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Our Experts
We're Not Making This Stuff Up
Our team includes accomplished industry experts who ensure that we cover hot topics and provide the most up-to-date and pertinent information on real estate. They offer unique perspectives and bring invaluable resources to the table. They are educators, brokers, lawyers, CPAs, and all around fun people who enable The CE Shop to deliver the most valuable real estate education in the marketplace.
Course Instructors
Mary Adema
Mary has real estate expertise that's hard to find. Spanning over the past four decades, her background in sales, marketing and training has given Mary unique insight to the in's and out's of the real estate business and what it takes to succeed.
Training is Mary's true love! Putting her extensive sales and marketing experience to work to help real estate agents improve their skills and achieve their goals is incredibly rewarding. Utilizing her excellent communications skills and in-depth knowledge, Mary has trained over 25,000 Minnesota real estate agents in Pre-licensing, Continuing Education and Sales Training as well as authoring a Real Estate Text Book for Kaplan Professional Schools and Continuing Education Courses for ProSource Educational Services.
Through out her career, Mary has specialized in The Baby-Boomer and Senior Market and teaches Real Estate Retirement Planning Workshops for corporations and community organizations. She is a Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES) Instructor for NAR and also offers agent training in sales, niche' marketing and professional growth.
Chris Alford
William Chris Alford is a seasoned real estate and banking professional with over 30 years of experience ranging from Commercial and Residential Sales and Banking Asset Management to Financial, Education and Business Development Experience. Mr. Alford is also a co-founder of Alford Real Estate Services, which is a Kentucky-based company that provides commercial and residential real estate sales, consulting, and property and association management. He is also a principal of Impact Training Inc. which provides real estate C.E. Courses for licensed real estate professionals.
Mr. Alford has managed a large real estate banking trust department of over $600 million in assets and opened two branch banks in South Carolina. His diverse background covers numerous real estate disciplines to include Director of the Kentucky Real Estate Commission, Founder, Instructor, and Executive Director of the Kentucky Real Estate Education Foundation whose principle responsibility was to provide Continuing Education for over 25,000 licensees in the state of Ky. Mr. Alford is currently teaching Real Estate Principles and Finance on line for the Elizabethtown, Ky. Community and Technical College and resides with his wife and real estate partner in Lexington, Ky.
Mr. Alford currently holds a master's degree in Organizational Development and Leadership from Forbes School of Business/Ashford University, and a bachelor's degree in Business Education and Finance from Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky.
Charlie Alfortish
Charlie Alfortish is a REALTOR®/owner of Alfortish Realty; faculty member at Delgado Community College; and Certified Louisiana Pre-License Education Instructor. Alfortish began working with real estate professionals in 2001. He has taught and lectured throughout the state of Louisiana on topics ranging from real estate to entrepreneurship, management, and business communications.
Alfortish earned his bachelor's and MBA in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix. In 2007, Alfortish joined the faculty at Delgado, developing a curriculum concentration in real estate. He earned his Distance Education Instructor certification from the International Distance Education Certification Center® in 2008. The National Association of REALTORS® certified Alfortish as an instructor for the At Home with Diversity course in 2014. He was a 2015 recipient of the NISOD Excellence Award, the most coveted award among the community and technical college educators.His current focus is on expanding professional development offerings for REALTORS® throughout Louisiana.
Tom Bain
Tom Bain has over 35 years of experience as a real estate salesperson and Broker in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. He is a member of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors as well as the National Association of Realtors and the Minnesota Association of Realtors. He holds the GRI (Graduate Realtor Institute) designation and is also Old Home Certified. Tom spent 6 years as a member of the Minneapolis Real Estate Advisory Council. Tom has also conducted workshops for first-time homebuyers as well as workshops on his experience to his award-winning real estate office.
With a successful career in home sales, Tom is sought after for his expertise in marketing, ethics, inspections and contracts. His attention to detail and depth of knowledge as well as being a local industry leader puts him in high demand. His basic mission is to create and promote positive experiences for his customers and to provide insight and advice to communities seeking practical solutions to housing and development. He works to continuously change and innovate; and provide a fun, fulfilling, and respectful experience for every real estate transaction..
Theresa Barnabei
Having over 35 years in the business world, the first half being dedicated to United Parcel Service and the back half devoted to real estate, Barnabei brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and practical advice to every presentation.She has mastered business management, real estate investing, REALTOR® sales, and management of a highly profitable 150 agent office.She willingly shares her business and real estate savvy in every course she creates and presents.
As a school owner and national trainer, Barnabei has over 35,000 hours of live presentations. She is recognized as one of the most inspirational speakers in her field, focused on getting students to take action that will make a difference in their own lives.Her passion for real estate has afforded her the opportunity to be a presenter on behalf of NAR and for associations and brokers throughout the country, including four years as a Keller Williams BOLD Coach.
As a member of the national Real Estate Educators Association (REEA), she has served on the Board of Directors and is currently fulfilling her role on its Executive Committee. She also Co-Chairs and is lead instructor for REEA's Gold Standard Certification IDW program, is the subject matter expert in Arizona for The CE Shop, and authored and hosts the Designated Real Estate Consultant online course.
As a published author, her bestselling book "Multiply Your Business" presents ten new marketing realities for the real estate industry and is bursting with ideas for a new era of lead generation.
Thom Brockett
Thom Brockett is a second generation REALTOR®, trainer, and business coach. A licensed broker in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., Brockett is a senior instructor for GCAAR, an adjunct professor at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, and serves as a board member and treasurer of Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS. He is a consultant and subject matter expert for The CE Shop and coaches and trains agents at all levels. Brockett has managed sales offices for several brokerages, including Long & Foster, W.C. & A. N. Miller, and Weichert REALTORS®. He is an Integrity© Business Coach, Buffini & Company Mentor©, and a NAUI & PADI certified Dive Master and Advanced Open Water SCUBA instructor. Brockett was part of the Buffini & Company Advisory Board for the 100 Days to Greatness® program and was a featured Mentor in Buffini & Company's Good Life magazine. He has contributed to various features in REALTOR® magazine, served on GCAAR's Grievance and Forms committees, and spent seven years as the Training Director for Long & Foster's DC and Montgomery County Regional Training Centers. Prior to real estate, Brockett was the Manager of Training Principles and Design and Associate Marketing Director for an international training and consulting firm.
Amber Burke
Amber Burke received her real estate license in 1996. Because she was so young, she felt she had a lot to learn, so she took nearly every class she could. Early in her career, Burke received several designations, including ABR, GRI, and CRS. She was recognized in REALTOR Magazine 2002 as one of the "30 Under 30." In 2009, she received her local association's "Realtor of The Year" award, as well as the Women's Council of Realtor's "Businesswoman of the Year" award. Burke has served on many board committees and currently serves as 2018 President-Elect for the Utah Central Association of Realtors to become the 2019 President.
Cindy Chandler
Cindy Chandler has her own consulting and training company, The Chandler Group, and has worked for numerous organizations in the areas of investment real estate, syndication, strategic planning, management, and marketing. She was formerly associated with The Cogdell Group, The Crosland Group, and Paragon Group, with responsibilities in commercial real estate in the areas of syndication, development, brokerage, property management, and training.
Chandler has served as an expert witness in several real estate litigation matters and has been in real estate for 40 years. She is the author of two editions of The Insider's Guide to Commercial Real Estate, published by Dearborn/Kaplan Publishing, and she has authored numerous continuing education courses taught throughout the southeast.
In July 2011, she was appointed to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission and is currently the Vice-Chair. She has been a North Carolina Real Estate Commission-approved instructor for more than 20 years.
Amy Chorew
Amy Chorew is a national real estate trainer experienced at helping managers and agents maximize the infinite opportunities that technology offers them. Chorew brings her talents to The CE Shop's online curriculum, sharing her knowledge of the industry, progressive technology outlook, and risk management skills. Her unique ability to translate complex topics into easy to understand language has made her a consistently top-rated trainer throughout the country.
Chorew's expertise in the area of social networking and the tremendous impact it is having on the industry has given agents and brokers the tools necessary to move from traditional marketing to web 2.0 marketing. She shows agents how to effectively and prudently use online video, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, podcasts, and other multi-media tools to capture today's buyers and sellers.
Renée Cooney
Renée Cooney is native of Macon County, NC with extensive roots in the West NC area. Her ancestors were in Western North Carolina when it was founded over 200 years ago. She attended Southwestern Community College, earning dual degrees in Surveying Technology and Civil Engineering Technology. A licensed North Carolina Professional Land Surveyor as well as a NC Real Estate Broker, she is the owner and broker in charge for Legacy Properties by Renee, LLC. A graduate of the 2018 class of the William C. Bass Leadership Academy with NC REALTORS®, Renee was elected as NC REALTORS® Region 9 Vice President for 2019-2021 term.
Her impressive resume includes being the 2015-2016 President for the Carolina Smokies Association of Realtors, 2016 Realtor of the Year for Carolina Smokies Association of Realtors. She teaching NC Real Estate Pre-licensing and Post licensing for her alma mater, Southwestern Community College and remains their lead instructor and serves the College's Real Estate Advisory Committee. Renee has continued her involvement with the North Carolina Society of Surveyors and her local Chapter of the organization. As a proud parent of three beautiful children, she is President of the Parent Teacher Student Organization (PTSO) for Macon Early College and Past President for East Franklin Elementary School PTO. Amazingly, in addition to her professional and community involvement, she also makes tome for enjoy gardening, hiking, sewing, reading, learning, teaching and traveling.
Roseann Farrow
With 40 years in real estate sales, training, management, and consulting, Roseann Farrow has personally trained and coached thousands of real estate agents, managers, and brokers who are lifted by her passion, humor, high energy, and dedication to the industry. A REALTOR EMERITUS, National REBAC trainer, and a "Master Instructor" at the NY State Association of REALTORS®, she provides independent training, coaching and consulting nationwide as Roseann Farrow Seminars. She instructs ABR, CIPS, CBR, CRB, GREEN, GRI, ITI, RSPS, and SRES, as well as online webinars.
Farrow's varied real estate-related jobs and experiences have broadened her knowledge and scope and continue to help her think "outside the box". She began her real estate career as a salesperson at Smitchger Realty in Cornwall, NY. After 7 years, she became a broker and moved to Kahn Inc Realtors, BH&G where she spent the next 13 years as Training Director and Sales Manager of the home office in Newburgh. Over the subsequent years, she was a corporate trainer/consultant for 4 separate real estate brands (Better Homes & Gardens, HFS (now Realogy), RE/MAX, and Prudential), she was the Northeast Regional Director for the marketing giant Merrill Corp., and she managed E&O insurance and home warranty sales throughout NY and New England for Home Security of America. In this latter capacity, Roseann procured a NY State P&C Insurance Broker License.
Mike Gamblin
As a broker/owner of his own independent real estate firm, Mike Gamblin has been a consistent top-producing real estate agent in the Treasure Valley for the last 22 years. He holds the GRI (Graduate Realtors Institute) and CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) designations. He has been instructing real estate agents since 1998.
An avid believer in staying professionally involved, Gamblin has served as the president of the Ada County Association of REALTORS® in 1999 and was the 2004 state REALTOR® president. In 1999, Mike was the board forum chairman for the National Association of REALTORS®, where local REALTOR® boards met three times a year to discuss issues affecting them. Mike was formerly vice-chairman of the Idaho Real Estate Education Council, a division of the Idaho Real Estate Commission, in charge of monitoring and developing real estate curriculum for Idaho's real estate agents and brokers. Mike opened Mike Gamblin Real Estate in 1992, a firm specializing in residential brokerage in the Treasure Valley. Gamblin remains the designated broker of the firm.
In 2004, Gamblin opened the Idaho Real Estate School, which by 2008 was Idaho's largest real estate school. Today, the Idaho Real Estate School instructs new agents entering the business, as well as offers continuing education and broker pre-license courses around the state. In 2013, Gamblin was appointed by the governor to be one of the four Idaho Real Estate Commissioners. In this role, he represents the West District of Idaho.
Arthur Gary
Arthur Gary has been a real estate broker since 1979 and has taught real estate courses since 1983. Gary has given real estate courses throughout the northeast for various boards of REALTORS®, Century 21, the University of Southern Maine, GRI, and numerous real estate companies. He instructs the sales agent course, associate broker course, a sales agent exam preparation course, The Designated Broker course, a Maine non-resident exam prep course, and numerous continuing education and designation courses.
Gary has been Education Committee Chairman for both the Western Maine and the Portland Boards of REALTORS®, as well as a Member of the Maine Association of REALTORS® Education Committee and on the Board of Directors of Tri-State REALTORS® Institute. He is past president of the Real Estate Educators Association of Maine, and past president and treasurer of the Portland Board of REALTORS®. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Maine Association of REALTORS® and a member of the Maine Association of REALTORS® Legislative Committee. He is presently treasurer of the Maine Association of REALTORS®, president of Maine CRS, Bylaws Chair for the Great Portland Board of REALTORS®, as well as a practicing real estate broker, real estate educator, and consultant.
He has written student outlines and instructor texts for the associate broker and the sales agent courses. These outlines and instructor texts are being used by various instructors throughout Maine.
Gary was twice selected as the Real Estate Educator of the Year by REEA Maine. His associate broker course was twice selected as the Pre-Licensing Course of the Year. The courses "You Worked Hard For Your License - Don't Let It Be Taken Away" and "Multiple Offers - The Licensee's Role" were each awarded the Continuing Education Course of the Year by the Real Estate Educators Association of Maine. Gary was also honored by being selected as the Portland Board of REALTORS® REALTOR OF THE YEAR for 1998.
Julianna Giordano
Julianna Giordano is a proud Native Floridian from Miami Shores. She's a broker/owner for International Palms Realty/The Giordano Group of Pembroke Pines (Miami/Fort Lauderdale) and a part-time international speaker/instructor.
Giordano personally specializes in helping buyers and sellers in South Broward County, though her team sells everywhere throughout the Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, with referral connections throughout the state. As a Listing Specialist/Seller Representative, she is recognized for pricing properties accurately and helping sellers achieve top dollar. Her pricing strategies (as well as other articles) have been featured in national publications.
Giordano has been an adult educator for well over 20 years and has served her peers as a former Education Director, the Chairman of the International Committee, and as a member of Contracts, Governmental Affairs & Professional Standards Committees. She's very involved with both her local and state associations.
Giordano's agent training specialties include Risk Management, Negotiating, Contracts, and Core Technology. She also teaches Pre- and Post-Licensing, Core Law, and has a great reputation amongst her peers as one of the best new agent trainers in the industry.
Kenneth J. Horner Jr.
Ken Horner is the co-founder and CFO of The CE Shop, Inc. Horner's experience as an attorney and a Certified Public Accountant bringinvaluable resources to our curriculum and students. Horner practiced law for seven years in North Dakota, where his practice focused primarily on providing legal advice regarding real estate matters. Further, while practicing law, he was the course instructor for various continuing education courses for the North Dakota State Bar Association.
Bill James
Bill James has been a real estate appraiser for more than 40 years. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Denver in Real Estate and Construction Management and the MAI appraisal designation from the Appraisal Institute. His company, James Real Estate Services, conducts appraisals and market studies on a wide variety of rural, residential, commercial, and investment properties.
James has taught appraisal courses at the University of Denver, the University of Colorado, the Denver Metropolitan Commercial Association of Realtors, and the Colorado Association of Realtors.
James has been an active member of the Appraisal Institute, serving as Chair of the General Appraiser Council and the Admissions Appeals Board, a member of the Board of Directors, the Regional Ethics and Counseling Panel, and the Appraisal Standards Council.
JoAnn Kokindo
JoAnn Kokindo has been a REALTOR® since 1984. A lifetime top producer, she loves sharing her ideas and wealth of knowledge with others.
Kokindo has experience editing the Virginia Real Estate education textbook and has been teaching the Principals and Practice course for over 12 years. Her greatest joy is enabling her students to reach their top potential and many of her students consider her to be the best instructor they ever had. The Virginia Real Estate Board advocates for Kokindo and her expertise in the following fields: Abstracting, Appraisal, Brokerage, Business Law, Comm Lend, Contract Law, Econ, Feasibility Analysis, Finance, Investments, Land Plan/Use, Law, Math, Principals/Practice, Prop Law, Prop Mgmt, and Urban Dev.
Kathy MacKay
As a professional real estate agent for more than 20 years, while working through a RE/MAX company, Kathy led a team of 2 agents, a mortgage broker and an office manager. That team closed between 60-100 transaction sides annually. underneath me. In 2011, she made the decision to pursue her passion of helping others succeed in real estate. She accepted a position as a Productivity Coach with Keller Williams. For five years Kathy trained and coached, 70+ agents at a time, leading to successful, productive careers. She is an innovator in marketing, using new technology and techniques to make sure that her clients enjoy smooth and successful buying and selling experiences. Commitment to the success of both her students and clients has been a constant value.
In 2012, Kathy and her husband purchased an American Dream Real Estate School franchise. American Dream Real Estate School is a Colorado company dedicated to educating realtors. Between owning the school and coaching new agents to launch their career through American Dream Coaching, Kathy has been able to follow her passion every day. While Kathy says it is relationships that are her motivation, it is dedication to excellence and the process it takes to create a successful career in real estate, that are her true calling. "A career worth having, a business worth owning, thus a life worth living is my goal for all of my agents!"
Jill Malloy
For over 40 years, Jill Malloy has lived and breathed real estate. Her experience spans sales, management, training, and education. She has served as the training director for major real estate firms in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. For 14 years, she was an independent consultant, coaching, training and customizing education for her many clients. During her career, she has personally trained and coached thousands of real estate agents, managers, and brokers. An approved REBAC instructor and a REALTOR EMERITUS, Malloy has traveled inside and outside of the United States helping brokers, managers, trainers, and salespeople to improve their knowledge and skills.
Brent Maybank
Brent Maybank has been a REALTOR® since 1999 and a principal broker since 2004. Since starting his real estate career, Maybank has served on the Board of Directors for his local association and state association, as well as for his Regional MLS. Maybank became a certified instructor in Tennessee by both the Tennessee Association of REALTORS® and the Tennessee Real Estate Commission in 2006. He is still very active with his local and state associations and teaches continuing education classes throughout Tennessee. He also serves as the Educational Director to over 700 agents in his firm.
Michael McAllister
Michael McAllister's real estate career began the summer after his freshman year of undergraduate studies with a desire to join the family real estate ventures. As an active investor, educator, and broker, McAllister was instrumental in the building of several Internet technology businesses prior to co-founding The CE Shop, Inc., where he has been able to combine his love of real estate, education, and technology. His entrepreneurial spirit and enthusiasm are what drive the growth of the business.
Lucy Michaud
Lucy Michaud is an Assistant Extension Professor at the UConn Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies. She is also working with the Center as a liaison to the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. She conducts seminars on real estate law and ethics to various associations and professional groups.
Michaud is also an attorney, practicing transactional law. She has taught online and on-ground courses at the University of Hartford and at Tunxis Community College. She currently teaches the law sections of courses in Real Estate Principles at UConn. In addition, Michaud's biography is listed in "Who's Who in American Law."
Samantha Reeves
Samantha Reeves is a REALTOR® and the senior real estate and home buying expert at a mortgage company specializing in VA loans. As a prior loan officer, Reeves brings her vast experience dealing with the VA home loan all the way from initial application to loan funding. She knows how the system works and brings you information and tips on how to make your VA home loan transaction go as smoothly as possible.
Ed Riggins
Ed Riggins is a Senior Vice-President in the Atlanta office of Cresa, where he has often been among the firm's top producers nationally since moving his practice there in 2000. A real estate veteran who began his career in 1984, Riggins provides real estate advisory services to corporate clients. Prior to joining Cresa, Riggins worked on the agency (landlord rep) side of the business, representing both institutional and entrepreneurial landlords. Applying a unique combination of human relations skills and technical abilities, he approaches each client project with creativity, market intelligence, optimism, and humor.
Riggins is a Life Member of the Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS®. He speaks on a variety of topics to business groups, has taught continuing education courses since 2001, and has performed live improv and stand-up comedy. His articles have appeared in many business and professional magazines. He is a graduate of Auburn University and is among less than 1% of practitioners nationally to hold both the SIOR and CCIM designations. Riggins has also completed Harvard's Program on Negotiation. See his website for more details.
BJ Rosow
BJ has held a Brokers License for 36 years. He is the President of Rosow Education and a Broker Associate for Rosow REALTORS®. His family has been involved in real estate for 91 years since his grandmother started her company in 1927.
BJ's career teaching real estate started in 1981, and he has since written training manuals and curriculum for numerous real estate schools and firms. He was also a regular guest lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition to real estate, BJ is a successful entrepreneur, having built a 60-million-dollar company from the ground up.
David Rosow
David Rosow is a licensed real estate broker in Texas and has been a REALTOR® since 1973. Throughout his long career in real estate, he has specialized in Residential, Commercial, Leasing, Training, and has managed several offices for a non-franchised agency. David is a third generation REALTOR®, and his grandmother started their company in 1927. David is a CDEI (Certified Distance Education Instructor) and has been the V.P. of Professional Development for several large real estate companies.
David has been very active in the local board of REALTORS® and the Texas Association of REALTORS®. He has held several positions of responsibility in each organization. In addition to teaching at real estate companies, David has taught at several proprietary real estate schools. In the late 1970s, David started a real estate proprietary school in San Antonio. Presently David is CEO of Rosow Education and Rosow REALTORS®. David and his wife Deri live in San Antonio. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Mary Sand
Mary Sand, has spent 20+ years in the training field, in both the real estate and hospitality industry. She has been a course developer, trainer, director of training and speaker at a few conferences. In 2009, she graduated from ASU with a degree in communications. She started her real estate career in 2002, in 2004 became Director of Training and in 2007 was promoted to Branch Manager/ Director of Training. She has been training individuals to use software in relation to their career since before Microsoft had version numbers. Mary loves incorporating technology and multimedia in her training.
- Certified ZipForm Trainer since 2004
- Certified Ethics Instructor
- Certified Microsoft Outlook Specialist
- Speaker at AAR winter conference
- Past President of the Arizona Real Estate Education Association
- Serves on AAR's Grievance Committee
- Serves on ADRE's Education Advisory Committee.
Lori Solecki
GRI, BPOR, PSA, E-Pro, SFR, TAHS, SRS
Solecki has been a REALTOR® since 1994. Currently an independent Texas broker, she has worked for three companies before going out on her own in 2012. Solecki now serves on the Board of Directors for Metrotex Association of REALTORS®, as well as a director of the Texas Association of REALTORS®. She has also served on various committees and task forces.
She teaches CE and certification courses at the local board and for other brokerages. Solecki also teaches aspiring licensees Qualifying Education courses at Tarrant County College and writes curriculum courses in her free time. She was a co-author of two TAR award-winning courses in the Professional Development category.
Solecki has a passion for training and sharing information with other professionals in real estate. She was given the opportunity to teach and help agents at the various brokerages where she practiced. She knows that knowledge is power and has a great desire to see others succeed. She says it's amazing when you see students get that "ah ha" moment and pass that excitement of creation and implementation on to their business. She is a big advocate for keeping our profession professional. Solecki believes that through education, we can create amazing agents, clients, and consumers.
William F. Sparkman
William Sparkman has been actively involved in the real estate industry for more than 30 years. Sparkman brings a wealth of practical experience and expertise from many facets of the business, including that of a sales professional, managing and designated broker, developer, educator, and expert witness. Sparkman has been an active member of the National Association of REALTORS® with service and outstanding achievement on the state and local level with the Montgomery Association of REALTORS®/MLS, Alabama Association of REALTORS®, Haywood County (N.C.) Board of REALTORS®, Western North Carolina MLS, North Carolina Association of REALTORS®, and Triad (S.C.) Association of REALTORS®.
Kent Strobel
After graduating with honors from the Citadel in Charleston, SC in 1968, Strobel began teaching in SC. In 1984, he received his real estate license and by 1987, he had become a real estate broker. He also owned and operated a manufacturing corporation from 1977 to 1995. In 1995, Strobel made real estate brokerage his full-time career. With the background in education, business, and real estate, it was only natural that he gravitated towards real estate education, so in 2001, he was certified by the South Carolina Real Estate Commission as an instructor. In 1997, he was among the first real estate brokers to earn the Accredited Buyers Representative Designation from the Real Estate Buyers Agent Council of The National Association of REALTORS ® and in 2007, he became certified to instruct the ABR course. Strobel also earned his GRI in 1998. He brings a great depth of knowledge with respect to South Carolina.
Pat Strong
Prior to real estate, Pat Strong was in the title business as an escrow manager. Strong began her real estate career in 1980, obtained her broker's license in 1983, and has continued her education throughout her career. Strong managed offices ranging from eight to 75 agents in various cities in Texas. She was the national trainer for Century 21 for six years and then was promoted to Franchise Service Director. One of Strong's accomplishments following this employment by corporate was managing Judge Fite's Arlington office for Century 21, and for several years, she was in the top ten offices, out of 6,600 offices in the world, for closed transactions. Strong retired from Arlington in 2005 to pursue her education passion, and she is now a full-time independent instructor and coach. She trains and coaches both agents and brokers. Strong was awarded TAR Educator of the Year and inducted into the REBAC Hall of Fame. She also served four years on the Education Standard Advisory Committee for TREC. In 2017, she served as president of the Texas chapter of REBI, formerly known as CRB. Strong is currently teaching REBAC, CRB, Legal I and II, and Broker Responsibility courses.
Zane Sullivan
Zane Sullivan, a Montana native, graduated from Montana State University with a degree in Psychology, and from the University of Montana School of Law with a Juris Doctorate degree, before joining a Missoula firm to practice business law. Following several years of practice in the areas of real estate and business law, he became involved with the title insurance industry as president and general counsel of four title insurance offices in Montana. Later, he served as president of Insured Titles in Missoula, where he supervised more than 10,000 real estate transactions. He is currently the senior member of Sullivan, Tabaracci & Rhoades, P.C., a law firm specializing in business and property law. A significant portion of his practice is devoted to the representation of REALTOR® Boards and Associations relative to the preparation of real estate practice forms, licensing laws, rules, and regulations.
Sullivan is a designated instructor for the National Association of REALTORS®, the Montana Association of REALTORS®, and the Graduate REALTOR® Institute. He has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Montana School of Law, Montana Bar Association, and Montana Land Title Association. He has appeared as an expert witness in a number of litigated cases involving real estate issues.
In addition to his law practice, Sullivan operates a seminar company providing continuing education to real estate licensees and attorneys. He is a REALTOR® and holds real estate licenses in California and Montana.
Chris Tierney
Chris Tierney began his career in Property/Facility Management in 1999 as an on-site member of a multi-family property management company. He worked his way through the ranks over the years, moving from an on-site supervisory role to a regional portfolio lead, followed by managing a national portfolio. He has been a licensed managing broker since 2006 and maintains the role of managing director for an independent real estate office.
Tierney holds nearly two-dozen licenses, designations, and certifications within various real estate concentrations and stays engaged with multiple associations throughout the U.S. He is currently a licensed instructor and university adjunct faculty member teaching real estate, property management, and facility management-related courses to adult learners. Tierney prides himself on supporting other real estate professionals and our military members as a training manager in the Air National Guard.
Roger Truemper
Roger Truemper has an extensive and diverse legal background that brings a unique perspective in addressing and solving the needs of his clients. He practices in the areas of commercial and business transactions, residential real estate, commercial litigation, leasing, landlord-tenant, land use, and land development. Truemper believes it is important to work collaboratively with his clients and enlist a variety of legal disciplines to address both short-term and long-term goals. A frequent lecturer at real estate law seminars, Truemper has worked closely with advising local boards of REALTOR® and realty companies. He has written real estate publications for the National Business Institute and the Delaware State Bar Association. When not practicing law, Truemper can typically be found outdoors – camping, hiking, and kayaking.
Dee Young
Dee A. Young - Broker/Trainer/Mediator/Negotiator. An active Indiana Independent Real Estate Managing Broker, Young is experienced in all aspects of general real estate practice. She is a Right-Of-Way Negotiations/Acquisitions Specialist/Consultant for the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), engaging in government/public purchase of private property. Young's a member of MIBOR REALTOR® Association, the Real Estate Education Association (REEA), the Indiana Association of Mediators (IAM), and a Founding Member of the Indiana Real Estate Independent Brokers Association (IREIBA).
Young holds multiple designations and certifications including, National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), GRI, CRS, ABR, AHWD, BPOR, e-PRO, PSA, MRP, and SFR, is a Graduate of the Indiana REALTORS® Leadership Academy, and a Master Certified Negotiation Expert® MCNE. An NAR Certified Mediator since 2012, she serves on Professional Standards Committee of MIBOR as an Arbitration Panelist and Mediator. A former 10-year member of Toastmasters International, Young was honored as the Greater Indiana Toastmaster of the Year and earned her DTM Distinguished Toastmaster designation.
Young recently joined The CE Shop, Inc as the Indiana Instructor of Record and Subject Matter Expert (SME). She is an Indiana Real Estate Licensing Pre/Post and Continuing Education Instructor, The RENI Instructor-Indiana for the Real Estate Negotiation Institute (RENI) and a Contract Trainer for REALTOR Property Resource® (NAR RPR®). Previously with the Real Estate Certification Program (RECP) and the International Right of Way Association (IRWA) as a CLIMB Certified® Instructor, she's taught in Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Young's special brand is "Info-Edu-Tainment" - Learning is so much better when it's fun!
Felicia Johnson
As a tenured real estate agent, Felicia is both a Principal Broker and a Principal Instructor. Her duty is to ensure that each client is professionally represented and that each transaction matches the laws of the AR Legislature and the rules and regulations of the Arkansas Real Estate Commission. As a Principal Instructor of a local real estate school, she has been tasked with helping people earn a real estate license. She also trains agents in the principals that matter most while representing clients. Felicia is a highly sought after instructor and most recently was asked by the Mayor of Evanston, IL to present a training on the effects of redlining.


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While Semana Santa is a national tradition throughout Spain, the "Andalucians" arguably "feel" the week more than other regions of Spain. Throughout 7 days, Andalucia is surrounded by a spiritual halo. Semana Santa is a tradition which is repeated year after year, a time when the devout and curious joint together to participated in the procession and converge on the streets and squares which take on the ambiance and mystique of an open air temple.
The skill and expertise behind the parades rest with the religious fraternities and brotherhoods. They have the responsibility of maintaining the statues as well as coordinating the penitents and musicians. Sometimes up to two thousand members of a brotherhood take part, some carry candles, rods or banners depending on their level of seniority. The most senior is the president who carries a golden rod.
The "costaleros" who carry the weight on the floats and their sculptured representations of the biblical scene are directed by the overseer or head of the group who ensures that the float is carried with maximum seriousness, grace and tradition. To be able to survive the long hours and distance carrying the heavy "thrones" the costaleros have a cushion, known as the costal, which prevents the direct contact of the wood rubbing against the skin. The thrones are followed by "nazarenos" dressed in tunics, hoods and masks and women dressed in traditional costume.
The high point of the procession is when the float exits and enters the respective church. This is the moment when art and religion seem merged into one. A sculpture of images created by superb craftsmen. The best floats date back to the 16th and 17th centuries and can still be seen today.The entire scene is alive with color and sound, thanks to the polychromatic variety of tunics, hoods, ensigns and banners. Emotions are stirred by the slow rhythmic beating of the drums and processional marches, the swaying paces of the bearers and the poignant wailing of the "saeta" which is a sacred song similar to the flamenco and sung through the Holy Week processions.
Even if you are not religious, it is difficult not to be moved, the atomsphere is so vital and poignant. For some it is a fun filled fiesta time, for others a week of ritual and reflection. Without a doubt, Holy Week in Andalucia is a tradition that is an integral part of the culture and appropriatly reflects the spirit of the people.Year after year, each and every village proudly enjoys the berauty and mystery of "Semana Santa", although there are variances and some towns for instance, will preserve certain traditions more than others. The villages and hamlets generally hold their parades on Thursdays and Fridays, while the large capital cities have week long celebrations and attract thousands of people from far and wide.
Irrespective of size, each float represents the pride and enthusiasm of every Andaluz who will spend the entire night, from dusk until dawn, accompanying them in solemn reverence to his or her religion.

subset: commoncrawl


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SAN DIEGO -- James Wilks, of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fame, attended the June 1 dedication of a new shipboard gym on the Navy's USNS Carl Brashear.
The ship's gym was outfitted with new weight lifting equipment and rubber floor mats. The project was made possible by Morale Welfare and Recreation Navy Region, Southwest, as well as the Military Detachment, and Deck, Engineering and Supply Departments aboard the ship.
Wilks is a mixed martial arts expert and trainer at his gym, Lightning MMA in Laguna Hills, CA. He donated a pair of gloves that he wore in a recent UFC fight against Frank Lester and an autographed T-shirt to the gym to commemorate the occasion.
The UFC fighter voiced his admiration for the ship's namesake, Master Chief Brashear, and his famous quote, "It's not a sin to get knocked down. It's a sin to stay down." Wilks said that during a recent UFC bout he was knocked down but overcame the setback to win the fight.
He also expressed gratitude for the sacrifices made for the United States by all Navy and military personnel.


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By Christian Aperghis-Tramoni (Cat) from Marseille.pm Date: Thursday, 1 September 2005 15:15
Duration: 20 minutes Language:
Teaching assembly language is not easy since many problems must be
solved before asking students to write the first program.
Take care and present structure and constraints of the real machine.
Consider the structure and the syntax of the assembly instructions.
Parrot offers us an easy to use machine, only registers.
Assembly language is close from Perl 5 an other language our students
are using.
* We have now a first experience of teaching parrot.
* We have been surprised to see how studends did apreciate
programmation on such a platform.


text:
Free delivery
(over £100 +VAT, applies to zone A and B only, £6 +VAT otherwise)
Usually 3-5 days
Order online & collect in store
Our customers love us - read their reviews
This is the Forbes and Lomax CABO/NIC, a single cable outlet in nickel silver plate, manufactured by Forbes and Lomax.
The Nickel Silver range has a highly polished nickel plated plate, creating a mirror finish. Nickel Silver first became popular in the 19th Century due to its similarity to Sterling Silver and was commonly used for various decorative items around the home.
It has a luxurious appearance which is much warmer and less clinical than chrome, making it more appealing for living areas. The Nickel Silver range sits well in both traditional and contemporary interiors.
|Switches & Sockets Specific
|Forbes and Lomax
|Satin Nickel
|No Insert
|Flat Plate
Let us know and we might match the price for you
Telephone 020 7263 8007
Email email@example.com
Fax 020 7272 3007
Sparks Electrical Wholesalers Ltd, 659-661 Holloway Road, Archway, London, N19 5SE, United Kingdom
Registered in England. Company No. 2238028. VAT Reg No: GB 505 6899 17. Copyright © 2003-2020 SparksDirect


text:
Associated Crafts necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 11 diseños de 7 diseñadores freelance.
Associated Crafts is a premier stained glass studio, dedicated to the preservation of America's stained glass heritage. Stained glass specialties include window repair, restoration, and protective covering, together with new stained glass window creations and the sale of pre-owned stained glass.
The company enjoys a vibrant web presence, with numerous landing page domains funneling into a centerpiece website, complemented with social media pages. The winning design theme will be carried across many marketing platforms.
Associated Crafts provides stained glass services nationwide and internationally to churches, libraries, court houses, homes and offices, where-ever stained glass beautifies the environment.
We also offer owners, architects and insurance companies consultation services.
The web presence is one of the primary market access methods our target audience accesses the company, either directly, through referring sites, or through search engines.
Please do not redo what we have already done. We are looking for a new treatment, displaying the class and prestige that quality stained glass commands.
Remaining open to creative input, without setting too many requirements.
Require a layered .psd file as the final product (RGB). It is essential that work is original - any stock images must be declared.
The content, menus, and calls-to-action on the http://church-stained-glass-windows.com/ website will remain the same. We are looking for an entirely new look and feel for the same content.


text:
West Allis, WI (Temporarily Closed)
Hours may be for carry out/delivery only - call first
Weekday Lunch: $10.99
Weekend & Holiday Lunch: $12.99
Dinner: $14.99
Weekend & Holiday Lunch: $12.99
Dinner: $14.99
Create your own unlimited stir fry at the hottest Asian restaurant in Milwaukee. Looking for a customizable, all-you-can-eat dining experience? Ditch the old Chinese Buffet and spice it up at HuHot Mongolian Grill in West Allis, WI. At HuHot, you are the master of your meal. Create your stir fry masterpiece with as many fresh ingredients as you choose! All your family and friends can find something they like from our wide selection of meats, seafood, noodles, vegetables and Asian-inspired sauces. Even if you have dietary restrictions, HuHot can accommodate! We are a haven for vegetarians, gluten-free diners, those on a Keto or Paleo diet and anyone who is looking for a healthy but delicious dining option.


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Ironically, the Dead Boys, one of the New York punk scenes wildest fixtures, weren't even from the Big Apple. Most of them hailed from Cleveland, jettisoned from another seminal band, Rocket from the Tomb, who split up into both The Bead Boys and Pere Ubu. 1977 was probably the biggest year for Punk Rock, so it should be no surprise that 60 Minutes own Mike Wallace should try to cover this new phenomenon. Contacting Kristal, whose CBGB club was ground zero of the New York scene, a request was made to do a three camera video shoot of a band performing at the venue. As Kristal was their manager, he made sure the Dead Boys were the focus of the special report. For a punk band to receive this kind of treatment was very rare at the time, and as such, there are few truly great concert videos to capture this time period.
Even more remarkable is the condition these tapes are in, for even with the required touch ups by Music Video Distributors, the technical aspect to these recordings is great. Possibly the biggest bonus to this DVD is having the sound remixed into a 5.1 channel mix for maximum punch. As for the finished "60 Minutes" piece, I'm not sure if it ever saw the light of day, rather, an interesting Sire Records promotional clip included with the Extras uses some of the footage to promote the Dead Boys as "the most powerful form of rock ritual since 'Beatlemania'." While that may have been the case, the band's legacy was cut short after their second studio album, "We Have Come for Your Children" failed to dent the billboard charts and they walked away from their recording contract, basically imploding from the constant attention, high expectations and low commercial payout.
Upon taking the stage, the band launch into their biggest hit, "Sonic Reducer," which everyone I hope is familiar with, as it is probably one of the top ten punk anthems of that era. The band is amazingly tight, regardless of Bators "Iggy-esque" contortions, and just rock the crowd. Having not listened to "Young , Loud and Snotty" for a few years, I had forgotten how amazing "All This and More" is as a song and a statement, almost rivaling "Sonic Reducer," but not quite as iconic. Rather, "All This and More" is the Dead Boys namesake song, as the refrain goes "I'm just a dead boy. You know that I'm just a dead boy," and the song reaches critical mass as the audience joins in for a sing-along.
The rest of the Dead Boys set is just as explosive. Stiv Bators is hypnotic in his gyrations, but regardless of his playing to the cameras or not, Bators' presence on stage is palpable. Whether he's absent-mindedly blowing his bleeding nose on some lunchmeat, chewing up and then spraying the crowd with the aforementioned meal during a verse, scraping a piece of wadded up gum from CB's floor and chewing on it for a bit, or any number of spills, stumbles, falls or self-induced seizures on the stage, Bators moves appear fluid and calculated. By the time they reach the finale, a fast and loose version of the Stooge's "Search and Destroy," the Dead Boys have already proven a dozen times over that they were the real thing, with a short, fast legacy no less groundbreaking and important than The Ramones, The Clash or even the Sex Pistols.
The songs included on this disc are:
Sonic Reducer
All This and More
Not Anymore
Flame Thrower Love
I Need Lunch
Ain't Nothin' to Do
What Love Is
High Tension Wire
Search & Destroy
The DVD:
Picture: Dead Boys: Live! At CBGB 1977 is presented, no surprise as it was shot for TV, in a Full Screen Format. What is surprising, considering the age and condition of the source material, is just how good this concert looks. Or to be precise, it looks exactly the way you'd think a concert like this would look. It's dirty, grimy, skuzzy and truly captures this moment in history as if you were there.
Audio: Dead Boys: Live! At CBGB 1977 both a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track and a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, which really elevates this performance and gives it the extra punch needed to bring this Dead Boys experience home.
Extras: Music Video Distributors have really outdone themselves, putting together a great set of extras that help to put this rare taped performance in a historical context. That these 1977 interviews with the band have survived is amazing enough, but the new interviews that MVD conducted with Cheetah Chrome (real name, Eugene Richard O'Connor) and former manager Hilly Kristal, as well as other incidentals (promotional clip, Steel Tips performance), make the extras on this DVD as important as the performance itself. I mean, just to hear Stiv Bators name his influences as "New York Dolls… The Stooges… Paul Revere and the Raiders" is just priceless.
Conclusion: Before the release of Dead Boys: Live! At CBGB 1977, the only way you could experience the Dead Boys in all their glory would have been to have seen them back in the day, but thanks to this unearthed relic of a bygone age, the Dead Boys live on. It's a must-see for anyone with even a passing interest in Punk Music or the "hey-day" of the New York Punk scene back in the mid to late 70's. Those weaned on the current crop of watered down punk-pop poseurs may not "get" what makes this performance so incredible, but the mere fact that this DVD is coming out now is reason enough to seek out where that type of music began, and try to save the legacy of Punk. Save CBGB, it's the only one we've got!


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The Internet is currently flooded with a tsunami of stock market predictions—from brokerage firms, investment strategists, financial media types and every flavor of portfolio manager. Many of them even sport sort of impressive scorecard.
We at ThinkAdvisor accept the common industry disclosure that "past performance is not indicative of future results," and its corollary that foresight is not 20-20.
So to take part in this annual ritual, we sought someone with direct oversight responsibility for managing unrelated investors' wealth (sorry investment strategists); a fund with a record of success going back at least 10 years (and this has been a challenging decade); and a fund that has had market-beating current performance even by today's buoyant standards.
That led us to the Kinetics Small Cap Opportunities Fund (KSCOX) and its research affiliate Horizon Asset Management. In a year in which the small-cap Russell 2000 index has returned (so far) a whopping 32%, KSCOX has vastly outperformed with year-to-date returns of 56%.
And over a choppy decade in which the Russell 2000 has delivered 105%, KSCOX has bested its benchmark with returns of 136%.
(Check out last year's predictions: Best 5 Investment Picks for 2013)
Admirably, the fund exhibits an unusual degree of conviction and concentration, with a turnover ratio of just 11% and its top portfolio holdings amounting to more than half the fund's assets, based on Q3 data from Kinetics' website, which also lists both no-load and Class A and C shares.
So is there a method to KSCOX fund shareholder gladness? "We buy and sit and wait," co-portfolio manager Matthew Houk told ThinkAdvisor in a phone interview from his office in New York.
That's the simple explanation. The more technical description Houk offers is that the "equity yield curve" is the cornerstone of Kinetics' management philosophy—"a fancy sounding term for identifying investment opportunities with abnormally high discount rates."
In other words, Houk says he and co-manager Peter Doyle are relatively less interested than other portfolio managers in a company's recent quarterly performance as long as they see catalysts to high future performance.
Apart from a different emphasis in portfolio selection, Houk says his fund also differs in its process:
"When it comes to identifying investment opportunities, we focus on what we call predictive attributes" rather than "descriptive attributes."
The latter looks for stocks in a certain sector or market cap, whereas the former approach finds that three attributes tend to predict performance: owner-operators—where the "day-to-day decision maker is a large shareholder;" spinoffs, where a corporation unlocks value by segregating some of its assets into a separate entity; and dormant assets, where a corporation extracts value from non-performing assets.
With those principles, here are five stocks Houk expects to outperform in 2014.
1. Icahn Enterprises (Nasdaq: IEP)
Carl Icahn owns 90% of the holding company bearing his name, making it a quintessential owner-operator scenario, Houk says.
The famed corporate raider is known for building up large stakes in the companies he buys then pushing to unlock value through his shareholder activism.
Icahn gave his most recent demonstration of that technique late last month when he filed a shareholder proposal with Apple asking the firm to use its cash to buy back shares to increase their value. That proposal should be a topic of great investor interest come Feb. 26, when Apple holds its annual shareholder meeting.
In his company's earnings statement last month, Icahn said "there has never been a better time than today for activist investing, if practiced properly," referring to mediocre management and the ease of buying in a low-rate environment, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.
2. The Wendy's Co. (Nasdaq: WEN)
Investors, not just diners, have been feasting on the national restaurant chain this year, pushing up its stock 52% year-to-date. But what Houk finds most appetizing is the role of its non-executive chairman of the board, Nelson Peltz, a hedge fund billionaire whose Trian Fund owns a 21% stake in the stock, in addition to Peltz's personal 4% ownership.
That owner-operator attribute is predictive of further gains in shareholder value as far as KSCOX is concerned; and indeed Wendy's is the fund's second largest holding, at 7.1% of the portfolio, second to and close to its 7.3% stake in Icahn Enterprises.
Houk sees a bright future for the stock:
"When you look at Wendy's, it has essentially no non-U.S. exposure," he says. "That signals opportunity to grow over the long-term."
3. The Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC)
Real estate developer The Howard Hughes Corp. is a three-fer in the constellation of "predictive attributes" that Kinetics looks for in selecting stocks.
Like Icahn and Wendy's, it's got an owner-operator in hedge fund hero Bill Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management, follows the activist model of buying large stakes in a company in order to push management for changes that would boost shareholder value. Pershing's stake in HHC is just under 5% and Ackman serves as its independent chairman of the board.
HHC was also a spin-off, unlocking hidden value that was lost in the larger real estate firm General Growth Properties.
Its third predictive attribute, dormant assets, lay in its market emphasis on master-planned communities in places like the Summerlin suburb of Las Vegas, which has benefited hugely from the recovery in residential real estate.
4. Jarden Corp. (NYSE: JAH)
Jarden Corp is a global consumer products powerhouse that, like its KSCOX portfolio cousins, benefits from an owner-operator champion—in this case, executive chairman of the board, Martin Franklin.
"It's essentially a publicly traded leveraged buyout fund in function" through its emphasis on buying "on a leveraged basis very stable growth consumer products companies" and unlocking their value, Houk says.
Jarden owns Mr. Coffee, Crock-Pot and a large number of other household consumer brands; it recently bought and plans to develop Yankee Candle, a trendy scented candles store with an attractive retail presence.
Houk calls Jarden "fairly significantly undervalued," saying, "the company could pay down its net debt in approximately three years" if it wanted to.
"Then, ceteris paribus [all other things being equal]…its stock price would be closer to $75 a share vs. $58 today—a 30% return. That's the base case," Houk says.
5. Federal-Mogul Corp. (Nasdaq: FDML)
If you like Icahn Enterprises, then you'll probably also like auto parts maker Federal-Mogul, which is about 80% owned by Icahn, who serves as the firm's independent chairman of the board.
Icahn championed the maker of powertrains and car safety solutions after it was left for dead when the financial crisis crushed the U.S. auto industry. The company sold off again this year when investors grew nervous about a low cash balance and worried about covenant breaches and potential insolvency.
Icahn, who owned about 50% of the company at the time, recapitalized FDML through a rights offering, took his own stake up to 80% and agreed to backstop the company in case it needed financing in the future. The shares have rocketed ever since, rising 151% year-to-date.
FDML and the other owner-operator companies favored by KSCOX "tend to trade at large discounts for abnormally large amounts of time," Houk says.
That is in part because so much of investment flow these days passes through index funds and ETFs, which he says bypass companies that have only a limited free-float, which is typically the case in owner-operated companies.
– Check out these related stories on ThinkAdvisor:


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Absolute pitch
Absolute pitch (AP), widely referred to as perfect pitch, is a rare auditory phenomenon characterized by the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone.[1][2]
AP can be demonstrated via linguistic labeling ("naming" a note), auditory imagery, or sensorimotor responses. For example, an AP possessor can accurately reproduce a heard tone on their musical instrument without "hunting" for the correct pitch.[3][4] Researchers estimate the occurrence of AP to be 1 in 10,000 people.[5]
Generally, absolute pitch implies some or all of the following abilities, achieved without a reference tone:[6]
- Identify by name individual pitches (e.g. A, B, C♯) played on various instruments.
- Name the key of a given piece of tonal music.
- Reproduce a piece of tonal music in the correct key days after hearing it.
- Identify and name all the tones of a given chord or other tonal mass.
- Accurately sing a named pitch.
- Name the pitches of common everyday sounds such as car horns and alarms.
People may have absolute pitch along with the ability of relative pitch, and relative and absolute pitch work together in actual musical listening and practice, but strategies in using each skill vary.[7] Those with absolute pitch may train their relative pitch, but there are no reported cases of an adult obtaining absolute pitch ability through musical training; adults who possess relative pitch, but who do not already have absolute pitch, can learn "pseudo-absolute pitch", and become able to identify notes in a way that superficially resembles absolute pitch.[8] Moreover, training pseudo-absolute pitch requires considerable motivation, time, and effort, and learning is not retained without constant practice and reinforcement.[9]
- 1 Scientific studies
- 2 Correlation with musical talent
- 3 Relative pitch
- 4 See also
- 5 References
- 6 External links
Scientific studies[edit]
History of study and terminologies[edit]
Scientific study of absolute pitch appears to have commenced in the 19th century, focusing on the phenomenon of musical pitch and methods of measuring it.[10] While the term absolute pitch, or absolute ear, was in use by the late 19th century by both British[11] and German researchers,[12] its application was not universal; other terms such as musical ear,[10] absolute tone consciousness,[13] or positive pitch[14] were also used to refer to the ability. The skill is not exclusively musical, or limited to human perception; absolute pitch has been demonstrated in animals such as bats, wolves, gerbils, and birds, for whom specific pitches facilitate identification of mates or meals.[15]
Difference in cognition, not elementary sensation[edit]
Physically and functionally, the auditory system of an absolute listener does not appear to be different from a non-absolute listener.[16] Rather, "it reflects a particular ability to analyze frequency information, presumably involving high-level cortical processing."[17] Absolute pitch is an act of cognition, needing memory of the frequency, a label for the frequency (such as "B-flat"), and exposure to the range of sound encompassed by that categorical label. Absolute pitch may be directly analogous to recognizing colors, phonemes (speech sounds) or other categorical perception of sensory stimuli. Just as most people have learned to recognize and name the color blue by the frequencies of the electromagnetic radiation that is perceived as light, it is possible that those who have been exposed to musical notes together with their names early in life will be more likely to identify, for example, the note C.[18] Absolute pitch may also be related to certain genes, possibly an autosomal dominant genetic trait,[19][20] though it "might be nothing more than a general human capacity whose expression is strongly biased by the level and type of exposure to music that people experience in a given culture."[21]
Influence by music experience[edit]
Absolute pitch sense appears to be influenced by cultural exposure to music, especially in the familiarization of the equal-tempered C-major scale. Most of the absolute listeners that were tested in this respect identified the C-major tones more reliably and, except for B, more quickly than the five "black key" tones,[22] which corresponds to the higher prevalence of these tones in ordinary musical experience. One study of Dutch non-musicians also demonstrated a bias toward using C-major tones in ordinary speech, especially on syllables related to emphasis.[23]
Absolute pitch is more common among speakers of tonal languages such as most dialects of Chinese or Vietnamese, which often depend on pitch variation as the means of distinguishing words that otherwise sound the same; e.g. Mandarin with four possible pitch variations, Cantonese with nine, Minnan with seven or eight (depending on dialect), and Vietnamese with six.[24][25] Speakers of Sino-Tibetan languages have been reported to speak a word in the same absolute pitch (within a quarter-tone) on different days; it has therefore been suggested that absolute pitch may be acquired by infants when they learn to speak a tonal language[26] (and possibly also by infants when they learn to speak a pitch-accent language). However, the brains of tonal-language speakers do not naturally process musical sound as language;[27] perhaps such speakers are more likely to acquire absolute pitch for musical tones when they later receive musical training. Many native speakers of a tone language, even those with little musical training, are observed to sing a given song consistently with regard to pitch. Among music students of East Asian ethnic heritage, those who speak a tone language very fluently have a much higher prevalence of absolute pitch than those who do not speak a tone language.[28][29][30]
It is possible that African level-tone languages—such as Yoruba,[31] with three pitch levels, and Mambila,[32] with four—may be better suited to study the role of absolute pitch in speech than the pitch and contour tone languages of East Asia.
Speakers of European languages have been found to make subconscious use of an absolute pitch memory when speaking.[33]
Absolute pitch is the ability to perceive pitch class and to mentally categorize sounds according to perceived pitch class.[34] Pitch class is a tonal quality which recurs among tones which share the relationship of an octave. While the boundaries of musical pitch categories vary among human cultures, the recognition of octave relationships is a natural characteristic of the mammalian auditory system.[35][36][37][38][39][40] Accordingly, absolute pitch is not the ability to estimate a pitch value from the dimension of pitch evoking frequency (30–5000 Hz),[18] but to identify a pitch class category within the dimension of pitch class (e.g., C-C♯-D ... B-C).
An absolute listener's sense of hearing is typically no keener than that of a non-absolute ("normal") listener.[41] Absolute pitch does not depend upon a refined ability to perceive and discriminate gradations of sound frequencies,[42] but upon detecting and categorizing a subjective perceptual quality typically referred to as "chroma".[43] The two tasks— of identification (recognizing and naming a pitch) and discrimination (detecting changes or differences in rate of vibration)— are accomplished with different brain mechanisms.[44]
Special populations[edit]
The prevalence of absolute pitch is higher among those who are blind from birth as a result of optic nerve hypoplasia.
Absolute pitch is considerably more common among those whose early childhood was spent in East Asia.[45][46][47][48] This might seem to be a genetic difference;[49] but people of East Asian ancestry who are reared in North America are significantly less likely to develop absolute pitch than those raised in East Asia,[48] so the difference is more probably explained by experience. The language that is spoken may be an important factor; many East Asians speak tonal languages such as Mandarin and Cantonese, while others (such as those in Japan and certain provinces of Korea) speak pitch-accent languages, and the prevalence of absolute pitch may be partly explained by exposure to pitches together with meaningful musical labels very early in life.[46][47][48][50]
Absolute pitch ability has higher prevalence among those with Williams Syndrome[51] and those with an autism spectrum disorder, with rates as high as 30% claimed, stating that the rate among musicians in general is far lower.[clarification needed][52][53][54]
Nature vs. nurture[edit]
Absolute pitch might be achievable by any human being during a critical period of auditory development,[55][56] after which period cognitive strategies favor global and relational processing. Proponents of the critical-period theory agree that the presence of absolute pitch ability is dependent on learning, but there is disagreement about whether training causes absolute skills to occur[57][58][59][60] or lack of training causes absolute perception to be overwhelmed and obliterated by relative perception of musical intervals.[61][62]
There may be a genetic locus for absolute pitch ability,[63] which locus would suggest a genetic basis for its presence or absence.[64] A genetic basis, should it exist, might represent either a predisposition for learning the ability or signal the likelihood of its spontaneous occurrence.
Researchers have been trying to teach absolute pitch ability in laboratory settings for more than a century,[65] and various commercial absolute-pitch training courses have been offered to the public since the early 1900s.[66] However, no adult has ever been documented to have acquired absolute listening ability,[67] because all adults who have been formally tested after AP training have failed to demonstrate "an unqualified level of accuracy... comparable to that of AP possessors".[68]
While very few people have the ability to name a pitch with no external reference, pitch memory can be activated by repeated exposure. People who are not skilled singers will often sing popular songs in the correct key,[69] and can usually recognize when TV themes have been shifted into the wrong key.[70] Members of the Venda culture in South Africa also sing familiar children's songs in the key in which the songs were learned.[71]
This phenomenon is apparently unrelated to musical training. The skill may be associated more closely with vocal production. Violin students learning the Suzuki method are required to memorize each composition in a fixed key and play it from memory on their instrument, but they are not required to sing. When tested, these students did not succeed in singing the memorized Suzuki songs in the original, fixed key.[72]
Possible problems[edit]
Musicians with absolute perception may experience difficulties which do not exist for other musicians. Because absolute listeners are capable of recognizing that a musical composition has been transposed from its original key, or that a pitch is being produced at a nonstandard frequency (either sharp or flat), a musician with absolute pitch may become distressed upon perceiving tones they believe to be "wrong" or hearing a piece of music "in the wrong key." This can especially apply to Baroque music that is recorded in Baroque tuning (usually a half step down from standard concert pitch).[52] An absolute listener may also use absolute strategies for tasks which are more efficiently accomplished with relative strategies, such as transposition[73] or producing harmony for tones whose frequencies do not match standard equal temperament.[74] It is also possible for some musicians to have skewed absolute pitch, where all notes are slightly flat or slightly sharp. When playing in groups with other musicians, this may lead to playing in a tonality that is slightly different from the rest of the group.
Absolute pitch shows a genetic overlap with synesthesia/ideasthesia,[75] and some individuals with music-related synesthesia also have perfect pitch[citation needed]. They may associate certain notes or keys with different colors, enabling them to tell what any note or key is. It is unknown how many people with perfect pitch are also synesthetes.
Correlation with musical talent[edit]
Absolute pitch is not a prerequisite for skilled musical performance or composition. However, musicians with absolute pitch tend to perform better on musical transcription tasks (controlling for age of onset and amount of musical training) compared with those without absolute pitch.[76] It has been argued that musicians with absolute pitch perform worse than those without absolute pitch on recognition of musical intervals.[77] However, experiments on which this conclusion was based contained an artifact, and when this artifact was removed, absolute pitch possessors were found to perform better than nonpossessors on recognition of musical intervals.[78]
Owing to uncertainty in the historical record, it is often impossible to determine whether notable composers and musicians had absolute pitch. Since absolute pitch is rare in European musical culture,[47] claims that any particular musician possessed it are difficult to evaluate. Among composers of the Baroque and Classical eras, evidence is available only for Mozart, who is documented to have demonstrated the ability at age 3.[79] Experts have only surmised that Beethoven had it, as indicated from some excerpts from his letters. By the 19th century, it became more common for the presence of absolute pitch to be recorded, identifying the ability to be present in musicians such as Camille Saint-Saëns and John Philip Sousa.[80]
Relative pitch[edit]
Many musicians have quite good relative pitch, a skill which can be learned through ear training. With practice, it is possible to listen to a single known pitch once (from a pitch pipe or a tuning fork) and then have stable, reliable pitch identification by comparing the notes heard to the stored memory of the tonic pitch.[81] Unlike absolute pitch, this skill is dependent on a recently perceived tonal center.
See also[edit]
- Relative pitch
- Ear training
- Levitin effect
- Psychophysics#Discrimination
- Synesthesia
- Tonal memory
- Ideasthesia
|This article has an unclear citation style. (July 2012)
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External links[edit]
- Online absolute pitch test together with answers, from Diana Deutsch's laboratory at the University of California, San Diego
- Online absolute pitch survey and test with information about the absolute pitch study conducted at the University of California-San Francisco
- Comprehensive historical bibliography of absolute pitch research, 1876–present
- Another bibliography of absolute pitch, with +300 papers


text:
|6 Great Tips to Landing an Interview
by Alesia Benedict, CPRW, JCTC
The emphasis for most job seekers is on how to clearly communicate strengths to the potential employer. While that is critical, the way in which you focus on skills, experiences, and talents has to appeal to the needs of the hiring manager and corporation in order to get an interview. One of the most productive strategies to facilitate this "match" between you and the company is to do a little background research.
1) Research the Company
Use the Internet and local resources to find out all you can about the organization. Most communities have a business section of the newspaper or perhaps a separate publication. The Chamber of Commerce may also have company profiles. It's not just major corporations you want to investigate; it can also be helpful to analyze changes among small, local businesses. Which ones may be expanding? Which ones are on the decline? Target your energy toward those most likely to render positive results.
2) Local Networking
Expand your research to look for networking opportunities. Most papers continue to have local news about social events and the "movers and shakers" in attendance. Perhaps there are some opportunities for you to become involved in the same organizations and meet these individuals outside the office. Most sources still report that networking continues to be a job-seeker's strongest key to opening employment doors.
3) Cold-Calling
Okay, you've identified the best potential prospects within your target market. Now, you must get ready to start calling. Be organized. Rank your contact list from those companies that are most appealing to those that are least interesting. Include phone numbers, email, snail mail, and the identified contact person. Set it up like a log so you can keep notes about conversations, such as the day you called, the outcome, and any follow-up plan. You don't want to appear disorganized by calling the same person within a couple of weeks!
Prepare a script for phone calls, including your selling points, but more specifically, have responses ready for potential objections. That's the beauty of phones – no one can see you're referring to your notes.
Typical examples of objections include:
"I'm very busy" or "We're not hiring"…
I understand, however, in researching your organization, I feel I can positively impact your bottom line perhaps without the investment of a salaried position, at least at the outset. May I send a proposal?
"You need to talk to HR"…
Whom should I contact? I'm happy to provide a resume and an outline of my proposals to improve sales or maximize employee productivity to keep on file.
4) Dropping by
Take a resume and a brief bio of your highlights that align most closely with the organization's current mission. Here is where your research pays off. Brainstorming about potential special projects or ways your unique skill set can benefit the company's new direction can set you apart. This approach is an expansion of old ideas about cover letters – showing the company you have gone beyond just "doing your homework" to actually envisioning yourself within their corporate mission. Companies typically need people with vision and initiative, and they will take notice.
Don't try to make an impression by leaving your glossy 8x10 headshot, using fancy fonts, and colored paper. Take a professional approach. Attach your business card and make certain you use your best contact information – which means staying away from anything related to a current place of employment or an informal email address. Include your bio or project proposals.
5) What is your brand?
Think of yourself as a product. What are you trying to "sell" to the employer? What is it about your "brand" that can optimize the company's bottom line? These are points to emphasize in any brief contact you have with the organization. This can be the brief bio you provide, a voice mail, or an email message, all of which should contain a consistent message about strengths, skills, or that special project you are offering. This is not a time to be secretive, coy, or too concerned about proprietary rights. If you have a great idea and the company actually usurps it, you have dated documentation of when you provided this to the company. In that event, you have a very different scenario on your hands. What you want to focus on is your initiative and willingness to be a team player even before you become a part of the team. Hopefully, you can lessen the odds of any negative outcome by conducting thorough research that includes some information about the company's ethics, relationships with staff, and orientation toward innovation and intellectual property.
6) Stay Positive
Keeping up your energy level and a positive attitude are important aspects of your job search, though a bit less tangible. Be aware of the energy you project when you enter a room. Even though it can be easy to slip into the doldrums if you have not been able to achieve the results you want as quickly as you would like, it is critical that you maintain a positive attitude. Perhaps doing research about the company has energized you about new possibilities. Remember to keep up your exercise program, leisure activities, and friendships for rejuvenation.
Your positive attitude is the strongest asset you can display to potential employers. If contacts at your target organizations remember their interactions with you in a positive way, you are more likely to get a return call. Do your research and put your plan in motion to get that interview!


text:
Holding the earbud by the stem, gently grasp the attached StayHear+® tip and peel it away from the earbud
Changing the StayHear®+ tips
Applies to:
Caution: To prevent tearing, grasp the StayHear+® tip by its base. Do not pull on the tip wing.
Align the opening of the new StayHear+® tip with the earbud nozzle and rotate the tip onto the nozzle. Press the base of the tip until it clicks securely into place