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LONDON (AP) — J.K. Rowling says her crime-writing alter ego Robert Galbraith had respectable sales and two TV adaptation offers before he was exposed as a pseudonym for the "Harry Potter" novelist, and she wishes she could have kept her identity secret a little longer.
Rowling said Wednesday that "Robert was doing rather better than we had expected him to," selling 8,500 copies in print, audiobook and e-book formats of thriller "The Cuckoo's Calling," which was published in April.
Writing on Galbraith's author website, Rowling said "Robert was doing rather better than we had expected him to."
"At the point I was 'outed', Robert had sold 8,500 English-language copies across all formats ... and received two offers from television production companies," she wrote.
"The Cuckoo's Calling" was published to good reviews as the fiction debut of a former military man working in the civilian security industry. But a newspaper revealed earlier this month that Rowling had written the book under a pseudonym.
Since then it has topped best-seller lists, with publisher Little, Brown and Company printing hundreds of thousands of new copies.
There was speculation that Rowling or her publisher had leaked the news to boost sales, but last week a law firm that has done work for Rowling admitted that one if its partners had let the information slip to his wife's best friend, who tweeted it to a Sunday Times columnist.
"If anyone had seen the labyrinthine plans I laid to conceal my identity (or indeed my expression when I realized that the game was up), they would realize how little I wanted to be discovered," Rowling wrote.
She said she took a pen-name because "I was yearning to go back to the beginning of a writing career in this new genre, to work without hype or expectation and to receive totally unvarnished feedback."
"I hoped to keep the secret as long as possible," she said. "I'm grateful for all the feedback from publishers and readers, and for some great reviews. Being Robert Galbraith has been all about the work, which is my favorite part of being a writer."
Rowling said she had taken the name from her political hero, Robert Kennedy, and a name she'd invented in childhood, Ella Galbraith.
She said she only realized too late that some people might find a clue to her identity because of the famous economist J.K. Galbraith — "but thankfully nobody was looking that deeply at the author's name."
Rowling, who followed her seven Harry Potter books with a novel for adults, "The Casual Vacancy," last year, said she has finished a second Robert Galbraith book featuring detective hero Cormoran Strike, to be published next year.
She also confirmed that she had signed a few copies of the book under her pen name, after working on a fake autograph. Bidders have offered thousands of dollars for signed first editions of "The Cuckoo's Calling" on online auction sites.
"While we can't verify whether any particular book currently on eBay etc. is genuine, any future books I sign in this way will be authenticated," Rowling wrote.
"My Robert Galbraith signature is distinctive and consistent; I spent a whole weekend practicing it to make sure."
Online: http://www.robert-galbraith.com/


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Joe Strike's selection of the all-time funny 10 Best Cartoon Villains contains a number of surprising choices.
* Note-Don't like our choices? Tell us by adding a comment below!
Let's face it – the good guy wouldn't be a good guy without a bad guy to battle. It's the villain who sets the plot in motion; he's not constrained by the laws of niceness the hero is obliged to obey.
In fact, the worse the villain the better the hero had better be at his job – he's got more heavy lifting to attend to. Catching a bank robber is small change compared to defeating a guy who's out to rule the world.
So, who's the worst of the worst? Who can give the hero a serious run for his money, leave him teetering on the edge of defeat – and do it with class to spare?
Let's list them in order of villainy, counting down to Heath-Ledger-as-the-Joker-level badguy-ness. But before we begin, a few ground rules:
Bad guy rule number one: S/he has to be unforgettable, someone who pops into your head the moment you remember their movie, or even after you've forgotten the film's name;
Bad guy rule number two: S/he has to be the film's only villain; it's hard to shine when you're lost in the crowd. Sorry if that rules out a classic like Pinocchio, but how does one choose between the Coachman's grinning evil, the shady fox and feline combo of Honest John and Gideon or even the monstrous Monstro the whale?
Bad guy rule number three: S/he has to be one of the film's main characters. Supporting players like Sid in Toy Story just don't cut it; which brings us to –
Bad guy rule number four: There has to be a bad guy.
There are plenty of great movies where the hero's challenge is to survive his predicament, not outwit a nonexistent evildoer. How to Train Your Dragon is a perfect example: In order to protect his scaly friend Toothless, young Hiccup must overcome his village's hatred of all winged reptiles. (There is an evil alpha dragon who doesn't appear until late in the film and has no personality to speak of.)
That said, there's no shortage of candidates. (Or in private eye parlance, likely suspects.) However, on closer examination this rogues' gallery quickly splits into two categories: the truly evil vs. the buffoons. While the line-up in either category is capable of visiting doom upon the hero, the delineation is simple: the truly evil have you holding your breath, while the buffoons (and their buffoonish minions) provide plenty of laughs in the course of their dirty deeds.
This bifurcation of bad guys obliges me to provide twin lists of villains: "the elegantly scary" and "funny but dangerous." Counting down Letterman-style, let's start with the ha-ha crowd:
10. A tie between Igor's Dr. Schadenfreude (voiced by Eddie Izzard) and Andy Dick's Bongo Bunny in Hoodwinked. I've paired these films up because they're both favorites of mine, both low-budget sleepers deserving of more attention. The sarcastic European-accented Schadenfreude enjoys insulting his girlfriend Jaclyn (Jennifer Coolidge – "she may seem like a shallow, conniving wretch… that's all I got, that pretty much sums it up"), who gives as good as she gets ("you're one to talk, Dr. Schaden-fraud") – which turns out to be their version of foreplay ("is daddy still mad at me?"); rather kinky, no?
Hoodwinked is the better known film of the two, an extremely funny (if horribly animated) take on the Little Red Riding Hood story. The adorable (or so he'd have you believe) Bongo's gleeful, I Love Being a Villain song ("You won't be disrespecting this bunny anymore, I'm gonna be top of the woods") is a total showstopper. (And that's a countdown for another day: "The Ten Best I-Love-Being-a-Villain Songs.")
9. Mad Madam Mim, The Sword in the Stone. (Voiced by Martha Wentworth in 1963 – the ancient age of pre-celebrity voice work.) Mim's no slouch either when it comes to singing her own praises, vocalizing while transmogrifying from one form to another, from curvaceous charmer to pig-faced monster. In fact, her wizard's duel with Merlin – with both of them shape-shifting for all they're worth – is the film's highlight.
8. Darla Dimple, Cats Don't Dance. Like Bongo, a villain who at first glance doesn't look like one. Don't be fooled by this chubby-legged, big-eyed moppet's sugary-sweet façade; she's one bitchy diva, and no kitty-cat or doggie is going to drag her down. She quickly reprises her "Big and Loud" production number – extolling the virtues of give 'em all you got show biz pizazz – into a piece of thirsting for revenge nastiness. ("They'll never know what hit them/wait they'll see what I have in store…") And boy, when she goes nuts at the end of the movie… she goes nuts, big and loud.
The victim of studio politics, the top-notch CDD didn't deserve its quick slide into obscurity, taking a slew of first-rate Randy Newman songs with it. (If there was any justice in the world, "Tell Me Lies" would've been a 1997 Best Song Oscar nominee.)
7. Gru, Despicable Me, voiced by Steve Carrell. We're stretching the rules here a bit; Gru is the film's villain and hero all at once. His villainy is more on the order of mega-pranks and never seems to actually put anyone in physical danger. Gru's rival, the nerdy Vector is the film's villainous villain; he might have great taste in decorating (his headquarters looks like it was designed by Apple – a veritable iLair), but he just isn't top ten material. (Speaking of which, sorry Megamind; in last year's battle of similarly themed animated features, Gru won easily thanks to his latent cuddliness, not to mention his goofball horde of mini-minions.)
6. Yzma, The Emperor's New Groove. Eartha Kitt's "scary beyond reason" villainess, out to usurp an entire kingdom is a hoot and a half. Stiletto-chinned and sporting a face wrinkled yet drum-tight, she sparkplugs a movie that's hilarious to begin with, more a feature-length Looney Tune than your standard Disney fare. (Not many villains agree to an after-dinner cup of coffee before having the good guy done away with.)
I had the pleasure of meeting Eartha in 2005, a few years before her passing. When I told her I loved her performance in the film she burst out laughing; I was the first person to ever compliment her on her animation work. I just wish I had added "or, to save on postage" had become a family catch phrase.
5. Hades, Disney's Hercules. James Woods' fast-talking, anachronistic Hollywood "sweetie baby" patter probably isn't that far off from what you'd hear for real in Tinseltown. An episode of Disney's Hercules spin-off TV series featured Jafar's ghost in a Strangers on a Train-style plot to vice-versa enemies, Aladdin for Hercules; Hades can't believe his guest's melodramatic histrionics and indulges in more than a few wisecracks at Jafar's expense.
4. Rattigan, The Great Mouse Detective. Vincent Price did a fair amount of voice work, but his villainous rodent brings The Great Mouse Detective to life. (Save a dramatic battle within Big Ben's clockworks, the movie's animation is more Disney Afternoon than theatrical feature.) Oily, unctuous and totally in love with himself, Rattigan's "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind" is a serious candidate for the world's greatest I Love Being a Villain song.
3. Kaa, The Jungle Book. Whoops, I just broke Bad Guy Rule number two: boa constrictor Kaa shares the film's villainy honors with George Sanders' urbane tiger Shere Khan. (So sue me.) The last feature Walt had a personal hand in is also one of his weakest, but I don't think I've ever seen a movie where Sterling Holloway's gentle, reedy voice failed to charm me – and Walt gave us plenty of opportunities to enjoy that voice over the years. Playing the villain for a change, Holloway delivers Kaa's lines with sibilant relish – just don't look into his eyes. (I've heard it said that more than a few people would find his coiled embrace enjoyable…)
2. Captain Hook, Peter Pan. You can count on Hans Conried to add a theatrical flair to any performance. As the crocodile-pursued pirate, Conried chews the painted scenery as if he hadn't eaten in a month. Hook is one of Disney's best-animated villains; how could he not be, considering he was brought to life by two of the best animators ever to lift a pencil: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
And our winner…
1. Cruella De Vil, One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The stylish De Vil was so wicked ("if she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will"), someone else had to perform her villain song. (She doesn't have much company in that regard; the only other character who comes to mind is the Grinch, immortalized in the immortal Thurl Ravenscroft's rendition of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" in Chuck Jones' animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas.)
Cruella's death's head face, her schizoid black and white head of hair and cheekbones that look like she's holding a double-pointed arrow in her mouth are nothing compared to her satanic, go-for-broke obsession to own those spotted dogs. (Freeze frame her close-up at 75:31 into the DVD and you'll see what I'm talking about.) Cruella was animated by Marc Davis, another of Disney's "nine old men" and voiced by Betty Lou Gerson in a once in a lifetime vocal performance. (Betty's final IMDB credit is as the voice of "Frances," a grande dame fish in 1997's Cats Don't Dance.)
* * * * *
Hmm, looks like Disney dominated the roll call, snapping the top six slots and seven out of the ten. Too Disney-centric a list? Perhaps, but I calls them like I sees them. If I left out your candidate, perhaps he or she made it onto the honorable mentions list; a handful worthy of consideration in alphabetical order:
Jafar, Aladdin… The Toad, Flushed Away…Alameda Slim, Home on the Range… Megamind, Megamind... Medusa, The Rescuers… Plankton, The SpongeBob SquarePants movie... Wile E. Coyote, any number of Road Runner shorts – wait a second, how did this guy get in here? This is supposed to be a list of animated feature films villains. Oh well, let's give this king of the losers an honorary spot – he deserves some sort of award for sheer dedication. (Did he ever stop to think he could dine for life on one tenth the money he keeps wasting on defective Acme Inc. products?).
Joe Strike is a regular contributor to AWN. He has written about animation, sci-fi and fantasy entertainment for the New York Daily News, Newsday and the New York Press. Joe has scripted the Nick Jr. series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! and taught Mass Communications at New York's St. John's University. He is currently hosting "Interview with an Animator" [animator.interviews.com], a series of audience-attended conversations with noted figures in the animation community at a variety of New York City venues, including the Paley Center for the Media, The Society of Illustrators and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Joe can be reached via firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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51 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed
Have you spent the past week studying the nuts and bolts of the new Gmail interface? Or have you been preoccupied with the space shuttle Enterprise's final flight to New York City (and the absurd memes that came along with it)? For whichever reasons you missed our latest digital media resources, use our weekly features roundup to catch up in a flash.
This week, we've covered ways your business can use video on Pinterest, digital tools to help you reduce junk mail and tips on how to curate and share great content. We also have a list of the sassiest brands on social media, a rundown of essential tools for marketers and a gallery of iPhone cases that look good enough to eat. We even have video interviews with entrepreneurial trailblazers like Brian Solis and Mark Cuban.
Go ahead and take advantage of these valuable resources!
Editor's Picks
4 Tips for Picking the Right Crowdfunding Platform Crowdfunding presents a great opportunity for startups. Here are four things companies should consider when picking a crowdfunding source.
The Decline of KONY 2012: Where Did the Online Buzz Go? KONY 2012 couldn't sustain its momentous social buzz following its March launch, despite April 20's Cover the Night.
How a Social Network Helps Families Coping With Autism MyAutismTeam connects parents of children with autism spectrum disorder to other parents, specialists and essential services.
Bitchin' Kitchen: How a Web Chef Cooked Up a Hit TV Show Nadia G of "Bitchin' Kitchen" successfully turned her web series into a show on one of the most popular networks in the U.S. Learn how she did it.
How to Dress Your Baby Like a Geek We've rounded up the best clothing options for baby gamers, sci-fi nerds and tech geeks alike.
Etsy: A Beginner's Guide to the Crafty Ecommerce Site Etsy has changed a lot since its launch in 2005. Whether you're a veteran user or a newbie, take a look at our handy guide.
11 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Gmail's New Interface We've highlighted 11 Gmail tips and options that will help you adjust to the new design.
Social Media
10 Video Tips for Businesses on Pinterest Pinterest is a perfect way to share ideas in a visual form. Here are ten tips on how you can use video marketing on Pinterest.
20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week [CHART] Which TV shows generate the most buzz on social networks? Find out each week from our social TV chart.
10 Must-Follow Tumblrs for Science Lovers Whether you like gazing at galaxies or exploring the microscopic world, these 10 Tumblrs will make your dashboard more sciency.
10 Tumblrs Serving Up the Best Animated GIFs Whether you like '90s nostalgia, movie clips, reality TV or animals, these 10 Tumblr sites will help you get your GIF fix.
10 Sassy Brands on Social Media Brands are showing more personality as the web becomes more social. Here are 10 hilarious brands killing it right now.
10 Funniest Sketch Comedy Channels on YouTube We've rounded up some of the best comedy channels on YouTube, each known for a different type of humor.
25 'Green' Photos From the Mashable Community In the spirit of Earth Day, we asked you to send us a photo that represented "green" for this week's Mashable Photo Challenge.
How Social Media Is Changing Sports [INFOGRAPHIC] This infographic shows many of the ways social media has had an impact on sports over the past few years.
5 Tips for Great Content Curation If you're a curator looking for some boundaries in what feels like the wild West, here are five best practices to consider.
For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable's social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Business & Marketing
Should You Combine Your Personal and Business Social Media Identities? There are a lot of pros and cons to melding your personal brand with your company's on social media. We analyze both sides.
3 Slick Analytics Dashboards to Monitor Your Business Website If you don't have analytics on your site, you're not getting the most out of your business. Check out these simple and helpful dashboards.
How Skillshare Is Transforming Education as We Know It Online marketplace Skillshare lets anyone with specialized skills teach an offline class. Anyone with the desire to learn can attend.
Crowdfunding: How Indiegogo Connects Concepts With Cash Looking to fund a project? Indiegogo can help you reach the vast corners of the Internet to make the most of crowdfunding.
3 Reasons the Call Center Is Far From Dead The rise of the smartphone has created many opportunities to interact with clients, but here's why it isn't killing the call center.
How Digital Journalists Used Data to Report on Murdoch Scandal Innovative digital journalism played a starring role in the wake of a massive document release during an inquiry into British media ethics.
How One App Uses Digital to Empower Education Three Ring allows teachers and students to digitize student work by snapping a picture or video with their mobile or tablet devices.
4 Tips for Keeping Your Gamified Community Motivated If you've found that gamification is right for your business, here are four steps to help keep your community in involved.
How One Website Fights Hunger With Gourmet Goodies Love With Food is a food delivery service that donates a portion of every sale to local food banks across the country.
Why Great Design Is the Future of Content Marketing The beautification of the web is upon us. How will this shift toward visual storytelling affect content marketing? We explore the trends.
5 Things You Didn't Know About Mark Cuban [VIDEO] Internet and entertainment entrepreneur Mark Cuban shares his entrepreneurial experiences, love of sports and tells us what's next.
60 Minutes to a More Efficient Social Business Strategy This 60-minute social media makeover will help companies create a more effective social media presence.
9 Things Businesses Need to Know About Web Security Small businesses are of particular interest to cyber criminals. At any given time there are more than 750,000 websites are being hacked or appearing on various hacker lists.
Ditto's 3D Virtual Fitting Tech Makes It Possible to Try on Glasses Online 3D virtual fitting technology lets you determine whether a pair of glasses flatters your face before making a purchase.
Facebook Marketing: Why Less Is More Venture capitalist and social media consultant Peter Shankman shares the best tips and tricks for marketing your brand on Facebook.
Could Zaarly Disrupt the Global Economy? [VIDEO] By optimizing the freelance economy, the startup might just change the way the world works.
12 Essential Tools for the Content Marketer There's no single type of content marketing that works best for all companies. Diversification is key. Here are twelve types we recommend.
Why No Brand Is Too Big to Fail, Too Small to Succeed Brian Solis talks about how companies should consider the consumer and community above all else when designing and presenting a product.
How Mark Cuban Does Business [VIDEO] Internet mogul and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sits down with Jesse Draper of The Valley Girl Show to discuss his business strategy.
How to Maximize Your Facebook Engagement Data shows brands miss out on customer Facebook engagement more often then they realize. Here's why.
For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable's business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Tech & Mobile
20 Minimalist Backgrounds for a Simpler Desktop If you need a distraction-free background, these 20 minimalist designs are a breath of fresh air.
7 Tips for Women in the Tech Industry We asked successful female entrepreneurs what challenges women in tech face and what can help. Here's what they shared.
Is the Digital World Killing Creativity? [INFOGRAPHIC] The current age of digital disruption has opened a cornucopia of creative endeavors, but the ability to multitask may also hinder creativity.
14 Weird iPhone Cases You Won't Believe If you're itching to make a statement with your iPhone, have we got a selection of cases for you!
DODOcase: How Bookbinding Inspired the Popular iPad Cover Patrick Buckley explains how his background in engineering and publishing led to one of the top iPad cases around.
10 Epic Movie Gadgets You Wish Were Real Technology has come a long way over the years, but there are still a ton of movie gadgets that we're anxiously hoping will come to life.
How Does Google Drive Compare to the Competition? Google Drive is an impressive product, but how does it compare to other cloud companies?
20 'Edible' iPhone Covers Are you a foodie at heart? Why not get an iPhone cover that celebrates your favorite foodstuff?
The 15 Types of People Who Play Draw Something [VIDEO] This video details several type of Draw Something players, such as over detailed, terrible drawers and people who refuse to buy colors.
9 Digital Tools to Reduce Your Junk Mail Is your paper trail too massive to manage? Check out these tools to cut out your unwanted mail.
12 Mysterious Google Maps Sightings A look at some mysterious things found on Google Maps, from crop circles to capsized boats.
How a Distasteful Meme Sparked a Web Culture War A family's attempt to fight the Internet over a controversial meme involving its daughter has fueled more harm than good.
10 Kindle Cases That Look Like Books The Kindle offers you an entire digital library in the palm of your hand. We've found 10 book-themed Kindle cases to match.
10 Free WordPress Themes for Photo Lovers Organize all your favorite images with these 10 free WordPress themes made especially for shutter bugs.
8 Out-of-This-World Photos of the Space Shuttle Enterprise Check out these eight pictures of Space Shuttle Enterprise's arrival at New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport.
For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable's tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci.


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The following is a guest post by Beth Houck, Vice President of Client Services at SA Ignite.
As we near the last quarter of 2013, many providers will have earned over half of their Meaningful Use (MU) incentive dollars and will be adept at following the workflows required to meet the Stage 1 measures. With two years (or more) of following MU under their belts, it's really just old hat, right? Maybe, but not so fast.
For small practices with no turnover and no upgrades to their EHR, practice managers can follow many of the same checklists that got them through the first year: verification that all non-percentage based measures have been met (e.g., a completed security risk audit, evidence of enabled features in the EHR such as Clinical Decision Support and Formulary Checks, completion of an immunization test) and a secure copy of the report that was generated from the EHR that supports percentage-based measure compliance and CQM submission. Practice managers may find themselves nudging providers to stay on track, but a small, stable practice has far less moving parts from year-to-year.
This is in significant contrast to large practices and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) that experience significant turnover. It's September 2013 and a new provider started with your organization. Do you know what payment year he is in? Are you allowed to attest for him or did his previous practice lay claim on these dollars? It's July 2013, and a new provider brings her report from the certified EHR she was using in the first part of the year. What do you do with this information? How does this impact this provider's attestation?
As larger provider organizations advance beyond the earliest stages of MU reporting, they realize that a once manageable process quickly becomes complicated, and the risk that incentive dollars will be lost drastically increases. Ensuring compliance means knowing what rules apply to these providers. Through our work monitoring more than 5,000 providers, we've worked to automate the attestation process. Here's our list of four key best practices to ensure you're on track to MU compliance.
- The first step is to determine the provider's Payment Year and under which program(s) they've received incentive dollars. You can look this up using the same login to attest for providers.
- Then if they are in payment year 2 for Medicare, never having switched from Medicaid, they will need to meet MU for the entire 365 days. This means that MU data from any previous practices' EHRs will need to be added to their current MU data. CMS has published a list of frequently asked questions on how to calculate these numbers. On a positive note, you will not be required to have your Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) align with the previous practice's EHR. If they don't match, you can just use the CQMs from the system where you had more visits.
- The next step is to determine which of the non-percentage based measures need to be repeated for this provider. For example, if you don't have any record of an immunization test being completed at the previous practice, one will need to be completed.
- Finally don't forget that the EHR Certification ID that you used when you originally attested for your providers won't necessarily apply to subsequently hired providers. If the new hire is bringing data from their old practice that needs to be merged with their new practice, you will need to obtain a new Certification ID from the Certified Health IT Product list. Following the sites instructions, you will need to add both the provider's previous EHR and your EHR to the "basket" to obtain a new, unique Certification ID produced for this combination of EHRs.
It's clear that there is so much more to MU compliance than double checking if you printed Visit Summaries for more than 50 percent of your patients. As we move into 2014, there are multiple payment years, programs and stages to track, so you will need to be certain that you have a system in place to ensure that you can manage the cases mentioned above to maximize the EHR incentive dollars for your organization.


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When Robb Akey accepted the Vandal head coaching job last December, he brought with him an attitude of "climbing the ladder." For Akey, the next rung on the ladder always was a head coaching position. As for his team, he is positioning the Vandals to climb the Western Athletic Conference ladder.
At the various stops during his climb to the top, Vandal football has been on his radar.
"I've been very familiar with this program from the first day that I played college football because we played Idaho when I was at Weber State," Akey said. "I know Idaho and the success that it has had in the past, and the great history that this program possesses.
"It's my desire to bring that pride back into this program and get it back to the point that it once was where it was a force in Western football and I want it to be a nationally known team."
In addition to bringing back the pride of the Vandal program, Akey seeks to restore the confidence that the team and Vandal fans have in their head coach. As the Vandals' third head coach in as many seasons, Akey has a restoration plan.
"They need to know that somebody does want to be their coach and intends to build a program here," he said. "I know that they have been told that before, so what they need to see and what I've worked hard to show them, is that when I tell them that I'm going to do something, it gets backed up with action."
Akey recognizes the passion not only the players but boosters, alums and friends have for the Vandal athletic programs. He promises to reciprocate with the same intensity.
"People are very passionate about this program," Akey said. "When they see me and my staff come in and be equally passionate about the program, I think they will respect that."
To those on the outside who may still be skeptical, Akey simply points out that becoming a Division I head coach always has been the top rung of his ladder.
"I'm committed to being here and I'm excited about what we can do," he says. "I didn't take this job to be someplace else. I took this job to be the head coach at the University of Idaho."
During his journey to a Division I head job, Akey has traveled hundreds of miles. The distance between the last few rungs of his climb, however, was only eight miles.
He arrived at Washington State University as the defensive line coach in 1999 and fell in love with the area. When he was given the added responsibility of defensive coordinator for the Cougars in 2003, Akey came to appreciate the many positive aspects of the Palouse.
"I've been up here nine years, and I think it's the perfect place to build a family," said Akey, who has two sons – Jack and Daniel. "I also think it's the perfect place to build a family of a football team. We have the ability to eliminate the distractions of the city, so when we bring players in here they can focus on what's important to them and that's getting their degree and being the best player they can be."
After some time in Pullman, Akey's two families grew together. About the players at Washington State he said, "I know the players at WSU treated my kids like they were their little brothers, and I know my sons felt that way about them."
When the time came for Akey to ascend to his dream job Jack and Daniel couldn't have been happier.
"My sons put it to me this way, they said, 'Dad, now we will have 200 big brothers instead of 100 big brothers.' "
However, Akey did not simply gain 100 football players as new family, he also welcomed in the entire Vandal nation. The transition should go smoothly though since the Idaho faithful are a group that he has been in close proximity to over the past several years.
Before arriving on the Palouse, Akey spent many years traversing the West on his path to the top of the ladder.
His climb started with his college playing days at Ogden Utah where he was a standout for Weber State University Wildcats and where his first ties to Idaho would catch hold. Not only did he play for the man, Mike Price, who eventually would lure him to the Palouse, he met his wife, Molly, there. Turns out his bride-to-be, Molly Hannan Akey, was the daughter of the man who led nearby Lewis-Clark State College through an important era in its history as the NAIA school's athletics director.
There he would learn much from Price; the man to whom Akey credits with influencing him the most as a coach. After four years of playing defense for the Wildcats, Akey received his first opportunity to coach when Price hired him as an assistant defensive line coach.
Only one year into his stint as the assistant defensive line coach at Weber State, Akey moved up another rung when he received all of the responsibility for the defensive line. After five years at that level, Akey decided that it was once again time to climb when, in 1995, he accepted a job at Northern Arizona University where a relationship with current Vandal offensive coordinator Steve Axman would be forged.
Just as at Weber State, Akey displayed his desire to lead, and accepted a promotion to defensive coordinator after just one year. In 1999, Price came calling with an opportunity for Akey to coach in the Pac 10. He coached the Cougars' defensive line for four seasons before being elevated to defensive coordinator in 2003. That step on the ladder included three 10-victory seasons, three top-10 finishes, one Outland Trophy winner, and the individual and unit that led the nation in quarterback sacks.
Now that Akey has finally reached the position of head coach, the job that he has been climbing to for nearly 20 years, he can institute his philosophy of "climbing the ladder" in his own program. In addition to his team climbing the ladder in terms of wins, he sees the whole program in a position to improve in every aspect. With his energetic and energizing personality, Akey hopes to instill in his new team his desire for excellence.
"With the changes in facilities and becoming a WAC member," Akey said, "Idaho is at a launching point right now and we have a chance to build a program that can be what everyone wants their program to be."


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(And what's it good for.)
Related MO questions (with some very nice answers): examples-of-categorification; can-we-categorify-the-equation $(1-t)(1+t+t^2+\dots)=1$?; categorification-request.
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(And what's it good for.)
Related MO questions (with some very nice answers): examples-of-categorification; can-we-categorify-the-equation $(1-t)(1+t+t^2+\dots)=1$?; categorification-request.
The Wikipedia answer is one answer that is commonly used: replace sets with categories, replace functions with functors, and replace identities among functions with natural transformations (or isomorphisms) among functors. One hopes for newer deeper results along the way.
In the case of work of Lauda and Khovanov, they often start with an algebra (for example ${\bf C}[x]$ with operators $d (x^n)= n x^{n-1}$ and $x \cdot x^n = x^{n+1}$ subject to the relation $d \circ x = x \circ d +1$) and replace this with a category of projective $R$-modules and functors defined thereupon in such a way that the associated Grothendieck group is isomorphic to the original algebra.
Khovanov's categorification of the Jones polynomial can be thought of in a different way even though, from his point of view, there is a central motivating idea between this paragraph and the preceding one. The Khovanov homology of a knot constructs from the set of $2^n$ Kauffman bracket smoothing of the diagram ($n$ is the crossing number) a homology theory whose graded Euler characteristic is the Jones polynomial. In this case, we can think of taking a polynomial formula and replacing it with a formula that inter-relates certain homology groups.
Crane's original motivation was to define a Hopf category (which he did) as a generalization of a Hopf algebra in order to use this to define invariants of $4$-dimensional manifolds. The story gets a little complicated here, but goes roughly like this. Frobenius algebras give invariants of surfaces via TQFTs. More precisely, a TQFT on the $(1+1)$ cobordism category (e.g. three circles connected by a pair of pants) gives a Frobenius algebra. Hopf algebras give invariants of 3-manifolds. What algebraic structure gives rise to a $4$-dimensional manifold invariant, or a $4$-dimensional TQFT? Crane showed that a Hopf category was the underlying structure.
So a goal from Crane's point of view, would be to construct interesting examples of Hopf categories. Similarly, in my question below, a goal is to give interesting examples of braided monoidal 2-categories with duals.
In the last sense of categorification, we start from a category in which certain equalities hold. For example, a braided monoidal category has a set of axioms that mimic the braid relations. Then we replace those equalities by $2$-morphisms that are isomorphisms and that satisfy certain coherence conditions. The resulting $2$-category may be structurally similar to another known entity. In this case, $2$-functors (objects to objects, morphisms to morphisms, and $2$-morphisms to $2$-morphisms in which equalities are preserved) can be shown to give invariants.
The most important categorifications in terms of applications to date are (in my own opinion) the Khovanov homology, Oszvath-Szabo's invariants of knots, and Crane's original insight. The former two items are important since they are giving new and interesting results.
One way to think of categorification is that it's a generalization of enumerative combinatorics. When a combinatorialist sees a complicated formula that turns out to be positive they think "aha! this must be counting the size of some set!" and when they see an equality of two different positive formulas they think "aha! there must be a bijection explaining this equality!" This is a special case of categorification, because when you decategorify a set you just get a number and when you decategorify a bijection you just get an equality. As a combinatorialist I'm sure you can come up with some examples that nicely illustrate how this sort of categorification is not totally well-defined. ("What exactly do Catalan numbers count?" has many answers rather than a single right answer.)
A more sophisticated kind of categorification in combinatorics is "Combinatorial Species" which categorify power series with positive coefficients.
When people talk about categorification they usually mean something less combinatorial than the above two examples because they're almost always thinking of a different categorification of the natural numbers: Vector spaces. Just like Sets vector spaces have a single invariant which is a nonnegative integer. So when a combinatorialist sees positive numbers they think "aha! the size of a set" the typical categorifier (there are exceptions) thinks "aha! dimensions of vector spaces!"
Furthermore categorification is often dealing with things with more structure. For example, if you're given a ring with a basis such that the product in that basis has positive structure constants (e.g. the Hecke algebra in the Kazhdan-Lusztig basis) you should think "this is Grothendieck group of some tensor category and the basis is the basis of irreducibles." Similarly possibly negative integers can be thought of as dimensions of graded vector spaces.
I think one important point that has been missed here is that there is not (currently) a precise answer to this question.
There is a loose answer along the lines of that which Pete Clark gave, but I think there may be a typo in that response. And, of course, there are specific instances which shed light (and provide new mathematics) as Scott has pointed out.
"As you can see from this article, one aspect of categorification is the systematic negation of "decategorification", which is the process of taking a category (e.g. the category of sets) and replacing it by the class of isomorphism classes of its objects (in that case, the class of cardinal numbers)."
Categorification is NOT the systematic negation of decategorification. Decategorification can be defined in various ways as a systematic process and categorification can be understood as the non-systematic (i.e. creative) process of undoing decategorification.
As a proponent of negative thinking, instead of saying that categorification 'replaces sets by categories' (to quote Wikipedia), I would say that we replace truth values by sets, especially the truth values of equations. That is, we acknowledge that there may be many different ways in which something may be true, in particular many different ways in which two things may be the same. And then it is meaningful to ask whether two ways in which these things are the same are the same way (and if so, whether two ways that they are the same are the same way, etc).
In particular, while two elements of a set simply may (or may not) be equal, two objects of a groupoid may be isomorphic in many different ways. And while two parallel isomorphisms in a groupoid may be equal, two parallel equivalences in a $2$-groupoid may be isomorphic in many different ways. Or while one element $x$ of a poset may precede an element $y$, there may be many different morphisms from one object $x$ of a category to an object $y$.
As you can see from these examples, I would distinguish categorification proper from the possibility of adding noninvertible arrows (which I would call 'laxification'). Often one categorifies and then laxifies, but often one only categorifies.
There are already many good answers to this question given, but I would like to emphasize one aspect of (what it is good for) that hasn't been fully discussed yet.
It's all about the morphisms.
For example, knowing the knowing the Betti numbers of a topological space is really enough to identify cohomology spaces as vector spaces, but this is uninteresting. What is exciting is that suddenly the theory becomes functorial. There is no notion of a "morphism" from the betti numbers of one topological space to those of another, but having morphisms in cohomology effectively gives rise to all the interesting features one could desire - cup products, etc. In addition, one can now take invariants of morphisms (like traces on homology) instead of just invariants of the spaces themselves.
In similar fashion, if one has an additive category with the Krull-Schmidt property, then each element of the additive Grothendieck group uniquely identifies its corresponding object up to isomorphism. It is not in the objects of a categorification where any interesting new information lies, but in the morphisms. Quantum groups had a geometric categorification for some time now, but recent exciting work of Rouquier and Khovanov-Lauda have redescribed this same categorification (see results of Vasserot-Varagnolo). What makes the recent results exciting is that they give an explicit presentation of the morphisms in the category, which was previously not well understood. This has led to a number of new results, but the full implications are still being explored.
Categorification is not just a way to find new invariants, it is a way to add new layers of structure.
John Baez wrote several introductions to that theme, e.g. here or the discussion with further links here. (Mazur's article is very good too!)
A longer answer is certainly called for (but I teach a class at 8 am). The article
gives a good initial explanation. As you can see from this article, one aspect of categorification is the systematic negation of "decategorification", which is the process of taking a category (e.g. the category of sets) and replacing it by the class of isomorphism classes of its objects (in that case, the class of cardinal numbers).
A really beautiful instance of categorification (of the natural numbers) is given in Barry Mazur's article "When is one thing equal to some other thing?":
Highly recommended!
There is now also an expanded nLab entry on this issue: vertical categorification.
Hopefully this will eventually be further expanded to do justice to this important (albeit vague) notion, but it does already mention some crucial aspects and examples not listed at Wikipedia.
-- There is a short paper by Khovanov, Mazorchuk and Stroppel, see "A brief review of abelian categorifications." Theory and Applications of Categories, Vol. 22, No. 19, 2009, pp. 479-508.
The definition suggested in this paper extends: Suppose that $(A,\cdot)$ is a $k$-algebra and $(C,\otimes)$ is a monoidal triangulated category then $C$ categorifies $A$ if the Grothendieck group of $C$ is isomorphic to $A$ (as $k$ algebras). $$(A,\cdot) \cong K_0(C, \otimes)\otimes_{\mathbb{Z}} k$$
The point is that elements $x,y\in A$ now correspond to objects $X,Y\in C$ and the $X\otimes Y$ transforms like $x\cdot y$. Now it makes sense to study, $Hom_C(X,Y)$. If $C$ is the derived category of an abelian category then these maps correspond to extensions which is what is destroyed by the Grothendieck group $K_0$.
If $C$ is a category of chain complexes over vector spaces (or some appropriate category) then for $X\in C$, $[X]\in K_0(C)$ is the Euler characteristic.
-- A different definition that can sometimes be found in the literature involves taking traces (Hochschild homology) rather than using the Grothendieck group.
Given a monoidal category $C$ and an algebra $D$. $C$ categorifies $D$ when $$End(C) \cong D.$$
For instance, this definition can be found in Toen and Vezzosi's paper on elliptic cohomology. One advantage of this definition is that it is easy to extend to higher categories. This definition can be related to the first definition by the Chern character when $End$ can be identified with Hochschild homology. In many examples, $$HH_0(C) \cong K_0(C)$$
-- Sometimes the word categorification of an object $X$ means thinking of $X$ as an object up to homotopy. This can be made precise when $X$ is an algebra over an operad. This usage isn't easy to relate to the other two definitions.
Categorification is a manner of synthesis.
The work of the early logicians (i.e. those people that helped set up the formal systems that modern symbolic logicians are using now), say Boole, Whitehead and Russell, Cantor, was very much an attempt to break down all mathematical objects into one primitive object - the set. This practice, taking place from 1800 - 1900 or so, was a practise of analysis. This led to a duality of true/false, set membership/ or non membership that characterises classical logic today.
Categorification can be understood as the opposite process, a process towards synthesis. Instead of a duality of equality/inequality, a spectrum (dare I say, a continuum) of emergent properties that can be observed as allowed as possibilities. Instead of a single isomorhpism, 2-morphisms also one to speak of a spectrum of properties that can be identified with the object.
What then is the purpose of having this synthesis, this spectrum? Perhaps it is the acknolwedgement that the symbolic duality today does not capture our full experience of space, time and other Platonic objects. A decategorified notion may suffice in the time of the early logicians, but as a whole range of experiences and possibilities, we seek greater differentiation and the possiblity of future mathematicians adding new experiences.
Let us use this answer to bring additional relevant links.
Here is a blog post Categorification step I by Peter Cameron based on a lecture by Igor Frenkel.
I myself heard an amazing lecture by David Kazhdan last year were the primary example was the step of moving from characters to representation.


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28 November, 2013 | (01 hr)
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The rise of the mobile customer and its associated "always on, always social" behavior has changed the way we should be thinking about customer experience. Unfortunately, most organizations still feel and treat the customer of 2013 the same way they would the customer of 2003.
This webcast offers concrete steps and strategies based on real-life examples that you can use right now in your business to improve customer the experience while decreasing costs and increasing revenue and brand value.
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Will Bosma, APAC Solution Consulting Director, Adobe Australia – LinkedIn, @wbosma
Before leaping into the journey of becoming a social business there are 10 'commandments' that I believe an organisation must embrace or they should not start the journey at all – it will be a total waste of time, effort and money.
I don't profess that these commandments are original – I have been highly influenced by some of the better practitioners in the field and have often used their advice before proceeding. But here is what I tell anyone today who says they wish to become a social business:
1. Social is about engagement and relationships – it is not about transactions. If you don't understand this then don't start. You have to focus and care as much about the 10th customer interaction as the first. This is not to say that results and ROI aren't important – they are, but they take a while in coming. But you will never be a social business if you don't understand relationships – a two way concept – is at the heart of everything you need to do.
2. Fit social into your business – not the other way around. The focus is to use social constructs and methods into your business processes where it makes sense. The focus is NOT to have Facebook in the enterprise. But it also means that you have to think about social beyond marketing – the entire customer journey experience is affected when you become a social business.
3. Fish where the fish are – don't try to have a presence in every social network on the planet and don't agree to a page or account for every product / department / business unit / branch / state / country / language in your business. Consider only those networks where you KNOW for a fact your customers already exist and are ACTIVE. And think carefully today about your presence needs – every page, every account has to be managed, moderated, filled with content and provide an engaging experience. If it doesn't – get rid of it. This is a key part of what we call Social Architecture.
4. Social is not a Silo : if you do not connect your social efforts into your entire business it will fail to deliver the desired results. It's part of a marketing mix – therefore social campaigns must include and link to websites, email, eDMs and newsletters. Your Twitter account for service must be part of a fully fledged service experience that includes any other service response mechanism. If your PR crises management plan doesn't include social then it will likely fail you in an emergency. The customer experience is not linear and traverses many channels – they don't work in silos and if you do you will fail. 'Social everywhere it makes sense' should be your mantra.
5. Engagement cannot be Outsourced : A pet peeve of mine! You can use your agency for monitoring, for creative, for campaign creation but if you use your agency to create your regular posts and to respond to engagement then you have two problems. The wrong agency (for accepting this practice) and the wrong attitude towards your customers. See point one above. I don't care about your content calendars – if you don't talk to your customers how can you hope to understand and serve them.
6. Social involves your entire Organisation : this is the biggest realisation for most companies and is mandatory to becoming a social business. You must focus even more internally than externally. You can't exhibit the traits of transparency, engagement and collaboration which are central to success in social if your organisation is based on a command and control culture and set of processes. There is no Faking IT in social. And it is not only about marketing – it impacts HR, sales, marketing, service, product management, engineering and more.
7. Success requires Engagement without Fear : once you realise it's more than marketing you must be prepared to put some basic rules and processes in place and then get out of the way and let your people at it. Everyone must have the choice to participate and its amazing what they can do for your brand, reach and revenue when they are let loose. Not to mention how your employee satisfaction, productivity and talent acquisition improves. Yes, the social channels are full of trolls, sideline commentators and idiots. So is the 'real world'. Get over it and get involved.
8. Social is based on Sharing : this means not just sharing your product brochures endlessly or repeating your marketing messages over and over and over again. This is probably the biggest mistake that many organisations make. Social does provide an opportunity to tell the human stories behind your brand. After all, your customers want to deal with people. The obsession with being 'on message' is one that hurts many brands. And the social economy is based on reciprocity – you must share content of value from sources other than yourself if you are truly going to be perceived as a source of value in the social economy. I know it's shocking but you are not the only one in the world with value to add.
9. Social is Not Ad Hoc : whilst the social networks may seem chaotic at first and it's difficult to relate to your current processes you should approach it as you would any other other business initiative. You need to go through the process of creating your overall social business strategy based on a thorough process of research, evaluation and review. You then need to associate goals, initiatives, priorities, programs, measurements, resources and activities. Social business is not an accident waiting to happen but well thought out piece of your corporate strategy. Plan it that way. A strategy for social media is not a social business strategy.
10. Social is Measurable : Anyone who tells you that you can't measure your social initiatives and that ROI and social don't go together needs to be escorted off your premises as soon as possible. Measurements should be at 3 levels – reach metrics such as friends, fans and followers. Engagement metrics such as comments, re-tweets, social shares, user generated posts and so on. And ROI on your social campaigns and activities. All levels of measurement are both important and possible.
And here is a bonus commandment that is perhaps the most important of all:
Nothing stays constant very long in a social business and to be successful you must be lean, agile and willing to change. You can't have lengthy approval processes for responses to posts for example or your relevance to the story will evaporate entirely. The half life of a Facebook post is measured in minutes and a that of a Tweet is measured in seconds. Pinterest didn't exist a year ago. Get rid of unnecessary overhead and go listen to your customers and engage.
Will B


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text: Feeling Half My Age at Farrell's! 10/06/2016 Blog category: Testimonials Imagine lying on the floor, gasping for air after completing two… just two jump squats. That was me when my wife, Vicky, demonstrated the jump squat for me. She was enrolled at Farrell's and she wanted me to join the following session. Despite the obvious evidence to how out of shape I was, I resisted. "It's too expensive." "The class times don't work for me." "It's not a real gym." She persisted, I resisted. One day she came home from Farrell's and told me that she had enrolled me in the Spring 2016 class. So much for my excuses. If jump squats in my living room hadn't been enough warning, orientation was. At 6'2" I didn't really look fat, but when I took my shirt off for pictures, reality hit me full on. Push-ups and sit ups were weak and I couldn't remember the last time I had run. I came home not feeling very good about myself. The first couple of weeks were chaotic, learning the new moves in kickboxing and how to use resistance bands. The motivation provided by high-energy instructors made it pretty easy to give everything I had for 45 minutes (even when I wasn't quite doing everything correctly). Nutrition came easier as earlier in life I had been a competitive mountain biker. I was used to preparing food for the week and treating it as fuel. Fun Days initially were a little bit overboard, but in a few weeks I had reigned that in, too. At the five-week testing I could already see what was possible with the program. I wasn't where I wanted to be; not even close, but even small progress can be motivating. The first eight weeks of classes seemed to take eight months, but the last two weeks seemed to take two minutes! As the finish line approached I could see everyone turning it up a notch. You can do amazing things as an individual, but when you're in a group you can't help but give even more. Ten-week testing was quite a shock. There were people that I hadn't seen in five weeks and in that short time the transformations were incredible. I was pleased with my results and was ready for the party later that night. I was proud to be called up for the top five. I was overwhelmed and grateful when my name was announced and I was handed the giant $1,000 check! I had wanted to win, I had told my wife I was going to win, and I did everything I could to achieve this goal. I celebrated that Saturday night, enjoyed my day off on Sunday, and was back in the gym Monday, looking for something more… I was happy winning the ten-week competition, but I needed a new goal. I was grateful for everyone that had helped me in my journey and it was time for me to give back. I decided I wanted to coach the next session of ten-week students. It was one of the more rewarding decisions I have made. The experience level with the new students varied with some needing little help and some not knowing where to begin. It was great helping people through the highs and lows of week five testing and being able to share their excitement when they tested out at ten weeks. It doesn't seem possible, but I experienced more joy and fulfillment in seeing two students that I helped win the ten-week completion than when I had won it myself. Farrell's has changed my life in so many ways it's difficult to narrow it down to just a few. I learned that it's never too late to get in shape, to recapture that magic of youth. I started Farrell's at 46 years old. I'm now 47 and in better shape than when I was 37, and I'm getting closer to being in the shape I was at 27. I've generally been confident in life, but my experience with Farrell's has put my confidence through the roof. Getting fit and healthy improves every aspect of life; relationships, career, and overall wellbeing. Farrell's has shown me that it is NEVER too late to have a new life. David is a FIT member at our Elk River, MN Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping location. Back to Blog