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Building an internship program at an innovative companyJuly 24, 2018 by Anna Peters
What does an innovative company do to recruit and retain interns? I had the pleasure of speaking with Mario Portugal, Head of Recruitment at Beyond Limits, a leading developer of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. They built some strategic elements into their internship program that help them recruit the right talent and retain that talent into the future, all while allowing other employees to benefit from what the intern team has to offer.
The transformation to HR positive: Interview with HR trailblazersMay 16, 2018 by Anna Peters
What does it mean to be HR Positive? I spoke with two HR leaders who are blazing their way to a new perception of HR at their own organizations. Cecilia Clark, Senior HR Generalist at Schwan's, supplements her HR career with a background in Finance, so she is an expert in connecting business and HR strategy to positively affect the bottom line. Chris Orozco, at Win-River Resort and Casino, turned Human Resources into Team Member Relations, which he currently leads. They are both official SHRM 2018 bloggers, and you can read more of their thoughts on Cici's own HR blog, and Chris' personal blog "Create: Life and Leadership by Design." Continue Reading
Retention strategies: Benefits that help retain millennial talentOctober 31, 2017 by Anna Peters
Whether you add flashy perks to your benefits package, don't forget that what millennials care about first (and really anyone, for that matter), is earning a competitive and fair wage, and job security. If your retention strategies don't acknowledge that, this article may not be for you. As College Recruiter founder and president Steven Rothberg states, "compensation and job security are more important right now because both have been declining and young adults face far higher costs of living due, in large part, to exponentially higher student loan debt." If you do offer a competitive salary and job security, then we here offer three employee benefits that can help retain your millennial talent. Continue Reading
How to prevent high turnoverJanuary 16, 2017 by Anna Peters
Contributing writer Ted Bauer
Turnover is a concern for businesses. While exact loss numbers around employees departing is hard to track, most CFOs agree that it hits the bottom line. There are obviously intangible issues with turnover, too. The remaining employees (a smaller number) have to share the same (or greater) workload, stressing them out. And certain employees are huge knowledge bases or social connectors. Losing them can strip your business of valuable resources well beyond any cost incurred hiring and training the replacement.
On top of all this, there is some belief that Millennials change jobs faster than Boomers. (Statistically, though, average U.S. job tenure is about 4.6 years — and in 1983, it was 3.5 years. So Millennials have actually gotten more loyal to companies.)
How can turnover be prevented, regardless of generation?
Let's begin with a little science. Paul Zak is a specialist in researching oxytocin (a chemical in your brain). He gave a popular TED Talk in 2001. Oxytocin is one of the biggest drivers of trust-based relationships in humans, and more oxytocin release — which is tied to much greater happiness and less corporate turnover — tends to come from autonomy over work as opposed to increased compensation.
There's Idea No. 1, then: focus less on compensation as a driver of behavior, and more on providing employees with autonomy over what they can do, i.e. do not micro-manage them at every turn.
The second idea is something called "The Hawthorne Effect."
Per Wikipedia, the Hawthorne Effect is "when individuals modify or improve an aspect of their behavior in response to being observed." This all comes from a place called Hawthorne Works (get it?) in Cicero, Illinois and some experiments done with light bulbs. If you make the room more bright — increase the light bulb, in other words — workers end up being more productive. But if you dim the light bulb again, productivity drops back to normal (or below-normal levels).
The modern application of the Hawthorne Effect, then, is that if you're more responsive to worker needs, those workers will be more productive. Care about employees. Listen to them. Engage with them. Be supportive of them.
Too often, we think we can solve an issue like turnover or low employee morale/engagement with a new software suite. We can solve accounting issues that way, or even business process (BPO) concerns, but engagement and turnover are distinctly people issues. You solve people issues by investing in people, not technology. That's the big takeaway here.
Want more recruiting and retention advice? Stay connected to College Recruiter on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Affinity groups: value to employee and employerOctober 26, 2016 by Anna Peters
At a recent People of Color Job Fair, employers touted their welcoming workplaces. Many referred to their affinity groups as how they are inclusive of diversity. If offered genuinely, affinity groups can bring value to both the employee and the employer.
Value to employees
- Take a rest from the code-switching. It can be lonely working in an office full of people who don't look like you. Code-switching all day can be exhausting. (For those less familiar, "code-switching" is a daily practice for people who navigate two cultures. They adjust their dialect/language/mannerisms to fit into the surrounding culture without being questioned. NPR has a nice illustration of code-switching.) Affinity groups can offer relief for anyone who needs a space where it feels safer to express yourself freely. Groups are meant to bring people together who share a common interest or culture. Examples are veterans, women, African Americans and GLBT affinity groups. It's about solidarity ("Why Women's Spaces Matter").
- Build your network. In your affinity group, you will probably find yourself networking with colleagues outside your immediate team. This can be helpful to your career. Especially for entry-level and younger employees, more experienced colleagues can give you advice and point you to resources.
- Build new skills. You don't have to wait for a formal company training to learn new skills. Informal group discussions offer excellent opportunities to learn new tools, technology or best practices that can make you more effective and valuable at your company.
Value to employer
- Boost retention of employees. Engagement is king. For those who claim that affinity groups look more like segregation than inclusion, consider how relieving it can feel for an employee to join an affinity group and feel at home with other colleagues who "get them." That employee, in turn, may feel more positive about her work, thus stick around longer. In addition, group members can collaborate with management to discuss issues of recruitment and retention, and shed light on how to improve your practices. In this example, GLBT employees helped shape their organization's benefit policy for domestic partnerships, making them more competitive.
- Get new consumer insights. Affinity groups can collaborate with management to discuss marketing solutions for consumers from their own community.
- Low-cost learning and development. Affinity group members share resources with each other, best practices, and new tools and technology. This no-cost informal learning is a nice supplement to expensive formal company training.
- Reap the benefits of diversity. Multiple studies point to the increased productivity and profits of diverse companies. However, if your work environment isn't inclusive, these benefits remain out of reach. If managed well, affinity groups can be part of your inclusion strategy.
Doing it right
- You can't force affinity groups. They must be employee-led, and membership can't be forced. If employees feel that the group has been too packaged without their input, you lose their buy-in and engagement.
- Give it time. The longer your organization has affinity groups, the more likely you will be able to align them to business goals.
Veteran's Day is November 11! Here are a few companies who have created affinity groups for veterans. Want to keep up on the latest career and job search tips and trends for recent college grads? Stay connected to College Recruiter by visiting our blog, and connecting with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Spotlight on Success: Engaging entry-level hires at GSE [video]October 14, 2016 by Anna Peters
No doubt you're familiar with the job-hopping trend that millennials are known for. How do you increase your retention of entry-level hires? Wendy Stoner, Director for the Office of Emerging Talent Development at GSA, knows how. She leads a Leadership Development program to engage entry-level hires. She calls the two-week on-boarding Career 101. "millennials like to be part of a cohort," she says. "They don't like to be on their own," so the new employees work together along two training tacks.
They receive technical training to prepare them for the functions of their jobs. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, they learn soft skills like professional communication, presentation and negotiation skills, and how to have a critical conversation in the workplace. They watch videos and practice role play to prepare them for working with people whose backgrounds and working style differ from their own. Also, GSA delivers the Myers-Briggs personality indicator to explain why coworkers' behaviors may differ, and how to work with them.
Generational differences? You don't say.
The Careerstone Group designed GSA's training in response to the inter-generational issues we all hear about. You know some of the complaints. Baby Boomers complain about millennials' informal communication (they write emails like text messages, Boomers say). And millennials complain about Baby Boomers' work ethic (keeping long hours doesn't mean you're more productive, millennials say). During their Career 101, new GSA employees learn to articulate what these generational differences are, and understand the different values that cause differences in behavior.
Don't stop at onboarding.
Stoner says GSA invests in engagement beyond the first two weeks. They put their entry-level hires on a two-year rotational track that exposes them to different areas of their field. For example, a new hire in finance may rotate to learn about formulating budgets, executing them, strategic planning and more. Not only does this prepare them for a variety of possible jobs, but it clearly demonstrates that they care about employees' development. GSA wants employees to discover what job appeals to them most. "I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was that age," Stoner remarks, so it is only fair to facilitate employees' learning for a couple years.
Nothing counts without an open culture
Formal training can transfer plenty of knowledge, but without an open company culture that embraces all employees, that training can fall flat. Stoner says, "Your culture needs to be open to listening to them and hearing their ideas." She says GSA recognizes that good ideas can come from anyone, regardless of where they sit on the org chart. Their investment and openness pay off. GSA retains 93% of entry-level hires during their first two years–pretty impressive for the new job-hopping norm. Engaging millennials doesn't have to be hard. Stoner says, "We want them know they are coming into a company that does value their development. millennials are eager, knowing that a company will make an investment in them."
Wendy Stoner will be a panelist at this December's College Recruiting Bootcamp. She serves as GSA's Director for the Office of Emerging Talent Development within the Office of Human Resources Management. She strives to create an environment of highly engaged employees dedicated to accomplishing GSA's mission and has successfully recruited hundreds of highly talented recent graduates prepared to tackle GSA's business challenges. Stoner's work is helping GSA fuel the pipeline to meet the agency's future leadership and succession planning needs. Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn.
College recruiting ROIMarch 31, 2016 by Bethany Wallace
When considering return on investment (ROI) in college recruiting, it's best to look beyond short-term measures and to consider long-term distal measures. Talent acquisition leaders must really look at the big picture; they can't lose the vision of the forest for the trees.
This series of four videos, hosted by College Recruiter's Content Manager, Bethany Wallace, features The WorkPlace Group experts Dr. Domniki Demetriadiou, Partner and Director of Assessment Services, and Dr. Steven Lindner, Executive Partner.
If the video is not playing or displaying properly click here.
This series is one set of videos in a larger series featuring WPG experts posted on College Recruiter's YouTube channel highlighting best practices and a timeline for developing a college recruitment program.
What are the best ways to determine the return on investment in college recruiting? Is it cost per hire? Recruitment cost ratio? Number of hires made? Retention of employees? Number of job offers to acceptances?
There are multiple factors to consider; ultimately, it comes back to "I spent a certain amount of money to achieve a certain result. So where did I start with college recruiting? Why did I start this in the beginning? Am I achieving what I set out to achieve?"
This brings recruiters back to their objectives. If objectives are big-picture oriented, recruiters will want to use distal measures when determining the effectiveness of their college recruiting programs, not just cost measures or efficiency measures based on the current calendar year.
In the next video, WPG experts share a powerful real example of determining the ROI of college recruiting.
If the video is not playing or displaying properly click here.
If you spent $5000 to hire a student from a particular university, and that hired individual made a great discovery which added value to your organization, you would probably agree that the $5000 individual was a better investment than many other individuals you hired who cost your college recruiting program much less.
Thus, return on investment is a broad concept which encompasses much more than ratios and efficiency measures. Recruiters should thoroughly examine their objectives for their college recruitment programs. It's not just about short-term costs.
The third video discusses the importance of considering both efficiency and effectiveness when determining the ROI of college recruitment programs.
If the video is not playing or displaying properly click here.
Efficiency is measured by short-term standards; it can be measured by ratios. How many resumes did I obtain from the university? How many candidates were interviewed? How many did we hire? Efficiency measures help recruiters determine whether to adjust the recruiting process or not.
When considering effectiveness, you're finished with proximal data and are ready to look at distal data and long-term measures. Most HR and recruiting professionals lack patience when it comes to measuring effectiveness. However, sometimes waiting to monitor effectiveness is very important. Defining clear objectives on the front end is crucial, and deciding how to measure and track your objectives at the beginning is just as important. If you don't, you will not wind up gathering reliable data.
The WorkPlace Group also features an article on its website entitled "Backwards is Forwards" with more information about the ROI of college recruiting.
The final video in this series provides recruiters with final tips related to measuring ROI in college recruiting.
If the video is not playing or displaying properly click here.
WPG experts recommend checking out The National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) website; it has some tools for assisting employers with measuring the effectiveness of their college recruiting programs.
As time goes on, employers learn that students who excel when hired are not the students they might have expected to excel. As time goes on, data provides expectations wrong. This is one reason it's important to follow data and use it in the planning process. Study the data and measure long-term effectiveness (distal data). This will improve your college recruiting program and overall effectiveness.
For more tips on college recruiting from The WorkPlace Group, subscribe to our YouTube channel and check out all 15 videos featuring experts Dr. Domniki Demetriadou and Dr. Steven Lindner.
Follow our blog and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Dr. Steven Lindner is the executive partner of The WorkPlace Group®, a leading "think-tank" provider of recruitment services assisting companies ranging from small, fast growing businesses to multinational Fortune 500 companies. He is an expert in Talent Acquisition and Assessment, has appeared in many radio and TV interviews and a frequent presenter at HR conferences. He writes weekly employment articles for the NY Daily News and holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Stevens Institute of Technology.
Dr. Domniki Demetriadou, is a partner and director of assessment services of The WorkPlace Group®, a leading "think-tank" provider of recruitment services assisting
companies ranging from small, fast growing businesses to multinational Fortune 500 companies. Demetriadou is an expert in Talent Acquisition and Assessment, and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the American National Standards Taskforce. She is a frequent presenter at HR conferences and has led many multinational recruiting programs. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The Graduate Center at Baruch College, CUNY.


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This wooden discoveroo mountain roller toy set includes 4 ramps. The 3 x large wooden balls roll down the tracks, around and through the mountain. Teaching kids about gravity and providing hours of fun. When assembled, the Mountain Roller is 25cm high and 37cm long! The balls are 4.5cm in diameter.
Because it contains some small parts, This toy is not recommended for children under 18 months.
This product hasn't received any reviews yet. Be the first to review this product!

subset: commoncrawl


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The Library of Michigan awarded the Charlevoix Public Library a certificate of completion for meeting the Enhanced Level requirements of the Quality Services Audit Checklist (QSAC). To earn certification, the Library demonstrated its enhanced competence in seven categories of achievement including human resources; governance/administration; services; collection development; technology; facilities and equipment; and public relations/marketing.
"We are proud that the Charlevoix Public Library has done such good work in enhancing the services deemed essential by the Library of Michigan," said Mary Ann Chew, Library board president. "By focusing efforts on key areas, our library has shown a strong commitment to continuing the quest towards excellent customer service."
QSAC has defined three levels of services: Essential services provide the basics of all library service; enhanced services increase the level of customer service provided; and excellent services are at the highest level, defined by the group. The levels are helpful guidelines to libraries just starting out, while providing important review for more established institutions.


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I have joined Facebook! YAY! But...I'm a little slow at understanding it.
In short - I DON'T GET IT.
I know many who are on facebook so if you see this post, give me a pointer. =)
Or, give me a quick tutorial.
I just don't get the layout of it! It's a little confusing to me, but that's not uncommon.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Facebook Retarded
I have joined Facebook! YAY! But...I'm a little slow at understanding it.
3 comments:
- Sarah said...
that's ok. i have been on facebook for several months now and have yet to figure it out! we should be friends!
- April 28, 2009 at 12:05 PM
- Adrian said...
Yeah for facebook! I've actually been on for a while, but they totally changed the format since I joined. I'm confused. It bugs me! I do it all from my phone and that's completely different then the computer. Sorry I'm no help. Good luck
- April 28, 2009 at 4:37 PM
- Ren & Anna said...
I'm dumb on facebook, too. I use it so I can keep track of people I don't get to talk with otherwise (kind of like an email system) and the status updates. I like reading the updates, and commenting on those, and I put in my own updates too sometimes. That's about all I do with it. I don't even really use it for pictures since I have the blog. It's just another thing to take up my time, really! :)
- April 29, 2009 at 4:48 PM


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Kira Spivak, Founder and CFO
Kira Spivak, founder of VenturePack CFO Solutions, has been easing the minds of CEOs and their investors for 23 years in Denver/Boulder, Colorado and beyond. Ms. Spivak has been working successfully for herself as an outsourced CFO since 2005. As financial technology evolved, Ms. Spivak designed VenturePack CFO Solutions in order to deliver a high quality accounting department, affordably, to her small and mid-sized business clients.
Kira's voracious appetite for learning and her love of a challenge is evident in her career path, which began in law firms at 17 yrs. old, prior to joining an acquisition investment/management team that managed portfolio company investments, such as Yellow Cab of Denver, SuperShuttle and the Vail/Beaver Creek Jet Center. The same team later formed an SBIC fund where Kira held positions as controller and financial analyst and where she interviewed hundreds of fascinating entrepreneurs. Ms. Spivak went on to gain mergers and acquisitions experience as senior financial analyst and a buy-side representative for an investment bank. As an outsourced CFO, Ms. Spivak advised and negotiated a management buyout for a client company in the construction industry, which she then served as a part-time CFO as it quadrupled in size to $35 million in revenues and 200+ employees.
Kira is a contributor to CFO Magazine, Mastercard's "Innovative" blog for businesses and has been recognized as an industry expert in digital media and print (American Express, Citibank, Sports Global Source, Snews). Ms. Spivak recently enjoyed being a panel speaker on "Business Divorces" at Fort Collins startup week.
When she's not taking care of her clients, connecting in the business community, and motivating her team, she can most likely be found outside, biking, skiing, climbing, hiking, and playing sports with her college aged son and daughter. Kira is an active community member with the Colorado Advantage Business Council, the Colorado Mountain Club, Volunteer Treasurer for the Colorado Conservatory for Jazz Arts and loves singing with others at Swallow Hill Music Association.
Jennifer Aichele, Chief Financial Officer (Specialties: SaaS, startups, M&A)
Jennifer came to Colorado from San Francisco, where she spent the last 14 years as an outsourced CFO helping build Silicon Valley start-ups. Notably, Jennifer was the part-time CFO with Zimride, later known as Lyft from 2011 to 2014 where she also performed a NetSuite systems implementation.
This is not Jennifer's first time living in Denver. She started her career in Colorado in the 1990's working in the Financial Planning & Analysis group at TCI and AT&T Broadband. After AT&T Broadband and Comcast merged, Jennifer left the company and began her consulting career. Jennifer has over 20 years of progressive experience in finance and accounting working with over 35 start-ups and helping to raise over $500M in equity and debt financing.
When she's not working with clients, she will most likely be traveling somewhere in the world. Jennifer loves the outdoors especially if she can be on the water: swimming, kayaking, rafting, sailing. She is an avid scuba diver with over 100 dives on 4 different continents.
Jennifer holds a Bachelor's in Finance from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA and a Master's in Finance from the University of Colorado Denver. Jennifer also holds an inactive, non-attest California CPA license.
Jennifer is an active member of the Denver Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi, a coed professional business fraternity. Jennifer served as a trustee of the Delta Sigma Pi Leadership Foundation raising funds for scholarships and grants and servicing as chair of the audit committee.
Jennifer is a coach and mentor to young entrepreneurs. She has been involved with incubator programs at Astia, Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Innosphere.
Philip Tootill, Chief Financial Officer (Specialties: manufacturing, logistics, international accounting)
Best summarized as a problem solver, Phil developed his career in manufacturing, logistics, and gas distribution and therefore has in depth knowledge creating and applying financial controls and procedures to business operations.
During 20 years with an international company as a CFO, international assignments were successfully completed in Europe, Asia and North America covering standard cost variance reporting, balance sheet validation and internal business controls.
It's not easy to find an outsourced CFO with deep experience in procurement, supply chain, multiple locations and logistics, but Philip has all of that and a Scottish accent.
Even better for VenturePack's clients, Mr. Tootill has spent the last 10 years applying his larger company and global experience to mentor small to mid-size business owners toward a successful exit strategy.
Also, he's a golfer. At least one of us has to be.
Ian Arreola, Accounting Manager
Accounting education is one thing, understanding the world of entrepreneurs in the Denver/Boulder, Colorado area is another and Ian has both. A Colorado native, Ian cut his teeth in the restaurant industry where he developed an appetite for working with partners to launch new businesses. At VenturePack, Ian embraces the day to day accounting management and personally enjoys the exposure to multiple companies and their varied business models.


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Name: Bart
Subject: RE: Strollin' on the boulevards of Paris! review
Date: Sunday, July 30, 2006
Time: 2:23:41 AM
Remote Address: 184.108.40.206
Message ID: 195499
Parent ID: 195484
Thread ID: 195466
Travellin'Man. I don't know the word for the lights so that's why I tried to describe them. It are those sticks and when you 'break' or like bend them they light up. That last for like an hour or less and then they go out again and are then useless.
Teiz: I'm affraid it will be me. Well one must be able to get a ticket for like 40 euro. So I think I'll try that..but I'm not sure yet, still doubting lol. Maby you should try the same..
And wtf, I've allready heared MR?! I was indeed at the concert in 2003 but I missed that completly. In fact, my position in the 2nd ring back then was such a fucked up one that I can hardly remember anything from that concert..
I'm now off to the studios of Radio 1 to do an interview about the Stones, since I was asked for that. And you know I love to hear my own voice on the radio hehehe. Between 1 and 2 o'clock if you're not out hunting beavers.
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Last week, Argentine President Cristina Fernadez moved to take over the Argentine subsidiary of Spanish oil company Repsol, YPF. The rationale behind the move has been an energy crisis affecting the country, which Fernandez has put down to underinvestment of oil and gas fields by YPF, as well as mismanagement. The real issue is one of price controls, subsidies and restrictions, all done in the name of maintaining short term consumption growth. The subsequent decimation of investment potential via inflation and restrictions to capital formation have led Argentina on the brink of a vicious cycle of inflation, money printing and more inflation, that in many ways has already begun.
This particular story really begins with the presidency of Carlos Menem in the early 1990s. After suffering from hyperinflation in the late 80s, the Menem administration instituted a Convertibility Plan, aimed at bringing about stability and economic growth. The foundation of this plan was the pegging of the peso to the US dollar at 1:1. This, combined with IMF backing, attracted foreign capital to Argentina and the country embarked on a period of economic growth.
This was short-lived however, as the increased legitimacy in the eyes of foreign creditors became a mechanism by which Argentina could increase its debt loads. As Pierpaolo Barbieri wrote in the WSJ a few days ago:
Hard-won low interest rates, however, led to a domestic borrowing and spending binge, not unlike Greece's after it joined the euro zone. Price stability, growth and renewed faith in the country's economic fortunes eventually gave way to sky-high unemployment, widespread poverty and credit lines from the International Monetary Fund.
The figures come from the Argentine Central Bank. The increased debt and credit flowing into the country did create a bit of a boom at first, but the boom waned towards the latter half of the 90s as foreign investment tapered. This led to a spiral beginning with Argentina trying to prevent the inevitable recession brought about by the disappearance of foreign investment credit. Needing more debt to accomplish this in the midst of that supply drying up led to an increase in their interest payments. In turn, this meant that even more debt would be required to both service existing debts and take on new stabilizing debts. The currency peg didn't help either. As a result of the increased deficits, debts and money supply, the fundamental value of the peso weakened. Yet it remained artificially overvalued thanks to the peg. The peg itself was not the problem, but rather the increased debts and expansions of the supply of credit that it enabled. Ultimately the inability to keep the game going is what culminated in the crisis and default in the early 2000s.
I mention this to point out that the collapse in the early part of the 2000s, and the issues Argentina face today have little to do with the privatization of many utility companies (including YPF) that were part of Menems reforms. Those reforms have been criticized recently in a few Guardian articles, which praise Fernandez' actions for 'reversing past mistakes,' and being a 'timely retort to rampaging capitalism.'
These assessments are misguided to say the least. The implication is that once again free markets and capitalism have failed us and it's about time that we reverse the trend and have the state play a larger role in the marketplace. As I alluded to before, the free market reforms Menem installed were only a piece of his overall policy, and were not responsible for the meltdown that occurred. Furthermore, the Argentine government has embarked on several initiatives since the default which can hardly be described as capitalist. It is these measures, taken with the short term interest in mind, that have set the stage for the troubles Argentina face today.
Failure of Interventionism or Capitalism?
The default and subsequent devaluation of the peso became problematic for natural gas companies after the government imposed a price freeze on natural gas tariffs in January 2002. These tariffs were previously quoted in dollars, so the policy, which required prices to be quoted in now devalued pesos, amounted to a price cut. This happened at a time when the international price of natural gas was rising. The effects of this were predictable – the dramatic cost reduction led to a spike in demand and shortages. From this article in The Economist in 2004 (emphasis mine):
Most Argentines now pay only a third as much as their neighbours for gas and electricity. So demand has soared. Each month, some 30,000 of them have been converting their cars to run on compressed natural gas, which costs 40 centavos ($0.14) a litre, compared with 2 pesos ($0.71) for petrol. Meanwhile, since prices are at around one-third of the level required for a reasonable return on investment—and many of the electricity companies are in default on their dollar debts—supply has stagnated.
The bold is key, with respect to the charges President Fernandez has leveled on YPF of failing to adequately invest in oil and production. Mark Weisbrot in a Guardian article linked above further fleshes out that argument, writing that:
Repsol, the Spanish oil company that currently owns 57% of Argentina's YPF, hasn't produced enough to keep up with Argentina's rapidly growing economy. From 2004 to 2011, Argentina's oil production has actually declined by almost 20% and gas by 13%, with YPF accounting for much of this. And the company's proven reserves of oil and gas have also fallen substantially over the past few years.
The lagging production is not only a problem for meeting the needs of consumers and businesses; it is also a serious macroeconomic problem. The shortfall in oil and gas production has led to a rapid rise in imports. In 2011 these doubled from the previous year to $9.4bn, thus cancelling out a large part of Argentina's trade surplus. A favourable balance of trade has been very important to Argentina since its default in 2001. Because the government is mostly shut out of borrowing from international financial markets, it needs to be careful about having enough foreign exchange to avoid a balance of payments crisis. This is another reason that it can no longer afford to leave energy production and management to the private sector.
There is no mention here of the price controls imposed in 2002, or the further actions taken by the government in later years:
The government of President Nestor Kirchner raised export taxes to a minimal rate of 45%, up from 5%-45%, in an effort to hold down prices on domestic supplies and bring in an additional $1 billion/year in revenue for the state. The new plan caps the maximum market price of Argentine crude oil at $42/barrel for domestic sales, subsequently limiting the prices of products in relation.
From Bloomberg (emphasis mine):
Export sales from oil, gas, petrochemicals, gold and copper in Argentina totaled $10.7 billion in 2010, or 16 percent of total exports, according to the national statistics agency. Argentina places a 100 percent tax on oil exports above about $45 per barrel, compared with a global price that has ranged from $75 to $114 per barrel this year.
The move ensures "equal treatment to all production activities," according to a statement in today's official gazette.
Underscoring the protectionist nature of the Fernandez administration, economist Claudio Loser points out that:
(Argentina)has introduced about 110 restrictive measures since 2009 affecting 174 countries, more than any other individual country.
The most absurd of these has been the recent restriction on imported books, which apparently presents a health problem because:
…you handle the book and possibly wet your finger with your tongue to turn a page: that can be very serious for human health
This refers to the lead content in the ink used in foreign books. The measures are designed to promote domestic printing of books, and should one want to purchase a book from overseas, one would have to travel to the customs office at the airport to pick it up once it has passed inspection.
It doesn't take intimate knowledge of rocket science to understand the potential issues that sort of policy could create, and specifically for the oil companies, the incentives to reduce production. The results that Weisbrot describes above are more or less accurate. The charts below display the oil and gas production of the time in question, along with energy reserves.
The source is the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2011. As one can see, oil and gas production has indeed dropped over the last decade, which has led to shortfalls, but the catalyst for this has been government policy. The price controls enacted by the government in the face of rising energy prices internationally has led to companies becoming more unwilling to use their resources producing oil in Argentina, when they could do so elsewhere and earn higher revenues thanks to the increased prices prevailing there. In response to the lower supply from the oil companies, the government has increased energy imports, becoming a net importer of energy when it was once a net exporter.
The populist narrative put forth by the government (note the stated goal of equal treatment in the Bloomberg quote), endorsed by Weisbrot, is economically deficient and shows a lack of understanding of simple pricing mechanisms. This is particularly true of Weisbrot, who points to the saga as some sort of indictment of the ability of the private sector to handle the production of energy. The truth is that the concept of profit and loss is instrumental in determining what goods and services should be produced and how much of them should be produced. Distortions of the price level do nothing but change incentives, usually leading to shortages as we have seen here. The same phenomenon has been noted over the years in the markets for basic goods and services such as beef, bananas, prescription drugs and electronics.
That hasn't stopped people like Weisbrot from claiming that the policies employed by the Argentine government in the wake of the default have been a massive success. Once again from the Guardian article above he writes:
between 2002 and 2011, Argentina's real GDP grew by about 90%, the fastest in the hemisphere. Employment is now at record levels, and both poverty and extreme poverty have been reduced by two-thirds. Social spending, adjusted for inflation, has nearly tripled. All this is probably why Cristina Kirchner was re-elected last October in a landslide victory…
….It is interesting that Argentina has had such remarkable economic success over the past nine years while receiving very little foreign direct investment, and being mostly shunned by international financial markets. According to most of the business press, these are the two most important constituencies that any government should make sure to please. But the Argentinian government has had other priorities. Maybe that's another reason why Argentina gets so much flak.
The model behind this growth has been one of government support for increased consumption. This has in large part been fuelled by the global commodity boom, which has enabled the government to increase its spending. From this Bloomberg piece dated March 2011:
Outlays on everything from highway construction to pensions climbed 37 percent last year from 2009 — and increased 39 percent in January of this year alone. Fernandez's largesse is made possible in large part by the global commodities boom.
Foodstuffs such as soybeans, wheat and flour accounted for about 70 percent of the country's export revenue in 2010, according to Agritrend SA, a Buenos Aires-based research company.
Export tax revenue, led by a 35 percent levy on soybeans, rose 11.2 percent in February from a year earlier to 3 billion pesos ($740 million).
Argentina's 40 million people are spending, too — as a way to protect themselves from rising prices. They're buying everything from flat-screen televisions to cars and even property. Sales of such goods as home appliances, toys and clothing soared 39.5 percent in December from a year earlier, the biggest increase for that month since at least 1998. Auto sales gained 43.3 percent in unit terms, the most since 2004.
Wages Increased
Demand for construction supplies such as cement, steel and paint was up 20 percent in December. Consumption helped push economic growth to 9.2 percent last year from 0.9 percent in 2009. Fueling that growth — and inflation — is government support for annual wage increases of 30 percent or more.
Prices — and wages — have been rising so fast that in November and December, the Central Bank of Argentina was unable to print enough money to meet the demand for cash from consumers and companies trying to cover year-end salaries and bonuses. As Argentines lined up at empty ATMs in the middle of a heat wave, the central bank took the unprecedented step of hiring Brazil's mint to crank out 160 million 100-Argentine-peso notes, so that there would be enough cash for individuals eager to buy holiday gifts and start their summer vacations.
Mentioned in that quote is the high rate of inflation that currently plagues the Argentine economy and renders the excitement over its growth rates in many quarters to be suspect. The government officially states the inflation rate at 9%, while many private economists place the rate at above 20%. Splitting the difference leaves us with a rate of roughly 15% inflation, which surely depresses the real rate of growth. It is true that the employment figures have improved as per Weisbrot's quote, but it is hardly sustainable.
The economic theory is straight from the Keynesian playbook. Government spending has been ramped up to maintain subsidies keeping utility and energy prices artificially lower, boosting demand. This has been the impetus for the rising prices and increased consumption, falsely characterized by mainstream commentators as economic growth. Further subsidies to support wage growth have been needed in response to the increase in prices. The increase in employment noted by Weisbrot is also to be expected given the government support. These short term boosts to the economy have won Fernandez many plaudits and made her campaign for reelection in 2011 a successful one.
But as usual, short term measures compromise long term sustainability. The costs of this policy have come via the very boost to consumption that alleviated much of the short term pains following the default fallout. The increased price level has led to increased costs of doing businesses. Continuing from Bloomberg:
Inflation in Argentina is putting a lot of pressure on costs for importers, says Hector Trevino, chief financial officer of Coca-Cola Femsa SAB, Latin America's largest soft- drink bottler. The Mexico City-based company saw its Argentine freight costs jump almost 70 percent and salaries climb 35 percent during the fourth quarter of 2010, he said in a conference call with analysts in February.
"The impact that we have had in freight cost in Argentina and salaries is tremendous," he said.
Companies with employees in Argentina, which raise wages to keep pace with inflation, feel a similar pressure.
"In 2010, payroll costs in Argentina were up about 20 percent in dollar terms," Antonio Brufau, chief executive officer of Repsol YPF SA (REP), Spain's biggest oil company, said in a Feb. 24 news conference in Madrid. In 2011, those costs will rise as much as 25 percent in pesos, he added.
These increased costs leave firms in the position of having to raise prices, or cut costs by firing workers. Through price controls, the government has removed the former option, lowering prospects for decent returns. In terms of the energy space, Metrogas, Argentina's largest natural gas provider filed for bankruptcy, citing the damaging effects of the price freezes, while UK firm BG Group and French firm GDZ Suez both left the country. More generally, the Argentine economy has faced increased capital flight at a time when it needs capital investment the most.
The capital flight, exacerbated by the inability of Argentina to borrow thanks to the early 2000s default, has put Argentina in a precarious situation. The government's response has been to double down on the interventionism. Enacting capital controls, demanding that exporters repatriate export revenue, and calling on its central bank to play a larger role in the economy have all been key features of their response.
Going Forward
From an economic standpoint, these measures will only stoke inflation further. To reiterate, the increased subsidies administered to boost short term consumption and employment have also boosted the cost of living, which in turn, requires further outlays from the government to subsidize further rounds of consumption at these higher prices. This sort of spiral is reminiscent of the foreign investment driven debt spiral that took place in the 1990s. This time around the increased production of high priced commodities provided the government with the impetus to embark on various projects. The high domestic costs imposed on these firms in the form of taxes, price controls and restrictions led to a predictable drop in that production and capital flows. The government has turned to the central bank to help make up the difference (read: print more money). Like Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the head of the Argentine Central Bank has no qualms about printing more money, and in fact declares that it has no effect on the rising prices. Her views are as follows:
Inflation is a result of companies being unable to meet consumer demand and should be resolved by boosting loans for production, Mercedes Marco del Pont, the current central bank president, says. She plans to increase the money supply by 28 percent this year to accommodate economic growth, a move she says won't affect inflation.
"The price problem doesn't have monetary roots," the Yale University-educated central banker, 51, says. "The conditions that could cause inflation to accelerate don't exist in Argentina."
As stated before, the fact that companies can't meet demand stems from the fact that demand has been artificially boosted by price controls and subsidies, policies which were made in response to high inflation in the first place. The simultaneous shackling of supply in various manners already discussed above completes the picture. Her suggestion that the price issues are not monetary in nature is completely laughable and can only come from your typical mainstream hubs of economics.
The money aggregates have turned upwards post default, and have resulted in regular inflation levels of upwards of 20%. This will only continue if the Central Bank continues to pledge support for the policies of the Argentine government.
Returning to the YPF issue, the underlying issues that prompted its decline in production are still in place. This means that in order to ramp up production of energy to levels the government finds acceptable would be to do so at a loss. The discovery of new shale is a source of such energy, but the proper investment outlay will still need to take place in order to realize that production. The government covering these losses and plugging the gaps created by its own doing would likely necessitate both higher taxes and increased regulation of the economy, or even more money printing by the central banks, exacerbating capital flight and inflation pressures respectively. Even more expansionary policy would then be needed to keep the inflation from hitting the people too hard by subsidizing consumption at this new, higher price level. Unfortunately, the ultimate price Argentina will have to pay for the continued short term propping of its economic model is yet another bout of hyperinflation. The seizure of YPF is merely a symptom of the folly of Argentine state intervention, representing the latest attempt to perpetuate failed economic theories.


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Served in soft flour or corn tortillas with a tangy lime crema, our braised Wild Cherrywood Smoked Bacon Tacos are a simple, fresh meal with layers of sweet, smoky, and slightly spicy flavors. Featured on WLUK'S "Living With Amy", you can watch how these tacos are made here.
Braised Nueske's Bacon Tacos with Lime Crema
Makes 4 tacos
~ 3 oz. Braised Nueske's Applewood Smoked Slab Bacon, 1/4 – 1/2 inch diced
(braised in apple cider – note on how to braise bacon is below)
~ 1 large cob fresh sweet corn
~ 1/4 tsp. cumin
~ 1/4 tsp. chili powder
~ 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
~ 4 corn or flour tortillas
~ Handful arugula, rinsed
~ Small bunch cilantro, rinsed and bottoms trimmed
~ 3 oz. Quesadilla cheese
~ 1 medium tomato
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Many of you who are familiar with the summer afternoon cookouts at the Nueske's Company Store in Wittenberg, Wisconsin have asked us for the recipe for our famously smoky, loaded-with-bacon baked beans that we serve out of "Bob's Fancy Camper". For those of you who haven't had the chance to enjoy our smoked brats and baked beans right at the source, you can create our Campfire Baked Beans at home, using this recipe.
The recipe comes from our long-time Company Store Manager, Kent Olson. Kent uses plenty of both our Applewood Smoked Bacon and our Applewood Smoked Pepper-Coated Bacon, plus dark molasses, brown sugar, and a variety of beans. When he's making his Campfire Baked Beans for serving at the Company Store, he makes a big Nesco roaster oven full, so we have enough for everyone. If you only want enough to fill a Crock Pot, reduce the amounts shown below to ¼ of what the recipe calls for.
These beans are the perfect side dish for a backyard BBQ, graduation party, or any summer potluck gathering. This is true Midwestern summer potluck food.
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Here are three of our favorite ways to cook bacon: pan frying, baking, and grilling.
Pan-frying is the most common and traditional way to cook bacon and also one of the very best ways to fry up a few strips for breakfast or a couple of summer-tomato BLTs. For best results, we start by placing the bacon in an unheated skillet. Then, we cook the bacon strips over Medium Low heat, turning frequently until the bacon is golden brown.
You'll notice less shrinkage than with other brands because our bacon gets a nice, long smoke in our smokehouse, which means you get more bacon after cooking than you would with non-premium bacon.
Impress your Valentine. This is one of the most comforting dishes we know, AND it's made with only 6 ingredients (if you don't count the salt, pepper, and parsley garnish). At least half of the ingredients are likely things you already have in your cupboard or fridge, like eggs, garlic, and olive oil.
Traditional spaghetti carbonara is made with pancetta and heavy on the fresh-cracked black pepper, so we make ours with Applewood Smoked Pepper Coated Bacon, which covers all the bases and adds some extra smokiness to the dish. We also like to swap out plain parmesan cheese for the Merlot Bellavitano from our Wisconsin neighbors at Sartori.
This recipe serves 2-3.
Peppered Bacon Spaghetti Carbonara
1/2 lb. Spaghetti (dry pasta)
1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6 oz. Nueske's Applewood Smoked Pepper-Coated Bacon, sliced into bite-sized strips
2 Cloves Fresh Garlic, diced
1 Large Egg
1/2 C. Sartori Merlot Bellavitano Cheese
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Fresh Parsley, chopped for garnish
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QUICK! It's New Year's Eve and you aren't doing anything special or making anything you really want to eat. You can fix that RIGHT NOW. Here are our top ten most simple, tasty, Nueske's family-and-employee-tested appetizer recipes that you can whip up with a handful of ingredients and scant or no cooking skills! For those of you with even moderately well-stocked kitchens, you may not even have to run to the store to make most of these (well, maybe for the figs…).
Here are our picks for recipes that you can still make for tonight:
This is on the list of food to prepare for the weekend: a warm bowl of soup LOADED with vegetables and lean, smoky chunks of tender turkey breast. Serve this with fresh, crusty bread and butter. Our recipe is such a quick one that you could easily whip up a batch of this smoky turkey soup for a weeknight meal. The beans and turkey make it filling and the fennel adds mild, pleasant flavor. If you've hesitated to cook with fennel, this is a good recipe to give it a first try… you'll likely be using it more often after you taste this!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Serves 8 (or 4 very hungry people)
We're getting out our warm, cozy Midwestern comfort food recipes for fall… and we've got LOTS, so expect more of them as the cold hits! This is a recipe straight from Darlene Nueske, Bob's wife, and her two sisters. We had this dish in our recipe book long before the recent Cauliflower Renaissance of the past few winter seasons. Whether it's due to the carbohydrate reduction craze or just because of a growing general interest in incorporating more vegetables into our diets, people are warming up to cauliflower as nutritious carb substitute. This recipe sure proves that it's a meal-worthy vegetable!
It's nearing the end of summer up here and this means the end of Midwestern grilling season. The lower part of the country probably gets to hang on to the warm weather for a while, but in Wisconsin, we'll be packing up the sunscreen and lawn chairs pretty quickly. We're guessing that you've probably seen images of hardened tailgating Northwoods Packer fans. We hunker down in our green and gold, tending our grills in the drifting snow, wearing aprons and stocking caps at the same time. Understand that when we say "the end of grilling season", what we mean is that we can no longer wear shorts while we cook out of doors, but we won't let it stop us from preparing Wisconsin specialties on our grills on any day of the year.
At first glance, this recipe might look like a winter vegetable dish, but it's very fresh with lots of bright flavors, and if you serve it cold, it would make an excellent summer picnic or potluck dish, just make sure you double the recipe if you're serving a bigger crowd. Plus, it's almost time to start picking those green beans out in the garden, at least if you're in our Midwestern neck of the woods.
BLT season is almost upon us. The farmer's markets up here in Wisconsin are starting to open and soon the market tables will be full of produce in addition to the pre-garden season tables laden with jars of local honey, last season's salsa or pickles, and pure, golden maple syrup. Soon there will be more zucchini than any one cook can handle, golden and deep purple beets, small creamy potatoes, tall bundles of dill, and then… the reds and yellows of REAL tomatoes. Nothing you can buy at the store, no matter what the season, ever compares to tomatoes like this. Tomatoes from the garden. Tomatoes that smell like leaves of the plant they came from – you know what we mean if you've ever brushed up against or crushed a tomato plant leaf. There is NOTHING like it. In a state that has such an abbreviated growing season, we wait all year for this round, juicy bounty.


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To be released on DVD from Nickelodeon and Shout! Factory is the highly successful animated series "CATDOG".
The story follows the journey of a conjoined hybrid of a cat and dog! Just like a cat and dog these two have their differences as well. Dog loves rock and roll and cat is not a fan yet they are the best of friends.
Cat, who is voiced by Jim Cummings, is a cunning American Bobtail! He is crafty in the ways of getting Dog to do what he wants. Although always seeming to get into more trouble, Cat truly does love his attached brother.
Dog, who is voiced by Tom Kenny, is a sweet and loving American Foxhound. The one thing about him is his poor attention span and always getting into trouble. Even though he is easily distracted by garbage trucks and bones, Dog is loyal to the very end!
Also sharing time with CatDog is Winslow who is full of wisecracks, The Greaser Dogs who are Cliff, Lube and Shriek and Rancid Rabbit, Eddie the Squirrel, Randolph, Tallulah and many more.
FINAL WORD: There are so many adventures in this two-disc DVD set have the first ten episodes. Along with Tom Kenny and Jim Cummings are Carlos Alazraqui, Maria Bamford, Billy West, Nika Frost and Dwight Schultz.
This really is a fun program and each episode has a new storyline that leads to fun, adventure, and brotherhood. It is full of goofiness, and silly antics that keeps kids laughing and parents wanting to know why – which means they will watch as well!
TUBS OF POPCORN: I give "CatDog" three tubs of popcorn out of five. There is something about cartoons and animation that really can bring about a lot of laughs. Nickelodeon always has a good selection of fun programming and "CatDog" is no exception.
The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animated Studios and Peter Hannan Productions.
In the end – it's all about CatDog!


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The Creation Museum and the N.C. Convention
Last month Pam and I accepted an invitation from Ken Ham, founder of the Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, to be his guest at the museum in Petersburg, Ky. We were honored to spend the day with Ham and Mark Looy, Chief Communications Officer of the ministry. We were impressed, to say the least.
As you read the story I wrote about the museum in this week's Biblical Recorder, please know that I wrote a fraction of what should be said about the broad reach of this organization. They are proclaiming the gospel through billboards in the heart of New York, through information absorbed by museum guests, in their radio broadcasts, through the dissemination of biblical teaching materials and many other tools. Many Baptist churches in N.C. have used their VBS materials and Bible study curriculum.
Schedule a time to take your family to the museum, and in a few years you'll want to visit the Ark Encounter project – a full scale reconstruction of Noah's ark. It will be breathtaking.
I look forward to seeing you at the annual meeting of the Baptist State Convention of N.C. next week in Greensboro. The information in the Recorder will help you get prepared for the meetings. This week we printed stories about two new candidates for offices in the Pastors' Conference. Also, we've added a Q & A with the two candidates for second vice president of the convention. Read that story here.
I hope to see you at the Biblical Recorder's booth next week! Come by to register for one of the 20 gifts we will be giving away including an Apple iPad Mini and a Kindle Fire HD. Click here to learn more about these prizes.
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Saturday, February 3, 2018
Purple Whatchamacallits and Rails
13 comments:
- make.share.give said...
That's a lot of purple strips :) Looking good!
- February 3, 2018 at 7:29 AM
- Ellen said...
You have a plan and you stick with it and you are organized! Is that the secret to why you get so much done!! :)
- February 3, 2018 at 8:13 AM
- LIttle Penguin Quilts said...
I like your 3 inch rails! Will they turn into their own quilt, or do you mix them with other blocks?
- February 3, 2018 at 8:47 AM
- Linda said...
A productive day. Two more quilts definitely on the go and a Spider Web in the wings.
- February 3, 2018 at 9:12 AM
- Ivani said...
Great beginning for February. You do have lots of pretty purples.
- February 3, 2018 at 11:09 AM
- Shasta Matova said...
Great purple beginnings. I like spreading my scraps into different projects too.
- February 3, 2018 at 12:56 PM
- Kathy's A Quilter said...
that is a whole lot of scrap happiness there! And isn't it wonderful.
- February 3, 2018 at 1:29 PM
- scraphappy said...
So glad you found a way to recharge your spiderweb blocks. They are going to be fabulous.
- February 3, 2018 at 3:25 PM
- Mystic Quilter said...
Oh you have wonderful purples to work with!!
- February 3, 2018 at 3:46 PM
- mangozz said...
Beautiful selection of purples! 3" rails? Is this going to be a miniature quilt?
- February 3, 2018 at 4:29 PM
- gayle said...
Look at all those purples! (I only see one we have in common...) I love these little blocks of yours - so simple, but they're going to be spectacular when you set them into a quilt!
- February 3, 2018 at 6:55 PM
- The Joyful Quilter said...
Your PURPLE productivity is an inspiration to us all!!
- February 3, 2018 at 9:17 PM
- Sally Trude said...
I have "mixed" feelings about separating out my strips by color. So, like you I'm balancing using the strips in rainbow quilts but keeping a spiderweb/lego box varied.
- February 4, 2018 at 4:44 PM


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Warrender head coach Laurel Bailey has praised the dedication and long hours that open water swimmer Keri-anne Payne has put in since relocation to Edinburgh less than four years ago as the duo prepare to head to the Rio Olympics.
Payne finished second in the FINA 10km Rio qualifying event in Portugal recently and last week she was officially named as part of Team GB for Brazil in August along with Jack Burnell.
It will be a third Olympics for Payne – having won silver in Beijing in 2008 and then finishing fourth in London in 2012 – and caps an amazing spell for her since moving north of the border.
The 28-year-old was born in South Africa, but has spent a lot of her life in England and came to the Capital after marrying fellow Olympic swimmer David Carry in September 2012.
For a number of months after the London Games in the summer of 2012, Payne was unsure whether she would continue her swimming career, but she got in touch with Bailey at the Edinburgh club and they have made a good team ever since.
Australian Bailey, who has been attached to Warrender for a number of years, said: "When Keri-anne first got in touch she wasn't sure what direction her swimming was going to go in, but once she got into the pool along with the other Warrender swimmers her competitive instincts soon kicked in and between us we began to devise a plan regarding how to make sure we got her to Rio.
"Normally I am used to working with swimmers from a very early age so I can help them shape the way they want to grow as an athlete and such like, but because Keri-anne had so much previous experience at a high level – and was used to different coaches – it was a learning curve for us both.
"We talked a lot and agreed on some things and not on others, but it soon became clear that we had a good understanding and the same drive to succeed as each other and she has been a joy to work with since.
"As Warrender train at the Royal Commonwealth Pool we have been abroad a lot to help Keri-anne get enough open water training and events under her belt and over the last 18 months or so she has clocked up more kilometres than most in the world.
"It meant that she was very well prepared going to the recent qualifying event and she will be going to Rio to give it her all. I am lucky enough to be going too, so to see her competing there will be special."
Payne believes relocating to Edinburgh really gave her career the boost it needed.
"Not everyone is lucky enough to get to train in a place like the Royal Commonwealth Pool everyday while the people at Warrender have been so welcoming to me and the young swimmers have helped me push myself on to this third Olympics," she said.
"It is a great city and I love living in Portobello which is just a really nice place in the summer time and spending time there helps me switch off from training.
"Working with Laurel and Kris Gilchrist [the Warrender assistant coach and a former Olympian himself] has been great for me and they must take a lot of credit for where I am now.
"I certainly wouldn't have put myself through the last four years if I didn't think I could win a medal in Rio and now it is about putting the finishing touches to training."


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Evolution of American Literature
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The evolution started with legends, songs and myths transmitted by word of mouth. It also included the way the Americans related to other cultures, for example, that created by the Indians. The written literature began with the arrival of European pioneers, but it was not available among the other cultures and the Indian languages in the North America. The Native American literature was diverse and connected to different cultures. The narratives of the hunting cultures such as Navajo were different when contrasted to the tales created by the tribes of Acoma Pueblo who were involved in agricultural activities.
The narratives about the Ojibwa lakeside habitats from the North always differed from the tales of the Hopi people in the desert. During the evolution period, various tribes followed their religions that involved worshipping animals, plants, gods, or sacred persons. The government had a system that included democracy, theocracy and the council of elders. The oral literature associated itself with different tribes. The Indian narrations united the physical and spiritual sides. The spiritual factor was about the living nature with spiritual forces. Their main character was plants or animals connected with a certain tribe. The American essay "The Oversoul" by Ralph Waldo takes the reader into the world of the Indian holiness, which passed through a person's all life (Jones 56).
During the period when Columbus arrived, America had its own beliefs, icons and symbols, which the native people understood perfectly in the society. The U.S. history was pervasive, and in that period people applied facts as a sign of patriotism and a way of identifying the nation. Christopher Columbus played a significant role of the first hero in America who represented the U.S. myth as a whole. Columbus acquired the heroic status in America not because of his accomplishments but based on how he perceived the society. During the pre-colonial period, the indigenous Americans perceived themselves as a diverse society. The representatives of Indian cultures classified the Europeans as primitive people, and in their return, the Europeans derived the word "Indian" as equipment for colonization. This contributes to the reasons why at the present, the Native Americans embraced the spiritual and cultural unity and ethnicity of the Indians. Over the past years, the indigenous Americans also got involved n supporting the societies that advanced in agriculture.
During the colonial period, the American residents treated the arrival of Columbus in 1942 as a disaster. It was in that period that the outbreak of diseases made the tribes suffer when they met the Europeans. The American population decreased. The efforts of the tribes to establish relationships with the Europeans resulted in their torture and massacre by the intruders. The Europeans became strong because of their guns and their Christian beliefs. Historians refer to this period, characterized by the past American cultures, as pre-Columbian. They named the people on the American continent Indians because of the Columbus illusion that he was in India.
During the revolutionary period, there was a hard fight against Britain for the liberation of colonies. The U.S. war for independence, which took place between 1775-1783, revealed the greatness the Americans had aspired to gain. The authors of this age were Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin who targeted at the Americans with democratic ideas. Their purpose of writing is to show the military victory and how it rejuvenated the nation's hopes for achieving new literature. The writers created an implication that the Cultural Revolution, when contrasted with a military one, could not successfully be made unless there was an element of shared experience.
The writers motivated people when they referred to the revolution as the expressions that came from the people's heart, growing into sensible thoughts and experience. The revolutionary writers were patriotic in a way that they had self-consciousness, understood the importance of ongoing events and were eager to participate. The writers of that generation knew English, they had their own line of fashion and behavior. There was a time the American audience needed famous European authors. The writers of the period did not cover issues about how the former colonies perceived their previous rulers.
The Romantic period began between 1850s and 1860s. The authors of that stage in the history of American literature named themselves Essayists and Poets. Among the writers of that time, there are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whiteman, and Emily Dickinson. The Romantic Movement started in Germany and spread to other states such as England before it arrived in America in 1820. The Romantic Movement in America had a connection with the national expansion and the realization of the unique American voice. At that period, the intended audience was the Americans, and the purpose of the trend was to nurture the masterpieces of the "American Renaissance," solidify the identity of the country and create the real ideas and passion of Romanticism (Madden 288).
The basic Romantic ideas revolved around the aesthetic aspects of nature, spiritual growth, and arts of inspiration. According to Romanticists, the art revealed the universal truth in a better way than science. The Romantic beliefs argued that all men need to express themselves in terms of love. People need to live a true life that is why they must adopt an appropriate lifestyle. Romanticism was close to American poets and suited the democracy in the U.S.A. Romanticism stressed individual issues, it valued common people in a society, inspiring them to gain and appreciate ethical and aesthetic values.
The Realistic period commenced between 1860s and 1914. Its famous representatives were Mark Twain, Henry James, and Stephen Crane. During that time, a civil war struck the U.S., especially the South, the residents of which were involved in agricultural activities. The democratic nation faced exhaustion and lost its optimisms after the conflict. That era targeted at the audience represented by millionaires, speculators, and manufactures. The war boosted the business industry in the North and gave leaders the experience on how to deal with their workers and handle machines. The Americans improved the economy by the use of their natural resources such as gold, silver, and oil. Between 1860 and 1914, the U.S. transformed from a country with small farms to a modern nation with strong industry. This made a great part of the American population migrate to the city.
The 20th century was a period when the American play imitated the English and European theater. During that era, all theaters staged English dramas. The authors of the American drama were Thornton Wilder who wrote a script about life and death and Clifford Odets who worked on "American Tragedy" play. The reason why the Americans liked European actors was that the most important to them was a high status of plays and not the support of local production. In the 20th century, plays adopted aesthetic innovations and gained original forms and expression, the same as current dramas have.
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Hello. Pure Satisfaction Realistic Resource Pack 1.11.2/1.10.2 has multiple items that look great! This is for 1.11.2 / 1.10.2. It's PVP/ realistic! In a lot of peoples opinion, it looks nice! If you like this texture pack then go check out my other texture pack called Stone Shadows!
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text: Public Safety Cyber Terrorism And Domestic Extremism Among Greatest Terror Threats, U.S. Attorney Says By Kathleen J. Davis • Oct 4, 2018 Kathleen J. Davis / 90.5 WESA U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said Tuesday that some of the most urgent terror threats facing the county and region include violent domestic groups, such as white supremacists , and "homegrown violent extremists" – individuals who are radicalized by terrorist groups, often through the internet. One Year After Pitt Student's Murder, More Security Cameras Are Installed In Oakland By Kathleen J. Davis • Aug 28, 2018 Kathleen J. Davis / 90.5 WESA Sixty surveillance cameras have been installed in Oakland around the University of Pittsburgh campus and residential areas. The cameras are in part a response to the murder last year of Pitt student Alina Sheyket in her Oakland apartment, at the hands of her estranged ex-boyfriend. Pennsylvania Earns 'D' For How It Treats Defendants Before Trial By An-Li Herring • Jul 17, 2018 Kathy Willens / AP Pennsylvania earned a "D" in a study that grades states based on the way they handle criminal cases from the time defendants are arrested to the time they're found guilty or innocent. "D" was the average grade nationally. AI Helps City Protect Buildings At High Risk For Fire By Kathleen J. Davis • Apr 4, 2018 Darryl Matevish / AP Artificial intelligence developed by Carnegie Mellon University can pinpoint which commercial buildings are most likely to catch fire. Researchers Discuss How To Prevent Mass Shootings By Sarah Boden • Feb 9, 2018 Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department / AP At Friday's symposium "Responsible Reporting of Gun Violence" at the University of Pittsburgh, researchers discussed how to prevent mass shootings. Russell Palarea, an operational psychologist who works in Bethesda, Maryland, works to thwart intentional and targeted acts of violence. He said that it's a myth that people snap and then commit mass violence. Pittsburgh Readies To Expand Camera, Gunshot Surveillance City-Wide By An-Li Herring • Jan 2, 2018 Frederic Bisson / Flickr Starting this year, neighborhoods throughout Pittsburgh are expected to get more surveillance cameras and gunshot detection devices, also known as ShotSpotter. The city's 2018 budget includes funding for a 30 percent expansion of an existing camera network over the next three years, and there are plans to deploy ShotSpotter over an additional 14.5 square miles. Pittsburgh's Department of Public Safety Launches Multicultural Liaison Unit By Virginia Alvino Young • Nov 29, 2017 Sarah Kovash / 90.5 WESA Pittsburgh's Multicultural Liaison Unit launched Wednesday to help bridge the cultural and communication gap between the Department of Public Safety and immigrant and refugee communities. City Ups Independence Day Security In Response To Foreign Terrorism By Bill Gardner • Jul 3, 2017 Gene J. Puskar / AP Pittsburgh officials said Monday that global terror attacks have prompted new safety precautions for local Fourth of July celebrations. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich promised a noticeably heavier law enforcement presence, including plain clothes police officers and more uniformed patrols near firework viewing areas like Point State Park. Fired Pittsburgh Sergeant On Stand In Civil Rights Trial By Joe Mandak | Associated Press • May 25, 2017 Gene J. Puskar / AP A fired Pittsburgh police sergeant is set to continue testifying in his civil rights trial on charges he wrongly beat a drunken man and then lied about it in a report. Former Sgt. Stephen Matakovich testified Wednesday that he thought 19-year-old Gabriel Despres was preparing to attack him and that he struck Despres to prevent that. But federal prosecutors say a surveillance video of the incident doesn't support Matakovich, who is charged with deprivation of civil rights and falsification of a document. Police Drones Are Watching, And In At Least One State, They're Armed By Megan Harris • May 23, 2017 Noah Berger / AP At least 15 states have allowed police agencies to pilot surveillance drones in the name of public safety, including one that can carry weapons. This week on 90.5 WESA's Criminal Injustice podcast, University of Pittsburgh law professor and host David Harris talks to the Cato Institute's Matthew Feeney from his office in Washington D.C. PA Supreme Court Rules Pittsburgh Police Can Live Outside The City By Megan Harris • May 22, 2017 Megan Harris / 90.5 WESA **UPDATED: 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, 2017 The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that Pittsburgh Police officers don't have to live inside city limits. Chamber President Says Business Owners Want To Overcome The South Side's Partygoing Perception By Virginia Alvino Young • May 22, 2017 Megan Harris / 90.5 WESA The president of the South Side Chamber of Commerce said he feels the popular bar district is still a safe place despite a deadly shooting inside the Rowdy Buck bar early Sunday morning. Citizens In High-Crime Areas Have Strong Feelings About Pittsburgh Police By Megan Harris • Apr 18, 2017 Keith Srakocic / AP Americans who live in high-crime neighborhoods often get portrayed as anti-police, but an Urban Institute study released in February shows something different: strong respect for the law and a willingness to help with public safety. Should The State Continue To Finance This Western PA Industrial Complex? By Marcus Charleston • Apr 14, 2017 RIDC Listen Listening... / 49:24 The Confluence, where the news comes together, is 90.5 WESA's weekly news program. Each week reporters, editors and bloggers join veteran journalist and host Kevin Gavin to take an in-depth look at the stories important to the Pittsburgh region. This week's topics include a look at why the commonwealth continues to put money into an industrial site to lure businesses to western Pennsylvania. We'll also look at the public safety issues of mandatory minimum sentencing for violent crimes and withholding of police names after a shooting. And two reporters from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will join us to address changes in the region's demographics. We'll also mark the passing of Steelers owner Dan Rooney. Mandatory Minimum Bill Passes House, Faces Longer Odds In Senate By Katie Meyer • Apr 6, 2017 Associated Press The state House has passed a bill to keep certain drug and violent crime offenders in prison longer. District Attorneys Call For Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Corrections Secretary Disagrees By Sarah Schneider • Mar 29, 2017 Sarah Kovash / 90.5 WESA District attorneys from Allegheny, Butler and Washington counties are calling on legislators to restore mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated mandatory minimum sentences in 2015, saying criminal defendants did not know the potential sentence they faced until after conviction. Offenders knew their punishment carried at least a fixed punishment time and prosecutors used that to leverage information from an offender. Bill Would Withhold Police Officers' Names After Shooting Or Use Of Force By Katie Blackley & Megan Harris • Mar 22, 2017 David Goldman / AP Families of people hurt or killed by police would not learn the identity of the officer involved for 30 days or until the completion of an investigation under a new bill making its way through the Pennsylvania legislature. Harris, Welch Challenge Peduto In Democratic Mayoral Primary By Sarah Kovash • Mar 7, 2017 Kevin Gavin/Sarah Kovash/Pittsburgh City Council Incumbent Mayor Bill Peduto will face two opponents in the May party primary. Officials with the Allegheny County Board of Elections confirmed Tuesday that North Side Councilwoman Darlene Harris and former Peduto supporter Rev. John Welch both filed petitions ahead of the 5 p.m. deadline. Judge Rules Bill Cosby Case To Be Decided By Outside Jury By Maryclaire Dale | Associated Press • Feb 27, 2017 Bill Fraser/Bucks County Courrier Times / via AP Pool A jury from outside the Philadelphia suburbs will be brought in to decide the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting a defense request to move the trial itself because of worldwide media reports that brand the actor a "serial rapist." Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill said jurors will remain sequestered during Cosby's June trial on charges that he drugged and molested a former Temple University employee in 2004. It Costs $600M For State Police To Protect Cop-Less Towns. Wolf Says Per-Person Fee Could Help By Katie Meyer & Megan Harris • Feb 24, 2017 Gene J. Puskar / AP The state police are facing shrinking ranks and a funding shortage as a slew of troopers approach retirement age. Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed a $25 per-person fee for each of Pennsylvania's 2.5 million residents in nearly 1,300 municipalities that rely on state police coverage instead of a local police force. Pittsburgh Police Force Grows As New Officers Sworn In By Virginia Alvino Young • Feb 17, 2017 Sarah Kovash / 90.5 WESA The number of Pittsburgh police officers is on track to reach its highest number in 15 years, city officials said just one day after installing new Chief Scott Schubert. On Friday, a class of seven new Pittsburgh police officers were sworn in – all experienced and coming from other regional departments. Mayor Bill Peduto said the city has made intentional efforts to attract outside talent. 2017 City Council Preview: Public Safety By Virginia Alvino Young & Mark Nootbaar • Jan 3, 2017 Liz Reid / 90.5 FM WESA This is the third in a three-part web series looking ahead to 2017 with members of Pittsburgh City Council. Find part one here and part two here. Notorious 86-Year-Old Jewel Thief Strikes Again By Kate Brumback | Associated Press • Dec 16, 2016 John Bazemore / AP An 86-year-old jewel thief who has kept jewelry sellers on their toes since the 1970s has struck again, police say - this time by slipping a $2,000 diamond necklace into her pocket. Black Cat Crosses Suspect's Path, Rats Him Out By Associated Press • Dec 7, 2016 Ephrata Police Department / Facebook A Pennsylvania police department says a black cat was lucky for one of its officers tracking down a fugitive. The Ephrata Police Department posted on its Facebook page that officers were searching for Jonathan Michael Steffy last month over an outstanding bench warrant. Police Investigating Seditious Graffiti At Pennsylvania Church By Associated Press • Dec 6, 2016 Google Maps Police are investigating allegedly Satanic graffiti spray-painted onto a central Pennsylvania church. The vandalism included the digits "666" and upside-down crosses sprayed on the cupola above the roof of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lancaster County's Manheim Township, about 40 miles southeast of Harrisburg. The graffiti was discovered Sunday afternoon. Pastor Michael Rogers said the church has never experienced anything like this. It appeared to be the work of "somebody stupid with something to get out of their system," he said. Video Of PA Prison Guard's Killing Could Be On The Docket For Death Penalty Case By Associated Press • Dec 6, 2016 Federal Bureau of Prisons Federal prosecutors say an inmate's killing of a guard at a federal prison in Pennsylvania was a calculated slaying that saw the suspect pause to chew a piece of gum he took from the dying man's pocket. Federal prosecutors detailed the attack in court documents filed Monday, arguing that a jury should see surveillance video showing the 9-minute attack, and 22-minute aftermath in which guard Eric Williams lay dying before other guards arrived. Ross Police Investigating An Uber Driver Who Allegedly Made Unwanted Advances By Associated Press • Nov 24, 2016 Sarah Kovash / 90.5 WESA Police in the Pittsburgh suburbs say they're investigating a woman's claims that an Uber driver made unwanted sexual advances. Ross Township police said the woman reported the incident about 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday. The woman says the driver started making advances while driving her to a restaurant. The driver allegedly stopped the vehicle, but the woman says she pushed him away and he continued the ride to the restaurant where she got out and called 911. Police said the woman wasn't physically harmed. 6 Stabbed At Homestead Mental Health Facility, Suspect Shot By WESA Staff • Nov 11, 2016 Virginia Alvino Young / 90.5 WESA A man is injured and in custody after taking several hostages and stabbing six people at Turtle Creek Valley Mental Health in Homestead on Friday afternoon. Allegheny County Supervisor Coleman McDonough said 38-year-old Dustin Johnson walked into the facility and held multiple people in a fifth-floor staff office. Pennsylvania's Ex-Cons Can Vote, But Many Don't Realize It By Katie Blackley • Oct 27, 2016 Katie Blackley / 90.5 WESA Listen Listening... / 4:03 Social justice advocates worry misinformation is preventing formerly incarcerated men and women from casting their ballot. N.C. Governor Declares State Of Emergency After 2nd Night Of Unrest In Charlotte By Christopher Dean Hopkins • Sep 21, 2016 On Wednesday, for a second straight evening, demonstrators in Charlotte, N.C., protested the fatal shooting of a black man by police. Demonstrators threw objects at police and smashed car windows; officers in riot gear tried to disperse the protesters with tear gas and concussion grenades. Pages1 2 3 next › last »


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Northridge Customer Experience Management Services Allow Leading Healthcare Organization to Significantly Reduce Costs and Improve the Quality of the Customer Experience
A leading healthcare organization selected The Northridge Group to transform its customer service organization cost structure through targeted process re-engineering, improved resource utilization and a more effective use of technology. Although cost reduction was the primary target for the initiative, it could not jeopardize the quality of the client's customer experience.
Northridge rapidly provided experts in customer experience management, process design and contact center leadership to identify specific actions, quantify savings, and manage implementation of the project. The resource utilization piece focused on a queue design that would further enhance the customer experience through an improved average speed of answer, while call avoidance targeted upstream business process improvements.
Self-service opportunities were also targeted to mitigate usability issues that inhibited customers' efforts to perform online solutions. Average Handling Time (AHT) reduction addressed repeat calls and improved the client's use of desktop support tools.
As a result of Northridge's work, the client achieved over $70M in annualized savings. Just as importantly, the client gained the ability to reduce costs, while simultaneously improving the quality of the customer experience.
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Blockbuster closing 300 more stores in the USBy Angel Cuala on Jan 22, 2013 in Business, Entertainment, United States •
Video rental company Blockbuster is closing 300 US stores that are suffering from declining sales, and will affect around 3,000 employees. The decision to close more stores in the country comes after 500 stores were closed back in February 2012 due to the same reason, which was also hurt by online competitors.
Blockbuster logo
Image Credit: Blockbuster
As noted at Deadline.com on Monday, January 21, 2013, the 300 Blockbuster stores for closure represent around 35% of the remaining 850 stores in the US, with its headquarters located in Englewood, Colorado. However, the specific locations of the unprofitable stores to be closed were not mentioned.
"Some of the approximately 300 stores are reaching the end of their lease and others are closing based on overall performance," Dish Network spokesman John Hall was quoted in the report, adding that Dish still sees value in the Blockbuster brand but will continuously analyze its level of profitability.
Incidentally, Blockbuster UK announced early this month that it will go into administration, which is the British equivalent of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US. Last Saturday, BBC News reported that Blockbuster will be closing 31 of its 528 stores in UK and that around 760 employees will be affected.
Blockbuster, which filed for bankruptcy in September 2010 and was bought by Dish Network in April 2011 for around $238 million, was once a giant in the industry of movie video rental industry. During its peak in 2004, Blockbuster reportedly had a total of 60,000 employees, and had more than 4,000 stores worldwide.
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Sweat the Small Things is the eighteenth episode of Season Two of Impractical Jokers and the thirty-fifth episode overall. It aired on August 15, 2013 and it had a total 1.61 million U.S. viewers.
The comedians teach art classes and test fate with the Dartboard of Destiny at a bar.
Con Artists
- Goal: Do and say what you're told.
- Loser: Joe
Dartboard of Destiny
- Goal: Double-Down Challenge; do whatever the board says.
- Loser: Sal
- Loser: Sal
- Punishment: Sal is forced to introduce a stress-relieving slideshow presentation. In the demo videos, it turns out that Joe, Murr, and Q broke into Sal's house while he was on vacation and abused everything in the house, ending with pelvic thrusting while naked at the window in front of his neighbors.