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Small-Business Answer Book
This story appears in the December 2006 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Q:I'm ready to spread the word about my business but don't have much to spend. How do I promote my business on a budget?
A: Every business needs to promote itself to win new customers, but traditional advertising is expensive, and some forms of promotion--like spam and fliers placed on cars, for example--can make you more enemies than friends.
It's not a bad idea to set aside a small, annual budget for traditional advertising. Decide which advertising medium--radio, TV, direct mail and so on--will best help you reach your target customers, and define your peak times for advertising throughout the year. Also think about how you might team up on promotions with another company that suits your product or service. This company might be a supplier or a well-known local business that has some synergy with yours.
Next, get web-savvy. An easy-to-use website is one of your best promotional tools, as well as a low-cost opportunity to teach customers about what you sell. Think about how you can incorporate certain online tools, such as an opt-in e-mail promotions program, meant to help you reach your target customers. A few other tips for promoting your business on a budget:
- Be able to describe what your company sells in 10 seconds or less.
- Give customers a discount on their next purchase for referring a new customer.
- Generate press coverage by pitching yourself to journalists as an industry expert available for comment.
- Ask customers to provide testimonials for your product or service.
- Sponsor a local event.
- Send thank-you notes to customers, suppliers and other people you come in contact with.
- Relax--building awareness of your brand takes time.
Q:Can I get a business loan? What kind should I apply for?
A: Most entrepreneurs need to borrow money at some point. The good news is, there are many different loan programs. Unfortunately, that's also the bad news. In other words, the money's out there, but it can be confusing to decide which loans to apply for, especially because many loans fund specific things. Here's a quick breakdown of some common loan types.
SBA loans: The SBA backs various types of small-business loans made through local banks and agencies. These loans can be used to buy equipment, inventory, furniture, supplies and more. For information on SBA-backed loans, visit www.sba.gov/financing/sbaloan/snapshot.html.
Line-of-credit loans: These short-term loans let you access a specified amount of money that's deposited into your business checking account on an as-needed basis. You pay interest on the amount that's loaned to you. Line-of-credit loans can be used to buy inventory and pay operating costs for working capital, among other things, but not to buy real estate or equipment.
Revolving lines of credit: When a lender offers a certain amount of money to a borrower and allows the same amount to be borrowed again upon repayment, it's a revolving line of credit.
Loans from friends and family: Money borrowed from friends and family can come with the best low-interest repayment plan you'll ever get. Borrowing from loved ones, however, carries risk. Set up a repayment schedule in writing, and stick to it so Thanksgiving dinner doesn't become a family battleground.
Angel investment: Of course, most family members won't eagerly write you a check for $250,000 to fund your startup. This is where an angel investor comes in, particularly between the first and second years of your company's existence. Angel investors, however, typically demand equity, a high return on investment and a well-defined five-year plan in return.
Q:My online orders are down. How do I improve customer service online?
A: If your online orders are down, faulty customer service could be to blame. The best thing to do is to think like the first-time buyers visiting your website. Your business is an unknown commodity to these people, and they have many unanswered questions: Is this a legitimate company? What if I pay for a product, and they don't ship it? Who do I contact with a question or complaint? How do they handle returns and refunds? Meanwhile, customers who have already bought from you had these questions answered when they placed their first orders.
The goal of any commercial website should be to make customers feel like they're actually holding or seeing your product in person. One way to increase customers' comfort levels is to have information-driven pictures accompanying your product descriptions so there's no confusion about the products. It's also important to make your site easy to navigate so it quickly answers customers' questions about deliveries, payments, shipping and refunds. And make sure your website contains your company's complete contact information, including the company's mailing address, phone numbers and important e-mail addresses.
Next, get serious about delivering good service. Create a strict time frame for responding to customers, and install an automatic e-mail response generator that lets customers know their orders have been received and also lists the items to be shipped. Send another e-mail when the order actually ships. Amazon.com is a good model for this strategy.
An automatic e-mail response to customer e-mails sent via your company website is another way to let customers know their message went through and that it will be answered shortly. Even better, make a company representative instantly available through e-mail and phone. With online sales in particular, you must practice the three A's: accuracy, availability and accountability. Practice makes perfect, and the payoff will be huge.
Pricing, Paying Yourself and Lowering Taxes
Q:Pricing has always been an issue for me. How do I know when to raise or lower my prices?
A: Setting your prices too high or too low is a common problem for entrepreneurs. Set them too high, and you can lose customers to the competition. Set them too low, and your profit margin will suffer.
Pricing takes into account a number of factors, including market conditions, the target customer and the entrepreneur's own intuition. Many entre-preneurs arrive at their pricing by measuring their costs and then adding a percentage (25 percent, for example) on top. This percentage, or profit margin, is where the trouble lies.
New entrepreneurs usually start by pricing lower than the competition to gain some traction in the marketplace, but their prices can stay too low for too long. It might be time to increase prices if your competitors all charge more than you do, your profit margin is steadily shrinking due to rising operating costs, or the business doesn't have enough capital to expand even though the customer base has grown. If you're fearful about your customers' reactions to a price increase, remember that small, incremental increases are generally easier for them to accept. There are even ways to increase prices without looking like you're raising them, like ending the use of discounts, coupons and product samples. Rest assured that most customers will stick with you if they find value in your product or service.
Many people will advise against lowering prices because your company will give up too much margin. One situation where you may want to lower your prices is if you're losing valued customers who say you've gotten too expensive. Depending on your product, you may be able to improve your profit margin instead by lowering your overhead and operating costs--such as by renegotiating the prices your suppliers charge.
Q:How much should I pay myself?
A: This is a particularly tricky question. As a sole proprietor, it's your choice how much to pay yourself, and it can be tempting to pay yourself too much, especially if you're living hand-to-mouth while waiting for the business to grow.
A good rule of thumb is to pay your business costs before you pay yourself. Estimate the minimum dollar amount your company will reliably generate every month in terms of steady business, and then deduct your monthly overhead (electricity, office supplies, rent, payments to suppliers and so on). These costs must be paid before you get paid, unfortunately. Smart entrepreneurs also set a small portion of their income aside every month for annual taxes (estimating the amount is where an accountant comes in handy). The net amount left over is your monthly take-home pay.
For the first year, it's better to err on the side of caution and pay yourself less instead of more until you get a feel for your overall expenses, including surprise costs such as local business taxes and equipment purchases. As your business settles in, you can set up a 401(k) or SEP-IRA that deducts a specific amount from your business account once a month. If you already have one going, you can increase the amount that's deducted each month.
Another tip: Set up a separate checking account to keep the company's money separate from your personal money. This way you can accurately track how much you've paid yourself come tax time, and it's something the IRS likes to see.
Q:My tax burden is killing me. How can I lower my taxes?
A: As you might imagine, taxes are a big topic for business owners. Lowering your tax burden can be done, and here are a few ways to do it.
Look for additional deductions. There are many business expenses you may deduct from your overall income, including training, advertising costs, interest on business loans--the list goes on. You'll want to be careful, however, that you don't trigger an IRS audit. Your accountant can help you find hidden deductions.
Start a retirement account. Federal law allows sole proprietors to put up to 20 percent of their annual income into a retirement account such as a solo 401(k), a SEP or a Keogh. Sole proprietors who set up the company as a corporation can sock away up to one-quarter of their income. This one move will significantly lower your taxes, and it's also an important step for your personal financial solvency.
Hire family members. By spreading the income around, you can increase the amount that is taxed at lower tax brackets. Check with your accountant to make sure you do it right, and make sure family members get paid fairly.
Hire independent contractors. Hiring independent contractors instead of employees automatically lowers your payroll taxes.
Pay overhead expenses early. Your electric and phone bills might not be due until mid-January, but pay them by December 31 if your cash flow allows so these deductions can be applied to this year's taxes instead of next year's taxes.
Changing Your Biz Name and Up-to-Date Tech
Q:Should I change the name of my business? I've been pondering this for a while, but I want to make sure it's a good decision.
A: Naming a business can feel like naming a child: You only get one shot, so you'd better get it right the first time. But that's not necessarily true. Some kids grow up and change their names, after all, and a growing business can do the same with some strategic thought. Here are four factors to consider when thinking about a potential name change.
1. Is Your name too complicated? A foreign name, funny spelling or a word length that rivals super-califragilisticexpialidocious can seem cool early on, but your company is doing itself a disservice if people always mispronounce it or they can't remember it. Your message could be getting lost in translation because of your company's name.
2. Is Your name too generic? It may be time to consider a name change if yours is too similar to a competitor's, or it doesn't get across what you offer. Write down the names of your local competitors, and ponder how your name stacks up.
3. Can You afford it? Changing your company name isn't cheap. You'll have to change your marketing materials-ads, logos, company stationery and so on-and make legal changes if the company is incorporated. Think about everything you'd have to change, then estimate the overall cost.
4. Do You still have low brand equity? A name change can work if your company still has low brand equity-that is, the estimated monetary value added to your brand because people know who you are. On the other hand, if your local brand equity has grown greatly, a name change could end up costing more than it's worth.
Q:Computers, mobile phones and other technologies seem to be improving by the minute. How do I stay current with today's ever-changing technology?
A: The first step is to decide which technologies are most important to your company. Take a quick inventory of your needs and the technologies you use most around the office, why you use them and how you use them. This step will focus your research so you're no longer trying to keep up with every piece of technology that hits the market. Some other tips:
Read up. Technology and trade magazines, blogs and newsletters can keep you informed. Many trade magazines offer a technology section targeted to your industry. Sites like www.technorati.com also include product blogs and articles for business owners.
Talk to a techie friend. Most of us know someone who works in the technology field or simply loves technology and is hip to new products. Ask this person to have coffee or lunch with you occasionally to catch up on technology trends.
Ask other entrepreneurs. When you're networking at events, bring up the topic of technology to learn what other entrepreneurs in similar industries are using at their companies.
Another thing to consider is how current you really need to stay. In general, if the technology you have still works for you, you may not need to upgrade just yet.
For more answers to your most pressing business questions, visit our Small-Business Answer Desk
Chris Penttila is a freelance journalist in the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, area.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Got this text from a random number this morning:
"Hello, I'm your landlord. I'm outside of Shanghai right now, so please put this month's rent in bank account XX. After you deposit the money, please let me know."
1) I'm moving this weekend and already told my landlord to take the January rent out of my security deposit.
2) My friend got the same text a few weeks ago and called his landlord to see what the deal was. Landlord knew nothing about it.
There's loads of scams in China, most of which affect locals more than foreigners. While discussing this text message at lunch today, my colleague said someone in our building got swindled out of RMB20,000 (>$3,000) last week! Watch out, and ignore texts/calls from strangers.
Loving what's happening with female R&B/Rap at the moment:


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Gods in Ancient Egypt
Oskar Kaelin
The ancient Egyptians were surrounded by various manifestations of their many gods. Though their gods usually lived in heaven or in the netherworlds, they were permanently represented on earth by monuments, statues, symbols, animals, and plants, as well as by social concepts. The Egyptians described their gods by various names and images, always aware that in the end their true personalities and characters remained elusive.
The ancient Egyptian universe comprised heaven, earth, and netherworld, all part of creation and surrounded by eternal darkness. Though separate areas, they were permeable for the gods and the dead. The universe ran smoothly as long as there was respect and cooperation between them and the living. This formed an ideological, social, and economic cohesion.
The gods were powerful but benevolent, and approachable in many ways. The divine king was the hub between the world of the gods and the human sphere. He was the main entity responsible for organizing the supply and welfare of the humans, and for keeping order. During official festivals, the living, the gods, and the dead celebrated together, but there were also a number of more personal ways to approach deities. The various sites of interaction between gods and men formed a vast network connecting all the players: the gods were responsible for creation and abundance, the kings and elites were primarily responsible for ensuring that the system ran according to Maat ("Order"), and the people were responsible for living and working throughout the country.
The system of ancient Egyptian gods structured Egyptian ideas, policies, and everyday life from the end of the 4th millennium
Islam, Art, and Depictions of Prophets
Rachel Milstein
The history of figurative painting in Islamic lands, although limited to certain regions and periods, includes a meaningful variety of saintly iconographies, mostly as book illustrations. Produced from the turn of the 14th to the early 17th century in Iranian capital cities or in the Ottoman Empire, paintings of prophets illuminate manuscripts of universal histories, encyclopedias, didactic poetry, and anthologies of prophetic biographies (Stories of the Prophets). They depict personages, not necessarily prophets, from the Old and the New Testaments, two Arab prophets mentioned in the Qur'an, and finally Muhammad (and ʿAli, although he was not a prophet). The acts of these figures served as moral and spiritual models for the individual believers and, no less so, for the desired behavior of Muslim rulers. In Iran, the message of the illustrated texts and their paintings shifts from historical to moral, and often to mystical. In the Ottoman Empire, in addition, the prophets were conceived as forefathers of the Ottoman dynasty. In Moghul India, only Solomon and Jesus were depicted, not very often, while Joseph's story was quite popular in late Kashmir. The impact of Western iconography and style, which characterize the recurrence of Jesus' image, is seen also in later Iran, where portrayals of Solomon, Joseph, and Jesus were painted mainly on decorative objects, such as pen boxes and book bindings.
Magic and the Occult in Martin Luther's World
Kathryn A. Edwards
In the 15th- and early-16th-century German-speaking lands, reports circulated of spirits shaking the walls of houses, comets presaging imminent doom, and dwarves warning miners to leave their tunnels. Widely accepted, such accounts point to a worldview in which the natural was believed to encompass a far broader swath of beings and activities than modern definitions of the term. Humans were enmeshed in a world where forces beyond human experience and, at times understanding, were active; they accepted their place in it and manipulated it, if necessary.
When studying such attitudes and the practices surrounding them, scholars of late medieval and early modern religious movements must move beyond truisms about "magical" or "enchanted" worlds to understand the impulses driving both reformers and those they wished to reform. Certainly 15th- and 16th-century Germans accepted that the divine permeated all creation, as creation was a product of God, and they saw divine manifestations throughout their world. Based on this truism, scholars have debated the extent to which pre-modern Europe was an enchanted world for approximately a century. Yet the powers imbuing that world had a more complex relationship to divinity than the somewhat romantic connotations of "enchanted" found in various modern works. Magicians, witches, devils, and other entities were all created beings who could access powers beyond the normal ken but were certainly not divine, despite any claims they might make to the contrary. Because such powers were imbued into nature itself, they were accessible to ordinary humans as well. And access them humans did! They were invoked to protect a village, cure ill children, and ward off injuries to livestock. They could also be used for evil, and archival and print documents attest to the practice of maleficent or demonic magic by learned clergy and illiterate peasants alike. When Protestant reformers demanded recognition of God's omnipotence, they implicitly condemned this applied, occult magic and, in the process, practices that reflected a complete cosmology, that is, an understanding of how this world and the heavens operated. In this circumstance, it is not surprising that even the early reformers themselves could seem reluctant to abandon this immanent occultism.
Popular Culture and Religion in America
Lynn Schofield Clark and Seth M. Walker
"Popular culture" is a term that usually refers to those commercially produced items specifically associated with leisure, media, and lifestyle choices. To study religion in popular culture, then, is to explore religion's appearance in the commercially produced artifacts and texts of a culture.
The study of popular culture has been a catalyst of sorts in the context of studying religion. Some have speculated that with the increasing presence of religion in commercially produced products and specifically in the entertainment media, religion may be reduced to entertainment. Others, however, have argued that religion has always been expressed and experienced through contemporary forms of culture, and thus its manifestation in popular culture can be interpreted as a sign of the vitality rather than the demise or superficiality of contemporary religions.
Popular culture is worthy of study given its role in cultural reproduction. The study of popular culture and religion encourages scholars to consider the extent to which popular cultural representations limit broader critical considerations of religion by depicting and reinforcing taken-for-granted assumptions of what religion is, who practices it and where, and how it endures as a powerful societal institution. Alternately, popular culture has been explored as a site for public imaginings of how religious practices and identities might be different and more inclusive than they have been in the past, pointing toward the artistic and playful ways in which popular religious expression can comment upon dominant religion, dominant culture, and the power relations between them.
With the rise of an ubiquitous media culture in which people are increasingly creators and distributors as well as consumers and modifiers of popular culture, the term has come to encompass a wide variety of products and artifacts, including those both commercially produced and generated outside of traditional commercial and religious contexts. Studies might include explorations of religion in such popular television programs as Orange Is the New Black or in novels such as The Secret Life of Bees, but might also include considerations of how religion and popular culture intersect in practices of Buddhism in the virtual gaming site Second Life, in the critical expressions of Chicana art, in the commercial experiments of Islamic punk rock groups, and in hashtag justice movements.
The study of religion and popular culture can be divided into two major strands, both of which are rooted in what is known as the "culture and civilization tradition." The first strand focuses on popular culture, myth, and cultural cohesion or continuity, while the second explores popular culture in relation to religion, power, and cultural tensions.
Religion and Humanity in Mesopotamian Myth and Epic
Louise Pryke
Concepts of religion and humanity form an integral component of Mesopotamian narrative literature, and these ideas are evidenced in the frequent exploration of themes involving mortality and immortality, power and authority, and creation and destruction. Through the use of plot, characterization, literary themes and techniques, and also structure, Mesopotamian myths and epics transmit religious ideas and beliefs, as well as informing on cultural identity and meaning. In both oral and written transmission, storytelling is a powerful medium for exploring ancient theology.
Religious ideas are expressed in a wide array of Mesopotamian literary works, and while some features, such as the polytheistic view of the divine hierarchy, remain generally constant, different texts and "genres" show changes in focus and in the perception of the divine and the human. While deities and supernatural creatures have a prominent role in literature, Mesopotamian myth is not only concerned with theistic matters, but also with what it means to be human.
It is often observed in modern scholarly works that humans, in the Babylonian Flood narrative of Atrahasis, and the creation myth of Enuma Elish, were born to serve the gods and perform their menial tasks. This is undoubtedly an important observation for the analysis of humanity and religion, yet the presentation of human/divine relations as one of simple subjection gives a misleading and superficial impression of the interaction between the mortal and divine spheres, one that is at odds with the subject's complexity, variety, and subtlety.
Myths and epics provide a multifaceted picture of a number of different types of relationships between gods and humans: even in the narrative of Atrahasis, individual deities interact with humans in different ways; there is no "one size fits all" divine connection in Mesopotamian literature. Despite a rigid hierarchy in favor of the divine, these relationships are frequently close, involving strong emotional bonds. The human/divine connection is not solely beneficial to either party, but reciprocal and often mutually rewarding. At the same time, the relations between humans and deities can be destructive and damaging—with the harm most often depicted to occur on the human side, possibly because of the vulnerability offered by mortality and the lack of supernatural abilities. Humanity is reflected in the anthropomorphic representations of deities and also the sociomorphism of their family-oriented community structure. For heroes of epic literature, the divine connection can be perilous, but also rewarding. The success of heroes in accessing divine support is frequently (but not exclusively) linked to the morality of their actions.
Religion and humanity in literature concern not only deities' interactions with humans, but also how the authors of literature conceptualized and gave meaning to the human condition. It is clear from Mesopotamian literature that close, positive relationships with the divine were important for survival and success during the human lifespan (and even beyond), yet at the same time, the answer to questions of finding meaning in mortal existence is at times presented in very human terms. Love, alongside shared human achievements and experiences, is presented in several literary sources as essential for giving meaning to the human condition.
Tibetan Buddhism and the Gesar Epic
Solomon George FitzHerbert
In both eastern Tibet and in Mongolia, the Buddhist cult surrounding the figure of Ling Gesar (Gling ge sar) or Geser Khan in Mongolian versions is an outgrowth of Gesar's standing as the eponymous hero of an elaborate oral epic tradition. Today, the epic and the Buddhist cult exist side by side in a relationship of symbiosis. Gesar's sanctification as an enlightened being—as the combined manifestation of the Three Bodhisattva Lords and as an "emissary" or "manifestation" of Padmasambhava—whose tricksterism is enacted on behalf of the forces of goodness, justice, and the White Side in its perennial battle against the forces of evil, injustice, and the Dark Side—is both an outgrowth but also a source of nourishment for the epic tradition as it has continued to adapt and develop up to our own times.
The Gesar/Geser epic, in all the three main regions in which it survives (eastern Tibet and its neighboring regions, the Mongolic regions as far west as Kalmykia, and Ladakh and neighboring regions), is a living and mobile tradition of oral recitation and improvisation. The available textual corpus of this epic is very large, though none of it is very old (the oldest available epic texts in Tibetan are from the 17th century and in Mongolian are from 18th century). Thanks in part to sustained state patronage in the PRC, there are now over 200 published volumes of non-duplicating Gesar epic narrative and song, mostly from eastern Tibet. A lot of this material is of a directly oral provenance. Many modern volumes are the direct transcriptions (with some editing) of the oral repertoires of contemporary bards, some of which have been very lengthy. To take one example, the recorded repertoire of the bard Samdrup (Bsam grub) (1922–2011) was over 3,000 hours long, much of which has now been published. As for literary versions, the authors of Gesar epic texts often make explicit the debt that their tellings owe to oral renditions that they have heard. The mid-18th-century author of the famous Horling Yülgyé (Hor gling g.yul 'gyed), for example, mentions that he based his telling on the oral repertoires of "some twenty bards," several of whom he cites by name. Due to the heterogeneity and sheer volume of this available textual corpus, it is hard to make categorical assertions about the relationship between Buddhism and the epic tradition, since that relationship varies from version to version. However, some general observations may be offered. In the ritual cult devoted to Gesar that evolved from the epic tradition, matters are somewhat clearer. In the ritual texts devoted to Gesar—which are mostly offering texts—the unruly polyphony of the epic (many bards, many characters, many perspectives) is replaced with a neater integrated vision, in which the hero is praised as a totalizing culture hero and enlightened lord—a hero in every register, both worldly and spiritual, both chivalric and shamanistic.


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Christian Apologetics and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is critical to the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, "if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain" (I Cor:15:14). Traditionally, Christianity has believed in a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ.[1] The Christian apologist Michael Horner of CRU has an excellent resource which offers a defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ entitled Did Jesus really rise from the dead?. In addition, Dr. Gary Habermas offers an online audio library which defends the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Tim Chaffey of Answers in Genesis offers an excellent defense of Jesus's resurrection, as does GotQuestions.
In recent history, Dr. Gary Habermas is considered the foremost Christian apologist for defending the resurrection of Jesus.[2][3][4][5][6] Dr. Habermas had a debate against the philosopher Antony Flew regarding the resurrection which was chronicled in the work Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate and the debate had a panel of debate judges. J. Hampton Keathley, III, Th.M. in his essay Evidences for the Resurrection wrote: "The decision of the judges were as follows. The panel of philosophers judging content cast four votes for Habermas who argued for the fact of the resurrection, none for Flew, and one draw. The panel of professional debate judges voted three to two, also in favor of Habermas, this time regarding the method of argumentation technique." [7]
In recent history some notable defenders of the resurrection include: William Lane Craig, Ben Witherington, Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Edwin M. Yamauchi, N.T. Wright and Michael Horner.[8][9][10][11][12]
Christian legal apologetics
For more information please see: Christian legal apologetics
Legal scholars, legal authorities, and eminent lawyers such as Simon Greenleaf, John Warwick Montgomery, Lord Darling, John Singleton Copley, Hugo Grotius, Lord Caldecote, J. N. D. Anderson, Lionel Luckhoo, and many others have asserted that western legal standards argue for the resurrection of Christ.[13]
See also
- ↑ http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crj0056a.txt
- ↑ http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/dialog_rexperience/dialog_rexperiences.htm
- ↑ http://www.tektonics.org/books/lichabrvw.html
- ↑ http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/CTR-NT/Habermas-Resurrection2-CTR.pdf
- ↑ http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/crj_explainingaway/crj_explainingaway.htm
- ↑ http://www.apologetics.com/default.jsp?bodycontent=/articles/historical_apologetics/habermas-nt.html
- ↑ http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=639
- ↑ http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/historical.html
- ↑ http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html
- ↑ http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html
- ↑ http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Early_Traditions.htm
- ↑ http://powertochange.com/discover/faith/jesusrose1/
- ↑


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When NCAA needs leadership, Mark Emmert takes a low profile
- Annual address moved from Thursday to Sunday morning
- Last year%27s address was contentious
- College sports changing%2C and NCAA appearing slow to adapt
ARLINGTON, Texas — Rarely does a day go by without something happening that threatens the future of the NCAA.
Players unionizing. Players suing the governing body. Big conferences agitating for more power. Concussions. Doping. One-and-done. And on and on and on it goes.
The NCAA needs a strong leader now more than ever, someone with vision and backbone. So far, President Mark Emmert hasn't shown any signs of having either.
Had Emmert held his state of the union Thursday, as has been the norm for years, he would have been front and center on a day when little else was going on. He would have had the chance to change the conversation, or at least mount a vigorous defense of his organization.
Instead, he's not speaking until Sunday morning, a time slot that guarantees no one will hear a word.
The move was made to accommodate schedules, with three members of the NCAA's Board of Directors joining Emmert. Never mind that the Final Four has a fixed spot on the calendar, as established as the Fourth of July or Halloween.
That these folks couldn't — or wouldn't — clear their schedules is further proof the NCAA doesn't grasp how dire a situation it's facing. Like it or not, the collegiate athletic system is going to change — drastically. But rather than being proactive and taking the lead, Emmert and the NCAA seem content to let others dictate their fate.
That, or they're burying their heads in the sand in hopes all this will go away. I'm not sure which is more irresponsible.
There was a time when the NCAA president used his Final Four news conference to announce new initiatives or tackle contentious issues. Myles Brand will never be confused with Winston Churchill, but he used his last Final Four appearance in 2009 to announce that in addition to tracking academic progress rates by school, the NCAA would now do it by coach, too.
And when he was asked about Kentucky giving new coach John Calipari a contract that would pay him a jaw-dropping $4 million a year, Brand had harsh words for the member institutions.
"You have to ask some very hard questions, whether this is really in tune with the academic values, whether we've reached a point already that these high salary and packages for coaches has really extended beyond what's expected within the academic community," Brand said then. "Those questions really have to be asked.
"Now, we can't answer them. It's anti-trust if we were to try to regulate any salaries. But I would hope our university presidents and our conferences would ask those questions themselves."
Contrast that with Emmert's news conference last year, in which he patted himself on the back for being a reformer, then got testy when challenged about what changes he'd actually brought. Rather than using his platform to rail against NCAA members who stonewalled efforts to close the gap between the value of scholarships "student-athletes" get and the true cost of their education — an idea he'd championed, no less — he threw up his hands and said it was beyond his control.
"We'll see if that piece can be done," Emmert said. "I'm hopeful. I've been outspoken that I'd like to see that happen, but of course it's not my decision. It's up to the board. We'll have to wait and see."
And when he was asked about the many lawsuits the NCAA was facing from players and former players, he was downright flip.
"If you're not getting sued today," he said, "you're not doing anything."
Not exactly Mount Rushmore material there.
There's no question Emmert is in a tough spot. The NCAA members are an unwieldy bunch with more conflicting interests than Congress. About the only thing they agree on is that they don't want another Roger Goodell, who acts at the behest of NFL owners yet still manages to get things done.
But that's no excuse for being a lapdog.
Take a stand. Give an opinion. Find a way to make the university presidents see that the cash cow that is college athletics is going to wind up in someone else's hands if they don't find a way to adapt. Protect the "student-athletes" you claim to prize so much.
These are tough times in college athletics, and they're only going to get more challenging. The NCAA needs someone who is up to the task.
Or, at the very least, someone who's willing to show his face when people are paying attention, rather than when it's convenient.


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"The Secret in Their Eyes," this year's Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, is poised to get tossed into the Hollywood Remake Machine.
Warner Bros. is attempting to secure the rights to make a new English-language version of the Argentine thriller, reported 24 Frames. The studio wants Billy Ray, writer-director of "Shattered Glass" and "Breach," and scribe of the upcoming "24" movie, to adapt and direct.
The story "The Secret in Their Eyes" is a great film told in a series of flashbacks as federal investigator Benjamin Esposito tries to recall the events surrounding the savage rape and murder of a beautiful newlywed. Looking back a quarter-century rekindles long-buried feelings for his former supervisor, Irene Menendez Hastings.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
There's some question as to whether or not Ray will try to find an American parallel to the Peronista's Dirty War that terrorized Argentina in the '70s. Failing to do so would be a huge mistake, gutting the film of much of its dread. Part of what makes "The Secret" so effective is the underlying sense of death and duplicity that pervades the society. That era, with its political climate, inspired some of the very best in paranoid American cinema, from "The Conversation" to "The Parallax View" to "Three Days of the Condor."
Considering the recent box-office failure of "Let Me In," a remake of the 2008 Swedish vampire film "Let the Right One In," this seems like an uncommonly gutsy move on the studio's part. Despite getting strong reviews from just about every corner of cyberspace, including ours, "Let Me In," finished eighth in its opening weekend, taking in less than $6 million.


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Skip to 0 minutes and 7 secondsI found the adjustment quite difficult. It was quite hard to be away from home, but then again, you're living in a flat with lots of people that are in the same boat as you. And it's just the adjustment of being independent, I think. You're responsible for everything that you do. Think the most important advice that I can give is just to be completely organised and on top of all your work. Just really get to grips with your course and become an independent person, and not having to rely on people, because it's all about your time. Get out there. Be outgoing. Try all the clubs and societies. It's very important for personal development.
Skip to 0 minutes and 37 secondsBut I'd also say, remember at the end of the day you're here to get a degree. And focus on getting a job. So you need to balance those two things up. When you get to university, , you need to make friends. You need to find your social groups. You need to feel like you're actually part of the union as well. There's much more to it than your faculty, or more specifically your department. I think work hard, play hard. It's important to put effort into your studies because that's why you come to uni. But you can't just be a social recluse. You need to make friends as well, otherwise you're going to have a rubbish time.
Skip to 1 minute and 8 secondsIt really is up to you to do things properly and do your own work. There's nobody nagging you in the same way at school. You have to really put the effort in. If you don't hand in coursework or turn up to lectures nothing will happen. You might get a meeting with your tutor, but no disciplinary action will be taken unless it gets to extreme levels, so you're the one that's going to lose out. Throw yourself into your subject because that's how you'll enjoy it. You want to come out of this with a good degree. That's why you're doing it. I enjoyed my first year a lot, to say the least.
Skip to 1 minute and 41 secondsI made so many new friends, learned so many new things. And I can just urge people who are applying to university and maybe not considering going to university. It is a great experience, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Top tips
Here are some top tips for you from undergraduates who have just completed their first year.


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| This page documents Help on the GTA Wiki.
When editing this page, please ensure your contributions are relevant, useful and easy for other people to understand. If in doubt, discuss on the talk page.
This page details how to use GTA Wiki.
Finding your Way
To get around GTA Wiki, the best place to start is the Main Page, which shows you the latest news and has some important links on. If you look at Grand Theft Auto, there are links to all the GTA games. On those pages there are links to pages about those games. You can keep following links forever, get redirected a bit, and end up back where you started.
If you click on your name at the top of the page, that takes you to your user page, which is your profile. You can edit that and add in a {{todo}} list and anything you like. The Discussion page of your user profile is where people will leave messages for you. Don't forget that works for other users too: you can visit their profiles and leave messages.
Anybody may edit almost any page simply by clicking the Edit button at the top. See help on Editing on how to format your edits. Whenever you edit a page, please add the reason into the reason box. If your edit is minor (just correcting spelling/grammar/links) then please tick the "minor" box on the edit page.
Some pages are protected. Some of these are protected so that only Administrators can edit them, and others are protected so that anonymous users or new users (registered within the past 4 days) cannot edit them. Most pages are protected because they are important and involve GTA Wiki policy, others are protected to prevent them being vandalised.
If you register and sign in, you have access to a wider range of features, and are less restricted than anonymous members. You have the opportunity to be involved in our community, and keep your own Watchlist of pages you're interested in or have helped on. You can create your own user page (see User:Xenon) and talk to the world about your technical interests.
Creating a Page
If you try to visit a page that doesn't exist (eg Moscow) it will automatically bring you to the editing box where you can create the page. See Editing for help on formatting your pages.
Unlike Wikipedia, GTA Wiki does allow speculative comments and rumours, so long as it is clear that they are such. If there is a rumour of a game coming out (for example), you may post about it so long as you quote your sources and clearly state that it is speculation by using the {{speculation}} template - place it at the top of the page, or for longer articles, place it in the part of the article where the speculation is.
It is illegal to post copyrighted content on GTA Wiki, unless you own the copyright or have direct permission of the copyright holder to post the information. If you include short quotes from a book or website, please clearly reference them (say where they are from). There is no shame in quoting, but there is shame in stealing.
Any user found stealing copyright material may be blocked/banned.
If you post anything on GTA Wiki, you agree for it to be widely viewed, edited and re-used.
In a nutshell, posting offensive/racist/homophobic/xenophobic comments, swearing, and posting illicit/pornographic/suggestive images is strictly forbidden. Any user who does this may be warned and may be blocked/banned.
- Please read Policy for further information on what is/isn't allowed.


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It was so beautiful. It was almost unfair.
It's cold but it's true. It was so cold it got warm.
Kids out in the schoolyard and playing.
It was nice and calm. It was dangerous.
When the MC's came, live out the name
And to perform
Some had to snort cocaine to act insane
Before they rocked the don
Now on to the mental pains, spark the brains
Building to be born
?? is on the track
Check em check chicka icka etta UHH
Strange Times
Everybody got their get high (Oh my)
Their get right, their get nice, they get by (Oh my)
They get open, get ready, get primed
The national pastime is victimless crime
You want your thrill and I want mine
As long we can get it we ain't got to say why
I don't mean to pry, you ain't got to lie
We ain't got to speak when it's written in the eyes
Whenever she was high off the sparkle in her palm
She had a young girl's smile and a hustler's charm
Dying from the city where the hustler's are born
Made, traced, murdered, replaced
Life-long residents barely feel safe
And the street's offer plenty taste and little faith (Break it down)
Little face, soft lips, little waist (Break it more)
Tiny hands (Oh god) fat ass (Oh more)
Big eyes like birthday surprise
Super dupa fly, born in 85
Repeat it to yourself: This is a victimless crime
Psyche your mind there's a victim every time
Your tasty little pill, your freaky little thrill
Pray won't leave you still, you wonder how it feel
It's real, pussy like some money that you steal
When the MC came, fill out the name
And to perform
Some had to snort cocaine to act insane
Before they rocked the don
Now on to the mental pains, spark the brains
Building to be born
Give the people a new drug
Crime and medicine
Dead wrong and live in America
Off the block and right in your area
Fresh apples and peaches for the president
Crime and medicine
Dead wrong and live in your area
From the street corner, right in your residence
Fresh apples and peaches for the president
Fresh peaches and apples for the president
Fresh chocolates and apples for the president
Fresh linens and apples to the president
Langue : Anglais
Genre : Rap
Interprete : mos def


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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a rare tour Monday of China's first aircraft carrier, becoming the first foreign visitor to go aboard the ship, according to Chinese leaders.
But in a speech planned for Tuesday, Hagel will point to cybersecurity as an example of an area where the U.S. would like the Chinese to be more transparent, said a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to talk publicly about the speech in advance of its delivery and therefore spoke only on grounds of anonymity.
Hagel arrived in Beijing Monday after a stop in Japan, where he told reporters that China must be more open about its military buildup and better respect its neighbors — a pointed reference to Beijing's ongoing territorial dispute with Japan and others over remote islands in the East China Sea.
The official acknowledged that the U.S. officials recently met with Chinese leaders and shared some broad information about America's fundamental cybersecurity policies and how the U.S. approaches the challenges in cyberspace. The Chinese, however, have so far refused to reciprocate, and have rebuffed U.S. efforts to gain more clarity on China's cyber operations.
U.S. intelligence and defense officials have long complained about the persistent, aggressive cyberattacks against U.S. government agencies and private corporations that emanate from China.
And Hagel, during unusually forceful remarks on his visit to Japan, drew a direct line between Russia's takeover of Ukraine's Crimea region and the ongoing territorial disputes among China, Japan and others over remote islands in the East China Sea.
Calling China a great power, he added that "with this power comes new and wider responsibilities as to how you use that power, how you employ that military power."
U.S. officials on Monday said the tour of China's aircraft carrier was a good first step toward building better relations with the Chinese.
"The secretary was very pleased with his visit today aboard the carrier Liaoning," said Pentagon press secretary Adm. John Kirby. "He understands how significant it was for the PLA to grant his request for a tour, and he was impressed by the professionalism of the officers and crew. He hopes today's visit is a harbinger for other opportunities to improve our military-to-military dialogue and transparency."
A senior official said that Hagel and a small number of his staff spent about two hours on the ship at Yuchi Naval Base. Hagel received a briefing about the carrier, and then toured its medical facilities, living quarters, flight deck, bridge, and flight control station. He also had refreshments with junior officers in the dining area.
China spent a decade refurbishing the derelict Soviet-era carrier bought from Ukraine before commissioning it as the Liaoning in 2012. It moved to Qingdao in February 2013 and is part of a major expansion of the Chinese navy that includes sophisticated new surface ships and submarines.
The U.S. defense official said the ship is not as fast as a U.S. aircraft carrier and doesn't carry as many aircraft. The official also said the Chinese military leaders agreed that they still have much to learn about naval aviation, and how to operate fighter jets and other aircraft off a navy ship.
Most Read
Hagel earlier this year had asked to see the ship, and a few weeks ago the Chinese agreed.
Early this year the Liaoning completed sea trials in the South China Sea. The official Xinhua News Agency said the carrier tested its combat system, conducted a formation practice and "attained the anticipated objectives."
On Dec. 5, early in the Liaoning's trial run, one of the Chinese ships accompanying it was involved in a near collision with a U.S. Navy cruiser, the USS Cowpens, when it was operating in international waters in the South China Sea. U.S. Navy officials said the Cowpens maneuvered to avoid the collision, but it marked the two nations' most serious sea confrontation in years.
At the time, a Chinese media report said the U.S. ship got too close to the Liaoning.
Hagel is on a 10-day trip to the Asia Pacific region and is scheduled to meet with senior Chinese leaders before traveling to Mongolia, then returning home.


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Question: I've noticed that my hair color fades around my hairline faster than the rest of my hair. Why does that happen? — Kymberly
Answer: "If your hair is turning an orange hue as it fades around your hairline, blame your face wash," says Summer Parham, Redken artist at Cutler Salon in New York. "The worst offenders are anti-aging or anti-acne cleansers, since they usually have a high concentration of acid that strips the color down," Parham explains. Protecting your hair is actually really simple and you don't need to switch cleansers or anything crazy like that — just create a buffer between your hairline and the suds by wearing a terry cloth headband, I like the American Apparel Unisex Flex Terry Headband, $6. It comes in tons of cute colors and will catch the cleanser before it has a chance to get to your locks. "If instead of turning orange, your color fades or starts to look hollow (not the dense saturation you see immediately after your dye), you probably need to switch to a more full-coverage color," says Parham. If you dye at home, switch from a demi- or semi-permanent haircolor to permanent. Try Clairol Perfect 10 By Nice 'N Easy, $13. If you go to a salon, ask your colorist to add some grey oxidizing drops to the formula, like G.O.D Grey Oxidizing Drops, $10, to lock in color and prevent fading, suggests Parham. Luckily, either way you don't have to sacrifice your hair color for a favorite face wash.
Image via: lisabonnici tumblr


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Hyung-Jin Kim
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: South Korea says North Korea has fired four suspected short-range missiles into its eastern waters.
A Defense Ministry official said North Korea fired four projectiles believed to be short-range missiles with a range of more than 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) into the waters off its east coast. The official spoke anonymously citing department rules.
North Korea routinely conducts short-range missile tests but Thursday�s launch came three days after South Korea and the U.S. began their annual military drills which Pyongyang calls a rehearsal for invasion. North Korea has recently eased tension by taking a series of conciliatory gestures toward South Korea..


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You can change the way the calendar displays by using the bar below to change your view from month to week to list, or search by date, or by text search. You can select events by particular class under 'Event Category', and you can filter events further by tags. You can then also export the calendar, using the button at the bottom of the screen.
Events for 10 February 2019
Events Search and Views Navigation
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Product Highlights
- Efficient – highly productive target amplification and removal of 3' A overhangs
- Accurate – possesses 3' - 5' proofreading exonuclease activity that delivers an error rate of 3.0 x 10-6 for increased PCR fidelity versus Taq DNA polymerase
- Sensitive – high-yield amplification from limiting amounts of human, animal and plant template DNA
- Robust – developed for reliable amplification of even the most challenging targets, including genomic DNA and GC-rich targets
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Product Description
ACCUZYME™ is a proprietary proofreading enzyme that offers increased-fidelity and high PCR yield, even in demanding applications. ACCUZYME has an error-rate of 3.0 x 10-6 and results in blunt-ended amplicons up to 5 kb in length, making it ideal for use in cloning and site-directed mutagenesis.
ACCUZYME is supplied with a buffering system that provides ideal conditions for most PCR assays. Consequently, the cost and effort typically associated with optimizing assay performance is often eliminated. In circumstances where further optimization is required to improve PCR specificity and/or yield, ACCUZYME includes an additional vial of MgCl2.
- High-fidelity PCR
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Product SelectionPlease refer to the PCR Selection Chart to confirm the recommended product for your PCR application.
Certification of Analysis (COAs)
500 Reactions
ACCUZYME DNA Polymerase
200 µL
10x AccuBuffer
2 x 1.2 mL
50 mM MgCl2 Solution
1.2 mL
2.5 u/µL
Storage & Stability
All components should be stored at -20°C upon receipt for optimum stability. Repeated freeze/thaw cycles should be avoided.
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Shipping conditions
On Dry Ice or Blue Ice.
ACCUZYME DNA polymerase has an extremely fast extension rate compared to other proofreading enzymes, which are naturally slower than non-proofreading polymerases due to their ability to go back and correct nucleotide mis-incorporations. These polymerases will extend at a rate of as little as 30 s/kb, depending on the template amplified. Extension should be carried out at 68°C for optimal results.
Please Note: We do not recommend the storage of our polymerases at -80 °C as ice crystals could form on the active site, which may affect or destroy the activity of the enzyme.
|Recommended Solution(s)
|No or low PCR yield
|Enzyme concentration too low – increase the amount of enzyme in 0.5 U increments.
|Primers degraded – check quality and age of the primers.
|Magnesium concentration too low – increase concentration in 0.25 mM increments with a starting concentration of 1.75 mM.
|Primer concentration not optimized. Titrate primer concentration (0.3-1 µM); ensuring that both primers have the same concentration.
|Template concentration too low – Increase concentration of template.
|Perform a positive control to ensure that the enzyme, dNTPs and buffers are not degraded and/or contaminated.
|Multiple Bands
|Primer annealing temperature too low. Increase annealing temperature. Primer annealing should be at least 5°C below the calculated Tm of primers.
|Prepare master mixes on ice or use a heat-activated polymerase.
|For problems with low specificity. Try adding 3% DMSO (not supplied) to improve specificity.
|Smearing or artifacts
|Template concentration too high. Prepare serial dilutions of template.
|Too many cycles. Reduce the cycle number by 3-5 to remove non-specific bands.
|Enzyme concentration too high - decrease the amount of enzyme in 0.5 U increments.
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My DNA sample contains PCR inhibitors, which impairs my PCR results. What can I do for optimization?
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Business Advisers | Chartered Accountants | Statutory Auditors
020 8785 4690
Liles Morris can help taxpayers in the Surrey area with queries you have regarding dividends – here is an overview of the new Dividend Allowance scheme...
A person does not have to pay tax on the first £2,000 of dividend income, regardless of the level of non-dividend income. Tax is charged on dividends received over £2,000 at the following rates:
The Dividend Allowance does not reduce total income for tax purposes, and dividends within the allowance still count towards the appropriate basic or higher rate bands. They may therefore affect the rate of tax payable on dividends received in excess of the £2,000 allowance.
This is a quite straightforward example, based on 2019-20 tax rates and allowances, showing the taxable amounts after allocating the relevant allowances to the two types of income.
Dividend Allowance
This example is more complicated, in that it splits the dividend allowance into two - £1,500 to use up the balance of the basic rate band and £500 to 'eat into' the higher rate band.
Liles Morris can advise businesses in the Surrey area on a range of tax issues relating to dividends. Please contact us for more information.
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There's still plenty of time to wrap up holiday shopping. Stuff your collection of stockings with a couple of these fun and frugal small gifts.
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Today we found some awesome articles on scoring free stocking stuffers, what your sleeping position says about your relationship with money, and digging your way out of debt.
Today we found some stellar articles on 97 Christmas stocking stuffer ideas, things not worth the money, and ways to find out if you are financially compatible.
Today we found some fantastic articles on ways to get free stocking stuffers, reasons to make your child's Halloween costume, and amazing job perks.
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Job Vacancy – Principal Recipient TB 'Aisyiyah : Field Operations Staff
'Aisyiyah is a Moslem Women organization founded in Indonesia in 1917 with concern for social and religious issues. Principal Recipient TB 'Aisyiyah (PR-TB 'Aisyiyah) is a Global Fund Project to fight Tuberculosis disease focused on community-based activities, managed by the Health Division of Central Board of 'Aisyiyah. In Round 8 (2009-2014) of Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria (GF-ATM) program, 'Aisyiyah has been chosen to represent the Indonesian Civil Society as Principal Recipient (PR) of Global Fund to carry out a "Community TB-Care Program" in coordination with two other PRs, the Ministry of Health and the Faculty of Public Health University Indonesia. As Principal Recipient (PR), 'Aisyiyah is responsible to coordinate community level activities of 22 Sub-Recipient (SR) which includes 13 'Aisyiyah Provincial Boards, 2 Faith-Based Organizations (Nahdatul 'Ulama & Perdhaki) and 7 local NGOs (KMP-TB Sidobinangun Lampung tengah, YARSI, PKPU, LKC, PPTI Semarang).
The Community TB-Care Program currently covers 18 provinces (54% of Indonesia's provinces), 35 districts (8% of districts) and will be expanded to about 45 districts. PR- TB 'Aisyiyah is currently seeking candidate to fill the position below:
Position: Field Operation Staff
Location: Jakarta
Reports to: Field Operation Coordinator
Salary range: 5-6 million rupiah per month
Basic Job Tasks:
- Assess completeness & accuracy of Grant Agreement for SR and other documents related to funding of SR/ SSR
- Under guidance from Field Operations Coordinators, facilitate the SR in reviewing POA (Plans of Action) and SR reports to ensure that activities at SR level are implemented in accordance to the approved POA
- Work with Field Operations Coordinators to overcome problems SR level on findings of PR-Team supervision, and internal/external audits. Including frequent travel to the fields as needed (40-60% of time).
- Review Letter Employment Agreement (SPK) for staff at the SR level and ensure that it is in accordance with PPP (Guidelines for Project Implementation) PR –TB 'Aisyiyah
- Prevent & avoid conflicts of interest through standard procedures according to the scope and responsibilities
Education & Work Experience
- S-1 graduate of any major, preferably in social, public health or economic field. S-2 degree an advantage
- Minimum 3 years experience (for S1) and 1 year experience (for S2 graduates) in similar position
- Capable in the intermediate level usage of computers (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and statistic software
- Ability to use Information & Communication Technology (internet research)
- Able to work under pressure and with a high degree of independence
- Fluency in both written/spoken English and Bahasa and good communication skills (both written and oral) to interact effectively with Partners and SR/SSR
- Ability to persuade and influence others to follow operational procedures/practices
- Good interpersonal skills – should be a self-starter, highly motivated and adaptable
- Ability to work in a team – able to work congenially and productively with others
- Capable to work independently and work in a team with strong interpersonal and communication skills (written & oral) to interact effectively with Partners and SR/SSR
- Have the ability to read and look critically for the problem and can find alternative solutions
- Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines & multiple priorities and able to plan own work, setting priorities and completing it under pressure or when faced with competing demands
- Able to communicate/interact well with people of different educational, cultural & socio-economic backgrounds.
- Ability to oversee timely project implementation, undertake results-based management and reporting as well as do "trouble-shooting" to keep project implementation on schedule.
Interested people should contact: Senior Administrator, PR-TB 'Aisyiyah at [email protected] Closing Dates : 24 September 2016


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Welcome to this week's edition of Aloha Friday, hosted by Kailani over at An Island Life. In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day to take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So, on Fridays we can take it easy on blog posting, too.
I'll ask a simple question for you to answer - nothing that requires a lengthy response. If you'd like to participate, visit An Island Life where you can link up with your own question and also visit the other participants! It's a great way to make new bloggy friends!
Do you play any musical instruments? If not, which instrument would you most like to play?
As a child, I took piano lessons for about three years and clarinet lessons for one year. To this day, quitting piano is one of my biggest regrets.


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This is an excerpt from Sirk's Notebook. Read the whole notebook here.
The 2-1 win over Toronto capped an incredible season for Josh Williams. Despite signing in September of 2010, Williams did not appear in a league game with the Crew until the home opener against Montreal on March 24. Injuries opened the door for Williams, and he took full advantage with his solid play. By the end of the season, he had played in 30 games, with 27 starts, one goal, and three assists. After being one of the Crew's best players while playing center back, his versatility allowed him to fill-in at left back for the second half of the season, even though it's not his natural position.
(To learn more about Williams' amazing journey, here are two features I wrote in the spring. Part one is at Fox Sports Ohio and part two is here at TheCrew.com.)
As we spoke in the locker room for the last time in 2012, I asked Williams if, on opening day, he ever imagined his season playing out like it did.
"Not at all," he said. "I was thankful just to get on the field and happy that the coaches had confidence in me. It seemed like just yesterday that you and I sat down for that first interview, and then it seemed like I blinked, and we're standing here today and I'm wondering, 'Where did the season go?' It's just nice to be a part of this organization I rooted for growing up, and now I get to put the jersey on. And then to go through what we've gone through, it's a very close group of guys. We've bonded really well. It was nice to get a win here and end the season on a positive note."
Williams ended his personal season on a fitting note when his 90th minute header went right to the goalie. Williams had several tantalizing near misses over the course of the year. He hit posts, he had shots cleared off the line, and had two goals called back—one on a dubious off-the-ball foul call and another by an incorrect offside. He did finally score a goal that counted on August 29 in Philadelphia. Alas, his last minute header in the season finale did not get him a well-deserved second goal that would enable him to celebrate with the home fans.
"I had that planned out a little different when I came running in," he said with a laugh. "I was thinking, 'This would be the dream ending to bang one in at the 90th minute,' but of course, with how it's gone this year…I'm just glad I got one. Otherwise, I could have spent all offseason thinking about could have been. It was a fitting ending. It was a good ball and I tried to get to a good spot, but I'm not really about the stats and all that. As long as we got the win, I'm fine."
Williams now heads into a very different offseason. Gone are any questions or doubts about whether he will return. He now has the confidence that he is an integral part of the team.
"It's definitely good knowing that," he said. "We've got a lot of good talent here. I think a big reason I excelled this year was because of my training last offseason. I need to get back to the gym and come back more ready than I was this year. I proved I can play in this league, but I want to take it up a notch."


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You know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, days that mark the traditional kickoff of the Christmas shopping season. However, do you know about Giving Tuesday?
#GivingTuesday, (note the Twitter hashtag symbol) is a national day of giving supporters hope will become an annual event, the official start of the charitable giving season.
You're encouraged to donate the money you saved Friday and Monday, and perhaps a little more, to a nonprofit of your choice Tuesday and beyond.
#GivingTuesday began last year. The 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association in New York City was the catalyst with the United Nations Foundation providing strategic and communications expertise. More than 2,500 charities, volunteer organizations, corporations and foundations came together in all 50 U.S. states to celebrate philanthropy.
The idea behind #GivingTuesday is to encourage people to engage in acts of giving after the big holiday shopping weekend. Those acts of giving could be anything from donating to a local organization or volunteering.
Many of us were counting our blessings Thanksgiving Day. The least we could do is to share from our bounty and open our checkbooks and hearts to help those who are less fortunate.
Donating and/or volunteering are lasting gifts, gifts that will be remembered long after the latest electronic gadget is deemed obsolete.
"As a founding partner of #GivingTuesday, we are excited to join other United Ways in #GivingTuesday," said Paul Logli, president and CEO of the United Way of the Rock River Valley. "Collectively we are redefining what it means to 'give' and inspiring people to get involved in creating lasting positive change in their communities,"
United Way is just one of the many organizations you can give to. United Way, which distributes donations to member agencies, offers one-stop shopping if you don't know where to go. The agency also is the go-to place if you would like to volunteer.
Another suggestion is our own Empty Stocking Club, which is well under its goal with less than two weeks to go before we distribute toys to boys and girls who might not otherwise receive a Christmas present.
You should also consider the Rockford Rescue Mission, The Salvation Army, your church or any other nonprofit. You can go online to see other suggestions.
According to the World Giving Index, produced by the Charity Aid Foundation, the United States was the most charitable country in 2011, although that ranking dropped to fifth in 2012 behind Australia, Ireland, Canada and New Zealand.
People in the Rock River Valley tend to be amazingly generous with their time and money. Thursday we will honor people and organizations that make a difference in our community at our annual Excalibur and Excelsior Awards banquet.
However, you don't have to be an award-winner to be a difference-maker. We hope #GivingTuesday inspires more people to be involved and help where they can.


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Morrie's Automotive Group
Sponsored By
Teen Gets Dream Car From Morrie's & Make A WishSixteen-year-old Matthew Wood thought he was just taking a look at a collection of classic cars. However, it was just a detour to get to the one that was waiting for him. He knew that a project was in the works through the Make a Wish Foundation to restore his favorite car – a 1968 Dodge Charger. Make a Wish even had to ask Morrie's Automotive Group for extra help to make a teenage cancer patient's dream come true.


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John Hopcroft
Through pioneering research and wide-reaching textbooks, John Hopcroft and Jeffrey D. Ullman are known as two of the most influential figures responsible for shaping the field of computer science. These giants of computer science first met in 1964 when Dr. Ullman took Dr. Hopcroft's automata theory course at Princeton University. Together, they wrote the book on automata theory and formal languages that was used by universities around the world to educate the first generation of computer scientists, Formal Languages and Their Relation to Automata. It's successor, Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation, is still in use today.
Dr. Hopcroft is considered one of only a handful of computer scientists who created the discipline of theoretical computer science, unifying automata theory and formal languages during the late 1960s. He also determined that computer programming could be synthesized into a theory of algorithms and that these algorithms could be evaluated by their asymptotic complexity. This led to a set of design principles that could be used to design optimal algorithms. An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Hopcroft is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He is currently the IBM Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.


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This is my final cry for help before throwing my son Ace and my brother Larry out of what has been thier home for the last five years based on the poor judgment of Upshur County Judge Lauren Parish. If I do not do this I may be held in jail for contempt until I comply. Please read the following blogs on Gilmer Mirror Community blogs . You can just click on the hyperlinks provided below or go to Gilmer Mirror Community blogs . If after reading these blogs you believe we are being wronged and would like to see justice finally done in Upshur County please email Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot at firstname.lastname@example.com or call his office at (800) 252-8011.
Attention readers of the Monasco blogs
Upshur County no justice Judicial System
Homeless and Desolate in CorUpsher County
UPDATE to UPDATE Homeless and Desolate
How could anyone in Upshur County respect law enforcement when law enforcement does not respect law? They most definitely don't respect you.
Thank you for your time,
Calvin Monasco


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The average salary for a Supply Chain Manager with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) skills in Cincinnati, Ohio is $90,000.
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What Do Supply Chain Managers Do?
A supply chain manager oversees and coordinates key parts of the franchise supply chain. The three main job responsibilities of a supply chain manager include promoting teamwork between the sales team and customer service team, developing and maintaining policies on general logistics and procedures, and maintaining overall inventory based on demand. A supply chain manager is in direct communication with suppliers and should be able to analyze cost effectiveness of current contracts. They must pr…Read more
Supply Chain Manager Tasks
- Design, implement, and refine production system from materials to product shipment.
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The canine star of a movie about getting a last chance at love is a dog that got a second chance at life when he was rescued from an animal shelter.
Aleister, a 5-year-old terrier mix that was found in a California shelter in 2008, stars alongside Steve Carell and Keira Knightley in "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World." The movie follows Carell's character, Dodge, as he and Penny, played by Knightley, search for his high school sweetheart in the days before Earth is destroyed by an asteroid.
Aleister plays Sorry, a dog Dodge finds attached to his leg after a failed suicide attempt. A note by the dog simply reads "Sorry," and Dodge takes it literally, addressing the dog as Sorry.
"Sorry enters the story right when Dodge has reached his lowest low and given up hope altogether," said writer and director Lorene Scafaria in a press release. "He wakes up that morning and finds he has been given someone else's burden, which becomes a responsibility that gives Dodge's life meaning again.
Gallery: 7 incredibly loyal dogs
"When I saw Aleister and his wonderful scrappy snaggletooth and wiry coat, I loved him and felt, 'Here's our hero dog,'" she said.
But Aleister wasn't the only rescue dog on set.
"These days when a dog has a starring role, having two to three matching dogs is required. I searched all the shelters online to find a double for Aleister, and I finally found a good double but he wasn't available to adopt for another week," said dog trainer Sarah Clifford.
"A week into our training, I called to shelter to check on this dog and find out that they had messed up the dates in the computer system and had scheduled to euthanize the dog that same morning. He was already in the back room when I called. I was so sad to think this wonderful little dog would not be here anymore if I had not had the strange instict to call the shelter that morning to check up on him. So I named the double Mulligan, the do-over dog."
Mulligan learned the ropes quickly and was doing takes only two weeks after he was rescued from the shelter. Clifford says he did the scene where Sorry is crawling down the fire escape, as well as other scenes that required a lot of action.
In addition to Aleister and Mulligan, two other shelter dogs were also involved in the film.
"There was another terrier on-set, a fourth Sorry," said Scafaria. "They just make the set better. Or maybe I'm a crazy-dog-lady-in-the-making."
Related: Vision restored for blind dog rescued from trash pile
Aleister won the hearts of his co-stars early on, and he was particularly fond of Knightley, according to Clifford. When they met, "he went up to her and nestled on her dress," she said.
But it was the dog's on-screen interaction with Steve Carell that was most important to the movie.
"We would take a little bit of time every day before we started filming for what we called a bonding session. We'd get Steve and Aleister comfortable together. Steve gave him treats, and kissed and cuddled him. That way, when Aleister worked with Steve on camera, there was already a bond," Clifford said.
Although "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" is Aleister's first major movie role, his previous credits include print and television commercials for Pedigree, Texas Energy and Microsoft. When he isn't on set, the rescue pup spends his days sunning himself and sleeping upside down on the couch at a movie animals' ranch in Castaic, Calif.
Just how often do shelter dogs end up in movies? More often than you'd think, according to Clifford.
"We almost always utilize the animal shelters to find dogs for film and television. The shelters and rescues are full of future stars! I would say that the majority — at least 80 percent — of all studio dogs come from shelters," she said.
And those doggy doubles that don't stay in show business aren't returned to the shelter.
"After the film I placed Mulligan in a home with a close friend of mine who is a Hollywood makeup artist. Now he lives as a spoiled pet," Clifford said.
"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" arrives in theaters June 22. You can watch the movie trailer below.


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Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that the resolution of today's global economic and financial challenges could get derailed by short-term political thinking, though he remains optimistic that leaders can address long-term issues.
Blair spoke to about 2,100 financial advisors and about 2,000 other guests as the keynote speaker at Schwab Impact 2011 in San Francisco, noting that economic and security issues are the world's greatest problems.
"The best short-term politics do not make the best long-term policy," said Blair, who was prime minister from 1997 to 2007. "Right now is a moment of big decisions and key decision makers. And there is a danger that short-term politics get in the way of the best long-term policies."
He described the challenges and changes affecting the world as similar to those affecting the financial-services industry. "The speed, scope and scale of change and the challenges themselves are immense. Challenges come together, though–when I was in office–I had hoped they would be sequential," Blair explained. "And if you think the [financial] markets are tough, try the Middle East," he added.
Asking the 'Right Question'
"In a world defined by uncertainty, anxiety and low predictability, the challenge for leaders is trying to get the right answer," said Blair. "That is the toughest job of the prime minister." To get there, he explained, you have to first ask the right question.
In terms of the global economy, it is not productive to focus on who caused the financial crisis and how we can prevent a recurrence, in his view. "These are not dominant issues," said Blair. "The key is how to get the economy moving and create jobs. All else should be subordinated to that."
In responding to this, he continued, leaders need to tackle deficit reduction and also "regulate sensibly knowing that a vibrant financial sector is part–a constructive, important part–of our recovery."
While many businesses are flush with cash, "Business needs confidence to invest," Blair said. "We also must use the crisis [as an opportunity] to make changes to our systems and government," including that of the European Union and Monetary Union.
The crisis "has exposed problems, and we need to deal with those problems," he explained. "I welcome what leaders there did a few days ago. We must put into place a long-term framework for fiscal and monetary coordination … and make reforms," Blair said.
The European monetary union, he explained, must "function effectively with fiscal coordination and … the authority … to impose and implement changes that [need] to happen, or we'll end up where we are now," shared the former prime minister. "We have wanted to pretend that the Greek and German economies were run the same way, and they were not, so now we have to adjust."
Occupy Wall Street
In terms of protests on Wall Street and audience questions related to economic inequality, Blair suggested that looking globally for answers was important.
"We must get China to consume more and shift to help the U.S. to revive industry," he explained. "It will be hard but is essential to do."
Education is another way that inequality and the forces of globalization should be dealt with by the West. "The force of globalization is unstoppable," said Blair.
"I know that people are having a tough time. Thus, we have to improve education and educational equality," he explained. "People will have to adapt and adjust several times in life. Education cannot be just for the elite or the top 40% but for all."
Hoping people meet global pressures via education, can also help more individuals find long-term benefits from opportunities emerging from economic expansion worldwide and growing interconnectedness, said Blair. "I oppose protectionism," he noted.
As for the issue of high executive compensation in the United States, Blair said it was important to keep in mind "that those that shout loudest no not necessarily deserve to be heard most," he shared.
"Regulating compensation is not the right debate," Blair said. "The corporate sector needs to better align compensation and achievement. Instead, there should be a greater focus on the stimulation of jobs."
Security Issues
Blair acknowledged that there was some "wariness with our continued engagement overseas" in the minds of the American and British public. He urged those in the West and elsewhere to look at the security threats from terrorism as the direct result of extremism. "This is not a conventional battle, and we are unlikely to see a clash of the conventional kind between any of the larger powers," Blair said.
"This is warfare of an unconventional kind. It's a long fight [against] tactics that include suicide bombings and disruptions to the normal life of those in the countries in which they operate," explained the former prime minister.
"Like the struggle against revolutionary communism, we must fight at different levels," he added, expressing his appreciation for veterans who have fought in the 20th and 21st centuries.
To defeat the extremist ideology, "You have to win not just with arms but with ideas," Blair said, pointing to the continued spread of instability to countries like Kenya and Nigeria.
"We have to stand up for a different set of ideas, and thus should encourage true democracy in the Arab Spring," he explained. "This means having not just a voting system but democracy as an attitude of mind that values free media, expression, religion, open markets and all the [associated] attributes, in other words."
It would be very helpful to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, Blair stressed, since this "would take away some fuel for the broader conflicts."
"We must get people of different faiths working together, and we must use hard and soft power applied intelligently and consistently," he explained. The Transatlantic Alliance is an important way for the Western powers to help resolve both the security and economic challenges they face.
"The U.S. wants to be liked," Blair said. "Give up on that and just be strong. Now, that is what other countries want but will not say. I know it's tough but it's the country's responsibility, and it's why I remain optimistic."
Values Based
As with businesses and advisor practices, nations worldwide are facing fast-paced challenges and change. The rise of China and other powers, he says, should not be seen as overwhelmingly negative.
"I'd say, we are not an empire based on territory or interest alone," Blair shared, "and a fundamental strength of the U.S. and U.K. is that [our systems] are based on values and way of life, which are based on law, liberty, justice, and a society that protects the weak and as well as the broad mass of people. These values will not be made historically redundant."
Positive, Negative Forces
Blair said that China is emulating the economic and industrial development of the West. "And the Arab Spring is so exciting, since it's given people there a chance to express themselves. And they do want the same freedom and liberty as we do."
Still, the former prime minister acknowledged that there are many reasons to "be anxious and worried."
For instance, he said, there are generally three regime types in the Middle East and North Africa–those that have been in power for a long time and are holding onto power, those that are modernizing and open, and those dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, "which is a mixture of forces but distinct," says Blair.
"The second and third groups want get rid of the first, but they have not agreed on what comes afterward," the former political leader noted.
"Members of the second element are numerous but not well organized. Members of the third are pretty numerous and very well organized. We have to engage with this [dynamic], as we are fundamentally impacted by it," Blair said.
Click here to read AdvisorOne's complete coverage of Schwab Impact 2011.
Read about Bill Gross and LizAnn Sonders at Schwab Impact 2011 at AdvisorOne.