel costs and $500 is a good deal. Agents take a cut of your speaking fee— 30% seems to be the norm— but 70% of what they can get you is still a LOT bigger than 100% of what you can get negotiating on your own.
Unless you have a bestseller, agencies offer a level of street cred that your unagented self does not have. Agencies guarantee a level of professionalism that other people might or might not have; they certainly have an interest in only representing people who know how to be professionals.
Agents also oversee travel arrangements, or work with travel agents and local coordinators to make sure you're taken care of. They know your preferences, your frequent flyer account numbers, whether you're allergic to down pillows, etc. It's a lot easier than managing all that stuff yourself.
They'll also serve as a conduit to the client, getting your needs and preferences on their agenda; they occasionally also serve as an insulator from really demanding or nervous clients.
But a relationship with an agent also forces you to be serious.
Having an agent signals to yourself and the market a degree of commitment that not everyone has. Anyone can condescend to speak in Davos or Aspen, or hang out with the cool kids. Only the pros will do a one-day trip to a regional conference in Davenport or Akron, and take it as seriously as PopTech or TED.
Every now and then I get to go to places that are really nice; most of the time, I'm going wherever the work is. You need to be able to say yes to these smaller, less glamorous venues, because unless your name is Malcolm Gladwell or Niall Ferguson, that's where the business is.
Posts in this series:
A couple weeks ago I got a request from an academic friend for some advice about speaking at a trade conference. It got me thinking about the differences between academic conferences and the kinds of events I've been going to in support of The Distraction Addiction, and my work as a facilitator and futurist.
Even though academics do plenty of speaking in public-- lecturing the students, giving conference talks, doing invited colloquia-- anyone who's watched TED talks and gone to the AHA will know that there's a huge difference between them.
Moving from one to the other is not impossible. Far from it: lots of polished, popular speakers are also academics of one sort or another. But they are different kinds of talks.
Keynote speaking is a profession, or at the very least a craft, with its own rules and expectations. What your client is hiring you to do, what your audience wants, and your role in an event, aren't self-evident if you're accustomed to the rituals and rhythms of academic conferences or invited scholarly talks.
This is the first of several posts about professional speaking, which I'll divide between my contemplative computing blog, and the rest blog.
For anyone who's interested in making the jump, here's what I've learned, broken into several posts:
For those of you who were wagering on the results of the Singapore Computer Society's Splash award, wonder no more: the top prize has gone to Apple Tree, a mobile phone app that… encourages people not to use their phones.
According to Channel News Asia, the app, which will be available for iPhone next year,
encourages them to spend quality time with their family and friends, instead of being glued to their smartphones.
When users activate the app and put their phones together, apples will start growing, which can then be harvested and exchanged for rewards, such as discounts. The productivity of the apples is dependent on the time the phones are placed together. Apples will only be produced when users are not using other apps.
Libern Lin, a member of the winning team from Republic Polytechnic, said the idea was conceived after his friends suggested placing their phones together when they hung out.
This app builds on the practice of people putting their phones in a pile when they sit down to dinner, but the growing apples is a nice touch. So is the fact that it requires two phones, which means users are using it together (and which means more downloads and installations).
The developers, students at Republic Polytechnic (don't feel bad, I'd never heard of it either), will share a $30,000 prize.
If you read Chinese, this article about The Distraction Addiction might interest you. Me, I just look at the pictures.
I'm going up to Edmonton, Canada to do a keynote at Convergence 2014, a conference on educational technology. I hadn't written the book with this audience in mind, but The Distraction Addiction has caught the attention of a number of people in the educational technology world, and folks in independent schools.
Of course in retrospect it makes perfect sense: they're a community that's both concerned about issues around technology, attention and distraction, and well-positioned to do something about it. And the argument that there are things we can do to help users be more thoughtful and mindful reinforces their existing educational mission.
I confess I know nothing about Edmonton, other than it's going to be cold. An opportunity to learn!
Yale economist Craig Palsson has a new article [pdf] asking whether the growing use of smartphones by parents of young children is responsible for the increased rate of injuries among children younger than 5. While technically the article doesn't actually say anything about snake pits, the implication is clearly there. Or at least I see it.
Anyway, in the wonderfully-titled article "That Smarts!: Smartphones and Child Injuries," Palsson explains,
I am interested in how smartphones… lead parents to make decisions that increase the risk of child injury. Smart-phones may increase injuries through two mechansims. First, they increase the opportunity cost of supervising children, and the decrease in supervision leads to more injuries. Second, they may decrease the opportunity cost of participating in risky activities, such as playing at the park or pool, and the increased participation leads to more injuries. I investigate both mechanisms and find strong evidence that smartphone adoption has caused child injuries to increase. I also find support that the increase comes from smartphones distracting parents.
It looks in particular at injury rates (as reported by the Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System) in areas during Apple's release of its iPhone and AT&T's rollout of 3G cell networks. This lets Palsson measure changes in injury rates as people switch from feature phones to smartphone, and presumably have greater opportunities to be distracted by their phones.
So what does he find?
Using the hospital-level variation in 3G access, I find that smartphones increase injuries to children, particularly those younger than five, a group more at risk of injury in the absence of parental supervision. My findings suggest that the expansion of smartphones can explain almost the entire increase in child injuries. Furthermore, I find that injuries increase in riskier activities, when parental supervision can make a decisive role in preventing accidents. These effects are absent in activities where the parents are not the primary supervisors [i.e., school playgrounds that are monitored by teachers] and in activities where supervision makes no difference on outcomes. The evidence from these results strongly supports a scenario where parents are distracted by their smartphones and decrease supervising their children.
Now, it's worth noting that the study doesn't try to figure out whether parents were playing Angry Birds or dealing with angry clients: i.e., whether they were distracted by trivial things, or trying to deal simultaneously with the challenges of being parents and professionals or managers.
However, it does seem to me to make a compelling case for the appearance of smartphones causing a measurable increase in distracted parenting.
It's also the kind of article that has the sorts of parenthetical that only economists can get away with, like "If one assumes a unitary household model, then the increase in injuries is optimal," and "taking time away from watching your daughter color probably will not lead to her getting injured, while not watching her on the playground might," and my personal favorite, "in the case of Brazil and India, families derived more utility on the margin from watching television than from sex or domestic violence."
Last week I spent several days on the road, on a whirlwind trip to the East Coast to talk about contemplative computing. It was just happy chance that I got two invitations to talk in the same week, and was able to make it work.
The first was in Princeton, at the Princeton Atelier, a project at the Peter Lewis Center for the Performing Arts that Toni Morrison started a few years ago. This fall theatre director Marianne Weems is teaching a class called "Pay Attention: The Art of the Here and Now," and so I was invited to give a talk as part of the course.
I've not been to Princeton since 1999, when I gave a talk on corporate life and the life of the mind; so it was good to be back among colonial and collegiate Gothic buildings. I got there Wednesday evening, and after checking into the hotel, took my camera and went out for a walk.
After living in Cambridge, I expected to think less of the campus, but I found Princeton not to be a copy of Cambridge of Oxford architecture, but quite a different place: much less urban, more self-contained, and pleasing in its architectural unity. I think there are also some subtle but important differences in the way American architects interpreted Gothic that make it less a copy, and more distinctive and independent.
But mainly, Oxford and Cambridge are located in towns, and don't have the amount of park-like open space that American campuses do. (They have plenty of land, but for the wealthier colleges the land is more like a portfolio of holdings than a single big expanse.) Downtown Princeton, of course, is right beside the university, but it's separated by Nassau Street, and is not exactly the set of Low Winter Sun.
Princeton is also the darkest campus I've been in in a long time.
There are these Chronicles of Narnia-style lampposts scattered around, but compared to most campuses (like Penn, for example), it's shadow-shrouded, and for some reason the cyclists all seem to think it's cool to move around campus like Ringwraiths, with no lights or reflectors.
The next morning it was raining, and I needed to go over my talk, so I spent the morning at a coffeeshop on Nassau Street. I then had lunch with Marianne, and went over to the Lewis Center (a former elementary school on the edge of campus) to get ready for the talk.
The talk itself was good: I did a more academic version than usual (which I figured I could get away with given my location), and also worked in some of my argument about deliberate rest. I've recently realized how much it picks up on and extends some of the themes from The Distraction Addiction, while also breaking new ground and giving closer attention to some things that I didn't talk about in detail. So when I have time, talking about them both is nice.
If I'd had more time I would have gone over to the Institute for Advanced Study, and found Einstein's house, but immediately after my talk I had to head to the train, as I had to get up to New Haven.
Friday morning I was scheduled to give a talk at Hopkins School, one of the oldest secondary schools in America. I arrived without a problem, though changing trains in New York meant going from Penn Station to Grand Central during rush hour, which was fun. Still, I made it fine, and got into New Haven on Thursday night, and got settled into a palatial room at The Study at Yale, a new hotel right on campus.
I then went out a while, with the camera, had a little dinner, then came back and went to bed.
This is notable because traditionally, the night before a talk I'm up late, working on the last sections, trying to construct a conclusion or chase down an illustration that would underline a point I'm trying to make. I then deliver the talk from a heavily annotated script, with the slides just freshly saved to a jump drive, and my enthusiasm for my subject looking suspiciously like a mix of fatigue and adrenaline.
This time, I did something different: I finished the slides the week before, and froze the talk. I tinkered a bit with the language, tightening up a phrase here and there, but left the slides and structure alone.
This is how I'm going to do talks from now on. Not that I'll give the same talk over and over— that's still not my way, and I don't think it every will be— but having the slides frozen days earlier meant that I really concentrated on the language and pacing of the talk, and didn't waste lots of time experimenting with structure or flipping through my Flickr account looking for that picture of Piccadilly Circus at night that I'm sure I took in 2009.
The next morning I got picked up by the Hopkins people; we went up to the campus, made sure everything worked, then I dove right in.
The talk was in the school gym, which they use for assemblies. It was the whole school, middle and high school, as well as the faculty; so it was a younger crowd than I often talk to, but totally engaged and very smart. I don't think the younger grades had any trouble following my argument, and in the Q&A and breakout group discussions that followed, it was clear that the upper school got it.
Actually, I've been really impressed at how seriously high schoolers take issues of digital distraction, and the problems of integrating technology into their social and personal lives. Too often we assume that teens are constitutionally incapable of making good decisions about technology, or if left unattended will spend thousands of hours on Tinder and GTA V, and don't know what's at stake in their choices.
My experience is that that's wrong. Granted, the students I'm talking to are literally the elite— kids at some of the best schools in the country— but they're not dopamine-addled click monkeys who don't care that they can't finish War and Peace. They're as aware as their parents of what's at stake, and how challenging it can be to figure out how to make technology work for them.
We need to see them not as the ones we adults need to Fix. We need to help them figure out how to fix these problems themselves.
In light of my recent post on the Penn English class on "Wasting Time on the Internet," Northwestern student Lucas Matney's complaint that "Northwestern fails to offer 21st century academic experience" is timely:
From my personal experience thus far, very few of my professors have used technology in the classroom in a way that offers a radically changed educational experience. Administrators and individual professors need to ponder what a 21st century education really means if they desire the University to maintain relevance as an institution.
As I recently pointed out, Clay Shirky and Jesse Fox have recently made good arguments why the underlying assumptions here— that technology should disrupt the classroom, that the disruption will be good, and that good education should take place in an environment that is more like the world, not different from it— are wrong.
From a class on "Wasting time on the Internet" at University of Pennsylvania:
Using our laptops and a wifi connection as our only materials, this class will focus on the alchemical recuperation of aimless surfing into substantial works of literature. Students will be required to stare at the screen for three hours, only interacting through chat rooms, bots, social media and listservs. To bolster our practice, we'll explore the long history of the recuperation of boredom and time-wasting through critical texts about affect theory, ASMR, situationism and everyday life by thinkers such as Guy Debord, Mary Kelly Erving Goffman, Betty Friedan, Raymond Williams, John Cage, Georges Perec, Michel de Certeau, Henri Lefevbre, Trin Minh-ha, Stuart Hall, Sianne Ngai, Siegfried Kracauer and others.
My alma mater!
In Penn's defense, there's also a class in the Religious Studies department in which students spend a month offline. So everything balances out.
Courtney Shove, who took the pictures at my Santa Catalina talk, has a nice write-up of the event.
My own post about it is here.
No, it's not a smartphone made of noodles (though that would be awesome); it's a Danish project for reducing smartphone distraction in the classroom.
It's super-simple: students come in, put their phones in the holder, then pick them up again when they leave.
Of course, it requires both a high degree of trust that your fellow students won't accidentally or intentionally walk off with your phone, and lots of customized cases to prevent taking someone else's phone when you rush to your next class.
According to Google Translate, the phone holder was developed by Alexander Beach, a teacher at the Himmelev Gymnasium in Roskilde. Since its introduction in 2013, "Students find it easier to concentrate, have better contact with the teacher and experience a better social and professional community when the phone is not physically available."
Obviously this is pretty simple, and you could create versions that were more secure— little translucent lockers, for example, would keep them under lock and key and also provide some noise reduction. But however you do it, a school-wide ritual of setting phones in this visible, public place seems like a great idea.
I look forward to seeing this out: Jon Mitchell's new book, In Real Life: Searching for Connection in High-Tech Times.
This is a book about the present and what you can do right now to improve your relationship with technology. This is not an "anti-technology" book, nor is it a "pro-technology" book. Asking whether I'm "pro-" or "anti-technology" is like asking me if I'm "pro-" or "anti-air." It doesn't matter how technology itself makes me feel; it's there, and it's always going to be there….
[I]f you are alive today, you are using technology in some way every day, so you might as well have an intentional relationship with it and know what you are doing.
Saturday I was at the Santa Catalina School in Monterey, talking about kids, parenting, schools, and contemplative computing.
Photo: Courtney Shove, Santa Catalina School
I've given a number of talks about contemplative computing (thanks mainly to the wonderful Lavin Agency), but most of them have been to professional groups, or parents, and occasionally kids. This was the first time I had a chance to speak to all three at once, and it presented a really interesting opportunity.
Photo: Courtney Shove, Santa Catalina School
All too often, when thinking about technology, kids and distraction, we make two mistakes: we think of it as a Young Person Problem, and we think of it as an individual issue.
It's easy to fall into thinking that technology has created an insurmountable gulf between us and the young, that kids are high-tech mutants. We hear stories, for example, about how texting rather than having face-to-face interactions make kids less able to read facial expressions, and hence more like robots.
But in fact, we all are challenged to figure out how to make technologies work well for us, regardless of our age. While there are some generational differences in the specific contexts we work in and the specific issues we face— adults face less cyberbullying (Gamergate excepted), while kids aren't dealing with distraction in the workplace— we all face them.
And while it's easy to think of distraction as a personal problem, a moral failing or sign of weakness— my distractions are very much my own— it also has a social and organizational dimension. We're beckoned by devices and social networks that want to capture and commoditize our attention. But if we can remake our relationship with devices, we can also use OTHER social networks to reinforce our efforts to become more focused, more thoughtful, more creative. Schools and families are two of the most important social networks.
Photo: Courtney Shove, Santa Catalina School
So trying to help our children and our students solve this problem is a way to solve it for ourselves. And this collective dimension is one that it was really good to be able to talk about, with everyone involved.
I'm going to be at Princeton next week, doing a more academic-than-usual talk on contemplative computing.
I'm appearing there as part of the "Pay Attention: The Art of Here and Now" course, taught by director Marianne Weems.
The undergraduate course taught by Weems questions whether our sense of the present — to which we are meant to be attentive — has changed, and the impact of Twitter, Instagram and the "selfie" on making art. The course draws upon various perspectives with guest speakers, of which Pang is one, focusing on spirituality, neuroscience, ontology, psychology, and gaming to investigate these questions of modern consciousness.
The Princeton Atelier is an interesting project: started by Toni Morrison, it "brings together professional artists from different disciplines to create new work in the context of a semester-long course."
I haven't been in Princeton in ages, so it'll be great to visit again.
Nora Young's Spark will run a program on "Addiction by Design" tomorrow, featuring interviews with Natasha Dow Schull and a very scratchy-sounding me. (I was in the process of getting over my month-long cold, so my voice was a couple octaves lower than normal.) Schull is worth listening to, at least. [mp3]
This sample has a nice Candy Crush illustration.
Another fabulous cover, this time for the Korean edition of The Distraction Addiction (published by Sigongsa):
I haven't had a bad one yet, even though the Dutch, Spanish, and Chinese versions are all quite different from each other. It's been fascinating to see how different artists interpret the book!
You can order copies here.


text:
Unilever Nigeria Plc has unveiled a new Pepsodent gel toothpaste. At the launch attended by over 1000 school children, parents, teachers and the executive members of the Nigerian Dental Association attended, the Brand Building Director, Unilever Nigeria, David Okeme, said the toothpaste would cater for consumer' need of consumers. "The New Pepsodent Cavity Fighter toothpaste integrates Active Micro Calcium and ...Read More »
'Insecurity is killing businesses'
Businesses need a conducive environment to grow. In Nigeria, many businesses are dying because of many factors, including insecurity, especially in the Northeast, in this interview with ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, Mr Steve Babaeko, founder of X3M Ideas, says insecurity must be addressed for businesses to thrive. Your agency is marking its second anniversary. How has the journey been considering the challenges in ...Read More »
'Marketing research is huge'
Marketing Research is key to the success of brands, yet most companies do not consider it important. In this interview with ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, the Managing Director, Millward Brown Nigeria, Mrs. Ugo Geri Roberts, speaks on branding, marketing research and investments. Is Nigeria doing well in marketing research? You know, no success is an accident. Nigeria is an evolving economy, and ...Read More »
Thermocool rewards customers
Thermocool has rewarded its customers as part of effort to celebrate 40 years of delivering durable home appliances to Nigerians. It is also running a campaign tagged: 'Thermocool Moments 2'. The campaign will include opportunities for consumers to be part of a quiz, answer questions about their favourite household brand, and stand a chance to win amazing prizes weekly. According to ...Read More »
Etisalat launches products for kids
One of the leading telecommunication companies in Nigeria, Etisalat, has introduced a unique educational and children-friendly product for children ages between 8 and 15 years in Nigeria tagged: Cliqlite. "Cliqlite is a revolutionary product in Nigeria; it comes with pre-installed educational content that allows children to have access to a world of learning possibilities. It was launched at the Oriental ...Read More »
Firm donates equipment to schools
X3M Ideas, an advertising agency, has donated ICT Equipment to two schools in Ikeja, Lagos as part of the event to mark its second year anniversary of commencing business. Explaining the rationale behind the corporate social responsibility inclined anniversary celebration which is ingrained in the agency's DNA, the agency's Chief Creativity Officer /CEO, Steve Babaeko, revealed that the company is embarking ...Read More »
Gone with the wind
Digital software has changed the way advertising practitioners think. Gone is the era of creative manual adverts. Most creative artists simply develop concepts. Software translates it to picture and images. But, there are fears that this emerging trend will cost fine artists their job, reports ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI. There is big dividing line between traditional and digital advertising. In the past ...Read More »
Women in Marketing Conference, Awards holds on Thursday
Awesome Communications, the publishers of brands and Marketing journal, Brand Communicator will hold the maiden edition of the Women in Marketing Conference and Awards (WIMCA) on Thursday, July 31 in Lagos. The theme of the conference scheduled for MUSON Centre, Lagos is " Inspiring Change in Marketing: Taking the centre stage". Publisher of Brand Communicator, Joshua Ajayi explained that, "WIMCA ...Read More »
Firm promises prompt service delivery
Multichoice, owner of DStv, has assured subscribers that it will continue to provide access to premium content and advance broadcast technology to boost its services. During a MultiChoice Customer forum in Ibadan, Oyo State, DStv Public Relations Manager, Caroline Oghuma, said the objective of the forum is to thank subscribers for their loyalty and listen to their suggestions, advice and ...Read More »
'The deodorant market is huge'
For strategic reasons, manufacturing giant, Unilever has replaced Sure Deodorant with its global brand, Rexona. In this interview, the Category Manager, Deodorants and Skin Care, Unilever, Mr James Inglesby, tells ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, why the firm took that decision. Why are you replacing Sure with Rexona? Sure and Rexona are exactly the same thing. The reason we brought Rexona to replace ...Read More »

subset: commoncrawl


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The Voice Results: Who Made the Finals?by Free Britney at . Comments
Tuesday night, The Voice top eight performed for a spot in the finals. Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton scored their team's singers. Those scores, along with America's votes, determined who advances.
So who got sent home and who's on to the final four?
Before we get to that, the show opened with all eight semifinalists singing a medley of "Freedom" and "Faith" by George Michael. It was pretty great:
On to the good and bad news. Each coach submitted a score, dividing up 100 points between their two members. America's votes were then added in, with equal weight, establishing who advanced and whose dreams ended.
Follow the jump to see who survived ...Vicci Martinez defeated Nakia
Cee Lo gave Nakia, whose Adam Lambert cover generated some online controversy this week the slightest of edges, with 51 compared to Vicci's 49.
But it wasn't enough. America's votes pushed Vicci's score over Nakia's!
Javier Colon defeated Casey Weston
Adam Levine was the only one of the four judges to take a real stand in this part of the complicated show, giving Javier a strong 65 to Casey's 35.
Levine said Javier needs his help to get over the top and win this thing now, while Casey is young and has a whole career ahead of her. True.
Dia Frampton defeated Xenia
Blake was legitimately proud and appreciative of both singers and couldn't even bring himself to give one singer a higher score than the other.
He did a 50-50 split. America picked Dia.
Beverly McClellan defeated Frenchie Davis
Christina also took a flier with a 50-50 breakdown. Sorry, that's weak, they should have to at least make it 51-49. What's the point otherwise?
It was a tough call, we'll give her that. Both singers were great, and it was sad to see one go. But the viewers decided their finalist is Beverly.
What do you think? Did the voters (and judges) make the right decisions? Who do you think will triumph among the final four standouts?
I think America got it right, the only one I wish could have stayed around longer was Nikia. Frenchie has a great voice and she gives good face but realistically she's way to big of a women for America to really take her serious; that's a sad fact but, sex sales records and personally I wouldn't be in a rush to buy her record or watch her videos.
I love this show and it has been a great first season. Judges outstanding and very caring of their teams. I personally felt that Casey was robbed when not given a higher percentage by Adam but that was his choice. My first choice is Dia and Nicci would be my second choice for the top spot. I wish all four contestants the best---you are all very talented and should do well in the music industry.
I still don't Javier, I can't stand hearing him sing. And I'm sorry to see Xenia go but look forward to her album, her competitor that won is forgettable, seeing as how I can't remember her name. I like Frenchie but agree that Bev has a voice that absorbs you into the song.
I love Beverly, her stage presents takes it all. She doesn't seem scared like the rest. Her voice stands out and is different. Great personality. Good luck. I watch American Idol and Frenchie didn't stand out then either to me. Sings great but she is just not for my ears.
I am excited that the best moved on however Nakia was wonderfully throughout the whole series I am sure we WILL HEAR HIM A LOT on the top 10 music charts. My prediction for the winner is Beverly.
Total Bull....as far as Adam and his dumb ass reason for Javier..he had his shot and blew it....Casey should of move on...such whimps....and as far as Christine...another one that thinks they are doing the "Biggest Loser" Show...~~~
It is true. Adam is the only one taking a stand. I agree with him: Javier needs this more. And he is great anyway. Hits every note. I also agree with others saying the Voice is superior to Idol or X factor. Really love it.
I think Adam should have picked Casey Weston , and Christina you should have picked Frenchie Davis. That's just wrong. Casey I belive you should have one. This is just coming from my choice of mind i'm just 12 years old so Casey you were the best and Javier you sing like a girl. So Casey you did your best , and your the best.
Right on every Pick, I think two were no brainers in Javier Colon and Dia Frampton as good as I feel for the other two I feel equally as sad for their counterparts Nikia and Frenchy they both can blow. This show kicks idol butt!
The voice has been great and all four
Judges are awsome.they have great
Chemistry amongst one another
Blake is like a big brother figure,great sense of humor,genuine Christina Is a strong woman who holds her own celo is sincere a teddy bear Adam is wonderful and adds he never forgot how he started out and he's about never give up for example colon in the finals on his team.these four judges I'm a fan of each of them. The talent of the singers is impressive I would not want to have to pick (judge) you will definately be hearing the others on the radio who did not make it to the finals . A shout out to Carson daly also great job.I can't wait until the finals. The voice is a class act all the way! T


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Passionoia - Black Box Recorder
- Band Name: Black Box Recorder
- Record Label: One Little Indian
- Release Date: Sep 2, 2003
- Summary: This is the third LP for the English trio of vocalist Sarah Nixey, former Auteurs frontman Luke Haines and former Jesus & Mary Chain member John Moore. Together, they sound a bit like Saint Etienne, but with a much more political and satirical approach to their lyrics.
- Record Label: One Little Indian
- Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Pop
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
Positive: 6 out of 10
Mixed: 3 out of 10
Negative: 1 out of 10
If you think intelligence in indie lyrics must come at the expense of coherence, take in a couple of these impeccably linear narratives.
A greater combination of accessibility and subversion would be nearly impossible to imagine.
As ever, BBR's absinthe-flavoured acid drops give you a great deal more to suck on than the rest of pop's confectionery selection. [Mar 2003, p.112]
For all its wit and occasional beauty, Passionoia lacks the killer anthem that would make the band genuine subversives rather than cult wags. [Mar 2003, p.102]
Score distribution:
Positive: 5 out of 5
Mixed: 0 out of 5
Negative: 0 out of 5
JarredMar 28, 2003There is something about this record that's hard to pin down that not only makes it not only the best BBR albums, but also one of the most enjoyable records so far this year. … Expand
RadioChickMay 16, 2003Glorious! Best I've heard this year. Dark, tongue in cheek lyrics blend beautifully with upbeat synth/pop. Every listen reveals a new lyrical gem.… Expand
sebastien505Sep 25, 2003Brilliant. Only one thing disappointed me is that the sound of Sarah Nixey is too cold. This album is not suitable for people who are upset, as the tunes would make them even more down.… Expand
ChrisWMar 24, 2003The album is good, don't get me wrong. I think it's trying to be too clever, and far too English. Songs about Diana, and British Racing Green grate. The overall sound is pleasant, and there's enough good stuff on here to exorcise the bad stuff. No real stand out tunes such as the Facts Of Life, however.… Expand
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I was referred to this aparthotel by Nantes Tourism. You need good directions as it is nearly invisible. The receptionist was kind and helpful. The rooms are basic, but for someone in business on their own, it would be a good choice as opposed to more expensive hotels. The breakfast was large and the guests were as enthusiastic as animals... More
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From the bird to the sides to the cranberry sauce and the pie, it's all here for you.
Choose from dozens of top-rated roast turkey recipes, from stuffed to deep-fried.
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text:
I've just encountered a rather strange problem. A Winforms (although that may not be relevant) app that I've been working on for a few months just started behaving oddly. Pressing F5 to debug in VS2008 gets it running perfectly but if I try to run the exe from the bin\Debug folder it fails straight away. Viewing more details from the notification of the failure shows this info.
Stopped working
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: languageeditor.exe
Problem Signature 02: 3.0.3593.17201
Problem Signature 03: 4aee8b42
Problem Signature 04: sysglobl
Problem Signature 05: 22.214.171.124
Problem Signature 06: 4a277628
Problem Signature 07: 8f
Problem Signature 08: d9
Problem Signature 09: System.InvalidOperationException
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.4
Locale ID: 7177
Can anyone provide possible reasons for such a failure or things I can start looking at?


text:
Robots Take Over Inspection of Ballast Tanks on ShipsNov. 21, 2014 A new robot for inspecting ballast water tanks on board ships is being developed. The robot is able to move independently along rails built into the tanks. At the moment, people still carry out such ... full story
Impact of Power Prosthetic Failures on Amputees StudiedNov. 21, 2014 Powered lower limb prosthetics hold promise for improving the mobility of amputees, but errors in the technology may also cause some users to stumble or fall. New research examines what happens when ... full story
Novel Robotic Walker Helps Patients Regain Natural Gait and Increases Productivity of PhysiotherapistsNov. 21, 2014 Survivors of stroke or other neurological conditions such as spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and Parkinson's disease often struggle with mobility. To regain their motor functions, ... full story
A Coating That Protects Against Heat and OxidationNov. 21, 2014 Researchers have developed a coating technique that they plan to use to protect turbine engine and waste incinerator components against heat and oxidation. A topcoat from micro-scaled hollow ... full story
Pain, Magnet Displacement in MRI in Patients With Cochlear ImplantsNov. 20, 2014 Pain, discomfort and magnet displacement were documented in a small medical records review study of patients with cochlear implants who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), according to a new ... full story
Nuclear Reactor Fuel Behavior During a Severe EventNov. 20, 2014 A new discovery about the atomic structure of uranium dioxide will help scientists select the best computational model to simulate severe nuclear reactor ... full story
Improved Nanomaterials: Understanding Surface Structure of Quantum Dots Will Aid Design of New Solar DevicesNov. 20, 2014 A potential path to identify imperfections and improve the quality of nanomaterials for use in next-generation solar cells has just ... full story
Quantum Mechanical Calculations Reveal the Hidden States of Enzyme Active SitesNov. 20, 2014 Enzymes carry out fundamental biological processes such as photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation and respiration, with the help of clusters of metal atoms as 'active' sites. But scientists lack ... full story
New Technique Allows Ultrasound to Penetrate Bone, MetalNov. 20, 2014 Researchers have developed a technique that allows ultrasound to penetrate bone or metal, using customized structures that offset the distortion usually caused by these so-called 'aberrating ... full story
Scientists Discover Novel Metamaterial Properties Within Hexagonal Boron NitrideNov. 20, 2014 Researchers have demonstrated that confined surface phonon polaritons within hexagonal boron nitride exhibit unique metamaterial properties that enable novel nanoscale optical ... full story
Versatile Bonding for Lightweight ComponentsNov. 20, 2014 New materials are making cars, planes and all sorts of other things lighter. The catch is that many of these materials can't be welded. Now there's an alternative joining method available ... full story
A Path to Brighter Images and More Efficient LCD DisplaysNov. 20, 2014 Engineers have developed a polarizing filter that allows in more light, leading the way for mobile device displays that last much longer on a single battery charge and cameras that can shoot in dim ... full story
Hand Dryers Can Spread Bacteria in Public Toilets, Research FindsNov. 20, 2014 Modern hand dryers are much worse than paper towels when it comes to spreading germs, according to new research. Airborne germ counts were 27 times higher around jet air dryers in comparison with the ... full story
Health Screening for Industrial MachinesNov. 20, 2014 Germany's Industry 4.0 initiative aims to develop industrial machinery with built-in intelligence based on smart self-monitoring functions. Researchers have now come a step closer to the ideal of a ... full story
Tomorrow's Degradable ElectronicsNov. 20, 2014 Researchers are developing electronics that disappear to order. When the FM frequencies are removed in Norway in 2017, all old-fashioned radios will become obsolete, leaving the biggest collection of ... full story
Volcanic Ash Clouds Can Cross Atlantic OceanNov. 19, 2014 Scientists have led the discovery of a volcanic ash cloud that traveled from Alaska to Northern Ireland and beyond -- overturning previously held assumptions about how far ash deposits can drift, ... full story
Spiraling Light, Nanoparticles and Insights Into Life's StructureNov. 19, 2014 As hands come in left and right versions that are mirror images of each other, so do the amino acids and sugars within us. But unlike hands, only the left-oriented amino acids and the right-oriented ... full story
Pac-Man Instead of Patch: Using Video Games to Improve Lazy Eye, Depth PerceptionNov. 19, 2014 Scientists have created video games that add an important element of fun to the repetitive training needed to improve vision in people – including adults – with a lazy eye and poor depth ... full story
Physicists Discover New Subatomic ParticlesNov. 19, 2014 Physicists have discovered two never-before-seen baryonic particles. The finding is expected to have a major impact on the study of quark ... full story
Thin Film Produces New Chemistry in 'Nanoreactor'Nov. 19, 2014 Physicists have discovered a new manganese compound that is produced by tension in the crystal structure of terbium manganese oxide. The technique they used to create this new material could open the ... full story
- Robots take over inspection of ballast tanks on ships
- Impact of power prosthetic failures on amputees studied
- Novel robotic walker helps patients regain natural gait and increases productivity of physiotherapists
- A coating that protects against heat and oxidation
- Pain, magnet displacement in MRI in patients with cochlear implants
- Nuclear reactor fuel behavior during a severe event
- Improved nanomaterials: Understanding surface structure of quantum dots will aid design of new solar devices
- Quantum mechanical calculations reveal the hidden states of enzyme active sites
- New technique allows ultrasound to penetrate bone, metal
- Scientists discover novel metamaterial properties within hexagonal boron nitride
- Versatile bonding for lightweight components
- A path to brighter images and more efficient LCD displays
- Hand dryers can spread bacteria in public toilets, research finds
- Health screening for industrial machines
- Tomorrow's degradable electronics
- Volcanic ash clouds can cross Atlantic Ocean
- Spiraling Light, Nanoparticles and Insights Into Life's Structure
- Pac-man instead of patch: Using video games to improve lazy eye, depth perception
- Physicists discover new subatomic particles
- Thin film produces new chemistry in 'nanoreactor'
- As winter approaches, switching to cleaner heating oils could prevent health problems
- Paper electronics could make health care more accessible
- Giving LEDs a cozy, warm glow
- Biochemists build largest synthetic molecular 'cage' ever
- Lean times ahead: Preparing for an energy-constrained future
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- Clean energy 'bio batteries' a step closer
- Scientists get to the heart of fool's gold as a solar material
- Emergency communication: Turtle Mike technology bridges communications systems
- Field-emission plug-and-play solution for microwave electron guns
- Two sensors in one: Nanoparticles that enable both MRI and fluorescent imaging could monitor cancer, other diseases
- Car crash survival rates increase with being younger, male and driving a big vehicle
- New model clarifies photoexcited thin-film lattice dynamics
- Better micro-actuators to transport materials in liquids
- Physicists suggest new way to detect dark matter
- Finding new ways to make drugs
- Using sewage sludge to obtain bioenergy
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- Advances in electron microscopy reveal secrets of HIV and other viruses
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- Scientists X-ray tiny cell organelles responsible for carbon fixation
- Revolutionary solar-friendly form of silicon shines
- New technique to help produce next generation photonic chips
- Researchers create and control spin waves, lifting prospects for enhanced information processing
- Spiral laser beam creates quantum whirlpool
- Researchers discern the shapes of high-order Brownian motions
- Engineers develop innovative process to print flexible electronic circuits
- New imaging technique identifies receptors for targeted cancer therapy
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- New form of crystalline order holds promise for thermoelectric applications
- Sonar-assisted human navigation
- 'Topological insulators' promising for spintronics, quantum computers
- Chemists develop porous molecules that bind greenhouse gases
- Technology developed to improve lung cancer detection, treatment
- Bacteria become 'genomic tape recorders', recording chemical exposures in their DNA
- Bio-inspired bleeding control: Synthesized platelet-like nanoparticles created
- Promising technology to expand hard cider industry
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- Cats and athletes teach robots how to fall
- Technology to advance stem cell therapeutics patented
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- Software to automatically outline bones in x-rays
- Developing self-healing concrete to improve the durability of structures
- New way to move atomically thin semiconductors for use in flexible devices
- TV sound system for the hard of hearing
- Atomic timekeeping, on the go: New approach may enable more stable and accurate portable atomic clocks
- NASA's Orion spacecraft arrives at launch pad, hoisted onto rocket ahead of its first spaceflight
- A piece of the quantum puzzle
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- Major class of fracking chemicals no more toxic than common household substances, analysis finds
- Electrical efficiency by engineering warmer superconductors with atom-by-atom control
- All 'quantum weirdness' may be caused by interacting parallel worlds, physicist theorizes
- A twisted world: Chemists build a molecular banister
- Electronic 'tongue' to ensure food quality
- Artificial retina could someday help restore vision
- New materials for more powerful solar cells
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- From video camera to driverless shuttle vehicle
- Ethanol and heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production
- Fewer surgeries with degradable implants
- Using 3-D printers to print out self-learning robots
- Electric cars without drivers
- MRIs help fight against heart disease
- Twisted light waves sent across Vienna
- 'Forests' of carbon nanotubes grown on 3-D substrates
- Novel molecular imaging drug offers better detection of prostate cancer
- Tumor-analysis technology enables speedier treatment decisions for bowel cancer patients
- Controlling genes with your thoughts
- European spacecraft set to harpoon a comet
- Space: The final frontier in silicon chemistry
- Creating bright X-ray pulses in the laser lab
- All the electronics that's fit to print
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Just made Yahoo my homepage.
Submitted by Silk Shirt on Thu, 07/12/2012 - 23:42. Permalink
No-one stops the revolution!
Lord Acton, Lord Chief Justice of England, 1875 - "The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the People v. The Banks."
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text:
Vancouver Aquarium Breeding Ban Rescinded
By Laura Bridgeman
Campaign & Communications Specialist
International Marine Mammal Project
Earth Island Institute
It is a sad day for the future generations of cetaceans born and bred into captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium.
On November 24th, the Vision Vancouver Park Board voted against the ban that would see the end of the captive breeding program at the Vancouver Aquarium, instead setting up an oversight committee and holding more consultations on proposed changes to the breeding bylaw.
Citing the cruel conditions that captivity necessarily brings for cetaceans, such as belugas, orcas and dolphins, Park Board commissioners Constance Barnes and Sarah Blyth have been squarely on the side of cetaceans from day one.
During the Vision board's last meeting, Blyth forwarded a motion to suspend Park Board rules and table a bylaw to prohibit the breeding of cetaceans in parks. The motion failed to pass in a four-to-three vote.
"Democracy is not being served," Blyth said in response to the vote.
More disappointment comes from Vanaquafacts, who organized grassroots support of the ban. They posted the following statement on their Facebook page in response to the outcome:
As promised, Park Board Chair killed Vancouver's cetacean bylaw by proxy tonight, and then gave an impassioned speech that fooled no one, about how he "stands by it". It is hardly standing by the bylaw by punting it to a Park Board led by a former VP of the Vancouver Aquarium, a recent ex-employee of the Vancouver Aquarium and a commissioner who only months ago declared a conflict of interest with the Vancouver Aquarium due to business dealings. All in all, a cowardly, deceitful display.
Sarah Blyth and Constance Barnes on the other hand, went where few Vancouver politicians have dared to go - they stood up to the aquarium and their party. Both gave clear, reasoned arguments that demonstrated not only that there is a total lack of transparency and accountability at the Aquarium, but also showed that Aquarium/NPA messaging that they are acting on pure emotion to be pure politicking.
What was accomplished tonight? We learned the same lesson that we have learned for 20 years -- Park Board is clearly incapable of bringing any kind of public accountability to Vancouver Aquarium.
You can watch a livestreamed recorded meeting here, and sign this petition to tell the Park Board you think they made a grave mistake.
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