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Baylor Regents Celebrate Major Gift, Approve Renovation and Fountain Addition to Fifth Street, Set Tuition and Fees for 2015-2016
Gift from Dr. Thomas Rosenbalm, retired physician and Baylor alum, will "transform" heart of campus
Follow us on Twitter: @BaylorUMedia
Contact: Lori Fogleman, 254-710-6275
WACO, Texas (July 18, 2014) – At its annual summer meeting, Baylor University's Board of Regents celebrated a major gift that will provide for significant renovation to the campus's historic Fifth Street – home to many cherished University traditions, such as Homecoming, Diadeloso and Christmas on Fifth. The gift, which has an approximate value of $8 million, was made by Baylor alumnus and physician Dr. Thomas J. Rosenbalm in honor of his father and mother.
The renovations to Fifth Street will be anchored by a signature fountain that will be named in memory of Dr. Rosenbalm's parents, the late Clarence and Claudia Rosenbalm of Bartlett, Texas.
"We are deeply grateful to Dr. Rosenbalm for his profound expression of love for Baylor embodied in this remarkable act of generosity that will further beautify our campus," said Baylor President and Chancellor Ken Starr. "This gift will allow us to transform Fifth Street, which is so much a part of our most meaningful University traditions, and otherwise re-envision an extraordinarily meaningful space on our campus in a manner that will suitably honor the memory of Clarence and Claudia Rosenbalm and the value they attached to higher education."
A native of Bartlett, Dr. Rosenbalm earned his bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry in 1950 and his master's degree in biology in 1951 from Baylor and was a member of the honorary society of Beta Beta Beta in biological sciences. He went on to complete his M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1955. Upon finishing his internship in San Diego, Dr. Rosenbalm joined the United States Air Force and served for two years in Japan. The remainder of his lengthy career was spent as a family practitioner at North Shore Hospital in Houston, and he served on the board of directors of Hospital Affiliates International, now Hospital Corporation of America. He served the medical needs of East Houston until his retirement in 1985. Both his daughter, Dr. Laura R. Carpenter, B.S.Ed. '91, M.A. in biology '93, and son-in-law, Dr. Robert Carpenter, B.S. '90, M.C.G. '91, M.B.A. '93, are Baylor graduates. Dr. Rosenbalm resides in Spring.
Project details are conceptual but the redesign is expected to include major aesthetic and infrastructure improvements to Fifth Street, as well as the addition of the Rosenbalm Fountain. The area scheduled for the improvements extends from the Bill Daniel Student Center down Fifth Street to the circular drive in front of the McMullen-Connally Faculty Center. The architect is the Office of James Burnett Landscape Architecture. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2015 and scheduled for completion by fall 2015.
Also during its summer meetings, Regents set tuition and fees for 2015-2016. Regents voted to increase undergraduate tuition for the fall 2015 and spring 2016 academic year by 5.45 percent. The adopted change in tuition for next year reflects the lowest percentage growth in two decades as the board continues to work actively to reduce tuition increases and introduce additional affordability initiatives.
With its flat-rate tuition structure, Baylor's tuition will be $36,360 for the 2015-2016 academic year (or $18,180 per fall and spring semesters) while the general student fee will be $3,838 for the 2015-2016 academic year (or $1,919 per fall and spring semesters). Tuition for graduate and professional programs will increase similarly.
A board and institutional priority continues to be funding of student scholarships, with an additional $17.7 million allocated for merit and need-based scholarships for the 2015-2016 academic year.
Regents also approved a specific affordability initiative for the 2015-2016 academic year that will increase scholarships for transfer students who are enrolled in a Baylor Bound-affiliated community college with the intent of transferring to Baylor (currently McLennan Community College in Waco and Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas). The new program will help Baylor Bound students fully realize the anticipated savings by first attending a community college and then completing their degrees at Baylor.
In addition, Regents approved a revised Guaranteed Tuition Option (GTO), one of the major initiatives included in the recently approved five-year goals within Pro Futuris, the University's new strategic vision. This option gives students and their parents the opportunity to lock in a four-year tuition rate, which eliminates uncertainty about the cost of tuition and allows students and families to more accurately prepare their educational budgets. Another goal of the GTO is to help students graduate in four years.
"Since most Baylor Regents are themselves alumni, or the parents of a Baylor graduate, we are keenly aware of the tremendous value, great importance and distinctive nature of a Baylor University education," said Richard Willis, B.B.A. '81, M.B.A. '82, chairman of the Board of Regents. "As a result, we are committed to doing all we can to enhance access to a high-quality Baylor experience while limiting the financial burden we place on students who wish to pursue a Baylor degree. We are working hard to reduce annual tuition increases, build our endowment so that we might provide maximum financial support and implement programs that will help students graduate in a timely manner and effectively transition from Baylor at the conclusion of their studies. With President Starr and senior leaders at the University, we continue to make great progress advancing these critically important goals."
Baylor's tuition and required fees continue to remain lower than peer private institutions in Texas, including Rice, Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University and well below those of most private universities outside of Texas, such as Duke, Emory, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pepperdine, Stanford, Tulane, University of Southern California and Vanderbilt.
In addition to providing students with the highest quality Christian education, the increase will allow Baylor to support its current operations, provide for new faculty and staff hires, create a merit raise pool for faculty and staff, fund initial five-year goal priorities within Pro Futuris and maintain a growing University campus.
The summer board retreat also included a new Regent orientation, Regent committee meetings and tours of campus facilities. Regents participating in their first board meeting were:
Mark Hurd, B.B.A. '79, of Atherton, Calif., president of Oracle Corp.
Neal Jeffrey, B.B.A. '75, of Highland Village, associate pastor of Prestonwood Baptist in Dallas
Mark E. Lovvorn, B.B.A. '76, B.Acc. '77, of Dallas, chairman and CEO of Providence Bancshares Corp. and chairman of Providence Bank of Texas
Dr. Dennis Ray Wiles, B.A. '81 (University of Alabama in Birmingham), M.Div. '85, Ph.D. '92 (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary), of Arlington, Texas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Arlington
Phil Duren, B.B.A. '72, non-voting Regent, B Association
Chris Manning, B.B.A. '84, non-voting Regent, Bear Foundation
Jay Fields, a junior University Scholar, non-voting Student Regent
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.

subset: commoncrawl


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ID-CTN-16 Printed Cotton Necktie
ID-CTN-16 Printed Cotton Necktie
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By Lenore Taylor
The Coalition will consider compensating big companies that are part-way through expensive refits to reduce their carbon price liability when the carbon tax is abolished, according to shadow treasurer Joe Hockey.
Mr Hockey was forced on Monday to clarify a statement in which he had suggested the Coalition would compensate businesses like renewable energy companies that are better off under a carbon tax for their reduced profitability.
''We will consider it on a case by case basis. We have allocated funds under our Direct Action to deal with initiatives that have been under way,'' Mr Hockey said when pressed in Tasmania about the specific case of Hydro Tasmania which has become more profitable after the introduction of the carbon tax.
''If there are individual businesses that will be affected we will deal with them on a case by case basis,'' he said, adding that the carbon tax imposed higher prices on all Tasmanian households and businesses.
But the Coalition's $3.2 billion four-year Direct Action policy, released in 2009, contains no allocation for compensating existing businesses for spending already undertaken.
Mr Hockey later issued a statement saying, ''the Coalition will not be paying compensation for repeal of the carbon tax.''
His spokesman said his earlier comments had been referring to companies like big energy generators, such as coal fired power stations, or major manufacturers, that were part way through refits or technology changes to try to reduce their carbon price liability.
''That's what we could potentially look at,'' the spokesman said. ''Companies that are part way through changes and need to know where they stand.''
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet claimed Mr Hockey had ''admitted that (the carbon tax) repeal would trigger compensation claims from companies which have made investment and business decisions based on a price on carbon.''
''There are numerous companies, investors and shareholders that would be worse off under the Coalition's policy, including renewable energy companies and their financiers. Compensation claims would be massive,'' he said.
Mr Hockey said Mr Combet was ''misrepresenting'' his words and there was no need for compensation because business would be better off.
But Tasmania's deputy Premier, Bryan Green, said the ''money flowing to Hydro Tasmania from the price on carbon is a significant boost to Tasmania's budget which helps pay for hospitals, schools and police'' and demanded details of how the Coalition would compensate for its loss.
The Coalition's Direct Action plan allocates most of its budget to competitive grants paid to businesses and farmers for future emission-reduction plans, proposing to achieve 60 per cent of Australia's pledged emission reductions from storing carbon in the soil on farms. It proposes to spend $10.2 billion by 2020.


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TechRadar Verdict
A neat enough unit, but just too expensive to recommend
- +
Well-made base unit
- +
A useful design
- -
Expensive base unit + expensive add-ons = double expensive
- -
Somewhat awkward (especially for original PS3 owners)
Why you can trust TechRadar
The TwistDock is, put simply, a stand and controller charging port for your PlayStation 3. It's circular and twists around so you can reach the controllers, which sit hidden behind your PS3. It's designed to look good, feel premium, and keep things tidy.
However, you'll definitely pay for that high-end feeling. The dock itself will cost around £80, with the USB Hub and Cable Set add-on packs both coming in at around £30. We had the full set to play with, so let's see if it's really worth £140.
The basic TwistDock is a round stand with two controller holders in the back. To charge your controllers, you have to attach a little add-on to the top of them that slots into their USB port. This has some contacts on it that press against matching contacts on the TwistDock.
We can guess why they didn't just put USB plugs on the TwistDock: because it's premium. But it would have been simpler. Two lights on the front of the dock tell you whether the controllers are charged (which is actually quite good).
To charge your controllers. the TwistDock naturally needs some power. It comes with a European mains plug, which slots into a UK adaptor. The two really don't look like they've been designed to sit together. They're loose, wobbly and awkward, but didn't actually fall apart in our time using the dock, so escape total condemnation.
There are two USB ports on the back of the TwistDock, so you could charge two more controllers or… um, your phone? These USB ports don't do anything other than power, so they're no good for PS3 accessories that send information to the console.
The USB Hub pack, which adds data functionality (for more money!), actually comes with a new mains adaptor with more power than the TwistDock's original to give the necessary juice to the extra ports. Why didn't they just make the original stronger?
The hub was an absolute pain to get slotted into its hole properly, but we eventually got it in and working. The PS3 had no trouble spotting any peripherals we attached.
Now, the TwistDock's cunning plan to keep your PS3 tidy is to run all cables under the console, through the centre of the dock, under it and out the back. However, to make this really work, you'll need the TwistDock Cable Set, which includes an HDMI cable and a PS3 power cable, both with plugs at right angles.
Your PS3's normal plugs, being straight, will cause the cables to loop quite far out before they come back under the dock to be hidden. "Why, that's not tidy at all!" the TwistDock people probably said. "Let's provide alternative cables that don't loop out thanks to their right-angled connectors, and charge more for them."
There are two problems here. The first is that you have to pay more. Again.
The second is that the provided power cable is the two-pin figure-eight kind used by the PS3 Slim. The old-style PS3 uses the chunky three-pin kettle lead, making 50 per cent of the Cable Set totally useless to any original-style PS3 owners.
On the plus side, the HDMI cable is really well built, and works just fine. On the down side, jamming the kettle-lead cable through the whole in the TwistDock clearly meant for a smaller plug is a damn pain. Especially since the HDMI cable is so thick and covered that it takes up half the space itself.
Apart from this oversight, the TwistDock does work well for both flavours of Sony's machine. And, yeah, it looks good. It's a convenient way to hide your controllers and charge them at the same time.
It's also pretty expensive to begin with, and then you need to add two accessory packs if you want USB data functionality or cables that don't stick out.
The TwistDock is easy on the eye and nice to have around, but it only stays interested in you if you keep spending money on it. As far as we're concerned, it's just too fiddly and awkward to really be the premium product it wants to be and justify how expensive it is.


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The business of NORDA ASA (former NorDiag ASA) is research and development, and to offer services and products within the biotechnology sector, including participating in other companies with similar operations, as well as trading with and investing in securities, real estates and other assets.
The Company has May 4, 2012 sold its sample preparation business to DiaSorin. Going forward NORDA ASA will focus on the development of the Colorectal Cancer diagnostic screening test Genefec™.


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International Mercury Expo opens April 22
The 2010 International Mercury Expo aims to revolutionize the way you think about heavy metal.
"Mercury: A Hazard without Borders," culminates three years of interdisciplinary, collaborative and international research. Events take place from April 22-25 in a variety of locations on the College of William and Mary campus. The mercury-focused Global Inquiry Group (GIG), a jewel of the Reves Center for International Studies, is the chief organization sponsoring the event.
"I've been privileged to direct the Reves Center for almost four years now, and for me, the mercury GIG's work is among the true highlights of these past several years," remarked Laurie Koloski, director of the Reves Center and inventor of the GIG. "Among the many things the mercury project has done-in addition to its cutting-edge work in and across multiple disciplines-is model for us at W&M what internationally-focused cross-disciplinary research can accomplish. Beyond bringing together a group of people who didn't know about each other several years ago but who together have forged new intellectual paths, the project has touched virtually every aspect of and participant in the W&M experience, from faculty to students to community members and from research to scholarship to service and civic engagement."
GIG co-directors Dan Cristol of the biology department and Sharon Zuber of the film studies and English departments, have done just that. Marrying the humanities and the sciences, this dynamic pair helped introduce the subject of mercury through William and Mary's curricula. Two student exchanges they coordinated to China, the mercury capital of the world, also provided opportunities to share research and to cultivate a strong, international perspective.
"The idea for the Expo is that it is not a scientific conference, because there are tons of scientific conferences on toxicology and mercury," Cristol explained. "We didn't want to replicate that. Instead it's an interdisciplinary happening for a couple days on campus, where everything involves mercury."
"I can't say enough about how each core member has contributed to the GIG in unique ways. Instead of competing or conflicting, the members energized each other as ideas collided," Zuber said. "I think I can speak for all the mercury project members that the GIG collaborations have positively enriched our own research and teaching. Every core member of the mercury GIG deserves credit for its accomplishments and success, and I am just proud to have been a part of this exciting project.
In the spirit of the s-GIG, Expo events will include events in the arts and the sciences. "Unbearable Beauty: Triumph of the Human Spirit" opens Friday, April 23 at the Muscarelle Museum. This collection of iconic photographs by W. Eugene Smith documents mercury's devastating effects on Minimata, Japan, in the 1960s. These images were vital to mobilizing public support for the environmental movement in general. Aileen Smith, widow of the artist and mercury poisoning activist, will speak at the opening. The exhibition will run through June 20.
"The exhibit is a perfect example of how the Mercury GIG project expands the discussion of mercury poisoning," said Elizabeth Mead, who is curating the exhibit. "We all know there is very little in life that happens in isolation. There is never any single source to our problems, nor is there to our solutions. Yet we have a tendency, particularly in academia to look through only one lens when trying to solve a problem. Eugene and Aileen M. Smiths' photos brought to world attention the horrors of mercury poisoning in a way that resonates to this day, and what makes us look at the images in the first place is that they are formally beautiful images."
The symposium will include other events, and here are a few worth noting:
Linda Wysong presents on and exhibits her anti-industrial graphic prints in the Andrews Gallery. The show will run from April 6 to April 26, with a reception held on April 22.
The Virginia Theater Machine premiers "A Mercurial Roadshow," outside the Muscarelle and in Merchant's Square three times during the symposium. This mobile theater production, inspired in part by actor Jeremy Piven's experience with mercury poisoning, entertains as it informs.
Four concurrent information sessions ranging from issues on mercury in dental fillings to mercury's impact on South and Central American birds will also be taking place on Saturday morning. These seminars as well as a poster and networking session later Saturday evening provide the more educational component to the four day exposition, and show signs of being lively topics of debate and research.
The panel discussion on mercury and the dental industry will bring a VCU dental school professor, professional dentists from across the country, and activists from the non-profit organization Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions (DAMS).
The "Fact-or-Fiction" seafood panel expects to draw a big turnout. Representatives from food industry and consumer protection groups will debate the costs and benefits of making seafood part of your diet.
The most specialized session welcomes ornithologists from eight South and Central American countries to learn the harmful effects of mercury on birds and establish a network for collecting scientific samples from throughout the tropics.
"The impetus for this is the sheer number of birds getting poisoned and then travelling," Cristol said. "We're starting to get a handle on the mercury poisoning here in the United States, so we invited and paid for them to come up and get trained on how to gather data the same way in their home countries."
The session will be complemented with a trip to the mercury-contaminated Dismal Swamp where the ornithologists will practice catching and sampling birds.
"Ideally the visitors to the Expo will take away an understanding of the global impact of mercury-from dentistry to seafood, from coal-fired power plants to mining, from thermometers to light bulbs-and a new awareness of this 'hazard without borders,' hopefully in a fun, interactive, educational way that encourages a continuing conversation about all things mercury," said Expo Executive Producer Adam Stackhouse.
Interested in attending? Register online to get access to all the events at this year's International Mercury Expo. William & Mary students may attend all non-meal events for free by showing their Student ID.
Contact Adam Stackhouse at email@example.com with any questions.


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[Joe Bain] built a portable photo booth for his wedding. We've looked in on photo booths before, both as a robust feature in your apartment and as a mobile option. But making it part of a wedding reception is the best reason we've found to build one. [Joe's] electronics consist of a laptop, camera, screen, and a big pushbutton that interfaces via a serial cable and adapter. He found some software that was written for photo booths which takes care of almost everything including polling the "go" button.
The booth itself is a frame build from PVC pipe (another chance to use those fancy fittings) with fabric dividers hanging from it. This is fun for the wedding-goers and it produces a bit of nostalgia for your scrapbook.


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Five Ways to Turn Angry Clients into Happy Ones
It happens to the best of us. An upset client calls to complain about a product or service, and you're completely caught off guard. How do you react? Do you fly off the handle right along with him? Or do you respond in a calm, thoughtful way that salvages and even strengthens your relationship? Author Maribeth Kuzmeski says that a high-pressure scenario doesn't have to blow your client relationship sky-high—in fact, you can use it as an opportunity to truly connect with your client and keep him around for the long haul.
"Conflict is a normal part of business, and we all need to learn how to deal with it in the right way," says Kuzmeski, author of The Connectors: How the World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life (Wiley, September 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-48818-8, $22.95). "Some clients are just plain difficult. And yes, 'easy' clients can also become dissatisfied for a variety of reasons. The good news is that there are effective ways to handle conflict and resolve issues—and these methods will actually strengthen your relationship.
"Remember that quite often, unhappy clients will not even tell you that they have a problem," she adds. "They simply move their business elsewhere. So, if a client thinks enough of you to give you the chance to repair a bad situation, take it. Play an active role in making your customer happy so that you can be sure to keep him or her on board with you."
Creating clients for life is all about building relationships based on real human connections, and that's the message found in Kuzmeski's book. The Connectors describes how some of the world's most successful professionals develop better, more profitable connections. And a big part of the way they do it is changing the way they think about conflict.
As much as we all hope for smooth sailing in our interactions with clients, conflicts are bound to occur. If they never happened, anyone could be a great connector. It's what you do when there's a problem that separates the (proverbial) men from the boys. Here are a few tips that will help you keep your business relationships from going bad...and rescue those that have started to sour.
Extend a peace offering. It's easy to reach out to clients when things are going well. However, it's all too easy to avoid them when hard feelings are present. Don't succumb to the temptation. Proactively reaching out to your clients can squash any negativity they may feel for you. Even the simplest of gestures can be effective: Offer an apology when you've made a mistake. Then, make things right by extending a peace offering. It doesn't need to be anything extravagant. It can be as simple as a hand-written note, a refund, or a coupon.
"I know the peace offering works on clients, because it has worked on me," says Kuzmeski. "At one point the relationship my firm and I had with a technology consulting group had turned sour. They had missed numerous project deadlines and just weren't satisfying my expectations. I stuck with them, though, in hopes of repairing the relationship. Then one day, my contact Jeremy and I discovered we had something in common—a love for hockey! In fact, one day I mentioned that my son's favorite team was the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that he and I would be watching them play in the Stanley Cup later that evening.
"Well, the Penguins ended up winning, and much to my surprise, Jeremy sent my son copies of magazines featuring their big win, a copy of the actual Pittsburgh newspaper from the day they won, and a few other items," she adds. "None of what he sent cost very much, but the impact of his gesture was significant. My son was beyond thrilled. He couldn't believe that one of my contacts had sent something for him! As for me, it immediately changed the way I felt about the company. My feeling was, 'Really, they can't be all that bad. I mean, they are hockey fans, and they were nice to my son.' Jeremy may not have known it, but he extended a peace offering that helped preserve my company's relationship with his."
Don't follow your "strike back" instincts. If an angry client calls you fuming mad, your knee-jerk reaction might be to argue. Remember, though, fighting anger with anger seldom works. No matter how tough it is, do the opposite of what you feel like doing. Take a deep breath and remain calm. And most of all, diffuse your client's anger by immediately assuring her that you will make it right.
"When faced with difficult situations with clients, instead of giving a reactionary, defensive response, offer solutions," says Kuzmeski. "Your first reaction may be to explain why you are right, why the client is overreacting, or to give her additional information so she can better see the situation from your point of view. However, if you check those reactions and instead start working toward a resolution, your chances of keeping that customer are much greater."
When confronted with an angry client, say something like, "I know we did not satisfy your needs, and I assure you that we will do better in the future. Can I offer you a free gift the next time you stop in, or a discount off your next service?" Your client may still want to fight, but you are dispelling her anger by staying calm and offering a helpful response. Just smile, take responsibility (even if you feel you haven't done anything wrong), and offer solutions. You can't control the way your client is going to act, but you can control your own actions. If you are reasonable, your client will eventually come around.
The solutions you offer may not be exactly what the client wants, but you are trying to smooth things over instead of arguing; therefore, the results will no doubt be better. The legendary retailing genius Marshall Field once overheard a clerk in his store having a discussion with a customer. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I'm settling a complaint," the clerk answered. "No, you're not," said Field. "Give the lady what she wants." We can all learn a thing or two from that.
Get them to listen to you by…listening to them. Customers will listen to what you have to say if you respectfully listen to what they have to say first. Knowing that you are truly listening to their concerns can cause your customers to agree to your suggestions much more quickly.
"Very few people in this world take the time to practice 'Curious Listening,'" says Kuzmeski. "We instead partially listen, get ready to respond, and let our minds drift. But if you can practice Curious Listening, which is a form of active listening, you will differentiate yourself as someone who really cares."
Here are the four steps of Curious Listening:
- Hear the essence of what your customer is saying by repeating back what you heard.
- Ask questions so that your customer knows that you are actively seeking to understand why something is important him.
- Make sure you aren't acting on unsubstantiated assumptions. Confirm with the client that you have correctly understood what he is saying.
- Listen for the "remarkable." In every conversation you have with a client, he will say something unique and remarkable. If you listen for his "remarkable," you will be able to come back to that later (even in a subsequent conversation) and connect with him on a different level. The "remarkable" may be something as simple as, "I'm thinking about taking an October vacation to Paris," or, "I'm a Packers fan," or, "We just landed our largest client!" The key is remembering it. It shows you are really curious about what happened, how the other person feels, and what resolution was reached.
Have a standard service protocol at the ready. Creating standards, procedures, and methods of dealing with clients and servicing their needs can really help when it comes to resolving conflicts or handling a dissatisfied customer. By creating a service protocol in advance, you provide a way to "enforce" how client conflict situations are handled. This allows you and your employees to more easily resolve issues and deal with those impossibly and consistently difficult clients.
"When developing a service protocol, start by recalling past situations," says Kuzmeski. "Consider how and when a difficult client became difficult. Was a resolution reached? If so, when and how? By examining how difficult clients were handled in the past, taking into account both good and bad examples, you and your staff can begin to set boundaries regarding what is and isn't a proper way to react. Creating a protocol allows you to chart your path to resolution and figure out what you're going to say before a problem arises.
"Your service protocol empowers your employees to become connectors," she adds. "Often, they might think offering a discount or a coupon is the right way to handle a situation, but they may be worried that you, their leader, won't approve. With the protocol, they know exactly what they can immediately offer to the client. You'll find that effectively resolving problems with clients actually makes them more loyal to you because they see that you care about their business."
Ask for feedback. Obviously, you don't have to sit around, anxiously wondering when a problem is going to arise. There is a way for you to avoid some (unfortunately, not all!) client conflicts. You can do it by ensuring that customers aren't suppressing problems. And you do that by constantly asking for feedback. (It's amazing how rarely businesspeople do this—they're usually just keeping their fingers crossed that all is well—but a sincere inquiry about a client's satisfaction is a true pathway to making a connection.)
"Don't be afraid to engage your clients," says Kuzmeski. "Ask them what you can do better, how you can improve. Supply them with feedback surveys so that they can anonymously share their thoughts, ensuring that they are as honest as possible. And when a problem has been solved, ask them if you handled it to their satisfaction and find out if there is anything they would like for you to have done differently. Asking for feedback is a great way for you to rectify any possible or growing problems before they become so great that they sour a client relationship."
"Clients who feel a connection with you are loyal and will stay with you—sometimes forever. Dissatisfied clients not only go elsewhere, but they also tell others of their dissatisfaction," says Kuzmeski. "What's even worse is that those dissatisfied clients will each tell an average of five other people about their displeasure with you. That means for every complaint, you could have up to 60 people who are walking around with a negative image of you and your company—and are talking about it!
"By actively and sincerely playing a part in resolving conflicts with your clients, you're showing them that you are willing to do what it takes to make them happy," she concludes. "You are not just fixing a problem for them. You are also turning those dissatisfied clients into delighted ones who may even become evangelists for your company! And we all know there is no marketing force more powerful than a customer who shares her delight with others. "
About the Author:
Maribeth Kuzmeski is the founder of Red Zone Marketing, LLC, which consults to Fortune 500 firms on strategic marketing planning and business growth. Maribeth has personally consulted with some of the world's most successful CEOs, entrepreneurs, and professionals. An internationally recognized speaker, she shares the tactics that businesspeople use today to create more sustainable business relationships, sales, and marketing successes.
Maribeth is the author of four books, including The Connectors: How the World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life. She has frequently appeared on TV and radio, and has written articles on marketing strategies for hundreds of publications including BusinessWeek and Entrepreneur. She regularly speaks to audiences on topics relating to business development, marketing, and sales strategies.
About the Book:
The Connectors: How the World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life (Wiley, September 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-48818-8, $22.95) is available at bookstores nationwide, major online booksellers, or directly from the publisher by calling 800-225-5945. In Canada, call 800-567-4797.
For more information, please visit www.redzonemarketing.com and www.theconnectorsbook.com.


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OCEAN CITY – At a work session of the Mayor and Council this week, the issue of soliciting more sponsorship for town events arose, with several officials arguing for an increase in sponsorship to alleviate tax burdens.
The issue arose during a presentation by Tom Shuster, director of Recreation and Parks, as he presented the 2009 Special Events Schedule. Councilwoman Margaret Pillas suggested alleviating the high costs of fireworks displays by having them sponsored.
Shuster pointed out that while sponsorship is a promising endeavor, most companies prefer to sponsor an entire event or fixed aspects of the event such as entertainment, where their name can clearly be displayed.
"That is not so much the case in the event of fireworks," Shuster said.
Shuster pointed out that while sponsorship funding has not been fully utilized, the city has been expanding on its current list of sponsors. Comcast contributed money to this year's Sunfest through sponsorship of the entertainment tent. "So we have moved in that direction," Shuster said.
Despite an increase in sponsorship among special events, Councilman Jay Hancock noted that it could always be expanded.
"I think there's money out there that we could tap," Hancock said, suggesting several big name sponsors, such as Comcast, Verizon and M&T Bank that could be solicited.
According to Hancock, Verizon sponsored Virginia Beach's version of the Winterfest of Lights this year.
"If Verizon can sponsor the bucks in Virginia Beach, maybe they could sponsor the bucks here as well," he said. "I think the perception is Ocean City is going to pay for this stuff so why bother sponsor it."
Hancock pointed out that while Recreation and Parks does a tremendous job with special events, more sponsorship solicitation could occur.
"I just think that there's opportunity out there to save the taxpayers some big bucks," he said.
Council President Joe Mitrecic came to Shuster's defense.
"Tom in your defense there is a bit of a staffing issue," said Mitrecic, adding the significant local sponsorship that is brought in. "The list of small donors is really quite astounding and we shouldn't lose sight of that."
Although the staff works to draw in sponsorship, there is only so much that the staff can handle.
"All of us do sponsorship and we always have. We work the entire area in the entire range," Shuster said.
Shuster agreed to examine the issue further and continue with the town's current efforts in soliciting sponsorship.


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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Mar. 5, 1997--In the first national study of the economic impact of a research university, BankBoston reported today that graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have founded 4,000 firms which, in 1994 alone, employed at least 1.1 million people and generated $232 billion of world sales.
"If the companies founded by MIT graduates and faculty formed an independent nation, the revenues produced by the companies would make that nation the 24th largest economy in the world," said the report, MIT: The Impact of Innovation.
Within the United States, the companies employed a total of 733,000 people in 1994 at more than 8,500 plants and offices in the 50 states- equal to one out of every 170 jobs in America. Eighty percent of the jobs in the MIT-related firms are in manufacturing (compared to 16 percent nationally), and a high percentage of products are exported.
The 36-page BankBoston report, which is the result of an MIT survey of 1,300 CEOs and two years of fact-gathering and checking by MIT and the bank, "represents a case study of the significant effect that research universities have on the economies of the nation and its 50 states." The study notes that many of the MIT-related founders also have degrees from other universities, and these entrepreneurs maintain close ties with MIT or other research universities and colleges.
Wayne M. Ayers, chief economist of BankBoston, said, "In a national economy that is increasingly emphasizing innovation, these findings extend our understanding of how MIT has been instrumental in generating new businesses nationwide. MIT is not the only university that has had a national impact of this kind, but because of its historical and continuing importance, it illustrates the contribution of research universities to the evolving national economy."
MIT President Charles M. Vest, commenting on the report, said, "About 90 percent of these companies have been founded in the past 50 years, in the period of the great research partnership between the federal government and research universities. The development of these business enterprises is one of the many beneficial spinoffs of federally funded research, which has brought great advances in such fields as health care, computing and communications."
The five states benefiting most from MIT-related jobs are California (162,000), Massachusetts (125,000), Texas (84,000), New Jersey (34,000) and Pennsylvania (21,000). Thirteen other states have more than 10,000 MIT-related jobs-from west to east, Washington, 10,000; Oregon, 10,000; Colorado, 15,000; Kansas, 13,000; Iowa, 13,000; Wisconsin, 12,000; Illinois, 12,000; Ohio, 18,000; Virginia, 15,000; Georgia, 14,000; Florida, 15,000; New York, 15,000; and Connecticut, 10,000.
Another 25 states have 9,000 to 1,000 jobs from MIT-related companies-- Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri, and New Hampshire, 9,000; North Carolina, 8,000; Arizona and Michigan, 7,000; Maryland and Tennessee, 6,000; Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Idaho, 5,000; Oklahoma, Indiana, Utah, Rhode Island and Arkansas, 2,500 to 5,000; Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, West Virginia and Mississippi, 1,000 to 2,500 jobs. Only seven low-population states and the District of Columbia had less than 1,000 jobs from MIT-related companies.
More than 2,400 companies have headquarters outside the Northeast. The report noted, "MIT-related companies have a major presence in the San Francisco Bay area (Silicon Valley), southern California, the Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia belt, the Pacific Northwest, the Chicago area, southern Florida, Dallas and Houston, and the industrial cities of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania."
The report said the MIT-related companies "are not typical of the economy as a whole; they tend to be knowledge-based companies in software, manufacturing (electronics, biotech, instruments, machinery) or consulting (architects, business consultants, engineers). These companies have a disproportionate importance to their local economies because they usually sell to out-of-state and world markets, and because they so often represent advanced technologies." Other industries represented include manufacturing firms in chemicals, drugs, materials, aerospace; energy, publishing and finance.
"Firms in software, electronics (including instruments, semiconductors and computers) and biotech form a special subset of MIT-related companies. They are at the cutting edge of what we think of as high technology. They are more likely to be planning expansion than companies in other industries. They tend to export a higher percentage of their products, hold one or more patents, and spend more of their revenues on research and development," the report said.
In interviews, MIT graduates cited several factors at MIT which spurred them on to take the risk of starting their own companies-faculty mentors, cutting-edge technologies, entrepreneurial spirit and ideas. The study profiled seven MIT founders who started companies in Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Washington state, Illinois and Florida. Nearly half of all company founders who responded to the MIT survey maintain significant ties to MIT and to other research universities in their area.
The findings of the study also reveal:
- MIT graduates and faculty have been forming an average of 150 new firms a year since 1990.
- In Massachusetts, the 1,065 MIT-related companies represent five percent of total state employment and ten percent of the state's economic base (sales in other states and the world). MIT-related firms account for about 25 percent of sales of all manufacturing firms and 33 percent of all software sales in the state.
- The study also looked at employment around the nation and the world from MIT-related companies. Massachusetts firms related to MIT had world employment of 353,000; California firms had 348,000 world jobs. Other major world employers included firms in Texas, 70,000; Missouri, 63,000; New Jersey, 48,000; Pennsylvania, 41,000; and New Hampshire, 35,000.
- In determining the location of a new business, the 1,300 entrepreneurs surveyed said the quality of life in their community, proximity to key markets and access to skilled professionals were the most important factors, followed by access to skilled labor, low business cost and access to MIT and other universities.
- The companies include 220 companies based outside the United States, employing 28,000 people world-wide.
- Some of the earliest known MIT-related companies still active are Arthur D. Little, Inc. (1886), Stone and Webster (1889), Campbell Soup (1900) and Gillette (1901).
The report said the MIT-related companies would rank as the 24th largest world economy because the $232 billion in world sales "is roughly equal to a gross domestic product of $116 billion, which is a little less than the GDP of South Africa and more than the GDP of Thailand."


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Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics is one of the better analysts of basic political trends out there, so I was looking forward to his new book The Lost Majority: Why the Future of Government Is Up for Grabs – and Who Will Take It. I was fortunate enough to snag a review copy for RedState, and found it to be a fairly persuasive argument that our general assumptions about the implications of any given election are usually wrong. It was not exactly a groundbreaking argument for me, but then I'm already familiar with Sean's writing on RCP.
Sean makes three claims in The Lost Majority:
"First, that the 2010 midterm elections were a result of Barack Obama and the Democrats misreading both their mandate and how they had been brought to power, imagining a realignment in 2008 when, in fact, none had occurred. Second, that the emerging partisan majorities described by theorists from both parties are mirages. Third, that the entire concept of realignments/permanent alignments, which underlies much of the misbegotten analysis of the 2008 elections, is bankrupt and should be abandoned." (page xiii)
The first claim is not exactly going to be controversial to anybody who isn't a Democrat; the second and third are perhaps more likely to be matters of some controversy to ideologically-minded readers. They should not, however, be dismissed out of hand; after all, there were a lot of very book-smart people advising the Democrats in 2009 and 2010 who based their opinions on the belief that long-term partisan majorities are inevitable and that alignments are possible The collapse of their models should at least be seen as cautionary.
The bulk of the book examines the American political system from the 1920s to the 2010 midterms, and in the process calls into question pretty much every commonly-believed, after-the-fact description made of it. This includes, but is not limited to: the enduring New Deal coalition (which Sean argues ended in the 1940s) ; the 'Southern Strategy' (although I don't remember that the author ever formally referred to it as such in the text); and the Reagan Revolution (which Sean categorizes as marking the end of the previous Eisenhower coalition). In all of these cases, the author dives into actual voting patterns – both geographical and demographic – and generally demonstrates that said commonly-believed descriptions are at best over-simplified and at worst flat-out wrong.
To give just one example: the traditional liberal narrative of the 'Southern Strategy' is that LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act in 1964, and then racist Southern Democrats switched over to the Republican party en masse. Only… they didn't. As the author noted: voting patterns in the South began to shift a decade earlier under Eisenhower; continued with organization on the local level in the Sixties that started before the VRA's passage; and then generally chugged along until enough older Southerners (who largely remained stubbornly Democratic) died of old age, while the younger ones largely declined to vote for a party that had been calling them racist hicks for forty years (I am paraphrasing, obviously). But it's easier to go with the existing narrative, in much the same way that it's easier to go with the narrative that the House was under firm Democratic control for forty years… instead of the more complicated and ideologically-hostile one that Congress was divided up between Republicans, Democrats, and conservative Democrats who felt free to vote with Republicans on key issues.
Which leads to the last argument of Sean's: that, essentially, realignments are impossible because (again, I paraphrase) there's not really any such thing as "Republican" or "Democrat" in the first place, as they're commonly described. The author more or less takes the position that both parties are comprised of a variety of interest groups (some voting on ideology, others on party loyalty, and yet others out of pragmatism) that can and will shift their voting patterns as necessary. Worse, from an ideological point of view: as one group is accommodated, another will likely be ignored or dismissed… and change their votes accordingly. Which is one reason why Sean Trende (and I, for that matter) is somewhat dismissive of the 'demographic is destiny' argument; there's no way of knowing that a group that votes Democratic or Republican today will always vote that way.
Generally, I enjoyed The Lost Majority as being readable and logical; my major criticism of it is that I don't think that it takes into account fully the ability of a party's leadership to let its own ideological biases affect its thinking. I'm referring specifically to the Democrats, here: due largely to districting issues, its current leadership hails from districts and areas that are reliably liberal, and are in fact heavily so. In an environment where the basic rule of thumb for the electorate is 40% conservative, 40% moderate, and 20% liberal, this is at least a potential problem for the Democratic party… and if the Democrats continue to ignore the fact that they're allowing their fringe to set policy then their party is at least somewhat at risk of utter collapse. And the collapse of a party is something that could cause a realignment, for quite some time.
Mind you, I am a proud partisan hack, so take that observation with a grain of salt. In the meantime, I heartily recommend The Lost Majority: particularly if you want to have a good idea how people have actually been voting for the last ninety years…
Moe Lane (crosspost)


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Vidya is the glue and the duct tape that holds TNS together. It started as just a few sheets of paper mailed to members in 1978. This mailing was the only practical means for members to exchange thoughts and to communicate in those first decades.
Today's Vidya is a formal journal published six times per year. It often exceeds 50 pages in length and features well written articles, photographs, stories, poems, puzzles and announcements. Content may range from PhD level academic summaries, to high IQ lifestyle. All seem to include interesting and eclectic musings.
Most members access Vidya online as a PDF. For historical reasons, each bi-monthly publication counts as a double issue with two issue numbers. Vidya in 2020 is approaching 400 issue numbers.
For an extra-cost, you can have a nicely printed version arrive in your mailbox. The extra cost is $20 per year, which about covers the cost of printing and mailing.
Vidya content is exclusively provided by members. There are personal stories and experiences, semi-scientific articles, puzzles, pictures, poems, news about the society – and everything in-between. Below are some articles that will hopefully give you an impression of the diversity you can expect in TNS. And they are good reads, too.
Just click on the PDFs.
If you read our constitution, even just the first paragraph, you will see that we are founded on certain principles having mostly to do with building a strong community. Join us today. We want to meet you!
Visit us at FaceBook, Twitter, and Linked-In. Members see even more, so join us today!
We have some great, always-busy discussions happening in our FaceBook and Yahoo! groups.


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Sikh Gurdwara in Yuba City rejects Yogi Bhajan & SikhNet tantric / kundalini yoga youth camp for Sikhs !
Sikh Gurdwara in Yuba City rejects Yogi Bhajan & SikhNet tantric / kundalini yoga youth camp for Sikhs ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBDZHNQurD0
The Gurdwara committee for the Guru Nanak Sikh Society of Yuba City California, last night, cancelled Yogi Bhajan follower Siri Pritam's proposed Youth Camp in kundalini sex energizing yoga & the Yogi Bhajan kundalini lifestyle. These tantra / mantra practices of Yogi Bhajan were cleverly disguised as a proper Khalsa Youth Camp by Yogi Bhajan's cult organizations.
Be sure to watch the next video in the series at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyde8gHaWUg
SikhNet's Gurujot Singh and his wife, who works for Yogi Bhajan's Sikh Dharma international, were scheduled to teach a Khalsa Youth Camp at the Sikh Gurdwara, 1298 S George Washington Blvd Yuba City, California August 16th - 18th. After hearing a presentation (in the video above) on how Yogi Bhajan's cult & SikhNet are trying to induct young Sikhs of Punjabi descent into their Bhajan cult through hypnotic kundalini yoga, gong meditations, heavy breathing, chanting Bhajan mantras along with meditating on Yogi Bhajan's picture, called Guru Yoga by the 3HO cult, the Gurdwara committee wisely proclaimed they did not want Bhajan's Shiv /Shakti tantric yoga being taught to their young Sikh children.
Sikh parents in the Northern California area need to also be aware that the Yogi Bhajan sect and their representatives, in particular a Siri Pritam Kaur Khalsa of Yuba City will most likely call you and try to change the venue of this Yogi Bhajan tantric yoga youth workshop, to your local Sikh Gurdwara. Just tell her, "I follow only Siri Guru Granth Sahib, not Yogi Bhajan or any other fake guru. I'm a Sikh, NOT a tantric yogi!" Beware of this Yogi Bhajan cult as their true agenda is to subsume orthodox Sikhi into their Bhajanism religion of tantric sex energizing yoga and shiv / Shakti worship!
Fourteen Points & questions for Sikhs to ask SikhNet & Yogi Bhajan kundalini yoga followers.
Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki Fateh
The following is a list of statements, all of which are true. After you read each statement ask yourself the question: "Who has distorted Sikhi?"
1. Yogi Bhajan taught that you had to make a connection with a living spiritual teacher.
2. Yogi Bhajan taught that you should meditate on his photograph.
3. Yogi Bhajan taught that the reason that Sikhs wear turbans is to adjust the plates in your skull and thus regulate your electro-magnetic energy.
4. Yogi Bhajan taught that the reason that Sikhs wear Kacha is that the pressure of the Kachcha on your thighs stimulates your liver.
5. Yogi Bhajan taught that you should have a photo of the golden idol of Sri Chand, that is outside the
Gurdwara in Espanola, in your home.
6. Yogi Bhajan taught that chanting certain Shabads bring certain results:
a. Mayraa Man Lochai Gur Darshan Taa-ee: This brings prosperity, multified a thousand-fold squared.
b. The Twenty-Ninth Pauree of Jap Ji: This protects you from your enemies by simply vaporizing those who wish you harm.
c. The Twenty-Second Pauree of Jap Ji: This brings you victory in legal battles.
d. The Thirteenth Pauree of Jap Ji: This gives you the occult knowledge of infinity.
e. The Twenty-Fifth Pauree of Jap Ji: All your needs are pre-fulfilled. Prosperity, virtue, estate, and wealth are yours without asking.
7. Yogi Bhajan taught that Gurmukhi is a magical, mystical language in that by chanting, reciting, or
singing, your tongue is pressing on certain pressure points in your upper palate and thus certain glands in your brain are stimulated to secrete hormones, resulting in a kundalini high.
8. Yogi Bhajan taught that Anand Sahib was the ultimate kundalini experience because for each 5
Paurees, your kundalini would pass through a corresponding chakra. 40 Paurees divided by 5 equals
the 8 chakras. This also holds true for Jap Ji.
9. Yogi Bhajan taught that abortion was all right if it was done before the 120th day, when the soul entered the womb.
10. Yogi Bhajan taught that you could be liberated in 40 days if you practiced kundalini yoga.
11. Yogi Bhajan taught that he would take on all the karma of his students and that the reason that he was so sick was that his students had a lot of bad karma.
12. Yogi Bhajan taught he should name everyone, not by consulting the Guru, but by using astrology and numerology.
13. Yogi Bhajan taught that he could read auras and even read your destiny.
14. Yogi Bhajan taught that when he died, only his physical body would be gone. His soul would then
reside in his subtle body which would hover over his students, while he still taught and led tantric. To his students he would not be dead but immortal.
This is only a sample of what Yogi Bhajan taught. After reading the above statements, again ask yourself: "Who has distorted Sikhi?"
Reading of "Sikhism & Tantric Yoga": a critical look at Yogi Bhajan's tantric / kundalini yoga
Complete thread:
- Sikh Gurdwara in Yuba City rejects Yogi Bhajan & SikhNet tantric / kundalini yoga youth camp for Sikhs ! - Gursant Singh, 2013-08-12, 00:57
- Response to SikhNet anti-Gurmat article: "5 Things Brown Girls Can Learn From Miss America" - Gursant Singh, 2013-09-27, 01:06
- Sikhs demand SikhNet release photos showing close relationship between Indira Gandhi & Yogi Bhajan, SikhNet's guru! - Gursant Singh, 2013-10-13, 16:48


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Tuesday, August 15
*** RELEASE BLITZ *** Wish You Were Here by Renee Carlino
You know when you're looking at someone and you can't help but smile at how oblivious they are to their own charm? That's what was happening to me, and it was making me feel…happy. Euphoric. Something indescribable. It was like we already knew each other, like we had met in a previous life. Memories that didn't exist began exploding in my mind like fireworks.
Charlotte has spent her twenties adrift, searching for a spark to jump-start her life and give her a sense of purpose. She's had as many jobs as she's had bad relationships, and now she's feeling especially lost in her less-than-glamorous gig at a pie-and-fry joint in Los Angeles, where the uniforms are bad and the tips are even worse.
Then she collides—literally—with Adam, an intriguing, handsome, and mysterious painter. Their serendipitous meeting on the street turns into a whirlwind one-night stand that has Charlotte feeling enchanted by Adam's spontaneity and joy for life. There's promise in both his words and actions, but in the harsh light of morning, Adam's tune changes, leaving Charlotte to wonder if her notorious bad luck with men is really just her own bad judgment.
Months later, a new relationship with Seth, a charming baseball player, is turning into something more meaningful, but Charlotte's still having trouble moving past her one enthralling night with Adam. Why? When she searches for answers, she finds the situation with Adam is far more complicated than she ever imagined. Faced with the decision to write a new story with Seth or finish the one started with Adam, Charlotte embarks on a life-altering journey, one that takes her across the world and back again, bringing a lifetime's worth of pain, joy, and wisdom.
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April 26, 2012
The Ralph and Dora Rogers Memorial Scholarship
To Ralph and Dora Rogers, Kansas State University meant the world. It played a large role in their education as well as their children's. Most importantly, it was in Manhattan, a place they called home for 63 years.
They had three children, Gary B. Rogers, Mary Rogers McLachlan and May Rogers Ball, all of whom attended K-State. Gary Rodgers graduated in 1956, McLachlan in 1958 and Ball in 1963. They were a close-knit family and loved being part of the Manhattan community.
Gary Roger's life and work took him across the world, from Kansas to California, across mountains in Europe, through Egyptian deserts and to the highest peaks in Asia. And after a life well-lived, packed with adventures over thousands of miles, he never forgot his roots or the people and places that made his experience possible — including K-State. He died in 2010.
With a charitable bequest, Gary Rogers established the Ralph and Dora Rogers Memorial Scholarship to honor his parents and create opportunities for future generations of students to attend K-State and pursue their dreams. his sisters recently shared thoughts on his legacy, his life and the way their family bleeds purple – and white.
*Talk about your family's history with K-State.
McLachlan: I remember playing on the K-State campus as a child. We'd climb, roll down hills — it was a great place for kids to be. When we were older, there was no question as to where we'd go when we went to school. All these years later, no matter where I am, I follow the Wildcats, and I'm proud to have a K-State banner hanging outside my door.
Ball: Out of the five people in our family, four of us are K-State graduates. Mom would have, but when she was in high school, her mother died, and being the eldest sibling, she ended up staying at home to help take care of her family. K-State has always been part of our lives and we're all proud to be K-State alumni today.
*What kind of person was Gary?
McLachlan: He was funny — always pulling jokes — and fun to be around. At Christmas, he'd put green coloring in the mashed potatoes and color the gravy red. He was very intelligent, was a great hiker and loved to travel. He trekked in the Himalayas up to the base camp of K-2.
But he was also a great older brother, and we had lots of fun together as kids. He loved being older and "two years smarter." He'd come to the dinner table and say, "Well, Mary, can you…" and then he'd talk about something he learned at school. He just knew how to talk to everybody and knew a lot about everything, so he could always meet you at your level.
Ball: He was a magnificent brother and an outstanding guy. He had so many interests and a wide circle of friends, but he was always very interested in other people. He'd meet people and find out their middle name, where they came from and where they went to school. He'd ask questions about this and that — where you had been, where you had grown up, what your last trip was. And he'd remember all of it. He had the sharpest mind.
*Why was philanthropy important to him?
McLachlan: I think it tells you what kind of person he was. He had a full-ride scholarship to K-State and the College of Engineering provided him with an education. I think he just saw that he needed to help others to be able to do that same thing. He gave to a lot of different causes. When he saw something that was worth doing and supporting, that was where his money went.
Ball: As the counselor at Manhattan High School, our father spent a lot of time helping graduating seniors get scholarships to go to college. He knew how much it meant to students who deserved to go to college but didn't have financial help. I believe Gary was very aware of that and thought that education was the key people needed to unlock the door to a good future. He wanted to give the same opportunities that he had to others.
*What does this mean to your family?
McLachlan: We are a very close family. I feel very fortunate that I had Gary as a brother and have May as a sister. It was National Siblings Day recently. May wrote me and said she couldn't imagine having a better brother and sister, and that our parents must have done something right. Mine and May's blood pumps purple and white, and Gary's did to the end.
Ball: Gary was just one in a million. I can't wait to see his name put up on the wall in Anderson Hall at the Celebration of Giving on May 19. We wouldn't miss it for the world. And we really had a wonderful evening with the Seaton Society in the College of Engineering this spring. We very much appreciate everything that K-State does.


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Sent: May 2, 2012
To: undisclosed recipients
Subject: Fw: The three former Fannie Mae executives, where are they now?
Where are Jim, Tim, and Franklin now?
Just in case you might have wondered how their ineptitude affected their lives after they ruined so many dreams and lives....let me refresh your memory:
Where are Jim, Tim and Franklin now? Here's a quick look into the three former Fannie Mae executives who brought down Wall Street.
Franklin Raines - was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae. Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae when auditing discovered severe irregularities in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear.
Tim Howard - was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard "was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. Investigations by federal regulators and the company's board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004. Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!
Jim Johnson - A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of Johnson's 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million." Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae. Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.
Raines works for the Obama Campaign as his Chief Economic Advisor.
Howard is a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama under Franklin Raines.
Johnson was hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee.
Our government is rotten to the core ! Are we stupid or what? Vote in 2012.. it is the most important election of our lives...


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Top 10 WordPress Plugins by Monty
I don't know about others, but according to me.. these are the TOP 10 WordPress Plugins that a blogger needs 🙂
1) Akismet
To stop the daily increasing spam and to keep your blog neat and clean. A spam blocker is needed and Akismet is a perfect plugin to stop spam and non relevant comments on your blog 🙂
2) Sociable
To allow your readers bookmark their favorite social bookmarking site! This also helps you get huge back links 😉
3) WP Super Cache
Have alot of readers and not enough server resources? Or are you on a shared web hosting and your host does not allow you to host big sites.. This plugin will help you decrease the server load by almost 50-60%!
4) Yet Another Related Post Plugin
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to the current entry, introducing the reader to other relevant content on your site
5) Register Plus
Enhance your Registration Page. Allow users to set their password, setup invite code and track sign ups.
6) Top Commentators Widget
Just like a blogroll.. allow your visitors add a backlink in your Top Comments Widget by commenting on your blog! What do they get? They get a backlink to their site on every page as long as they are top commentators of your blog 😉
7) CommentLuv
Pass a bit of luv onto your commenters by providing a titled link to their last blog post. This plugin attempts to parse the feed of the comment author by visiting their site and looking for their feed while they type their comment and appends it once they submit.
8) Recent Comments
This plugin shows excerpts of the latest comments and/or trackbacks in your sidebar. The benefit about this plugin is that it allows your regular commentors get backlinks on Search Engines 😉
9) Subscribe Remind
With the Subscribe-Remind plugin, some text will automatically be placed at the end of each of your posts inviting your readers to subscribe to your RSS feed.
10) Comment Approval Notification
The Comment Approval Notification plugin will send an email to the comment author when you approve their comment.
This was according to me, but I'm sure there might be way more plugins to increase your readers and make your blog better 🙂
Thank you for reading at Sensonize.com and do Subscribe to my feeds via email! 😀
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Why does everybody need a "My Top-10 WordPress Plugins Post"? Maybe you can give me an answer on that question :-).
Oh yes and there is an very important plugin missing on your list: http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/


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PRESS RELEASE: Graph Tech Guitar Labs, the world's largest guitar nut and saddle manufacturer is pleased to announce that they have established a new partnership with Ibanez Guitars. Ibanez is now using Black TUSQ XL nuts on various basses and electric guitar models.
"The reason why we selected BLACK TUSQ XL is to improve tuning performance on our high grade models" says Ozawa Yuki, Product Manager Bass Division.
Black TUSQ XL is designed to boost guitar tone and performance. This precision engineered nut is made witha specially formulated materialwhich couples the strings' vibrations to the neck and brings out hidden harmonics and richness in every note. It is based on the highly resonant TUSQ man made ivory, but is impregnated with Teflon to improve the tuning performance of the guitar.
Other nut materials have a tendency to bind the strings in their slots. Black TUSQ XL's lubrication is impregnated throughout the material. Teflon is the slipperiest substance on earth...500 times more slippery than graphite, sothis ensures the string will never bind at the nut again.
"We are very honored to be able to supply Ibanez with our Black TUSQ XLnuts for great tone and tuning performance" says Dave Dunwoodie, president of Graph Tech.
"Ibanez has always been known as a true front runner in guitar innovation and design. To have Black TUSQ XL called upon to improve tone and tuning for Ibanez is a greattestament to both companies involved in the best in guitar performance."
For more information, visit www.graphtech.com.
Information taken from official press release
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Children's National Researchers Receive Nearly $2 Million NIH Grant for Pediatric Acute Myelogenous Leukemia Treatment Innovations
Washington, DC--A $1.92 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was awarded to a research team that focuses on new approaches for treatment of relapsed pediatric acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), led by Yang Liu, PhD, Bosworth Chair and Director of the Center for Cancer Immunology Research (CCIR) at Children's Research Institute of Children's National Health System, and Reuven Schore, MD, member of CCIR and attending physician in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Program of the Division of Oncology of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.
This grant supports collaborative research between non-NIH and NIH investigators by leveraging the resources of the Clinical Research Center at the NIH. The Children's National project is among 10 across the country in which the NIH is using an innovative funding mechanism, known as U01 for cooperative agreements, for the first time.
The team is examining novel approaches to address unmet medical needs of rAML patients, among whom inducing remission is particularly difficult, and the risk of relapse is high. Dr. Liu said that therapeutic elimination of leukemia stem cells (LSC) may offer new approaches for AML, in part, because one difficulty is that LSC are highly resistant to conventional chemotherapy and may be responsible for relapse.
"AML is a type of leukemia, affecting both children and adults, that impacts the blood and bone marrow. Although current therapies can result in complete remission in almost 90 percent of pediatric AML patients, almost 50 percent will relapse, most within two years of attaining remission," said Dr. Schore, also Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
In their previous studies, Liu and his collaborators have shown that echinomycin, an hypoxia-inducible factor(HIF) 1 inhibitor, a class of medication, is effective in eliminating AML stem cells in xenogeneic mouse models and provides effective therapy in mouse studies of AML.
"There are questions as to why relapse occurs and whether different populations of cells can give rise to leukemia," said Liu. "Some cells resist chemotherapy and survive. In the treatment of leukemia, there have been attempts to get rid of these stem cells, but no effective way has been demonstrated to get rid of the stem cells."
Echinomycin has been used in phase I and phase II clinical trials in adult patients with solid tumors, although the drug has not been tested in hematological malignancies such as leukemia, and not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Liu said. "We have shown that the drug can be very effective in AML, even with doses much lower than those used in adults in previous clinical trials, " he said.
In 2011, the researchers reported in the prestigious journal Cell Stem Cell that "HIF is activated in and essential for maintenance of AML stem cells."
The collaborative environment between clinical investigator and bench researchers at Children's National is essential for the success of the application, said Liu and Schore. "We are particularly grateful for the leadership of Dr. Jeff Dome, Chief of Divisions of Hematology and Oncology, who helped to initiate the collaboration with scientists at NIH and advised on research strategy," they added.
Dr. Liu and Dr. Schore lead the Children's National team, which includes Yin Wang, PhD, Joseph Devaney, PhD, Pamela Hinds, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Jichuan Wang, PhD, at the Children's Research Institute.
"Our proposed studies will provide the much needed first in human data on Pharmacokinetics (PK) and Pharmacodynamics of Echinomycin and provides a foundation for future phase II and Phase III clinical trials aimed at the therapeutic elimination of cancer stem cells for pediatric AML," the researchers said.
Brigitte Widemann, MD, Senior Investigator and Attending Physician at the National Cancer Institute Pediatric Branch, leads the Cancer Institute team that includes Terry Fry, MD, and Kathy Warren, MD, at the NIH.
The NIH's Clinical Center awards support projects on a variety of diseases and health conditions that affect children and adults in the U.S. and worldwide. The three-year awards of up to $500,000 a year enable scientists throughout the U.S. to collaborate using the NIH Clinical Center, in Bethesda, MD, the largest medical center in the nation devoted entirely to clinical research.
Although government scientists who work for NIH often collaborate with scientists outside of NIH, the new grants will provide these outside scientists with direct access to wide-ranging resources within the NIH Clinical Center.
Contact: Emily Hartman or Joe Cantlupe at 202-476-4500.