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This has convinced ne to buy Bakewel's book thank you.
The essay, we are being told, is back. An editorial in The Guardian on 5 May celebrates the alleged event and announces a new specialist publisher, Notting Hill Editions, which has released a range of cloth-covered hardbacks, ranging from Samuel Rogers to Georges Perec. However, many of us never suspected that the essay had gone away. This discursive genre, in which the author is given space to explore a more or less impressionistic or apparently random cascade of ideas rather than provide a detached and critical analysis of a particular topic, has a considerable history, but can be traced – unlike any other literary genre – to a single individual, a minor French aristocrat of the sixteenth century named Michel de Montaigne (1533-92).
Sure, there had been comparable examples of introspective or speculative prose writing before him, notably by the Italian scholar and poet Petrarch (1307-74) and, at a stretch, Machiavelli (1469-1527), but Montaigne was the first modern essayist in two very particular ways. He was the first to apply the word 'essai' from the French verb 'essayer', and from which the English assay – meaning an 'attempt' – was a simple step; and his unique contribution to world literature was that he made himself the subject of his own work: he was the first to bring the spotlight onto himself as the topic of his writing, or, as Aldous Huxley put it in the preface to his own collected essays, to deliver 'fragments of reflective autobiography' and to 'look at the world through the keyhole of anecdote and description'. Nearly five hundred years on, we find that the genre that Montaigne began, of self-reflexive prose in which the thoughts and actions of an individual constitute the subject matter and determine the direction of the writing, marks out a lineage that leads directly to the contemporary infatuation with autobiographical writing; the glut of misery memoirs, 'sick lit', confessional and celebrity memoirs with which the publishing industry is obsessed, not to mention the contemporary trends of blogging, social networking and twittering. By no means should Montaigne be blamed for these terrible things, but we might consider that in some important ways he started it all.
Montaigne has thus become extremely interesting to publishers, and the two books I have before me reflect the wide appeal that this Renaissance gentleman has to a twenty-first century readership. Both books have long and unwieldy titles. But Sarah Bakewell's How to Live: a life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer is very good indeed, while Saul Frampton's When I am playing with my cat, how do I know she is not playing with me: Montaigne and being in touch with life, although not without virtues, is filled with unfortunate and confusing turns of phrase, as well as numerous errors of editing and proofreading, and falls far behind Bakewell in both content and prose style.
Montaigne has had a long and interesting relationship with posterity. While his works brought him instant fame in sixteenth-century France, and were translated into English shortly after the author's death, he fell foul of the Catholic church on account of his libertarian attitudes and relaxed morality, upsetting major French philosophers of the seventeenth century such as Pascal and Descartes. His work was placed on the Catholic Church's Index of Prohibited Books in 1676, remaining banned for nearly two hundred years. Although the French libertins adopted him and he was praised by Voltaire (and plagiarised by Rousseau), it was not until Nietzsche that Montaigne found a true descendant, one who called him 'this freest and mightiest of souls' and who would write: 'That such a man wrote has truly augmented the joy of living on this earth.' Montaigne lived, says Bakewell, as Nietzsche would have liked to live, questioning everything and yet managing to live his own life in a way that held no regrets – 'If I had to live over again, I would live as I have lived' is a favourite and enviable quotation. Everything, says Bakewell, that 'most repelled Pascal about Montaigne – his bottomless doubt, his 'sceptical ease', his poise, his readiness to accept imperfection' were precisely those things that appealed to Nietzsche and which impress Montaigne's fans today. At the man's centre lay a pervasive scepticism, allied to a warm and humane engagement with the day-to-day; a hatred of cruelty; a profound but unsentimental love of nature and of animals, and an irrepressible curiosity about other societies and their customs. Montaigne is also known as an epicurean and a stoic in the mould of Marcus Aurelius (to which, as both authors point out, he adhered less stringently as the years went by).
His brand of philosophy – preferring to offer details wrapped in anecdote rather than expounding abstractedly – has a distinctly un-French edge to it that has always been popular in Britain, and his fan base ranges from Thomas Browne to Virginia Woolf, who admired him above all for his insistence on perpetually observing his immediate environment, his emotions and his interactions with the world.
The influence that Montaigne may or may not have had on Shakespeare has generated a considerable amount of speculative scholarship, based largely on a speech of Gonzalo's in Act Two of The Tempest, which repeats, almost verbatim, an extract from Montaigne's essay 'On Cannibals'. Shakespeare almost certainly knew John Florio, Montaigne's English translator, and Montaigne's influence has not only been discerned on the soliloquies of Hamlet – which would suggest that Shakespeare had sight of Florio's translation before publication – but with greater assurance in the general tendency of Shakespeare's later work towards a reflexive mode centred on the ever-questioning interlocutor. The uncertain or bewildered protagonist, suffering (or flaunting) a surfeit of experiential anxiety, was an entirely new phenomenon in literature, and according to Bakewell locates Montaigne and Shakespeare as 'the first truly modern writers, capturing that distinctive modern sense of being unsure where you belong, who you are, and what you are expected to do.'
A further similarity between Montaigne and Shakespeare is what the critic Jonathan Dollimore has called 'a form of self-consciousness which implies simultaneous awareness of experience and the experiencing self' as well as in the kind of relativism, according to Richard Wilson, which arises in both writers 'from their sensation of the contingency of beliefs'. This is encapsulated, in both men's work, in their interiority. In Montaigne, it takes a pronounced, monological turn at times:
I turn my gaze inward. I fix it there and keep it busy. Everyone looks in front of him; as for me, I look inside of me; I have no business but with myself; I continually observe myself. I take stock of myself, I taste myself… I roll about in myself.
And yet this is not solipsism – the state in which only the self exists or can be know – but something closer to Hamlet's self-observation in the famous soliloquies. The image of Montaigne 'rolling about in himself' is nicely a propos, especially given his fondness for dogs (and indeed his love of animals of all kinds). Montaigne famously refers to his cat in one of his essays (and in the title of Frampton's book), but his weakness in giving in to his dog's playfulness earned him Pascal's disdain:
I am not afraid to admit that my nature is so tender, so childish, that I cannot well refuse my dog the play he offers me or asks of me outside the proper time.
Montaigne also displays an unusually compassionate rapport with others – an identification with otherness that extends not only to the Protestant 'enemy' within sixteenth-century France (for which he was rebuked and mistrusted by fellow-Catholics during the long period of civil conflict through which he lived) but also to other human tribes. He was struck by the beliefs of the Brazilian Indians whom he encountered at the king's court in Rouen, who 'spoke of men as halves of one another, wondering at the sight of rich Frenchmen gorging themselves while their 'other halves' starved on their doorstep.' Furthermore, beyond his interest in cats and dogs, there is an almost pagan feel for, or identification with the natural world and animal life, something which provides Bakewell with one of her most interesting asides. While discussing Montaigne's influence on Virginia Woolf, and both writers' insistence on 'paying attention' in a way that eschews habitual modes of perception and categorisation, she cites Woolf's diary of 1919:
I remember lying on the side of a hollow, waiting for L[eonard] to come & mushroom, & seeing a red hare loping up the side & thinking suddenly 'This is Earth Life.' I seemed to see how earthy it all was, & I myself an evolved kind of hare; as if a moon-visitor saw me.
Bakewell observes that this 'eerie, almost hallucinatory moment' enabled Woolf to see herself as part of a continuum, as essentially nature-bound – this is Earth Life – in a way that would not be remotely possible to an observer whose eyes were 'dulled by habit'. The overcoming of habitual responses lies at the heart of Montaigne's challenge. 'Habit' according to Samuel Beckett, 'is the ballast that chains the dog to his vomit': and it is precisely what Montaigne seeks to uncover and dismantle in his essays. He does this in various ways, but one of his favourites is to run through apparently marvellous and diverse customs from distant cultures in order to convince his readers that what they take for granted is only a matter of what they are accustomed to. As he himself put it: 'Everyone calls barbarity what he is not accustomed to.' His essay 'Of Custom' discusses, by turn, the question of whether or not one should blow one's nose into one's hand or into a piece of linen; how in a certain country no one apart from his wife and children may speak to the king except through a special tube; how in another land 'virgins openly show their pudenda' while 'married women carefully cover and conceal them'; how in other (unspecified) locations the inhabitants 'not only wear rings on the nose, lips, cheeks and toes, but also have very heavy gold rods thrust through their breasts and buttocks'; how in some nations 'they cook the body of the deceased and then crush it until a sort of pulp is formed, which they mix with wine, and drink it'; where it is a desirable end to be eaten by dogs; where 'each man makes a god of what he likes'; where flesh is eaten raw; where they live on human flesh; where people greet each other by putting their finger to the ground and then raising it to heaven; where the women piss standing up and the men squatting; where children are nursed until their twelfth year; where they kill lice with their teeth like monkeys; where they grow hair on one side of their body and shave the other. By blasting his reader with these numerous examples of apparent strangeness, Montaigne makes them question the practices which they habitually regard as unquestionable and normal in a new light. Indeed, he raises many of the issues that cultural anthropology began to tackle four centuries later, and he can safely be regarded as an early relativist. When he had the opportunity to speak with some American Indians from Brazil, the Tupinambá tribe, of which a delegation was brought before the court at Rouen, he was not simply concerned with 'observing' them, as though they were rare specimens of primordial life: he was much more interested in recording their amazement at their French hosts. 'Watching them watch the French' says Bakewell, 'was an awakening, like Virginia Woolf's on the hillside'.
Bakewell's interpolation of the life story with aperçus of the kind with Woolf, and elsewhere with Nietzsche, adds considerably to the weave and texture of her account. I finished her book feeling as though I had thoroughly shared in a deeper understanding of Montaigne's work. Hers is a rare achievement. It is a shame then that I cannot similarly compliment Frampton's book. An example of their distinct approach to subject matter might be illustrative.
All commentators are agreed that Montaigne's awakening as a writer came about through his friendship with a colleague and fellow counsellor in the Bordeaux parliament, Etienne de La Boétie. The two men were inseparable friends for four years, and then La Boétie died. Montaigne's grief was intense and long-lasting, and he would write of their friendship: 'If pressed to say why I loved him, I feel that it cannot be expressed, except by saying: because it was him; because it was me.' The line is a unique and moving testimony to friendship. But while Bakewell is content to regard La Boétie as Montaigne's 'literary guardian angel', looking over his shoulder during the composition of the essays, Frampton tediously – and without any evidence – insists on the possibility of a sexual relationship between the men. Not that it matters, of course: but really, why should we care? Why can't we simply accept that this is at least a possibility, rather than having to indulge this prurient and weary conjecture that amounts to little more than anachronistic gossip-mongering?
But this, alas, is only one of Frampton's failings: on page 29 we learn that the town of Agen is to the south-west of Bordeaux (placing it firmly in the Bay of Biscay), but on the next page it has moved (correctly) to the south-east of Bordeaux; on page 33 a painting is being described in which 'One of [the men] is dressed as a Roman solder (sic), the other wearing the gown of a dying man.' What, one wonders, is 'the gown of a dying man?' Must one know that one is dying before wearing such a garment? Or does the wearing of such a gown somehow condemn one? And there is more: discussing how plague ravaged the countryside in the 1580s, we are suddenly and randomly informed about an alleged event that took place at the opposite end of France: 'At Ales near Lille in 1580, a young man called Jehan le Porcq died of a contagious illness, spending his final days in a shed at the bottom of his father's garden.' And on page 83 we learn that 'a fog descended over northern Europe… It covered the Rhine… scaled the high walls of Oxford and surrounded Aristotle.' There is far too much of this kind of nonsense. Moreover, the text is littered with failures of meaning, failure of tense agreement, errors of punctuation, and missing words. Frampton must take a large chunk of the blame, but surely Faber and Faber employ editors and proofreaders?
We should therefore be doubly grateful that Bakewell's book provides an articulate and sympathetic introduction to the man and his work; but for anyone seriously wishing to make the acquaintance of a writer renowned for his self questioning rebuke 'What do I know?' – pre-empting postmodernity's chronic self-doubt, but with a leavening of subtle humour, even at times hilarity – the Essays are a delight in store.
This post first appeared as a review article in the latest issue of New Welsh Review, a magazine full of good and interesting things. In fact why not subscribe here.
This has convinced ne to buy Bakewel's book thank you.
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It's easy to fall into a financial rut. You pay the same bills every month, make the same amount of income and no matter how hard you try it still seems you have little to nothing left over in your savings account. While many of your lifestyle expenses might seem unavoidable, and in the case of your mortgage or car payments they might well be, there are a thousand possibilities for potential savings lurking in your budget.
We've compiled this handy guide to show you some of the key areas of your lifestyle to re-examine, in order to gain an extra step towards securing your financial future.
Everyone needs to get from point A to point B, and gas isn't cheap right now. So while it might seem like no big deal to make an extra run to the grocery store, or make a quick trip back from work to retrieve something you forgot, extra miles sneak up surprisingly fast. At current prices of $2.46 a gallon, a car that gets 20 miles to every gallon will cost you an extra 256 dollars an year for just an extra 40 miles per week.
See if you can try carpooling to work instead of taking your car to save on fuel and maintenance, if you live in an area with good public transportation there's no shame in taking the bus or train instead.
The AAA calculated the average cost of owning a car at a whopping $8600 per year. With insurance, depreciation and maintenance it's obvious that your vehicle can cost you a pretty penny for all the service it provides.
Start working on your monthly insurance bill as it's likely you're being price optimized and charged higher rates for being a loyal customer. Call a few other insurance carriers if you haven't done so already and see if you can get a better rate, in fact call your current carrier and let them know about your misgivings and they'll usually a negotiate a better price for you.
If you have an extra car just sitting in the garage costing you monthly, look into selling it the occasional benefits it offers are probably far outweighed by the yearly costs.
According to money management experts, real wealth can only be created once you stop owing money. The first step to reducing your debt burden is trying to refinance your mortgage, contact your bank and other lenders and see if they are willing to negotiate to lower your interest rates. If you're really struggling to make payments you might want to look into government programs such as HARP which are designed to help qualifying homeowners get their mortgage on better terms, with lower monthly payments.
Credit card debt is also a big expenditure for most households. Once again there's nothing wrong with calling up your credit card company and trying to get a more favorable interest rate to reduce monthly payment.
If you're carrying a lot of debt you could try transferring your balance to a 0% APR card, this can give you some much needed breathing space on the repayment of your debt. Do make sure to opt for a 0% balance transfer card, and that you don't max out the balance of your new card by making the transfer.
Your electricity bill will usually offer the biggest avenue for long-term savings. A report published by the US Energy Information Administration in 2013 showed that the average American household's electric bill was $110.23.
At the end of the day, the savings you make are spurred on by your commitment to cutting costs. By writing out a list of your monthly expenditures, you can start looking for items that are unnecessary or expenses that can be foregone. Then you can start putting that money towards achieving the financial objectives you've always planned, through sound investment strategies. Remember your financial future is always in your hand, and it's never too late to take control.

subset: commoncrawl


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Today on Thursday Threads we feature volume 3 of a series I'm really enjoying: The S.E.R.A Files by by C. T. Green:
Title: The S.E.R.A. Files Volume 3, sizzling paranormal romances. A selection of stories written especially as 'lunch time reads' or just to snatch some 'me' time, each story is a standalone with a happily every after.
Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/S-E-R-Files-3-ebook/dp/B00QUOH7Z6/
Website: http://www.ctgreen-author.com
Sometimes, being a vampire sucks.
Silver Illyés is determined not to fall into the same love-'til-death trap that almost killed his brother. But he's finding his Fairy Godmother partner irresistible…even if she keeps her Great Aunt's coffin in her living room.
Alice Gale is not going to let her feelings for her new partner stop her from doing her job. With him on the Goblin King's most wanted list — it's time for Alice to prove this is a love Silver shouldn't hide from. Oh, and she's tired of explaining about the coffin.
Angels are simply irresistible. Fairy Godmothers are simply unstoppable.
When Reign meets Adele Kent while hanging naked from a pair of handcuffs in a hag's den (don't ask), he discovers he's not so sure about working alone anymore.
Adele is finding her new angel partner is quite a handful, literally. The guy can never keep his clothes on. But when they team up to find out what the hags want with angel blood, they're an irresistibly unstoppable force.
Will this stray wolf finally find a home that always has a spare pair of pants?
Lucy Sinclair has the big, bad wolf in her bed. Mainly because she's stolen him. And S.E.R.A. wants him back. With a matchmaking Grandmother and a beautiful woman determined to keep Ash in her power, Lucy's got her work cut out in keeping her man.
Ash is committed to finding out what's been happening to the men who visit 'Circe' the new club in town. Now, he must put the girl he's falling in love with into the line of fire if he's going to solve this case.
Can a scorching new love warm up this Ice Prince's heart?
Frost, of the Ice People, was in love with Silver Illyés until the vampire found his mate. What can a prince do, but hide his broken heart and step gracefully aside? Then he meets another vampire, who heats him up in an inferno of desire. The only problem is, he's Silver's brother.
Adorján Illyés believed he'd never find love again. But is being a substitute for his brother enough? With the Unseelie Court's Dark Fae on the hunt for someone, he's going to need all his wits if he's to regain his S.E.R.A. badge and rediscover his heart.
A determined Fairy. A suspicious Phantom. And a Dark Fae.
This could be messy.
Being with a Phantom means accepting a three-way relationship, but Destiny's not a Fairy who's happy about sharing. Until she meets a Dark Fae called Elair, and she realizes that two mates means double the love.
Cam can't deny the sparks between him and Elair. But how can he trust the Dark Fae, let alone allow the male into his heart and closer to Destiny?
Elair loves Destiny and finds Cam irresistible, but in order to have them, he's going to have convince the Phantom he's trustworthy and that means reining in his considerable pride. With the Unseelie Court determined to drag him home, time is running out for Elair to find freedom and love.


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Rafael Benitez believes that the performance of the new players will determine whether Newcastle will be able to mount a serious push for promotion.
The Spanish manager believes that Newcastle United has a good chance to get back to the Premier League, but it is important that each player plays their part.
Although some players have left the team following their relegation Rafael Benitez has brought in some new faces and believes that they can help the team reach their objectives. He said that it is normal for some players to want to play in the Premier League or abroad but he will need to count on those that are staying. He believes that there are players that would want to stay with the team and to fight in order to bring the team back to the Premier League.
At the moment he wants to develop a good team spirit within the club and also help the team improve tactically. He admitted that it would be tough to play in the Championship, but they will have to prepare well. He said that it is a new competition for them and that there will be new clubs that there will be facing.
For Rafael Benitez, it is possible for Newcastle United to win their promotion but the players should be prepared to fight for it. He said that playing in the Championship is all about fighting and that the players should be ready physically and mentally. He stated that it is no use complaining about the players that have left the team and that fans should get behind the new players that have just joined the team. Benitez believes that the new players have the potential to improve the team and that they should be able to help the team fight for promotion.


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Michael B Jordan was one of three recipients of the Hollywood Spotlight Awards last night in recognition for his work in Fruitvale. Are you tired of me talking about him so much? Too bad! He's the best.
There are a few experts who think that Jordan still has a chance at a nomination for Best Actor but…he's definitely not a frontrunner, especially when you consider some of the veterans in the race. Like Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, and Bruce Dern. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a lock. And then there's Matthew McConaughey who is HUSTLING for it. Hard. More on McConaughey in a minute.
Is it too early for Michael B Jordan? Will he get his later, and does that make it ok that he might not be included this time. Well…the same could have been said for Jennifer Lawrence last year, non?


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Himachal HC rules in favour of EFI
September 20, 2012 by admin
Filed under Campaigns, Christians, Dalit, Dalits, Himachal Pradesh, Human Rights, Human Rights, India, Issues, Legal, National, newsletter-india, Persecution
Himachal Pradesh, September 16, 2012: Although universal in nature, religious liberty is not universal in practice the world over. And a law designed to prevent conversions to Christianity in India is exhibit A for the truth that, in some countries, religion is but one more aspect of life controlled by government or ruthless factions that fear no government.
And this is why legal victories restoring or broadening religious liberty are so important, particularly when those victories unburden a people who theretofore had been required to alert local magistrates before changing religions. In Evangelical Fellowship of India v/s State of Himachal Pradesh, the High Court of the State of Himachal Pradesh ruled against just such a law.
The law required those intending to change religions to provide a district magistrate with "prior notice of at least 30 days … of his intention to do so." Failure to provide advance notice of conversion required a mandatory police investigation,
prosecution, and sanctions. And if notifying the local government magistrate of one's new religion wasn't invasive enough – all persons desiring to change their religion were listed in a public registry, scanned regularly by fundamentalist Hindu extremists that make it a daily routine to retaliate against, persecute, and even murder new Christian converts. And, of course, the public notice law did not apply to anyone changing their religion to Hinduism.
There is a mighty struggle occurring in India in which 300 million Dalits (formerly called "untouchables") are suffering at the bottom rung on the Hindu caste system, enduring punishment in this life for what some Hindu faithful describe as sins committed in past lives. And millions are desperate to escape by seeking refuge in the Christian faith where all are created in God's image and equal in the eyes of God.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allies represented Evangelical Fellowship of India are challenging the law because it was being used as a cudgel to stop – through intimidation and fear – a potential flood of conversions to Christianity.
Moreover, as all laws have symbolic importance, representing a society's dividing line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior, the law and its operation communicated that conversion from Hinduism to Christianity was disapproved.
The law clearly violated the Indian constitution, which purports to guarantee freedom of religion, and served as a license for misconduct against new Christians whose names appeared on the public registry. So it shouldn't pass unnoticed that Christians in India and especially Christian clergy are attacked, harassed, and beaten every single day. In fact, over 100 Christian Dalits were murdered just three short years ago in the state of Orissa by fundamentalist Hindu mobs that ran amuck for months with little or no government intervention.
The victory of Evangelical Fellowship of India was one step in a long and on-going struggle to win genuine religious freedom in India. The case will now go to the Indian Supreme Court where extreme pressure will be brought to bear by extremist Hindu organizations, doing everything in their power, to curtail the lowest Hindu caste from fleeing a life of religiously sanctioned poverty and degradation.
Every victory like this swings the pendulum closer to where all civilized people should want to be – a place where religious liberty is not only universal in nature, but in practice as well.
– christianpost


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- The map is made of green soft fabric.
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Get More for Your Money by Driving a Used Car in Kent City, Grand Rapids, Muskegon or Cedar Springs
Would it be a dream come true to drive a high-quality car while saving money at the same time? Well, Betten Baker Ford Coopersville is here to make that happen for our valued customers throughout Kent City, Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Cedar Springs. We're pleased to offer a wide selection of used cars that are listed below for your browsing pleasure! At such affordable pricing, you'll have the chance to drive a top-quality pre-owned vehicle without breaking the bank. Now, spend a few moments browsing our current selection to determine if a vehicle strikes a chord with you!
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We certainly realize that you might worry about the quality or condition of a used car. But, that should be the last thing on your mind when shopping at Betten Baker Ford Coopersville. We always examine each gently-used vehicle from top to bottom with a fine-tooth comb. That way, we can guarantee that each and every vehicle upholds our lofty standards for quality, safety and performance. If you're ready to save cash on your next car, then simply visit our convenient location in Kent City to take a spin in the car of your choice!


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This past weekend, while walking to the public library for a meeting of the Nashville Chapter of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, I passed a historical marker for Sarah Estelle.
The marker reads: "Sarah Estell, a free black woman in the slavery era, ran an ice cream parlor and sweet shop near here. She overcame the many hurdles faced by free persons of color, and her venture thrived. Her catering firm met the banquet needs of the city's firemen, church socials, and political parties from 1840-1860." It is located at 217 5th Avenue North in downtown Nashville.
I did some quick research about her and easily enough located her in the 1860 US Census where she is enumerated as having an "eating house." Her census record also notes she is from NC – I wonder where from? I have research interests in NC so I'll have to explore that further.
Searching newspaper records at Chronicling America, I found one article notes that General Brigadier Alfred Eugene Jackson paid her 2.00 for "eatables" in 1853
According to the TN State Library, she opened her shop in 1840 and historian Bobby Lovett notes in his book, The African American History of Nashville, TN, 1780-1930, that she "…served food for parties and balls of whites…" (p. 16). In the book Old Days of Nashville, author Jane Thomas notes that Sarah's ice cream saloon was near McKendree Church, which is in fact right around the corner from the Sarah's historical marker.
In the 1855 Nashville Business Directory her location is indicated as 39 N. Summer Street.
I'll have to keep looking and see what else I can learn about Sarah.


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|Up a level
|Akbiyikli, R and Eaton, D 2012, 'Design and design management in building projects : a review' , NWSA Engineering Science, 7 (1) .
|Akbiyikli, R and Eaton, D 2012, 'Experiential learning from PFI road projects in the UK' , NWSA Engineering Sciences, 7 (1) .
|Akbiyikli, R, Dikmen, SU and Eaton, D 2012, 'Insurance issues and design and build construction contracts' , NWSA Engineering Sciences, 7 (1) .
|Eaton, D, Akbiyikli, R, Lemos, T, Gunnigan, L, Kutanis, RO, Casensky, M, Ladra, J and El Sawalhi, NI 2007, 'An examination of the suitability of a UK PFI model within the Czech Republic, the Republic of Ireland, Palestine (Gaza-West Bank), Portugal and Turkey' , Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management, 7 (1) , pp. 122-142.
|Akbiyikli, R, Eaton, D and Turner, AL 2006, 'Project finance and the private finance initiative (PFI)' , The Journal of Structured Finance, 12 (2) , pp. 67-75. Item not available from this repository.
|Eaton, D, Akbiyikli, R and Dickinson, M 2006, 'An evaluation of the stimulants and impediments to innovation within PFI/PPP projects' , Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management, 6 (2) , pp. 63-77.
|Eaton, D and Akbiyikli, R 2005, Quantifying quality: a report on PFI and the delivery of public services , Project Report, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Coventry.


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Packaging Advisor
** See the UPS Tariff/Terms and Conditions of Service and UPS Rate and Service Guide for commodities handled and restrictions on service.*** UPS's packaging guidelines are recommendations to assist you in packaging your shipment. Following these guidelines is not a guarantee that an item is sufficiently packaged for transportation.


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Competition is heating up among domestic car manufacturers to see who can provide the best police cars around the country. With Ford's upcoming Police Interceptor sedan and SUV, and newcomer Carbon Motors among the competition, Chevy had to answer back with their own model to add to the lineup. Meet the 2011 Chevy Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV.) How does it compare to the specialty-made Carbon Motors E7? Well, let's just say I wouldn't want to see one in my rear-view.
The Caprice PPV is no wussy Impala rip-off, either. From the start, the car will be armed with a high-powered 6.0-liter V8 engine capable of 355 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque. When mated to the specialty-tuned six-speed automatic gearbox, the car can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in less than 6 seconds. Ok, so they could have done better there, but the car's going to be damn heavy.
Special tuning for the Caprice PPV promise police departments modes tailored specifically for their needs. The six-speed automatic transmission, for example, includes a Performance Algorithm Liftfoot (PAL) calibration within Sport mode that can tell what kind of driving conditions are present, and apply the appropriate amount of torque to the wheels, especially though tight turns.
A few other special features, like special tuning for StabiliTrak to allow for more performance-oriented driving, and the contoured driver's seat to allow room for the officer's equipment belt, make the Caprice PPV a much more attractive alternative to police departments than your typical Crown Vic.


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In a previous post I wrote about getting started with PerformancePoint 2010. In that post you learned about what PerformancePoint is and where to open in in SharePoint 2010. Your next steps are to configure PerformancePoint which you can find a good guide on TechNet for. Some of these steps listed may have already been configured if you ran the configuration wizard following the installation of SharePoint. Many installation guides recommend not using the configuration wizard, like when following the PowerPivot guide for SharePoint installation.
Once the configuration is complete you are ready to create a data source. Open the PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer as shown here. If this is the first time you've opened Dashboard Designer the tool will download automatically. If it doesn't open be sure that your SharePoint site is listed as a trusted site in your web browser.
When the designer opens you should see a Data Connections folder in the Workspace Browser. Next you will right-click on this folder and select New Data Source.
You can then select the data source type that will be used in your dashboard design. For all of the blog posts following this one I will demonstrate the tool using the Adventure Works DW 2008R2 Analysis Server database found at codeplex.com. If you want to follow along pick the Analysis Services template
After selecting Analysis Services hit OK and the data source editor will open. For the most part his will look like any other data source you have ever configured. You will identify the server, database, and Cube. The one major difference here is how access to the cube will be granted. You can use either the Unattended Service Account method that was setup in the first paragraph of this post or use the individual user identity.
Once you've completed the configuration of the data source you can right-click on it in the workspace browser to rename and save it to the SharePoint site that you are currently connected to.


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Postcard to job candidates when position is closed (4 per page)
Send this postcard to candidates when the position they have applied for has been closed. The postcard advises them that their information will be kept on file for one year in the event a new position becomes available. The template includes four 4.25 x 5.5 inch postcards per page and works with Avery 3263, 3380, 5989, 8383, and 8387. This is an accessible template.


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Following is the complete transcription of the interview Monday between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Brian Williams, anchor of "NBC Nightly News." Ahmadinejad spoke through a translator:
WILLIAMS: Mr. President, I know you wanted to begin with a statement.
AHMADINEJAD: In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful, a prayer for the emergence of the 12th imam. Greetings to the people of the United States and I want to say something. Today it's very clear that all nations, all peoples, all thinkers are displeased with the prevailing conditions around the world. The current conditions around the world fly in the face of dignity, human dignity and the standing of human beings. And the specter of — hatred, wars, and poverty is weighing heavy on our different human societies. Naturally, whoever feels for the society of man would also like a happy life, a life full of prosperity. And those of us who have such feelings must make an effort, must make an effort to change the present situation.
And to do that, we need to understand the root cause which have led to the present situation. We believe that a materialistic outlook towards the world and also a materialistic, again, outlook when it comes to human beings and — egoism and also efforts for hegemony and control over others are the root causes of these problems. In a nutshell, distance and — indifference to the teachings of the divine prophets and our ethical standards are the root causes that beguile humanity today.
That is why the teachings of divine prophets, in other words, a belief in the almighty, justice, friendship, and peace and love for fellow human beings, we should return to those. If these come to prevail around the world, they will come to see that the world will be full of peace and friendship, love for one another, and the root causes of these problems will dry up, so to speak. And this is the responsibility weighing on the shoulders of those who have love for their fellow human beings and have — love for different societies around the world. This was what I needed to share with all nations and the people in the United States.
WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr. President. This is our third meeting in 3 years. We last spoke on the record in a setting like this 2 years ago in New York. You've accepted our request for an interview, we've traveled a great distance to have this conversation. So I am curious to hear in more specific sense, is your message to world, is your message to the United States, one of confrontation or cooperation?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, this question which I am asking from American statesmen, when it comes to the Iranian people, what road do they want to choose? What approach for more than 50 years now the — the policy of American statesmen has been to confront the Iranian people. And our people, to a large extent, have become acclimated with this situation, and we have tried to work around it.
Today, we see new behavior shown by the United States and the officials of the United States. My question is: Is such behavior rooted in a new approach; in other words, mutual respect, cooperation, and justice? Or this approach is a continuation in the confrontation with the Iranian people but in a new guise?
If this is the continuation of the old — process, well, the Iranian people need to defend its right, its — its interests as well. But if the approach changes, we will be facing a new situation. And the response by the Iranian people will be a positive one.
WILLIAMS: Specifically, what do you think is the reason for this new behavior on the part of United States? Why do you think, for the first time since 1991, there is no U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Persian Gulf. Why do you think the United States has come to the table to sit across from Iran in Geneva?
AHMADINEJAD: We welcomed that gesture, what happened over there. But the continuation and this expanding to cover other aspects of cooperation and relations can show a new approach on the part of the Americans.
WILLIAMS: Specifically, there is a group of nations in Geneva. And they have asked for an answer from you by Saturday. It has to do with the processing of nuclear materials. I note that you are smiling. I would like very much to know your answer.
AHMADINEJAD: To what?
WILLIAMS: What you will respond to the group of nations in Geneva. They have given you a deadline of Saturday.
Well, I didn't get that impression from the Geneva meeting. They submitted a package and we responded by submitting our own package. They, again, submitted a work plan, and we submitted our own work plan. It's very natural in the first steps we are going to negotiate over the common ground as they exist inside the two packages.
If the two parties succeed in agreeing over the common ground, that will help us to work on our differences as well to reach an agreement. The main question here is whether this approach is the continuation of the old approach or it — is it a totally new approach? If they are going to threaten the Iranian people and impose their will on us, the answer is very clear.
But if they want to cooperate, well, we need to sit down around a table to talk and to determine the areas for cooperation. We prefer this approach to be one of cooperation. But they are free to decide, decide as you please. Having said that, we prefer for us to proceed towards cooperation. You know full well that nobody can threaten the Iranian people and pose deadlines which they expect us to meet.
'This is a great and mighty country'
This is not helpful in resolving anything. But Mr. Jalili and Mr. Solana, both those gentlemen have expressed their pleasure with — how pleased they are, in other words, with the outcome of the meeting. We feel that the continuation of the negotiations have to concentrate on common ground. And that can help different countries to come together.
WILLIAMS: Perhaps I should be more specific. They are asking for your response by Saturday, to the question, "are you willing to suspend uranium enrichment?" And if doing that, would welcome you into wider world. Is that something Iran is willing to do?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, the world — the doors rather of the larger world are not closed to us. This is a great and mighty country, a great nation with a great economy, a rich culture, thousands of years of history and civilization. And we have very good economic and cultural relations with countries around the world. It would be very good for you to walk on the streets here in Tehran, in other cities for that matter, and gain a better appreciation of life in this part of the world.
For the continuation our lives and for progress, we do not need the services, if I can use the word, of a few countries. I believe that for agreements, for cooperation, for dialogue, if you pose pre-conditions, that would be an effort to continue with disagreement or lack of cooperation. We believe that if we accentuate common ground, we can reach an agreement in a much easier way.
Today, you cannot even issue ultimatums to a country which has a few million people living in it, much less for Iran. And also every action needs a sound legal basis. And in that meeting, having said that, what you're saying here was not put on the table. Some people are saying that the subject of the meeting was not that at all. This is not my impression from the Geneva meeting. I believe that a step forward was taken. And such steps must continue, again, new steps need to be taken. The presence of the American representative in that meeting was good, I have to say. And, of course, in a sound, logical environment, we need to continue with these efforts.
WILLIAMS: Respectfully, to your point about the robust Iranian economy. Estimates are of 20-percent inflation, workers strikes for back-wages. And a lot of people have argued it is because of the isolation, because of the sanctions you mentioned earlier.
AHMADINEJAD: You shouldn't worry needlessly about the Iranian people. The Iranian people are very able to resolve their issues themselves.
WILLIAMS: I'm curious than Sir, in this nation, known for its petroleum reserves, beneath our feet, why are there two hour lines for gasoline? Why is there gasoline rationing? What is that a result of?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, these are certain issues that are domestic matters. And if there is need, we can sit down in another venue and talk about these. It would be similar to saying to — to asking rather why 1.2 percent of the American population are inside prisons. More than three million people. Again, it would be like asking why Katrina survivors in the U.S. still are homeless or 40 million people living on the streets homeless without health cover. These are domestic issues that pertain to Americans obviously.
And the people of Iran are as you see around you. If a person or party sincerely based on law takes a step forward, the Iranian nation will welcome that. But if a party uses the language of threats or impose his will or try to impose his will on us, the response by the Iranian people will be historic.
WILLIAMS: So, one more attempt. While you may not recognize the coming Saturday deadline for your answer — would you be willing to suspend nuclear enrichment if it meant a more prosperous Iran, and a more peaceful world going forward?
AHMADINEJAD: Today, Iran is prosperous. It's happy. And every day we become more prosperous compared to the previous day. Why do certain people think that their lifestyles are the best lifestyles in the world? People, nations have their own lifestyles. I think that you should look at the situation through the interests of the U.S. The question is whether American statesmen want to continue with their policies of the past 50 years. Have they at all benefited from such policies?
I think that the most pessimistic analysts inside the U.S. would say that they have lost out. And, of course, optimists would say that we have — the — these policies on the part of the U.S. have been very detrimental. I believe that in the life of man, there are things that are more important than material welfare and prosperity. In other words, we are talking about the dignity of human beings.
WILLIAMS: So you don't deny there has been a substantial shift in U.S. position toward Iran. And one more time Sir, the question, would you be willing to meet that with a substantial shift of your own in attitudes, policies, toward the United States?
AHMADINEJAD: We have shown this. We participated in the meeting. We welcomed the initiative. I think that if this process is continued by the American government in the not-so-distant future, the situation will change. This means for the Americans to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation, recognize the rule of law, and also recognize a fair and just situation which needs to prevail. These are not difficult demands. I believe that American politicians, statesmen, should not be very much — affected by the prevailing media environment.
If they want to change their policy towards Iran, well, they have to announce that and take actual steps towards that. I think that this benefits the American government, and it serves the interests of all of us. We — we'll welcome such an effort.
'We think that the market should be free'
WILLIAMS: Mr. President, what do you think is a fair price for a barrel of oil?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, a fair price — this has to be determined inside the environs, if I can use the word, of economy. We think that the market should be free and — these commodities should compete in a free setting or conditions. At the moment, the situation is not realistic. It is rather manufactured and the prices are not realistic as a result.
WILLIAMS: Can you specify how much, by percentage, it is overvalued right now, unrealistically?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, I can't give you an exact figure right now because the market is not a real market. Some powers are manipulating the prices inside the market. Do you really think that the price of oil is the end result of a healthy competition inside the market? It's not.
WILLIAMS: Where do you see future of Iraq, near term, the next few years?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, in a long-term approach, I believe that the Iraqi people will overcome, prevail over, in other words, their present problems. But in the immediate future, everything depends on the behavior as shown by the American government. If the American government and officials take up a rational, a humanitarian approach, the conditions inside Iraq will improve very quickly.
But if not, if they want to impose their will on the nation of Iraq, historical precedence tells them that they will not abide by this. And they will resist. Under such conditions, obviously the Iraqi people will incur some damages. But by the end of the day, they will prevail. They will succeed. But the main damages will be incurred by those parties which decided to disrespect the Iraqi nation.
WILLIAMS: Because you follow the news media in the United States and elsewhere, I know you're aware that analysts who study Iran believe that you want is a list of items. You would like a discussion of all kinds of items and issues — the full spectrum — what has been called the grand bargain. True or false?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, you have to appreciate. I don't even like the word a — a — a contract, if you will, or a deal would be a better translation. What is there for us to bargain over? Over our own right? The rights of other peoples? Our own independence? No. In an environment — we can cooperate in an environment which benefits all. All will benefit from such a environment.
And there is no need for any party to lose out. In a fair setting, everyone will benefit. And durable peace and security will prevail, will come to exist. I believe that all issues must be approached in a holistic manner. They are interrelated, these issues. All issues around the world are interrelated for that matter. Economy, politics, security are very closely linked, also culture.
WILLIAMS: How closely have you been following the presidential campaign in the United States?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, in a normal manner, if I can use the words, just the stories that the newspapers, the media are carrying.
WILLIAMS: Do you welcome the idea of an American Interests Section in Iran and how would you feel about the establishment of a full and complete United States embassy?
AHMADINEJAD: Well, at the moment, an interests section is — open. It's running right now. An American interests section is, again, operating in Tehran. The Swiss Embassy is doing that. But any measure which leads to the development of relations between the two peoples, we will welcome that.
WILLIAMS: Mr. President, again respectfully, when Americans say they want to talk to the real power in Iran, is that person you or the religious leader of this country Ayatollah Khamenei? And as a part of that question, will you be victorious in next year's election?
AHMADINEJAD: Inside the U.S., who makes the decisions? Really? Who makes the decisions? Do you know that, sir? Does the President make the decisions or others? Do you not know that?
WILLIAMS: Today, my role is not to answer questions, is to ask them. But I am curious to see where this is going, Mr. President.
AHMADINEJAD: Well, the process of decision making inside Iran is very clear. We have a very transparent set of laws. And the — and the decisions are very clear and the powers are very clear as well. And different officials take decisions within the realms of their responsibility.
'We will repeat these exercises'
WILLIAMS: What about your likelihood of success next year?
AHMADINEJAD: I think that we need to wait for one year.
WILLIAMS: That is all you will say?
AHMADINEJAD: What do you mean exactly by that?
WILLIAMS: You're willing to comment no further on your own election?
AHMADINEJAD: Do you have any specific questions? I will be happy to take them.
WILLIAMS: I have one for you. An American, a former FBI agent named Bob Levinson, moved and disappeared in Iran. How much do you know about his case and the status, the search for him?
AHMADINEJAD: There was a claim made some time ago, some people came over, the gentleman's family came over. They talked and met with our officials and were given our responses. I see no reason for a person who was given an Iranian visa and — came into Iran, arrived in Iran through official channels, to have problems here. Our security officials and agents have expressed their willingness to assess the FBI if the FBI has any information about his travels around the world.
We have said that we are ready to help, to assist with that matter. There are certain information that only FBI at the moment have. I am not an expert in that field, as you might appreciate, so I'm not going to make a judgment here whether that information, as they say, it is true and only held by the FBI or other parties for that matter.
WILLIAMS: Recently, Mr. President, Iran conducted a missile test. The photograph released by your own news agency to the wider world was found by analysts in the United States, using very sophisticated sophisticated computers, to have been doctored. The image was repeated to make it look like a larger launch that it was. Have you looked into this yourself? And do you have a reaction: true or false?
AHMADINEJAD: You need to know what some media have done is fabricated. It's not authentic. We don't need to do these things. Our missile defense might is very clear and it is very mighty. I ask them not be hasty. We will repeat these exercises down the line. Whenever there is a need, we will repeat those exercises
WILLIAMS: I've seen associates of yours approaching which means we've reached our last question. I will give this one last try, Mr. President. And the question is this: Is Iran's goal to have nuclear power or to be a nuclear power in the sense of possessing weapons. It's obviously the great fear of Israel and others in this region and it seems to stop the prospect of talks and better relations again and again. A group in Geneva seems to be asking you, coming this Saturday, whether or not you are willing to suspend activity. And one more time, I want to allow you the opportunity to answer.
AHMADINEJAD: It's very interesting. Before this meeting that is going to take place, you are aware of what other people are going to do, apparently. This tells me that you are a very able reporter and very active. Congratulations are in order. Before something happens, apparently you know what's going to happen. This is interesting. Having said that, we are not working to manufacture a bomb. We don't believe in a nuclear bomb. We also think it will not effect political relations. The Zionist regime which you refer to earlier has an arsenal of hundreds of nuclear warheads. Has this arsenal helped the Zionists to prevail inside the conflict inside Lebanon? No.
Again, did nuclear arms help the Soviet Union from falling and disintegrating. For that matter, did a nuclear bomb help the U.S. to prevail inside Iraq or Afghanistan, for that matter. Nuclear bombs belong to the 20th century. We are living in a new century. We think that when it cam to the nuclear issue to nuclear issue, an inappropriate measure or action was taken. Nuclear energy must not be equaled to a nuclear bomb. This is a disservice to the society of man
Nuclear energy is very beneficial and very clean, by the way. All nations must use it. A bomb, obviously, is a very bad thing. Nobody should have such a bomb. If there are parties that claim a bomb is a bad thing, it's only appropriate for them, as a first step, to destroy their stockpiles. Destroy their bombs and allow clean energy to be utilized by all.
I ask you if today, 1,000 nuclear power plants were up and running, would we have seen an increase in the price of oil? I am sure we wouldn't have had such high prices which is affecting the economies of all countries. It has created problems for their economies. Nuclear energy is a renewable energy. It's clean. It's environmentally friendly and all nations must possess it.
And there should be a very concrete, if I can use the word, set of regulations, a fair set of regulations which will control the activities of all nations to supervise things, without discrimination. To supervise without discrimination. Allow nations to have access to such clean energy. [UNINTELLIGIBLE] which I talked about earlier will show itself, will manifest itself here as well.
There are parties, which have bombs themselves, and they have nuclear energy as well and unfair basis and on a discriminatory basis, they are preventing other people — other parties, from utilizing clean nuclear energy.
On many occasion, the IAEA has officially announced that there has been no diversion when it comes to nuclear activities on the part of Iran. I would like to repeat again: if parties want to cooperate with the Iranian nation, the way to go about that would not be ultimatums or threats or to ask the Iranian people, for that matter, to give up its rights. That option leads to nowhere and it has been experimented with time and again.
If there are parties which want to experience what has been experienced in the past, I'd advise them not to do that. But having said that, I cannot prevent them from doing that.


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Six Kenai Peninsula schools, including three on the lower peninsula, have earned a five-star rating, the highest available, under a new state accountability system.
With Alaska receiving a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind, results of that system developed by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development were announced Friday.
Under the Alaska School Performance Index, or ASPI, schools are scored on a 100-point scale based on:
•Reading, writing and math proficiency for students in grades three through 10;
•The degree to which a school's students are improving, remaining the same or declining in reading, writing and math scores;
•Graduation rates if the school has 12th-graders;
•High school student scores on SAT and ACT college assessments and WorkKeys career-readiness assessments; and
•Student participation rates in WorkKeys assessments.
"The goal of using the ASPI rating system is to inform schools and the state of local outcomes in critical areas," said Mike Hanley, the state's education commissioner. "By doing so we are able to focus resources in areas of challenge, and continue the efforts
that produce success."
Of the 503 schools rated across the state, 52 earned five stars, the highest rating; 190 received four stars; 162 received three stars; 49 received two stars; and 50 received one star. Almost 90 percent of students attended schools in 2012-2013 that earned three stars or above, according to information provided by the state.
With 45 schools in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, six received five stars, 28 received four stars, six received three stars, one received two stars and two received one star.
Of the 17 southern Kenai Peninsula schools, from Ninilchik south, three received five-star ratings, 10 received four-star ratings; three received three-star ratings; and one received a two-star rating.
"I am pleased that the state's new ASPI is an improved method of determining how well a school or district is meeting the educational needs of its students," said Dr. Steve Atwater, KPBSD superintendent.
Atwater urged against viewing the star rating as "the definitive quality descriptor for either a school or a district. This is illustrated by one of our schools that made five-star academic gains, but had a two-star attendance rating. The final three-star designation does not reflect the school's excellent academic gains."
Deputy Commissioner Les Morse; Dr. Susan McCauley, the department's director of teaching and learning support; and Eric Fry, the department's information officer, held a teleconference Friday to explain the system and review the results.
Each school has the goal of reducing its percentage of non-proficient students by half over the next six years in yearly increments. That goal applies to the school as a whole, as well as subgroups with as many as five students. The subgroups include students with disabilities, English language learners, economically disadvantaged students, Alaska Native and American Indians, Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, mixed race and Asian/Pacific Islanders.
Improvement plans must be put in place by all one-, two- and three-star schools. Improvement plans also area required for four- and five-star schools whose graduation rate has dropped from the previous year; schools with a decline in assessment scores over a two-year period; or schools failing to meet their annual goals for a two-year period. Those improvement plans must be submitted to the state for approval by Oct. 1 and be implemented immediately. One- and two-star schools will be assigned a liaison to assist them.
Following are the star ratings for southern peninsula schools:
• Chapman: four stars;
• Connections (district-wide): three stars;
• Fireweed Academy: four stars;
• Homer Flex: two stars;
• Homer High School: four stars;
• Homer Middle School: five stars;
• Kachemak Selo School: four stars;
• McNeil Canyon Elementary School: four stars;
• Nanwalek School: three stars;
• Nikolaevsk School: four stars;
• Ninilchik School: four stars;
• Paul Banks Elementary School: five stars;
• Port Graham School: three stars;
• Razdolna School: four stars;
• Susan B. English School: four stars;
• Voznesenka School: four stars;
• West Homer Elementary School: five stars.
McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at email@example.com.


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Workshop Weekend
What is Workshop Weekend?
Workshop Weekend is a community-based two-day event that brings together dozens of short, hands-on workshops across a variety of disciplines, from crafting to engineering to gardening, all taught by local, passionate instructors with years of experience in their craft.
Why Workshop Weekend?
The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.Steve Jobs
For my brother and I, our experiences growing up inspired us to create Workshop Weekend. We were lucky to discover a few of our own passions early on in life, and we explored these passions throughout our high school and college years and, later, through our professional lives.
There's no magic to discovering what you're passionate about; if you haven't found it yet, keep exploring. We think everyone, young and old, should have the opportunity to discover that passion, and that belief has driven us to put together Workshop Weekend: It's a way to encourage that exploration of passions.
We hope you'll join us. Share your passion by running a workshop or find a new passion by taking one!
— Gil & J.D.
About the Organizers
J.D. Zamfirescu co-founded Appjet, the creators of EtherPad, a web-based text editor for real-time collaboration. AppJet was acquired by Google in 2009. He also sits on the board of Learning Unlimited, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the Splash educational program to universities across the United States. J.D. holds S.B. and M.Eng. degrees in computer science from MIT.
Gil Zamfirescu played a leading role in founding FertilGas, a 2008 initiative dedicated to disseminating sustainable energy technology and education to rural communities in Honduras. Prior to that, in 2007, he was a lecturer at two universities in China, where he taught principles of business organization to university students at Zhejiang University and Tianjin University of Technology. Gil holds an S.B. degree in economics from MIT.