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Where Are They Going?, Part I
Before we pencil in Peavy, Jake into the rotation, I thought it would be best to take a step back and see exactly where the Cubs are for next year. In Part I, the Cubs needs:
Backup Catcher-While Geo Soto is locked in as the #1, the Cubs are searching for a backup. The candidate will have to be someone who can sit for long periods of time without getting much more than a few pinch hit appearances.
Outfield-What to do with the outfield is a head-scratcher. The Cubs need another left-handed bat and the outfield is the easiest spot to fill that need. However, the issue becomes what spot? The Cubs bigwigs seem to be focusing on the concept of moving Fukudome to center and having him platoon with ReJo, freeing up the spot in right. This makes sense from the standpoint of free agency...there is next to nothing available in the CF market.
Starting Pitcher-Dempster in the FA market equals a need for a starting pitcher. Dempster is supposedly looking for 5 times $70M, which would pay him until he's 37. Whether it's Dempster or another FA (or a trade), the Cubs aren't going to stand pat. The contingency plan includes Sean Marshall and moving Jeff ND to a starting spot (although he currently lacks a third pitch).
Closer-Whether the Wood/Cubs marriage is over is to be seen, as Woody seems to be at least testing the FA market. The Cubs aren't probably going after a FA, rather moving Marmol to closer and re-adjusting the bullpen (see below).
Reliever-3 years ago, the Cubs spent big money (OK, big relief money) bringing in Howry and Erye. That worked, at least for a while. How much they will need will obviously depend on whether Wood is back or not. If Wood returns, the Cubs may be set on the right hand side, with Wood, Marmol, Jeff ND, and Gaudin. That's leaving out Wuertz, Hart, Ascanio and Angel Guzman, as well as rookie Jose Ceda (who may still be a year away). But even with all those options, the Cubs still desparately need another left-hander in the 'pen. Cotts was fourth on the team in relief appearances, but had a 4.29 ERA and left-handed batters hit .338 off him. Marshall was solid as a reliever with a 3.42 ERA, but lefties still hit .354 off him.
Filed Under: Cubs Roster
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'A Human Rights Crisis'
by Janet Nicol
Connie Greyeyes travels to Ottawa every year, bringing public attention to the missing and murdered aboriginal women in the Peace region of northern British Columbia. And each year, when Greyeyes unfurls a banner on Parliament Hill, the list of victims' names grows longer.
"This drew our attention," says Jackie Hansen, an Amnesty International staff member. "We thought, 'what's going on?'"
Amnesty has long declared the high level of violence experienced by aboriginal women in Canada a "human rights crisis." Last year, a national report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found 1,186 aboriginal women had gone missing or been murdered in the past 30 years.
In this article, I interview Connie Greyeyes and Jackie Hansen about this urgent issue.
Available in Peace magazine, July-September 2015 issue and will appear on line soon at
Tags: violence against aboriginal women; amnesty international; BC north

subset: commoncrawl


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The Army has a manual on Leadership called Leadership, Field Manual 22-100. The subtitle and foundation of its doctrine is "Be, Know, Do" in that order.
Contrary to popular stereotypes, the art of empowering and encouraging leadership is the norm in the military and I would argue is the single most important contributor to the success of the U.S. military over the last 150 years.
Foundational to the phrase: "Be, Know, Do" is the concept that Leadership starts with Being. Even if you know and do the job better than anyone else, you won't make a bit of difference without the "Be-ing" of a leader. Being a leader means: being the example, being authentic, being human, being responsible, being accountable, being trustworthy, being reliable, being fair.
Some say, leaders are born and therefore can't be created through training… It's not that leadership can't be trained; it's just that leaders require the right training. It's the work on the inside that allows them to stand in their authentic power.
Leadership is not a checklist of doing the right things. Leaders without the "Be-ing" of a leader will not be effective regardless of their "Know-ledge" or "Do-ing."
There is no related post.


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This week I've decided to use Smarty for a personal project. I've previously been leery of using a template engine with PHP because PHP is a template engine. You can embed code in what are otherwise HTML documents.
Why Smarty?
But this week I've come around to the Smarty way of thinking for several reasons.
- It has excellent documentation. Every function is documented (as far as I can tell) and there are sections on relevant advanced topics. As regular readers will know, I have been critical of projects lacking documentation;
- It's compiled to PHP anyway so apart from an initial "compile", there is performance cost for using it.
- It simplifies a lot of common task like odd-even table row styling, rendering combo boxes with a particular item selected, etc;
- There are extensive variable modifiers;
- There is very little magic going on. By "magic" I basically mean auto-loading and other things that introduce code you don't necessarily expect. Smarty is very straightforward and is obviously designed for high-performance use, which I really appreciate;
- Smarty is extensible with it's plugin architecture and input and output filters.
Ok, so decision made: use Smarty. Now what?
Where are the Tools?
I still haven't found a PHP IDE that I'm comfortable with. In part, this is probably due to using Intellij IDEA, which as far as I'm concerned is by far the best Java IDE out there. So much so that many Visual Studio users consider Resharper a "must have" extension for .Net development. Resharper and Intellij are both by Jetbrains. Resharper adds a lot of the refactoring tools that Intellij has to Visual Studio.
So what am I looking for?
- Syntax highlighting;
- Code completion;
- Being able to navigate to and from templates, plugins, etc; and
- Some form of validation (eg plugin file naming).
The code completion and syntax highlighting should, at a minimum, apply to PHP, HTML, Javascript and CSS. Ideally it would also include good jQuery support but that's just a nice-to-have.
This isn't an exhaustive review of these tools, merely an overview based on a fairly narrow set of requirements.
Eclipse PDT
I have never quite grokked the Eclipse way of thinking. The whole perspectives thing where your whole IDE changes when you are, say, debugging never sat right with me. To each their own I guess. You also have the well-known malaise known as Eclipse plugin hell.
Still, I've tried it a couple of times and it's OK but it doesn't understand Smarty templates. There is a project to add Smarty support to Eclipse but it seems to be abandoned or dead and doesn't seem to work with Eclipse 3.5.
For PHP I've used Netbeans far more than Eclipse. I can't give you a concrete reason for this other than to say that I just found it less bloated and more straightforward. But unfortunately there is no Smarty support and it appears there are no plans to add it.
Komodo Edit
I only tried the free version (Komodo IDE is commercial) but it has no Smarty support. I've read some people rave about this tool. Personally I found it uninspiring.
There are lot of things I like about PhpEd but it is commercial. It has one glaring problem though: You can't change the font size menus and other UI components. You can change the editing pane but the rest is derived from the OS DPI settings. Apparently this is because of the framework PhpEd is written in from what I could gather from the forums. Still, that's a problem. There's a huge difference between a 24" 1920x1200 display and a 15" laptop display that's also 1920x1200. Changing the DPI setting in the OS is fraught with problems so changing it is not always a viable option.
That being said, I am generally most impressed with this IDE out of all the others. The price (US$210) is that high but it can be a lot for a personal project considering how much you can get for free elsewhere.
One thing I don't like is that you have to buy a Windows or a Linux version. Why? Compare this to Intellij. You simply buy a license and you can use it on Windows, Mac or Linux. Why should it matter if I want to change my OS? It's also a greatly different version (3.3.3 on Linux, 5.8 on Windows). Is there a difference? Is Linux lagging behind?
PhpEd does understand Smarty templates though so it has to get a big plus for that.
CodeLobster PHP
I've been testing Code Lobster for a few days. It's an interesting product. What I like about it:
- It's lightweight at under 10 megs in size;
- The UI is modern-looking and snappy;
- It has support for Smarty, Joomla, Wordpress, CodeIgniter, Drupal and jQuery;
- It is quite cheap and you only pay for those plugins you use, basically.
That being said, I did come up with a few things that need some more work.
- No "live" search. I've been spoilt by Intellij on this one. This is where the cursor moves as you type so you can stop typing as soon as you get to where you want. I consider this a "must have" feature of any editor. The venerable search box needs to be retired;
- The search/replace functionality was a bit awkward in how it searches multiple files. It doesn't list all the matches that you can just click on. Searching a subfolder is awkward;
- Making changes to the filesystem externally requires a manual 'Reload Project'. Something like Netbeans or Intellij will just find changed files quickly;
- There doesn't seem to be a way of moving files around within the IDE;
- Some of the auto-formatting takes a bit of getting used to. For example, you type an opening brace and it advances automatically to the next line and indents. That's not bad. You just need to get used to it.
I can't say this is an exhaustive list and I'm not saying it's a bad product. Overall I like it. It's just a bit rough around the edges.
Web IDE
In the last month, Jetbrains has announced the development of Web IDE in standard and PHP editions. You can download an Early Access Preview release and try it out. To me this is the Great White Hope of the PHP IDE market because I have such enormous respect for Intellij's code editor, which to me is the most important part of any IDE.
I've had a brief look at the PHP support and it still seems like there is a long way to go but I'll certainly keep an eye on it. Based on Jetbrain's track record, I have a lot of hope for this one but as Eclipse has shown, making a good Java IDE is different to making a good PHP IDE and as soon as you try to do everything you end up being good at nothing. I usually describe this condition as "doing everything badly".
Also, it seems Jetbrains will be rolling this functionality into the fully-featured Intellij IDEA 9 (Maia) release so if you happen to get that version anyway (which I will) you'll get it for "free".
The good thing about Intellij is that it's equally usable on Mac, Linux and Windows and you can use your license for any of those. It's out of the box functionality comes with Subversion integration and pretty much everything you need out of the box. For me, this sure beats the plugin hell of Eclipse like figuring out which Subversion plugin to use (Subclipse or Subversive).
It's the Little Things
There are plenty of people who happily develop using a text editor such as Textmate, Notepad++, Vim or Emacs. You can but there's nothing like an IDE that supports left-clicking on a class to open the other class. Or an IDE that understands what framework you use (eg understanding Spring is particularly useful for a Java IDE).
Several of the programs I looked at did things like have code completion for HTML, CSS and Javascript to the point that you could click Ctrl+space and get a list of values for a CSS property. All of those things are useful.
One of the things that really impresses me about Intellij is the little ways the editing makes your life easier. This can be as simple as you type "mysql_query(" and it inserts a closing parenthesis for you. Lots of programs do that but in Intellij if you then type a closing parenthesis, it moves you cursor after the automatic one. No spurious parenthesis is added and I don't have to navigate over the automatic one with cursor keys or mouse. This speeds up how fast you can type and helps not break your flow.
That may seem like a small thing but there are literally hundreds of things like that in Intellij to the point that I now look for them in anything else I use, for better or for worse.
I guess the downside of using a dynamic language like PHP is that it's harder to do anything like validation and navigation.
For my money, at this point in time, I would have to say that PhpEd is the best of the bunch if Smarty is important to you but keep an eye on Web IDE/Intellij IDEA when the next version is released by the end of the year (Q4 2009).


text: Review Us Your Name*Your Business Name*1 Sentence Review* If you were to review us in 1 or 2 sentences, what would you say?Full ReviewPlease tell us us much or as little as you would like to add onto the the above title. NameThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms.


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Get The Look: Bronze Goddess
Add instant radiance or intensify a healthy summer tan by adding a little bronze contour to the face and keeping the lips natural and glossy. Here's how to get the look using Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics.
1. Apply the Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics foundation of your choice.
2. Set foundation with Mineral Rice Setting Powder and contour using Sundance Mineral Radiance under the cheekbones, jaw line and top of the forehead.
3. With a crease brush, lightly blend a small amount of Sienna Gel Eyeliner over the entire lid of the eye. Using the crease/smudge brush, apply Ora Pressed Eyeshadow into the inner corner of the eye and blend down. With a deluxe eyeshadow brush, press Topaz Pressed Eyeshadow across the top lid of the eye.
4. To intensify the look blend Czar and Storm Pressed Eyeshadow into the outer corners of the eye and into the brow bone using a crease brush. Apply Eclipse Gel Eyeliner across the top and bottom lash line using a luxurious angle brush. Apply generous coating of Blackout Lengthening Mascara. Groom and define the brows using the Artiste Brow Kit.
5. Using the Contour Blush Brush apply Lunar Dust in Dusk to the tops of the cheekbones for a bronze glow.
6. Finish the look with applying Rosewater Lipstick coated with Marrakech Lip Gloss.
Are you a fan of the bronze goddess look?


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The impact of removing prayer in school has led the kids to lose the fear of God, which systematically draws their behavior towards violence and bad morals at school.
The belief that prayer in school may seem to be forcing Christianity towards other religions such as Muslim, Jews, Hindu, etc., and that it may cause them to feel inferior towards their religious believes is untrue. Because if prayer in school is allowed it should benefit both side, the Christians and non-Christians. Each individual has the privilege of having his or her own prayer in his or her religious belief, without interfering with other religions.
In conclusion, I would like to suggest a general silent prayer should be introduce, these will enable the both side to pray without hindrances.
(c) 2003 - 2016 Rev Godwin E. Enogieru.


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14 Fall Foods We Can't Wait to Try
Toss your pumpkin spice latte and enjoy the flavors of fall with these recipes.
It's time to put your heirloom tomatoes and sweet summer corn away, because fall is coming. Seasonal changes are a breath of fresh air for cooks. Don't get us wrong, summer produce at the local farmers' market is to die for, but by late August we're ready for a change. The chilly months bring sweet squash and pumpkins, earthy parsnips and carrots, and of course fall afternoons of apple picking. We can't wait to slip a delicious pie into the oven or throw together tons of root veggies on a sheet pan and roast away.
We'll definitely miss weekends by the pool, but we're ready for you, fall. Here are the fall flavors we just can't wait to try this season:
Butternut Squash
Buy them pre cubed at the supermarket for a quick dinner or slice it up from scratch. We love tossing this veg into everything and anything in the fall.
View Recipe: Steak Salad with Butternut Squash and Cranberries
Sweet Potatoes
We'll take sweet potatoes any way. Mash them, grate them, fry them, or bake them and we're showing up for dinner.
View Recipe: Ham and Sweet Potato Hash
We just recently fell in love with this lesser used fall vegetable, reminiscent of a sweeter, yet starchier carrot
View Recipe: Pan Roasted Parsnips and Pears
Canned or fresh, this classic fall favorite ends up in your lattes, pies, soups, and side dishes.
View Recipe: Pumpkin Soup with Almonds and Sage
Acorn Squash
This less popular fall squash is the perfect vessel for stuffing your favorite fall flavors. It makes for a wonderful meatless dish and is hearty enough for everyone at the table.
View Recipe: Black-Eyed-Pea-Stuffed Acorn Squash
Brussels Sprouts
These all time favorite veggies are back to be roasted, stir fried, baked, and everything in between.
View Recipe: Broiled Flat Iron Steak with Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes
Everything seems a tad brighter with a lemon juice or an orange wedge squeezed over a salad.
View Recipe: Seared Scallops with Bacon and Oranges
Whether you pick your own or just head to the grocery store, apples in the fall cannot be beat. Try them baked and topped with vanilla ice cream or include them in a savory dish for a little added sweetness.
View Recipe: Skillet Apple Chicken Thighs
It's finally the time of year for our favorite leafy green. Cook it down, bake it into chips, or serve it with your favorite dressing for a hearty dish you'll adore.
View Recipe: Kale and Mushroom Quinoa with Romesco
Say goodbye to the days of peaches and plums, and get excited about the hearty pear. We love slicing this crunchy fruit into salads or baking it away in a delectable tart.
View Recipe: Pan-Seared Salmon with Pear and Walnut Spinach Salad
Make the most of broccoli's peak season by roasting it until it's charred or tossing it into a pasta dish for a little late night comfort.
View Recipe: Broccoli and Cheddar Chicken Pasta
We plan to take this fruit way beyond Thanksgiving this season.
View Recipe: White Balsamic and Rosemary Cranberry Sauce
We love tossing beets in a salad with goat cheese or with a meatier lentil for sweetness and crazy color.
View Recipe: Spinach, Beet, and Lentil Salad
Perfect for a sweeter dish, roast or bake these babies for a fall treat you'll love.


text: a mountain massif in Korea constituting the southern end of the Sobaek Range. Chii-san measures approximately 50 km in length and rises to a maximum elevation of 1,915 m at the mountain Chii-san, the highest peak on the Korean peninsula. The slopes have deciduous (oak, ash) and mixed forests to an elevation of 1,400 m and coniferous forests (spruce, pine) at higher elevations.


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The excellent Articulate elearning community was set a challenge #95 to create a video background for an elearning course. I looked at the awesome examples done by the community and was inspired to have a go myself.
My idea
One of the videos entered was a cinemagraph. (A short GIF type video that repeats. But you can set only part of the whole image to move and freeze the rest) This is what I wanted to create
The shoot
I wanted to do something original and I am currently creating a course for a local business forum and decided to incorporate the cinemagraph of a local market scene. The shoot went perfectly coming back with a few decent choices. I used a Canon digital camera that can shoot movies and a tripod (which I heartily recommend). I wouldn't set any auto-focus either you lose the first few seconds whilst the camera zoom settles down.
The Edit
This was the fun bit, selecting which portion of the image to freeze and which to move and repeat. I recommend having a bout 7-10 seconds as you want the viewer to find what NOT moving and what is and then take in the effect.
Here's my attempt


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We reserve past account names for up to six months then put them on an inactive list.
If you would like to reuse your old account name, sign up for a new account with a different account name. You will be able to use your previous email address to signup. Then drop us an email with your new and old account names and we'll do the magic for you.
Please note that no data from your old account will be available.


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Simply put, this thing saves you a whole days work from tweaking all of your "golden images" and does it in a few simple steps. Once installed you will have two desktop shortcuts, one is for using the tool remotely, and the other is to run the tool locally. Once you have the parameters the way you want them click the "Optimize" button to apply those settings to the OS. So easy!
The VMware OS Optimization Tool helps optimize Windows 7 desktops for use with VMware Horizon View. The optimization tool includes customizable templates to enable or disable Windows system services and features, per VMware recommendations and best practices, across multiple systems. Since most Windows system services are enabled by default, the optimization tool can be used to easily disable unnecessary services and features to improve performance.
You can perform the following actions using the VMware OS Optimization Tool:
- Analyze
- Optimize
- Viewing History
- Managing Template
Also included is the Remote OS Optimization Tool, which uses the same functionality as the Optimization Tool, but connects to a remote VMware View broker so that remote parent and template VMs can be enumerated and optimized.
Requires Windows 7 and .Net framework.


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Sorry but this item is currently unavailable.
Please check back at a later stage.
Since its release in 2011 the Arizer Solo's innovative design has become well known as a powerful and reliable vaporizer that produces smooth and tasty vapor. Designed for use at home and on the go, the Arizer Solo is a compact & durable portable vaporizer that is owned and loved by thousands of people worldwide!
Designed to be perfectly simple, Arizer Solo is incredibly easy to use, little to no maintenance is required on the unit itself, and the glass parts are very easy to load and easy to clean. The included stem caps make it easy to pre-load the Glass Aroma Tubes for use on the go, and an automatic shut-off timer turns the unit off after twelve minutes — plenty of time to thoroughly heat and use your materials while optimizing battery life.
Known and loved worldwide for reliably and consistently producing smooth, tasty, potent vapor, the Arizer Solo's high-quality ceramic heating element and high quality glass parts make it the connoisseur's choice for regular day to day use at home and on the go. With a battery that lasts for up to two hours of continuous run-time, a Use While Charging feature, and a convenient Charging Dock (sold separately), the Solo can be used anytime, anywhere!


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With this you can choose the half-board or full-board option. With full-board, everything is included in the price. Relax and let yourself be guided : everything is being taken care of for you!
Over your holiday , the houseboat cruises up the Canal between Carcassonne and Castelnaudary.
On the way, you discover the Canal du Midi, a Unesco World Heritage Site, from a different perpective : the ancient towpaths, the locks and the flowers around the lockkeepers' houses, the welcoming marinas.
This option includes
● The transfer from the Carcassonne railway station to the boat and back
● Lunches in gourmet restaurants (for full board option)
● The evening meals on the deck or in the dining room depending on the weather. You will be served regional specialities nicely prepared by your hostess with local and seasonal products
● Drinks, before and after dinner cocktails and liqueurs
● The excursions, the visits, wine tastings
● Bicycles
● The free use of the jacuzzi


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From $12.00
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On Sale from $3.50 Regular price
— Sold Out
Regular price $5.00
Vanilla & Co. is one of the largest suppliers of gourmet organic vanilla beans in Australia, selling to wholesalers and restaurants for over 15 years. We stock Vanilla Tahitensis beans, which are cured by the bourbon method from Papua New Guniea. They are highly prized for their sweet, fruity and floral aroma.
You can now buy vanilla beans directly from us, the importer.


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https://clon.collectfasttracks.com/hos?/femp.js?tt=1&/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/supercapacitor.jpg 390 600 schematic Galactica https://pulsarnectar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/pulsar-logo-1.jpg schematic Galactica2013-02-28 23:26:312013-02-28 23:26:31Graphene Supercapacitor - The Future of Energy Storage
Graphene Supercapacitor – The Future of Energy Storage
Graphene – a simple carbon polymer, which can be used as the basic component of a supercapacitor – a high energy density storage device that charges far more rapidly than chemical batteries.
The future of energy storage – the battery tech of today!
The Super Supercapacitor
Read more about this scientific discovery at ReWire Science
What is Graphene?
Video compliments of Vega Science Trust


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I had the privilege of reviewing the Tool Set from Green Toys. Cooper absolutely loves it! He loves having his own tools, just like Daddy. Daniel is teaching Cooper the difference between a Phillips head and flat head screwdriver, and all about the other important manly tool information.
I am thoroughly impressed by the Tool Set because it is made from recycled milk containers! Even the packaging that it came in was eco-friendly. I really like the fact that Green Toys cares about the world that my son is growing up in, and they are doing everything a company possibly can to protect it.
BUY IT! You can purchase your own Green Toys at http://www.greentoys.com/ .
WIN IT! Green Toys has offered to give one lucky winner the Sand Play Set (pictured below)!
Visit Green Toys, then come back here and tell me your favorite item!
Extra Entries:
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Contest ends August 30, 2010 at 8:00 PM (EST)
Open to US residents
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I did not receive compensation for this post. I did receive product(s) mentioned above to facilitate the review. All opinions are 100% mine.


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What Nobody Gets about the "Oil Glut"
This morning, crude oil prices reversed the recent trend that had driven oil down to a two-month low by close of trade yesterday. The reasons for this fall were simple: commentators were again returning to the mantra of an "oil glut" that kept prices low, while another round of short selling by the usual suspects worked to push oil down.
The result was an 8.6% decline in West Texas Intermediate (WTI, the benchmark crude rate used for futures trading in New York) over the past five trading sessions, and a 10.3% dive since close on June 29.
A similar slide was registered for Dated Brent, the equivalent (and globally more widely used) benchmark set daily in London. Brent broke back above the $50 a barrel mark on July 1, only to fall back 8.3%.
Pundits are now once again using the excess oil supply "argument" to justify their calls for lower oil prices in the near term… despite oil moving up again today.
Now, I continue to hold to a $50 a barrel price in the short term. That means we are about there.
Here's why I'm sticking to my forecast… and what the pundits are missing…
Oil Demand is Moving to Asia – but Supply Isn't
Any move up will result from the more traditional interplay between supply and demand, augmented by the ever-present external factors of geopolitics (civil war in Libya, unrest in Nigeria), socioeconomic collapse (Venezuela), the spiraling debt picture (U.S.), and Mother Nature (Western Canadian wildfires).
As for global demand, it continues to strengthen, with the Asian market being the focus of interest. In fact, as I have noted in Oil & Energy Investor in the past, the demand picture will be moving to the Asian mainland between now and at least 2035.
In other words, Asia will be dictating the world's market prices moving forward.
But it's the supply side of the equation that's once again attracting attention. Now, there's always more production in the market than end-users require at any given time.
However, lately we've been experiencing record-high levels of excess oil. Even when production has been limited (as the crises in Libya, Canada, Nigeria, etc. have done), the continued presence of a "glut" has tempered prices.
That's because the actual oil in the market or in storage is no longer the governing factor…
The Real "Oil Glut" is Underground
But the availability of historically high amounts of extractable crude is.
The amount of crude known to exist in reserves currently under development and the ability to lift that volume in short order are the new normal. It used to be that the two million barrels a day or so the Saudis could bring online in a few hours was the "balancer" of global oil prices.
Not anymore.
The rise in huge reserves of unconventional (shale and tight) oil in the U.S. has changed everything. The sheer amount of oil known to be available has dwarfed the traditional way of looking at matters.
But to really understand what's happening here, some clarification is in order. You see, while pundits talk a lot about an "oil glut," they often confuse two very different things.
The first is the crude already out of the ground and sitting in either storage or pipelines at places like Cushing, OK. But that in itself is not the issue. New pipeline networks are now moving more of that excess out of Cushing and on to petrochemical complexes on the Gulf Coast.
And it's useful to remember that such a "glut" has existed for some time. In fact, Cushing had a significant backlog of stored crude two years ago… when oil prices were in the triple-digits.
The second – and the real – "oil glut" has been the rise in extractable reserves. This is essentially a result from the advent of the shale age.
But these easily extractable reserves act differently from a simple excess of oil in the market. Simply because the oil is there does not mean it is, or will be, pumped. That is dictated by market conditions.
No company deliberately wants to shoot itself in the foot by pumping oil now that it could sell for more later – unless, that is, it's a company that's running one step ahead of the sheriff or the bank.
The key is to extract oil as and when prices justify doing so.
In the U.S., that still means $65-$75 a barrel for most of the "glut" – the easily extractable oil reserves. In other words, all this "excess" oil known to be underground isn't much of a governing factor on oil prices when much of it can't be pumped and sold at current prices.
Instead, it's the balance that governs oil prices…
Actual Market Supply is What Matters for Oil Prices
Slowly the oil picture has been returning to that balance, one between effective demand (the kind of demand that, since Adam Smith, has actually moved the needle) and actual in-market supply.
Known excess availability (still in the ground) may well put an expected ceiling on the pricing range, but only because at a certain oil price, this excess availability is pumped out of the ground and turned into actual supply.
At the end of the day, it's this balance that will progressively determine sustainable oil prices. And here, a consensus is rapidly forming. OPEC, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and other major sources are all in agreement that the balance will take hold at some point between the last quarter of 2016 and mid-2017.
For others, it is already upon us, despite post-Brexit volatility, rising political differences and tension in the South China Sea, and a U.S. presidential election.
All of which means that the days of $100 oil are not coming back anytime soon.
But don't worry. The $60+ per barrel that's anticipated, and the $50 per barrel already here, are quite enough to make nice profits in the sector.
Now, as I mentioned last week, I'm currently engaged in a series of meetings, as some major developments in global oil finance are intensifying, with the UK's decision to leave the EU being one of the main causes.
The past week has indicated that the market is likely to experience the first sea change in how oil project funding is procured, and which cross-border banks are going to benefit.
You'll see the fallout from all of this in my next Oil & Energy Investor issue.


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Hiroshima Mayor Akiba and President of Mayors for Peace, an organization which is comprised of over 3,500 Mayors around the world working in 135 countries, asked David Clark to design and produce a high profile initiative to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the atomic bombing of his city and promote disarmament during the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference being held that year at the United Nations.
In response David Clark partners with Christie's Auction House and hosts a benefit art auction called "Back to the Garden" which featured over fifty visual artists. Participating artists included Yoko Ono, Jeff Koons, Tom Otterness, Kiki Smith, Richard Serra, Julian LaVerdiere and Takashi Murakami.
"Back to the Garden" also doubled as a VIP reception for Mayors for Peace, whose members were in New York City to attended the Non-Proliferation Conference at the United Nations. The Guests of Honor for the event were members of the "Hibakusha," the living witness/survivors of the 1945 Atomic bombings.
As part of the initiative, Clark secures Yoko Ono to address the General Assembly of the United Nations on behalf of Mayor Akiba and Mayors for Peace. This is noteworthy as Ms. Ono and her family fled Japan following the atomic bombings in 1945. In addition, Clark secures the support of Michael Douglas, a long time advocates for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons to work with Mayor Akiba, along with Joni Mitchell who created a painting and lent her lyric "Back to the Garden" from her iconic song Woodstock for the occasion.
"I am delighted to have David Clark's expertise in creating and producing the "Back to the Garden" art exhibition with Christie's Auction House the day before the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the United Nation, and for securing Yoko Ono to speak in the General Assembly on our behalf."
– Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba


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Natural lava stone aromatherapy bracelet – Silver Owl
Lovely aromatherapy bracelet – silver owl features naturally formed lava stones with Silver coloured owl and black stones, great for using with essential oils. The lava stones are porous allowing a drop or two of essential oil blends to penetrate and act as your own personal wearable diffuser. The bracelet is elastic and will fit most adults.
How to use the aromatherapy bracelet – silver owl
Before placing the bracelet on your wrist, apply one drop of essential oil or blend directly to one of the lava stones (you can repeat on another stone for a stronger scent). Roll/twist the bracelet allowing the oil to coat and penetrate into the stone. Do not douse the stone as some oils can deteriorate the elastic. After the oil soaks into the lava stones, gently wipe an excess oil from the surface of the stones.
Apply essential oils daily if required.
Essential Oil Blends – 10 ml
Clarity – Designed to assist with concentration and focus.
Ingredients : Lemon, Rosemary CT Cineole*, Basil CT Linalool*, Peppermint Yakima (*Denotes Certified Organic), Jojoba Oil
Invigorate – An uplifting blend designed to awaken your senses.
Ingredients : Mandarin, Lemongrass, Bergamot, Nutmeg, Basil CT Linalool* (*Denotes Certified Organic), Jojoba Oil
Sleep Ease – The perfect blend to help with deep relaxation
Ingredients : Orange Sweet, Lavender Maillette, Petitgrain, Chamomile Roman*, Sandalwood* (*Denotes Certified Organic), Jojoba Oil
Given the natural nature of the product, colours, shapes and characteristics will differ from the product photo.
Warning :
Essential Oils should not be digested or applied directly to the skin. Never allow children to handle essential oils or products with essential oils applied. If sensitivities/allergies occur discontinue use immediately.
Check out our Car Aromatherapy diffusers.


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Gameguru Mania - cheats
Borderlands [trainer +16]
# Hotkey Option
1 F1 Toggle Infinite Ammo
2 F2 Toggle Infinite Health
3 F3 Toggle Super Speed
4 F4 Add 1000 Money
5 F5 Add 5 Skillpoints
6 F6 Quick Level Up
7 F7 Toggle One Hit Kill
8 F8 Slow Motion Enemies
9 F9 Freeze Enemies
NUMPAD1 Restore Enemy Movement
10 F10 Toggle Infinite Shield Power
11 F11 Toggle Super Accuracy
12 NUMPAD4 Toggle Rapid Fire
13 NUMPAD2 Toggle No-Recoil
14 NUMPAD3 Toggle Super Zoom
15 NUMPAD5 Save Position
15 NUMPAD6 Restore Position
16 NUMPAD7 Toggle Super Jump
F1 - Infinite Ammo
This option will give you an infinite amount of ammo on all your weapons.
This option also takes away the need to reload any weapon.
F2 - Infinite Health
This option will give you an infinite amount of health.
F3 - Super Speed
With this option enabled you will be running much faster. This makes it
much easier to travel.
F4 - Add 1000 Money
Press this button to add 1000 Money to your current amount of money.
F5 - Add 5 Skillpoints
Press this button to add 5 skillpoints to your current amount of skillpoints.
F6 - Quick Level Up
Press this button and you will instantly levelup to the next level.
F7 - One Hit Kill
Press this button and when you move your mouse over an enemy, you can kill
that enemy with just one shot. Please note though that some enemies are
having a shield you have to kill first.
F8 - Slow Motion Enemies
Press this button and when you move your mouse over an enemy you will see
that enemy walking in slooooowwmotion. You can easily run away and watch them
following in sloowwwmotion.
F9 - Freeze Enemies
Press this button and when you move your mouse over an enemy you will see
that enemy being freezed to his current spot. He can not move at all and will
not be able to follow you at all.
Press NUMPAD 3 and move your mouse over an enemy to restore his movement back
to normal.
F10 - Infinite Shield Power
Your shield in this game works as an armor. Pressing this button will give you
an infinite amount of shield powers.
F11 - Super Accuracy
Press this button and all your weapons will shoot much more accurate.
NUMPAD4 - Rapid Fire
Press this button and all your weapons will have an incredible fire rate. Your
pistols will shoot with the speed of a machine gun. It is very wise to use the
No-Recoil option aswell when having this option enabled.
NUMPAD2 - No-Recoil
This option will remove the nasty recoil affect from your weapons.
NUMPAD3 - Super Zoom
When having this option enabled and clicking the right mouse button to aim
with your weapon you can see things you normally could not see from the position
where the player is standing.
NUMPAD5 - Save Position
Press this button to save your player coordinates. You can use this later
to restore them.
NUMPAD6 - Restore Position
Press this button to be teleported back to the place where you saved your
player coordinates.
NUMPAD7 - Super Jump
With this option enabled you can jump much higher than normal.
1. Unpack the release with WinRAR or equivalent
2. Run the trainer from the desktop.
3. Start the game
4. Toggle desired Options on/off
(c) 1997-2018
Gameguru Mania


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The Herritage Lottery Fund supported refurbishment of Grade II listed building Regent Street Cinema has been completed. Pellings provided Project Management and CDM-C services on the circa £3.8m project for the University of Westminster to resurrect what was the birthplace of British Cinema, where the first moving image was demonstrated by the Lumiere Brothers in 1896.
The refurbishment has incorporated a return to the original 1927 look and feel of the Cinema, and includes a 200 seat auditorium, period finishes, a café/bar/education area, green room and box office. The project will run as a commercial enterprise as well as providing a state-of-the-art facility for use by the University of Westminster's Media Arts & Design Film School. Pellings was appointed to the project in March 2014 from RIBA stage 3 to its completion in April 2015.
For more information, contact Peter on firstname.lastname@example.com


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I love fancy drinks - so when I saw this recipe on Desire 2 Create I knew I had to try it. I tested it out on my sister and sister in law and between the 3 of us we downed the entire gallon in less than an hour. Sigh. It was THAT good.
Raspberry Lime Rickey
12 oz pkg frozen raspberries
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
4 tsp grated zest
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (juice from approx 4 limes)
2 liters club soda
In a saucepan combine raspberries, sugar and water. Cook until raspberries release their juices- about 5 minutes. Grate lime zest and sqeeze the juice from your limes. Add to raspberry mix and let cook until slightly thickened. Pour into bowl and let cool completely- about 30-45 minutes in fridge. Combine raspberry mix and club soda. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.


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Last night a few of us from SVML went to the Todd Rundgren concert. He looked and sounded great, the band was tight and energetic and the crowd was having a good time. We had a blast.
What really hit me was the evidence of Buffalo's ongoing renaissance. Its once defunct waterfront looked alive and inviting. Historic buildings have been renovated and the fusion of old and new architectural elements is successful. The beautiful old cobblestone roads have been restored and new walkways and roads have been built where necessary. Brightly colored Adirondack chairs dot the green grassy park area. The sleek sailboats and colorful kayaks filled the river entrance to Lake Erie. And the bright flags emblazoned with the Canalside logo (which is nice) fluttered in the lake breeze.
Seeing all those elements come together as a fresh Canalside brand made it exciting to be there. You felt like you were someplace special, as though someone (or a lot of someones) cared enough to invest the time and money into creating a new identity and brand. If they cared enough to put forth this effort, then it must be worthy of taking part in. That's the importance of a strong, well thought out identity. When it looks good it feels important. And that makes people feel good. When you make them feel good, they remember.


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Olympic Arms 11.5″ SS barrel 10mm flattop complete upper assembly.
A very handy pistol upper or SBR upper in the powerful 10mm caliber. The upper is in the rare length of 11.5" with a SS bbl and utilizes a blow back operation. This complete upper features a flat top upper receiver with internal ejector, charging handle, 10mm bolt assembly, 11.5″ SS barrel, delta ring, carbine style handguards and handguard cap, FSB (front sight base) with A1 post and bayonet lug, threaded barrel with Stoner style flash hider.
This is a used personal upper and has been fired approx 350rds. It comes with a converted .41AE Uzi mag with the block welded onto the back, which I believe is a 20rd mag. Olympic now uses a different magazine that is less expensive since the Uzi mags are preban mags.
Barrel is marked SS 10mm.
The use of the new style Olympic Arms mags may require a notched feed ramp according to the Olympic Arms website – this upper has the notched feed ramp.
This item is now sold.
NOTE: 4 extra Uzi .41AE mags are possibly available. They have been modified to work with a standard 9mm magwell block and milled for the AR-15 mag catch. They do not have the block welded on back like the above mag. They could be modified to work for 10mm or could be used in .40S&W or .41AE AR-15 conversion. Please call to discuss options.


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AAWC nominated ImJa for this prestigious award based on her tireless efforts in providing care for the elderly Asian community and community at large by founding PASSi (Penn Asian Senior Services). She was one of 12 outstanding women in Pennsylvania selected this year and recognized by Governor and Mrs. Corbett at an awards luncheon held in Harrisburg at the Governor's Residence on Wednesday, October 15. We were represented at the luncheon by Co-Founder Cecilia Moy Yep, President Gloria Yu and Board Members Grace Kong and Kathy Ngee.
Since its inception in 1948 by then Governor James Duff, nearly 500 women have been recognized. (More information may be found on www.distinguisheddaughtersofpa.org.)
Joining this select group are our Co-Founders Cecilia Moy Yep (2006) and Judge Ida Chen (1997) and Lily Yeh (2013). Congratulations to ImJa!
AARP The Magazine Oct/Nov issue highlights ImJa in article: Saving the World as Second Career. Click HERE to read the article.


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2 pounds new potatoes, unpeeled, cut into ½-inch cubes
Sea salt
1 small red onion, finely diced
3 to 4 tablespoons capers, drained (do not rinse)
3 or 4 ripe tomatoes, diced (do not peel or seed)
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 or 4 shallots, finely diced
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Juice of ½ lemon
2 teaspoons brown rice syrup
3 or 4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, finely minced
2 or 3 stalks fresh basil, leaves removed and finely diced
Sea salt
1 or 2 basil sprigs, for garnish
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and a pinch of salt and cook until just tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a mixing bowl. Mix in onion and capers. Gently fold in tomatoes. Set aside.
Make dressing: Place oil and shallots in a small saucepan and cook over low heat 3 to 4 minutes to soften shallots. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining ingredients, seasoning with salt to taste--remember the salty flavors of the capers. Allow dressing to cool about 3 minutes before gently tossing it with the potatoes. Serve warm, garnished with basil sprig.


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Latvian Based Photographers
We have 1 photographer based in Zemgale available for assignments.
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Julija Hisova
Auce, Latvia
Photography is my hobby. I love to catch beautiful things of nature and still life.Through the photography it is possible to see what I am happy about.
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If you are a Latvian based photographer in Zemgale who wants to take on assignments, then why not apply for registration as a seller with Photographers Direct!


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Janie Kathryn was invited to an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party. When told the guests could dress up, I immediately started searching my mental inventory of appropriate attire. Her Dorothy costume could be converted into Alice easily enough, but the birthday girl would be Alice. Then I remembered a haggard old dress in her dress-up box that would be perfect for the role of Queen of Hearts!
The easy peasy crown was fashioned from half sheet of 12x12, red, glittery scrapbook paper, stapled of course, and finished with a few felt heart stickers and the pièce de résistance- The Queen herself. The heart-shaped lipstick, a heart on the cheek, and a little bit of eyes brought the look full circle.
"Who's been painting my roses red? Who dares to taint,
with vulgar paint, the royal flower bed?
For painting my roses red, someone will lose his head!"


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NAMI Greater Seattle: Advocates of the Mentally Ill, listed as "co-founder and affiliate of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)." appears to be the new name (2004) for what was formally known as "Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill."
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill: (A nonprofit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families, and friends of people with severe mental illnesses.)
National Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors: the largest professional membership organization that serves counselors who specialize in addiction treatment.
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders: (Dedicated to alleviating eating disorders and promoting healthy lifestyle.)
National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems: represents all organizations serving people with psychiatric and substance abuse disorders.
National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity: now known as SASH, the Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health offering hope and valuable resources to those seeking information about sexual addiction.
National Eating Disorders Association: promoting public understanding of eating disorders and access to treatment.
National Association of Social Workers: is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world.
National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists, Inc.: is an educational, scientific, and professional organization dedicated to professionalizing the mental health specialty of hypnotherapy.
National Board for Certified Counselors: is an independent not-for-profit credentialing body for counselors, incorporated in 1982 to establish and monitor a national certification system, to identify those counselors who have voluntarily sought and obtained certification, and to maintain a register of those counselors.
National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification: is the nationally recognized credentialing organization for the profession of therapeutic recreation. Established in 1981, as an independent non-profit organization.
National Society of Genetic Counselors: is the leading voice, authority and advocate for the genetic counseling profession, and promotes the genetic counseling profession as a recognized and integral part of health care delivery, education, research and public policy.
National Guild of Hypnotists Washington: State chapter of NGH, a non-profit professional organization dedicated to the promotion of ethical stage hypnotists and hypnotherapists everywhere. The Washington State Chapter provides regular meetings and educational opportunities for hypnotherapists, stage hypnotists and other interested persons. NGHWA meetings are open to the general public.
National Rehabilitation Counseling Association: founded in 1958 as an organization to represent the unique concerns of practicing rehabilitation counselors. A Division of the National Rehabilitation Association, NRCA is the largest national organization representing rehabilitation counselors practicing in a variety of work settings.
Northwest Association of Domestic Violence Treatment Professionals: devoted to promoting victim safety and upholding perpetrator treatment standards.
National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards: is an association of state boards that provide financial assistance to help families and victims of crime.
National Association of Drug Court Professionals: [Drug courts are special courts given the responsibility to handle cases involving substance-abusing offenders through comprehensive supervision, drug testing, treatment services and immediate sanctions and incentives.]
National Association of School Psychologists: represents and supports school psychology through leadership to enhance the mental health and educational competence of all children.
National Career Development Center: is a division of the American Counseling Association, promotes the career development of all people over the life span, provides service to the public and professionals involved with or interested in career development--including professional development activities, publications, research, public information, professional standards, advocacy, and recognition for achievement and service.
National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers: Mental Health Consumer Protection


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Storytelling Starters ~ Being SpecialSaturday, April 21st, 2018
Last week it was a Symposium focusing on refugees. This week it was a dinner event in honour of five Disability Activists from Uganda, Tanzania and Bangladesh. Each occasion has given me much cause for thought, widening my sense of the special importance of a person's own life story – and how much more that may be so when that person has been up against it in their life.
Thursday's event was organised by ADD International, a charity I've supported for a number of years. ADD links with disability organisations in Africa and Asia to identify and give support to people who can become leaders in their own communities. To the organisation's great delight, five of the Disability Activists they work with had been able to travel to the UK this week to attend meetings and publicise their work. What had helped make this possible was the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which has been happening this week in London and the fact that one theme of this year's gathering has been disability issues. (more…)


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For the ultimate startup experience: talk yourself into carrying someone's bags as they give a pitch to a VC. Be a fly on the wall and soak it in.
If you're trying to get a real feel of the culture: apply and interview for jobs in three Silicon Valley companies even if you don't want any of them. The interview will teach your more about Silicon Valley company culture and the valley than any tour.
Meet some locals in tech: attend at least three tech-oriented Meetups or Plancast events in the Valley or San Francisco (Meetup is a deep list. Search for "startup" meetup's in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Santa Clara.)
Go to the best events: Check out the meetups from iOS Developers and Hackers and Founders and 106Miles and Ideakick and Startup Grind. Catch a monthly hackathon. Subscribe to StartupDigest Silicon Valley edition before you visit.
Cowork with a startup: Find a real 3–10 person startup, working from a small crammed co-working space and sit with them for an afternoon. Offer to code for free. San Francisco has many co-working spaces (shared offices for startups). They're great to get a feel of what it's like to start when there's just a few founders and you don't have your own garage. Visit Founders Den, Sandbox Suites, Citizenspace, pariSoma Innovation, the Hub,NextSpace, RocketSpace, Startup House, The Hatchery, PeopleBrowsr, Dolores Labs and DogPatch Labs. Check out here for more SF sites
See where hackers hang out: Driving down the valley see Studio G in Redwood City, Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, the Plug & Play Tech Centerin Sunnyvale, Semantic Seed in San Jose. Check out this site for the latest updates on co-working spaces.
Rub shoulders with the makers: Head to an event at Blackbox.vc or Galvanize. See if there's a Startup Weekend or SVForum event going on in the Bay Area. I'm serious — talk yourself into a job.
silicon valley
Chaos Monkeys
Enjoying reading Antonio's Chaos Monkeys now. The book is a rather honest account of launching and working at tech startups in the Valley.
Here is a quote on math behind Facebook growth, for example:
"The reality is that Facebook has been so successful, it's actually running out of humans on the planet. Ponder the numbers: there are about three billion people on the Internet, where the latter is broadly defined as any sort of networked data, texts, browser, social media, whatever. Of these people, six hundred million are Chinese, and therefore effectively unreachable by Facebook. In Russia, thanks to Vkontakte and other copycat social networks, Facebook's share of the country's ninety million Internet users is also small, though it may yet win that fight.
That leaves about 2.35 billion people ripe for the Facebook plucking. While Facebook seems ubiquitous to the plugged-in, chattering classes, its usage is not universal among even entrenched Internet users. In the United States, for example, by far the company's most established and sticky market, only three-quarters of Internet users are actively on FB. That ratio of FB to Internet user is worse in other countries, so even full FB saturation in a given market doesn't imply total Facebook adoption. Let's (very) optimistically assume full US-level penetration for any market. Without China and Russia, and taking a 25 percent haircut of people who'll never join or stay (as is the case in the United States), that leaves around 1.8 billion potential Facebook users globally. That's it. In the first quarter of 2015, Facebook announced it had 1.44 billion users. Based on its public 2014 numbers, FB is growing at around 13 percent a year, and that pace is slowing. Even assuming it maintains that growth into 2016, that means it's got one year of user growth left in it, and then that's it: Facebook has run out of humans on the Internet.
The company can solve this by either making more humans (hard even for Facebook), or connecting what humans there are left on the planet. This is why Internet.org exists, a vaguely public-spirited, and somewhat controversial, campaign by Facebook to wire all of India with free Internet, with regions like Brazil and Africa soon to follow. In early 2014 Facebook acquired a British aerospace firm, Ascenta, which specialized in solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles. Facebook plans on flying a Wi-Fi-enabled air force of such craft over the developing world, giving them Internet. Just picture ultralight carbon-fiber aircraft buzzing over African savannas constantly, while locals check their Facebook feeds as they watch over their herds."
Best Silicon Valley Companies Careerwise by Wealthfront
One of the "hottest" FinTech startups Wealthfront also offers a career advice. Some time ago they have published a "Silicon Valley Career Guide" and recently blogged about "107 Career Launching Companies". Both worth a read if it is of interest to you. Posting both here for your convenience.


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If you are exhibiting or performing at this years arts festival, you can download blank posters for the festival from here. You will need the password which will have been sent to you by Amy. If you do not have the password, please contact Amy.
Sponsored by:
This page has been viewed 3352 times since 10/09/2007


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1. My TEDS buddy Andrew Lisi recently wrote a thoughtful blog on a report by NPR about how sex is, for the younger generation, almost completely separated from any lasting connection or bond. (Photo: H. Armstrong Roberts, NPR)
2. A Wheaton PhD student and friend of mine, Jeremy Treat, shares a stirring story about one inner-city Chicago high school's transformation.
3. Newsweek has an audio slideshow up featuring a book on Patrick Henry College students by Jona Frank called Right. It's worth looking at and listening to, even if it comes from a liberal perspective.
4. Armchair basketball analysis: The Magic-Lakers game last night was quite frustrating. Orlando deserved to lose, with Howard and Turkoglu unable to make free throws. Too bad. This will conclude our analysis.5. So much for the whole "need-blind" admissions policies of some American colleges. Reed College of Portland, OR has been hard hit by the financial downturn.
6. Kevin DeYoung cites a helpful apology for the pro-life position made by Scott Klusendorf's The Case for Life:
"Use the acronym SLED. Size: are big people more human than small people? Level of Development: Does self-awareness make us human? Are older children more valuable than infants? Are those with dementia less valuable? Environment: Do your surroundings determine your humanity? How can a journey eight inches down the birth canal change the essential nature of the child? Degree of Dependency: Does viability make us human? Are newborns or those who need dialysis not deserving of human rights? (28)"
–Have a great weekend, all.


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Just the other day on the news someone broke into a burning house to save a dog from the inferno. Brave fellow, I gotta say.
However, there was only one problem.
You see, the house wasn't even on fire.
Apparently the unlucky bastard tripped on acid and hallucinated the fire. The guy thought the dog was in danger and broke into someone else's property to save the dog from a made-up blaze.
I'll be honest, although I have nothing against LSD I did find this story hilarious.
And as much as I wish I was making this up, I'm not. Yet the strange part is, this happens in copy more often than you think.
You have ads trying to sell products by fixing problems nobody has.
And as you sadly might have guessed, the ads almost never work.
It's almost as if these ads are high on acid, trying to save the customers from a problem they don't have… after barging into their lives and nagging for their attention like a creepy little puppy.
At one end of the attention spectrum, the prospects don't care and ignore the ad.
And on the other ad the prospects are so pissed off by the ad yet they still ignore it.
This can all be avoided through careful research of both the market and the product to make sure no stone is left unturned in finding the one problem irritating your prospects like a knife sticking out of their backs.
Now, I've spent a long time perfecting my market and product research workflow to make sure my copy is drug free when I'm done writing it.
This is the kind of research I carry out for all sales copy and emails I write.
If you want to tap into my market research skillz, then contact me at:
Let's give your market a marketing message they'll never forget ( for all the good reasons, of course )
Till the next wave of madness…