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The biggest Varsity showdown after Oxbridge is held annually in Leeds. I was commissioned by Leeds University to capture 10 hours of action at many different venue throughout the Uni and Met campuses. The breif was to capture as many events as possible – so took the huge list of sports, planned the day and set off to capture the events.
First off was Badminton at Edge – a lot faster than you think and the lighting was pretty low, so we're talking serioulsy high ISO settings and wide apertures to capture the action – here's one where the shuttle is sharp with the racket about to hit it.
Next was swimming – very humid and instantly had lenses steaming up, so had to wait for them to acclimatise – then got to work with the long lenses, trying to capture the emotion and spirit of the event through facial expressions.
So lots of swimming and diving later, the netball starts at Edge, so move along to the hall to capture that. Again, pretty fast moving – and rather than "gunning" 1000's of photos of the action, I determined to shoot just 1 shot – the right shot – of each move, waiting for the perfect moment – just love the expression on the right-most Leeds player as the Met score….
Edge was finished, so headed up to Becketts Park for a variety of other sports…. starting with the 100m
Then inside to the Tennis matches
And the wonders of Netball
That was Beckett's Park complete – so up to Weetwood for the Lacrosse, Hockey and Football
So most of the day was done – I spotted more Netball going on, headed down to the uni campus and captured that along with some of the squash… not a lot you can do with squash other than look down upon them!
Palpable tension in the audience!
Squash… not the king of photogenic sports really…
And so to Headingley Stadium – the finale, the cheer leaders, the trophies, the rugby union and the rain…
First up, the Met Cheerleaders
next, the rather acrobatic Uni Cheerleaders….
And then on to the game
One of the regular sports photographers warned me that it was "a bit dark" on pitch due to the low-ish powered floodlights. He wasn't wrong – once they were in the corners, the light fell away so much that you were struggling to get anything useful… but the main action was in the middle, luckily. Using my trusty 500 F4.5l lens and the 70-200 occasionally, I knocked out about 400 shots over the 2 halves.
So the result….
It was 29-30 when the Rugby started – the Met had the lead, the Uni had to win to level the day.
Luckily, for my client anyway, the Uni came through strongly in the second half and won by a good margin – levelling the Varsity at 30 each.
A long hard day for the sports men and women, and pretty tiring and lots of exhilaration for the photographers.
Even better is that the University loved the photos and are looking to use McFade on a regular basis!


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There's no doubt that modern conveniences have their place. But every now and then it's nice to take a step back and appreciate the simplicity of timeless technology. For those people who view camping as an opportunity to accomplish that goal, UCO's Candle Lantern is a great alternative to battery-powered flashlights and lamps.
For more than 40 years, UCO has been making candle lanterns that are designed to be durable, functional, and packable light sources for use on any camping excursion. To celebrate that tradition, UCO is releasing its Special Edition Candle Lantern that features the same classic design with a hand-stitched leather sleeve around its base. It also comes with a glass chimney that collapses into the patina-bronzed aluminum base to help protect the lantern and make it easier to carry. The slow burning candle provides 9 hours of light and the lantern comes equipped with a handle with an adjustable hook to hang on branches or poles for more elevated illumination.
The classic design and timeless look of the Special Edition Candle Lantern is an easy way to set the stage for a more primitive camping experience on your next outing, but don't wait too long before picking one up at ucogear.com. With just 2000 of these lanterns being made, and a price tag of $49.99, they probably won't last too long.


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Jared Oubre, MTS candidate, spent much of his summer in 2013 with children who live on the streets of Managua, Nicaragua. The recipient of a Dana McLean Greeley International Internship from HDS's Center for the Study of World Religions, Oubre says he traveled to the Nicaraguan capital to put his theological education to practical use, building strong bodies, minds, and spirits among some of the Western Hemisphere's most vulnerable people.
"I drew lessons from Buddhist meditation, Catholicism, and the five pillars of Islam," says the former camp counselor from the East Bay area of San Francisco. "I was not evangelizing. I was asking the kids to think about the spirit in their own lives. We shared prayers over meals—both for the orphans and for the parents who had verbally and physically abused them. It was an important time to gather and be quiet for a moment before the children excitedly spooned down a warm plate of food."
Oubre's work at the the Los Quinchos Foundation—an orphanage outside Managua that offers street kids a structured learning environment—is the latest step on a path of service and study that has led him through much of Latin America and, most recently, to HDS. Fluent in Spanish, Oubre studied abroad in Panama, Nicaragua, and Peru and capped off his undergraduate degree in English and environmental studies at Williams College with a three-year stint in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. While there, he taught children to read and write, organized them into teams to build community gardens, and gave them the run of his house, letting them color and draw. As he observed village life, he also felt called to develop his theology.
"In the Dominican Republic, people had a sense of presence in their houses," Oubre says. "They really enjoyed being at home, and I hadn't been home since college. I needed to be centered, grounded. I thought I'd give theology a shot!"
When Oubre decided to apply to divinity schools, his Peace Corps director gave him a piece of practical advice. "He told me to go to the school that would leave me the least in debt," Oubre remembers.
At this point in his HDS career, it looks as though Oubre may graduate with no debt at all. That's because the School's extraordinary financial aid program provides him with a scholarship that covers full tuition and fees and enables him to supplement the aid with work at Andover-Harvard Theological Library.
"I'm able to go to graduate school, and I'm grateful," Oubre says. "I've seen places where people live on so little. I didn't feel good about going into debt."
Oubre came to HDS for its academic excellence and multireligious approach to education. He wanted to expose himself to different faiths and to think about how they relate to his own religion, Christian Science. He says that he's been astonished by the diversity of the School's student community, which has dramatically expanded his understanding of different cultures and beliefs.
"One of the things I didn't count on was that I would have a gay Muslim black man as one of my best friends," says Oubre, "or a kid who dreams of becoming the first Latino president of the United States, and is so grounded in Catholicism that he will say the rosary and start crying."
Still, Oubre says that the most powerful part of his HDS experience is the way that the School takes education beyond intellectual rigor and interfaith dialogue.
"I want to learn at a different level," he says. "It's not just about being at school with people, but also praying with people. HDS provides an environment where I can ask someone if they want to pray. Until I do that step, I don't understand how their religion relates to me."
The work at Los Quinchos this summer was actually Oubre's second HDS-funded trip to Managua in six months. He visited the orphanage last January during winter break to study liberation theology with a group of 12 students and with Maritza Hernandez, associate dean for enrollment and student services, and Cheryl A. Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling.
The group talked about theology and social justice with Nicaraguan environmental activists, Jesuit priests, advocates for women's health, and rural peasants. Oubre was excited to see communities actively put the principles of liberation theology into practice, but it was the children of Managua who left the biggest impression—kids who had witnessed or been victims of violence, drug use, and rape.
"After just one brief afternoon of playing soccer and team tag games with these excited kids, my heart began to overflow with joy," Oubre wrote in his application for the CSWR's Greeley internship. "At the age of 12, most of them had lived a life working dawn to dusk, on the streets...they also showed...jubilant smiles when engaging in play!"
Oubre says he's grateful to HDS for giving him the chance to help the orphans of Managua find some quiet time to think beyond the loud city streets. After graduating this year, he wants to continue to combine theology with service and is interested in exploring immigrant rights and spiritual development in education.
"I want to know how to talk to people new to our country," he says, "to help them find spirit and solace. That's what interests me."
—by Meg Muckenhoupt


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Published: August 13th, 2010
[Note: Part I of this multi-issue commentary which appeared in the July issue is appended below for the convenience of our readers.]
On the cover page of the July 30th edition of the City Paper it is stated that Vincent Gray "is a creature of process," followed by the question, "Is that what DC's government needs?"
Absolutely. In our view, the current mayor has too often displayed a total disregard of "process" by, for example, openly defying the will of the legislature, our city council – for procedures enacted into law intended to ensure that statutory mandates are properly carried out by the Executive Branch. Among other transgressions that come to mind is his penchant for steering contracts to friends while figuring out ways to circumvent the statutory requirement that contracts of $1 million or more must first be approved by the Council. There has been too much of this sort of thing.
The Mayor's excuse always seems to be that his shortcuts guarantee that things get done, projects get built –- full speed ahead and damn the consequences (to paraphrase a famous line). The problem with that approach to overseeing a complex governmental machine and other finagling with funds is that by so doing the mayor has been thumbing his nose at our elected legislators who are responsible for enacting the city's budget. Consider the most recent outrage, his gambit to take away the dollars intended to assist the homeless so as to pay for an extra six days of youth summer employment in a program that was already over budget, a fact that had conveniently never been revealed to the council when it first became known.
We could go on and on –- the litany is loud and long. But it is what one can expect when we have a mayor who plunges ahead, cowboy fashion, with his own agenda notwithstanding that others may have different priorities.
We are strongly endorsing Vincent Gray because, among other things, he believes in "process" and collegiality; we are confident that his stated intention of working closely with the council and engaging all parties in setting priorities will be a hallmark of his mayoral tenure. We need to re-set the tone and to have a leader who believes in eschewing the adversarial approach to governing. Vincent Gray is that kind of leader, one who respects all groups and individuals and who is by nature a consensus builder. This is what we very much need at this time of reduced –- and further reducing –- resources.
Furthermore, we certainly do not need to elect a mayoral candidate who a month before the primary election has gotten so desperate that he has unleashed a hateful, negative advertising campaign with such vile imagery, as reported by the Washington Post on August 12th, in which in "grainy black-and-white photos, Gray is depicted as a sinister bureaucrat who mismanaged city funds and critical social services."
We have heard and read much that Fenty must -– presumably at all costs –- be re-elected, otherwise School Savior Michele Rhee will depart in a huff. The assumption is that Gray would not keep her on anyway, though we have not heard him say so. But, contrary to all the hysteria, Rhee is not indispensable. Just because Gray has raised issues with things about how matters are going in the school system does not mean that he is not as committed to improving public education in the District as anyone else, Fenty included.
Rhee has engineered an amazing public relations self-promotion blitz that has carried nationwide to ensure that it's all about her –- and to a lesser extent Fenty (though in her national PR he seems to be a mere footnote). Why he is so enamored with her can only be explained by the fact that he has built his entire reputation around having hired her. Will he acknowledge that maybe she isn't the miracle lady he has been claiming now that the new DC Comprehensive Assessment System report, required by the federal No Child Left Behind law, is out showing a more than 50 percent drop over last year in schools meeting the federally-mandated minimum standards? Of the mere 15 out of over 150, only two high schools, Bannecker Academic and School Without Walls, made the grade –- and these are the city's two magnet high schools requiring application and testing for admission.
In closing, we want to make one thing totally clear: Our endorsement of Vincent Gray is not to be interpreted as one of those "anybody but the other guy" endorsements, We are fully behind Gray's candidacy for not only the reasons discussed above but also because of his deep understanding of the nuts and bolts of municipal governance and for the ease and personal confidence in himself that he displays in his gracious and empathetic interaction with citizens –- as distinguished from swaggering arrogance which only suggests fear of failure.
[Note: Part I, which was originally published in the July issue, is also available in the Publisher's Desk archive.]
This month our focus is on the city council, specifically the Democratic primary races for the Ward 1 and one of the at-large seats. Our vote will be for the incumbents –- Jim Graham for Ward 1 and Phil Mendelson for at-large.
Yes, there's talk that it's "time for a change" but we are not in that camp.
In reviewing Councilmember Graham's performance over the past four years. our view is that he has benefited his Ward 1 constituents immensely; we can discern no compelling reason to opt for somebody new, somebody without the kind of experience and incredible dedication to all economic and cultural sectors of this most diverse collection of dynamic neighborhoods.
Several example come to mind, including the influence he has gained over matters regarding public works (through his chairmanship of the council's public works committee and his close involvement with Metro as a member of its board). In the extremely vital area of public works and transit he has been able to closely watch out for the interests of Ward 1 residents –- as well as all residents citywide. What can possibly be gained by giving up his influence over, and know-how about, these matters and the agencies which have responsibility for delivering the very "bread and butter" municipal services that are so important? Our answer is, simply, there can be no advantage.
But it's not just public services that the council member has directed so much of his time and attention: it is housing and crime and neighborhood economic development, to name some vital quality of life areas, that he has worked diligently to craft practical solutions to deal with what often seem to be unsolvable problems.
Among many thingsm and just to single out one area, we give high marks to the council member for his tireless work directed toward ensuring more affordable housing and to preserving rent control for citizens with limited financial means. By so doing, he has been instrumental in helping to maintain the diversity that we hear from so many residents is something they prize about city living and that they consider to be extremely important. These are residents who tell us that they do not want to see our city evolve into a bland demographic pool like the boring suburbs that more and more people are abandoning in favor of the more interesting and dynamic life in our vibrant downtown neighborhoods.
Our brief recitation of Councilmember Jim Graham's work on behalf of not only his own constituents but all of us throughout the city who have benefited from the initiatives he has pushed has only scratched the surface. We enthusiastically urge his re-election without hesitation.
The other city council primary race that we believe is very important indeed is that of the at-large seat open to a member of the Democratic Party. In light of Councilmember Phil Mendelson's long record of effective advocacy for residents across the city and for his thoughtful approach to carefully analyzing the complexities of policy issues as they affect our laws and regulations –- and ultimately our daily lives –- and crafting legislation solutions, we have no reason to suggest that there might be any good purpose to vote him off the council.
When we took a look at the 25 bills, eight resolutions, and five reports that the council's public safety committee, of which he is its tireless chairman, has been responsible for issuing over the past year-and-a-half, we can only conclude that its highly competent output reveals much about the skill and worth to our city of the council member. This we are not prepared to advocate tossing aside.
Among his accomplishments that are of major importance has been his work in getting the council to declare the role of the city's attorney general as being independent from the Executive Branch and calling for the position to be filled by election.
Another major accomplishment has been his bringing to fruition the "Omnibus Public Safety and Justice Amendment Act" which affected 39 separate laws by improving various provisions thereby improving law enforcement. The Act also created new crimes, including one dealing with illegal firearms in motor vehicles, and added a new authority to address gang violence by establishing a practical, on-the-streets intervention mechanism designed to reduce such violence.
We are puzzled by complaints that we hear in some circles that the council member is not "aggressive" enough, that he's too "low-key" and therefore isn't effective. We strongly disagree. While we admire legislators who come on strong (but only if they are especially smart and knowledgeable), this doesn't mean that one who is quiet isn't equally effective.
This is a council member who is deliberative, a stickler for detail, one who watches out for every nuance in the language of the legislation that he is called upon to vote. We need members on the council with that skill to ensure that what gets enacted into law doesn't later reveal flaws that create unintended consequences for the city or for individual citizens.
With this, along with his constant watching out for efforts by city government officials seeking to chip away at civil rights in the name of crime prevention or other perceived dangers by bureaucrats, we enthusiastically urge the re-election without hesitation of at-large Councilmember Phil Mendelson.


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FDA Connected to Manufacturer of Deadly Arthritis Drug Actemra
Introduced in 2010, Actemra treats rheumatoid arthritis. Unlike other drugs on the market, it was supposed to not carry the same potentially deadly cardiovascular and lung complications. However, according to a new report from STAT, Actemra is not as safe as FDA and manufacturer, Roche would want consumers to believe. In fact, the STAT report suggests that Actemra can be more dangerous than its competitors.
Actemra More Deadly Than Competitors
The FDA approved Actemra with the condition that manufacturer Roche would perform Phase IV clinical trials (post-marketing trials). This is normal protocol when there is inconclusive evidence about a drug's long-term safety. Researchers at the 2016 American College of Rheumatology showed the results from the Phase IV trial. After researchers compared Actemra users to a competitive RA drug, Enbrel, they found Actemra users have a 1.5 times higher rate of stroke and heart failure.
Enbrel has warning labels warning of these side effects but Actemra does not.
FDA Actemra Cover-up
When the FDA investigated Actemra in 2012 after receiving 258 cases of pancreatitis and 185 cases of interstitial lung disease (ILD), the FDA declined to add these side effects to the warning label. The STAT report uncovered that FDA did not demand a label change since they succumbed to pressure from Roche. Also noted in the report was that all 11 authors of the Phase IV study had financial ties to Roche.
Furthermore, in an ethical quandary, a former FDA manager, whose responsibility was managing Actemra's approval left after the FDA approved it to work for Roche.
Deadly Side Effects
Just six years after approval, the FDA received nearly 14,000 side-effect reports involving Actemra. Some also implicated that Actermra was responsible for over 1,000 deaths. The causes of death listed in the majority of these FDA reports were heart disease, lung disease, and stroke.
In fact, the complaints to the FDA show that not only does manufacturer Roche fail to provide adequate warning labels, but also the drug may actually cause more adverse events than other drugs on the market. Moreover, those other drugs actually have accurate warning labels.
The side effects experienced from taking Acterma can affect various parts of the body. These range from ILD, stroke, heart attack and pancreatitis.
We Want to Help Victims
It is your right to be informed about the long-term risks associated with the medications you take, and it is the responsibility of drug companies to provide this information. If you or a loved one has developed pancreatitis and have taken Acterma, you should demand accountability. Why didn't Roche tell you of these serious side effects?
We want to help send a message that this is not acceptable. If a dangerous product harmed you, we will be your advocate. Additionally, we have the experience necessary to successfully litigate these cases.
Contact The Michael Brady Lynch Firm today for a free consultation to learn more about seeking justice. Compensation may be available for any medical expenses associated with this ordeal, as well as for your physical and emotional suffering. There is no obligation.


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As managers become more comfortable with including blogs and social networks as part of their integrated marketing communications, they have naturally turned their attention to questions regarding the return on investment of social media. Clearly, there is no shortage of interest in the topic. A quick Google search recently for "ROI social media" returned over 2.5 million hits, many seemingly relevant. Internet marketing and online retailing conferences now devote attention to ROI issues, and managers are asking themselves every day, "What's the ROI of [substitute social media application here]?" Blog posts, white papers and case studies prepared by social media gurus, consultants and industry analysts abound, yet the answer remains largely unsatisfying. That isn't good, especially when the CEO and CFO are demanding evidence of potential ROI before allocating dollars to marketing efforts.1
We understand the pressures and the desire to quantify the return generated by investing in social media, but we believe most marketers are approaching the issue the wrong way.
Effective social media measurement should start by turning the traditional ROI approach on its head. That is, instead of emphasizing their own marketing investments and calculating the returns in terms of customer response, managers should begin by considering consumer motivations to use social media and then measure the social media investments customers make as they engage with the marketers' brands.
Handling the measurements this way makes much more sense. It takes into account not only short-term goals such as increasing sales in the next month via a social media marketing campaign or reducing costs next quarter due to more responsive online support forums, but also the long-term returns of significant corporate investment in social media.
We will explain our reasoning in detail and suggest some guidelines for better integrating social media into your overall marketing strategy, but first a quick example of the kind of radical rethinking we believe is called for.
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Turning Your Thinking Upside Down
In calculating social media ROI, most marketers start by measuring the cost of launching a blog, for example, and then seek to calculate the return on sales, say, from that social media investment. But a company could also start by thinking about what marketing objectives such a blog might satisfy (e.g., brand engagement), why its customers would visit the blog (e.g., to learn about new products) and what behaviors they might engage in once they got there (e.g., post a comment about a recent consumption experience) that could be linked to the company's marketing objectives.
These behaviors then can be considered (and measured) as customer investments in the marketer's social media efforts. This suggests that returns from social media investments will not always be measured in dollars, but also in customer behaviors (consumer investments) tied to particular social media applications. Consumer investments include obvious measures such as the number of visits and time spent with the application (the blog in this case) as well as more active investments, such as the valence of blog comments and the number of Facebook updates and Twitter pages about the brand. These investments can then be used to measure key marketing outcomes such as changes in awareness levels or word-of-mouth increases over time.
Although what we are proposing might seem radical, we believe you have no choice.
Traditional media measurement seems almost quaint in today's dynamic and increasingly complex media environment. Marketers are struggling with social media measurement partly because the frameworks are still largely driven by "reach and frequency" and are ill-suited to the interactive media environment.
On one side are the managers in the trenches whose experience and gut feelings tell them that social media are important, even as they struggle with how to quantify this. On the other side is top management, who may not be 100% convinced about the value of social media or fully understand them — and even if they "get it" in principle, they still want to see the numbers. This tension explains the constant questioning about ROI in emerging advertising media like Twitter.
While managers certainly need hard numbers to know whether their investments are paying off, they represent a narrow "show me the return" focus rooted in a traditional mainstream media. This narrow focus has two problems. First, it is oriented to the short term ("show me how my company's tweets will improve sales next quarter"). Developing meaningful relationships with customers takes time because online relationships involve interactive "conversations,"2 and some managers still do not fully appreciate that they are entering a brave new world of "relationships" with customers.
This is a world in which customers are fully in control of their online experiences and where their motivations lead them to connect online with other consumers while they create and consume online content, much of it user- rather than marketer-generated. These four key motivations — connections, creation, consumption and control — drive consumer use of social media.3 This "4c's" perspective is important because it leads to a consumer-oriented framework for evaluating social media. Most managers still consider social media applications as "just another" traditional marketing communications vehicle. That is a mistake. The social media environment is largely consumer- — not marketer- — controlled. And marketers who don't understand that do so at their peril. (See "The Worst That Can Happen Is Worse Than You Think.")
Second, and more importantly, the narrow focus ignores more qualitative objectives — such as the value of a tweet about a brand — that flow from the unique capabilities of the Internet and have no obvious analogues with traditional media metrics. This is a powerful point that is often overlooked.
Both these things call for a different way of thinking about how to measure social media. Let's talk about how you might do it.
Social Media Objectives Drive Social Media Metrics
As a first step, marketers should focus on objectives that explicitly recognize the value of operating in the social media environment. Most managers feel pressure to emphasize traditional objectives such as direct sales, direct cost reductions or increases in market share from social media. Ultimately, of course, outcomes like these are the bottom line for any manager. And a marketer who wants to know the immediate effect on sales of a particular social media campaign can do so relatively easily by tracking the revenue generated from the dollars spent, even if tying social media actions directly to sales is difficult. It is becoming increasingly obvious that social media can lead to real cost savings, such as when customers serve as their own version of a company's toll-free help desk through FAQs on user forums. It is also clear that social media can improve the efficiency of market research efforts when, for example, marketers set up online prediction markets to crowdsource new ideas or mine online forums that allow customers to comment on product concepts and offer improvements for existing products.
Sales, cost efficiencies, product development and market research are obvious objectives, but in our development of appropriate social media metrics we want to emphasize objectives that take advantage of the distinctive characteristics of social media. In the social media environment, marketers have unique opportunities to develop social media programs that tackle awareness, engagement and word-of-mouth objectives. Social media applications can fulfill any of these objectives, where the appropriate set of metrics depends on the objective. (See "Relevant Metrics for Social Media Applications Organized by Key Social Media Objectives.")
To get an ROI estimate, managers would link the social media metrics to an additional set of proxy benchmarks (e.g., the likelihood of future purchase by a user engaged with the company's brand through a specific social media application, or the reach of a specific word-of-mouth element and subsequent conversion to future sales). For example, a popular personal care brand ran a large-scale integrated ad campaign on MySpace in the second quarter of 2008 and used matched consumer panels to link online social media behavior to survey measures of purchase intent as well as actual in-store sales. The results showed an ROI of 28% for the ad campaign.4
As this example shows, companies are starting to see some success measuring the ROI of their social media experiments, including some that offer the consumer a relatively complex social media experience. For example, in 2007, Kellogg created an integrated digital media experience for the "Special K Challenge" featuring a support website that offered consumers the opportunity to customize a diet using Special K cereal, participate in online forums with pointers from experts, join a Yahoo! e-mail support group and click through to Amazon.com to purchase the cereal. Kellogg, which was able to translate those website interactions and click-throughs to market response over 18 months, found that the online ROI for Special K cereal was twice as large as that from television.5 Vocalpoint, Procter & Gamble's social networking site, has over 350,000 members who talk about P&G products; by linking these customer investments in brand conversation to sales, the site is credited with market response increases of up to 30%.6
To be sure, there is some complexity involved in calculating the ROI of a sophisticated social media campaign, not necessarily limited to determining the size of the test and control samples and the ability to match online customer profiles with offline purchases. However, even small-scale social media efforts can benefit from plugging in segment-level estimates and proxy measures to quantify how the customer investments from brand awareness, brand engagement and word of mouth affect the purchase decision funnel and, ultimately, the bottom line. We expect that over time the number and quality of the necessary inputs will increase, but marketers can find even rough proxy estimates useful in the meantime to generate the calculations necessary to link marketing investments to customer investments and market response.
Below we discuss three social media objectives and provide several examples of each.
Brand Awareness
Traditionally, brand awareness is measured through tracking studies and surveys. Online, however, marketers have a number of ways to track brand awareness.
In the social media environment, every time a person uses an application designed by or about the company, the company gains increased exposure to its brand, often in highly relevant contexts. For example, several days before Election Day 2008, Starbucks ran a spot on the "Saturday Night Live" show as well as on YouTube, promoting a free coffee giveaway. Twitter mentions of Starbucks skyrocketed, averaging a mention every eight seconds, which translated into a sizeable increase in brand exposure.7 Such usages enhance and strengthen associations of the brand in customers' minds through increased exposures. Thus, brand awareness is a key social media objective.
Another example is Naked Pizza, a New Orleans, Louisiana-based business catering to health-conscious pizza lovers, which tweeted about its pizzas in 2009 and successfully drew around 4,000 followers in just a few months. The company also kept track of sales that were spurred by a billboard outside its shop encouraging customers to follow it on Twitter. The microblogging campaign's success culminated in the company breaking its one-day sales record, with more than 68% of its sales coming from customers who were Twitter followers. Also on that day, 85% of the company's new customers claimed they had been motivated to buy from Naked Pizza because of Twitter.8
Finally, in what have rapidly become classics in the social media sphere, K-Tec's blender brand Blendtec posted a series of humorous demonstration videos in which the company's founder, Tom Dickson, posed the question "Will it Blend?" and then proceeded to blend iPhones, glow sticks, golf balls and many other products previously thought unblendable using his line of hardy blenders. The "Will It Blend?" campaign quickly went viral and as a result saw its sales grow fivefold. The BlendTec videos have now been viewed more than 100 million times on YouTube.
Brand Engagement
Brand engagement can be enhanced through social media in various ways, and the results can be strikingly positive. In an effort to engage its customers, Southwest Airlines revamped its "Nuts About Southwest" blog with podcasts, videos and other social media tools. Visits to the new and improved blog rose by 25%, page views increased 40% and visitors stayed 26% longer on the company's website. The blog engaged customers on touchy subjects like assigned seating and used the results from 700 posts as a virtual focus group.9
Target leveraged the social networking aspect of Facebook by encouraging its customers to join and participate in an online environment devoid of any apparent self-serving sales pitches. Target tracked the success of its social media campaign by monitoring membership sign-ups. On their own, thousands of members generated significant buzz with regular posts, which in turn motivated numerous others to join and participate on the networking site. A Facebook application called "Circle of Moms" — which let mothers post messages, arrange carpools, set up back-to-school checklists and click through to promotions on the Target site — generated more than 20,000 visitors in six weeks.
For its 125th anniversary, Gretsch Guitars held a contest on its MySpace page to find the next best unsigned independent band. Nearly 900 bands entered the contest, and over 55,000 site visitors voted for their favorite bands. By soliciting participation from both musicians and their fans, Gretsch engaged its target customer and raised awareness of the brand more broadly.
These highly engaging social media campaigns involving user-generated content likely generate commitment on the part of the consumer, reinforcing loyalty to the brand and making the customer more likely to commit additional effort to support the brand in the future. The bottom-line rewards for this kind of engagement may be observed through delayed sales. Traditionally, marketers measure engagement through customer surveys. Online, marketers can use one-time versus repeated interactions or active participation compared to passive consumption of social media as proxy measures.
Word of Mouth
Once consumers are aware and engaged, they are in a position to communicate their opinions to other consumers. Satisfied and loyal consumers communicate their positive attitudes toward the brand itself or toward the social application created by the company (be it a Facebook application or group, a Twitter presence, a blog or a YouTube video) to new, prospective customers both online and offline. Dissatisfied and disgruntled customers may also share their negative attitudes toward the brand or poor social applications, as when technology journalist Jeff Jarvis blogged in 2005 about the shoddy customer service he received from Dell — his own "Dell Hell" that spread like wildfire on the Internet and mainstream media — and Dell saw its customer satisfaction score drop five points in one year.10 On the positive side, Japanese gaming company Square Enix started an online community to stir up interest in its North American release of Sony's Playstation 2 video game "Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King." The North American online community was a success, drawing more than 14,000 members to join its forum, with 30% recruited via word of mouth from existing members; 40% of the online community pre-ordered the game. By the end of 2009, the video game had sold 510,000 units in North America.
In 2009, Burger King asked members of its "Whopper Sacrifice" Facebook application to unfriend 10 of their Facebook friends in exchange for a free sandwich. Though later pulled, the reverse word-of-mouth campaign resulted in members unfriending a total of 234,000 Facebook friends. These abandoned friends monitored by the application received alerts informing them that they had been sacrificed for a Whopper. The offbeat campaign resulted in significant word of mouth for Burger King.
Traditionally, companies can estimate word of mouth through surveys that measure the likelihood of recommendation or can use customer satisfaction, loyalty and purchase likelihood as proxies for word of mouth, but online, word of mouth can be measured directly. More sophisticated methodologies are often required to measure word of mouth because a significant amount can occur either offline or online via private communication, where direct measurement is impossible. User-generated content can also embed consumers' favorite brands (such as in a video on YouTube or a photo posted on Flickr) and contribute to word of mouth — and companies can organize such experiences on behalf of their consumers. For example, Atrapalo.com, one of Spain's leading online travel agencies, included on its site a way for consumers to share travel videos and customer photos.
Why You Want to Do It This Way
The advantage of starting with consumer motivations, as opposed to trying to figure out what social media application to use, is that it makes clear how seemingly disparate applications are actually quite similar if they share the same underlying motivations for use. This makes the job of creating integrated marketing campaigns not only less overwhelming for the manager but also much more closely tied to online consumer behavior.
In other words, the question is not whether to blog or tweet, but what objectives need to be achieved and which set of tools with their corresponding metrics can best achieve them.
Paths to Effective Social Media Strategy
Once managers have a set of objectives in place for their social media efforts and understand that consumers are motivated to make investments in companies' social media efforts through their interactions with the brand, the next step is to consider the strategic options for social media measurement.
Our simple 2 × 2 framework, which assumes the manager has a social media effort ongoing, neatly summarizes the choices managers face as they strive to develop social media strategy and suggests better (and worse) paths toward social media success. (See "Strategic Options for Social Media Measurement.")
Let's start with the "dead end." In this scenario, the marketer has only a limited ability to measure his social media efforts (fuzzy) and believes that his efforts are not working (failing). Managers find themselves in this quadrant as a result of the "throw it on the wall and see what sticks" strategy and perform arbitrary changes with no way to measure their impact. Because measurement is fuzzy and the effort's effectiveness appears to be failing, the manager has little insight or idea on what to do. The outcome is fairly predictable: The manager will give up on social media efforts or continue efforts that involve random adjustments without data support. This quadrant is a dead end. You don't want to get stuck here!
Next is "measure and adjust." In this scenario, the marketer has a reasonable ability to quantify his social media efforts, and these measurements lead him to believe that his efforts are not working (failing). This is distinctly different than the "dead end" scenario, because even though the manager does not believe he is succeeding, at least he is making some attempt to measure social media effectiveness. Since the components are being measured, there are probably some good clues about what is going wrong. This means the manager can evaluate and adjust the social media strategy accordingly. If the manager can do this well, he can move toward the "iterate for success" quadrant.
In that space, the marketer has both a reasonable ability to measure his social media efforts (quantifiable) and the belief that his efforts are working (succeeding). Since the components are being measured, the manager can purposefully iterate to improve even more. This is hard to do but obviously worth the effort.
The other path is "naïve optimist." Here, the marketer has only a limited ability to measure his social media efforts (fuzzy), yet believes that his efforts are working (succeeding). We believe most marketers actually start here. They believe social media are worth the effort, but are not quite sure how best to measure their efforts. This quadrant is tricky because although it is a reasonable place to start, you want to move out of it as fast as possible so you don't get stuck here.
Managers have two good options for moving from "naïve optimism" to "iterate for success" and one poor choice. Let us examine the poor choice first.
If the manager does not change anything, he will likely migrate to the "dead end." This is because the lack of measurement will eventually lead to deterioration in the effort's effectiveness over time, particularly as competitors are able to do it better.
There are two better options. First, the manager simply starts to measure social media efforts, discovers things are not working as well as they could be ("measure and adjust") and then directs his efforts toward "iterate for success." In the shorter path, the manager starts measuring and discovers the efforts are succeeding, moving directly to "iterate for success" from "naïve optimism." In either case, the goal is to move away from fuzzy measurement and toward quantifiable metrics where the manager can get a real handle on what is working and what is not and then follow the best path that will get him where he needs to go.
Done Right, Social Media Strategies Put the Brand to Work for Customers
Reducing social media strategy to a mere measurement problem would be a mistake. Although measuring the ROI of social media efforts is important and necessary, it is far more important that managers make sure their social media efforts are effective, even if the state of ROI measurement may be less than satisfactory. In order to maximize the effectiveness of their social media efforts, managers must recognize two important facts of social media life when implementing social media campaigns.
First, while it is certainly true that consumers have much greater control over their online experiences, managers also have — and must exercise — a fair amount of control over the rules and framework for brand participation in social media. For example, a manager can control who posts to a blog devoted to the company's brand. More generally, managers certainly have at least some control over the rules and the participatory framework of how consumers will engage with their brands in the social media space.
Second, managers must appreciate that the social media environment is highly dynamic and rapidly evolving. While this may seem obvious, it is mostly overlooked when campaigns are conceived and launched. Many managers still approach social media as if the practices — and consumer behaviors — are largely fixed. Social media-savvy managers know this is not the case, but traditional beliefs about how to reach consumers and potential consumers die hard.
Our premise is that social media efforts that are developed in the context of the 4c's — connections, creation, consumption and control — that underlie consumer motivations to participate will lead to higher ROI because the company's marketing investments can better leverage the active "investments" its customers will make as they engage with the company's brands. These investments can take the form of blog comments, registration and active participation to become a part of a brand-related community, private endorsements of a brand or product (a tweet or retweet, Facebook comment, review, blog post or offline recommendations to friends) and the like. While the content of consumers' interactions is largely out of managers' control, setting up the framework to facilitate that interaction is squarely in their control.
How managers design, launch and actively manage their social media campaigns plays a large part in determining whether and how consumers will participate and interact. Savvy managers understand that there is a feedback loop. They don't sit back once the social media campaign begins. Instead, they listen carefully because they know that consumers not only "consume" the campaign, but can comment on it ("create"), share it with their friends and anyone else ("connect") and provide their uncensored thoughts about it ("control") for any and all to view. And this listening must then lead to action. For example, if a consumer posts a question to the manager's blog, someone with a face in the company must reply. If a video is uploaded, someone must monitor the Twitter stream for comments and be prepared to react if problems appear.
Traditional marketing metrics with narrowly defined ROI tend to lead to social media campaigns that maximize short-term benefits for the brand (or the manager!), without worrying too much about customer motivations and the long term. The result tends to be campaigns that expect the customer to work for the brand. In contrast, effective social media strategies put the brand to work for the customers by satisfying their needs to create, consume, connect and control in the social Web.
In a well-designed social media campaign, consumers are likely to spread viral videos, create additional brand-related content, tweet about the brand and post about their experiences on Facebook. The social metrics that reflect these kinds of social media behaviors are important not only because they let marketers measure the bottom-line impact of their social media efforts, but also because they focus marketers' attention on social media strategies that take into account the objectives of both the brand and the online customer.
There is reason to be highly optimistic about improving the effectiveness of social media. The social Web is a highly measurable environment, and it is a relatively simple matter for a manager to measure the number of product reviews, blog posts and comments, retweets and appearances in the social network timelines of the company's brands. At the same time, managers are often able to measure click-throughs to transactional websites, as well as capture the number of leads generated or conversion rates for online sales. While there will still be those situations in which behavior cannot be completely and accurately traced (e.g., offline purchases or offline word of mouth), we think that carefully planned social media campaigns afford phenomenal opportunities for relatively easy and cost-efficient measurement of customers' online investments in a company's brands.
1. Lenskold Group, "2009 Lenskold Group/MarketSphere Marketing ROI and Measurements Study" (Manasquan, New Jersey: Lenskold Group, 2009).
2. D.L. Hoffman and T.P. Novak, "Social Media Strategy," in "Handbook on Marketing Strategy," ed. V. Shankar and G.S. Carpenter (Northampton, Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing, in press).
3. T.P. Novak and D.L. Hoffman, "Roles and Goals: Consumer Motivations to Use the Social Web" (paper presented at the INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Cologne, Germany, June 19, 2010).
4. L. Littman, J. Nagy and N. Wortman, "Advertising on Social Networks Drives In-Store Sales," 2008, www.thearf.org.
5. E.B. York, "Kellogg Says ROI on Digital Trounces TV by 'Factor of 2'," Advertising Age, Sept. 6, 2008.
6. B. Cummings, "J&J Takes Baby Steps Toward Social Media," Brandweek, Apr.13, 2008.
7. C.C. Miller, "New Starbucks Ads Seek to Recruit Online Fans," New York Times, May 18, 2009.
8. C. Baldwin, "Twitter Helps Dell Rake in Sales," June 12, 2009, www.reuters.com.
9. P. Berg, "Southwest Airlines: Nuts About Online Communication" (presentation at the Inbound Marketing Summit, Boston, May 27-28, 2009).
10. K.T. Williams, "Case Study: Dell Hell," Feb. 7, 2009, www.docstoc.com.
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"It was a pleasure working with Les. [He] Was fully mindful of our needs. We definately will work with Les and Kathy if we need similar services in the future"
"Thank you so much for all that you did for me. You went above and beyond and now I have a GREAT place to live."
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With our house selling rather quickly, we were rushed to find a new house. Kathy and Les dedicated a lot of their time to find that perfect house for us. And they have continued to help us tie up loose ends after the purchase. Their efforts definitely made an easier process."
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This is A List of Proverbs beginning with A. Use a proverb from This List wisely in your writings and speech and make yourself brief. • • A bad beginning makes a good ending.• A bad excuse is better than none at all.• A bad husband cannot be a good man.• A beggar can never be bankrupt.• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.• A burnt child dreads fire.• A cat may look at a king.• A cheerful look makes a dish a feast.• A cheerful wife is the joy of life.• A clear conscience is a coat of mail.• A drowning man will catch at a straw.• A drunkard's purse is a bottle.• A fault confessed is half redressed.• A fool and his money are soon parted.• A fool may give a wise man counsel.• A fool may make money, but it takes a wise man to spend it.• A friend in need is a friend indeed.• A friend is easier lost than found.• A friend's frown is better than a fool's smile.• A full purse makes the mouth to speak.• A good dog deserves a good bone.• A good husband makes a good wife.• A good name is better than riches.• A good name is sooner lost than won.• A great talker is a great liar.• A guilty conscience needs no accuser.• A hungry man is an angry man.• A heavy purse makes a light heart.• A man in debt is caught in a net.• A man is as old as he feels.• A man's house is his castle.• A miss is as good as a mile.• A penny for your thoughts.• A penny saved is a penny gained.• A pound of care won't pay an ounce of debt.• A rolling stone gathers no moss.• A rose between two thorns.• A short cut is often a wrong cut.• A stitch in time saves nine.• A thing begun is half done.• A wise man changes his mind sometimes, a fool never.• A wonder lasts nine days.• A word to the wise is enough.• Absence makes the heart grow fonder.• Action speaks louder than words.• Advice when most needed is least heeded.• After a storm comes calm.• All covet, all lose.• All that glitters is not gold.• All work and no play make a Jack a dull boy.• All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.• All's fair in love and war.• All's fish that comes to his net.• All's well that ends well.• Among the blind the one-eyed man is king.• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.• An army marches on its stomach.• An empty bag will not stand upright.• An idle brain is the devil's workshop.• An old bird is not to be caught with chaff.• An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit.• An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.• Any port in a storm is shaken a little.• Appetite comes with eating.• As a man lives so shall he die.• As well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.• As you make your bed so you must lie on it.• As you sow, so you shall reap.• Ask much to get little.• Avoid evil and it will avoid thee.If a proverb from This List is properly used, it will add beauty and authenticity to our writings.
From A List of Proverbs to HOME PAGE


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Child Support
Child Support Lawyer in Aventura
Child support is a fundamental right of the children in a dissolving marriage or a paternity action under Florida law. It is the financial responsibility of both parents to continue to support the child. As with property division and child custody, there is a lot of potential for dispute when it comes to child support in Florida. A competent Florida divorce attorney like Stephen H. Butter can help you navigate this area of a divorce or paternity proceeding.
Child support orders contain provisions for the child's needs, such as education, day care, special needs, and health insurance. Relevant factors considered by the judge include the age of the child, his station in life, standard of living, and the financial status and payment ability of each parent. Florida courts use the child support guidelines chart to calculate child support payments. This means that both incomes are used in the calculation according to the Florida Child Support Statute §61.30 in addition to the special needs of the child.
Do custody arrangements affect child support duties?
When one parent assumes full legal and physical custody of the child, the other parent is required to fulfill his child support requirement by paying the custodial parent. The custodial parent is already fulfilling his or her obligation by taking full custody of the child. Joint custody considers both parents' incomes and the amount of time each spends with the child to determine the proper financial obligation for each parent.
How does the court calculate my child support responsibility?
As mentioned above, the Florida child support statute considers the incomes of both parents to calculate the amount of child support. The statute looks at all sources of income for each parent and deducts mandatory expenses like income tax, social security, and health care. The court is allowed to deviate within 5% of the guidelines for any reason, and even more than 5% for legally sufficient reasons.
What if I change jobs and earn less?
The state of Florida takes child support matters very seriously and Florida courts do not take kindly to those who seek ways to mitigate or eliminate their obligation to their children. Child support payments are required. The court may impute income for the parent based on prior earnings. Whether you leave your current job for a lesser paying one or to go back to school, you will still be responsible for the original child support payment unless it is modified by the court. The child's current needs take priority over your career plans.
Do I stop paying child support when the child turns 18?
Age isn't the only factor that determines when you stop paying child support. If you pay for multiple children, you are required to file a request to terminate the child support every time each one turns 18. Sometimes, if your child is 18 or older but still in high school, you may have to continue paying child support until he or she graduates. Children with disabilities may need child support past the time they become of legal age.
When you have pertinent questions about child support laws in Florida, attorney Stephen H. Butter is your top source for answers. With over 50 years' experience practicing family law in Miami, he can help you understand all the guidelines and come up with an estimate of how much you can expect to pay. Call him at (305) 333-7159 for a free consultation today.


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street legal
The new street legal Kalk& is engineered for the outback & for your daily commute.
Price 14,000
≈10% of the bikes price equals the cost of 3 years gasoline consumption for the average rider. That together with very few moving parts, the absence of a gear box, no fluids or spark plugs and very few motor parts makes the cost for service, spare parts and maintenance very affordable.
Price from 140.000 SEK
≈10% of the bikes price equals the cost of 3 years gasoline consumption for the average rider. That together with very few moving parts, the absence of a gear box, no fluids or spark plugs and very few motor parts makes the cost for service, spare parts and maintenance very affordable.
with one battery (standard)
Deposit: 200 EUR/USD 2.000 SEK secures an order. The balance is paid upon shipment. The bike(s) are shipped from CAKE warehouse in Salt Lake City, UT, USAThe bike(s) are shipped from our global warehouse in Rotterdam, The NetherlandsOrders from US & Canada are shipped from CAKE warehouse in Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Orders from rest of the world are shipped from our global warehouse in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Delivery - up to 10 working days
How do I order?
- Choose your battery solution, 1 standard battery or 2 batteries (1 standard and 1 extra spare battery)
- Add the bike to your shopping cart.
- Place your order.
- A representative from the local office, based on where your shipping address is, will be in touch to coordinate shipping, delivery date, and to welcome you to the CAKE community.
Engineered for the outback & allowed for your daily commute.
Be the first to ride the street legal CAKE Kalk&. Due to high demand we invite a small group of individuals, to pre order the bike to become one among the first, to combine sustainable backcountry excitement with a super efficient commuter vessel.
The street legal CAKE Kalk& (and) will be shown and launched at tradeshows in Europe and USA in January, with deliveries starting summer 2019.
To be among the first 50 with prioritized delivery from June 2019; pre order your bike now.
Price 14.000 EUR/USD, delivered to your door. Pre order fee is 200 EUR/USD. The final payment will be paid when your bike is ready to be shipped. First come, first serve. The first Kalk&s will be delivered from June 2019 and onwards. The Kalk& is registered as a A1, the lightest motorcycle category.
We kindly ask you to keep the images and the information to yourself, until the launch on the 30th of January.
Happy riding!
/Team CAKE
SKU kalk-and Category Bikes
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Monthly payments, no interest rates, no hidden fees, low maintenance and never buy gas again!
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installment cost*selected months = your total cost.
The Kalk& (and), the street legal sibling of its off-road precursor, the Kalk OR, may look similar on the outside, but does have a few developments on the inside. Just like CAKE's first bike, the Kalk& (and) is also strongly influenced by downhill and enduro mountain bikes, in both the feel and handling, and its design takes into account the two sports' geometry, suspension and components. However, its gearing differs slightly and top speeds have been enhanced, beyond 90 km/h, in accordance with highway pacing. Each component of the Kalk& (and) had to be developed from scratch to support the category, since mountain bike parts are too weak and motorbike parts are too heavy. Every part of the Kalk& (and), including rolling chassis – frame, cockpit, wheels and tires – components, suspension and drive train, was engineered, designed and manufactured for optimal performance. As with CAKE's premier product, the name Kalk is derived directly from kalksten, the limestone bedrock of the Swedish island of Gotland, where CAKE's test grounds are located. The addition of the & (and) signifies the next phase in the evolution of the Kalk. Engineered for both the outback & allowed for your daily commute, the Kalk& (and) offers customers the best of both worlds.
Dry 62kg + battery 17kg
Speed & Range
Top speed: +90km/h / +56mph Range – Trail/Enduro: 3 hours Range – Mixed city riding (WMTC-II): 86 km / 53 miles Range – High speed riding (@70 km/h / 44 mph): 35 km / 22 miles The actual range depends on a number of different aspects, e.g. riding style, rider weight, weather conditions, temperature, road surface and tire pressure.
Power: 10kW motor Torque: 42Nm on shaft / 252Nm on wheel Front sprocket: 12 teeth, rubber infused Rear sprocket: 72 teeth Chain: 420 O-ring
18650 lithium ion cells 51.8 Volt 50 Ah 2.6 kWh
0-100% takes 2,5 h to charge in a standard outlet
Controller & Display
3 riding modes:
- Explore: The ultimate mode during exploration. Limited speed to 45 km/h and 3-4h+ battery range
- Excite: Enduro or active trail riding. 1-2 h riding time
- Excel: Track and race mode, maximal torque and speed, riding time up to 1h
3 brake modes:
- Free wheel
- 2-stroke like
- 4-stroke like, maximum regeneration of electricity to battery
Speedometer, trip meter and odometer Battery status and power usage
6061 aluminium, extruded, forged, machined and painted
Suspension – Forks
The upside down fork is air/oil sprung and features 38mm stanchion tubes for extra rigidity and strength, with 204mm travel, specially developed by Öhlins. Adjustable for high-speed compression, low-speed compression and low-speed rebound. The forks are equipped with Öhlins advanced 3 stage air springs with individual setup for ride heights and bottoming resistance.
Rear suspension
205 mm. Öhlins TTX22 with CAKE internals and specific spring. Designed with linkage for best performance.
Head angle / Fork angle
25° fork angle
Wheel base
1 310 mm
Seat height
910 mm (unloaded)
Ground Clearance
300 mm
Trail and offset
87,4 mm of trail 22 mm offset in triple clamps 36 mm offset in forks
Motorcycle standard, four pistons calipers and 220 mm/3.2 mm stainless steel discs Hand lever front, foot pedal rear
LED headlight, LED turn signal lights and LED taillight. Easily removable light system for off-road riding.
Aerospace grade 7050 aluminium, 800 mm wide, 20 mm rise, 31.8 mm
Aerospace grade 7075 aluminium
SKF Stainless steel conical bearings
Wheels and tires
Enlarged 25 mm front axle Aluminium 6061 forged and CNC machined hubs 19×1.85" 7116-T6 aluminium motorcycle rims 19×3.00" dual sport motorcycle tires
Fenders and bodywork
All fenders and bodywork are made of painted polycarbonate
All bearings throughout the bike are SKF's
Class (valid for EU)
L3e-A1E License requirement: A1
Prices & Financing
Deposit 200 EUR/USD2.000 SEK to be paid when placing order, and the rest before shipment. ≈10% of the bikes price equals the cost of 3 years gasoline consumption for the average rider. That together with very few moving parts, the absence of a gear box, no fluids or spark plugs and very few motor parts makes the cost for service, spare parts and maintenance very affordable. Delivery time is about 3 months depending on your location.
For customers in Sweden we offer financing via Collector. Collector offers payment plans from 3 to 36 months. Configure your bike and proceed to checkout to find out your monthly cost.
For customers in USA we offer financing via Affirm. Affirm offers payment plans from 6 to 36 months. Checking your eligibility won't affect your credit score, and you'll get a decision right away. You know exactly what you'll owe. In fact, we don't even charge late fees. Configure your bike and proceed to checkout to find out your monthly cost.
Notify me when financing is available in my country
Terms & Conditions
Payment of Deposit and Full Payment for purchase of bikes
Payment of Deposit for a bike consists of a payment of 200 USD/EUR. The bike will be shipped when full payment from the customer has been received by CAKE.
Cancellation period of Payment of Deposit
You as a buyer has the right to cancel the Deposit of a CAKE bike and be refunded in the same currency as paid by contacting firstname.lastname@example.com 14 (fourteen) days after the date of payment of the Deposit. Full Payment consists of the Deposit consisting of 200 (Two Hundred) USD/EUR and the Final Payment balancing the set price of the bike in USD/EUR. CAKE will contact you when Final Payment shall be paid and the CAKE bike is ready for delivery. Transfer of Deposit The Deposit can be transferred to another person than the buyer if a written message from the buyer is delivered to CAKE. CAKE needs to accept this in writing and full information of the new buyer has to be given to CAKE.
When paying the Deposit for the CAKE bike, you will be required to provide certain information, such as your address and billing information. It is your responsibility that all such information is accurate, and you shall ensure that such information is kept current. CAKE shall have no responsibility or liability for inaccurate information that later becomes outdated, and shall have no obligation to make efforts to determine the correct contact or shipping information. You can update your information at any time prior to your product being shipped by sending e-mail to email@example.com
Oversubscription of bikes
CAKE may decline Payment of Deposit to avoid oversubscription of CAKE bikes. If your Payment of Deposit is declined, you will be notified and your Deposit will be refunded, in the same currency as paid. The Customer acknowledge that he or she is at least 18 years old and eligible to enter into a legal contract with CAKE.
Payment & Pricing
Accepted payment methods are by Visa, MasterCard,Amex, PayPal and Maestro Full amount is charged with dispatching the item. Price shall be paid in Euros (EUR) or US Dollars (USD) depending on what country the Item is being delivered/purchased to/from. Delivery/purchase to a EU country shall be paid in Euros (EUR) and includes VAT. Delivery/purchase to U.S.A., Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland shall be paid in USD. The price in USD is excluding local taxes, customs or other related costs. Delivery/purchase to all other countries but the above mentioned should be paid in Euros (EUR). For all these other countries, the price is excluding local taxes, customs or other related costs.
Shipping & delivery
Shipping CAKE bikes
CAKE will keep the customer updated on preliminary date of shipping and send a notification when a bike is ready to be shipped.
Shipping zones – bikes
Depending on your delivery address the cost of your shipping has a fixed price. Zone 1. Every address in USA & Canada: 350$ Zone 2. Austria, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands: 200€ Zone 3: France, Italy, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland: 300€ Zone 4: Iceland, Norway, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Hungary: 400€ Zone 5: Asia, Africa, South America and Australia: 1500$
Shipping products other than CAKE bikes
Shipping of the orders other than CAKE bikes takes two business days after card clearance and availability of stock confirmed. The operation is on weekdays except on public holidays. A preliminary confirmation is always sent after placing an order. Final confirmation is sent after shipping the package with directions on tracking and collecting your package.
European Union
All CAKE products will in countries belonging to the EU be delivered DDP, Delivered Duty Paid, accordingly to Incoterms 2010 to the address of the buyer. Orders within the European Union are shipped using ground shipping. Delivery takes approximately five to seven working days for CAKE bikes and less for other products.
USA & Canada
Orders destined for USA and Canada are shipped with air flight to nearest collection point before using ground shipping for final delivery. For these collections, it takes around ten to fourteen working days for delivery. Additional fees may be added depending on the country/state.
Rest of the world
Orders to other countries than those mentioned above will be shipped DAP, Delivered At Place, accordingly to Incoterms 2010. This means that we do not collect VAT, duties and/or taxes on orders and we cannot predict what your particular charges may be. If you do get such additional charges they must be paid in order for your package to clear customs. Please contact your local customs office for more information. Orders destined for rest of the world (outside European Union, USA, and Canada) are shipped with air flight to nearest collection point before using ground shipping for final delivery. For these collections, it takes around fifteen working days for delivery. Other fees may be added depending on the country. No delivery to post office boxes due to restrictions by courier services and credit card scam risks. Sending orders to multiple addresses require placing an order for each address, no combination and there will be charges for every order Extra duties and charges: Please see the 'Payment & Prices' section
Uncollected items
No refunding of shipping costs for failed collection of items.
Track your order
CAKE is temporarily unable to have tracking information automatically emailed for your order. Please email CAKE customer service for tracking information.
Delivery Schedule
Although CAKE will make efforts to begin delivering your CAKE bike or other product as soon as reasonably practicable, you understand and agree that there may be delays. An estimated time of delivery (ETD) is only an estimate, is subject to change, and CAKE does not guarantee that it will be able to ship the CAKE bike by the estimated date. As a result, in the event that a delay arises and the estimated shipment and/or release of the CAKE bike is not met, CAKE is not responsible for any damages that may occur due to the delay, nor shall it be obligated, to provide any discounts, refunds or credits due to any such delays. CAKE will provide you periodical updates with information regarding the delivery schedule.
Priority of CAKE bikes delivered
If Final Payment has been received at the same time as another buyer has paid his or hers Final Payment, the buyer that paid his or hers Deposit first is considered first of the two and will be prioritized in delivery of the CAKE bike.
At times, there might be a deficit of stock at the time client places an order at Ridecake.com web. During such times, we try to contact our clients by email. There is a time when there are inaccuracies or other errors concerning the content of Ridecake.com. CAKE, therefore, doesn't warranty this uncertainty caused by such errors. Moreover, CAKE cannot guarantee that all content is updated since they can be altered at any time. Errors are prone to occur, but CAKE tries it level best to display free of error texts, images, as well as prices in the site and web shop. When a client feels that he/she have been wrongly charged, there is an option to place another correctly priced order or cancel the pending order. If the communication between the client and us is not able to grow through, the request may be automatically be withdrawn.
Disclaimer & Limitation of Liability
Our bikes can be hazardous to operate and we care about your safety, so please note that; ✓ All riders should ride well within the limits of their abilities, never beyond them. ✓ Our bikes are recommended for those aged 18 years and older. ✓ We recommend that all new riders take a relevant training course. ✓ Make sure that you ride on a permitted area and/or with the landowners consent. ✓ Always wear a helmet, eye protection and protective clothing, including an approved back protector. ✓ Never engage in stunt riding. ✓ Riding and alcohol/drugs don't mix. It is illegal and dangerous. ✓ Avoid excessive speed and be particularly careful on difficult terrain. ✓ All performance modifications and installations are at your own risk. ✓ Never change the voltage level or tamper with the battery. Doing so can result in a short circuit, fire and/or personal injuries. ✓ By purchasing and/or riding our bikes, you take full responsibility for any use, and/or misuse of the product and agree that Cake 0 Emission AB holds no responsibility for any consequences, legal, or other, of such use and/or misuse. ✓ Finally, read the owner's manual carefully, follow all instructions therein and enjoy your bike!


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Welcome to Bashkortostan!
The visit of the Bashkir delegation to Japan was over on November 12. It has taken place within the frames of the IV Russian-Japanese investment forum.
Several meetings and negotiations with the representatives of the Japanese companies have been held within the frames of the forum. The projects in sphere of natural resources' mining and processing, agriculture, forestry, building industry, opening of skiing resorts and tourism were offered to the potential investors from Japan.
The exposition, telling about the investment potential of Bashkortostan was opened in the Tokyo's hotel "New Otani".
Republic of Bashkortostan is located in the South Ural, on the borderline of Europe and Asia. Its territory is 54 thousand square miles. The population is more than 4 million people. The distance to Moscow is 870 miles and to Tokyo – 3800 miles. The Republic is notable for its preferable geographic dislocation near the largest regions of the European part of Russia, Siberia and the countries of the Central Asia.
98 countries are considered the foreign partners of the Republic. The expected volume of the gross regional product in 2010 will exceed 66 billion yens.
The industrial enterprises manufacture more than 1300 items. The oil-refining complex is considered one of the biggest in Europe. Machine-building, power industry, chemical production, mining operations, metallurgy and agriculture are found at an advanced stage of development. There are 3500 mineral deposits in the Republic. The stocks of wood are 750 million cubic meters. The area of the agricultural lands is 27 thousand miles.
Bashkortostan is considered a big health center and notable for its harmonious combination of the wide network of sanatorium-and-spa institutions with the unique natural-climatic conditions.
The Republic possesses the unique recreational resources, comfortable for development of different kinds of rest: tourism, sanatorium-and-spa and preventive treatment.
Within a radius of 800 miles Ural remains the only mountain range, suitable for Alpine skiing. At present time only the fifth part of this potential is found in use.


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A great steak dinner is one of life's simple pleasures. It's one of the most naturally flavorful foods on the planet, rich in micronutrients, and it doesn't require a ton of effort to execute. All you need is a good cut of meat, a decent frying pan (preferably a cast-iron skillet), and about 30 minutes from start-to-finish.
The following is the template I used to cook a perfect Paleo steak dinner. I really like this meal because it's quick, simple, open to personal variation, and delicious. After many nights of smoky kitchens and broken dreams, I've learned that the most important factors in cooking a decent steak are:
- The cut of the steak – Ribeyes and Strip Steaks are best
- The thickness to which the steak is cut
- The heat of the pan (to get a good sear outside and a perfectly done inside)
- The mushrooms, because they're the icing on the proverbial cake
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes (10 minutes to cook, 5 minutes to wait)
Equipment Required
Table of Contents
- A cast-iron skillet (if you don't have a cast-iron pan, a regular frying pan will do the trick)
- Tongs
- Paring knife (for the mushrooms)
- 1 Ribeye steak, cut 1-1.5" thick
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 Teaspoons of Rosemary
- 8 oz. of Crimini mushrooms, quartered
- Melt coconut oil in your pan for 5 minutes on medium-high heat, about a 7 out of 10.
- While the pan heats, season your steak: Salt, pepper, and rosemary on both sides. Press the seasoning in so they stick.
- Add the garlic to the pan. It'll be nice and caramelized by the time your steak is cooked.
- Place the steak in the pan and cook on one side for 5 minutes
- Flip steak, add mushrooms, and sear the other side for 4 minute.
- Use tongs to pick up the steak and sear the fat cap of your steak for 10-20 seconds. This will make the fat nice a little extra crispy, like pork cracklins!
- Optional Step: if your steak isn't adequately golden-brown, place it under the broiler in your oven for 15-30 seconds to crisp it up.
7. Remove everything from the pan and let sit for at least 5 minutes before digging in. If you cut without letting it rest, the juices will escape, making the steak less tender and less satisfying. Plus, it'll get your plate all wet, and that's not fun for anyone.
This recipe will give you a medium-rare steak. If you prefer it even more rare, subtract a 30 seconds of cook time on each side. If you like it well-done, add a minute on each side. Also feel free to vary the seasonings to your desire – I like to use this recipe as a template and mix up the seasonings every time.


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Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has confirmed that the new rate of pensions and weekly social welfare increases announced in Budget 2017 will start to come into effect from this week onwards, with all higher payments in place by St Patrick's Day.
The maximum personal rate of pension will increase by €5 per week for 578,000 pensioners aged 66 and over from this week.
There will also be a €5 increase for 744,000 weekly welfare recipients including carers, blind people, widows, people with disabilities, lone parents, jobseekers, maternity and paternity benefit, Farm Assist recipients, and Community Employment participants. There will also be proportional increases for qualified adults and those on reduced rates of payment.
This is all part of the €301 million Budget 2017 welfare package which brought the total welfare spend by the Department of Social Protection in 2017 to €19.854 billion.
Minister Varadkar said: "When we devised the welfare package for Budget 2017 I was determined that there should be an increase for everyone who was getting a weekly welfare payment including people with disabilities, carers, unemployed, widows, and lone parents, as well as pensioners. For many of these groups it represents the first increase since 2009. I appreciate that the increase is modest but it is a permanent increase and certainly a step in the right direction."


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Download AreaDo you like this site?
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Date: 30-Oct-2011
License: Freeware
System Requirements: 2000, XP, Vista, 7
Supported Language: English
Available Setups:
Easy to convert. Good for downloads that are not otherwise available in torrent form. YouTube HD Downloader perfect for downloading youtube clips and converting them into any type of video or audio file you might need.


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Karen Young
Hi, I am Karen, one of the receptionists at GEOvet. I have been part of the lovely team here for over 3 years working Fridays & Saturdays at our Busselton clinic. I have lived at Peppermint Grove Beach with my husband Paul for 30 years. We have three adventurous adult kids who love to travel just like us.
I was brought up on a farm in Victoria and consequently love all animals. I am a passionate Hawthorn supporter and enjoy a game of social golf each week. My friends and family are most important to me.
I love my job. It's guaranteed to be different every day, full of surprises and challenges. At present I don't have any pets but have lots in my neighbourhood so there is never a shortage of a dog to walk along the beach with.


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I didn't know where to send this, but I got the e-mail today and thought you lucky New Yorkers might be interested (And I'd like to hear about it). Gass is getting on in years and probably doesn't have too many readings left. Plus he is one of the few American literary titans still breathing. I would think those events would be as good as a reading gets. He just recorded what is supposed to be an amazing audio version of his last unrecordable tome "The Tunnel." Plus there is a Russian poetry related event:
March 2008 Newsletter
We haven't had a newsletter in a long time, although it's not for lack of news.
Author events: We've got a whole line of author events in March, April, May, and June, including readings by William H. Gass, Paul Verhaeghen, Amanda Michalopoulou, Olivier Rolin, and Nicholas Delbanco.
The William Gass readings are this week, so here's the information for those:
Thurs, March 13: Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch
OFF THE RAIL Reading Series
Grand Army Plaza
7pm; free
Fri, March 14: 192 Books
192 10th Avenue at 21st Street, New York, NY
212.255.4022 (please call for reservations)
7pm; free
We have an elaborate three-city tour by poets from our anthology Contemporary Russian Poetry coming up in April, and a release party in NYC in early May for our New Catalan Fiction issue of the Review of Contemporary Fiction. The schedule of events-here-will be periodically updated, so please check back.
We've settled in at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. They've just hired a director for the new Center for Translation Studies, so look for news about this in the months to come.
We have a great Spring 08 catalog (see here for details) and we'll be launching a brand new website in the next few weeks. We'll be back to regular monthly newsletters once that's up and running.
Our Fall 07 titles have been getting great attention. Paul Verhaeghen's Omega Minor has been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and Lydie Salvayre's Power of Flies is on the shortlist for the Believer Book Award. We created a page of links to some of our favorite reviews for Fall 07 titles here.
The new CONTEXT is out in April, as is the Spring 08 Review of Contemporary Fiction, a really excellent anthology-issue of Catalan fiction. Keep an eye out.
More soon,
Dalkey Archive Press


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Dwyane Wade has agreed to a one-year, $2.3 million deal to join the Cleveland Cavaliers, league sources told The Vertical.
Wade reached a contract buyout with the Chicago Bulls on Sunday and is expected to sign the deal with the Cavs this week after clearing waivers on Wednesday.
[Now's the time to sign up for Fantasy Basketball! Join for free]
For Wade, the lure of reuniting with LeBron James and competing for a championship in the Eastern Conference outweighed suitors such as Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Miami. Wade is expected to give additional playmaking and scoring to the Cavaliers, who must now waive a guaranteed contract by the start of the regular season.
Wade, 35, played four seasons with James in Miami, where the pair won two NBA championships.
Wade left the Heat last summer for a two-year, $47 million contract with the Bulls. He lost about $8 million in negotiating his release from Chicago, but now joins a team that has been to three straight NBA Finals, winning the league championship in 2016.
Wade averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assist and shot 43.3 percent from the floor last season with Chicago. In 14 NBA seasons, the 2003 No. 5 overall pick from Marquette has averaged 23.3 points, 5.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 48.4 percent from the floor.
Wade spent his first 13 seasons with the Heat, leading Miami to the NBA title in 2006.
Wade is a 12-time All-Star, three-time NBA champion, 2009 scoring champion and eight-time All-NBA player.
Cleveland plans to waive rookie JaCorey Williams to clear a roster spot for Wade, league sources told The Vertical. Williams plans to find his next team soon.
Popular video from Yahoo Sports:


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Jamal Merrell hasn't experienced any game action in his previous two seasons at Rutgers, but by the looks of things the third-year sophomore could be a factor for the Scarlet Knights defense this fall.
On Tuesday, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano promoted Merrell to the first-team strongside linebacker spot following a series of position switches that included shifting Ka'Lial Glaud to the hybrid end/linebacker spot and Manny Abreu to the other end.
"We wouldn't have done it if we didn't feel like Jamal was playing very well," Schiano said. "Not just recently. He did it in the spring and then continued to do it now. Now, he's young. He makes a lot of mistakes. But he has speed and athleticism and we just have to get him coached up. I think he can be a very good player."
For Merrell, a Delaware native whose twin brother, Jamil, is a reserve defensive end, the promotion follows a series of position switches that has seen him see scout-team action at d-end and wide receiver since arriving in 2009.
"I'm a wide-range guy so they'll try me anywhere," Merrell said, laughing. "I feel like (strongside linebacker) is the best fit for me. That's the best fit for my speed and athleticism. Getting into the playbook, I feel like I'm well equipped for it."


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Ted Cruz wishes some of his Senate Republican colleagues had put up more of a fight to defund or delay Obamacare over the past few weeks.
"Instead, unfortunately, the Senate Republicans were divided and became basically an air force dive-boming the House Republicans and conservatives," Cruz said on Fox News on Wednesday night as the House was set to approve the Senate deal that would end the shutdown. "Once that happened, there was no way to hold the line with the American people and actually achieve meaningful relief from all the harms coming from Obamacare."
Yesterday, as it became clear that the Senate deal would pass, Cruz had more critical comments of Senate Republicans, labeling them "the Washington establishment [that] is refusing to listen to the American people."


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We're open again! New site coming soon...
95/97 Dyke Road, Brighton - 01273 772 370 email@example.com
The Cow - situated in the heart of the Seven dials, just a short hop from Brighton station and a 5 minute walk from the city centre, is a bar like no other in Brighton.
We're currently undergoing some refurbishment, stay tuned for updates on our grand unveiling!


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Water Under The Bridge
by Britney King
As a woman who feels her clock ticking every single moment of the day, former bad girl Kate Anderson is desperate to reinvent herself. So when she sees a handsome stranger walking toward her, she feels it in her bones, there's no time like the present. He's the one.
Kate vows to do whatever it takes to have what she wants, even if that something is becoming someone else. Now, ten pounds thinner, armed with a new name, and a plan, she's this close to living the perfect life she's created in her mind.
But Kate has secrets.
And too bad for her, that handsome stranger has a few of his own.
With twists and turns you won't see coming, Water Under The Bridge examines the pressure that many women feel to "have it all" and introduces a protagonist whose hard edges and cutthroat ambition will leave you questioning your judgment and straddling the line between what's right and wrong.
$0.00 Previously $3.99
Category: Suspense