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18 Bizarre Things That Only Happen In Argentina
Last week, the Argentine government devalued its currency and prices soared. It was just one step on a long road to getting Argentina's economy back in order as the Central Bank's currency reserves dip to dangerous levels.
It's been chaotic, but Argentines don't sweat it. They've seen this before.
Economic crashes, underground dollar exchanges, Rolling Stones cults, and a string of five Presidents in two weeks in 2001 — Argentina is a crazy place.
The South American country is rich with resources, but often broke. As a result, Argentines are so accustomed to political and economic turmoil that they've adopted a bunch of interesting coping mechanisms — habits that help them get through the disorder.
And then there's the stuff that just comes out of left field.
In 2001/2002 the country had five presidents in two weeks.
It was a tough time — Argentina's economy had crashed after it defaulted on $13.2 billion of foreign debt it could not pay.
The string of presidents started when Fernando de la Rua resigned in December of 2001. The last of the five, Eduardo Duhalde, was appointed in January 2002 amid major protesting.
The country's naval vessel, La Fragata Libertad, was impounded in Ghana for two weeks thanks to a hedge fund manager.
Hedge fund manager Paul Singer got a Ghanaian court to impound the 'Libertad,' which was docked in a Ghanaian port, last year. It was stuck there for months.
The country has refused to pay Singer and other investors $1.4 billion in sovereign debt. The legal case has raged for years, with Argentina referring to the hedge fund managers as "vultures."
Singer took the boat as collateral.
The government put out this video of the crew finally returning home.
Now the president charters a flight to avoid getting her state plane impounded.
In order to avoid another Paul Singer Ghana incident, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner chartered an $880,000 flight to Indonesia earlier this year.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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In an urban environment, particularly for smart city applications, the need for a geospatial base layer goes beyond traditional data products. This includes digital surface and elevation models, qualitative data on vegetation, street information, built-up areas and land use. In addition, the base layer requires 3D information in the form of GIS-ready buildings for planning purposes and 3D meshes for visualisation.
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subset: commoncrawl


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No, we didn't make any funny brownies while we were in Colorado. And I'm not referring to the contact high we may have experienced at Riot Fest. Today we're talking dessert and not just any dessert, a birthday dessert!
I remember as a kid, birthdays were all about the parties and the presents. We always had a kid party, a birthday dinner and an extended family party. We had sleepovers, pizza parties, scavenger hunts and lots of homemade cakes (including those special Cinnamon Swirl cakes). Sometimes it turned into a month-long celebration depending on when the parties were scheduled.
I've tried to carry that tradition on with Mr. N and Miss A because childhood birthdays are moments to be treasured. As a kid, it's pure bliss. So around here, the kids get to pick their favorite meal (you can find several of these on the blog with a quick search of "birthdays") and of course the birthday desserts. We have a party with their friends and another with extended family. We've had spy parties, rock diva parties, bouncy parties and laser tag parties. The celebrations are seemingly endless for June and July!
As for the grown-ups, well, it's not quite the same, especially if your birthday falls on a holiday. Poor Mike has to compete with New Year's Eve. But holiday or not, grown up birthdays are no less special in this house. The kids and I dote on Mike all day long. It's his day right up until the late night hours, when we briefly shift focus to celebrate the New Year, before having more birthday festivities on New Year's Day.
Drawing out the celebrations isn't just about parties either. It's about shining the spotlight on the birthday king, queen, prince or princess for that extra bit of love and attention. One of my favorite ways to do this, which seems silly and simple, but is very effective, is to wish them happy birthday for days, "Happy day after your birthday!" Or, "Happy day after the day after your birthday!" Sometimes for fun, I'll even look up how many days it's been since their birthday months later and bust out a "Happy 146 days after your birthday!" It makes their faces glow – even my middle schooler's.
As for my birthday, well, they aren't all about the parties or presents anymore. While I do still enjoy a good night out with friends to toast another year, it's really about spending time with my family and being grateful for everything I've experienced and learned up to this new beautiful age. In fact this year, I didn't even age! For the past year, I've been thinking I was 38. Then this year, I realized I was in fact turning 38. Somehow I missed 37 altogether! It's like that feeling you get when you pull out the winter coats and find money in the pocket from last year. It's a bonus!
Now while my birthdays are mellower than they used to be, they are still one of my favorite times of the year. It's a time I let myself indulge in whatever food and dessert my heart desires – calories be damned! This year my attention was solely focused on dessert and it all began when I read about these beautiful no bake lemon slices on Hotly Spiced.
For anyone that doesn't know Charlie Louie at Hotly Spiced, she too knows how to do birthdays right! Take a browse around her blog and you'll see she's not only an expert at birthday parties, but she has a gift when it comes to birthday cakes. From stilettos to roses, she's a master. She even has her own category for birthday cakes! As someone that has neither the skill nor the patience for making cakes, she leaves me in awe every time.
Now if you've been following us for a while, you also know that I have an obsession with all things lemon – especially lemon bars. So when I saw these no bake beauties, I had to have them ASAP. And am I happy I did. They were perfectly sweet and full of that fresh lemon flavor I crave (truly crave in a scary animalistic way – translation: don't touch my lemon squares!).
I've made this recipe several times already and I knew they had to be on my birthday plate this year. After some consideration (there are always these no bakes, this cobbler and this cake to contend with on my birthday), I decided to put a spin on Charlie's recipe. Instead of a no bake bar, I wanted to try a half-baked bar! I have a go-to shortbread recipe that I love for its flavor, texture and simplicity (it also reminds me of Maine and that's never a bad thing), and I had a feeling it would go well with Charlie's lemony icing.
And it did! The buttery shortbread is a delicious complement to the tangy, sugary topping and the recipe is nearly as easy. Instead of baking the shortbread in a smaller baking dish, I used a 9-inch-by-13-inch dish to make them a bit thinner (and more plentiful). The icing, which I added a little more lemon to because I'm a lemon junkie, spread evenly over a cooled shortbread, but admittedly it's a delicate process. It does require patience and a good rubber spatula otherwise the shortbread will break into the icing.
These are best served cold, so refrigeration after spreading the icing is recommended. They are also easier to slice once cold. Honestly, though, they're delicious served room temp or cold. Obviously they are a 4 spooner for me, the kids too. Mike also voted 4 spoons, making this an all-around winner! To keep myself from eating them all, I brought some to my mom and dad's for my birthday dinner. My dad also loved them and devoured several. Mom is gluten free so couldn't partake, but instead she made me a special Cinnamon Swirl cake, in honor of my Auntie Karen, which she could eat too.
Print this recipe: Half Baked Lemon Squares
Although we weren't part of each others' lives for the last decade, and despite her passing, Auntie Karen was smiling down this year. I received this note on my birthday (my uncle didn't realize the timing):
Enclosed was a card I had made for my Godmother years ago.
It made my day. Even as a grown-up surprises and gifts are still as special, if not more so, than when I was a kid.
And whether I'm eight, 18, 38 or 88, I'm planning to celebrate every wonderful year. Later this week we'll share my birthday adventure to Chicago Gourmet and because presents are still fun – have a giveaway for you too!


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AxProtector exposed - Integrity protection
of a modular application
Convenience is the natural enemy of security. How to calibrate the two factors? Who is involved in the process? What is the optimal ratio for your specific scenario? Let's discover this critical aspect together.
Pretty frequently, protection and licensing of a complete software modular application are handled via a central component ("license.dll"). This is especially true for articulated applications, consisting of several modules (.exe and .dll). In this case, the emphasis is usually on ease, convenience and cost containment for the whole process. The downside though is in terms of security: the hacker will also commonly have an easy way in his attempt to bypass protection and licensing: He will just have to replace the central license.dll with his own implementation. On the other side, the security maniacs will care of all the details, oftentimes missing the scope of application performance and cost sustainability.
AxProtector, the core engine of CodeMeter, shows that convenience and security are not fully incompatible.
- AxProtector protects all that is required: each module (.exe or .dll) that needs copy protection from IP infringements and individual licensing is encrypted, so that the central license.dll is no longer called for
- AxProtector is attentive to the economy of your enterprise: it is fully automatized
But AxProtector can do even more. It does ensure the integrity of the complete application. Each .dll can be loaded only from the designated application. The intrusion of a foreign .dll in your application is just as impossible as the misuse of your .dll in a foreign product. And even the individual modules are protected with a self-check against manipulation.
During this one-hour webinar we will explore the following main topics:
- Requirements of integrity protection
- Analysis of the preventive aspects
- The chicken and egg problem in verification: .exe or .dll
- Detection and response to tampering
- Basics of asymmetric cryptography
- Hardware vs Software based protection
- Live demonstration of AxProtector: what it performs automatically and what you should be attentive to
No need to sacrifice or compromise: Convenience and security can definitely be best friends. It's just a matter of accurate balance.


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Experts see bright future, say industry needs to be innovative and competitive to reap benefits
Islamic banking is one of the fastest-growing segments in the world, but it needs to be innovative and competitive to realise the true growth potential in years to come, experts say.
Addressing the fifth World Islamic Retail Banking Conference here on Tuesday, top executives of leading Islamic banks underlined the need to address the challenges being faced by the industry to increase its share in global banking industry.
"There is urgent need to develop Shariah regulatory framework to realise the true potential of Islamic retail banking," said Adnan Yousif, president and chief executive of the Al Baraka Banking Group.
He delivered the keynote speech entitled "The Changing Retail Banking Landscape" and said the lack of awareness about Islamic banking products is one of the main challenges, which needs to be settled to promote the industry.
"The media can play an important role to develop awareness about Islamic banking industry," he said, adding that Bahrain has already launched good initiatives including Islamic finance as a subject at the secondary level, colleges and universities.
Yousif also hailed Dubai's recent initiatives to become a capital of Islamic economy and said local banks — Dubai Islamic Bank, Noor Islamic Bank, Mashreq and Al Hilal Bank, among others — are doing good to promote Islamic retail banking.
Criticising conventional banking, he said it is just compiling "toxic loans" or "bad debt", which is not beneficiating the economy.
"I wish we could have a huge Islamic bank in the Arab world that could help develop big industries," he said.
Asad Batla, head of the consumer banking division of Bank Nizwa and who was chairman for the first day of the conference, said Islamic banking industry is relatively new and "we need to give our best to promote this segment".
Abdulrahman Turki, general manager of retail banking at Bahrain Islamic Bank, said Islamic banking is doing good compared to conventional modes of business. However, he stressed the need to create awareness about Islamic banking through various channels to increase its share in the industry.
"We are one of the top Islamic banks operating in Bahrain with 14 branches and have launched couple of good initiatives to promote Islamic banking in the country through conferences and meetings," he said.
The annual CEO roundtable, entitled "Developing Islamic Retail Banking, reaching to the retail target segments: Back to Basics", highlighted the basic practices and the potential of immense opportunities that Islamic banking offers to the global retail banking sector.
Jordan Islamic Bank's vice-chairman and CEO Musa A. Shihadeh explained the reasons why Islamic banks failed to build up the assets and said industry need to bring down the cost of funding to competitive levels.
Dr Jamil El Jaroudi, CEO of Bank Nizwa, said the industry is doing well and not piling up "toxic loans" like conventional banks.
Irfan Siddiqui, president and CEO of Meezan Bank, shared the success story of the bank and said about 70 per cent of customers are still untapped and there is huge potential to promote Islamic banking across the globe.
Wasim Saifi, CEO of Standard Chartered Saadiq Berhad and global head of Islamic Consumer Banking of Standard Chartered Bank, said Islamic banking should be high on bankers' agenda to gain more share of the banking industry.
"Substantial opportunities exist in East and West Africa and the next decade is very important for the industry. Major Muslim countries need to realise the true potential of Islamic banking," he said.
Sultan Choudhury, executive board director and managing director of the Islamic Bank of Britain, said the UK is a very integrated market for the banking industry and the bank more dependent on technology and Internet banking. He said non-Muslims are also strong customers for Islamic banking products.
Moinuddin Malim, CEO of Mashreq Al Islami, said Islamic banking has done a good job compared to conventional units, however the quality of service, education and innovasion are keys to promote the industry.
In his presentation John Chang, head of consumer banking at Noor Islamic Bank, enlightened the audience on how to achieve total organisational alignment. Renowned Shariah scholar Shaikh Nizam Yaquby acknowledged the queries of the participants during the annual open fatwa session, which was moderated by Professor Humayun Dar, chairman of Edbiz Corporation.
The other participating Shariah scholars and experts were Dr Muhammad Al Bashir Muhammad Al Amine, group head of Shariah at Bank Alkhair; Shaykh Haytham Tamim and Momin Hyat, Shariah scholar and manager of Shariah Governance and Compliance at Mashreq Al Islami.
R. Lakshmanan, chief executive of Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions, focused on the different models used to understand housing finance such as Ijara, Musharaka and Murabaha.
Tamas Erni, managing partner at Loxon Solutions, addressed the issues pertaining to credit risk origination through IT platforms in his presentation.
Imran Samee, head of the Consumer Banking Division at Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam, presented the Case Study Brunei on Islamic retail banking, emphasising on reposition, distribution and risk management issues.
The first day of the conference marked its closure with the networking reception, which also paved the way for the inauguration of the Global Islamic Finance Awards, which was hosted by WIRBC and organised by Edbiz Consultancy late on Tuesday.
(Khaleej Times / 27 Nov 2013)---
Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Consultant-Speaker-Motivator: www.ahmad-sanusi-husain.com
Islamic Investment Malaysia: www.islamic-invest-malaysia.com


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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Hurricane Gustav didn't pack the wallop of Katrina three years earlier, officials said Monday, but they urged almost 2 million evacuees to stay away from the Gulf Coast for another day.
A man walks past a storefront that collapsed as Hurricane Gustav passed through Lafayette, Louisiana, on Monday.
"Tomorrow is not a day to start coming back to the city of New Orleans," Mayor Ray Nagin said Monday night.
"Power lines are down all over the city; there's a significant number of homes and businesses that are without power," Nagin said.
Still, he said, Gustav didn't do the damage feared a few days ago, a possible repeat of 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
"I'd probably call Gustav, instead of the mother of all storms, maybe the mother-in-law or the ugly sister of all storms," Nagin said.
Across Louisiana, more than 800,000 people were without electricity, and some may not see it restored for two weeks or more, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
At a news conference with Jindal, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urged Gulf Coast residents who evacuated to stay away until damage could be assessed.
But even those who fled faced hardships. About 2,700 people who took up short-term residence Monday in the Louisiana State University Agriculture Center in Alexandria were told that the buildings generator power was not reaching the plumbing system, meaning no showers and no flushing toilets, said John Barnett, head of the facilities.
"It's really crowded, and everybody's just trying to do their best," said Kesha Harlow, who was there with her daughter, 8, and her son, 2 months. "We're just waiting for the storm to blow over."
Gustav roared from the Gulf of Mexico into southern Louisiana on Monday as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 110 mph, bringing fierce winds and heavy rains from the Alabama-Florida border west into Texas.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, two people were killed when a tree fell on the house where they were staying after they had come from farther south to escape the storm, officials said. A man was killed in a similar incident in north Lafayette, Louisiana, officials said.
Four hospice patients died while waiting for air ambulances to evacuate them from southern Louisiana, according to Richard Zuschlag, chairman and CEO of Acadian Ambulance.
Gustav was blamed for more than 60 deaths in the Caribbean, including 51 in southwestern Haiti.
At 10 p.m. CT, Gustav was a tropical storm with sustained winds of 60 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
In New Orleans, Gustav drove sheets of water over the protective levees around the Industrial Canal early Monday afternoon, but the walls appeared to hold up under the onslaught as the winds faded.
Up to 6 feet of water spilled into an industrial park in the Upper 9th Ward late Monday morning, pouring through small gaps in the concrete flood walls before receding in the afternoon. Watch water spill over the levee »
But as the storm eased, inspectors from the Army Corps of Engineers and parish levee boards went out to check on the earthen walls and have found nothing to raise alarm, said Col. Craig Gunter, a Corps of Engineers spokesman. iReport.com: See one reader's footage of the levee
"The levees all held up," Nagin said. "I was hoping that this would happen, that we would be able to stand before America and before everyone and say we had some success with the levee system."
With the water level in Lake Pontchartrain north of the city rising, the Army Corps of Engineers closed flood gates on the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal, two areas that caused some of the more severe flooding during Katrina.
Official feared late Monday afternoon that a private levee south of New Orleans was in danger of failing, but water levels receded, and sandbagging efforts appeared to have paid off.
"We have stopped the bleeding, and I am very encouraged by what we are seeing," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said of the levee in Braithwaite.
Gustav made landfall Monday morning near the coastal town of Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 80 miles southwest of New Orleans. iReport: Watch winds rip New Orleans rooftop
The storm's eastern bands, which generally pack the most powerful winds, also hammered Mississippi as Gustav moved to the west of New Orleans.
In Biloxi, Mississippi, iReporter Kevin Wise, who lives two blocks from the beach, said Gustav had pushed the Gulf waters into a highway about 100 yards from the normal shoreline.
"On the beach, it was blowing hard enough that you had to squat down to take a picture; it could pretty much throw you around," he said. Wise said he and his wife ignored mandatory evacuation orders for his area.
Almost 2 million residents evacuated the Louisiana coast, but some in New Orleans opted to brave the storm.
"It really didn't look as vicious as, obviously, Katrina did," Jack Bosma said. Watch gales batter home, reporter »
He said the wind scattered his back gate across his yard, but his power was on, and neighbors had been congregating on his porch.
"It's really, quite honestly, basically, just like a bad storm. It doesn't seem that drastic at all," he said. iReport.com: Did you stay? Share your story
Property damage from Gustav could total $8 billion, just 25 percent of Sunday's estimate, according to a federally supported computer projection issued Monday morning. See damage map »
Meanwhile, forecasters said late Monday that Hurricane Hanna was nearly stationary in the Bahamas. At 11 p.m. ET, Hanna had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, making it a Category 1 storm.
Hanna could make landfall Friday near the Georgia/South Carolina border, possibly as a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph.
And in the far eastern Atlantic, Tropical Storm Ike formed Monday with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It was headed toward the Bahamas
CNN's Kathleen Koch, Jeanne Meserve, Mike Ahlers, Morgan Neill, Matt Sloane, Susan Roesgen, Chris Lawrence and Ali Velshi contributed to this report.
All About National Hurricane Center • Hurricane Katrina • Natural Disasters • New Orleans • Mississippi


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The probe into the Sept. 3 death of Castro includes evidence that he may have died from autoerotic asphyxiation.
An Ohio prisons report on Castro's death released Thursday suggests that possibility, noting his pants and underwear were around his ankles when he was found.
The report also says two guards falsified logs documenting the number of times they checked on Castro before he died.
Castro, 53, was found hanging from a bedsheet just weeks into a life sentence. He pleaded guilty in August to kidnapping three women off the streets, imprisoning them in his home for a decade and repeatedly raping and beating them.
Autoerotic asphyxiation is a sexual act in which people achieve sexual satisfaction while choking themselves into unconsciousness.
Castro did not leave a suicide note, a full psychological evaluation had found no sign he was seriously mentally ill or contemplating suicide, and investigators could find no reason he would have taken his own life, according to the report.
In fact, the day Castro died, the warden recommended he serve his time apart from the other inmates, an option Castro expressed interest in, the investigation found.
The findings were forwarded to the Ohio Highway Patrol "for consideration of the possibility of autoerotic asphyxiation," the report said.
The Highway Patrol said it would have no comment pending the release of its own investigation.
Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak, who classified Castro's death as a suicide last week, said Thursday that her office was never told his pants were down. But she said she stands by her finding of suicide.
In Castro's cell, officials found a Bible open to John, Chapters 2 and 3 and pictures of Castro's family arranged "in a poster-board fashion," according to the report.
Surveillance video indicates guards did not do at least eight required checks on Castro the afternoon and evening before his death and falsified the logs, according to the report. Two checks were done properly just before Castro died.
The report also says staff failed to make sure Castro watched a suicide-prevention video when he first arrived in August.
Similar allegations of falsified logs have been made against two other guards in the Aug. 4 suicide of a death row inmate just days before he was to be executed.
After release of Thursday's report, the prison system announced that supervisors will conduct random checks at all prisons to make sure guards are doing their rounds.
Castro's lawyer brushed off the suggestion of autoerotic asphyxiation and said the prison bears responsibility for his death.
The prison guards union accused the state of scapegoating employees instead of dealing with overcrowding and violence behind bars.
The prison report also found that an ambulance was significantly late in arriving but that the delay probably didn't affect the outcome.
In court, Castro blamed his problems on an addiction to pornography. He described himself as a sex addict and said: "I'm not a monster. I'm sick."
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The fine people at work intelligent.ly asked me to share some thoughts on gamification. I'm reposting my article here with their kind permission.
It's time for the enterprise to take games seriously. Not just as a way for employees to reduce stress online or on their mobile devices during lunch breaks, but as a way to get business results.
Gamification is a discipline that applies game design methods, and even game mechanics, to things that aren't games in order to achieve a desired goal. You've probably already experienced gamification firsthand: Promotional campaigns that unlock rewards if you take certain actions, awarding badges for status, and displaying top participants on a leaderboard, are all commonly used methods of organizing and motivating people via subtle yet powerful elements common to games.
Best-selling game designer Mike Elliott offers an example:
"If you were going to have a daily discount, you could just list the daily discount on your site. Or you could have the customer hit a button, watch a wheel spin, and then reveal the daily discount. If you do this, you have gamified your site. The customer generally feels happier, and other than a few lines of code, there is no real cost to your business.
"You give them the same things you would have given them anyway, but you do it in a way that makes them feel more invested; and they feel like they earned the discount, reward, or frequent flier points. This is the most common type of gamification and is probably the most effective for the cost involved."
Seeing the buzz about gamification in the business press, you probably got a feeling of déjà vu – much of it sounds like the buzz about blogging five years ago, and other online communication channels since then. "Should your company have a blog?" was once the question of the day, and for those caught up in the initial enthusiasm over this new platform, the answer was an unhesitating "Yes." The same was true of engaging on Twitter and Facebook.
But in all of those cases, the real answer was a series of smart and strategic questions. What are we trying to achieve? Who is our audience? How do they get information, and what motivates them to take action? Do we have the resources (internal, external or both) to do this thing right?
It's the same with gamifying your business. But we'll add a couple of questions to the above: What do you mean by "gamify"? And what do you mean by "your business"?
Gamifying your business could mean anything – from using game elements in a marketing campaign to radically changing how your people work and collaborate. So first, identify the challenge you want to overcome or the goal you want to achieve. Then think about what stands between you and success. Are these things that have been, or could be, solved by applying game elements to the problem?
For example, you might learn that your employees have significant gaps in their knowledge of the overall business, because the orientation process for new hires lacks structure and accountability. The new employees don't know what they need to learn to be effective. Your managers are spread so thin that they're barely aware that someone new has been hired, much less that they should sit down with them.
This is a case where gamification could be a powerful tool – not by making orientation a game (the "spoonful of sugar" approach is great for children, but condescending to adults) but by using best practices of game design to structure and motivate the participants. You might redesign the orientation as you would a three-day scavenger hunt, tasking the new hire with meeting specific people and completing certain tasks in order to achieve the status of a fully-trained member of the team. Each meeting or task is logged by awarding the new employee a badge, making it easy to tell at a glance how far he or she has progressed and identify gaps.
Another key learning we can draw from the social media revolution is to make use of the experts in the field. It was a bad idea back then to turn the company blog over to an employee just because they seemed computer-savvy; and it's a bad idea now to put your gamification strategy in the hands of employees who think they understand game design because they've played a lot of mobile games. Game design is both art and science, and doing it effectively requires a deep understanding of game mechanics and the psychology of motivating people to take action.
So before you place your business on the starting square of a gamification push, do some research. You can easily find gamification vendors with a simple Internet search. Look for game consultancies as well, and game design companies who have worked with major brands – seasoned designers who've been plying their craft for 20 years or more can give you a valuable perspective on what games can and can't do well in a business setting.


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According to the New York Post, the "alien-infested" ranch (located in Rainbow Valley, about an hour or "60 minutes" west of Phoenix, AZ) is on the market for a mere $5,000,000.00. Chump change, in other words. Why would I dare say that? Who wouldn't want aliens dropping by for a sittin' down gabfest?
Known officially as Stardust Ranch, this extraterrestrial pit stop is where land owner John Edmonds insists he's engaged in "I know you are but what am I?" confrontation with hostile aliens, whom he dispatched with (wait for it)…a Samurai sword. Edmonds said that in the past 20 years, he has experienced many "strange events" involving aliens and claims to have killed more than a dozen extraterrestrials on his sprawling ranch. (He even has alien bloodstains on his front porch to prove it.)
Sound familiar? It should — this is practically a direct lift from Sherman Ranch, aka Skinwalker Ranch, located a few rock throws from southeast Ballard, UT. The story was the basis for the Skinwalker Ranch movie, released in 2013. That one not only had not-so-neighborly aliens trespassing through land mines of cow/horse patties (yo, space dudes — you ever hear of wiping your feet?), but UFO sightings (duh — the aliens had to get there somehow), crop circles (see "cow/horse patties"), ghosts, glowing orbs and even a Bigfoot-esque creature. (In the movie it was a werewolf.)
So ridiculously enticing is this place, it was purchased (or "bought") by the National Institute for Discovery Science to "study anecdotal sightings." I should like to apply for a job with the National Institute for Discovery Science.
While they process my 400-page résumé, here are a few just-released and upcoming horror/sci-fi movies that may or may not leave animal business tracks on your carpet or "floor"…
THE UFO CONCLUSION (available now/VOD)
"What is the alien agenda? And why has the government gone to such great lengths to stifle the overwhelming evidence that otherworldly creatures exist? Some of our greatest minds unveil the truth behind this massive cover-up."
Don't need a massive mind to know the existence of aliens has been covered up by REPUBLICANS for decades. Still, nice to see somebody besides a drunk redneck talk in complete sentences about extraterrestrials.
RAVENSWOOD (available now/VOD)
"When four American tourists go on a ghost tour, they get much more than they bargained when the spirits of an evil doctor and his last victim trap them in an old abandoned psychiatric ward."
Um, when you go on a hot dog farm tour, you pretty much expect to see hot dog trees, yes? So it stands to reason a ghost tour is gonna have some transparent entities. They better — I'd hate to pay all that money and not see one. (I'm looking in your direction, Hot Dog Farm Tours.)
INCIDENT IN A GHOST LAND (October 28, 2017)
"A mother of two inherits a home from her aunt. On the first night in the new home she is confronted with murderous intruders and fights for her daughters' lives. Sixteen years later the daughters reunite at the house — and that is when things get strange."
So they give away mom was killed, simply by telling us the intruders were "murderous." Thanks, jerks. Wonder if mom's ghost comes back to see her daughters when they go back to the murder house?
BRIGHT (December, 2017/Netflix)
"In an alternate present day, humans, orcs, elves and fairies have been coexisting since the beginning of time. Two police officers, one a human, the other an orc, embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which, in the wrong hands, could destroy everything."
They had me at the forgotten relic that could destroy everything. Word around the grocery aisles is that the budget for this Netflix™-made movie is $90 million fun bucks. Pffft — I could make TWO movies for that price and STILL have enough left over to take a tour of that Hot Dog Farm.


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Title Policy & Recorded Mortgage Request
Requests for any closing related documents should be directed to the settlement/closing agent that handled your transaction. This information can be located on your Settlement Statement. If the settlement agent is unable to provide a copy of the Owners Policy, please scan the signed Settlement Statement and send to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Requests for final title policies or recorded mortgages should be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Changes related to class action lawsuit against the ODE
The Ohio Department of Education soon will make changes in the way it monitors, enforces and publicizes Ohio school districts. Compliant with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which ensures a free, appropriate public education to students with disabilities. The actions result from the partial settlement of a class action lawsuit. For details, see the ODE web site.


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Misleading Indicator
Will the Great Recession finally end our misguided obsession with gross domestic product?
Here's a question no one ever asks about the Great Recession: How do we even know it's happening? Daily, almost, someone releases employment figures, production estimates, consumer-confidence indexes—almost all of them bad. There's no need to wonder what's happening when information about everyone's problems constantly streams across your TV screen.
And in this dolorous statistical parade, no number is quite so central to public life as the gross domestic product. Political scientists build formulas around it to predict who will win the presidency. The stock market trembles at the approach of new quarterly figures. Other economic statistics, like budget deficits or health-care spending, are quoted as percentages of GDP. It has become the common denominator of economic well-being.
But GDP's broad dominion has long had its critics. It was never meant to be the measure of our well-being, they say, only the measure of our production—literally, the total value of the goods and services produced within the national borders in a given year. While the quest for some broader measure of progress has been going on for a while (more than a decade ago, for example, The Atlantic was running articles like "If the GDP Is Up, Why Is America Down?"), it may finally be gaining traction at a time when people understand, as never before, how easily GDP and well-being can diverge.
One of the leaders of a huge global effort to build a better statistical yardstick has been Enrico Giovannini, until recently the chief statistician of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Though the OECD is the global coordinator of the project, its partners represent a who's who of economic development: the World Bank, various UN programs, the African Development Bank, and the European Commission. They are looking to create more-reliable metrics for measuring change in our health, education, the environment—the many ways that human beings make themselves better off or worse off. This fall, in the wake of the OECD's third World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge, and Policy, these groups are set to move ahead on a broader, better set of indexes.
Crisis seems to be the mother of statistics. The germ of the idea that eventually became GDP emerged after World War I, when American economists who had been frustrated by the lack of reliable statistics to guide war production founded the National Bureau of Economic Research (despite its name, the NBER is a private organization). Still, not until the Great Depression did we finally get our first national income accounts, which measured the annual income of people, companies, and the government.
It is rare for people to write about that era without taking a swipe at Herbert Hoover, but we might be kinder if we remembered just how little information he had. With no national income accounts, Hoover had to rely on fragmentary indicators such as freight-car loadings, steel production, and the gyrations of the New York Stock Exchange. There weren't even comprehensive national unemployment statistics, because Congress didn't authorize the Department of Labor to collect them until the middle of 1930. Forget Hoover's economic theory, most of which was pretty bad; the man barely had any data.
Beyond newspaper anecdotes and a bunch of unrelated industrial indexes, he had little way of knowing just how awful things were or, more important, exactly where intervention might be needed. It's as if someone hired you to cater a lavish formal dinner—then gave you no head count, a partial list of available ingredients, and the July 1953 issue of Gourmet magazine to work with.
That started to change in 1932. The legendary progressive Senator Robert La Follette introduced a resolution that directed the secretary of commerce to estimate national income for the prior three years. Unable to find anyone in the department who was up to the task, Commerce hired Simon Kuznets, who had already begun working on the problem at the NBER. He spent the next 14 years creating a system of national accounts that, with constant refinements and additions, we still use today.
It's almost impossible to overstate what a titanic achievement this was. But here's something that hints at the magnitude of the difficulties: despite his earlier work, Kuznets didn't make the first tentative presentation of his figures to Congress until 1934. By 1941, he had expanded the series backward to 1919, and all the way to 1938. Measures of output—the true forerunners of GDP—didn't follow until 1942, as war production ramped up. (Total mobilization depended on extensive statistics, which is why the Nobel Prize winner Paul Samuelson called World WarII "an economist's war.") The Great Depression and World WarII created the modern world in a lot of ways. They also created one of the primary lenses through which we view it.
Unfortunately, that lens is a trifle distorted. It counts the dollar value of our output, but not the actual improvement in our lives, or even in our economic condition.
Think about a house, any of the millions that were constructed during the bubble that burst in 2008. Let's make it a nice house: four bedrooms, 3.5 baths, with an attached garage and a quarter-acre lot. During its construction, that house did its own little bit to boost GDP. Lumber was purchased and swathed in fluttering robes of Tyvek. Tiles were pressed out of clay and nailed to the roof. Pipe was laid, glass was sealed into the window slots, granite was hewn from a Vermont mountain and shipped all the way to its kitchen counters. All of this output, which swelled GDP (at least to the tune of its purchase price), has ended up in … nothing. The house, in an exurban cul-de-sac, sits empty while bankers, borrowers, and regulators squabble. One of the estimated 2.4million excess homes on the market, its only function right now is to bankrupt its owner.
GDP does not, and cannot, reflect the waste of enormous effort, and precious natural resources, that went into building something that suddenly no one wants. Moreover, it misses many other aspects of our existence. Strip-mining a picturesque mountaintop, or clear-cutting a primeval forest, shows up in GDP only as a boost to output. Meanwhile, in India's national accounts, all of Mother Teresa'slabors among the poor would have had only the most minimal possible impact. GDP can record how much money we spend on health care or education; it cannot tell us whether the services we are buying are any good.
Consider the housewife, or rather, her modern successor, the stay-at-home mom. There'sevidence that the recession may have forced her back onto the job market. Since the downturn, the labor-force participation rate for working-age men has fallen significantly. But the participation rate of women has actually ticked up. The most likely explanation is that women whose husbands have been laid off or had their income cut are going back into the workplace (at least temporarily) to help make ends meet.
Some feminists might rejoice, but to an economist, or a social conservative, this development is almost certainly a bad thing. Assuming that she and her family both wanted her to stay home, each woman who leaves for the office out of economic necessity represents a loss to the country, a loss of what economists call utility and what we may think of as net national happiness.
As she heads back to the workplace, that mother will be boosting GDP. If her husband has lost not his job but merely some income from sales commissions or a business, she will probably have to pay for child care. She may need to buy new work clothes. Money will be spent on commuting, and the family will probably shift away from homemade meals to costlier prepared foods that save time. All of these transactions further swell the national income accounts. Yet all of them also represent a decrease in life satisfaction.
These are but some of the reasons why analysts on the left and right think we need a better measure of national welfare than GDP. But if Kuznets had a hard time figuring out how to measure all the transactions in our marketplace, how much harder will it be for his multilateral successors to put a number on the things we often call priceless?
There are, broadly speaking, three ways you can try to build a "well-being" index. You can use what economists call "shadow prices," imputing dollar values to the various things that contribute to our quality of life. But the index usually ends up being incredibly sensitive to your starting assumptions. As the economist Tyler Cowen says, "How much is a fish worth? .00000000000001 cents per fish or .0000000000000000000000000001 cents per fish? It makes a big difference!" He wryly adds, "The point of a GDP statistic is to drain away those sorts of problems. The point is not to commit you to an anti-fish position."
The second approach is to attach weights to various indicators and use them to build a composite gauge like the Human Development Index. Unfortunately, the weights will always be somewhat arbitrary. That inherent subjectivity makes the accuracy of your index somewhat suspect, and leaves the people who created it open to accusations of bias.
Take the World Health Organization's infamous ranking of national health systems, which in 2000 put the United States below such health-care luminaries as Oman, Colombia, and Morocco. Would you really rather get sick in Bogotá than in Berkeley? The WHO analysts heavily weighted somewhat murky estimates like equality of access, knocking us down to two places above Cuba, where antibiotics are scarce for everybody. This is so bizarre that conservatives don't sound entirely crazy when they voice suspicions that the WHO chose its weights to produce just this result. The WHO has since stopped publishing the index.
When all else fails, of course, you can just ask people: Are you better off now than you were three years ago? Even this approach poses problems. As any marketing expert can tell you, the difference between what people say they want, and what they actually want, can be large. Their memories of years past are quite poor, and often highly selective. Survey respondents are vulnerable to all sorts of influences, from how the question is framed to a desire to impress the interviewers. That's why polls often find substantial majorities against raising taxes and against cutting any major programs—and for reducing the deficit. Surveys also show that heterosexual men on average have many more sexual partners than heterosexual women do, which is mathematically impossible.
Besides, much of the progress in important areas of life is invisible to most people. You are indisputably better off having the option of getting a liver transplant if you should need one. But unless your skin actually starts turning yellow, you probably never think about it.
The OECD project's daunting task is to find better ways to handle these kinds of obstacles. One possible approach is to focus on hard indicators that we can measure in a fairly standard way. But these are scarce for some aspects of life, and even when they exist, can be tricky to interpret. Life expectancy, for example, seems pretty objective. It's a metric on which the United States does relatively poorly, causing us endless consternation. A few years ago, however, the health-care economists Robert Ohsfeldt and John Schneider recalculated the numbers after controlling for deaths from homicides and traffic accidents. Because these things tend to strike very young people, they can have an outsize impact on mortality statistics. Those deaths reflect America's crime policy and its driving habits more than the effectiveness of its health-care system. And if you remove them from the picture, say Ohsfeldt and Schneider, America jumps to the top of the life-expectancy tables. Assuming they're correct, does America have good health, or bad? Neither answer is the obviously right one. Such conundrums will vex analysts long into the future.
But of course, measurement problems also bedevil GDP, which is why the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis employs economists and statisticians rather than bookkeepers. Whatever the difficulties, the OECD project's leaders, like their forebears during the Great Depression, are convinced of the urgent need to get a better handle on the progress our societies are making.
That sense of urgency doesn't mean we should look for speedy results. Even though his staff had to tabulate the results without the aid of computers, Kuznets and his team produced the first national accounts more rapidly than his successors will create the newer, better set of statistics they aspire to. For all the burdens under which Kuznets labored, he had one advantage: the absence of an existing economic establishment. He did not have to convene working groups and seminars to make sure that academics around the world and the staffs of dozens of institutions felt included. Nor, once he was finished, did he have to convince governments that they should care. Giovannini describes today's next step as developing "a framework that at least lists the domains that outline what this project should look like." That's several nouns away from any sort of working model.
It doesn't help that Giovannini has left the OECD to head Italy's statistics authority. But efforts like these have always been larger than one person. When our grandchildren face their financial Waterloo, they may have Giovannini's brainchildren to help guide them through it. But we will have to muddle through with the legacy of Kuznets and the generations of economists who expanded and improved on his remarkable achievement.


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Mechanical Mondays: Upgrade Your Bike For Under $100
It's that time of year again: time to pull your cyclocross bike out of storage, take a good, long look at it and think, "Well, now what does it need?" Because we're bike racers. And our bikes always need something, preferably something shiny and new. However, if you're on a strict bike budget, there are some sneaky ways to upgrade or update your bike for the season, there's an easy solution: accessories. (And yes, we realize that this piece reads like a fashion magazine article on making that Little Black Dress look brand-new by simply adding new jewelry or shoes.) Still, if you've been racing on — or just bought — a stock bike, we have some suggestions for how to dress it up so it stands out in the field (hopefully because you snagged the hole shot.)


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Relic Runners
The ancient relics had lain dormant in the darkest reaches of the jungle since time immemorial. But once word of their discovery broke out, all manner of would-be archeologists rushed in...
In Relic Runners you are a fearless Explorer, traveling the jungle in search of lost temples full of forgotten treasures and relics. Armed with nothing more than your trusty Pith Helmet and a nose for rare antiquities you'll explore Temple Ruins and Shrines and undertake Expeditions in a race to unearth the most treasure! A successful expedition requires skillful planning – building Pathways; carrying plenty of Rations, and expanding your Explorer's Toolbox to help you travel the jungle, resupply, take additional actions, and score bonuses.
Sign-up here!
Meet Matthew Dunstan, Game Designer
Matthew was introduced to games very early on when an aunt decided to teach him chess on an old cardboard travelling set during a visit to the beach. Later on, he would discover Settlers of Catan at a friend's house, sparking his interest in more modern boardgames, even if they were somewhat difficult to come by in a small rural town in Australia. His boardgame collection has grown much since then, and has even followed him all the way around the world.
Matthew currently lives in Cambridge, UK, where he is studying for a PhD in Materials Chemistry, although playing and designing games tends to distract him often from that goal. He began designing games in 2011 as a creative outlet after singing, drawing and tap dancing were ruled out.
Relic Runners is his first published design, which arose from trying to see if you could make a game combining the mathematical problem of the Travelling Salesman with the possibility to interrupt another salesperson's plans.
Inside The Box
- 1 Board Map
- 5 Explorer Sets each including:
- An Explorer Miniature
- An Explorer Chart
- 10 Pathways
- 3 Toolboxes
- 24 Ruin Tiles & 20 Temple Tile Sets
- 20 Sculpted Relics
- 25 Ration Packs
- 10 Toolbox Tokens
- 76 Victory Coins
Game Information
- 2-5 players
- Aged 10 and more
- 40-80′
"Overall, we had a blast with Relic Runners. I believe it has worked its way into our regular rotation, and I'm looking forward to playing it more and exploring its depth."Dave Banks – Geek Dad


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Affordable Health Insurance Agency in Atlanta, GA
Affordable Health Insurance Agency in Atlanta, GA
1421 Adele Ave SWAtlanta GA 30314United States
(470) 567-5003
For better health with Affordable Health Insurance Agency in Atlanta, GA
Health is a vital part of our lives, and it's important to have quality health insurance. That's why Affordable Health Insurance Agency in Atlanta offers a variety of plans to fit your needs. We want to make sure you're getting the best possible coverage at an affordable price. We can help you find the right plan for you and your family. We'll work with you to find a policy that fits your budget and provides the coverage you need. Contact us today at (470) 567-5003 for more information about our health insurance plans!
About Atlanta
Atlanta ( at-LAN-tə) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. With a population of 498,715 living within the city limits, it is the eighth-most populous city in the Southeast and 38th most populous city in the United States according to the 2020 U.S. census. However, it serves as the cultural and economic heart of the much larger Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 6,144,050 people, making it the eighth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia. Situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of just over 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, it features unique topography that includes rolling hills, lush greenery, and the most dense urban tree coverage of any major city in the United States.Atlanta was originally founded as the terminus of a major state-sponsored railroad, but it soon became the convergence point among several railroads, spurring its rapid growth.
Neighborhoods in Atlanta, GA
Adair Park, Ansley Park, Bankhead, Beecher Hills, Benteen, Blandtown, Buckhead Forest, Carver Hills, Castlewood, Center Hill, Chapel Hill, Collier Heights, Dixie Hills, East Atlanta, East Lake


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It's been years now since I've written anything here, but a conversation today on the Eighteenth-Century Questions Facebook page made me realize I ought to update my reports from Wikiland. I've been using PBworks for wikis since shortly after they began the site in 2005. (NB: I have almost always participated in "private" wikis, not anything searchable, and I guarantee to students that, no, a future employer is not going to read their notes on Moll Flanders.) Some friends and I learned how to use the platform by playing a writing game called Lexicon and by developing an enormous recipe collection with over a hundred participants. In observing my friends' use of the wikis, I wanted to find out how the platform could be used to encourage students to write more willingly, to read more critically, and to participate in class more enthusiastically.
As I reported back in 2007, my first few attempts to include wiki assignments in my classes were failures. The assignment to create a page providing well-cited historical context (from a list of suggested topics) for the British literature survey was extremely successful for the students who did well. I recall some beautiful, thoroughly researched projects from about a third of every class. Another third phoned it in so depressingly I had no idea what to do, and another third either plagiarized the entire project ("Why do I have to read books and write about them when it's just on Wikipedia?") or could not be convinced to do turn in anything at all ("You will get a zero for this assignment." "Yes, I understand. I will not do this assignment"). As far as I am concerned, any assignment that a third of my students would rather fail out of the class than write is a bad assignment.
Wiki Rule #1: Wiki assignments should create a reason for students to read one another's work.
That was the first discovery. Students who were self-motivated or interested in my approval did a great job, and no one else seemed to care. Why would anyone in the class want to read their page on coffeehouses in London or sodomy trials or economic conditions in Ireland? While these might be topics of obsessive interest for yr humble svt, students are unlikely to care about reading their classmate's pages. So instead, I started having them post 3-page critical summaries of scholarly articles related to the primary texts we were reading, resulting in a class bibliography. Students were more motivated to write clear, intelligent summaries of the articles because students used the class bibliography to find ideas for sources for their research projects.
The drawback to this assignment is that, despite my attempt to get every student to choose a different article, students still tended to pounce on a few simplistic topics (if I never read another paper about how Dracula is actually a feminist novel because Mina knows how to type, I will die a happy woman), and students who do not know what to write about will gravitate toward whatever seems the most popular thing to do.
Wiki Rule #2: Participation in the wiki should encourage students to develop their own individual perspectives, rather than turning them into the Borg.
Here's where I start sounding like an anti-authoritarian radical. The best class wikis, in my experience, have been ones I didn't grade at all, but served some incredibly useful purpose for the students. One of the best classes I've ever taught, in part because of the wiki, was a six-person freshman writing course in which the students read Nabokov's Pale Fire extremely slowly. I put up a wiki in which there was a page full of random-seeming words (Automobiles, Birds, Butterflies…), each linked to a blank page, and I asked the students to annotate any mention they find of any of these things, and to add pages for other patterns they noticed. They should consider what information their classmates would need to find their quotation, and how much of the quotation should be necessary for context. I said I wouldn't grade it; I just know that it's very hard to see connections on the first pass through the novel, so they may need one another's eyes to spot things.
Within the first few days, these annotations spawned conversations on the wiki about how to determine whether details are significant, what constitutes the "real" for Nabokov and for his characters, how to interpret passages in Zemblan by breaking down the grammar, and so forth. One student became the class expert on linguistics, another on art history, another on satire and rhetoric. They were excited about posting drafts of their formal writing assignments because they wanted to read the other students' work, and after doing so, they often developed their own revision plans. While I initially itched to demand more formal punctuation ("OMG… YOU GUYS!!!!") and citation on the wiki, I held my tongue and they developed higher standards for themselves as they saw contributions from others. (To be honest, though, I got a kick out of seeing how excited they were.) That's how I learned—
Wiki Rule #3: Wiki participation should be allowed to create positive peer pressure.
When you have a particularly quiet group, and there's just one student with a hand in the air all the time, you have a negative peer pressure situation. No one wants to be "that person." So you beg and plead, you firmly call on students with their heads tucked under their wings, you try to get them to talk to one another in small groups—sometimes something works and they loosen up a bit. That feeling of pulling teeth is truly miserable, though. There has to be some way to get them to see starting projects early, eagerly joining conversations, and having interesting, thoughtful contributions as the desirable, fun thing to do.
In several different classes, I've asked students to use the wiki to call "dibs" on a part of the text for an analysis paper. In a Milton class of 30 students, each had to write about a different speech of over 20 lines in Paradise Lost. Eager students called dibs right away, wanting Sin's "Hast thou forgot me, then" or Satan's "O thou that with surpassing glory crown'd," and less-motivated students realized they needed to get their heads in the game, lest they get stuck with Belial's defense of cowardly sloth. Meanwhile, they commented to share some of their ideas about the speeches they'd chosen, and this seemed to inspire struggling students to do some serious thinking. In turn, I could easily see who seemed to be on track to complete the coursework and who needed some encouragement or guidance from me.
Wiki Rule #4: The wiki can give you as much feedback about what you are teaching as it does about what your students are thinking.
I hope I am not the only instructor who has cringed upon hearing a colleague report what students say they are learning about the eighteenth century. That's, er, not quite what… um. Or one thinks we are all happily on the same page until one begins reading responses to exam questions. What the hell is "amriss complaint"? In recent years, I've started asking for a volunteer every day to take extra-careful notes in class and post them to the wiki. This solves a lot of technical problems, such as having a repository in case someone is ill or at a sports tournament and providing a refresher about early-semester material before the final exam. It does two additional things that are far more important to me: (1) It tells me when I need to clarify or emphasize something. (2) It makes students see one another's competence as a resource rather than the enemy.
In discussing this particular use of the wiki, I have found it's the most controversial among my friends and colleagues, in that it may promote absenteeism. I certainly have not found that to be true, and, in fact, I think it encourages students to realize that a lot has happened when they were gone and they don't want to miss class again. I get emails from students who know they will be out of town for a tournament asking if I would please thank the note-taker on their behalf, and promise that they will volunteer first when they return. I find it makes them more conscientious and civil, and I certainly still have a strict attendance policy. It seems to make them more aware that it's a community they're missing, not just a professor.
Wiki Rule #5: Wikis do not replace traditional in-class discussion; they supplement and provoke discussion.
I cannot tell you how many times I have had students who struggle with speaking in class, due to ability differences, anxiety, or a lack of fluency in English, who have expressed gratitude for the open-ended nature of the wiki discussions. For students who have a hard time initiating a spoken comment, it can be extremely helpful to plan ideas and organize thoughts in writing ahead of time. The wiki can also allow a student to develop and explore a critical persona that can then be tried on more publicly in class. Rather than giving quieter students an excuse for not raising their hands, the wiki gives them a low-stakes place to put words to thoughts in ways that make speaking about those ideas much easier.
This is the main reason why I choose not to grade the work they do on the wiki at all. I set it up with a syllabus and assignment sheets, log them in, and step back. If they ask me to facilitate note-posting, I will. Mostly, I will post extra-curricular events or create pages for them to post drafts for peer review, but this is very different from the kind of Blackboard-discussion-question stuff that I hated doing when I was an undergrad. I don't want to assign points or take off points for what they do there. I want them to feel free to post a video of a cute lamb while we're reading Blake, or comment that they're frustrated and confused by Crèvecoeur, without worrying that Dr. Shanafelt is going to thump them for it. The wiki can only serve my nefarious purposes if it's a place where they can be honest about how the class is going and what work they're doing.
Over the 2009-2010 year, I worked with faculty from several departments at Medgar Evers College at City University of New York to develop new assignments and uses for wikis in different disciplines, and the most frequent question I got from new users was "How do you make them do it if you don't grade them for it?" I don't. I don't want to make them do anything. And certainly I've had some classes use the wikis more than others. What I know, and what I can tell my students, is that the work I've gotten from students who participate actively in the class wiki is almost always better for it. They learn more, they get higher grades, and they enjoy the semester more. There's your carrot.
Part of all of this has to do with who I am as a teacher and the kind of environment I feel comfortable teaching in, and certainly I have worked with professors who have used wikis in a more directed, graded way. Some departments I've worked in have used them as a resource for all of their majors to understand the progress of their coursework, and others have used them internally to discuss the curriculum, assessment, and planning.
Have you used them? Do you loathe them? Do you fear them, but are sort of excited about them? What kinds of assignments and assessment strategies have you tried?


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Official: Brewers Officially Sign Gonzalez
Free Agent Agrees to One-Year Deal
The Milwaukee Brewers signed free agent left-handed reliever Mike Gonzalez to a one-year contract today. To make room on the 40-man roster, the team designated right-handed pitcher Arcenio Leon for assignment. The announcement was made by Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Melvin.
Gonzalez, 34, went 0-0 with a 3.03 ERA in 47 relief appearances with Washington last season. He held opponents to a .237 batting average, including .179 to left-handed hitters, and recorded 39 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched. He signed with the Nationals as a free agent on May 8 after recovering from October 2011 surgery on his left knee.
Gonzalez has gone 17-21 with a 2.94 ERA and 56 saves in 434 career appearances with Pittsburgh (2003-06), Atlanta (2007-09), Baltimore (2010-11), Texas (2011) and Washington (2012). All of his appearances have come in relief. Gonzalez has produced 451 career strikeouts in just 394.1 innings pitched. He has held opponents to a .217 batting average, including .209 to left-handed hitters.
Gonzalez will wear uniform number 51, previously worn by right-handed reliever Jim Henderson, who has been switched to number 29.


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Growing up, not having a plate of Chinese greens on the table for dinner was like not having rice—t was simply unthinkable. Quick to cook, simple and delicious, Chinese greens are a great way to add a vegetable dish to your meal. In this series, we'll be talking about some of the most common types of Chinese greens, common cooking methods, and a few ways to bring some Western greens into the fold as well. Check out the entire series here!
And ok, maybe this dish, which is made up of equal parts beef and greens in a light but flavor-packed black bean sauce with garlic doesn't quite qualify as a side dish, and seeing as I'm using a mixture of kale and frisée—two decidedly Western greens—it doesn't quite qualify as "Chinese greens," either. But the basic techniques I use—just a quick stir-fry with no blanching—is a method that works with any kind of hearty green leafy vegetable, whether it's Chinese or not.
Magical flavor beans—that's what I think fermented black beans (which are actually soy beans fermented until very, very dark) are. Wiithout doing much else, adding a few fermented black beans to a stir-fry a instantly adds a potent punch of flavor. It's hard to describe the taste of fermented black beans if you're new to it—a little salty, a little funky, and packed with savoriness.
You can find jars of fermented black bean sauce easily in most Asian and Western market, but what we're looking for here are the dried beans themselves, which are usually found only in Asian markets (or you can order them online). If you only ever used the jarred version of black bean sauce, it's time to make your own.
It's very simple and all you need are fermented black beans and garlic. I roughly chop them, then set them aside. We'll be coming back to them in a bit.
Many green vegetables—like kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, or escarole—have hearty, thick stems that need to be removed from the rest of the leaves. I start my stir-fry by first cooking those stems in hot oil, to give them a quick, tenderizing jump start.
Next, the leaves go in.
They're stir-fried just until wilted, but still bright green and crunchy.
I follow our basic stir-fry guide's recommendation to cook ingredients in smaller batches, so that the wok has time to reheat between each batch. This is the only way to get a true stir-fry on a home burner without stewing or steaming your meat and vegetables.
At this stage, the greens get a little pinch of salt, then I move them to a separate bowl and wipe out the wok.
In goes that garlic and the fermented black beans, along with some smoking hot oil. I cook them just until the garlic is barely tender and very fragrant, 30 seconds or so.
Next up, the beef. This is thinly sliced flank steak that has been resting in my basic stir-fry marinade. It's made up of ingredients designed to make the meat both more tender, and to have a stronger meaty flavor.
It's important to cook it without moving after spreading it out so that it can develop a bit of color before tossing it together with the garlic and black beans and stir-frying until almost cooked through.
The greens go back and get tossed to combine.
After making a well in the center, I add the liquid ingredients for my sauce—just a dash of soy sauce, sesame oil, water, and a bit of cornstarch. The black beans and garlic provide all the complexity and flavor this dish needs.
As soon as that sauce has boiled and thickened (a device like The WokMon can help you do that even faster!), everything gets tossed back together.
And we're ready to eat. With its combination of tender beef and hearty greens, this is the kind of stir-fry that makes a complete meal on its own. All you need is a bowl of rice.


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After court drama, Oklahoma to have 2 executions
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma plans to hold its first double execution in nearly 80 years, Gov. Mary Fallin said Thursday.
The move comes a day after the state Supreme Court removed one of the final obstacles, ruling late Wednesday that Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner are not entitled to know the source of the drugs that will be used to kill them. The inmates had sought that information through a civil lawsuit.
"The defendants had their day in court. The court has made a decision," Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement. "Two men that do not contest their guilt in heinous murders will now face justice, and the families and friends of their victims will now have closure."
The Oklahoma Supreme Court also dissolved a stay of execution it had issued earlier in the week in a sharply divided and much criticized 5-4 decision that put the state's two highest courts at odds.
Because the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction over criminal matters, Fallin and others accused the state's high court of initially overstepping its civil-only bounds — to the point that some legislators called for impeaching the five justices who had voted to delay the executions.
"This ruling shows that our legal system works," Fallin said of the high court's latest decision.
Defense attorney Seth Day said in a statement that without knowing the source of the drugs, the public has no way of knowing whether the execution will be carried out in a "constitutional and humane manner."
"It's not even known whether the lethal injection drugs to be used were obtained legally, and nothing is known about their source, purity, or efficacy, among other questions," he said. "Oklahoma's extreme secrecy surrounding lethal injection undermines our courts and democracy."
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is working on specifics and logistics of how Tuesday's executions will be carried out, Fallin said.
It's rare for multiple executions to happen in one day, with only Arkansas, Illinois, South Carolina and Texas doing so since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.
"I think it's actually becoming less common because states have deliberately spaced things out," said Richard Dieter, the center's executive director. "It takes a toll on a prison and its personnel."
The most recent occurrence of two inmates being executed on the same day was Aug. 9, 2000, in Texas. The last time Oklahoma did it was June 11, 1937, when convicted murderers Charlie Sands and Leon Siler were electrocuted.
Arkansas is the only state that has executed three inmates on the same day since 1976: once in 1994 and again in 1997. In both instances, all three executions were carried out in less than three hours, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said the agency intends to have a plan for the executions ready by Friday and is preparing for "any eventuality."
"It wouldn't be the first time there has been last-minute changes," Massie said.
The two men, who have exhausted all of their appeals, were not challenging their conviction or sentence in their lawsuit. Attorneys for the two men did not return telephone messages left Thursday seeking information about any further appeals that could be filed.
Lockett, 38, was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Nieman with a sawed-off shotgun and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in 1999. Warner, 46, was found guilty of raping and killing his roommate's 11-month-old child in 1997.
Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy


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by: Staff
Posted: Jun 2, 2017 / 01:07 AM CDT
Updated: Dec 20, 2017 / 01:50 AM CST
Before she was an actress, "Wonder Woman" star Gal Gadot got her start by winning the title of 2004 Miss Israel at the age of 18. She also went on to compete in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant. Not only is Gadot not the first Hollywood star to get her start in beauty pageants, but she's also not the first Wonder Woman actress to do so.
Before TV viewers knew her as "Wonder Woman" in the late 1970s, Lynda Carter won the Miss World USA pageant in 1972 representing Arizona. Representing the U.S. at the 1972 Miss World pageant, she reached the semifinals.
Vanessa Williams made history in September 1983 when she became the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America. Despite giving up the title nearly a year later after nude photos from her pre-pageant days were published, she went onto a singing and acting career that has seen her ear Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award nominations. (Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)
Before she broke out as the star of Wisteria Lane on "Desperate Housewives," Eva Longoria was Miss Corpus Christi, USA, in 1998.
Diane Sawyer won the "America's Junior Miss" scholarship pageant as a representative from Kentucky in 1963. She told People magazine in 1986 that she used the $11,000 she won to pay for her first year at Wellesley College.
Oscar-winner Halle Berry won the first pageant she entered, taking home Miss Teen All-American in 1985. She went on a year later to win Miss Ohio USA, eventually finishing as runner-up to Miss USA. She was the first African-American Miss World entrant in 1986, where she finished sixth. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey got her start in pageants by winning Nashville's Miss Fire Prevention contest in 1971, following that up a year later by winning the Miss Black Tennessee pageant and competing in the Miss Black America competition.
Vanessa Minnillo was crowned Miss South Carolina Teen USA at age 17 and went on to win the title of Miss Teen USA in 1998. Minnillo, who is married to Nick Lachey, used the experience as a springboard to a career that has seen her host MTV's "Total Request Live" and serve as a New York correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight." She has also tried her hand at acting, appearing on TV shows such as "CSI: NY," "How I Met Your Mother," "30 Rock" and "Hawaii Five-0" and in the movie "Disaster Movie."
Daytime talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford represented Maryland in the 1970 Junior Miss pageant.
Kelly Hu, who got her first big break with a guest starring role as Kirk Cameron's love interest on "Growing Pains," won Miss Teen USA in 1985 and later won Miss Hawaii USA in 1993. She's since had roles in "Friday the 13th Part VIII," "The Scorpion King" and "X2" and on the TV shows "Vampire Diaries" and "Hawaii Five-0."
Future "Designing Women" star Delta Burke, then 17, was crowned 1974 Miss Florida and later represented her state in the Miss America pageant. Burke (seen here in 2010) won a talent scholarship from the Miss America organization, allowing her to attend a two-year study program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Ali Landry, best known as the "Doritos Girl" from her 1998 Super Bowl commercial, found great success in beauty pageants starting in 1990, when she was crowned Miss Louisiana Teen USA. In 1995, Landry won the 1996 Miss Louisiana USA title and went on to win the 1996 Miss USA pageant.
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, who appeared on "Saved by the Bell" and in "Billy Madison," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and "Mortal Kombat" and is married to former tennis great Pete Sampras, was crowned Miss Teen USA in 1990.
A participant in pageants through her childhood, "Saved by the Bell" star Tiffani Amber Thiessen was crowned Miss Junior America in 1987 at the age of 13 and a year later won Teen magazine's "Great Model Search."
While growing up in Meadville, Pennsylvania, "Basic Instinct" star Sharon Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County in 1976, and was a candidate for Miss Pennsylvania. One of the pageant's judges suggested she leave school to pursue a modeling career in New York City. The following year she did so and the rest is history.
In 1984, future Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty pageant and finished third in the Miss Alaska pageant.
While a student at La Jolla High School, Raquel Tejada won the Fairest of the Fair beauty pageant at the San Diego County Fair in 1958. She later gained fame as actress Raquel Welch, but not before winning the Miss San Diego contest and placing second in the Miss Southern California pageant.
She failed to make it to the finals, but Kim Basinger was an America's Junior Miss contender from Georgia in 1971 before going onto an acting career that would earn her an Academy Award for "L.A. Confidential."
Michelle Pfeiffer was crowned Miss Orange County in 1978, and participated in the Miss California beauty pageant the same year, finishing in sixth place.
Cloris Leachman, best known for her TV roles on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," its spin-off "Phyllis" and "Raising Hope" as well as movie roles in such films as "The Last Picture Show" and "Young Frankenstein," competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Chicago in 1946.
"Entertainment Tonight" co-anchor Nancy O'Dell, then known as Nancy Humphries, was crowned Miss South Carolina in 1987 and went on to represent the state at the Miss America pageant in 1988. Two years later, she competed in Miss South Carolina USA 1990 and finished as first runner-up.
Lucy Lawless, who rose to fame as the "Warrior Princess" Xena and has since starred on "Battlestar Galactica" and "Spartacus," was crowned Miss New Zealand in 1989.
At the age of 17, Sophia Bush, who would go onto fame on the TV show "One Tree Hill," was named the 2000 Tournament of Roses Parade Queen.
"Wheel of Fortune" letter-turner Vanna White finished as the fourth runner-up in the Miss Georgia Universe competition in 1978.
Jeri Ryan is perhaps best known as playing Seven of Nine on "Star Trek: Voyager," but prior to being the dream date of male Trekkies worldwide, she competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Illinois in 1990, finishing as the third runner-up.
Country singer Kellie Pickler won the 2004 Miss Stanly County Pageant at age 17 and was the youngest competitor at the Miss North Carolina pageant that same year.
Debra Messing, who would go on to star in "Will and Grace" and "Smash," represented Rhode Island at the 1986 Junior Miss pageant.
Former "Entertainment Tonight" host Mary Hart competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss South Dakota in 1970, and finished in the top 10.
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SAC Capital attorneys entered not guilty pleas to the federal criminal charges against the hedge fund at the initial hearing in the case Friday morning.
SAC Capital was represented by attorneys from two top New York law firms: Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. The hearing was held before U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
Swain set Sept. 24 for the next hearing in the case.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara brought criminal charges against the firm Thursday accusing it of engaging in a pattern of insider trading that was "on a scale without known precedent in the hedge fund industry." Six former portfolio managers or research analysts from SAC have already pleaded guilty to insider trading while at the firm, with two more awaiting trial.
Related: SAC indictment depicts lawless culture
A spokesman for the firm said Thursday that the firm's employees who have pleaded guilty do not "reflect the honesty, integrity and character of the thousands of men and women who have worked at SAC over the past 21 years."
Steven Cohen, the billionaire founder and CEO of SAC, was not at Friday's hearing.
Cohen himself does not face criminal charges although the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against him. Bharara would not rule out the possibility of future charges against Cohen, saying that the investigation is ongoing.
Related: The unknown future of SAC and billionaire Steve Cohen
The U.S. Attorney is seeking forfeiture of at least hundreds of millions of dollars from the firm.


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Lombardi's Pizza
32 Spring Street, New York NY 10012 (at Mott; map); phoneNoHere; firstpizza.com
Getting there: 4/6 to Spring; N/R to Prince; J to Bowery
Pizza style: New York–Neapolitan
Oven type: Coal-fired oven
The skinny: A huge tourist spot, to be sure, but the pizza here is good. Cash only. Whole pies only. Stay away from the clam pie, even though it may be recommended elsewhere
Price: Large plain pizza, $19.50; small, $15.50. White clam pizza (small only), $26
"Do you know where Lombardi's Pizza is, mate?"
If the English accent didn't give him away as a tourist, it would have then been the fact that the gentleman asking stood with us on the corner of Spring and Mulberry streets and didn't know that one of the most popular pizzerias in New York City was just a block away.
I'll just say it: Lombardi's is kind of a big tourist thing. After having been hyped in countless national newspaper and magazine stories, guidebooks, and travel shows, this "first pizzeria in America" is pretty much packed any night of the week with people more likely to hail from Manhattan, Kansas, than Manhattan Manhattan. (OK, that's probably an exaggeration, but poetic license, you know?)
Indeed, I first ate Lombardi's as a tourist myself when I visited NYC in the late '90s. "Coal-oven pizza?" I remember thinking as I waited in line outside on the sidewalk. "What the hell is that?!?" An hour or so later, I was thinking "Coal-oven pizza, where the hell have you been all my life?!?"
Boy, I had a lot to learn about pizza (and eventually did when I moved here in the year 2000). If you find yourself in the same boat I was all those years ago, follow along after the jump for a quick Lombardi's download.
The first two things you should know about Lombardi's is that it's cash only and serves whole pies only. Why? That's just the way most of these old-school coal-oven joints are.
So bring cash. And a crew to help you eat. If you forget the cash, don't worry. There's an ATM just outside the door and one in the original, pre-expansion dining room. (You'll just have to pay the ATM fee, a once-exorbitant $2.75 that's now sadly all too common citywide.)
The second thing you should know is that Lombardi's is known as much for its white clam pie as it is for its regular red-sauce pizza. Long before all the fancy-pants pizzerias in NYC started clamming up, Lombardi's was doing this seafood pie, which is most often associated with New Haven, Connecticut.
Naturally, we tried one. It's served only as a small pie ($26), is loaded with shucked clams and garlic, and comes with a quartered lemon in the middle for squeezin' a squirt o'er your slice. This is a dry pie, and it benefits from a drizzle of olive oil, too; ask your server for some if you don't have a bottle on your table.
The clams, though, were rubbery, as they were when I visited around this time last year. After a slice each, my dining companion and I moved back to the ...
The standard plain pie, made with fresh mozzarella and a San Marzano tomato sauce, finished with some Romano cheese and a chiffonade of basil.
This is the pizza you should be getting at Lombardi's. The crust is a bit dry and not as airy in its crumb as some of the other coal-oven heavyweights, but it's crisp enough, pliant, and has enough flavor to make even a plain pie interesting enough that you'd finish the "bones."
The sauce is par for the course at a New York coal-oven pizzeria, which is to say that the Italian tomatoes are simply crushed and lightly seasoned with salt before going on the pie. It's a little bit on the acidic side of the spectrum, but otherwise bright and fresh-tasting.
I'd say a pie here could stand a little more cheese, but what's there is creamy while hot though a little rubbery once it cools. Eat fast, friends.
Over the years, I think I've let my growing aversion to flocks of fanny-packed tourists influence my opinion on the place. I'd shunned it in the past, viewing it as a purveyor of subpar pies. But Lombardi's serves a solid pizza (clam pie excepted, of course). I'm not saying it's the best example of the "New York–Neapolitan" style (I prefer Totonno's in Coney Island or Patsy's in East Harlem when it's on its game), but I'd be comfortable sending out-of-towners there as an introduction to the genre. Which is good, because it's very accessible — especially if you happen to be a block away.
Bonus Material
Some Quick(ish) Lombardi History
So some of you may have noticed the reference to Lombardi's being the nation's "first pizzeria" earlier in this post. (And indeed, the pizzeria's URL is firstpizza.com.) That is and isn't exactly true. Here's the deal....
The original Lombardi's started as an Italian grocery store back in the very late 1800s, after Gennaro Lombardi immigrated to New York City in 1895, according to info in the Ellis Island records that my friend Scott Wiener of Scott's Pizza Tours shared with me. (The guy does tons of crazy pizza research like that!) Lore has it that Italian shop owners from Naples at that time began making and selling pizzas in their bakeries or groceries as a way to use up the day's excess dough. Pizza has its roots, after all, in peasant-food tradition.
After a few years, Lombardi's pizza proved popular enough that he transformed his grocery into a pizzeria, applying for and receiving the first pizzeria license in New York City — and the nation. This was in 1905.
Oh, and this all happened at 53 1/2 Spring Street, about a block and a half west of present-day Lombardi's. Yes, Lombardi's moved.
See, it operated as a pizzeria at the original location for decades, passing from the original Gennaro Lombardi to his son and then to his grandson, also named Gennaro (aka "Jerry") Lombardi. In 1984, though, a sour economy forced it to close. Around that time, too, vibrations from the subway had cracked the original oven, making it unusable.
By 1994, though, Lombardi's had reopened — in a long, narrow space at 32 Spring Street that was once a coal-oven bakery. You can read part of that tale in this fascinating New York Times story. And for an even more thorough timeline, check out this rundown on Interesting America. It's now owned by John Brescio, a longtime friend of grandson Jerry Lombardi, and Richardo Minchalo.
In 2004, Lombardi's expanded from its narrow confines into the corner space next door, able to accommodate the crowds that now flock to it. I, however, still prefer to sit in the original narrow dining room back behind the bar. Ask for a table there, if you don't mind waiting extra for it. It's a little more intimate and old-school — especially if you can get a comfy booth.
So you see how it sort of is and sort of isn't the "first pizzeria" in the nation. (And it's certainly not the oldest continuously operating one. That would be Papa's Tomato Pies in Trenton, New Jersey.)
Lombardi's as the Grandfather of NYC Pizza Culture
How can I mention Lombardi's without mentioning the role it's played in spawning many of the city's storied pizza parlors? Above is an admittedly crappy photo of the "Pizza Family Tree" that the New York Times printed in conjunction with a great 1998 article on NYC pizza history. It tells the tale.
Totonno's in Coney Island? Anthony "Totonno" Pero started at Lombardi's. The Totonno family says that it was actually Pero who started making the pizza at Lombardi's and not Lombardi himself. They'll point to a photo on their wall that shows Pero and Lombardi in front of the Manhattan pizzeria. In it, Pero's shoes are dusted with flour — but not Lombardi's. That, they say, is proof of who really made the pizza. Not in dispute is that Pero perfected his craft at Lombardi's before setting out on his own in 1924.
John's of Bleecker Street: John Sasso was trained at Lombardi's.
Patsy's in East Harlem: Pasquale "Patsy" Lancieri, some folks say, also started at Lombardi's. Patsy's then spawned Grimaldi's, which is now chained out in various locations out west. Patsy's itself chained-out across NYC. The original Patsy's, however, is not part of the mini chain.
Oh, boy. Just click the image above and squint to make out the blurry info there. You'll see just how influential Lombardi's was.


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Egypt-Sinai-Jordan – Guided Tours
Trek through the Sinai on camels, visit the Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum and explore nearby Jordan. You will meet and live with the locals; the people who are the true heart of the Middle East.
Big Bend Camel Treks
Overnight or 3-day treks traveling the same Big Bend region of West Texas that the historic US Army Camel Experiment explored in 1857 on the Beale Expedition.
Education Programs
Texas Camel Corps offers education programs with live camels at schools, libraries, museums, and historic sites. Clients include the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Texas Historical Commission, National Parks Service and more.
About Us
Texas Camel Corps was established to educate the public about the historic use of camels in America in the 19th century.
"The driving goal of Texas Camel Corps is to share our camels in one of a kind settings that the public will enjoy and remember."


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Hello ScrumCrazy readers,
I'm proud to announce that my article on the "Scrum of Scrums" practice got posted on Scrum.org.
In the article I give some advice on excellence in execution of the Scrum of Scrums practice, and how the Scrum of Scrums has been misinterpreted my many to be a status meeting. It's an event of the Development Teams, by the Development Teams, and for the Development Teams!
Please give it a look and give me feedback here or there. Feedback welcome!
Filed under: Scrum, Scrum Patterns, Scrum Strategies, ScrumMaster Tips, The Daily Scrum | Leave a comment »


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Cats get side event at the Westminster dog show
For the first time, felines are sidling up to the nation's premier dog show
For the first time, felines are sidling up to the nation's premier dog show
Dogs from petite papillions to muscular Rottweilers showed off their four-footed agility Saturday at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, tackling obstacles from hurdles to tunnels. And next door, so did some decidedly rare breeds for the American dog world's marquee weekend:
For the first time, felines sidled up to the nation's premier dog show, as part of an informational companion event showcasing various breeds of both species. It included a cat agility demonstration, while more than 300 of the nation's top agility dogs vied in a more formal competition.
It didn't exactly mean there were cats in the 140-year-old dog show, but it came close enough to prompt some "what?!" and waggish alarm about a breakdown in the animal social order. Some Twitter users have portrayed the development as a sign of impending cat-astrophe. A satirical Chicago Tribune column declared that "we can't just let cats start racing across the borders of traditional dog events."
Even some Westminster competitors found the juxtaposition jarring — or "so weird," in the words of Hannah Naiburg of Milford, Connecticut, who guided her terrier mix, Molly, in Westminster's agility contest. But others tipped their hats to the cats that were padding and prowling around their own course, most of them trying the sport for the first time.
"Good for them," said Tina Ackerman of Goffstown, New Hampshire, who handled her bichon frise, Bubba Watson. "There's no way we could ever have trained any of our cats to do agility."
Bemisu, a 1-year-old sphynx cat, sometimes seemed more interested in greeting ringside bystanders than in the jumps, poles and steps around her Saturday. But within a half-hour, she was following owner Blake Gipson's toy-dangling signals to hop through hoops and run through a mesh tunnel, at least some of the time.
"I had no idea she would learn so fast," said Gipson, whose hairless, down-covered cats share his Denver home with a pit bull.
If Saturday's "Meet the Breeds" event — sponsored by Westminster, the American Kennel Club and The International Cat Association — gave felines their first chance to share Westminster's spotlight, it also illustrated that there's plenty of everyday crossover between the dog and cat camps. In fact, a 2011 CBS News poll found that 23 percent of American pet owners have both a dog and a cat.
Agility is increasingly popular for both species, seen as a way to give the animals activity and strengthen the bond between pets and their people.
Lonnie, a mixed-breed dog born in an animal shelter, used to be "afraid of everything," even being in a car, owner Robin Lembo said. She started training Lonnie in obedience and then agility to build her confidence. Now, the 8-year-old dog is so outgoing that she eagerly ran the agility course in front of crowds Saturday.
And Lembo is all for cats getting into the agility act.
"I keep telling my husband to try it — because he's a cat lover," said Lembo, of West Milford, New Jersey.
As every cat owner who has watched his pet walk along a railing knows, feats of agility come naturally to many felines. But training? A cat?
It's easier than many people think, though cats are often more motivated by chasing toys than getting treats, said Vickie Shields, who oversaw Saturday's agility demonstrations. A former trainer of dogs for field trials, she helped organize cat agility as a sport in 2003, largely with the goal of getting people to play more with their cats.
"People think cats are solitary — they aren't," said Shields, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, noting that wild cats often form colonies. "You can do stuff with them, too — it's not just dogs."
This year's show will begin airing on TV at 8 p.m. EST Sunday and end Tuesday.


text: Sit back and watch as spring came to Northern Michigan last week. The skies were blue and temperatures rose, melting the last of the snow and bringing out boaters, paddlers, Frisbee players and people wanting to just wander the shore line of Traverse City and Grand Traverse Bay, a bay of Lake Michigan. There may be a smattering of snow ahead but take a minute to connect with the feeling of spring in the air and the spectacular beauty of March in Northern Michigan. Then head outside yourself!