text:
Ball Ornament
This ball ornament metal keepsake has a two-sided white gloss finish. Red ribbon included for displaying.
- Brand:
- Finish:
- Gloss
- Substrate:
- Aluminum
- Size:
- 3" x 3.37"
Review to get 200 PW Reward Points (Up to 600 Points)
Availability: In stock
- Details
- Instructions
- Reviews
Product Details
Textprint Sublimation Paper on Ornaments & Keychains
Application Instructions
- Set temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Set timer to 60 seconds.
- Set Pressure at medium.
- Print a mirror image onto Texprint Paper using our 2 sided template. Image should be larger than the substrate.
- Spray the transfer paper with adhesive spray.
- Place the substrate face down on one of the printed images, and fold the paper so the other side aligns with the substrate.
- Put a blank sheet of paper on heat press platen to keep it clean.
- Place substrate face up on the heat press, with the transfer paper on top.
- Cover with a non stick sheet.
- Press at 400 degrees F for 60 seconds with medium pressure
- Remove immediately from press once finished and peel hot.
Customer ReviewsRate or review to get 200 PW Reward Points(What is this?)
- LOVE THIS PRODUCT Review by JODY
Quality Price Value
- Great Item! Review by Jennifer K
Quality Price Value
- Very Pretty Review by Susie Williams
Quality Price Value
- Outstanding item Review by Lexi
Quality Price Value
- LOVE LOVE ORNAMENTS Review by Ellen Mueller
Quality Price Value
- Great Review by Lexi
Quality Price Value
- First Sublimation Experience Review by Lori Troutman
Quality Price Value
- First Sublimation Experience Review by Lori Troutman
Quality Price Value
- Excellent product Review by Lisa
Quality Price Value
- Good product Review by Kenneth
Quality Price Value


text:
COLUMBUS: The Ohio House has passed a bill that is expected to make adoptions cheaper and quicker.
The bill passed Wednesday with bipartisan support would increase the tax credit for an adoption from $1,500 to $10,000 and allows parents to spread the credit over five years.
The bill, now headed to the Senate, also allows the birth mother to notify the father before the baby is born that she plans to give it up for adoption, giving the father 30 days to consent.
If there is no such pre-birth notification, the period for the birth father to register would be reduced from 30 days after the baby is born to seven days. It also would reduce the period in which an adoption could be challenged from one year to 60 days.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Tighe & Bond announced that Douglas Landry, of Natick, has joined the firm as a vice president and leader for the firm's real estate sector.
Landry has 30 years of public and private sector experience, and will serve Tighe & Bond's real estate development clients across the Northeast, working from the firm's Westwood office.
Landry has leadership experience on numerous high profile projects that include all facets of master planning, land development and transportation strategy; zoning; and environmental permitting. Representative projects include the WGBH headquarters in Boston; the Bristol-Myers Squibb large scale cell culture facility at Devens; the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham; the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield; and the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation MBTA rail car manufacturing and assembly plant in Springfield.
Landry serves on the national board of directors of NAIOP and the National Steering Committee for LOCUS Developers, a private sector-focused program of Smart Growth America. He was recently appointed to the advisory committee of Northeastern University's School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. He is also a member of the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute and is an active participant with the Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development. Landry received his Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor of Arts in political science from the UMass Amherst.
Landry is a resident of Natick, where he serves as an elected town meeting member and an appointed member of the economic development committee.
State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey announced that David Evans has been named as the new director of the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, a division of the state Department of Fire Services.
Evans is deputy chief of the West Newbury Fire Department, a member of the Groveland Fire Department and was the assistant principal of the Pentucket Regional High School for nearly a decade. At Pentucket, he combined education and public safety through the school's Safety and Public Service Innovation Academy. It engages students in a unique sequence of courses and industry certifications that equips them to serve communities. Many have joined local fire departments and graduated from MFA.
Evans has a bachelor's in American history from Salem State College, a master's degree in liberal studies from the University of New Hampshire, a School Principal Certification at Northeastern University and is a certified Firefighter I/II and has completed fire training in numerous areas. He has worked for DFS in the Special Operations Unit since 2016.


text:
Impact of Oil Prices on GCC Stock Market
This paper investigates the impact of oil Prices on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets'. Since GCC countries are major suppliers of oil, their stock markets are likely to be susceptible to change in oil prices. The results confirm that there is an influence of oil price change on GCC stock markets returns in the long-term. Long term is defined here as the period of time required for the effect of oil price changes to work out its way to influence major macroeconomic indicators that influence profitability of firms traded in GCC stock markets.
Full Text:PDF
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/rae.v2i1.435
To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the 'macrothink.org' domain to your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders.
Copyright © Macrothink Institute ISSN 1948-5433


text:
Celtic, Steaua through to Champions League third qualifying round
Celtic eased past Stjarnan in the return leg of their Champions League second qualifying round tie, but not before an early scare against the Icelandic part-timers.
The Hoops travelled to the tiny Samsungvollur stadium with a 2-0 advantage from last week's first leg in Glasgow but found themselves under some unexpected pressure after only six minutes when Olafur Karl Finsen shot the home side into a shock lead.
However, midfielder Nir Bitton eased the nerves when he levelled in the 32nd minute from...


text:
Ooh, I love that song. It's a little depressing. But nice. ^_^Detritus wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2017 7:11 pmKelly Clarkson - Dark side with lyrics and without lyrics.
There may be slight differences, apart from the obvious lyrics difference. Blame the different people who uploaded the tracks.
Mon Aug 28, 2017 4:09 am


text:
(CNN) - Sarah Palin said the Internal Revenue Service's recent scrutiny of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status is a sign of "corruption at the heart of big government" in Washington.
"So many Americans knew this was happening, but many felt defenseless and even helpless against a government that seems to roll along without accountability or sense of obligation to the people it's supposed to serve. These Americans were mocked for being concerned about this, but now we see light shining on the truth, finally," she wrote in an online posting shortly after the IRS acknowledged it made "mistakes" in handling the applications of tea party groups.
Follow @politicalticker
More: Following tea party complaints, IRS admits 'mistakes'
Lois Lerner, director of tax exempt organizations for the IRS, said 75 applications were singled out between 2010 and 2012 for extended review because the words "tea party" and "patriot" were included in the groups' names. Those applications were part of approximately 300 which received additional scrutiny during that time.
"Americans should remember that this same corrupt IRS will be in charge of enforcing Obamacare," she wrote. "And this same inept and corrupt government will supposedly secure our now unsecured borders in advance of immigration reform and will implement a completely ethical and non-political IPAB panel to make life and death health care decisions for you and your family. Forgive me for not trusting these big government promises any more than I trust the White House's latest Benghazi spin or the IRS' fairness."
Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, further wrote, "I'm sure President Obama is grateful for all the help the IRS gave his reelection campaign, but, still, you have to wonder how the bureaucrats who tried to pull this off can sleep at night."
She called for "accountability and a full investigation" as well as a special committee to look into the Benghazi, Libya, attack last September.
- CNN's Gregory Wallace and Ashley Killough contributed to this report
So back in 2003 when bush and the FBI were spying on peace rallies did fix news or any republican say anything back then about the misuse of a government agency?
Their silence says everything. The sooner the GOP is dead the better it ill be for America. The GOP needs to rebuild itself as a fiscal party and drop these nuts
'Corruption' should replace "Forward" as the mantra for this Administration.
Why do we care what this dip has to say? She is not an elected official or anyone who is running for any kind of office. She wants to tell everyone what needs to be done but she's not willing to put herself out there to run for the true Public's opinion and that is to go for an elected office. She'd be trounced, you can bet. She's just another Ann Coulter who is trying to make a living off her mouth. Nothing more.
Did she ever finally get the Paul Revere ride straight? Last I heard she said he was warning the British that the Colonials were armed and waiting for them...
gotta say this...to all you O haters out there, this is for you...as politicians go he has more class, is a better Christian, and more American ideologically than you haters and the extraordinary hypocrites you support. You camouflage hate in the flag, in the church, and silently, in your culture and color of you skin...all white. The one-percenters have conned you into thinking he is a socialist, when really you should go back to your grade one primers and start all over again. You happily through the value of you home and your hourly wages to the Romneys of the world, because you think you are making this country greater, when in fact you support those wealthy elite who are dragging this country down and getting you to do the heavy lifting. You are foolish at best, malignant and worst.
You got lucky Sarah.
Not everyone gets 16 minutes of fame.
Former half-term governor-turned-failed-reality-show-star has opinion. Or, tl;dr- Who?
Sarah, you are professional hater, you get paid to do it.
Why would anyone think they have done anything illegal...???? Could it be because this whole administration is corrupt?
The top man-POTUS, Can not, Will not, Does not know to ...TELL THE TRUTH!!! He puts the clinton's to shame...when it comes to lying to the AMERICAN PEOPLE. I don't care whether it's Health Care, Politics, Bengazi, economy...you name it??? This piece of a man and his menions......Don't know and can't/want tell the truth...about anything. 'Nuff said !!!!
and YES, palin is HOT, and she knows it. Would have made a MUCH better President than Obummer ever will.
CNN keeps the Palin irrelevancy from drifting gracefully into the records of political oddities and sideshows.
Obama's Gestapo. NAZI means national Socialist party, you know.
When Sarah Palin was governor of Alaska, she fired the Director of Public Safety for refusing to fire her ex- brother in law. Now she is criticizing the President for abuse of authority. She probably thinks hypocrisy is a town in Afghanistan that she can see from her house.
Gotta love cnn's spin. The front page story isn't that the IRS is illegally targeting groups but that Sarah Palin is complaining about it.
Keep in mind this same IRS will be in charge of your Obamacare.
Benghazi, IRS, nice week for the dems. But of course most on this site will make excuses and ignore it.
Profiling is wrong. Whether it be African Americans, red necks, Islamic extremist, Muslims, people of color, white people, Native Americans, etc. It is wrong and these IRS people should be fired.
Maybe the IRS is as tired of the tea party B.S. as the rest of us........
God Bless Her! Has she figured out the difference between a country and a continent yet? I cannot believe that sane people really listen to anything that she has to say.
Who cares what a quitter says!! Go back to Wasilla and get lost!!
Solve the problem- revoke tax exempt status for all political organizations.
We need to seek a restraining order on Palin. She can get no closer than 100 yards to a public microphone and no closer than 1 mile to the nearest TV camera. What a sad waste of protoplasm she is! Sure, the IRS is corrupt but to extrapolate that the same government that allows the IRS to do that will also be administering Obamacare is completely absurd. Oversight for the IRS is done by a different government entity than that for Obasmacare. Yeah, that's it, Sarah. Spew your stupidity to instill fear in the ignorant tea party. It's a same to have to admit her as a member of the same species I am.
As much as it pains me to agree with Sarah Palin of all people, she is indeed correct about this.
Using the IRS to bully political opposition? That is banana republic garbage. There is no room for that here.
People need to lose their jobs and and independent persecutor needs to be appointed to look into criminal charges.
Anything less is a white-wash but this White House and his willing accomplices in the media are getting very good at burying embarrassing episodes.
If only Obama would make his own people pay their taxes and maybe go after the Mayor of NY, before bothering honest hard working Americans who want to get involved in the political process.
They love to block any one who disagrees with the party line.
Well lets just ignore the government intrusion into our lives...they aren't bothering our side.
Does anyone care what this has been is saying? Obviously, no one at the IRS should be targeting anyone and it won't be long until the culprits are sorted out and pay the price. This is not new, it is the TeaParty that is new and hasn't been around long enough to enjoy the pleasure of IRS scrutiny.


text:
August 30, 2012
David Bossie is not a household name, nor is he a particularly recognizable figure. However, it is David Bossie — and the United States Supreme Court — that the Republican Party, and it's billionaire funders and supporters, have to thank for allowing them the opportunity to flood Election 2012 with vast amounts of undisclosed money.
On several occasions over the years, I've written about Bossie. Thanks to Esquire's brilliant Charles P. Pierce, I was reminded that Bossie's scattershot approach to politics, which had played a nagging role in the body politic for years, had inadvertently hit the big time with the Citizens United case.
It was Bossie's Citizens United that was the protagonist in the historic Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
In January 2010, The Nation editorialized: "The Citizens United campaign finance decision by … a Supreme Court majority of conservative judicial activists is a dramatic assault on American democracy, overturning more than a century of precedent in order to give corporations the ultimate authority over elections and governing. This decision tips the balance against active citizenship and the rule of law by making it possible for the nation's most powerful economic interests to manipulate not just individual politicians and electoral contests but political discourse itself. "
The story leading up to the case going to the Supreme Court goes like this:
In 2007, Citizens United was gearing up for what it was certain would be Hillary Clinton's historic run for the presidency atop the Democratic Party's ticket.
For years, CU's toolbox had been filled with an assortment of material — misinformation, disinformation, and egregious lies — used to attack both President Clinton and Hillary. Now CU was attempting to marshal the resources for the mother of all anti-Hillary hit pieces.
Bossie, president and Chairman of the Board of Citizens United, acknowledged that he was inspired by the success of Michael Moore's films, saying that he "… saw the impact Moore was having. … [and] realized the long-form documentary could be a powerful tool to deliver a political message."
Bossie and his partner, the veteran Swift Boater, Floyd Brown, came up with the idea of making a full-length documentary film about Hillary. The film would be so powerful that it would stop her in her tracks; revealing all the secrets about her sordid past that the American public either had forgotten or did not know.
The movie, titled Hillary: The Movie, was set to "explode onto the scene!" Citizens United's web site proclaimed. Produced by Bossie, the author of the "Hillary: The Politics of Personal Destruction," the film contained more than 40 interviews "with experts, opinion makers, and many of the people who personally locked horns with the Clintons."
Citizens United prepared several short ads for the film that were set to run on television as political advertisements.
According to Esquire's Pierce, the "film about Hillary Clinton … was pretty much as spurious as most of the work [Bossie had] done in his entire career, and a court ruled that the advertising for the film violated existing campaign laws about 'electioneering' within 30 days of a primary. In 2004, Bossie and Citizens United had sued on precisely those grounds, arguing that ads for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 violated the same laws. He had lost that case. In the interim, he recast his organization as a legitimate filmmaking operation and so, when a lower court ruled against him, he was ready with the argument that convinced Kennedy and four of his brethren."
Bossie's checkered past
Before Citizens United, Bossie was national youth director in Senator Robert Dole's 1988 presidential campaign. Four years later, he became the executive director of Floyd Brown's Presidential Victory Committee, a political action committee that produced an ad and a 1-800 number with recordings of Gennifer Flowers' alleged conversations with Bill Clinton.
Bossie made his reputation as a fiercely anti-Clinton partisan and provocateur. In addition to the conservative media swallowing his anti-Clinton news releases, the Columbia Journalism Review reported that The New York Times often printed "verbatim" opposition research provided by Bossie, without identifying its sources. .
In May 1994, Trudy Lieberman, a senior editor at Consumer Reports described Bossie as a twenty-eight-year-old political director for Citizens United, who "runs an information factory whose Whitewater production lines turn out a steady stream of tips, tidbits, documents, factoids, suspicions, and story ideas for the nation's press and for Republicans on Capitol Hill. Journalists and Hill Republicans have recycled much of the information provided by Citizens United into stories that have cast a shadow on the Clinton presidency."
Bossie was hired as chief investigator for the Whitewater hearings held by North Carolina's Republican Senator Lauch Faircloth, and was an investigator for Representative Dan Burton (R-IN), the chairman of the House investigation into alleged Clinton campaign finance abuses.
Media Matters for America reported that Bossie "was fired [at the behest of then House Speaker Newt Gingrich] in 1998 from his job as chief investigator for the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight … for his role in releasing selectively edited transcripts of former Clinton administration official Webster Hubbell's prison conversations."
Bossie is also the author of a number of books attacking Democrats including "Prince Albert: The Life and Lies of Al Gore (2000), "Intelligence Failure: How Clinton's National Security Policy Set the Stage for 9/11″ (2004), and "The Many Faces of John Kerry: Why This Massachusetts Liberal Is Wrong For America" (2004).
In 2008, Bossie, who along with Floyd Brown promoted the Obama-Bill Ayers connection, told Time magazine that he was "assembling material for TV spots about Obama's ties with [Bill] Ayers, a Chicago professor and unrepentant former member of the Weather Underground, a group that bombed several government buildings to protest the Vietnam War."
David Bossie's imprint is likely to be stamped on future U.S. elections. And now, according to Esquire's Pierce, David Bossie, "the most important man at [the GOP's] convention" is Tampa's toast of the town.


text:
Optimists rightly point to several dynamics that may curb the influence of such groups, such as the secular nature of many of the forces that have dislodged old regimes and the relative lack of public support that extremists have thus far garnered.
Yet few have focused on another development that could help promote moderation in the region: the tentative, but growing, role of the region's Kurdish population.
Policy makers in the United States and Europe need to set aside their traditional way of viewing the world exclusively as a collection of nation-states; recognize the possibilities and risks behind Kurdish empowerment; and craft a strategy to encourage this pro-Western population to gain more influence in the region without provoking a backlash.
The history of the Kurds in the Middle East is a seemingly endless tale of oppression, thwarted ambitions and tragedy. Totalling more than 30 million, the Kurds of the Middle East — who are overwhelmingly Muslim and ethnically distinct from Arabs, Persians and Turks — have long fought for autonomy from hostile governments or even outright independence.
The hardships of the Kurds of Iraq are perhaps the most infamous, involving genocidal chemical attacks by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. Next door in Syria, about two million Kurds have struggled to preserve their ethnic identity against laws banning their language, and other government acts to force assimilation. (Many had long been denied Syrian citizenship, effectively rendering them stateless, until early April when President Bashar al-Assad granted nationality to 300,000 to shore up his teetering government.)
Turkey's approximately 15 million Kurds, a small minority of which have waged a terrorist campaign against the government, claim a history of rebellion, open war and forced relocation by the Turkish military. Iran's more than five million Kurds enjoy more linguistic rights than in other countries, but also have clashed violently with the state.
For all their historic suffering, a series of developments may now be changing the fortune of the Kurds in fundamental ways. The Kurds in Iraq, who gained effective autonomy after the 1991 Gulf War, have reaped tremendous benefits from Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003 and the subsequent efforts to build a new political system. Kurdish parties now wield significant power in Baghdad, having been a key coalition partner of every government. A Kurd, Jalal Talabani, has been president of Iraq since 2005.
The Kurds maintain a high degree of political and cultural autonomy under the Kurdistan Regional Government in the north of Iraq. Although they must address issues of governance and participatory politics to maintain their momentum, their economy is booming, and any visitor to the Kurdish region of Iraq will be impressed by the public investment, infrastructure projects and new businesses visible at every turn.
Other Kurdish gains across the region are more tentative, but have the potential to be equally significant. In Turkey, Kurds may be on the cusp of the most promising moment in decades to address their grievances. This month's election brought a solid victory for the ruling pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Even so, the AKP will need to find parliamentary partners to reach a two-thirds majority necessary to enact the sort of constitutional reforms it seeks.
Turkey's main Kurdish party, the BDP, and Kurdish independents are most likely to serve this role, giving the country's Kurds the opportunity and the leverage to resolve many of the outstanding issues related to their place in society. They have already made clear their desire for the end of military operations in the Kurdish areas of the southeast and for more political autonomy.
Depending on what happens in Syria, new opportunities may also arise for the Kurds there. Should the Assad regime fall, a political arrangement based on power-sharing among Syria's ethnic and religious communities — much like that in post-Saddam Iraq — would give the Kurds a real place at the table.
Admittedly, rising Kurdish influence also brings the possibility of further complications and even conflict. Kurds of the Middle East may decide to take advantage of the changes in the region to push for a separate state, the Kurdistan that has long been the focal point of so much Kurdish song and poetry. A push in this direction wouldn't be surprising, given the hardships endured by the Kurds and their desire to be free of the vagaries of Baghdad, Damascus and Ankara.
Alternatively, political sophistication may come with this new power, as has been the case among Iraq's Kurds. Many of them appreciate the gains that can be realized in the context of a democratic Iraq and have weighed them favorably against the potential costs of provoking regional powers that will oppose a separate Kurdish state.
Rather than feeding new clamoring for a Kurdish state, an increase in influence may lead the region's Kurds to adopt a "globalization" strategy. This approach would acknowledge the waning importance of state borders around the globe and focus on building strong cultural and economic links — and maybe ultimately institutions — that span political boundaries. Working toward a "virtual" Kurdistan, the Kurds of a transformed Middle East might realize many of their aspirations without incurring the ire of the region's larger powers.
Western allies should favour this outcome, not simply because it would be good for the Kurds, but because it would be good for their own interests. Kurds, perhaps because of their dark history at the hands of extremists, tend to be moderates. While many are devout Muslims, they are more likely to favour secular government.
They are among the most pro-western populations in the Middle East, having either watched or benefited from the American-led no-fly zone over northern Iraq for more than a decade. And, if the Kurds of Iraq are any indication, they are also entrepreneurial and welcoming of western investment.
All this argues for President Barack Obama's administration to incorporate a Kurdish angle into its new Middle East strategy. First, the U.S. should continue to encourage the resolution of outstanding issues between Baghdad and the Kurds of Iraq. In particular, a formalized law on sharing oil revenue will help cement the Kurds in the framework of Iraq by ensuring them of a portion of the country's vast resources.
Second, the U.S. can be an advocate for a post-Assad political arrangement in Syria that gives some political power to each of the country's many communities. This would be good for all Syrians, not only the Kurdish ones. While Assad might prove capable of staying in power for weeks or even months, he is likely to be added to the list of leaders unseated by the Arab Spring.
When this day comes, Syria and the region will greatly benefit from any efforts made today to map out a transitional political order. Unlike in Yemen, where the U.S. had a long relationship with a president, America isn't the likely broker in Syria. But its close ally, Turkey, is — and should be encouraged to work in this direction.
Third, the U.S. should quietly encourage the new government in Turkey to treat its Kurdish minority generously, making such treatment a focal point in the rich and complex bilateral relationship. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has in the past recognized the need to address the Kurdish "problem." The U.S. should support rejuvenated efforts to find an acceptable solution on an amnesty for Kurdish militants, to establish the right of Kurds to be educated in their own language, and to provide greater autonomy for the Kurdish region of Turkey.
Finally, the U.S. can use its good relationships with the Kurds in Iraq to counsel pragmatism as they assess the new regional dynamics. Because of their advanced development, the Kurds of Iraq will play a leadership role for the community at large. The U.S. should continue to dissuade them from over- reaching and claiming a Kurdish state.
If policy makers take a less traditional view, they might see an opportunity to empower one of the region's more moderate, pro-western populations in a way that helps the Kurds, western interests and freedom, and prosperity in the Middle East.
Meghan L. O'Sullivan is a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. (Washington Post)


text:
Social Media for Events
Social Media is making it easier then ever before to plan, promote, and reach the masses or just your family and friends. Social Media allows individuals to communicate information rapidly and adjust this for any unforeseen issues. You do not need stamps, envelopes or smoke signals to get the word out anymore.
Social Media also allows you to engage and involve those who can not make the event and also allow them to still share and participate. You can share photos and videos of the event as it is happening and share stories online after the event.
Social media can make the planning process smoother by leveraging digital word-of-mouth. Here are some tips for best results.
Establish Your Event-Related Channels
The months and weeks before your event is a critical promotional period. Use every social media channel at your disposal to get the word out about your event. If it is a private event make a group and keep it exclusive or if it open to the public encourage them to share the event.
You can encourage people to share information on the event in return for small rewards. For example: "Share this event with 20 friends for 10% off your admission."
If you have your own social community or use third party applications the process is very similar. One thing you should know about adding events to your own site is the SEO reward that comes with events. Search Engine Crawlers love relevant and timely information and events are almost always indexed higher then blogs. If you have your own social community or website we recommend using this this as the hub for the event. If you do not, consider Facebook and Twitter as your next best solution.
Start by creating an event page on Facebook and an event hashtag on Twitter, then create an event blog where you'll post updates about it (new speakers, registration discounts, etc.). Make sure your Twitter hashtag is specific to your event or organization, without being too long.
Once you have your channels established you have to begin to feed them. Populate them with content. Make sure your event content is relevant to the event. One common mistake is if you have a Mixed Martial Arts event populating the channel with MMA specific content is a road for failure. The content is not original, is not relevant to your event, and will detract from it. If it's a social event, post video or music clips, create a pre-event contest, or connect event-goers through interaction and games.
For a social or community event the content should be engaging, fun, and shareable in order to drive word-of-mouth interest. If the event is more corporate in nature, offer fans and followers sneak peeks at topics to be discussed, or special pre-conference articles and presentations. Keep the content about your event and what you are promoting.
Provide Incentives for Viral Marketing
Participation is key to your success. The social community sites we build come with a built in "Event" tool. This allows you to RSVP, share, promote and comment. Make sure you are being responsive and relevant with your postings. We can then push the event to any number of Social aggregators like Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon and many more.
No matter the platform or approach if you are a corporation or public event that is trying to attract eyeballs and attention to your event offer fans and followers special discounts or content. Incentivize people to register for the event, offer them early-bird discounts, invites to pre-event parties, or other rewards.
Make Registration Social
In the social communities we built Event sharing, inviting and RSVP'ing is all built in. If you do not have a site that has this built in you can use a social registration service like EventBrite, which not only makes registration easier and more streamlined, but allows attendees to share their event activity with their friends. Other popular social event invitation platforms include Plancast and Twtvite. Most of these services are highly integrated with social networking platforms and can be configured with user caps and privacy options.
Use Location-Based Services and Check-in Rewards
Geo-location sites let you set up a page with rewards including badges, coupons, specials, or gifts. These location based services are easily integrated with other social networks such as Facebook, FourSquare and Twitter, so check ins will be shared with larger networks. When attendees come to your event, you can reward them for checking in at different stations, panels, or activities. Rewards such as free tee shirts, a gift card, or other small incentives can be redeemed after the show.
This helps you and those around you find you. They may not be interested in attending the trade show you are at but if they know you are their and interacting they might just stop or check in. This gives you a great chance to convert non-event attendees to visitors.
Bring your Event to Life With Social Media
This is one of those areas that is often missed. Why are you at the event? The answer should be it is for a good person, cause or business. Any of those are worth promoting. We live in a digital world and there is no reason to limit the event to the attendees. One of the best ways to have more people at your next event is to have them talking about your event.
Why not capture your event as it unfolds and share it on your social community and push it out to sites like Twitter and Facebook. If you do not have your own community contact us and in the mean time start using Twitter and Facebook for these feeds.
You can also encourage your attendees to share the events happenings as they unfold. It is important that you encourage them to use your hashtag. You can bet they will be Tweeting if it is a failure so encourage them to share it if they are enjoying themselves. make sure you have someone from the host side on their Social Media Channels Tweeting and reading tweets. Respond to problems.
Example: We were in Vegas for a fan meet and greet. My client had to make a flight so eventually we have to cut the line off so we could get to everyone that was in line. One of the clients fans was upset and in tears about missing out on meeting the client. They Tweeted and because we were monitoring the channel I was able to see we had an upset fan and sent someone to find them. We were able to connect the fan and client and issue resolved. I am not saying we would have lost that fan but I am saying we were able to make a meaningful engagement because we were monitoring the event.
Use a photographer and let your attendees know they can get the pictures from your social community or your social channels. This will encourage them to come to your site and view the picture. It will also increase the likelyhood of them sharing your event and the photos.
An active Twitter stream during your event not only engages participants in real time but also allows people who could not attend to get a feel for the sessions and topics being discussed. Some event organizers set up a huge screen behind speakers to display hashtagged tweets in real time. But again, this can backfire if the tweets become negative or go off-topic. All that interaction can derail speakers as they try to respond in real-time to all the "interference."
This is why it is critical to have your team monitor the channels and interact or even lead the charge on interaction. The @UFC channel on Twitter does a great job of engaging the fans and promoting the events beforehand, during and post event.
Include Non-Attendees
The goal of every event is to have happy attendees and hopefully be able to do the event over and over again. The best way to "grow" the event is to include those not in attendance. This is where your future growth will come from. Plus there is absolutely no reason to share the event as it happens. As mentioned above the majority of your attendees will be connected to one or more Social Media Platforms during your event. You can and should try to own and direct this interaction.
There are some great tools that will allow you to livestream during the event using Facebook or UStream so fans can follow along online. Facebook enables you to store this stream so that people can watch it after the event proper. You can also create a YouTube channel for the event to post videos before, during, and after. Encourage non-attendees to ask questions through Twitter or Facebook during the event and answer them live.
The communities we build are fully integrated with all of these platforms and can support or host a livestream.
Extend the Shelf Life of Your Event, Even When it is Over
Your event doesn't have to end the day it's over. Social media can keep the momentum going for many weeks and months afterwards. On your blog, post a "wrap up" of all the key highlights. You can add links to presentations, key learnings, and other downloadable documents. Of course, you'll want to post photos on the blog and on Facebook, and continue tweeting about the event even after it's over. You can post thoughts, ideas, or links to longer articles that might be of interest to those who attended.
Another great way to keep your event from fading fast from people's memories is to create ways for attendees and other interested parties to continue socializing, discussing, or debating topics covered there. Do whatever you can to keep the conversation alive.
I am sure a lot of you have been to fundraisers where they have the step and repeat and a house photographer that gives you a card for redemption of the photo later on in the evening. Give that person your Social Channels address's and let them know where they can find the videos, pictures and share stories from the event.
Post event contest are great too. you can do contest like share your favorite story and the best commented or most shared content gets a prize. Just be creative and let the attendees know that you are capturing the memories and where they can find them.
Use Social Media Metrics to Measure Success
Consider using online surveys to ask attendees for feedback on panels, venue, speakers, topics, and other facets of the event. Facebook polls are fun, easy ways to get quick responses and feedback from attendees.
Be prepared for honesty. If someone has a negative comment to share, make sure to address their comment or concern and store the information to improve next year's event. Lastly, pull total social media stats from sites like Search.Twitter.com and Social Mention, or set up Google Alerts ahead of time. If the results are positive, don't be shy about publicizing some of these metrics to highlight the reach and impact your event had.
This is another area where your hashtag or using third party social platforms like UbberTwitter or Hootsuite give you easy tools to track tweets and mentions. Many of them are offering Social Media Analytics too.
This is not a game that your hippie parents played while attending Woodstock. This is an easy way to make your event come up on searches. It is essentially Twitters answer to tags like you see on Flickr. A hashtag can be any word or combination of words. As an example #UFC would help my tweet show under searches for "UFC".
Be Real and in Real-Time
Social media is your ability to be the source. Your target audience is likely using social media right now. You just have to engage with them and be real. We have addressed this in some of our other blogs.
Make sure that you are posting in the real-time. If you are hosting or attending an event make sure you post your opinions and experiences. As you see things happen comment and share. This will increase interest int he event and in you.
Jason Genet
This entry was posted on April 22, 2011 by Jason Genet. It was filed under Facebook, google, marketing, Social Media and was tagged with events, evite, Facebook, genet, marketing, Media, network, social, ufc.


text:
The Queen, Prince William and Kate were all on hand tonight for the formal opening of London's paralympic games.
The Duchess of Cambridge recycled an old favourite, wearing a pale gold Birger et Mikkelsen coat dress worn previously to three weddings, including the nuptials, in 2006 of Laura Parker Bowles, and again at Zara Phillips' wedding.
Prince Harry was not present, and had not been scheduled to attend, although it is believed he will attend the swimming tomorrow.
The event opened with Stephen Hawking, the legendary theoretical scientist, speaking via his electronic voice box, from the London Olympic stadium, urging: "Look up at the stars, not at your feet. Be curious."
Thousands of volunteers, both able-bodied and disabled, performed in the visually spectacular opening routine, dancing with umbrellas (although thankfully the rain held off) and on high-wires.
The theme of the three-hour show, which began at 8.30pm was 'Enlightenment', and Prof Hawking guided the audience on a voyage of scientific discovery from the Big Bang to the Large Hadron Collider.
Creative director Stephen Daldry used Shakespeare's Tempest as its touchstone, directing Sir Ian McKellen as Prospero and disabled actress Nicola Miles-Wildin, playing Miranda.
By co-incidence, a line from the Tempest was also used in the opening ceremony of the Olympics, when Caliban's "be not afeard, the isle is full of noises" was quoted.


text:
Spain is on the mend, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy claimed Wednesday as he revealed a drop in the government's budget deficit.
The government has been trying to heal its public finances since it came to power 14 months ago by slashing spending and raising tax. While that's come at a price for the economy - which is in another recession and hobbled by 26 percent unemployment - Rajoy noted it was finally bringing the deficit down to less than 7 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2012, from nearly 9 percent a year earlier.
"Spain's head is out of the water," Rajoy told Parliament in what was his first state-of-the-nation debate since taking office in December 2011. As well as problems with the country's economy, Rajoy is also battling allegations that a slush fund was used to pay senior members of his Popular Party.
Rajoy said the deficit reduction followed "a readjustment without precedent" in the economy. Official deficit figures are expected over the coming weeks.
Spain last year pledged to European authorities it would cut its deficit to 6.3 percent after the 2011 figure was found to have soared to 8.9 percent, nearly three times the limit for European Union countries using the euro currency.
In his pursuit of the promised deficit reductions, Rajoy has broken every major election campaign promise, stirring much social unrest and triggering two general strikes over the past 14 months.
On Wednesday he admitted he had failed to live up to some promises but insisted he had done his duty.
Rajoy promised "a second generation of reforms" that appeared to signal a shift in strategy - away from growth-sapping austerity policies in favor of credit incentives and youth employment initiatives
The measures include a reduction -and in some cases elimination - of social security payments by companies that hire people under 30 years of age part time. He also announced a (EURO)45 billion ($60 billion) credit program for small and medium-sized companies to be funded publicly and privately.
Rajoy began his near two-hour speech recalling that the country had nearly 6 million people out of work. He promised there would "not be a single moment of relaxation" until they had turned the economy around.
About one million additional people have lost their jobs under Rajoy's administration and the unemployment rate for people under 25 is now at 55 percent.
He boasted, however, that despite the economic legacy left by the previous Socialist government, his administration had changed the country's direction.
"Nobody would have bet on Spain a year ago but now nobody doubts that Spain will come out ahead," he said.
Spain's government borrowing costs soared to unsustainable highs last year, bringing the country close to having to seek a sovereign bailout loan like Greece, Ireland and Portugal. A promise by the European Central Bank in August to buy up bonds from countries that formally seek aid calmed investor concerns, however. Spain's borrowing rates have since eased to manageable levels. The interest rate on the country's 10-year bond on the open market was 7 percent last summer; now it is down to 5 percent.
Although several banks hit by the crisis were loaned (EURO)40 billion by Spain's partners in the 17-strong group of European Union countries that use the euro, the government insists it won't need any more external financial aid.
But analysts questioned Rajoy's optimism.
"The need for external financing for Spain will depend on what happens this year, not what was achieved last year," said Javier Diaz-Gimenez, economy professor at Spain's IESE Business School.
"I have serious doubts that the deficit target for the coming year will be reached, given the cutbacks that have already been made and the GDP contraction predictions."
Spain's economy, which is the fourth-biggest in the eurozone after Germany, France and Italy, has been shrinking for the last 18 months. The government predicts the country will continue in recession with 0.5 percent negative growth this year although analysts say this figure is conservative.
In the first debate address by opposition leaders, Socialist party head Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba lashed out at Rajoy's positive analysis saying the "state of the nation is critical."
"Nothing is better than a year ago and all that is important is worse," he said, accusing the government and the European Union of taking the wrong path to solve of the crisis.
Rubalcaba and other opposition leaders have repeatedly called in recent weeks for Rajoy to resign, arguing that the unemployment figures and corruption allegations left him without credibility.
The main corruption scandal affecting Rajoy erupted after the National Court said a former treasurer from Rajoy's Popular Party had amassed an unexplained (EURO)22 million in a Swiss bank account. Newspapers reports alleged that for years the treasurer made regular slush-fund payments to top party members, including Rajoy.
Rajoy and his party have denied the allegations but have failed to explain how the former treasurer amassed the money.
On Wednesday, Rajoy complained that the allegations of widespread corruption across the political system were unjust and damaging Spain's image. He called for a cross-party pact to combat the problem and promised stiffer penalties for those found guilty of corruption charges.
He also proposed audits for all political parties, labor unions and publicly financed companies as well as high-ranking officials and possibly deputies and senators.


text:
The joke is the trail
When exactly did it start, the mania for coming up with tortuously contrived original mottoes for every hiking trail? And when will it finally end?
It's perfectly natural: We encounter Nature at every turn, and it's usually a lovely sight. Innumerable hiking trails traverse thousands of mountains and even more hills, pass through woods and across meadows. And when all's said and done, a hiking trail really is a wonderful thing if it is well maintained, its surface is safe and free of pitfalls, markings point the way, and notice boards provide information about walking times and – very, very important – where sustenance can be found. But there are so many of them around! So what can a tourism office do to set itself apart from all the others? Think of something completely new, of course.
And so Switzerland now has not only more and more regular hiking trails, but fairy-tale trails, planet trails, herb trails, health trails, barefoot trails, Schellen-Ursli paths (after the namesake children's book A Bell for Ursli), poor trails, sorcerers' trails, shingle makers' trails, didactic trails for protection forests, groundhog trails, and, and, and … and joke trails. Who, after all, would scorn laughter? No one can have anything against laughter.
The Hultegg, for instance, has one of these joke trails. Now, if you were just thinking you'd never heard of the Hultegg before, you would not be alone. It is neither a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, nor will it ever be picked as a location for a James Bond action scene. It is just a wholly unspectacular pass of moderate altitude (953 meters above sea level) in the unspectacular Prealps which connects two ordinary valleys in which very little ever happens. The Hulftegg Pass has a restaurant that's popular with day trippers – convertible drivers, cyclists and bikers, who spend their time flitting across the countryside in search of exciting bends. The restaurant serves every schnitzels in all variations, smoked tofu slices with herb butter and chips and of course, Hawaii toast, the wanderlust classic. It is here, at this restaurant, that the joke trail begins. It isn't a particularly long trail – just 267 steps to be precise. Posted by the wayside are 44 notice boards, each with a joke fresh off the computer printer.
"A man catches flies. His wife asks him how many he has caught so far. – Five! Three males, two females. – How do you know that? – Three were sitting on the beer glass, two on the phone."
Three steps further along: "Darling, I'm off to the pub. If I'm not back by lunchtime, don't wait with supper!"
Another three steps further along: "Miller, why are you only coming to work now? – Because yesterday you told me in no uncertain terms that I should read my paper at home."
The final joke on this circular trail goes like this: "Oh, I'm so sorry, I almost sat on your glasses. – Don't worry about it, they've seen far worse."
Ha. Haha. Hahaha.
And while you're standing there, about to bust a gut laughing (or maybe not), you realize you are already right back at the start of the joke course. Now that you're up here, though, the best thing you can do is retie your hiking boots, shoulder a light backpack and turn onto the trail heading southeast. Why? Because with or without jokes, 267 steps are far from enough! Soon, the deafening silence and mild coolness of a wood have swallowed you up. The air here is heavy with the scent of a veritable green sea of wild garlic. Before long, you reach the top of dwarf mountains and gaze down into unremarkable ravines, step over tangled roots and continue past lush, green meadows buzzing with flying insects and up to the Schnebelhorn, at 1292 meters the highest elevation anywhere in the Canton of Zurich. From there, the view is panoramic.
By the end of the day, I was exhausted, but in the good, happy way. In my notebook, I wrote: Went on a wonderful hike. Walking time: four hours. Only got one blister, on my right heel. And came to the conclusion that Nature needs no theme trails – and definitely needs no jokes. The trail up the Schnebelhorn is just what it is, namely a trail that has no theme but one: Nature."


text:
Model #ILS-6307C
|List Price:
|Our Price:
General Description
We're committed to exceeding your expectations:
- Found it for less? We'll match the price
- 25-Year or Limited Lifetime Warranty
Our customers come first — we guarantee it!
If you need to fit a large number of individual school lockers into existing space, one solution is to use triple tier lockers. These Penco lockers contain three individual school lockers for every vertical column. Each individual locker is surprisingly large. Students can fit all the essentials like books and backpacks inside. Yet you can accommodate three times as many users in the same space.
- Manufacturer:
Established in 1869, Penco produces a diverse line of storage lockers. With a wide variety of sizes, widths, colors and designs, Penco's lockers provide storage solutions for institutions of all types and sizes.
- Width:
- 36.75 in.
- Depth:
- 12 in.
- Height:
- 60 in.
- Weight:
- 126 lbs.
- Body Material:
24-gauge Steel
Gauge is a measurement of steel thickness - the lower the gauge, the thicker the steel.
- Door & Frame Material:
16-Gauge Steel
Gauge is a measurement of steel thickness - the lower the gauge, the thicker the steel.
- Green
- GreenGuard Gold
- Opening
- Wall Hooks:
- 3 Single Hooks
- Warranty:
- Limited Lifetime
- Made in USA
- Certified Green
- Medium-Capacity Space Saving Design: Triple tier lockers allow you to have three times as many lockers as those arranged in a single tier (vertical stack) but with a variety of widths and depths, each locker has the capacity to store almost all common student items like jackets, book bags, and text books.
- Economical: Save money by buying these lockers with friction-catch handles instead of vanguard or recessed handles.
- Durability: Locker bodies are constructed from 24-gauge steel and spot-welded for long lasting toughness. Locker doors are made from 16-gauge steel on models wider than 12". Locker walls come together with "mortise and tenon" joints in which steel tabs are inserted into connecting walls resulting in far superior strength than traditional design.
- Smart Design: All hinges are full loop, five-knuckle design that are welded to the frame and riveted to the door. Every door frame has a vertical flange which creates a continuous door-strike for even closing.
- Appearance: The finish of these triple-tier school lockers is a durable and attractive baked enamel finish. For a new, high-tech, graffiti proof locker finish, call us for information and pricing.
- Ventilation: Louvers at top and bottom of each locker door allow for air circulation while maintaining privacy.
- Organization: All lockers come with factory mounted number plates.
- Stability: Sturdy all-steel legs keep lockers balanced and add 6" to height.
- Recommended Option: Slope tops prevent things and dust from accumulating on top of locker rows.
- Factory Assembled Option: All prices are for non-assembled lockers. Factory assembly will increase the lead time by 1-2 weeks. Call your Hertz Representative for details.
- Important Note: These lockers are made to order and non-returnable, so call us first and we'll help you configure the ideal locker setup.
- Lifetime Coverage: Our Limited Lifetime Warranty guarantees many years of use and enjoyment.
This product is made with pride in the United States of America!
Indoor air quality certified for children and schools
Hertz Furniture is a member of Penco Products' exclusive "Eagle Club." Penco has designated Hertz as a star performer, qualified to take care of all your locker needs – layout planning, ordering and installation.
We're committed to exceeding your expectations:
- Found it for less? We'll match the price
- 15-Year or Limited Lifetime Warranty
Our customers come first — we guarantee it!
Shipping & Assembly
- Ships Via:
- Common Carrier
- Leaves Factory In:
- Approximately 8-9 weeks
- Assembly:
- Required
- Average Assembly Time:
- 60 minutes
3-Wide 3-Tier Locker w/Friction Catch Door Pull
|List Price:
|Our Price:
Product Family
This product is a part of Penco Triple-Tier Lockers Door-Pulls Handles
There are 10 products in the family


text:
I blogged about our origami peace cranes gift on May 30th.
My dear friend Lisa, that we made one of the chains for, passed away the next day.
It was heartbreaking. It still is heartbreaking.
I'm still healing and will be for a long time.
Lisa and I met at our breast-feeding group when our oldest daughters were tiny little things.
We started a playgroup together and became close friends
as we journeyed through motherhood together.
Too many years of friendship and good memories to fit into one little blog post.
There were origami cranes at her memorial service and they'll always make me think of her.
This wish tree was created as a bit of therapeutic art for myself and my daughter.
The original inspiration for this project came from this flickr picture taken at
the Unitarian Universalist Church in Livermore California.
It is said that when one folds 1,000 origami cranes they are granted a wish.
"E" and I are getting there, slowly but surely.
We sat and folded the tiny cranes together using a pack of origami paper
I picked up at Michaels. Each paper square is 3"x 3"
As we sat and folded cranes we talked about our memories of Lisa.
We talked about our hopes and wishes for her family and they heal.
We talked about our wishes for other friends and family fighting their own battles.
It wasn't all sad talk. We laughed. We told funny stories and jokes.
We talked about wishes and hopes for the future.
We spent many hours together folding cranes over a period of several days.
When we felt like we had enough cranes, we sorted them into piles by color.
The branches for our tree were found in my parents' basement
(they have an awesome craft room too.)
I'm not sure where they originally found the branches.
I wedged them into a little bucket I had from Ikea's garden center.
You could use rocks or fish gravel to weigh it down so it won't tip over,
I used some plaster of paris to anchor and keep it weighted down.
I adhered the cranes with Elmer's glue dots.
Here's our finished wishing tree.
It's sitting in the family room and makes me smile every time I see it.
It fills me with happy memories and they are slowly but surely replacing the sadness.
Lisa, Chris, Sabine, and Christopher --
I love you all and carry you in my heart every day.
Pink and Green Mama
Follow Me on Facebook.
Follow Me on Pinterest.
Follow Me on Instagram.


text:
Gray Leather Egg Chair with Tilt-Lock Mechanism
By Urban Interior Design From United States
|Shipping Destination
|Single Item
|Additional Items
|United States
|+ $0.00
Delivery Information
The estimated delivery time is (Mon-Fri) until the seller will dispatch the item. Actual delivery time will depend on your delivery location
Urban Interior Design
United States
We are an interior design company that seeks to let your space represent you. We don't tell you what you should like or even what your space should look like. Take a look at our wide selection of products and use multiple style influences to create a home space that truly represents you.
With our team of experts, we work in your interest to capture your creative vision and select the right elements to represent your home in the best possible manner.


text:
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
Signed and dated 1880; inscribed "Proserpina" and with the artist's sonnet in Italian.
Coloured chalks on paper
47 x 22 inches, 119.5 x 56 centimetres
Afar away the light that brings cold cheer
Unto this wall, - one instant and no more
Admitted at my distant palace-door
Afar the flowers of Enna from this drear
Dire fruit, which, tasted once, must thrall me here.
Afar those skies from this Tartarean grey
That chills me: and afar how far away,
The nights that shall become the days that were.
Afar from mine own self I seem, and wing
Strange ways in thought, and listen for a sign:
And still some heart unto some soul doth pine,
(Whose sounds mine inner sense is fain to bring,
Continually together murmuring,) —
'Woe me for thee, unhappy Proserpine'.
— D. G. Rossetti
See commentary below


text:
Results tagged ' Ryan Madson '
Are The Rays Currently in Ghost Protocol Mode?
On Wall Street, the Trades and Acquisitions Department of large investment firm have the covert mentality of the CIA and other branches of International intrigue that use initials. Knowledge is power, and with that, secrecy and the movements under that umbrellas come at a premium.
So far this Winter we have heard and seen some of the clandestine targets and near misses of the Tampa Bay Rays, who operate under their own initialed powerful and might organization, the MLB, has taken the art form of gliding amongst the darkened halls with silent whispers to a new level. As we have learned in the past, the Rays have a circle of trust within its Fourth floor domain that no constants, syllable or even grown are visualized or voiced when the always alert media comes a-callin' with trade rumors and whispers in the wind.
Some moves might be counter-moves, made to seem directed towards a general target, but suddenly change direction, showing a more devious and unimagined alternative plan. Take the recent movement by the Rays to get the services of free agent outfielder Coco Crisp. That's right, the same Crispy critter who almost walked into a James Shields hay maker in 2008 that might have shattered Shield's pitching hand.
Who in their right Rays mind could have seen this one coming? Of course Crisp decided he like to stay on his dock by the bay and rejected the Rays advances. We know Crisp and Shields have buried their hatchet, but have all the bad blood been drained within the Rays Republic in regards to Crisp? That, my friends is blowing in the wind now, and great fodder for Happy Hour discussions. But the outfielder chatter did not stop with the Coco one, there was another attempt, or stab at Seth Smith, and adequate fielder and hitter in his own right to possibly be a Plan B to the Crisp covert ops.
But you got to ask of there is a problem within the Rays outfield we do not see, or are we possibly looking 4-moves behind the mind right now of Rays Executive VP of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. I was content to think we might see Desmond Jennings in Right field this season trading spots with Matt Joyce who I thought made his presence known for the full-time gig, even against southpaws. I had come to terms my myself that B J Upton might wear a question mark on his uniform instead of the # 2 this season as his tenure in Rays Center field is more rental than lease with an option to buy. Was starting to think someone named Damon might have the only true answer.
The moves towards Crisp and Smith have me wondering just how much confidence the Rays have in Sam Fuld, Brandon Guyer or even Justin Ruggiano to be that 4th asset in the OF puzzle…or if their own Rays existence is also under the microscope as possible trade fodder? It is almost as if I should think of 20 of the 25 names on the Rays roster not named Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson, Joel Peralta, Evan Longoria or Ben Zobrist are stapled to the Trop turf, but everyone else is up for discussion at some point. And now comes internal gossip the Rays might not have held onto Smith if they had signed him, but used him as more enticing bait for another morsel….How quickly the tides turn in Tampa Bay.
But that is what the Winter Hot Stove season is all about right? Making the waters boil and seeing who rises to the top of the pile and who settles to the bottom, possibly there until the late July Trade Deadline timetable. Early this Winter we had the Ivan Rodriguez, Josh Willingham, Carlos Beltran and finally an afterthought of a Anthony Rizzo acquisition spinning in our head's before the new year. Sometimes I wish I had a mouse with a lipstick camera or a house fly with a video feed to give me something tangible and substantial to write about before it hits the general airwaves.
I'm beginning to think we need to contact the modern Sherlock Holmes I saw on BBC the other night, he sees in that altered universe realm, and can be perfectly comfortable thinking 6-8 moves ahead of the rest of us mortals. For some reason I think a MI-6 License to Kill might be easier to obtain than a Rays trade whisper. Sure there are still cracks in the Rays armor, but it is in the field personnel and not on the front office lines. Questions abound around the infield now with the Rays inquest towards trying to secure Brooks Conrad and Ryan Theriot.
I had the notion to think it might be a slip up, a showing of their cards that possibly Sean Rodriguez is penciled in at Shortstop and Second in a platoon, and Zobrist again will carry at least 5 gloves to every Rays contest. I thought for a moment I might have cracked a hidden code, possibly being 1-move ahead of the pack with the Rays inquiring about Conrad and Theriot, but their talents were to be as bit players not starters in the proposed Maddon 2012 Tour. Foiled again just when I thought I had inched forward with something of substance again left with poached egg on my grill.
But one day. Ahhh, one day someone will crack the code, bring about the wheeling and dealing to the surface, not with the realm of full disclosure, but with hints, smatterings of intel and possibly make us all giddy again about what really lies behind the Rays Carolina Blue curtains. But I am left right now with the pure facts I will never be in the Rays circle of trust, never be an intricate part of the Rays always unfolding covet machine, finally realizing with crystal clear clarity my best guesses at trades are just those…guesses.
I guess I will have to be content that the powers that be that invisibly move within the 4th Floor sanctum is hard at work making the Rays a better oiled machine. A more precise instrument to take into the 182 battles that make up an MLB season. That I can sleep better at night knowing Friedman is out there somewhere already in work mode to answer those question we have not even asked yet. Still, the Ryan Madson rumors have me curious….I wonder if there is a motorized mouse online I can buy, or what time is it in London?


text:
Ferguson's Career Resource Center
Ferguson's Career Research Center provides information on jobs and industries as well as information on resume writing, interviews, scholarships, schools and internships.
The Job section provides overviews of careers, working environment and future outlook.
The Skills section contains advice on preparing resumes and cover letters (with samples), interviewing and identifying career paths.
The Resources section provides general information about career placement tests like Myers-Briggs and includes information about how test can help you match interests and abilities with prospective careers, as well as cost information.
The Video section has videos on a wide range of topics and include online job hunting, changing careers, coping with the downturn int he job and more. They are short (usually 2-5 minutes) and to the point.
Express Link (bookmark): http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=ferg-ccl1


text:
As FamilySearch certified software, RootsMagic and RootsMagic Essentials both allow you to share information to and from new FamilySearch as well as find and reserve incomplete temple ordinances for ancestors. In order to do any of this for a person, you must first match the person in your own file with the same person in the new FamilySearch system. In the past, a user was required to find a match for each person one-at-a-time, person-by-person.I installed the update and used the Automatch function and found that the claims were correct, the program really does find nearly all the people in your file. Of course, when the data on New FamilySearch has generational errors such as listing a grandchild as a child and other such problems, there are issues with linking to these people. Also if the data is not complete enough to allow for identification, there is nothing much RootsMagic or any other program can do to help the situation, but it is a boon to finding an making the links. Also linking to an individual in New FamilySearch does not mean that you need to copy any information from New FamilySearch to your own file. Information should be used from New FamilySearch only when sources are available or you individually know the information is correct.
"Our users told us that this was one of the more time-consuming aspects of working with new FamilySearch," explained Bruce Buzbee, president of RootsMagic, Inc. "If you had an average-sized file with 6000 people, it may take you several days of repetitive work just to match each one up with new FamilySearch. People want to be able to jump in and actually work with new FamilySearch and matching by hand was always a tedious first step." Buzbee added, "The new AutoMatch feature does most of this grunt work for you so you can just begin sharing data about your ancestors."
RootsMagic developed the AutoMatch feature over weeks of experimentation and guidance from FamilySearch. The AutoMatch examines each person in your RootsMagic file, searches the FamilySearch database for the person, and after carefully comparing them, matches them together if they are the same; all without requiring user intervention. "What used to take days of manual work is now done automatically in only a few hours," said Buzbee. "You can start the AutoMatch, leave it running while you do something else, and return later to find most of the matches found." Although the match is made automatically, no actual data is transferred without the user requesting it.
Video tutorials, demonstrating how to work with New FamilySearch using RootsMagic 4 are available at http://www.rootsmagic.com/fs.


text:
Looking for English or Spanish speaking families Jan 14, 2019 22:35:20 GMT 9 via mobile
Looking for English or Spanish speaking families
What's on your mind right now? Just type and hit "Enter" to share it here!
Adam Beck: NEW POST ABOUT MY SON: I Did Something the Other Day That I Thought I'd Never Do
bilingualmonkeys.com/i-did-something-the-other-day-that-i-thought-id-never-do/ Dec 26, 2019 10:44:22 GMT 9
bilingualmonkeys.com/i-did-something-the-other-day-that-i-thought-id-never-do/ Dec 26, 2019 10:44:22 GMT 9
Mayken: Time to update my profile and adding that so important ½ to my daughter's age. Everyone, don't forget to update your kids' ages at least once a year! Dec 31, 2019 1:19:40 GMT 9 *
Adam Beck: NEW! The first post of the year at Bilingual Monkeys: All the Crazy Mischief I'll Be Making in 2020 bilingualmonkeys.com/all-the-crazy-mischief-ill-be-making-in-2020/ Jan 13, 2020 19:39:59 GMT 9
Marisa: "Victory moment:" My almost 4-year-old daughter told me yesterday in the ml (rough translation): "mom, there's something wrong with the cartoons, can you fix it, please?"... she was accidentally watching TV in the ML! So I gladly obliged Jan 18, 2020 4:15:02 GMT 9
Amy: Awww bless her, Marisa!!! That was so cute!! <3 Jan 18, 2020 5:25:44 GMT 9
Adam Beck: Marisa, give that little minority language lover a big hug from me! Jan 18, 2020 8:04:49 GMT 9
Marisa: Will do! Jan 18, 2020 22:20:02 GMT 9
Adam Beck: In-depth guest post by Vivien Won: The Multilingual, Multicultural Life of a Third Culture Kid bilingualmonkeys.com/the-multilingual-multicultural-life-of-a-third-culture-kid/ Jan 29, 2020 12:18:06 GMT 9 *
Mayken: We're at Harry Potter Book Night at the English bookshop in Paris. The activities are all in French but my daughter teamed up for the treasure hunt with a girl who also speaks ouf ml German! Feb 8, 2020 3:50:49 GMT 9
Adam Beck: My Daughter Hits the Biggest Milestone of Our Bilingual Journey Together bilingualmonkeys.com/my-daughter-hits-the-biggest-milestone-of-our-bilingual-journey-together/ Feb 10, 2020 14:04:03 GMT 9 *
Wojtek: www.kqed.org/mindshift/42177/what-parents-can-gain-from-learning-the-science-of-talking-to-kids Feb 10, 2020 21:41:55 GMT 9
Adam Beck: Big News About My Blog! bilingualmonkeys.com/big-news-about-my-blog/ Feb 20, 2020 11:09:26 GMT 9 *
Amy: Was stunned to hear eldest had an anglophone (ml) accent when she began to read in the ML this afternoon!! Didn't last more than a paragraph until her brain switched language, but chuffed mum here!! Mar 7, 2020 23:05:49 GMT 9
Mayken: My daughter found the secret stash of ml books I'd bought at the closure sale of the ml book store two months ago and hidden away for later. Guess it's a good time for new books now, right? Mar 18, 2020 5:29:38 GMT 9
Adam Beck: Can This Difficult Time Also Be an Opportunity for Your Family? bilingualmonkeys.com/can-this-difficult-time-also-be-an-opportunity-for-your-family/ Apr 2, 2020 14:09:46 GMT 9 *
Adam Beck: Play This Great Indoor Game with Your Kids (And Get Them Eagerly Reading, Too)
bilingualmonkeys.com/play-this-great-indoor-game-with-your-kids/ May 7, 2020 7:33:04 GMT 9 *
bilingualmonkeys.com/play-this-great-indoor-game-with-your-kids/ May 7, 2020 7:33:04 GMT 9 *
Adam Beck: NEW! Video of my very first live chat! Bilingual Kid Chat: Tips for Success www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHnzq12GsDk May 25, 2020 14:48:33 GMT 9
Adam Beck: NEW! Exciting News! It Came in the Mail Today and It Looks Great! bilingualmonkeys.com/exciting-news-it-came-in-the-mail-today-and-it-looks-great/ May 27, 2020 17:35:12 GMT 9
Caro C.: My baby (16mo) perfectly knows what "hi5" means and readily shows her hand even when we are not showing our hand first. It feels like the first minor blossom of the bilingual seed. Jun 1, 2020 13:05:36 GMT 9


text:
On the Street.... So Much to See, Paris
Where to start?
- the "retro" extended shirt collar
- the 3-pc. suit worn without a hint of stuffiness
- the simple brown/grey color story
- the playfulness of purple socks
But the single most important element of this look!
- the masterfully/effortlessly rolled (almost punched) brim of his hat. Really, doesn't that one element of his look tell you everything you need to know about this gentleman?


text:
Russell Brand is going with the hot hand, tapping "Modern Family" director Jason Winer to helm his upcoming "Arthur" remake.
Winer, who won a Director's Guild Award for his work on ABC's monster hit sitcom, will be behind the camera for Brand's interpretation of the title role that earned Dudley Moore an Oscar nomination some 30 years ago.
In the original film, Arthur is a drunken millionaire who thumbs his nose at his family's wishes by falling in love with the blue-collar girl next door, played by Liza Minnelli.
U.S. & World
The film also earned Sir John Gielgud his only Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor in the role of Arthur trusty butler-sidekick, Hobson. In Brand's reimagining of the story, the role of Hobson would undergo a sex-change, and would be played by Meryl Streep.
As overrated as "Modern Family" is, it is very good, and Winer's hiring speaks to the seriousness with which Brand is assembling talent on this project. Who knows, he just may get Streep after all.


text:
(AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn says there's need for improvement after the private manager of the Illinois Lottery fell short of promised profits.
The lottery says that Northstar Lottery Group projected net income of about $851 million for fiscal year 2012. The lottery says profits actually were $757 million, about $95 million short. Northstar took over management of the Illinois Lottery in July 2011.
Quinn told reporters Monday in Chicago after an unrelated event that the management model needs improvement. He didn't offer many specifics but says one fix could be trying to attract more people to play the lottery.
(See related story: "Who's got the winning hand in lottery fight?")
The profit targets are part of a management agreement between the lottery and Northstar. The agreement says Northstar must pay the lottery $20 million if it doesn't reach the target.


text:
Pitbull to host American Music Awards
Guy Prives/Redferns via Getty Images
Pitbull will host the American Music Awards.
The Miami rapper will perform his song "Timber" with Ke$ha during the Nov. 24 awards show, to air live from Los Angeles on ABC, it was announced Tuesday.
The 32-year-old, whose real name is Armando Christian Perez, was chosen in part for his Latino heritage as the AMAs celebrate the 25th anniversary of Gloria Estefan's appearance on the show and the 15th year of the favorite artist Latin category. Estefan was the first Latin AMA performer.
Pitbull will be joined in performance by lead nominees Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, One Direction, Luke Bryan, and Florida Georgia Line.
Macklemore and Lewis are up for six awards, including artist of the year.


text:
WKU Transfer Center
Downing Student Union (DSU) Room 2141
Phone: (270) 745-3575
Email: email@example.com
Monday - Friday
8:00am - 4:30pm
Paying for School
One of the most common challenges for adults attending college is the cost. Below are a few cost-saving options to consider.
Save money and time:
College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
Adults often have difficulty scheduling school around work and family obligations. CLEP is a cost-effective, time-efficient option available for all WKU students to get credit for many 100-and 200-level classes. Exams are 90-minutes, multiple choice--no essay questions.
Review study guide, take 1 multiple choice test
*The CLEP Study Guide is $25 and has modules for all 32 exams given at WKU. Practice tests are also available for free at CLEP's website: https://clep.collegeboard.org/. Students can also stop by the Counseling and Testing Center to pick up study guides for individual tests.
Before registering for a CLEP test, please review policy changes effective 8/24/2015 on the WKU Testing Webpage.
Sharon Ercey, Coordinator of Testing
Potter Hall 409
(270) 745-3159
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
For a student testimonial click here.
Free Tuition for Senior Citizens
In accordance with KRS 164.284, Kentucky residents who are 65 years of age or older are granted free tuition for any undergraduate or graduate college class in which they enroll for credit or to audit. Individuals must be 65 years of age or older on or before the first day of the semester in which they enroll. Senior students are still responsible for paying any course fees, such as lab fees, and for purchasing their textbooks. Seniors must apply for admission to the university, which can be done online. For additional information contact Adult Learner Services at (270) 745-3575 or email@example.com.
For a student testimonial click here.
Grants & Scholarships
To check your eligibility for financial assistance from the federal government be sure to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Assistance (FAFSA) form online. Have your most recently filed income tax return papers ready and go to http://www.fafsa.ed.gov and follow the directions. You will be prompted to choose WKU as the school to receive your information. Receiving funds can take 6-8 weeks.
If you are a current or admitted WKU student click here for a tutorial on checking your Financial Aid Status.
Here are a few local financial aid opportunities that we know of, please be sure to check back periodically for updates:
- Community Services Block Grant: Community Action of Southern Kentucky, Inc. accepts applications each spring for the annual Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Scholarship. The CSBG Scholarship helps provide training or retraining required for the local job market. The CSBG Scholarship is open to Barren River area residents who are income-eligible individuals wanting to return to school or continue their education. Scholarship benefits can be applied to fees, tuition, or textbooks at a college/university, vocational/technical school, or trade/professional program. For more information contact the Community Action office in your county http://www.casoky.org/locations .
- Go Higher Grant: The Go Higher Grant gives adults age 24 or older up to $1,000 for one academic year when they enroll in a participating Kentucky college or university and take less than six hours of courses. The award covers tuition and a book allowance of $50 per credit hour. http://www.kheaa.com/website/kheaa/gohighergrant?main=2
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.


text:
Drinks & Cocktails With Bourbon
Named after the place where it first was manufactured, Bourbon is the American form of whiskey. The bourbon is made of corn (at least 51 percent), and other raw materials are wheat, rye, and malted barley. By law, it has to be stored in oak barrels for two years or more, to be called bourbon. The American whiskey is an excellent mixer, since it's not as dominant as Scotch ditto.


text: This Sunday hundreds of millions of people worldwide will throw parties and huddle around TVs to celebrate the amazing achievements of teams of people who have striven their entire lives for one shot at greatness. Architects. Sure, the 49ers and Ravens will put on a show in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, but the really amazing feat was getting stadiums built in the first place. Politicians, architects, and team owners are all famous for having big egos, but like a team, all of them have to work together to succeed and build monuments to their favorite sport. Mark Williams is a Principal at HKS, the architecture firm that has designed the venues for the last two Super Bowls and is hard at work on a new stadium in Minneapolis. He shared some thoughts on what goes into a super stadium. "Our designs grow out of our extensive research, brand analysis and understanding the DNA of our clients, their teams and the region they draw from," he says. This philosophy is clearly evident in his firm's work. The new Cowboys Stadium is big and bright, just like everything in Texas, while the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis befits the more modest, industrial nature of the Midwest. "Technology integration is the biggest design driver recently integrated into our process," says Williams. "We are constantly thinking about how to incorporate today and tomorrow's technology into our venues and their environments." Each stadium displays this integration in a unique way. Duct work you could drive a truck, or Jerome Bettis, through is featured at Lucas Oil Stadium while a $40 million dollar, 544 ton HDTV that spans the 20 yard lines at Cowboys Stadium is the star. Ultimately, visiting a stadium is still all about human interaction. When asked what fans liked most about the stadiums, it wasn't the seating or concession stand. According to Williams it's "When we create environments that allow them to go behind the scenes, interact with players, and enjoy exclusive opportunities." It's unlikely that any of these structures will outlast, or have the impact of the Colosseum in Rome, but they are a great reflection of the technology and trends that are shaping our world today. above: Mercedes-Benz (Louisiana) Superdome Location: New Orleans, Louisiana Super Bowls hosted: 1978, 1981, 1986, 1990, 1997, 2002, 2013 Capacity: 76,468 Completed: 1975 Cost (2013 dollars): $579 million, $223 for Post-Katrina repairs Architects: Curtis and Davis Associated Edward B. Silverstein & Associates Nolan, Norman & Nolan The Superdome was conceived and named when a local entrepreneur, looking to bring the NFL to New Orleans, toured Houston's Astrodome and decided he wanted the same style of building — just bigger. The stadium was built and became home to one of the NFL's laughing stock franchises for nearly three decades. During Hurricane Katrina, the Superdome became a shelter of last resort and was severely damaged during the ordeal. It was triumphantly rebuilt, clad in "Champagne Bronze" aluminum panels, and seemingly reinvigorated the home team which captured the NFL championship in 2009. It has also hosted a record seven Super Bowls. Photo: Google Earth; 3/07/2011Cowboy Stadium Location: Arlington, Texas Super Bowl hosted: 2011 Capacity: 80,000-100,000 Completed: 2009 Cost (2013 dollars): $1.41 billion Architects: HKS As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas and their stadiums are no different. The Cowboys Stadium is the most expensive ever built for an NFL team, and though it can hold 80,000 spectators easily, seating can be expanded to accommodate 100,000. The roof alone weighs 14,100 tons, more than 92 Boeing 777's. Its most famous feature is its giant HD video screen — which measures 160 feet wide by 71 feet tall. If that isn't enough, there are also 3,000 other digital screens in the facility to catch replays or keep up with a fantasy football roster. Photo: Google Earth; 6/12/2011Georgia Dome Location: Atlanta, Georgia Super Bowls hosted: 1994, 2000 Capacity: 71,228 Completed: 1992 Cost (2013 dollars): $354 million Architects: Heery International; Rosser FABRAP International; and Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates Completed in 2002, the Georgia Dome was built at the tail end of the domed arena era. It has hosted two Super Bowls, but is unlikely to see a third. The operators of the stadium, frustrated by leaks and tears in the dome structure, are looking to build a new venue with a retractable roof. Photo: Google Earth; 10/31/2012Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Super Bowl hosted: 1992 Capacity: 64,111 Completed: 1982 Cost (2013 dollars): $299 million Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Setter, Leach & Lindstrom The roof of the Metrodome was a marvel of engineering when constructed in 1982. Composed of Teflon-coated fiberglass outer layer and an inner layer of acoustical fabric it wasn't erected, it was inflated. It was intended to shield spectators from Minnesota's brutal winters. But winter struck back, dropping 17 inches of powder on it — causing it to sag, tear, and then collapse. It has been replaced, but a new, $975 million dollar stadium is set to open in 2016. Photo: Google Earth; 4/03/2012Stanford Stadium Location: Stanford, California Super Bowl hosted: 1985 Capacity: 50,000 Completed: 2006 Cost (2013 dollars): $90 million Architects: Hoover and Associates The Stanford Stadium, also known as "The Farm", lives up to its nickname being surrounded by trees instead of acres of asphalt. It plays host to Stanford's football team, the occasional FIFA World Cup, but has two true claims to fame. It's one of two venues to host the NFL's biggest game without being the home field for an NFL team, and the San Francisco 49ers win in Super Bowl XIX marked the only time a "home team" won a Super Bowl. Photo: Google Earth; 10/31/2011Qualcomm (Jack Murphy) Stadium Location: San Diego, California Super Bowls hosted: 1988, 1998, 2003 Capacity: 70,561 Completed: 1967 Cost (2013 dollars): $188 million Architects: Frank L. Hope and Associates This stadium is home to powerful athletes, but truly demonstrates the power of the pen. A local sportswriter was trying to bring professional sports to southern, southern California in the early 60's. He succeeded in galvanizing public support, getting the public to pledge money via bonds, and ultimately delivered a venue that has been used by the San Diego Chargers and Padres for over 30 years. After Murphy's death in 1980 the stadium was rechristened Jack Murphy Stadium until 1997 when Qualcomm purchased the naming rights. Just think, if Kickstarter had existed back then, an entrepreneur like Murphy could have crowdfunded a dome — not that San Diego needs it. Photo: USDA Farm Service Agency/Google Earth; 4/24/2010Rose Bowl Location: Pasadena, California Super Bowls hosted: 1977, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1993 Capacity: 94,392 Completed: 1982 Cost (2013 dollars): $3.78 million Architect: Myron Hunt The Rose Bowl has to be considered the best value for dollar in the history of Super Bowl stadiums. Constructed for an amount that would be a rounding error on the new Cowboys stadium, it can host 106,869 screaming, somewhat squished Bruins fans. For a time, it had the highest football capacity of any stadium in the US and has been host to the Super Bowl five times even though it is not home to an NFL franchise. However, a sixth Super Bowl will have to wait for a team to relocate to Los Angeles, a requirement enacted after it last hosted the game in 1993. Photo: TerraMetrics/Google Earth; 03/07/2011Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Location: Los Angeles, California Super Bowls hosted: 1967, 1973 Capacity: 93,607 Completed: 1923 Cost (2013 dollars): $13 million Architects: John and Donald Parkinson The Art Moderne-style LA Coliseum was built in 1923 and has hosted the LA Rams, two Olympics, two Super Bowls, an epic Evel Knievel jump over 50 cars, and is the only Super Bowl host that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo: Google Earth; 3/07/2011Sun Life Stadium (Joe Robbie/Pro Player) Location: Miami Gardens, Florida Super Bowls hosted: 1989, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2010 Capacity: 67,000 Completed: 1987 Cost (2013 dollars): $235 million Architects: Populous Sun Life Stadium suffers from an identity crisis. It was designed to be a hybrid football/baseball stadium, meaning the seating arrangements aren't optimized for either fan base. The best proof of the stadium's conflicted nature is the fact its had seven names in its 25 year history. Photo: Google Earth; 3/26/2011Lucas Oil Stadium Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Super Bowl hosted: 2012 Capacity: 62,421 Completed: 2008 Cost (2013 dollars): $777 million Architects: HKS, A2so4 Architecture While Midwesterners are famously modest, the firm that designed Lucas Oil Stadium has no qualms boasting about its superlative features. The stadium is 168 million square feet, or 39 acres, right downtown in Indianapolis. It's unique among NFL stadiums in that it isn't based on a dome or bowl configuration, but has gabled roofs and is sheathed in traditional bricks rather than aircraft-grade aluminum or other space age materials. The peaked roofs, copious amounts of natural light, and exposed duct work are all meant to reference the industrial landscape that surrounds the stadium. Photo: TerraMetrics/Google Earth; 08/29/2012Miami Orange Bowl Location: Miami, Florida Super Bowls hosted: 1968, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1979 Capacity: 72,319 Completed: 1937 Demolished: 2008 Cost (2013 dollars): $5.5 million Architects: Uncredited The Orange Bowl is the only Super Bowl stadium to be designed and built by a municipal department of public works. It lacked the polish of its privately funded counterparts and was demolished in 2008, but had a solid 71 year run, outlasting many of the higher priced stadiums. Photo: USDA Farm Service Agency/Google Earth; 05/07/2007Pontiac Silverdome Location: Pontiac, Michigan Super Bowl hosted: 1982 Capacity: 82,000 Completed: 1975 Cost (2013 dollars): $245 million Architects: O'Dell, Hewlett, & Luckenbach The Pontiac Silverdome was the home of the Detroit Lions from 1975 to 2002, but only hosted one Super Bowl in 1982. It arguably peaked in 1987 when it hosted both Pope John Paul II celebrating mass and the epic confrontation between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III. The Lions moved to a new stadium in 2002, but the Silverdome lives own playing host to Metallica concerts and monster truck rallies. Photo: USDA Farm Service Agency/Google Earth; 05/09/2010Raymond James Stadium Location: Tampa, Florida Super Bowls hosted: 2001, 2009 Capacity: 65,908 Completed: 1998 Cost (2013 dollars): $240 million Architects: Populous Located just an hour from Disney World, the most distinctive feature of this stadium is an interactive pirate ship. Playing off the team's pirate theme, the 103 foot long ship in the end zone shoots prizes when the Buccaneers score or enter the opposing team's red zone. The theme park fun doesn't stop there — flags are hoisted, "A Pirate's Life For Me" is blasted through the sound system, and an audio animatronic parrot sasses random passersby whenever something good happens for the home team. Photo: USDA Farm Service Agency/Google Earth; 2009Reliant Park Location: Houston, Texas Super Bowl hosted: 2004 Capacity: 70,000 Completed: 2002 Cost (2013 dollars): $556 million Architects: Rossetti Architects Hamilton Anderson Associates, Inc. Kaplan, McLaughlin, Diaz Architects Reliant Stadium is home to the Houston Texans, and hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII where the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers and Janet Jackson suffered the world's most famous "wardrobe malfunction." When not being used for football, the stadium can also be transformed to host trade shows and the famous Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Photo: Google Earth; 03/10/2011Rice Stadium Location: Houston, Texas Super Bowl hosted: 1974 Capacity: 70,000 Completed: 1950 Cost (2013 dollars): $31.8 million Architects: Hermon Llyod, W.B. Morgan, Milton McGinty Unless you're a fan of Sammy the Owl, Rice's mascot, or have fond memories of the Houston Oiler's 1967 division championship, the most impressive thing to happen in Rice Stadium was President John F. Kennedy's speech in 1962, urging the young minds at the university to contribute to the space program. Photo: Google Earth; 03/10/2011Sun Devil Stadium Location: Tempe, Arizona Super Bowl hosted: 1996 Capacity: 76,000 Completed: 1958 Cost (2013 dollars): $8 million Architects: Ed Varney Sun Devil Stadium is home to Arizona State's eponymous football team and previously hosted the Arizona Cardinals, but its biggest impact has been through pop culture. Film classics Jerry Maguire and Raising Arizona as well as concert films for U2 and The Rolling Stones used the stadium as a backdrop. Its greatest claim to fame, however, is when Pope John Paul II visited the stadium to deliver mass in 1987, but demanded that all pictures and references to the devil had to be covered up in order to enter. Photo: Google Earth; 06/08/2012Tampa Stadium Location: Tampa, Florida Super Bowls hosted: 1984, 1991 Capacity: 74,301 Completed: 1967 Demolished: 1998 Cost (2013 dollars): $30.7 million Architects: Watson & Company Architects, Engineers & Planners Demolished in 1998, Tampa Stadium was doomed from the start. Built in Miami's hot and humid climate, the architects provided no shade for players or fans, built the structure with concrete, and featured aluminum seating. Add in 74,301 people sitting in 95 degree heat with 80% humidity, and a new stadium was needed from the day this one opened. See that parking lot on the south side of the stadium? It would be turned into Raymond James Stadium, host of the 2001 Superbowl, ten years after Tampa Stadium hosted their second and final one. You can still see the driveway that surrounded the old complex today. Image: U.S. Geological Survey/Google Earth, 2/21/1995Ford Field Location: Detroit, Michigan Super Bowl hosted: 2006 Capacity: 70,000 Completed: 2002 Cost (2013 dollars): $556 million Architects: Rossetti Architects Ford Field was part of an urban redevelopment effort and actually incorporates a six story warehouse that had been on the site since the 1920s. The structure features frosted glass skylights meant to evoke the lighting in Ford's factories. Sadly, while it has hosted a Super Bowl, the hapless Detroit Lions have yet to earn a home playoff game in the stadium's 10 year history. Photo: Google Earth; 5/9/2010Everbank Field Location: Jacksonville, Florida Super Bowl hosted: 2005 Capacity: 76,867 Completed: 1995 Cost (2013 dollars): $185 million Architects: Populous Some designs spring forth from the mind of a genius "Starchitect." Then there is Everbank Field. The home of the Jaguars wasn't so much designed as evolved, or maybe mutated, based on the skeleton of a stadium built in 1982. It was shaped less by blueprints and more by funding negotiations between local officials, universities, and civic organizations. Unfortunately, its most notable architectural feature is a series of tarps that block off whole sections of seating, reducing capacity and making it easier for the team to sell out the stadium, preventing local TV "black outs" that tend to frustrate Jaguar fans. All nine of them. Photo: USDA Farm Service Agency/Google Earth; 12/31/2009University of Phoenix Stadium Location: Glendale, Arizona Super Bowl hosted: 2008 Capacity: 63,400 Completed: 2006 Cost (2013 dollars): $525 million Architects: Peter Eisenman/Populous Fans of Peter Eisenman call his work deconstructive, late avant-garde, late or high modernist. His detractors call it disorienting to the point of nausea. In either case, he was an unlikely choice to design an NFL stadium, but the former Cornell cheerleader partnered with stadium specialists Populous to create a new home for the Arizona Cardinals. So far, the design seems to have proven effective — a retractable roof protects players from the sun and despite a forward looking design, fans are able to find their seats. Photo: Google Earth; 06/08/2012Tulane Stadium Location: New Orleans, Louisiana Super Bowls hosted: 1970, 1972, 1975 Capacity: 80,985 Completed: 1926 Demolished: 1980 Cost (2013 dollars): $3.89 million Architects: Uncredited Tulane Stadium was demolished over 30 years ago, but its nickname lives on. The stadium played host to a annual game dubbed the "Sugar Bowl" by locals. Today, the Sugar Bowl has become part of the official NCAA Bowl Championship Series and pays out $17,000,000 to the participants each year — more than four times what it cost to build in inflation adjusted dollars. Image by © Lake County Museum/CORBIS