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Roth IRA vs. 401k: What's Right for You?
When you are driving down the road to retirement, it's critical to choose the best vehicle. And for many savers, it may be time for an upgrade. Those who have made the savvy commitment to save at least 10% of their salary should consider the features and benefits of Roth IRAs and 401ks described here.
When it comes to retirement savings, too many people are stuck with their first vehicle. My first car was a white 1995 Ford Probe. It was a sporty-looking hatchback with roll-down windows and an engine only Fred Flintstone would envy. It got me to and from college, and it even got my brother and I across the country and barely home again. But after several years of service, it was time to shop for new options. Just because you've chosen to drive one retirement vehicle for a while doesn't mean you have to finish the ride with it.
Your Other Options
If your employer offers a 401k match, it's a great place to jump-start your savings. At the minimum, many employers match the first 3% of your savings. This is free money that you can't afford to pass up. In 2013, you can defer up to $17,500 into a 401k or up to $23,000 if you are 50 or older.
A great strength of 401k plans is that they can easily automate your savings through payroll deductions. As with most long-term goals, the more simple your plan, the more likely you are to succeed.
Many 401k plans now offer a Roth 401k. If this is true for you, it may be the investment vehicle upgrade you need. The Roth 401k will allow you to pay taxes on your retirement savings contributions upfront and avoid future taxes. All withdrawals of Roth savings are free from federal income tax in retirement.
You are generally a good candidate for a Roth if you can answer yes to any of these variables:
You're young and earning less than you will be in the future.
You're a supersaver and will have a large nest egg in retirement.
After considering the U.S. government's debts and deficits, you expect tax rates will rise in the future, and you are willing to pay now for tax-free income later on.
If your company does not offer a match or if you have already maxed out this option and want to save more, consider a Roth IRA. Roth IRAs provide more flexibility than a 401k because you can access the principal at any time without penalty. Unless you are willing and able to take a loan, 401k plans typically restrict distributions from the plan until retirement.
Some Road Bumps That May Necessitate Savings Adjustments
You are now eligible to save up to $5,500 in a Roth IRA or $6,500 if you are age 50 or older every year. Income phaseouts for Roths begin at $112,000 modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) for single filers and $178,000 MAGI for joint filers. If your income disqualifies you from making a direct Roth IRA contribution, consider a strategy that allows you to make a Roth IRA contribution through the back door.
You can lower your fees with a Roth IRA. Participants in a 401k plan are more likely to incur seven different fees, than those who invest in a Roth IRA. Adding this together, it's not uncommon for 401k plans to have fees 1% higher than a Roth IRA invested with a low-cost broker like Charles Schwab.
Roth IRAs also offer beneficial provisions for first-time home purchases and college expenses. The point is that investors may prefer the Roth IRA for its flexibility and lower fee structure. In either case, both the Roth IRA and Roth 401k allow you to store this money where it will never be taxed again.
Before you focus on retirement savings, make sure you have funded an emergency reserve account. We all know people who have unexpectedly lost their jobs. I recommend you have three to six months of living expenses in a liquid account.
Following these steps and investing wisely will ensure that you are driving in style during your golden years.
More from Credit.com


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Will & Willie Podcast – Video of Paul Wells interview with Larry Jones of Feed The ChildrenFriday, January 23rd, 2009
On December 11th, 2008 an event was held in San Francisco that distributed food, personal items and toys to thousands of low income San Francisco families. Paul Wells, producer of the Will and Willie show was one of the volunteers at the event, organized in part by the Willie L. Brown Institute. As the election, the Holidays and the Inauguration of President Barrack Obama all rolled past into history, Will and Willie's schedule was too packed to get together for another Podcast. A post-inaugural session will follow soon. Here's Feed The Children's Larry Jones on what brought his philanthropic organization to San Francisco for the "Miracle on Pier 48."
Podcast: Play in new window | Download

subset: commoncrawl


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Responding to market challenges calls for a new and broader role for transit agencies as mobility managers. Mobility management moves beyond establishing and operating traditional fixed route transit systems to fostering and organizing a network of diverse transportation services and providers to satisfy customer needs. Mobility management involves several functions. The starting point is the identification of transportation needs of a specific community and identifying service options and demand management strategies to respond to those needs. Transit agencies often serve as a travel agent by brokering customer needs with a variety of service providers and providing one-stop customer information on available services.
Attracting adequate financial resources to support these services is usually the responsibility of transit agencies. One way to reduce costs is to coordinate services and providers into a cost-effective transportation network. Transit agencies have an important role in advocating for improved regulatory, traffic management, and land-use policies that support the effective delivery of transportation services. Transit agencies are also responsible for implementing technological innovation to improve network performance.
Mobility management strategies are being pursued vigorously in the coordination of human service transportation coordination activities and in meeting the transportation needs of those making the transition from access to jobs. Individual market segmentation analyzes will be undertaken. ITS technologies are being supplied to achieve the coordination of multiple service providers, and to provide customers with real-time information. The application of smart card technologies allows customers a seamless fare medium that can be applied to several service providers. Strategies for developing mobility management implementation within the transit industry are being developed in TCRP new paradigm visioning. Finally, FTA will undertake with the transit industry, mobility management demonstrations, and will establish technical assistance and information-sharing activities.
Related Resources
Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility
American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
Mobility Management Brochure


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This index consists of companies that meet the following criteria:
For each company listed in the Index, we have tried to get the following information:
name, brands, relationship to other companies, years of operation, and product line.
Most of the information is incomplete, but we are adding more information as it
becomes available. Please contact the Site Historian if you can provide more
information on any of the companies in the Index, or if you know of other companies
that should be added to the list. Not all information below is completely reliable.
If you have questions about the reliability of something you read here, please ask.


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We are very sorry but this event is cancelled
We are very sorry but this event is cancelled
Function Room
Club Members can hire the function room for parties, meetings and other events, especially on Saturday evenings. Rates are very reasonable and we can provide all sorts of additional resources to make your evening go with a swing!
Opening Hours - Temporary restricted times due to COVID-19
Friday and Saturday
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm*
3:00pm - 8:00pm*
* if no customers may close 1 hour earlier
The current membership year started on 30th June 2019. Due to COVID-19 memberships are extended and will not expire until further notice
Q - Where are you?
A - We're located at 139 High Street in Lewes town centre. If you're coming by road from the Brighton direction we're on the left, just after Shelleys Hotel before the bottleneck and next door to Lewes Old Grammar School (see the map below).


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Addicted to AFV Laptop Skins
We've got a great selection of Addicted to AFV gifts. Whether you're looking for Addicted to AFV t-shirts, hoodies, stickers or other Addicted to AFV merchandise, Whee! Design and Whee! TV has a large collection of fun, unique gifts to choose from. You can shop with confidence because all our products from CafePress are backed with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.


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Paper Products Market Research
Mintel's Paper Products market research reports provide a comprehensive and extensive overview of the marketplace including information on the market size and market share.
Mintel's industry reports can help you gain further insight into the paper product market trends and gain valuable consumer data.
Make sure you stay one step ahead of your competition – Mintel's market analysis can help you make informed business decisions by providing up-to-the-minute industry intelligence. Our market intelligence reports span hundreds of countries and regions.
Online access
Previous editions
Multiple formats


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Featured Text
A great place to share about a sale!
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Available as a framed print or as a poster print
Located at The Colombo in Sydenham and Rolleston Square, Rolleston. Industria features a curated selection of local artists, international design and exceptional gifts. We love what we do and are passionate about our products and customers.
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This layout was created for Sketch #174 @ ScrapSketch:
The title says: Ein Hemed
The journaling says: We saw in the newspaper an ad about a trip in Ein Hemed. We got organized, got there and started to walk. We walked in the trails, between the trees, stopped at a creative corner for kids in nature, walked to the crusader fortress and finished in an improvised picnic.
I used: Autumn Leaves Kaleidoscope & Designer printed papers, ribbons, Quickutz Silhouette, Sharpie, ribbons, brads, stapler.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Ein Hemed
8:32 AM Posted by Unknown
0 comments labels Autumn Leaves, layout, ScrapSketch, Sharpie, Silhouette, sketch
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text: We've already seen a fair number of Windows Phone 7 stats, but Microsoft's now gone and provided a proper retrospective for the first anniversary of its debut at the MIX10 conference last year. The standout figure, as usual, is the number of apps, which now stands at 11,500 -- a number that Microsoft is quick to point out it's not "artificially inflating" by listing wallpapers as a category, or boosting by adding competitor's apps to increase "tonnage." Microsoft also notes that while the Windows Phone Developer Tools have been downloaded 1.5 million times, it's choosing instead to focus on the number of AppHub community members as a more accurate measure of the number of developers for the platform -- they now total 36,000. It's also revealed that Windows Phone 7 users download twelve apps each month on average, that it's currently adding 1,200 new developers this week, and that 1,100 of the apps in the Marketplace are ad-supported and generating revenue with its Ad Control platform. Hit up the source link below for the rest of the stats.


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Dear NMTI Friends, Alumni and Community Members,
As you may know, NMTI's last students graduated in April 2015. We are sad to close our doors but do so with pride in our thousands of graduates' success.
We understand and fully appreciate the commitment that was required by each of our students to complete their education and then begin the process of starting a career in the field of Massage Therapy. We have sought to demonstrate that same level of commitment to all of our students, in the many months since we provided notification that NMTI was pausing all new student enrollments, in early 2014. We are pleased to report that we have had very strong student retention in our 2014-2015 academic year and that – consistent with prior years – the vast majority of our graduates in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years have been placed in Massage Therapy jobs.
Though our last students left in April, NMTI has retained full time staff in Career Services and Compliance through the summer to support all former students in their career goals.
Beginning immediately and for the long-term, all NMTI graduates can obtain information relating to their records by contacting Ultimate Medical Academy. This includes graduates of the following campuses:
- Turnersville, NJ
- Egg Harbor, NJ
- Philadelphia, PA
- Wilmington, DE
- Falls Church, VA
Inquiries should be submitted via our online form. For diploma and data requests, please use the Information And Data Request Form. If you would prefer calling for information, please dial 800-509-5474.
For transcript requests, please visit exchange.parchment.com. Then follow the directions for requesting transcripts on your screen.
Thank you for being a lasting part of NMTI's community and legacy.
Kind Regards,
Bob Cappel


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Sound Off for March 3
Yes, we have a group home in the area of Whitewood and Hemlock Road and the police officers have been coming quite frequently. A while ago, when they first opened this place they were there often, then it was good. Now it is starting all over again. As neighbors in the area we have dealt with this long enough. We have gone forward in the past. I just think these kids are getting out of control. DCF doesn't seem to want to do anything from what we understand. It's to the point where they are walking out with short sleeve shirts on and no coat. Where is the supervision? We don't want this in our area, These kids do what they want.
Involuntary commitment, posing a danger to himself and others certainly sounds like it would have fit this man. No, we have learned nothing from Newtown. Look what the shirt made him do, it was his excuse for his behavior today. What will tomorrow's look what you made me do be? Will he be behind the wheel of his car when someone doesn't cross the street fast enough or takes his parking spot at the store?
Government is too busy going after the guns and not the nuts who are potential mass murderers as it would be time consuming and work to profile a nut. They lost an opportunity today to possibly take one disturbed individual off the streets and fix him before sending him back out into society.
Reputable rescues, dog kennels, animal control facilities all keep their dogs in kennels where the bed area of the dogs is separated by a door. In nice weather he access door to outside is kept open. Inclement weather dogs are let out to do their 'business" and put back in. At night the door is closed until morning. Dogs are able to move around, change position. Not so for a number of the dogs that were seized from Frederick Acker, SPCA (no affiliation with ASPCA). The state dog warden, Ray Connors, testified under oath that the dogs were kept in cages with a number of them curled up in balls as the cage was too small for them to stand up or stretch out. Dogs were laying on urine soaked paper, no water available or food, some of the dogs had matted coats, many were shivering in the 30 degree temperature with wind blowing thru cracks in the barn walls.
Charged with 62 counts of animal cruelty, Frederick Acker SPCA founder apparently said the right things to a Litchfield judge as Acker has been awarded and I quote "the return of the large dogs seized". The judge went on to say that the large dogs did not feel the cold as much as the smaller dogs.
Is anyone amused or outraged by this? State law stipulates that animals be kept in temperatures of 55 degrees. Acker has stated he is appealing the judges ruling as he believes he deserves to have all of his dogs returned.
A little history lesson. In 2005 Acker operated under the Animal Adoption Network and, public record, was charged with 84 counts of animal cruelty. The Register Citizen reported on a 2012 charge by the Town of Monroe this past week. Acker, moving out of Monroe changed the name of his organization to SPCA.
What part of animal cruelty did the Litchfield judge fail to hear?
The State Department of Agriculture, Canine Division, has failed to protect these dogs/ Further, in my opinion they have failed to support the Bethlehem Animal Control Officer who had the courage to set in motion the seizure of these dogs.


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Exclusive: Zac Posen launches new David's Bridal line
- The six-gown collection goes on sale online and in 50 stores February 2014
- Prices will range from %24850 to %241%2C350%2C sizes from 0 to 26
- His goal%3A To push %22technique and construction to the ultimate accessible price point%22
NEW YORK — Zac Posen is peeling back the layers of a bridal gown like a groom on his wedding night.
One, two, three, four... a dozen or so layers enrobe a blond pixie of a model. "I love the different tulle textures," Posen gushes. "I love the corded boning." He fingers the rhinestone beading — at least 100 crystals-strong — along the bustline and straps. "Beautiful," yet sufficiently subtle. "Sometimes it gets a little too My Little Pony."
It's a mid-May afternoon and Posen is getting his hands on, and into, a baker's dozen contenders for his new bridal line, which features several of the designer's sartorial signatures, including figure-flattering corsetry and pintucked, herringbone-like seaming.
Only this collection doesn't cost half of what an average bride might pay for her entire wedding. The line, Truly Zac Posen, is from David's Bridal. Launching February 2014, the six ivory styles will range from $850 to $1,350. Five social occasion dresses, in neutrals and one lavender-threaded silvery jacquard print, will go for $195 to $225.
And the cap-sleeved, sleeveless, ball-skirted and fishtailed wedding gowns won't just fit the Gwyneth Paltrows and Portia de Rossis of the world (both have been Posen clients, Paltrow at the 2007 Oscars, de Rossi at her 2008 nuptials). Truly Zac Posen is truly democratic, available in sizes 0 to 14 off the rack, 16 to 26 by special order.
"I have such a wide fan base and audience base and diverse base," says Posen, 32, wearing a Posen-made navy blue vested suit and sitting in his airy Tribeca studio (distressed wood floors, flaking columns, stark white walls, generous windows). Pale pink peonies softly perfume the third floor loft. "I wanted to find a place where I could actually address them and dress them."
But even within the bridal market in general, "I've always felt there was a void when brides come to me and want to commission a wedding dress, because that means they can't find what's out there." Designed and stitched a bouquet toss away, the handful-per-year custom creations, for princesses and queens, cost "a fortune" but "it's worth it."
"A great deal of care and love goes in there," Posen says. "I wanted to try that on something that was going to have a lot of reach."
Amid the frothy offerings at David's Bridal, including those of Posen's "very personal close friend" Vera Wang, as he describes their relationship, "what was missing was this aesthetic that speaks to a more red carpet, dramatic bride," says Catalina Maddox-Wagers, the company's executive vice president for merchandising. Although her team didn't talk to any other designers, "we looked at so many potential options."
The two-year-old White by Vera Wang line is "more whimsical, more flowy," Maddox-Wagers says. David's Bridal, and Posen, aren't worried about the two fashion fixtures stepping on each other's trains.
"She gave her blessing," Posen says.
Posen is huddled over a dark green marble slab-topped table, giving his blessing — or not — to options for logos, labels and hang tags. He's toying with a tomato-esque pin cushion that adorns his right wrist.
Brian Beitler, David's Bridal's chief marketing officer, is talking about who the Truly Zac Posen "girl might be. She's unafraid to take risks."
Posen isn't so sure. "I don't necessarily feel the dresses are risky. There's a romantic classicism to them with a va-va-va-voom quality." To wit: "Smashing from the side, stunning from the front and elegant from the back."
Earlier, he'd ogled over sweet grosgrain trim, sophisticated lace edging ("that makes me crazy"), an interior "bungee cord to give you that waist you've always wanted" and a trail of buttons lining one back. "It's got to look good on so many bums. That's important." And a bride's got to be able to sit, "so she can feel beautiful and eat her cake, too."
Posen is crinoline-crisp in his other critiques. One font option? "A little corporate. I feel like I'm in a law firm, and nobody wants to think of law firms when they're getting married."
"So we kill the corporate," Beitler says, just as decisively.
A potential gray and brown hang tag color scheme? "It looks like a shoebox. It looks a little masculine, like leather goods." A terra cotta hue? "A little '70s." Gold? "A little bling-y." Black and gold? "A little disco." Ahem. "Very disco." He ultimately says "I do" to an off-white and cool gray combination. "It reminds me of the inside of an ivory tulip."
Posen origamis the possible hang tag into a tidy rectangle and holds it against a ruffled strapless gown. He approves. "It reads like a personal note from me to all my best girlfriends across America."
Posen is hoping his confections will appeal to brides planning country, suburban or city weddings. As if to prove that last point, he and his model, Betina Holte (also one of his designers), head outside into the unseasonably hot air. The scent of lilac from a nearby park mingles with the fumes of the Holland Tunnel. Posen fluffs up Holte's ball skirt as she flits past cigarette butts and a subway entrance and into a cobblestone alley. He adds tawny, oversized Wayfarers to the look.
"It's our urban bride moment," he says.
When Posen cheek kisses Holte in front of a company-hired photographer, someone shouts "Congratulations!" from his car.


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Hello again Riva,I'm having a little trouble understanding some parts of the schematic, I added some notes for the questions that I have. http://cncorpmisc.weebly.com/ It's probably obvious and I don't realize it. the one caption is supposed to read "how does this connect"Klawd
Can you (or anyone that knows) please give me the link to the MAX7219 library that I should use in this project?
Actually, the RTC I have available right now for this project is the DS1307 which from your experience is not the best one for this kind of project. I'll change it...You can get reasonably accurate with a DS1307 given a little time. For me the DS1307 was loosing about 8.5 seconds per day (It take several days to get a good average) so I just put in a bit of code to add 8.5 seconds at midnight each day.Another thing that I will have to work is the Font. I need to add some "special" characters like ç, é, í, etc...From my understanding, I need to add their "design" to the Fonts you already included, in the first place. After this, is there anything else that I need to change to be able to use them in a scrolling message?If you want to add the characters into the correct position to match the extended ASCII table then you will need to define all the characters prior to the last one you need or at least put spaces in the chars you don't define else the loadBufferLong code won't work properly (It will also need altering to accept a larger font tabe as it's current upper limit is 0x7F). You could also define the extra characters to replace un-used characters in the current font (things like {}[]|<>). Still regarding the Fonts, can you explain to me what's the meaning of the last digit/couple of digits defined after each character?The last number is used for kerning the font character. It is normally the bit number of the right most bit (start counting from the left of the two bytes) + 2 and defines how wide the character is. I have highlighted the right most bits in both examples and you will see the number is the bit position of the widest point (starting with left byte/bit) plus 2 bits.e.g.:Quote B11001100, B00000000, //" Bit position 6 (counting from left) highlighted in red B11001100, B00000000, B11001100, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, 8, // 6+2 B00110011, B00000000, //# B00110011, B00000000, B11111111, B11000000, // Bit position 10 (counting from left) highlighted in red B00110011, B00000000, B11111111, B11000000, B00110011, B00000000, B00110011, B00000000, 12, // 10+2I am referring, in this example to the 8 and 12 in the last line of each character. Other characters have different codes.Once more, thank you for all your help.When I get something that worth to show, I'll post some pictures.Will be nice to see someone else's work
B11001100, B00000000, //" Bit position 6 (counting from left) highlighted in red B11001100, B00000000, B11001100, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, B00000000, 8, // 6+2 B00110011, B00000000, //# B00110011, B00000000, B11111111, B11000000, // Bit position 10 (counting from left) highlighted in red B00110011, B00000000, B11111111, B11000000, B00110011, B00000000, B00110011, B00000000, 12, // 10+2
After several hours around the build of the matrix (mine is 475 x 475 mm), I've just managed to see the result of half of the matrix (just one MAX completely connected by now).The result is not what I was expecting. Without thinking or questioning, I used the diagram presented in the file "Clock7.pdf" to wire the first max to the arduino and as I can now see, my assumption was not correct.The schematic was the one I used to build both clocks so should work. It is based on this article. What you may have done (I did it first time) is forget that when your wiring the back of the board the SegX are reversed.Here is what I have done:Since we usually read from left to right, I supposed that since you placed the IC1 at the right side of IC2, the schematic was drawn as seen from the back, i.e. when you see the watch from the front, the IC1 becomes the left and the IC2 on the right; and I wired my matrix exactly as in the schematic. At the moment, only the IC1 that, seen from the back of the watch, it is on the right side (right half) and when we turn around to see the "lights", it is on the left side.I'm not sure what the effect would be with only one chip as the matrix information is cascaded through one MAX into the next from right to left when LED's viewed from the front.Well the problem is that I missed something and now I have the initial string appearing from the left to the right (wrong) and, even worse all the characters are backwords (like mirrored). To see the characters correctly, I would need to turn around and see the watch from it's back...All you need to do is reverse the order of the 8/16 SegX pins and it should come good.
Just a quick question: When looking to the watch (front face after ready) what is the side of each IC?I suppose that IC2 controls the left side of the matrix and the IC1 the right side, correct?
lc.setRow (0, 0, B01111000)lc.Setled (0, 1, 2, true)
lc.setRow (0, 0, B01111000)
After some early matrix wiring "orientation problems", here is a quick video to show you my wordclock matrix.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl2p8FcFMuw&feature=youtu.beThe face looks good. Having access to CNC machine and creating the light wells is a good idea and should make the thing less susceptible to light bleeding from one cell to the next. Hence me having to use bits of black plastic straws.The base is MDF, CNC machined 20 mm front / 5 mm back holes and since it is 475 x 475 mm I made the electronics independent: i.e.: 1 stripboard for the arduino, 2 stripboards for the MAX7219, 1 stripboard for the rotary encoder and the LDR is directly connected with a three wire cable (I need to see where I am going to place it at the final)Right now, everything is just wired together and suspended. When I figure how to fix everything to the clock's back, I'll post some pictures.Will be nice to see some finished pictures. You could probably have mounted all the electronics on one piece of stripboard to reduce the complexity. I don't envy the wiring looms you must have I had to uncomment the setBrightness function to be able to make the auto-adjustable brightness work. Is there any reason for the function to be disabled in the code? It seems that it is working correctly without any further adjustment...setBrightness is still active but I moved it to the doTime routine so it only adjusts every minute as the clock face is changing. I found you could get into a brightness hunting condition sometimes where it originally was. The brightness would adjust every second between two brightness levels and as the MAX chips only have 16 levels you really noticed it.After some changes I am experiencing some slight flickering when some (already translated) words light up.When translation, I always used the function: Code: [Select]lc.setRow (0, 0, B01111000) as it seemed easier to do the match between the clock face and the code.Can you explain to me why and when should I use each of these functions?I would use setRow if no other letters from potential previously illuminated words are in that row else I would use setLed to finish filling the row and then setRow or setLed for the next row if the word spread across more than one row. Your likely getting flickering because your setting a led/filling a row and then another word is using setrow on the same row at a later point and wiping the previous led settings.


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If you have an e-commerce or transactional booking site, you have an easy job tracking profitability, efficiency and the success of your website. One of the key metrics you use is conversion rate — the number of users that end up buying something.
But most sites are not transactional sites. How can a company site or an information site track conversions? In this context we talk about "mental conversion" — referring to any choice the user makes on the site that is beneficial to your company. The challenge has always been, what are these choices and how do we measure them?
Levels of Conversion
I operate with 4 categories of conversion when measuring non-transactional websites. This fits neatly with the limit of four goal conversions in Google Analytics, a nice bonus.
- Interest
- Subscribe
- Share
- Contact
It is important to note that the appropriate sites for this model is not product oriented sites that easily could have been e-commerce sites. For product oriented sites, Contact should be replaced by Store Locator or Where to Buy.
At this level the user is showing an interest in your company and/or your content. This includes:
- Bookmarks/Favorites
- Writing down to URL for later visit (offline bookmarking)
- Saving the page
- Printing the page
- Adding the page to "Read it Later"
At this level the user is interested in you and in getting updates from you in the future. This includes:
- E-mail newsletter
- RSS subscription
- Follow on Twitter
- Become a fan on Facebook
At this level the user finds you interesting enough to share his or her discovery with others. This includes:
- Tip a friend
- Share on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites
- Blog about
- Adding a widget to the Vista Sidebar or Mac OS X Dashboard
At this level the user makes direct contact with you. For non-transactional sites this means that a conversion can happen offline. This includes:
- Phone
- Fax
- Letter
- Physical Visit
Note that it is only in step #4, Contact, that we will be able to convert the user into a customer. The implication is that all your communication in the steps #1-#3 should seek to push the user to a higher degree of mental conversion.
Measuring Conversion
On e-commerce sites we have the luxury of having an exact conversion rate, and exact statistics on how much each user creates in revenue. It's quantifiable. Unfortunately, measuring mental conversion is a more qualitative exercise.
To measure bookmarking, written down URLs, writing the URL from a printed article, etc… we can assume that visits that are Direct (without referrer) and also a return visitor is from a bookmarked URLs.
Unfortunately this does not catch all visits.
- Visitors that revisit after 30 days will not be return visitors
- Visitors using online bookmarking services like delicious or google bookmarks (this has a sharing perspective also and its debatable if they are bookmarks in a traditional sense)
To measure printing of the page it is possible to count printer friendly versions of the page and depending on browser it might be possible to count loading of print stylesheets.
E-mail subscription is easily trackable through either the confirmation page or the e-mail subscription list itself. RSS feeds can be tracked with Feedburner. Other types of subscription like microsummaries, widgets, follow on facebook, follow on twitter, etc… needs different measuring techniques. The numbers are readily available, but I have not found a good product that consolidates them.
Common sharing techniques like tip a friend and share on is easy to measure. It is important that you also tag traffic generated from sharing so that the value of this functionality can be evaluated later. People that share by using bookmarklets or copying the url is a little more difficult to track. Implementing technologies like Trackback is one solution.
E-mail — either through a form or through a direct mailto link is possible to measure.
Tracking phone calls is expensive and difficult, but it can be done. By having a large pool of phone numbers you can show a random number to each user. The phone system will then feed back to the web statistics when a call is received on the number. An easier way to catch at least some phone traffic is functionality for having the user supply his phone number so you can call him.
Measuring actual visits that comes as a direct result of a web presence is doable by using traditiona surveys in the physical locations. A number of companies can do this in any city of sufficient size and there are experts that should be consulted in order to formulate the questions.
Surveys on the website can be used to supplement your statistics in order to gain an understanding of mental conversion. Always remember that surveys is a field of expertise and random free surveys with questions from management is not going to give you anything substansial.
Measuring mental conversion is not an exact science and it involves both quantitative and qualitative data. It is possible to By following this model you will be able to be more exact than before in putting a value on your users and website.


text:
Missing Your College Freshman? Maybe This Helps
Missing Your College Freshman? Maybe This Helps
Early every fall on college campuses large and small, family vehicles line up near dorms and a new class of freshmen steps out into the big intersection of freedom and responsibilities. Parents are stepping, too, of course, but stepping back – away from the college, out of their child's daily life, and to a long drive home.
As a father of two college grads, my wife and I know that drive, both of us astonished again, to think an 18-year assignment just ended.
On the other side of the equation, as a college president, I'm also one of the adults still on campus as parents leave. New York Times stories may spill out the horrors of what can go wrong on campus, but I can also attest to ample goodness in this passage to a wide new world.
I thought a few reminders might help.
Our school in East Texas is not ivy-covered, geographically central, or large. Our sports teams don't make ESPN; our name causes doubletakes. Students here, on the other hand, come from all 50 states and dozens of other countries. They skew intelligent and highly creative. And we're in the business, frequently one-on-one, of giving them the goods to go into life with work that matters. This is great stuff.
Think of the courses you loved in college, the ones that pop to mind sometimes even now. Chances are 99 percent that you got hooked on the professor's love of the subject. Why? Because learning involves love. And learning is relational. Learning is that X factor between a good teacher and an engaged student, between students lost in discussion on a difficult topic . . . or as the student runs into new life experience.
Did someone say experience? Besides the classroom, learning is what happens hands-on in practice, in exploration, in "try it a different way now" and another get-to. In preparing sons and daughters for a wide world, the village it takes is seriously hands-on.
We want your sons and daughters to leave home and fall in love early with the heady brew of caffeine-like conversations, professors that know their names, exams set at a high bar, a student body that brings the world to class, and, most important, the meaning that slips under and lifts why we learn, why to care, why college is no end in itself but an HOV lane to What Matters.
A woman I know was told by her history teacher in high school that college is "four years when all you do is think about yourself." We know that can be painfully, painfully true. We've all seen the narcissism that can spread in a 20 year old trapped in the dead-end of self-absorption.
But schools have individual cultures. That's why parents and their high schoolers visit campuses, go online, talk, compare, negotiate, ask questions, and do the hard labor to see what's out there.
By the end of his life, our university founder was giving away 90 percent of his income and keeping 10 percent. The idea of living for himself, or working for himself, or learning to serve himself had long, long ago disappeared.
R.G. LeTourneau's drive to sharpen his mind to serve humankind got in the drinking water. To a small town in East Texas, that X factor attracts committed professors, tugs students from 40 countries and sends all our students back into the world.
Parents miss their kids. Oh, well I know. Skype can't compare to having your daughter linger talking in the door frame. No text or phone call will replace your son's walk through the front door.
But remember: You worked 18 years with this season in mind. You knew there would be other doors – big doors.
You've just handed off a new set of keys.


text:
This afternoon Cliff Bleszinski–industry giant perhaps best known for his role as designer in the Unreal and Gears of War franchises–has been sounding off on what he thinks makes the Saints Row franchise great, and not so great.
Like dildos.
Gathered from a string of tweets on his Twitter profile, Bleszinski seems to think the franchise has great game mechanics–enough to "give GTA a run for their money"–but finds that their presentation is a little too "immature", saying "[Battlefield] didn't go after [Call of Duty] by putting dicks on their guns."
I'd have to agree with Cliffy B on this one. Saints Row's whacky environment is what sets it apart from GTA but Saints Row 3 was just too over the top. Hopefully SR4 will be more like SR2.
I played the timed trial and it was too over the top for me. Saints Row 2 was MUCH better since I could actually take the story and characters seriously, thus giving me an incentive to want to keep playing.
Instead of giant dildos, Cliffy endorses enormous, hulking men with small heads and giant armour suits, who instead will bash people to death with their OWN penises.
I dont understand why people are disagreeing with you. Its a known fact that the majority of the Saints Row fanbase thought the third was garbage compared to SR2.
For the people saying the third was awesome, have you guys played the other games?
SR3 just seemed like it was designed by a bunch of middle school kids who think sex jokes are the funniest thing on this planet
Cars didn't fly like in SR2. And it would be silly to take their stories seriously in the first place.
SR2 was a bit too ghetto.
First of all, if you're quitting the gaming business or taking a break, then take a break and stfu. Cliffy's always running his mouth. And BF didn't go after COD.
^Uh, BF totally went after COD. Look at how dumbed down and "mainstream" (aka CODified) BF3 is compared to BF2 and BF 1942.
"Cliffy endorses enormous, hulking men with small heads and giant armour suits, who instead will bash people to death with their OWN penises."
Half the men weren't actually hulking, they just had on armor and None had small heads. Also, you totally lost me on they beat people to death with penises.
I'm going to go with you've never actually played the game, knowyourstuff and your actually a stealth fanboy which didn't get the game on either the pc or ps3, so your just raging now.
Im just gonna go ahead and sacrifice my agrees and say that i had a ton of fun freeroaming in Saints 3 and overall liked it a lot. I had more fun playing co-op in Saints 2 but other than that i had way more fun with 3. The single player missions were just so over-the-top and epic. The opening mission says it all. Jumping out of a plane, freefalling, catching Shaundi, dropping her, shooting out the window of another plane and smashing through its window, catching another parachute, catching Shaundi again and then parachuting. lmao
Sure there was some immature stuff like dildos and whatnot that didnt really need to be there but the campaign was really good and for the most part didn't have that stuff.
And honestly, other than Dildos, there wasnt really any sex jokes. Just over-the-top stuff like that batmobile car and jets and the shark gun and stuff xD
But honestly all that just made freeroaming timeless.
Yes, I finished SR2. But I just loved SR3! I personally find it better in every way! good graphics, game play, okay story and so over top but just pure fun overall!!!
Bulletstorm was one huge dick joke.
Thematically, BF2 did modern combat before COD4.
Cliffy, please shut up.
I liked 3 personally but the DLC SUCKED. 2 was better but it wasnt to do with the dildo bat. Nobody forced you to use it throughout the game (I think you had to use in 1 mission). The great thing about Saints Row is you play most missions how you want to play them.
My favorite Saints Row game was still the first game..
And, then the second game comes second, and the third.. third.
I did, in no way, care for the 'over the top' parts of the games.
Some of the wackiness was okay, but I still preferred it to be serious.
I loved Saint rows the third. Everyone complains about the purple dildo. I in fact never equipped it once. I actually bought SR2 on steam but still have to play it. Either way I like SR the third. Playing it co-up makes it even better.
Strange....for I thought I remember seeing that SR3 was the most successful....and all I heard from all my friends who had bought it before me kept on saying how awesome it was and how you can just buy it and just get right in and don't need to play the other games. All positive things of it....
'Its a Known Fact' - . . . You should be a reporter and start using that line on a lot of things.
Actually Saints Row 2 and the third were both very similar in sales and reception so neither one was more successful. Yea it was easy for newcomers to get in the game because volition completely neglected the story from the two previous games which to be honest was a slap to the face to the series hardcore fanbase. The third was way too over the top and got stale fast. SR2 had way better missions, activities, a better city by a long shot which had so many things to explore with a bunch of easter eggs, better characters, and the story if I would even call it one was garbage compared to previous games. All I am saying is SR2 had a good balance of being serious and crazy which is the reason the series got popular in the first place. The third lacked the charm that the first two had. If you go to the Saints Row online forums it will be very clear that the majority of the community doesn't like the third. Maybe for newcomers the game was fun but for the fans of the series previous installments the game was a huge disappointment. This Angry Joe review of the game will prove why my statement is valid:
"Saints Row Would Be Better Without Dildos, Says Cliff Bleszinski"
Says the guy that endorsed Bulletstorm... geez.
No no... Says the guy who endorsed Sawed off Shotgun in Gears3.
What does him endorsing BulletStorm, which was his job.... have to do with voices his opinion on Saints Row as a gamer?
@ Theyellowflash30
Have you not played Bulletstorm? It has just as many [email protected] jokes as Saint's 3. The dildo in SR3 is nothing more than a visual [email protected] joke... my comment was just saying it's the pot calling the kettle black, but I was also joking at the same time. You seem like a very serious person though.
Bulletstorm was meant to be all dicks and whips... it was a blast to play through, albiet non replayable.
That's the whole point. It's not trying to be GTA, it's trying to be Saints Row. Get it?
That's pretty much what I said but they took a great formula in SR2 and just did stupid things with it. Get it?
There's no point in trying to be serious. They know what they're competing against and serve up something different.
Being serious is pointless because if people want that, they'll go with GTA. I loved Saints Row 3 because they intentionally made sure every mission was over the top ridiculous. It's for FUN! Not an engaging story.
Extactly!! f789790 says it all!
This is not a GTA, it's a Saints Row it always had the sense of humor that GTA never had and it never will. So what it has dildos? if you don't want to use then you won't use it.. if you want, then go ahead.
It can be a serious game or it can be a funny game, do what you like. It has those 2 options.
That's why I love Saints Row and prefer it over GTA a thousand times.
I've played all the saints games, and 3 was my favorite, me and my brother played through on co-op and it was fuckn amazzinnggg, like one of my favorite games, I thought it was genius.
PS, we're both adults.
SR3 was great. SR4 needs to keep uping the anti. If you want down play go play Grand Theft Auto. Saints Row knows what it is, GTA keeps jumping around trying to find a solid grounding. it went from wacky in San' Andreas to WAY to boring in GTA4 (graphics and engine physics don't mean nothing if it bores your sensless) And Cliffy B.. No he can talk and talk till the cows come home with his space trashcan men. and all the gears games were nothing special (when fans flip out in a game series when the double barrel shotgun gets introduce and its game breaking. then you did something wrong.)
Grand Theft Auto had a purple dildo that you could slap people with lol
Yes this means Cliffy is just showing off...
I love Gears but he thinks is the best just because he made this games...
All the gears games were nothing special? Please. There some of the highest rated games this gen. Not only that, Gears 1 basically made TPS popular again on consoles, and its cover mechanics were a step up from previous games like Kill.Switch.
As for Saints Row. I love the franchise. Saints 3 was straight awesome. I LOVED the over the top action. Oh, an airplane is coming right at you? Shoot the windows, fly through it while shooting the fuck out of everyone, and jump out the back. Oh, your in a wrestling ring? Grab a chainsaw and cut people in half. The game constantly tossed crazy situations, and was plain fun. GTA IV was a boring, slow game. IMO, Saints > GTA/Crackdown/etc.
But I think Cliff has a point. Adding Dildo's to the game just seemed crude. It wasn't necessary and didn't really add anything to the game.
Another Gears Fanboy. (made TPS popular again..) Its called Resident Evil 4, Cold Fear, Killswitch, Windback,MAX Payne,Ratchet & Clank, Jax and Daxter, Tomb Raider, Syphon Filter. I swear Gears fans have blinders when it comes to third person shooters. All these games came before gears. And Gears brought nothing new, maybe annoying shake cam' which everyone hates. And as for cover system You can run through Gears on the hardest setting and not use cover. Go play Killswitch (the king of cover shooting.) and get back to gaming community.
And Cliffy B. is just talking to talk, he makes a comment about Saints Row 3 dildo, however none of the wild and zany stuff in Saints Row 1-2, or early Grand Theft Autos.
by the way, Bulletstorm, was Cliffy Bs' coming out of the closet game, and he has the nerve to judge anyone lol. Go mack another subpar game, and stop talking.
And the reason GEARS sold so well is cause Microsoft has crap for exclusives. they buy rights to DLC and first releases but cannot lock down a studio to save their lives. And what magic Cliffy had is gone. Gears 3 was a joke (and before anyone says well it sold well.) Well of course it did, you have Forza, Halo, and Gears. not tons of options in the way for exclusive fanboys to choose from.
He's one to talk. His games are the same base, barbaric, brainless drivel that give gaming a bad reputation.
100% agree with you. They need to go back to what made the first two games so great
Cliffy B isn't really known as a beacon of good taste in video game marketing himself. He's not the right person to lead this fight.
Marcus Fenix : " More like TEN shit loads!"
SR3 lacked tact in general. They killed Johnny in 5 minutes, for crap's sake. The story was great up until they killed Julius...it was like they took recognition of the irony and killed it in place of goofiness. It was a tad disappointing that Saints Row 2's excellent story telling didn't go anywhere with the ironic stuff, and neither did SR3.
I don't think it was the over-the-topness that made SR3 a lesser game. For me, it was the lack of content. I don't think it would've been so disappointing if there was a build-up into the wackiness. Instead, it was ridiculous bullshit from the get-go, which just gets boring.
"it was ridiculous bullsh** from the get-go"
Whaaaat??? It's not like you blow up a building, jump out of a plane, and launch missile strikes in the first 2 hours.
I had a blast with SR2 but Sr3 was just all over the place and just too crazy.
Look I love the fact we can act crazy in SR series but a little bit of a mature tone would do wonders for it. Give us all the craziness but than also provide a proper story that makes sense and is fun to play
Hopefully now with a different publishers that will happen
So you don't want anything to set it apart from GTA?
You just want it to BE GTA?
That makes sense.
I loved SR3 and thought it was the best out of the series. I do also believe they have the power to rival GTA because the engine and mechanics are on point. The shooting and controls are top notch. The hand to hand combat destroys GTA in all areas. if they did do a game like Heat, Traffic, or Michael Mann production I think they would blow the roof off. Everyone's fav mission in GTA was the bank robbery if you do a story that's believable and engrossing, you have a hit. I love the customization as well. Playing as myself was such a blast.
Wow,that was really homophobic.
It's Mika
That is all
though I gotta admit this statement was really dumb ""[Battlefield] didn't go after [Call of Duty] by putting dicks on their guns.""
Really -_-
Nah your not being genuine, your a troll. No way can someone have such a horrible opinion/attitude towards as much as you do.
I still don't understand how you can go wrong with dildos.
On topic: Saints Row is a game that doesn't take itself too seriously and that's why its formula works.
Sometimes they go in the wrong place, but usually it's a mistake ON PURPOSE. Sorry, I meant it's usually a mistake.
I still don't agree with people who think that the tone itself is what made SR3 a disappointment. There was just clearly less thought put into it than SR2.
I think SR3 over did it. But SR2 had a nice balance going on, and I really liked it allot more.
100% agree but it's still a very nice and fun game, it's like gta's younger crazy brother
Gears of War would be better without boring gameplay, pointless stories, forgettable multiplayer and characters, and bro-parties.
Edit: It's now clear Cliff tries to put his traumatizing past which involves dildos behind him by making the most generic, laughably bad "masculine" bro game he could possibly make.
Edit: never mind I got what you said, I feel like an idiot lmao
Also making an article on someone's tweets is sad.
Boring gameplay and forgettable multiplayer.
ok sure, what ever you say.
SR3 gives GTA a run for its money BECAUSE it's so over-the-top and silly. If you play the game you realize that under the surface there are a lot of intelligent and humorous references made to many aspects of film, tv, literature, music, etc.
GTA is much more grounded in realism; for SR to aspire to be like Heat or any other Michael Mann film would just make it into more of a, "GTA clone," since GTA already utilizes those tones.
Exactly. They stayed different from GTA and it worked great! If it was like GTA, I wouldn't have bought it because I already have GTA.
If you want to see what happens when a game tries to be more serious like a competitor, look at the Tony Hawk Skateboarding series. Skate was a success and they tried to follow. Nobody wanted it because Skate already did it perfectly.
I agree with him
SR3 over did it an everything else suffered because of it....especially the map size
They need to reboot it and go back to what SR2 was like
next saints row will be better than GTA 5
If you said GTA 4 I'd agree with you, but we really don't know what rock star is planning with gtav
i loved sr1 so much and others as well but with all honesty if got down to it and get passed all the flash\over the top crazy stuff, SR is just a pretty cheap plastic game, it's not in GTA 4's leagues GTA4's quality, attention to detail, physics, density, atmosphere, humor and overall magical feel of the city is second to non
i cannot imagine how gta 5 is going to be
"Make an open world game that's more Michael Mann/HEAT/Collateral/Training Day."
I love Michael Mann, and Training Day is great, but this is such a bad idea. You can take the dildos or leave them, but the day Saint's Row takes itself seriously, it's all over.
I think the original Saints Row got the balance between humour and 'seriousness' right. The sorry really was gripping even though it didn't feel like it was taking itself too seriously.
dildo was my weapon of choice you take that away from me and you leave me with nothing :(
Ban guns, arm everyone with a dildo.
Dildo's don't kill people, people kill people!!
NDA (National Dildo Association)
Many will wind up very butt-hurt; maybe doubly so.
I'll give you my dildo when you pry it from my warm, lubed hands!
Too much?
It was the quickest way to take out cars/trucks while on foot.
I loved SR3.


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - ETI, Education and Training International, Moscow Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in ETI, Education and Training International, Moscow Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Russia & C.I.S. View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message Peg Leg PeteJoined: 12 Feb 2010Posts: 80Location: Moscow Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 12:49 pm Post subject: ETI, Education and Training International, Moscow Has anyone worked for them recently? They have asked me to take on a couple of classes for them, but there's something not quite right. Anyone with any up to date information on them? Back to top NexusJoined: 08 Mar 2004Posts: 189Location: Moscow Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:21 pm Post subject: Not for at least 4 years, I'm afraid. When I did work for them, I never had any problems. What is it that doesn't seem right? I see that there hasn't been any change of management. Back to top Peg Leg PeteJoined: 12 Feb 2010Posts: 80Location: Moscow Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 11:55 am Post subject: That's just it - I'm not 100% sure it is the same management as I have had no contact with any of the names that you probably know. That's why I'm trying to find some more up-to-date information. Maybe I'm just getting too cynical. Back to top NexusJoined: 08 Mar 2004Posts: 189Location: Moscow Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:53 pm Post subject: I guess you mean Yana P? I heard from another friend that she's still there. Let us know how it works out of you do go ahead. I was thinking of getting back in touch with them myself Back to top kazachkaJoined: 19 Nov 2004Posts: 220Location: Moscow and Alaska Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 9:13 am Post subject: I freelanced for them in the mid 2000s. Chris and Yana treated me well and I never had problems. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Russia & C.I.S. All times are GMT Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Where to Begin----------------General DiscussionNewbie ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumOnline Teaching Forum Africa Forums----------------General Africa Forum Asia Forums----------------CambodiaChina (Job-related Posts Only)China (Off-Topic)Hong KongIndiaIndonesiaJapanMalaysiaPhilippinesSingaporeTaiwanThailandGeneral Asia ForumVietnam Caribbean Forums----------------General Caribbean Forum Europe Forums----------------Czech RepublicFranceGermanyGreeceItalyMacedonia and the BalkansPolandRomaniaRussia & C.I.S.SpainTurkeyUkraineUnited KingdomGeneral Europe Forum Latin America Forums----------------ArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaCosta RicaMexicoMexico (off-topic)PeruGeneral Latin America Forum The Middle East Forums----------------BahrainEgyptIsraelKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab EmiratesGeneral Middle East Forum North America Forums----------------General North America Forum Oceania----------------Australia/New Zealand You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group Teaching Jobs in China


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Bumgarner's outing derailed by one swing
Lefty surrenders three-run HR for lone blip over eight innings
SAN FRANCISCO -- One pitch, exactly where Madison Bumgarner wanted to put it, and it still cost him and the Giants.
Bumgarner was cruising along through six innings. He got into trouble in the seventh, giving up a three-run home run to Clint Barmes.
"He got enough of it to get it out," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Bum threw great. They just got the big hit."
The result was the Giants' third straight loss, a 3-1 setback to the National League Central-leading Pirates on Friday night at AT&T Park.
"It seems like thay are able to make adjustments," Bumgarner said. "I thought I made a good pitch. It was pretty much right where I wanted it. He just made an adjustment. That's why they are where they are."
Buster Posey and Roger Kieschnick gave the crowd of 41,583 something to cheer in the fourth. Posey doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored when Kieschnick singled into shallow left field.
"We only had the one run," Bochy said. "That's not really much of a margin for error. They put together some good at bats that one inning."
The way Bumgarner was pitching, it looked as though that might be enough. He did not allow more than one baserunner through the first six innings.
San Francisco, though, was facing a team that looks a lot like the 2012 Giants. Down a run against a good pitcher into the later innings? No worries.
"We all want to win," Bumgarner said. "You just can't give that team a lot of runs to work with. With runners on, you just want to minimize the damage. It didn't happen right there."
Gaby Sanchrez and Josh Harrison each singled to open the seventh and after Neil Walker sacrificed both runners along, Barmes hit his fourth home run of the year.
"I was looking in, just trying to get at least the lead guy home," Barmes said. "I was able to drop the barrel of the bat on the ball and drive it."
Bumgarner allowed the three runs on seven hits over eight innings. He walked four and struck out five.
The Giants have lost Bumgarner's past four starts, yet while he was pitching, they have only been outscored by an 11-9 margin.
Though he's 1-3 over his past six starts, Bumgarner has posted a 3.60 ERA during that span. His overall winning percentage of .579 is significantly higher than the team's overall winning percentage of .438.
Bumgarner's 2.84 ERA this season is not reflected in his 11-8 record. He has 19 quality starts, but he's just not getting the same breaks that made him a world beater in 2010 and again in 2012.
The same thing could be said of Posey, who doubled and hit the ball hard all night. He sent Andrew McCutchen to the wall in center field leading off the ninth. Posey is hitting .301 on the year and will likely be in the lineup Saturday at first base.
The Giants are 11-21 since July 21 and 3-8 in one-run games over that span. One pitch, one swing of the bat and that could all be different.
It was the way things went in their championship seasons, and it's the way things are going for the Pirates this year.


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UCLA QB Brett Hundley to return for junior season
Recommended Video:
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley has decided to return to the Bruins for his junior season.
Hundley officially announced his decision Monday. He was a likely first-round pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
Hundley has started for the last two seasons under coach Jim Mora, winning 19 games and establishing himself as one of the nation's top young quarterbacks with his arm and his legs.
He was named the offensive MVP of the Bruins' victory over Virginia Tech in the Sun Bowl last month after passing for 226 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 161 more yards and two scores.
Hundley, who redshirted one season under coach Rick Neuheisel, already ranks among the most prolific quarterbacks in UCLA history with 6,816 yards passing.


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Counting down for ESA's MagISStra mission to Space Station
In Latin magistra means 'female teacher', and now Europe's third long-duration astronaut mission to the International Space Station will carry almost the same name: MagISStra.
When ESA's Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli shares a ride to space with Russia's Dmitri Kondratyev and NASA's Catherine Coleman in December aboard a Soyuz TMA spacecraft, he will be looking forward to six months full of experiments and hard work.
During his MagISStra mission, Paolo will live and work on the International Space Station (ISS) with Kondratyev and Coleman as members of Expeditions 26 and 27.
During their stay, they will welcome the last planned Space Shuttle mission and unmanned cargo ferries from Europe and Japan, before returning to Earth in May 2011.
Why MagISStra?
ESA launched a Europe-wide competition last June to name Paolo's mission and finally chose the suggestion from Antonella Pezzani of Italy.
The Latin-flavoured name combines the word magistra, the female teacher, with the acronym of the International Space Station, continuing ESA's tradition of having ISS within the mission name.
MagISStra also echoes the humanistic value of the mission, because it reflects the special link with education. It is one of the three dimensions of the flight, together with science and technology.
The mission logo features a human being, who can be seen as the Paolo himself, projected from the ISS. The value of the mission to Earth is symbolised by three icons between the arms: the plant denoting scientific research, the gears for technology, and the book as knowledge.
The six stars represent the six crewmembers living on the Station during the mission and the six months that Paolo will stay in space, as well as the idea of Europe.
Science-driven mission
Paolo Nespoli and his crewmates today visited the control centre for Europe's Columbus laboratory module, in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
Scientific research will be one of his main activities during MagISStra. More than 30 experiments await him, covering human research, fluid physics, radiation, biology and technology demonstrations.
Paolo will also perform several experiments for the US, Japanese and Canadian space agencies.
As part of his educational programme, children can follow the international 'Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut' initiative built around health, well-being and nutrition, as well as a special greenhouse project in space.
Paolo will also film with ESA's novel 3D camera to show the Space Station in a new way.
New site: esa.int/Magisstra
For more information about the MagISStra mission, visit www.esa.int/magisstra.
The site, opened today, offers the latest information, videos and photos from the mission and occasional posts from Paolo himself. It is your shortcut to the ISS for months to come!


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James and Jesus
Think of ways that God, through this study of James, has been challenging you in the areas of testing, wealth and generosity, and wisdom and speech. Find a way to implement concretely a couple of the things you have learned. ...Read More
The Author of James
If you have the opportunity today, read over the entire book of James and note some of its major themes. What concerns does James address which relate to you? Commit to focusing on those sins which James focuses on, and ...Read More
The Epistles of the Apostles
As you study the epistles over the coming months, occasionally think of what it must have been like to be in the early church receiving a letter from Paul or Peter or John. That same excitement and anticipation about what ...Read More
The Ecumenical Council
The church is not immune to the temptation to elevate "custom" to the level of law. Fueling that temptation is the desire to see those who are different become like us. Examine the standard with which you judge people. Does ...Read More
Purposes of the Book of Acts
As you prepare to work through Acts and New Testament history this year, take time today to skim the book of Acts. Page through it, previewing its contents and taking note of the overall movement and direction of the book. ...Read More
The Canon of the Bible
While the church has had some disputes over exactly which books belonged in the Canon, it always agreed that the Canon was closed with the death of the last apostle. While no Christian today seeks to add to the Canon, ...Read More


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Honored to be the recipient of Lady Liberty's BRONZE Award of Recognition for Promotion of Justice.
Furthermore, I'm now retired and the content herein is getting stale, but I'll keep it up for what's still useful and for the historical interest.
[New!] I've completely changed my mind about fit parent hearings. Don't do it! Submit this Notice to Court by Non-Abused Parent document instead. I'll revise the page on fit parent rights as soon as I can. I'll make a cheat sheet to take to court with you at the first hearing so you know what to do as well. As well as adding a new page on how you can custody of your kid and other stuff. Working as fast as I can. June 2020.
If you need to, you also file this Second Notice to the Court regarding DCYF's admission that they don't consider you a party to the case - meaning that the court makes orders concerning your parental rights because they refused your request for discovery."
Just make sure you ask for discovery in writing, after asking them orally - new pages coming out about that eventually. This discovery request is NOT a request under RSA 170-G-8-a. You are entitled to all the information in the file.
[Old] If your spouse or significant other got a petition, you NEED to
check out the page on fit parent's rights.
In the meantime, if you already have an order for supervised visitation, check out this page on how to protect your right to privacy as you litigate your right to custody.
For regular visitors, here are the recent changes to this site:
2020 June 24 - This is curious - Ann Marie Moynihan turned her experience through the NH system into a PhD thesis. A 232 page (double spaced) thesis, Structural Violence in the New Hampshire Family Court System: An Autoethnographic Exploration. I'm not sure about the autoethnographic part (there's a description), but the saga is interesting. Along the way she discovered there are Double Binds and Orders of Impossibility. No surprise there!
[Update, July 11] - See my critique of Moynihan's thesis based on my experiences.
2007 April 28 - As a
result of my page on my client - I wrote an entire new
page on father's rights!
2007 March 30 - My new campaign is to stamp out judges who ignore
the LAW in their rulings. I can't really stamp them out, of
course. Nor does it appear that the New Hampshire Supreme Court
will hold
them to any account. This will eventually turn into a new
directory off of this page. I still haven't decided whether to
concentrate on the issue of father's being denied justice in the courts
or the failure of the judiciary to apply the law and give folks
justice. Every case will wind up getting its own index page.
Funny how my comment of June last year talked about my new scanner
being my latest toy. Between the scanner and Youtube, there are
some powerful new ways to tell one's story about the court system.
Links of interest that will eventually hang off the new web page on
David's case:
2006 - June 12 - I'm cleaning out the office. Look below for
new PDF files from original documentation, including a controversial,
eventually rescinded DCYF "Court and
Handbook." High speed scanners are my new favorite toy.
High speed scanning a dot-matrix printed document just seems weird.
Contact Information is in separate WWW page.
Index of local pages
Quick Law FinderFederal Law:
CAPTA - Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (1974) - Nixon, if you're interested, although my recollection is that this was Mondale's baby. Kind of makes you think twice about voting Democrat. A good legislative history of child abuse laws is here.
A Heritage Organization article on successes and failures of CAPTA is here.
Three other articles critiquing CAPTA are located here.
The Adoption & Safe Families Act - Clinton
Keeping Children & Familys Safe Act Judd Gregg had some major influence in helping to keep CASA in the mix for appointment of Guardians ad Litem. Having now taken both the CASA GAL training and the new training offered by the Guardian ad Litem Board, I can say that the GAL training now offered through the GAL board is much, much better. CASA must have quite a nice relationship with Judd Gregg.. They do spend a lot of time talking with legislators. Kind of makes me think twice about voting Republican as well. Are you listening legislators?
NH Law:
RSA 168-A - NH Uniform Act on Paternity. If you're a father who needs to establish paternity to enforce your parental rights, you need to read this, and file a paternity petition with the Superior Court. In most RSA 169-C hearings, the judge will make a judicial finding that the father is the father based on DNA evidence. That finding will NOT get your name on your child's birth certificate. You need to file the paternity petition separately!
RSA 169-C, the NH Child Protection Act (1997) - Clinton (2003) - Bush II - what can I say? Read the definitions of abuse and neglect. It's the most important thing in the statute. The definitions are vague, which is part of the problem.
Statutory History of RSA 169-B, the Delinquency Act, RSA 169-C, the Child Protection Act, and RSA 169-D, the "Child in Need of Protection Act. All 90 pages of it, as it was originally passed.
Additional Statutory History of RSA 169-C. HB 1174, 1989, if you're interested. It'a when they took attorneys away from kids and gave them GAL's as the default. I forget why I needed it in the first place.
RSA 170-A - The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children. Many fathers who live out of state wind up being asked to do a "home study" before being permitted to have their "fit parent" hearing in the NH Courts. This law does NOT apply to out of state "placement" with parents! It ONLY applies to placement of children out of state for adoption or foster care. See RSA 170-A:1, Article III (a).
RSA 170-C, the Termination of Parental Rights Act
RSA 170-G:8-a, Parent's right to DCYF records
RSA 170-G:8-aa - timeline for DCYF to give you your records
RSA 170-G:3 - Commissioner Powers & Duties - breathtaking in scope and vagueness.
RSA 570-A - the wiretapping statute. I love their definition of "oral communication."
II. "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectation. "
They did that so cops could wire anyone in a public place or at the police station without getting into trouble!
Court Protocols for the Processing of Abuse and Neglect Petitions - no child abuse or neglect defense attorneys were asked to be on the committee writing the protocols, so they're not very constitutionally sensitive, if you get my drift. I'm told that some defense attorneys were consulted before they were finalized, but I don't see where they had much influence. Most court rules are subject to the rule making procedure., which include a period of public comment and published hearing schedules. Oops, they forgot.
In the same vein as forgetting to invite actual child abuse defense attorneys to help promulgate the rules for the processing of abuse and neglect petitions, DCYF used to have a "Court and Legal Handbook."
Story behind this - after it got out I was interested in DCYF defense, I got some calls from what I thought were nut cases, telling me that DCYF had a "secret" handbook that made it official policy for them to wine and dine judges. I heard it from several folks, but only a couple had claimed to have seen it, and they were among those I deemed probably nut cases. . . . so I did a "Right to Know." Golly gee, they weren't nuts at all. It's in there.
I put the most offensive stuff on my web page elsewhere, and filed the rest. I got a high speed scanner last week in an effort to help clean up the office. The difference between 1996 and 2006 - it took about 20 minutes to scan and upload the thing in its entirety. Most offensive stuff is right around pp. 20 - 23 if I recall, but the entire thing is interesting. Some days it certainly feels as though iti's still in effect. But not always.
NH CASA - a continual source of surprise. My current feeling is that they're like the nursery rhyme about the little girl "with a curl right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid!" If you get one with some brains, it doesn't hurt, but if you get a bad one, your life can be miserable in terms of having to write motions to tell them to read their own job description. You can guess by this description where I stand the night I'm writing this. I told one client I was going to write a MOTION TO REMOVE CASA FOR BEING TOO STUPID TO DO THE JOB. One of these days I'll have the nerve to put it at the top of the motion.
A guardian ad litem, or CASA guardian ad litem's job is to advocate for the "best interest" of "abused and neglected" children. My own training manual from CASA years ago says right in it that there is little to do until there is actually an abused or neglected child via an adjudication. I have huge problems with that when there is an uncharged parent who is presumed fit to act in the best interest of the child constitutionally, but that's on the fit parent page. So why is this <insert expletive of choice here> writing a motion saying he has to SEE a kid pre-adjudication?
At any rate, the "objective third party" who is apponted to be Guardian ad Litem has a "Mutual Agreement of Understanding" with DCYF - basically to work together. So much for "independent." Can't these folks see it's the same as a judge or other mediator who has a financial stake in a positive outcome for the other side? Even kids can see it! I'll never forget one savy pre-teen who, when the CASA introduced herself and said that she wasn't on "DCYF's side," asked her point blank "Then why are you sitting with them? " The wisdom of babes. . . . CASA gets an entire page at some point, but I have to get more materials scanned.
The NH Guardian ad Litem Board - recently created under statutory law, all guardians ad litem will be responsible to take the new training (or the CASA training, which is virtually devoid of any instruction on parental rights). The GAL board will be involved with the discipline of GALs, which is a good thing. It was all done through the Administrative judge of the District Courts before, and they love CASA so much, it was a waste of time. I'll write a better page on the nature of the fundamental rights of parents to make decisions in their kid's best interest some day, but for now, see the listing at the left.
While I'm at it, if you want to file a complaint on your attorney, the information on the Attorney Discipline System is here. The most common question I get from my telephone calls is "Is my attorney doing a good job?" Unfortunately, I generally have to tell folks that many attorneys don't do as much as I do based on the low pay for court appointed counsel in New Hampshire. The rate, which hasn't been increased since 1992, is $60 per hour with a dollar max of $1200 per case. It can be increased for complicated cases, but it's no where near the time I spend on legal research. That doesn't pay for much legal research. In some cases, I find that the attorneys aren't even reading the statute, however, and that should be grounds for a complaint.
DCYF Advisory Board Minutes, annotated by me.
Links to other state's child abuse laws
Link to http://www.nhcustody.org/. This site working mostly to refom child custody laws in NH on behalf of fathers. It's also important work. If you're fighting for rights in the context of a custody case, they have information.
2005 March - I gathered a lot of information together
for the Governor's Efficiency Commmission study of DCYF.
They never finished their work because after the first visit,
the Commission members agreed that DCYF was controlling the
flow of information in their office visits to the point
of choreographing and it was useless to go in again if DCYF
planned the visit. Just about any publicly linked
information on DCYF is available off of this page. I also
explain why I think much of the information is invalid as a measure of
DCYF's true performance. The bottom line is that most
studies or audits don't measure what's important when measuring the
performance of a government organization. If you're
lookinig for statistics or
audit results, here's a good starting point.
DCYF in the news I track it, so I figured why shouldn't it be available? It will be updated rather irregularly.
2004 May, DCYF Advisory Board Minutes
January, 2002 - February, 2004. Highlighted for areas they
originally redacted from the minutes they sent me! Tsk,
tsk. Violating the NH
Right to Know law!
The following are links outside of my
WWW hierarchy. Some do not reflect my beliefs, some have
unsubstantiated opinions.
Other Information links of interest
The following are links outside of my
WWW hierarchy. Some do not reflect my beliefs, some have
unsubstantiated opinions.
Greg Hession is another
Massachusetts lawyer. Among other things, he has tried mightily to
reunite the Howard family. Massachusett's DSS is a tough opponent, but
he keeps at it. He is also working on a class action lawsuit against
National Coalition for Child
Protection Reform is the result. Their focus is on building a high
level dialog, not on individual cases.
The Preble Law Firm
site has information on that and other cases. Florida has a group called the
A-Team that offers links to some services, some which New Hampshire
people could use.
The Preble Law Firm site has information on that and other cases.
Florida has a group called the A-Team that offers links to some services, some which New Hampshire people could use.
Washington State was home to a nightmare called "The Wenatchee Witch Hunt".
The Alliance for Non-Custodial
Parents Rights (ANCPR) is a nonprofit Corporation dedicated to
promoting and protecting the civil rights of non-custodial parents and
their families with respect to such issues as child support
enforcement, visitation, shared parenting and joint custody. Their
collection of case law
is a big time saver and has links to some Supreme Court decisions.
Center for Parental Responsibility
is run by my good friends I met in Minnesota. Their focus is on
non-custodial father's rights, but if every state has a group this good
devoted to reforming child abuse laws, we'd have the problems
fixed! Molly is very professional, and the Minnesota group
has made great strides in influencing the legislature to look
critically at non-custodial parental rights.
The Fathers' Rights to Custody organization has this list of good and bad lawyers and GALs. Last I checked, they had one page of good and three of bad. Feel free to make your own submissions to the list.The Reason Public Policy Institute has a good analysis called Child Protection at the Crossroads: Child Abuse, Child Protection, and Recommendations for Reform
The U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children
and Families gathers this data on child abuse statistics for each
year. For New Hampshire in 1997, they report that 9,015 referrals were
made for investigation, 1,092 were substantiated, and 824 perpetrators
were identified. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the the
8,000 unsubstantiated reports and why they were made in the first
place. It would also be interesting to see how
many perpetrators abuse/neglected multiple children and in how many
cases no one was accused of being the perpetrator. Yes, your children
can be taken with no one being charged with abuse or neglect! Related to the above, The National
Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information
has a large database of synopses of books and articles that may
offer good pointers. Cornell University has a large WWW presence devoted
to prevention
of child abuse, including a document
archive and used to host the International
Society for Preventaion of Child Absue and Neglect. Stephen Baskerville's
web site. His book Taken
into Custody is amazing. I would recommend it to
everyone before having children, or in particular, men in the midst of
a marital break up that involves children.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families gathers this data on child abuse statistics for each year. For New Hampshire in 1997, they report that 9,015 referrals were made for investigation, 1,092 were substantiated, and 824 perpetrators were identified. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the the 8,000 unsubstantiated reports and why they were made in the first place. It would also be interesting to see how many perpetrators abuse/neglected multiple children and in how many cases no one was accused of being the perpetrator. Yes, your children can be taken with no one being charged with abuse or neglect!
Related to the above, The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information has a large database of synopses of books and articles that may offer good pointers.
Cornell University has a large WWW presence devoted
to prevention
of child abuse, including a document
archive and used to host the International
Society for Preventaion of Child Absue and Neglect.
Stephen Baskerville's
web site. His book Taken
into Custody is amazing. I would recommend it to
everyone before having children, or in particular, men in the midst of
a marital break up that involves children.
The National Child Abuse Defense and Resource
Center is a wonderful organization that works tirelessly to assist
attorneys defending child abuse cases. If you're an attorney who
has no idea where to find an expert for a child abuse defense, call
religioustolerance.org has a good summary.
ASPAC (American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children) is a non-profit organization coming up with standards for investigating child abuse claims.
Accused.com is maintained by a California law firm, but has information of national interest. The lawyer registry offers many more legal links. The site is accessible only via Javascript, without it you will get a blank page.
I mentioned Osteogenesis Imperfecta above. The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation is the best resource for help and information about dealing with this genetic disease. They even have pages on OI being misdiagnosed as abuse. The problem with allegations of multiple broken bones is that it takes 4 months to get back the first test they do to test for the disease. The second (DNA test) takes longer. Even if both tests are negative, some cases of OI do not cause positive test results. ANY attorney that lets their case go to trial without testing in the presence of multiple broken bones but no other injury is not doing his or her client a favor!
DCYF has alleged Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy which is when a parent, usually mother, injures a child to gain recognition by bringing the child in for medical attention. This is often a faulty diagnosis, sometimes with tragic results. MAMA, Mothers Against Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Allegations is an organization to correct the misperceptions and their results.
Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-anon and Al-ateen are
worldwide organizations that offer self-help recovery programs for
families and friends of alcoholics whether or not the alcoholic seeks
help or even recognizes the existence of a drinking problem.
The above link goes to my husband's WWW pages. It has information and observations about DCYF that are of general interest and were culled from many public sources. It also has links to some state and personal web sites that are not included below. It is not central to my practice. In general, pages with this background pattern are my pages and contain information I can readily defend in court.
Contact Paula
Last updated 2020 July 11
Last updated 2020 July 11


text:
Saturday Night Live returned from its summer hiatus and kicked off Season 39 with host Tina Fey and a surprise cameo from Breaking Bad's own Jesse Pinkman.
As part of the opening skit, Aaron Paul showed up in character to prove why Obamacare could've helped his friend who cooked meth to pay for cancer treatments.
Add new fall shows to your Watchlist
"So, he did what any of us would have done. He started cooking meth," Paul said. "And soon it wasn't just meth. It was murder. And not regular murder. Like he blew half a guy's face off."
Fey opened up the show offering wise wisdom to the six new castmates joining the show and welcoming them by preparing them for the many embarrassing backup dances they'll have to do for opening monologues to come. (We then saw footage of Fey's past sequences.) See how the newbies did dancing behind Fey:
TV's unsexiest sex scenes volume VI
One of the better sketches of the night was a promo for HBO's Girlswith uncanny portrayals of Hannah & Co. Fey also joined in as the newest girl from Albania.
New season, new sexy stars. See our fall TV crushes!
In the first "Weekend Update" of the season, Seth Meyers welcomedCecily Strong to the desk and Fey joined to give more advice.
What did you think of the SNL premiere?


text:
Police save ancient Egyptian sculpture in Italy
An Egyptian granite sculpture of a sphinx that risked ending up on the black market for antiquities is destined instead for a Rome museum.
Italian Tax Police Maj. Massimo Rossi says the sphinx, perhaps as old as the 4th century B.C., was found on the outskirts of Rome last week. It was in a box hidden in a greenhouse near an ancient Etruscan necropolis.
Rossi said Thursday that the sphinx, which is roughly two feet tall and four feet long, likely adorned a 1st century B.C. Roman villa, in keeping with the fashion then for Egyptian sculpture as decoration.
He said an Italian and a Romanian are being investigated in the probe of suspected illicit trafficking in antiquities. Villa Giulia museum, which specializes in Etruscan antiquities, will host the sphinx.


text:
Social shares on Facebook and Twitter closely correlate with how a site ranks in Google searches, according to a new study by Searchmetrics.
Facebook activity appears to have the highest impact on rankings, with a Facebook share the most important factor.
Twitter is far behind these values but is still the sixth strongest metric behind Facebook and the number of backlinks.
UK search ranking factors
The full range of factors tested in the report can be seen in this graph, with social metrics clearly having a major impact.
The study found that Google+ has a correlation of 0.37 with search rankings, which would make it the factor with the strongest correlation.
However, Searchmetrics CTO and founder Marcus Tober said this statistic needs to be treated with caution.
Google+ does not currently have enough users for us to be totally confident about this finding. But it's indisputable that Google is trying to make Google+ an important player in most things it now does. So search and digital marketers should be sure to keep an eye on further developments.
In our December Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing, we found that only 25% of company marketers currently regard social signals as 'very important' for determining search rankings. Tellingly, when asked how important they would be in three years' time, the percentage increased to 57%.
Ads impact rankings
Back in January Google announced that it would be penalising sites that display too many ads at the top of the page, and the new report suggests that this even applies to Google's own ad products.
All advertisement factors returned a negative correlation, however "general AdLinks (common integrations e.g. Commission Junction, AdSense and others) are slightly less negative than the use of AdSense alone".
When Searchmetrics looked at the percentage trend for AdSense integration and all other analysed competitor networks according to rankings, it found that AdSense advertisements drop sharply among the top rankings.
But as other ads remained consistent, it suggests that only AdSense has a negative correlation.
Therefore, at the moment it seems that we are more likely to find sites with fewer traditional advertisement integrations in top rankings. Of course, this might also have something to do with brand sites. Sony, for instance, has no banner ads on product pages.
Top brands have a ranking advantage
While SEO is portrayed as a level playing field, Searchmetrics' report suggests that the rules don't apply to major brands.
Factors commonly believed to boost rankings, such as the quantity of text on a web page and having keywords in headlines and titles, seem less important for well-known brands.
This graph suggests that the less often a keyword appears in the headline or title, the better a page will rank. Furthermore, text quantity seems to have no real positive effect.
This may come as a surprise at first, but if you look at the metrics for the to 30 places a pattern emerges.
Right up to the top 10 results, the factors behave as expected without any large correlation in any direction. However, in first place, the natural niche for brands, everything is turned upside down.
This graph shows an index value for the frequency of the assessed ranking factors on the y-axis, and Google rankings appear on the x-axis. The pages with the lowest figures appear in the top three positions.
From this we can take it that to end up in the top positions you do not need a keyword in the title or in the H1 headline and even the average word count tends to drop off towards the top results.
Strong brands rank in the top five even without perfectly conforming on-page structures, and the effect occurs throughout the whole analysed keyword set, not just for brand and brand combinations keywords.
While the report suggests that social is becoming the most important factor in search rankings, backlinks continue to be critical for SEO. And it's about quality as well as quantity, i.e. how many friends have you got and how good looking are they?
These figures indicate that the proportion of nofollow links correlated with rankings only slightly less strongly than the proportion of links containing keywords. Even the proportion of links containing a stop word can have an effect.
As such, a more natural link structure may be necessary for boosting search rankings, rather than "a large number of perfectly optimised links that include all the keywords it wants to rank for in the anchor text.
That said, quantity of links is still a key factor. Taking the number of links depending on the ranking of the linked site gives the following values:
Keyword domains
Keyword domains correlate much better with high rankings than results from just any random start page. The correlation with keyword domains is much higher than the correlations for keywords in the rest of the URL.
Although Google has repeatedly emphasised that these sites will slowly weaken in power, this does not yet seem to be the case.
Correlation doesn't equal causation
Searchmetrics is quick to emphasise that while there is a correlation between certain factors and high rankings, there is no guarantee that this amounts to causation.
Questions like 'does a site receive social signals because it ranks well or does it rank well because it receives social signals?' are absolutely valid and cannot be answered unequivocally with the current data.
Even so, a relationship clearly exists between the two and needs to be taken into account when developing an SEO strategy. The report is based on analysis of 10,000 search terms, leading to 30,000 SERPS and 300,000 titles, descriptions and URLs.
However, the search terms used contained a disproportionately high number of brand keywords which might have distorted the assessment of many other key factors.
The importance of social signals in search rankings
Most SEOs seem to agree that Google will increasingly use social signals, though there is some debate over the extent to which this is happening already. Also, how Google will incorporate social shares is unclear.
Kevin Gibbons recently looked into how Google+ has been impacting search, but found that it actually decreased click through rates in some of the examples he looked at.
However, as Kevin wrote in the same post:
A strong social footprint is likely to make your rankings more defensible and future proof to algorithm updates. So rather than thinking about the next quick fix or latest SEO or link building tactic, make content marketing the centre of your SEO strategy instead!
Image credit: Igor Stepahin