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Thursday, December 25, 2008
the board harem
Screw that!
Boards are like women: the more the better.
Let me introduce you my wave boards harem. From the left:
1) 100l freestyle (or freeride... not sure!) old RRD beat up board with reshaped tail AKA The Experiment
2) 90l Goya custom wave series
3) 81l Goya custom wave series
4) 75l custom SOS
5) 68l custom Quatro
1) The Experiment (I'm thinking about renaming it The Miracle) is the reason because I pretty much don't wave sail on a longboard anymore. What I liked about the longboard, in fact, is that it allowed me to sail in super light wind and had a surfboard rocker.
But then I figured that I didn't really need all that volume. I'm 154 (70kg) and 100l are enough to float me in any wind!
The problem is that there aren't many 100l wave boards on the market and even if you guys will find one, it will not have a surfboard rocker. Even if they're labeled "wave", they're still designed for planing. Most of the times, they are designed as wave boards for big guys.
That's not what I wanted.
I wanted a board that would take me out there with 5-10 knots of wind, clearly without any ambition of planing, get me on the wave and ride it well, with a feeling as similar as possible to the one of a surfboard.
One lazy sunday morning, three rare things happened at the same time:
1) my grinder had been resting for too long
2) all neighbors were out
3) I had nothing better to do.
So I did it.
I added more than one inch of rocker and a huge V to the tail. In the process, I incidentally also shortened the board of a couple of inches and since I was able to keep the tuttle box in place (had to sand down the base of the fin too), the fin is now placed veeery close to the tail. Not too bad, actually. I would just love to install a couple of side fins... we'll see when the three above conditions will happen again!
Pros compared to the longboard.
- it turns a lot more
- it's lighter to carry
Cons compared to the longboard.
- it doesn't glide
- can't do SUP surfing if the wind dies (I even tried... forget it!)
- can't use it as a board to teach your friends
The old time blog readers know that, when the wind is so light that it won't allow down the line riding, I like to please myself with jumping on the backside of the sail while going upwind on a wave.
With the longboard, I couldn't really turn it much while doing that. With T.E. instead, I'm now starting to go up and down the face of the wave and in the last couple of sessions, I even INVENTED the reverse lay down bottom turn.
Da heck is it? Hang on, here it comes...
You've seen the lay down bottom turns of the pros, right? Here's KP again.
Now, without having the presumption to compare myself to the greats, I'm trying to do a reverse version of that. Imagine the same wave, but with the sailor now going upwind towards the right of the photo and on the back (downwind) side of the sail. His right foot is his front foot. Just like in the regular downwind version, I discovered that laying down the sail helps the board do a tighter bottom turn. It clearly all happens at way slower speed (since the wind is very light), but the concept is the same.
I haven't figured out yet what to do with the top turn... someone suggested to continue turning into a 360... I think it's a great idea!
Forgot to say the most important thing: no footstraps. They are absolutely unnecessary at these speeds and they would be in the way 99% of the times. When slogging, in fact, the back foot rests exactly where the front streps are. And when riding a wave at slow speed it's absolutely key to be able to freely move the back foot.
2) I fell in love with the 90 right away at my very first session. It was March 08 and I still have a little youtube video of it.
I use it when the wind is 10-14 knots with a 5.0 superfreak ultralight. Again, no ambitions of planing, but the wind is strong enough to allow strapped down the line wave riding.
Most big wave boards I tried are too wide. Again, they're designed for heavy guys and maybe they work for them. When using those superwide boards, I'm unable to really dig the rail in the water. The Goya, instead, is not that wide (damn, they just updated the website with the 09 models, and I'm too lazy to get the measurement tape, so I can't even tell you how wide it is) and that makes two things happen:
a) the board is still fast
b) I can dig the rail (specially in the tail which is relatively thin) and turn it really sweet!
Where's all that volume? In the thickness in the center and front. The little con of it (in boards, just like in everything else in life, there's always good and bad aspects) is that the domed shape gives the board a little tendency to roll over its axis. At my weight and skill level though, tacking is still absolutely comfortable.
I bought it for Kanaha, but lately I used it at Hookipa too in a day with overhead glassy waves. I couldn't believe how well it worked!
If the wind outside is stronger, the board planes very quickly and (thanks again to the limited width, I think) it sails really nice. If the wind gets stronger also between the waves, then it becomes too big for me to control in the chop and I go back to my lovely car and swap it for...
3) ... the 81l. You guys probably remember that I recently fixed a snapped 81 that was given to me by a friend. I liked it so much that I had to own a non fixed version. In fact, the fix added 1 kg to the weight and even though that made it bounce less on the chops in high wind (see? there's something positive even in weight), it wasn't the best for the aerials and for early planing.
The 81 for me is still a light wind board. Let's say around 16 knots steady or strong on the outside but pretty light between the waves.
Very similar shape and behavior of the 90, I fall a bit more often in the tacks. But that's mostly because I suck...
Is 9 liters enough difference to justify two boards?
Oh yesss...
4) Sean Ordonez shaped this board for Kevin Pritchard.
It's the board I use more often at Hookipa with the 4.7, as you can tell by the number of dings on the bottom that the rocks put in it...
Completely different from the Goyas, with a more flat deck and not so narrow. At this volume, in fact, the width becomes important for stability in the tacks.
This board likes big, smooth waves. It doesn't like the chop too much but... which board does?
Here's a recent photo from the water (thanks Ben!).
5) Keith Taboul shaped this one for himself with a slightly flatter rocker than usual and even though it was a bit faster he didn't like the mild turnability loss.
It's all relative, I guess.
When I tried it, in fact, I didn't find it particularly fast but, without a doubt, it was (and still is) the turniest board I have ever tried!
I'm still so excited every time I get to use it, but it doesn't happen quite often. The wind at Hookipa is always light on the inside and to go over the breaking waves, I need a bit more volume. The bigger the waves the more volume you need. I mean, I need.
That's why I use it only with small waves or in those rare days in which the wind is strong also on the inside.
Somebody told me: brah, you need a van with all these boards!
Absolutely not, was my answer. Why should I carry them all at the same time? Most of the times I know what kind of range of wind I will find and so I only take a couple with me (which fit beautifully inside my Escort) and I happily drive at 32mpg. If I feel like being particularly conservative, then I put a third one on the roof racks.
Plus, if I'm at Hookipa and I need a board that I didn't take with me, my place is a 45 seconds drive away... can't beat that!
And now that I got all sizes covered... what volume am I going choose for my first twin fin?!? Come on, is it really possible to be a windsurfer these days and not to have one?
11 comments:
- Sharon said...
'Boards are like women: the more the better'......I say YES to the twin fin!
- Jeroensurf said...
Hi GP, if you ever brake the Experiment aigain, you have to ask Sean to let you try a Rocket99.
its not meant to plane, awesome on a wave, feeling a 10-20l smaller while riding.
twin: 80l.
You will have a lihtwind board with the turnability of a small board.
- cammar said...
Sharon, :)
I would love to, but unfortunately Sean doesn't have any of his production boards. Just like any shop in Maui. If you want a production SOS, you have to order a whole container...
Just like women, a whole container would be a bit much even for me!
Twin fin: I was thinking even 82. But I need to try more of them. The tests I did so far are very limited. Like 20 minutes each on a few boards. I love the top turn, I don't love the bottom turn (I lose speed). That's because I like to do a deep fast bottom turn and I guess those boards are supposed to bottom turn way closer to the wave.
In other words, I believe they require a little technique adjustment that I didn't have the time to achieve.
The other feeling I had is that the time it takes to get used to them depends on how good you are. So it's possible that I'm never going to be good enough for them...
Also, I like to try boards for a few sessions in different conditions.
And these days they're so requested/popular that it's hard to find a demo available for a few days... thank god!!!
sweet lightwind stuff your going for! I've been thinking about lee-sided wave ridding for a bit now, but I never get the conditions for it. If your light wind freestyle is good, then you could go into an upwind 360 right after your bottom turn like you mentioned. Initially it probably looks a lot like a kono (http://www.continentseven.com/windsurfmove1325.html) does except not planing right?
I'd probably aim to get the board in the white water to help get the nose to come back the other way. That would also let the board slide backwards a bit while rotating through.
- cammar said...
unfrotunately my light wind freestyle, just like my strong wind freestyle is non existant.
The move you linked is really cool, but I doubt it can be done without straps.
Next time I'll get the right conditions (which in Maui in winter are quite common), I'll just try to do some kind of rotation and see what happens... sure enough I'll report the result on this blog.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Huh, the reef model again...
You are cheating, that's not your SOS. Did a new advertiser request it?
One for Monday..
One for Tuesday..
Next for Wednesday ..
Another for Thursday ..
Finally, one for Friday ..
GP - taking a break from your "harem" on Saturdays & Sundays? They wear you out?
- cammar said...
That is my SOS. I have another one around 85l that I don't use anymore for two reasons:
- it's all delaminated on the deck
- the combo of Goya 90 and 81 is superior. What I liked about the SOS 85 is that it was floaty and I could do wave sail in light wind. But the Goyas turn better.
The commercial part of this blog is the banners on the right. Everything I write in the posts is 100% my original thought and the readers can trust it. Whatever they can use it for...
In other words, I'm not trying to sell anything with my posts.
"You're cheating"... unbelievable. At least have the balls to put a name on such a comment!
Hey Lim,
in my glorious days back in Italy, I did have a glorious week with seven different dates in seven days... it was the most stressful week of my life, but probably also the most fun too!
No way I could handle that anymore at my age... there's a time for everything! ;-)
Cheers back!
Hey GP,
As we approach the new year, I want to thank you for a great blog. It helps me to live where I don't live and have a few laughs too. Keep up the great work (and the videos too).
- Riccardo Paladini said...
Ottimo Lavoro Giampaolo, sono convinto che la tua tavola vada molto bene.
Io ho serfato per 8 anni con un Blaster 8'11' e mi sono sempre trovato benissimo nelle onde con poco vento. Il lavoro di correzione della carena sembra ben fatto.
Per quanto riguarda le tre pinne occhio alla scassa, considera l'aumento di peso e se metti le FCS (come ho provato io) si ottengono scarsi risultati a causa della poca rigidità del sistema.
Saluti Riccardo (Italia Massa)


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CLEVELAND - When the game finally ended, Friday night had become Saturday morning, May had turned to June and Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon was tired of trying to predict the weather.
James Loney homered twice, four Tampa Bay pitchers combined on a one-hitter and the Rays endured nearly five hours of rain delays before beating the Cleveland Indians 9-2 for their sixth straight win in a game that ended at 2:53 a.m.
Scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m., the game was delayed three times before finally resuming at 12:13 a.m. — 2 hours, 39 minutes after the third and lengthiest delay. Before that there was uncertainty, confusion and, of course, rain.
"It's a very awkward way to do this, "said Maddon, who spent the weather stoppages monitoring the storms on an iPad in his office. "But if you're going to stick around that long you might as well win."
The teams were delayed a total of 4:49, long enough for the calendar to change before nine innings were played. It ended just before 3 a.m., giving the teams a short turnaround before a 1:05 start on Saturday.
It was the majors' third marathon game in two days. On Thursday night, Kansas City and St. Louis were delayed an hour before the first pitch and another 4 hours, 32 minutes by rain before the Royals beat Cardinals 4-2 well after 3 in the morning.
And about 20 minutes after the Rays got their final out, the San Diego Padres finished off a 4-3, 17-inning victory over the Toronto Blue Jays that took 4:58.
Afterward, Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria went on Twitter to thank the few thousand fans who hung around until the end.
"A sincere thanks to each and every fan that stuck around to watch that game!" Longoria wrote. "You all made it fun. (hash)ClevelandRocks."
Matt Joyce and Loney connected for two-run homers in Tampa's five-run third inning off Scott Barnes (0-1), who replaced starter Corey Kluber following the weather stoppages. Loney added a solo shot to make it 6-2 in the eighth.
Jamey Wright (1-1) came in for unbeaten Tampa starter Matt Moore and pitched three innings for the Rays, who went an AL-best 18-10 in May. Cleveland's only hit was Ryan Raburn's RBI double in the fifth off Josh Lueke.
Cesar Ramos pitched three hitless innings for his first career save.
The teams had little choice but wait out the long delays. With a forecast for heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday, crew chief Fieldin Culbreth and the umpires figured they had to try to get in one game with the possibility the whole weekend could get washed out. The teams aren't scheduled to meet again this season.
The game was delayed 1 hours, 57 minutes at the start, 13 minutes in the second inning and then for another 2:39 before it started again in front of a crowd that began as more than 30,000 and dwindled to just a few thousand, who waited it out and were rewarded for their patience.
At about 11 p.m., Maddon, Indians manager Terry Francona, Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti and two umpires did a walking tour of the saturated outfield grass to inspect the conditions. Not long after that, the overworked grounds crew was summoned again to get the field ready and at 12:13 a.m. Wright threw a pitch to Nick Swisher.
At one point during the third delay, Maddon, with the hood of his blue sweatshirt pulled over his head to try and stay dry, took a stroll through the soggy outfield and thought it might be unplayable.
But in the end, he felt Culbreth and his crew handled things well.
"It was very confusing to everybody," Maddon said. "Fieldin and the boys, umpiring wise, they were handed this. The group here felt the Indians really wanted to play the game tonight."
Francona, too, praised the umpires.
"I thought they handled it very well," he said.
After thunderstorms blasted through the area, the 7:05 p.m. start was pushed back to 9:02 p.m. and the teams took the field under threatening skies.
Kluber got two outs in the second inning when play was halted by rain at 9:18 as Culbreth ordered the grounds crew to put the tarp on the field. But within seconds of the infield being covered, the rain stopped and the game was re-started just 13 minutes later.
Kluber gave up a walk and got Desmond Jennings to line out for the last out in the second when the rain resumed after three minutes of play and the game was stopped again at 9:34 p.m.
Both Maddon and Francona met separately with the umpires as fans scrambled to stay dry. The Indians announced they reduced $1 dollar hot dogs to 50 cents as a way of thanking fans for enduring the rain. During the third delay, fans watched out-of-town games on the giant scoreboard and cheered when Baltimore beat the first-place Detroit Tigers on a walkoff homer, moving the Indians into a temporary tie atop the AL Central.
Joyce said players wondered if they would ever take the field.
"We were actually in the dark pretty much the whole night," he said. "It's tough. A lot of guys were ready to go home and play a doubleheader (Saturday)."
The Rays came out swinging after the lengthy delays as Joyce and Loney homered off Barnes in the third to give Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead.
Yunel Escobar singled with one out, and with two outs, Joyce drove Barnes' pitch 411 feet over the wall in right-centre for his 10th homer. Kelly Johnson walked and scored on Longoria's double, and Loney followed with his sixth homer, a shot that drew boos from the doused fans hanging around.
Held without a hit through four innings by Moore and the journeyman Wright, the Indians cut it to 5-2 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Yan Gomes and Raburn's two-out RBI double.
NOTES: It was Loney's first multihomer game since Sept. 7, 2007. ... Maddon said there has been discussion about starting Moore on Sunday, built it's more likely he will next in Detroit next week. ... Browns offensive linemen, including Pro Bowler Joe Thomas, visited the Indians clubhouse before the game and then crowded into the dugout to stay out of the rain. Thomas couldn't convince one of the rookies to do a belly slide across the tarp for money. ... Indians closer Chris Perez, on the disabled list with a sore right shoulder, will be reevaluated Sunday before the next step in his rehab is mapped out. ... Rays RHP Alex Colome, who made his major league debut Thursday in Miami, was optioned to Triple-A Durham. LHP Jeff Beliveau was recalled, but later optioned so Rays RHP Chris Archer can make his season debut Saturday.

subset: commoncrawl


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Alberta conservative firebrand goes out with guns blazing
It had been planned as a graceful retirement, a capstone on a varied and far-ranging career.
Instead, Dave Rutherford's colourful radio show came to an unceremonious halt on June 24, just one month before his planned retirement on July 26.
While the exact details of what ended the 64-year-old's talk show haven't been officially revealed, Rutherford bluntly stated "don't criticize the management" in a tweet revealing that some conflict existed between him and his employers, Corus Radio, who took him off the air.
On his last show, Rutherford expressed his "profound disappointment" with Corus Radio for directing its resources to music radio stations during the flood in June instead of CHQR News Talk 770, which broadcasted his show.
As the Bow River began to rise, the station producing News Talk 770 was evacuated in downtown Calgary and then directed its news feed through a sister station in Edmonton, 630 CHED, while music continued to be played on other Corus stations in the city.
"I'm just very upset about it," protested Rutherford on his show. "Professionally and personally. There are other ways I think information could have been broadcast on 770, but it was not."
"I've been to Biloxy, Mississippi to cover Katrina, I've been to Bosnia, I've been to Rwanda. It's been incredible."
– Dave Rutherford, former news radio host
Shortly before being let go from Corus Radio, Dave Rutherford sat down with the Calgary Journal refelcting on his career and his decision to retire.
"I recently saw my age in the paper, and just seeing it in black-and-white made me ask, 'Oh my gosh, am I that old?" ponders Rutherford. "I really don't feel old."
Rutherford's father, Walt Rutherford, was also a talk radio personality on CJOC in Lethbridge and with Edmonton's CJCA. "When I was a kid, I had no idea what he did as a living," remembers Rutherford. "I had no desire to follow in his footsteps, but it turned out I did."
Rutherford chose to enter news because "I wanted to be the one who told you about things, and to tell you first. I don't know why that is, if it's genetics or some Freudian thing, but it goes back to what makes a good newsman."
Rutherford's first days behind the microphone were in September 1971, a mere month after Peter Lougheed led Alberta's Progressive Conservatives to a sweeping win.
Kerri Conner, who has worked as Rutherford's producer since the mid-90s, refers to radio as "the theatre of the mind," adding that "it touches people more than possibly any other journalistic medium.
"It's always been really exciting, there's that adrenaline that comes with deadlines, of doing something new every single day," states Conner.
"Sure there are stumbles, but I love being able to create something new every day, and Dave just does a great job with the material."
Conner claims Rutherford doesn't script anything – not even his intros or outros. "Our morning meetings are incredibly important in his thought process and how he links things, but everything that you hear is right off the top of his head."
On hectic days, Conner says the news team frantically hands Rutherford information, and he gets it "right on the spot."
Over the course of his radio career, Rutherford has travelled around the world, from war zones to disaster areas. "I've been to Biloxy, Mississippi to cover Katrina, I've been to Bosnia, I've been to Rwanda. It's been incredible."
One trip which really sticks out in both his mind, and Conner's, was the Unity Rally in Montreal, during the 1995 Quebec independence referendum.
"It was a couple of days before the rally, and Canadian Airlines was offering incredibly reduced rates to attend the rally," Conner recalls. "We were in the office, and when we heard this, we realized, 'We've gotta go to that!'"
Rutherford and his team could only get a flight to Toronto, so they rented a car and drove the rest of the way.
"It had Ontario licence plates on it. Yikes," Rutherford laughs. "There were guys swearing at us and cursing and giving us the finger. It was visceral, it felt almost like another country."
Back in 1995, the team needed to plug a telephone wire into their equipment to be able to broadcast live. However, their phone line ended up being located on the far side of the plaza. "We were looking at at least 200 metres across this park that we had to get this piece of wire all the way across," Rutherford recalls.
The team walked the wire straight across the park, and it just reached the media podium — a park, as Rutherford and his team would find, soon to be filled with thousands of Canadians.
"You're talking about 100,000 people plus media," says Conner. "That one phone cord was our lifeline to Alberta, and nobody ever stepped on it, nobody pulled it out. It was amazing."
The wire was not the only hiccup the Rutherford Show experienced. "I was standing on the podium, staring across at this mass of people and the speakers started speaking French."
A uni-lingual Albertan broadcasting to an audience of Anglophones, Rutherford found himself in a bind. "However, this Francophone from Alberta crawled up and said, 'Hi Dave!' and I dragged him onto the platform and he translated the entire thing for us. Everything just came together," chuckles Rutherford. "And that wire never came out."
When he started hosting the Rutherford Show on AM 770, "The West Wants In" was a popular slogan across the province, and Preston Manning's upstart Reform party was on the verge of electoral breakthrough.
"I go back to an old cartoon, and I go back to a picture of a cow standing over Canada, and the cow's face is in Alberta, and the udder is over Ontario," Rutherford laughs. "There may be still some of that thought."
Since then, politics in Canada has gone through a seismic shift — the rise of the Conservative Party of Canada, the demise of Liberals, historically referred to as Canada's 'natural governing party,' and the unexpected turmoil in Alberta's provincial politics thanks to the insurgent Wildrose Party.
"Canadians finally got around to economic stewardship as a political reality," says Rutherford.
Rutherford attributes the actions of Manning and his fiscal sparring partner, Liberal finance minister Paul Martin, to creating a "mindset shift" among Canadians.
"It was amazing to see, back in '93, [Premier Ralph] Klein and [Liberal leader Laurence] Decore, both leaders talking about cuts," recalls Rutherford."Now, it's become something we expect."
In the years since, some in the media see Rutherford as an informal voice of Alberta — a man with his finger on the pulse of the province's populace.
"He's one of the few journalists who has a real rapport with Stephen Harper, which is fairly unusual."
– Richard Sutherland, professor of policy studies, Mount Royal University
"It wouldn't have happened 20 years ago," Rutherford notes. "It's been an evolution. Only in the past five years or so has some of the media really begun to look at Alberta differently and maybe appreciate what we say more than the oil we pump. I better now reflect what the audience feels than when I started out. I'm closer now to the pulse of the public than maybe some politicians."
"There's no mistaking his political beliefs," said Richard Sutherland, a professor of policy studies at Mount Royal University who specializes in media and politics. "Though the rise of the Wildrose may have complicated things, he has been a staunch Progressive Conservative, in the Alberta sense, for years."
Sutherland recalls listening to a show years ago where Rutherford was interviewing a Liberal critic, and the Progressive Conservative minister phoned in and "pre-empted the whole show."
Sutherland alleges, "It wasn't exactly objective, fair, and balanced, but he had those connections, and he had that respect within those circles. He's one of the few journalists who has a real rapport with Stephen Harper, which is fairly unusual."
Rutherford admits this connection hasn't always been there. "When I started out, I wasn't really certain about the principles that I believed in." But three hours of air time on a daily basis and being challenged by his audience helped Rutherford discover his own "comfort zone" of beliefs.
"It was a public evolution, in a way, of what I believed in. And once I got very comfortable with that, I just carried it through, and that formed my basis for a lot of my discussion."
Reflecting on those strong beliefs, Connor feels it made Rutherford "very genuine, and very authentic," adding "the guy you know on the air is that guy in real life."
"That doesn't mean he's strident," adds Conner. "He is open to different opinions, different people, different kinds of conversations, and that maybe doesn't come across in the radio in the day-to-day experience."
On account of political beliefs and outspoken nature, Rutherford has been at the center of controversies numerous times before. His most recent feud has been with Alison Redford's provincial government.
"The premier and I disagree on a lot of things," Rutherford claims. "They're the progressives of the Progressive Conservatives, the conservatives have all moved over to the Wildrose."
"We've had this kind of running battle. She'd ignore the show, I'd criticize her, and then the communications department of the premier's office would take shots at me, back-and-forth and back-and-forth."
Until the last few years, Sutherland said that Rutherford provided the Progressive Conservative government with "a fairly sympathetic context in which to communicate."
"For a long time that context worked, and he had access to ministers, but now that door's been shut in his face."
However, a chance encounter at the Prime Minister's barbecue at Heritage Park in 2012 resulted in a hug and an offer for coffee from the premier.
"Some people at my table were terrified, wondering what would happen," says Rutherford about the situation. "But the premier opened her arms wide. And so we're embracing underneath this spotlight in the middle of a tent filled with a thousand conservatives. It was amazing."
Although Rutherford says, "We've never had the coffee."
"His career's been an interesting one," affirms Sutherland. "He's definitely an Alberta phenomena. I don't know if he's that exportable."
Within the province, however, Sutherland sees him as "fairly unassailable," adding, "Rutherford, and QR 770, really owns their audience."
At the same time, Sutherland points out that the talk radio format, which dominates American airwaves, doesn't have a strong audience in Canada. He also sees that audience becoming smaller and less valuable.
"It's interesting to see some of the discussion around his retirement being the station changing direction. It shows that the demographics of Alberta may be beginning to shift politically, and there's probably more lucrative things QR can do with that media property."
"I don't think, in my business, most people start out to build a legacy," says Rutherford. "I do the job, I tell the story, I want to inform people about things."
Conner says that while the end was fast approaching, she was excited for what the future might hold for Rutherford. "He is such a young and active guy. He's not one of those guys who will retire and put his feet up."
While rumours recently swirled around about a potential run for mayor, including a grassroots "Draft Rutherford" campaign, Rutherford recently quashed them, telling the Calgary Sun that he was "never running for mayor."
As for now, Rutherford is being contacted by listeners who he has touched over his years on the radio, many of whom he says are thankful for "teaching them so much."
He reveals, "That's very gratifying. I'm glad I was a journalist, but I think I might like, in another life, to be in a classroom, maybe teaching political science or social studies." With that, he leans back and laughs, "Maybe next time."
- Details
- By BAJ VISSER


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Leatherman multi-tools are a tool kit that you can slip into your pocket (or glove compartment, or messenger bag, or utility drawer). This version offers needlenose and regular pliers, two types of wire cutters, scissors, five screwdrivers, wood saw, serrated knife blade, clip-point knife blade, and a can and bottle opener -- all packed into a stainless-steel, 8.5-ounce, 4-inch long gadget.
$74.95 at L.L. Bean.
Gift Ideas for Guys: Holiday 2010
Leatherman Wave Multi-Tool
Next slide: The Beer Book
1 comment so far...
These are great gifts! For something a bit more special, I usually opt for watches. RadoUSA.com, TheBreitling.com and TagHeuerUSA.com are usually sites I peruse (and where I bought a few watches already).
Flag as inappropriate Posted by Kim the Cybersurfing Junkie on 19th October 2009


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NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen is Live from Nashville and the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association is ready to kick off the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show with a live two-hour broadcast of NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen tonight from Nashville, Tenn. This week's episode will take an in-depth look inside the Tennessee beef cattle industry as well as many highlights from the record-breaking trade show floor. The show will also feature a look at Music City itself and provide an introduction to the industry issues being discussed at this year's annual convention.
"We are very excited about our return to Nashville and a week in the great state of Tennessee," said NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen host Kevin Ochsner. "This special edition of the show will give viewers not only a unique view of the beef cattle industry in Tennessee but also a look at some of the fun and excitement we'll see while we're in Music City."
The show will also offer viewers an opportunity to join NCBA by calling 1-866-USA-Beef. The program will re-broadcast on FamilyNet Wed., Feb. 5, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. EST and Sat., Feb. 8, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. EST on RFD-TV. In addition, all episodes of NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen are available on the program's website at www.cattlementocattlemen.org. The program is also on Facebook and can be followed on Twitter.
NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen is an award-winning program providing information on the U.S. beef cattle industry since February 2007. Sponsors of the program include Purina; John Deere; Zoetis; Merck Animal Health; New Holland Agriculture; Merial; Ram Trucks; Dow AgroSciences; Roper Apparel and Footwear; and Stetson Apparel and Boots.
Contact our Media Team
Ed Frank
Senior Director
Policy Communications
Steven Johnson
Associate Director
Policy Communications


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Don't forget to visit the WW2 Airsoft forum. It's a lively and friendly community forum, again independent, that welcomes new and old players alike.
All the upcoming UK games are listed there along with the detail and booking information.
Go to the WW2 Airsoft forum
Comment, suggestions, offers of articles or reciprocal links are most welcomed – get in touch!


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Affluence is touching more and more Chinese, according to a report released Tuesday in Beijing by Bain & Co. and China Merchants Bank.
The number of Chinese high-net-worth individuals, those with at least $1.6 million in investable assets, stood at some 700,000 at the end of 2012, more than twice as many as four years earlier, the report said. This year, that number will increase by 20%.
The report found that average individual investable assets per high-net-worth person were $4.7 million at the end of 2008, and were on track to grow to $5.2 million by the end of 2013.
At present, 20 provinces in China have high-net-worth populations exceeding 10,000, and five new ones have joined the elite group since 2010.
Heilongjiang benefits from natural resources and the reform and development of industrial bases. Chongqing gets a boost from the development of central and western regions and coastal businesses that have relocated to the west.
High-net-worth population increases in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia resulted from growth in the coal and natural resources industries.
As the ranks of China's wealthy grow, investment behaviors continue to evolve, researchers found. "Wealth preservation," "quality of life" and "children's education" topped the list of wealth management objectives in the new report.
"Wealth creation," the number one wealth management objective in the 2009 survey, dropped to fourth place.
The report identified these trends:
- Wealth inheritance planning is on the radar of approximately one-third of high-net-worth individuals and one-half of ultrahigh-net-worth individuals—those with at least $16.1 million in investable assets
- More than half of ultra-affluent individuals have expressed interest in establishing "family trusts," few of which are offered on the mainland
- 15% have already set up trusts or started to do so, most often through private banks located in Hong Kong
- The number of wealthy Chinese seeking overseas asset allocation for risk diversification and investment opportunities has roughly doubled since 2011, with half of the ultra-affluent now invested overseas
- Wealthy Chinese investors seek superior advice and guidance in selecting more sophisticated offerings, preferring banks with high degrees of professionalism and expertise in international markets as their service providers for oversea asset management.
"High-net-worth individuals in China have been very successful in creating wealth," Jennifer Zeng, Bain partner in Beijing and co-author of the report, said in a statement.
"But as wealthy Chinese age, they now face a dilemma in how to preserve wealth and leave it to their families. This presents many opportunities for banks serving the private wealth market in China, if they can effectively respond to these emerging needs."
The report said China's domestic private banks face intensified competition. Maintaining and strengthening their competitive advantage demands that they assemble high quality service teams and expand product and service platforms through multiple channels.
Moreover, with domestic needs for overseas asset allocation on the rise, Chinese banks should leverage their deep understanding of and good relationships with high-net-worth individuals, and develop models that best suit their strategy to accelerate their overseas expansion.
"HNWIs' demands in investment management have become more sophisticated," Sameer Chishty, Bain partner in Hong Kong and global head of the firm's wealth management and private banking practice," said in the statement. "They have stronger needs in mid- and long- term wealth planning, and have rising demands in wealth preservation and inheritance."
Read Emerging Markets for Sale by Ron DeLegge on AdvisorOne.


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- Description
Are you being bullied at work? Is someone you supervise bullying you? Do you know how to identify bullying behavior? Do you know what to do when you experience bullying?
What's on this page:
Workplace bullying is so widespread that a 2014 survey indicated that that 27% of American workers have experienced bullying firsthand, that 21% have witnessed it, and that 72% are aware that workplace bullying happens. Yet, there are few laws to protect workers from bullies, bullying is not a crime in most jurisdictions, and few employers have specific anti-bullying policies.
101 Tips for Targets of Workplace Bullies, 500-pack is filled with the insights targets of bullying need to find a way to survive, and then to finally end the bullying. It helps you avoid the traps and pitfalls that await you at work, and it guides you into new choices that can right the wrongs you have experienced.
101 Tips for Targets of Workplace Bullies, 500-pack is a collection of short tips that help targets formulate effective responses to bullying. You'll learn techniques that cause the bully to find new targets, and guide the organization towards getting control of its bullies. It gives concrete, nuts-and-bolts methods for dealing with real-life situations. It's a collection of significant size — 34 pages (18,000 words) in all. That's about 1.5 times the size of Who Moved My Cheese?.
Here are some sample tips.
- Targets can mount massively coordinated counterattacks
- Counterattacking too feebly is a common error targets make. Bullies know that counterattacks are possible, but since they select "easy" targets, they usually expect feeble counterattacks, if any.
- Bullies generally don't expect massively coordinated counterattacks. That's one reason why massively coordinated counterattacks are so successful. A massively coordinated counterattack is an attack on multiple fronts, simultaneously. Simultaneity overwhelms the bully's ability to process what's happening, enabling the target to get inside the bully's OODA Loop. An example: filing a grievance with your employer, filing a lawsuit against the bully personally, and filing a lawsuit against the employer — all on the same day. The key principle: when you counterattack, escalate to the max. Hold nothing back.
- Coordination with other targets of the same bully or other bullies can be an effective way to overwhelm not only the bullies involved, but also the cognizant officials as they try to suppress any evidence of bullying within the organization.
- Understand how bullies use social isolation
- To isolate someone socially is to deprive her or him of interaction with others. Since humans do need social interaction, this bullying tactic can be very painful for targets. But in most workplaces, complete elimination of social interactions is impossible. That's why bullies focus on the kinds of interaction deprivation that most effectively enhance psychic pain in the target.
- Isolating the target from anyone who might provide support, comfort, or sound advice is the highest priority. Next in priority are techniques that create in the target a sense of being excluded. For example, failing to invite the target to meetings, or having the target attend by telephone rather than in person, could create a sense of exclusion.
- Arranging for the target to work at remote locations facilitates all of these isolation tactics. Supervisors who are bullies sometimes use business travel to isolate targets, especially if the destination is undesirable. But office or cubicle location choices are also useful, if they are remote enough from the target's sources of comfort, support, or advice.
- Bullies who are peers of the target employ social isolation tactics by excluding the target from meetings or informal gatherings with the target's peers. Bullies whose targets are their own supervisors can create a sense of exclusion by organizing meetings or gatherings of the supervisor's subordinates without involving the supervisor.
- Understand the paradox of the "easy target"
- It is widely believed — mistakenly — that bullies always choose "easy targets" — the defenseless and the weak. While it is true that they do find some easy targets attractive, not all attractive targets are "easy targets."
- This circumstance arises because of a paradox. People who are not bullies generally don't appreciate that the difficult targets are precisely those who provide the greatest sense of reward to the bully, because successful bullying of such targets provides the most certain validation of the bully's power. Dominating an easy target proves relatively little.
- That's why bullies don't seek easy targets per se. Rather, bullies prefer targets who provide opportunities for successful outcomes. An individual who is personally strong, but who, for various reasons, is likely to be dominated by the bully, is the most attractive kind of target.
- Be precise when you lodge complaints about bullying
- Imprecision in describing bullying behavior is a common error targets make when they complain to authorities. The imprecision is probably due to our natural inclination to avoid making confrontational statements about each other's behavior when we address each other. That's understandable, and that reluctance is usually a helpful trait, but not so when trying to end bullying.
- For example, a target might approach a Human Resources representative or a supervisor about problems with a bullying peer, saying "I don't know how to talk to her — she almost always misinterprets what I say to mean something malicious, when I don't at all mean anything like that."
- Here the target has made a statement that could reasonably be interpreted to indicate that both the target and the bully need to learn some communications skills, and a recommendation for training might very well be the outcome. The difficulty here is that the target had no such thing in mind, but many supervisors and human resources representatives fail to notice the ambiguity in the wording of the target's complaint.
- What the target could have said was, "I think she is bullying me. She twists almost everything I say — I believe intentionally — so as to make me seem malicious, when I intend no malice, and when I believe no reasonable person could interpret what I said in that way. There is a pattern of bullying here that I believe the organization must address."
- But even that direct approach might not work. A typical response to such a charge is to question the complainant's interpretation of events: "How do you know she misinterprets you intentionally?" You can reply to such skepticism by first restating the question in stronger terms: "An excellent question," you might say. Continuing, "How do I know that the misinterpretation isn't just an accident, and not intentional? I think it highly improbable, because if it were accidental, sometimes she would misinterpret me by making the opposite mistake — by believing that I am too nice, or too supportive. It isn't the misinterpretation alone that leads me to conclude that it is intentional; it is the extreme consistency of the pattern and the consistency in the kind of misinterpretation that leads me to believe that beneath the misinterpretation lies conscious intention. I believe she knows exactly what she's doing."
- Presenting one's case in such stark terms can be very difficult for targets, especially when they have been intimidated by their bullies. But with many supervisors, leaving any opening for a more benign interpretation of one's complaints is likely to result in an unsuccessful outcome.
- Be precise. Say what you mean. If it's too scary, get help and advice in how to approach the problem.
Click one of the miniature screenshot images below to expose a larger image; click that larger image to dismiss it.
Click the folder icons to reveal (or hide) chapter content summaries.
Reveal all chapter content summaries.
Know how to recognize bullying
- Know what workplace bullying is
- Don't assume that your workplace is bully-free
- Know the signs that you're being bullied
- Understand that bullies fully expect to cause harm
- You can decide what bullying is and what it isn't
- Bullies do not fit a recognized profile
Understand the social structure of workplace bullying
- Know the range of participant roles
- Bullies conceive and/or initiate the abuse
- The target is the recipient of the bully's abuse
- The bully supervisor is the direct supervisor of the bully
- Bully assistants carry out the bullying on behalf of the bully
- Bully abettors enable the bullying to continue
- Bully reinforcers support the bully but don't engage in abuse directly
- Silent witnesses observe the bullying but don't acknowledge it
- Authorities are managers in the bully's report chain
- Target supervisors are usually aware of the bullying
- Target allies take the part of the target, sometimes in the moment
- Target comforters support the target, usually confidentially
- Cognizant officials represent the interests of the organization
- The oblivious are unaware of the bullying
Understand why bullies bully
- Reject the myth that all bullies suffer from low self-esteem
- Bullies derive a sense of power from bullying
- Bullies interpret inaction by authority figures as endorsement
- Others also interpret inaction by authority as endorsement
- Bullying is often episodic
- Most bullies do not bully out of fear of loss of job
- Revenge against the target is rarely a primary motive
- Personal animosity towards the target is rarely a primary motive
Know the difference between bullying and ordinary toxic conflict
- Conflict is sometimes creative, but bullying is always destructive
- In bullying, the bully is always the perpetuator
- In bullying, the bully is the initiator
- In ordinary toxic conflict, the parties have goals
- Denial is common in bullying
- In bullying, there is a marked imbalance of power
- In bullying there is a stark asymmetry of inner experiences
Understand how to wait for relief
- Set a time limit
- Inventory the costs of waiting for relief
- Seek personal counseling
- Consider couples counseling
- Use your vacation days
Understand the experience of the target
- Targets can feel that they are not in control of their own lives
- Targets search for ways to regain control of their lives
- Targets often describe themselves as being on a roller coaster
- Targets frequently experience social isolation
- Many targets feel the urge to flee
Understand the experience of …
- Know the possible motivations of the bully supervisor
- Know the possible motivations of bully assistants
- Know the possible motivations of bully abettors
- Know the possible motivations of bully reinforcers
- Know the possible motivations of silent witnesses
- Know the possible motivations of authorities
- Know the possible motivations of the target supervisor
- Know the possible motivations of target allies
- Know the possible motivations of target comforters
- Know the possible motivations of cognizant officials
- Know the possible motivations of the oblivious
Know the various strategies of bullying
- Know the six strategies of workplace bullying
- Understand how bullies use social isolation
- Understand how bullies use information manipulation
- Understand how bullies use abuse of working conditions
- Understand how bullies use emotional abuse
- Understand how bullies use professional discrediting
- Understand how bullies use professional devaluation
Understand how bullies choose their targets
- Bullies focus on outcomes
- Understand the paradox of the "easy target"
- Know the six classes of preferred targets
Understand how bullies defend themselves
- Know your bully's defensive capabilities
- Know how bullies use defensive tactics
- Know how bullies use preventative defensive tactics
Understand the dynamics of confrontation
- Bullies aren't necessarily seeking confrontation
- Understand the OODA model
- Bullies are intuitive users of the OODA model
- Bullies use OODA to select targets
- Bullies use OODA to control the tempo of the confrontations
- Bullies use OODA to shape the bullying environment
- Targets are more successful if they accept the necessity of counterattack
- Targets should address their own reticence about counterattack
- Targets can mount massively coordinated counterattacks
- Targets who exploit situational awareness are more successful
- Targets can work to degrade the bully's situational awareness
- Targets can use deception and disinformation to confuse the bully
- Targets must know their own vulnerabilities
Understand why ordinary conflict resolution strategies don't work
- Guiding the parties toward achieving common goals doesn't work
- Adopting a win-win approach doesn't work
- Fostering mutual understanding doesn't work
- Encouraging the parties to put the past behind them doesn't work
- Encouraging mutual respect, while avoiding talk of punishment and blaming, doesn't work
Know tactics and strategies for ending the bullying
- As a target, avoid revealing your new posture before you're really ready
- As a target, know your legal rights
- As a target who is the bully's supervisor, combine caution with counterattack
- As a target who is the bully's supervisor, plan for the retaliation conversation
- Know your employer's anti-bullying policy
- Understand why targets wait too long before seeking advice and assistance
- Start looking for legal advice long before you think you need it
- Find proactive legal representation
- Be precise when you lodge complaints about bullying
- Be strategic about presenting evidence to authorities
- Gathering evidence requires refined observational skills
- Commit all your observations to an evidence journal
- Understand the value of evidence provided by target allies
- Understand the dos and don'ts of audio recording
This item is also available by the single copy (USD 9.99 per copy), in 10-copy packs (USD 7.50 per copy), in 50-copy packs (USD 7.00 per copy) and in 100-copy packs (USD 5.75 per copy).
101 Tips for Targets of Workplace Bullies, 500-pack is in Acrobat format, which gives you several advantages. You can print it, and read it like any book. Or in electronic form, you can use the search capability of Adobe Reader to find passages of special interest to you. If you load it onto your laptop, tablet, or other mobile device, you can read it anywhere — and it's weightless, too. 34 pages.
File size: 630 KBytes Print length: 34 pages ISBN: 978-1-938932-06-9 Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited per user, maximum 500 users Publication date: August 30, 2011 Sold by: Chaco Canyon Consulting Language: English
This item is available only in downloadable format.
To avoid shipping charges, be sure to select "downloadable" for the shipping method.
Last modified: 26 Oct 2016 04:28 Eastern Time
- Reviews


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Look carefully at the picture above. What do you see? Sure, it's FIFA 13 on the Nintendo Wii U, but look a little closer and you'll notice an aiming reticule on the Wii U's GamePad, just one of the clever features that's coming to FIFA 13 on Nintendo's new machine.
In fact, this option lets you use the GamePad's display in first-person view for set pieces - meaning you'll get a better sense of the scene in front of you when you line up for that cracking curved shot.
We sat down with FIFA 13 on the Nintendo Wii U to have a look at some of the additional features coming to the next-gen console when it launches in November. As EA told us, this isn't just a straight port of the game from the version you'll find on the Xbox 360 or PS3, but a version that makes use of the Wii U's unique hardware.
READ: Nintendo Wii U pictures and hands-on
Before we get there, it's worth saying just how good FIFA 13 looks on the Wii U. It's stunning. Graphically, it not only rivals, but in some cases surpasses, the current console versions. EA told us it had been able to increase the texture of the ground, for example, as well as increasing the resolution of the crowd, so Nintendo is no longer left on the bench when it comes to graphics.
The result is a game that's glorious to behold, both on the big screen and on the GamePad's 6.2-inch display.
Of course the GamePad brings with it a home advantage – as EA termed it – because you'll get a range of features that anyone with a standard controller will lack. Okay, that's not strictly true, as some of the options are available in menus, but access to a touch display means you can pull off a range of tricks to boost your chances on the pitch.
There's a precision shot feature that will let you place the shot exactly as you want, so rather than the slightly vague feeling when you toe the ball towards the net, you'll have more control over how you place it.
Shake the GamePad during normal play and a net will appear on the display: simply tap where you want to place the ball in the net and that's the shot you'll make. Of course, it isn't quite that simple as a lot of factors come into play.
Better players will have greater chances of making that shot accurately and the situation on the pitch also has an impact: if Messi is being harangued by defenders, even he might fluff it and the game reflects that.
Another features is touchscreen passing. This reduces the dependency on AI in the game, so you can make the pass you want and place the ball into a space for a player to run on to. You also get the option of ground or lob, based on the length of tap.
Of course these actions take place on the GamePad's display, without impacting on the main game on your TV, so while you are messing around with various things, like precision shot, the game will roll on as normal for anyone you might be playing against.
Naturally you don't have to use any of these features: you can play FIFA 13 on the Wii U exactly as you would on the Xbox. The additional features are complementary, rather than obligatory.
Looking to appeal to the casual or social gaming demographic at which the Nintendo Wii U is being pitched, one of the largest features of FIFA 13 on the Wii U is Manager Central.
This will let you make a lot of changes on the fly and means you can tap into a load of information (which you'd normally have to pause the game to access). You'll get access to statistics; you can set up substitutions that will automatically happen at the next break in play.
You can also view how players are performing, change the formation or the tactics and set up man marking. It might sound like an awful lot to be concentrating on while also concentrating on the game, but here's the clever bit: you can have someone else doing it.
That means you could have one person playing the game and someone else playing the manager – watching, looking to see what's not working tactically and making changes on the fly. It's ideal for those armchair football managers and designed to accommodate different roles on multiplayer games.
READ: FIFA 13 review (Xbox 360)
You can also opt to just manage a match. This is like a simulation match, but rather than just watching, you get all those options we mentioned on the GamePad, so you can have some Football Manager-esque control.
The result is exactly what we want to see from the Nintendo Wii U: a game that uses the hardware to best effect to give you something extra and something distinct from the other versions out there.
FIFA 13 is a launch title on the Nintendo Wii U, so you'll be able to get your hands on it when the console launches in your country.


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Pirate Jonny's Caribbean BBQ Rubs, Seasonings And Sauces
Description: PIRATE JONNYS CARIBBEAN RUBS & SEASONINGS This Clearwater local business specializes in a gourmet line of products that are gluten free, MSG free & low sodium. Pirate Jonny's seasonings have won awards for their excellence from the National BBQ Association, the Hot Pepper Awards of New Jersey, the Scovie Awards and many other local awards for their seasonings,Chili and Sauces. Pirate Jonny's makes cooking easy with many uses from simple sprinkling on salads, to rubs for meats in grilling, for wings, vegetables, dips, etc. Also, new to the line are Pirate Nuts made with the Caribbean roundup Seasoning and Sweet Island Nuts made with our Sweet Island Seasoning & now to you! Check out our newest recipe with bacon using our Caribbean rub. All recipes are available on our website, http://www.piratejonnys.com/recipes/. You can also enjoy Holiday gift sets, http://www.piratejonnys.com/fancy-awards/contests-specials/ here. After all, Tis the Seasoning! ENJOY YARR MATEYS! JON & TERRI TONER,
Price: $3.00 to $20.00


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CodeKiwi necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 254 diseños de 64 diseñadores freelance.
CodeKiwi are bespoke software development company based in Melbourne, Australia.
Until now much of our work has come via word of mouth however it is time that we begin developing a formal presence, starting with a logo but leading to a website and other promotional tools.
CodeKiwi's work is characterised by creative thinking and clever solutions, delivered in a flexible but professional manner. As such we want a logo that is clean and professional, but ideally with something that makes it a bit different or clever (an example is use of negative space but we're open to ideas).
The files we will require are:
Print file format - .ai (CMYK)
Web file format - .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)
We mostly deal business-to-business with professional clients. Therefore, the logo should be a strong and professional design (not 'cute' like some B2C logos).
The logo will be used for comms with both existing and new clients:
- CodeKiwi Website and splash page
- Client websites & branded software
- Signatures & Business Cards
- Proposals, Client comms, Contracts, Invoices etc.
(some of these may constitute additional contracts down the road once we settle on a logo)
CodeKiwi is made up of code + kiwi (i.e. a software company run by two Kiwis/New Zealanders). We currently represent this in white-on-black CamelCase but we are open to alternative ideas!
1. A logo for use in the previously-mentioned channels
2. An icon or symbol that can be used as a favicon/mini icon on its own (may be a cut-down version of logo if appropriate, depending on logo style)
- Simple, modern logo with a clean, bold design
- Our brand is professional but clever – the logo should reflect this
- Use of negative space in some way would be a plus
- Should be easily scalable and not too spindly/detailed
We are flexible about the format of the logo in terms of shape, use of the words/letters within the logo, etc.
Sometimes it's easier to say what you DON'T want. So, please no:
- Kiwis (as in, the bird). Yes, we are Kiwis but we don't want to over-emphasise this as we are operating in the Australian market.
- 'Code' imagery (e.g. binary, matrix-style numbers – not for us, thanks)
- Stock images/clip art (just, no thanks)
- Nothing 'cutesy', please - we want a bold, strong brand
Simplicity is key. We are currently using {CodeKiwi} in bold white font against a black background however feel free to experiment as we would be open to the use of colour if still a clean, bold logo.
Our ideal logo is something simple but clever. Some examples of logos that we feel have achieved this:
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Two-time defending champion Pablo Andujar was ousted from the Grand Prix Hassan II on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the first round to qualifier Pablo Carreno-Busta in a match between Spaniards.
Carreno-Busta, ranked 237 places below his opponent, will next play second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Tobias Kamke of Germany beat fifth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-3, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez downed sixth-seeded Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3 in an all-Spanish match.
Kamke will play former top-five player Tommy Robredo of Spain. Garcia-Lopez faces France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who rallied past Albert Montanes of Spain 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Eighth-seeded Grega Zemlja edged Matthias Bachinger of Germany 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (2) in a match featuring 16 aces. The Slovenian next faces Henri Laaksonen after the Swiss qualifier beat Younes Rachidi of Morocco 6-3, 6-7 (8), 6-1.
Italian qualifier Filipo Volandri topped Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-3, 7-5 and will play third-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia. Aljaz Bedene defeated French qualifier Marc Gicquel 6-1, 6-4. The Slovenian next faces fourth-seeded Benoit Paire.


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The relationship between the state and society in China has been ground for producing controversial works of art such as the iconic photograph of Tank Man — the lone civilian standing up to the People's Liberation Army in Tiananmen Square — or Ai Weiwei's Study in Perspective, both of which seek a spiritual redress in their defiance of authority. In this sociopolitical tradition stands the work of the Beijing-based artist Liu Bolin, who employs photography as a means to explore the Chinese national identity while silently protesting its government. His series Hiding in the City was born out of the governmental eviction and subsequent destruction of his Beijing studio in 2005. As a result, Liu began to use the city around him as a backdrop, painting himself to blend in with a landscape in constant flux. By literally blending into the city, Liu, who considers himself an outsider, creates a tension that challenges the viewer to question what is on and beneath the surface.
Liu's Hiding in the City series, along with other work by the photographer, is currently on view at the Eli Klein Fine Art gallery in New York City. For Liu, the most important element of his images is the background. By using iconic cultural landmarks such as the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, or the remains of Suo Jia Village where his studio was housed, Liu seeks to direct awareness to the humanity caught between the relics of the imperial past and the sleek modern monoliths of the 21st century China. Each image requires meticulous planning and execution: as both artist and performer, Liu directs the photographer on how to compose each scene before entering the frame. Once situated, he puts on his Chinese military uniform, which he wears for all of his Invisible Man photographs and, with the help of an assistant and painter, is painted seamlessly into the scene. This process can sometimes take up to 10 hours with Liu having to stand perfectly still. Although the end result of Liu's process is the photograph, the tension between his body and the landscape is itself a manifestation of China's incredible social and physical change. Simultaneously a protester and a performance artist, Liu completely deconstructs himself by becoming invisible, becoming a symbol of the humanity hidden within the confines of a developing capital.
Liu Bolin is a Chinese artist whose work has been shown around the world. The exhibition "Liu Bolin: Lost in Art" will be on view at the Eli Klein Fine Art gallery in New York City through May 11.


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I have an issue here I am trying to solve. I am attempting to write a client and library for an api. The api has some parameters passed to it via php GET variables. So my library uses a socket to get the page, for example I have a method in the library for getting profile info, which gets the data from http://wherever.com/api.php?key=xxx&...nfo&userid=xxx.
My current method is to open a URLConnector to that location and retrieve the data. The problem is that this is a blocking socket so my program becomes unresponsive until the data is all returned.
What I would like instead to do is have the method getProfileInfo take in a user id and a callback function, so I could do getUserInfo(1234,userInfoArrived); and have the userInfoArrived (which takes a string parameter) called once all the data is read. Then in my library I can run the socket in a new thread.
I'm having trouble passing a function as a parameter though. I searched online and found something about using delegates but I didn't understand anything they were talking about. If that's the way to go, can someone give me an example of how I would do such a thing?
Alternatively, can you suggest a better way to have non-blocking sockets? In the future I plan to drop the URLConnector and do all the http work myself with an ordinary socket, as I want to include a further api that uses tokens passed as header parameters.


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I picked up the Runaway Air-Fi AF32 Bluetooth Headsets from Meelectronics this week. They are a part of the Air-Fi series. I chose to get the black and red ones, they are black on the outside and have a red pad on the earpieces and at the top of the band. The band can be adjusted to fit your head. They sit nicely on my ears. The controls which are on the side of the headphones include the button to connect to your Bluetooth device, the forward and reverse button and the volume button. Once I remembered where they were controlling them was easy. The headset also has a hidden headphone. I had no trouble connecting the headphones to any of my devices and including an iPad mini, a Mac Mini and a Galaxy Nexus. I used the headphone to disconnect a call and it worked well. Depending the capability of your phone you maybe able to use the headphones to make a voice call, this worked fine with my Galaxy Nexus .
How do they sound? First I have to say I am not an audiophile so your experience may differ. I thought they sounded good however like a lot of headphones of today the base is emphasized but that is something that I like. I did hear some crackling and hiss noise while I was listening to one song yesterday, however at the time I had walked downstairs away from the device and it was a song I had ripped at a lower bit level. The one thing I appreciate is that if you are having a problem with the Bluetooth connection there is an audio cable included that you can use to connect it to your device and use it as a wired device. According to the website the headphone audio play back will last up to twelve hours on a full charge and about ten hours of talk time. Unfortunately your device's battery will drain much quicker than the headphone, so when you are not using it, make sure to turn it off along with the Bluetooth connection on your device. It takes about four hours to charge the headphones. They do fold up, however not as flat as I would like them to, they do however fit nicely in the supplied carrying bag.
Overall despite some hiccups I am happy I purchased the Runaway Bluetooth Headsets. They are available on the website and other online stores including Amazon from around $70.00 up to $99.00 depending on the color you choose. I was fortunate enough to get them for almost half price by getting them through the Lockergnome Deal Website. If you are looking for a decent pair of on ear stereo Bluetooth headphones I would take a look at the Meelectronic Runaway AF32 Headsets.


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BOSTON's new studio album, "Life, Love & Hope" will be released on December 3 via Frontiers Records. More than a decade in the making, the new album features 11 tracks replete with the classic and beloved BOSTON sound, as well as the latest in the evolution of Tom Scholz' musical artistry.
Diverse and cohesive, the long-awaited album has something for everyone. It fulfils the expectations of BOSTON fans, while exposing a new generation to one of the world's greatest rock 'n' roll bands.
Says Scholz: "These are songs from the heart, each of them taking many months of effort to write, arrange, perform and record, always up to the demands of BOSTON's harshest critic. Me. The songs have been meticulously recorded to analogue tape on the same machines and equipment used for BOSTON's hits for the past 35 years."
In 1976, BOSTON burst onto the music scene with their eponymous best-selling debut album and never looked back. With over 17 million copies sold, BOSTON's hits included "More Than A Feeling", "Peace Of Mind" and "Smokin'" — rock staples that are still in heavy rotation today.
Their second album, "Don't Look Back", was another chart-topper that confirmed their place in rock history, followed by "Third Stage", which hit #1 on the charts, with the top single of 1986, "Amanda". With over 31 million albums sold to date, BOSTON's music has stood the test of time, as evidenced by live BOSTON audiences that spans generations.
"Life, Love & Hope" includes lead vocals from Brad Delp and prodigy Tommy DeCarlo, as well as Kimberley Dahme, David Victor, and songwriter Scholz himself. The new album features tracks that embody BOSTON's trademark guitars, harmonies, and immaculately-crafted sound. "I intentionally stayed close to the early BOSTON style on some of the songs, even using the same amps and instruments; on others I let my imagination run wild," says Scholz.
A beautiful full-color booklet with notes from Scholz and detailed song credits accompanies "Life, Love & Hope".
"Life, Love & Hope" track listing:
01. Heaven On Earth
02. Didn't Mean To Fall In Love
03. Last Day Of School
04. Sail Away
05. Life, Love & Hope
06. If You Were In Love
07. Someday
08. Love Got Away
09. Someone (2.0)
10. You Gave Up On Love (2.0)
11. The Way You Look Tonight
The song "Heaven On Earth" can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.
Audio samples of the tracks that will appear on "Life, Love & Hope" can be streamed at BandBoston.com.


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I just wanted to quickly give as much praise and props to the folks who've created Remember The Milk. I have come to realize how handy this web and mobile app is to keep my personal, and professional life in check. Sadly our human brains don't utilize its full potential, so who couldn't benefit from this? There is a free version of RTM, as well as a $25 USD/Year price for the pro account. You can also get the iPhone app, it's on Android as well as a Blackberry app to keep track of things on the go, although it also comes at a price, it isn't very much. Sadly, our new staff member Simon is left out of the fun since his Palm Pre isn't quite cool enough to play along.
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Nov 30, 2011
Special Adobe Discount For Mobile Device Management Event
IT admins have been patiently waiting around for more work to be thrown on their plates for sometime. "Please, if only I had another device/platform I could support on top of more current work!" is their cry. In case you have your Sarcasm Meter™ turned off or are new to reading my posts, let me assure you this is my attempt at humor. But honestly, from the conversations I've had with IT staff lately, this is right on the verge of not being funny. So much is being thrown at IT staff right now and the explosion of tablet usage in corporate and school environments is posing some significant challenges. Some organizations are trying to manage them to the same degree as their desktop/laptops but it seems like a lot of folks are doing the wait and see game. Similar to what we saw when Macs started finding their way into corporate environments, there were many who said "Maybe they'll just go away." Well they didn't. And iPads and Android tablets aren't either.
So now that I painted that glum picture for you, let me make it worse… and then a little better. To make things worse for you, Adobe is making some awesome touch apps for tablets that your users will most likely want installed the moment you start your coffee break. Seriously, this is some cool stuff. Apps like Adobe Collage and Adobe Photoshop Touch are likely to become standard tools within your design groups you support. I am not giving you a marketing pitch here, more like a head's up. Some of our touch apps debuted on Android but the full set of the iOS ones are coming down the pike. In case you thought this was new territory, we already have like a dozen iOS apps in the App Store.
Now I said that I could make it better for you. It is a small gesture, but a heartfelt one nonetheless. Our friends at MacTech are putting on their first MacTech InDepth: Mobile Device Management event next week in San Francisco on December 7. We are sponsoring the event and we have a special link below that will save you $200 off the on-site registration fee. This will be a great opportunity for anyone with an existing Mobile Device Management (MDM) strategy to be exposed to solutions and strategies from experts in the field. And if your organization's MDM strategy has been "let's wait and see" then this is certainly the time to get your feet wet and see what is out there and how your peers are starting to manage these devices (i.e. what they are doing for security, monitoring, and managing apps.)
Your discounted link (saves $200 off the on-site registration price of $495 — just $295 and includes lunch)
I'll be there as an attendee. I am not speaking or running a table or anything like that. But if you see a bearded guy with glasses wearing a black and white AAMEE shirt, please introduce yourself. Dang, now I must remember to wash that shirt, pack it, wear it that day, not shave, nor wear contacts.
Jody Rodgers | Senior Product Manager | Enterprise & Volume | Creative Suite | Adobe Systems


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Courtesy of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a list of "things that government officials could do to an American citizen and still claim later that they didn't know they were "torturing" that citizen."
Prolonged isolation;
Deprivation of light;
Exposure to prolonged periods of light and/or darkness;
Extreme variations in temperature;
Sleep adjustment;
Threats of severe physical abuse;
Death threats;
Administration of psychotropic drugs;
Shackling and manacling for hours at a time;
Use of "stress" positions;
Noxious fumes that caused pain to eyes and nose;
Withholding of any mattress, pillow, sheet or blanket;
Forced grooming;
Suspension of showers;
Removal of religious items;
Constant surveillance;
Incommunicado detention, including denial of all contact with family and legal counsel for a 21-month period;
Interference with religious observance; and
Denial of medical care for serious and potentially life-threatening ailments, including chest pain and difficulty breathing, as well as for treatment of the chronic, extreme pain caused by being forced to endure stress positions, resulting in severe and continuing mental and physical harm, pain, and profound disruption of the senses and personality.
Lowering the Bar explains:
The legal issue was whether John Yoo should be entitled to "qualified immunity" in a case brought by Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen detained as an "enemy combatant." "Qualified immunity" is a doctrine that bars claims against government officials if, at the time they acted, it was not "sufficiently clear that every reasonable official would have understood that what he or she was doing violated the plaintiff's rights." The idea is to try to preserve some freedom of action for officials who have to act in areas where the law may not always be clear. If it applies, no lawsuit.
So, next question: do you think a "reasonable official" in 2001-03, when John Yoo was in the government, should have understood that doing those things to an American citizen -- one who, by the way, had not been convicted of or even charged with a crime -- violated that citizen's rights?
Would the Last Civil Right in America Please Remember to Close the Door on Its Way Out?


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|Example of the cap badge. The brooches use the central leek only.
And The Queen's version isn't the only leek badge in the royal family, either. While still married to Prince Charles, the late Diana, Princess of Wales wore a version that also appears to have been set in diamonds (you can see more views at the Princess Diana Remembered site).
7 July 2016: Visit to Wales (Duchess of Cornwall)
30 April 2015: Welsh Guards New Colours Presentation (Queen and Duchess of Cornwall)
Photos: via Getty Images and Wikimedia Commons/British Army


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Aeratron necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 105 diseños de 23 diseñadores freelance.
Aeratron team developed and design two ceiling fans which will be the most energy efficient, only silent fans globally. We experience great interest from leading architects and green building industry, design furniture experts but also the cleantech, and eco/green design industries.
We plan to deliver products which help to save energy and costs, and have a unique beautiful design at affordable prices.
Our fans in combination with Air Condition systems and heating systems save up to 50% energy.
Green building industry (Energy Star Ratings): architects, engineering companies
Design aware companies and persons
Energy/eco-aware companies and persons
Public institutons: schools, unis, government buidlings, etc.
the Logo should represent our uniqueness (we don't see our fans as classical ceiling fans)... biometric, sustainable design; eco-efficient, silent, improved air, working and living conditions,
please have a look at provided pics, see our aerofoil blades with winglets,
Colors: we are open to any suggestions
Logo should be clear, pure, light, clean
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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S.F. Symphony oboist has cerebral hemorrhage
S.F. Symphony
William Bennett, the San Francisco Symphony's principal oboist, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on Saturday night, midway through a performance of Richard Strauss' Oboe Concerto. He collapsed on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall, whereupon paramedics were summoned and arrived within minutes.
Symphony spokesman Oliver Theil said Bennett was taken to a local hospital for treatment and described his condition as "guarded."
One patron who was in attendance said Bennett began to sway unsteadily during his performance, then lost his balance and fell to the stage. As he fell, he held his oboe aloft long enough for one of the orchestra's violinists to take it from him.
Bennett, 56, was diagnosed with tonsil cancer in 2004, and was on leave for nine months undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments. He got a clean bill of health and was performing with the Symphony again the next summer.
Joshua Kosman is The San Francisco Chronicle's music critic. E-mail: email@example.com


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Racist Family (John McCain Supporters) Let Their Kids Say Barack OBama Is A Monkey From Tarzan! "We Dont Want A Monkey President"
Sad how a family can teach their kids this
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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A Minneapolis municipal committee is now advocating on behalf of local police for a change in Minnesota's state law concerning the right to access data collected from license plate readers (LPRs). For now, the city maintains a massive database collected from its 11 LPR readers that hold each license plate number seen, along with the corresponding GPS location data, date, and time for the previous 90 days.
In a meeting Thursday, the Committee of the Whole Agenda heard discussions regarding a new proposal from the city police department that would restrict access to license plate reader records. Under the proposed rules, only the police would have access to the entire database, and a non-police individual would only be able to access the data that pertained to his or her car. Currently, a rather liberal open records state law known as the Data Practices Act makes all government data public by default. If approved by the Minneapolis city council, such changes could be put forward to the state legislature as soon as next year.
As we reported earlier this year, license plate readers are largely on an unchecked rise throughout the United States. Millions of new records are collected by law enforcement agencies on a daily basis, often with little oversight.
Pending requests for the entire 2.5 million record database
The new proposal comes after increased scrutiny over the practice in Minneapolis, after a local reporter managed to track the mayor's movements in August 2012 by filing a request with the police.
"We do have a concern of the way the data could be used," Sgt. William Palmer, the public information officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, told Ars.
"I don't know that as of yet we've had a case where someone misused the information—but taking proactive steps to prevent a stalking case or a domestic violence case where a partner was able to figure out where their previous partner's vehicle was located is a concern to us."
He added that there were currently five requests—including from university researchers—pending for the entire database of 2.5 million records. Under the law, anyone, regardless of whether they're a city or state resident, can file such a request. The department continues to get approximately four requests on individual plates per week.
One local privacy activist, Rich Neumeister, told Ars that he's long been against the collection and 90-day retention period. But, he said, it should be all or nothing—either no one should have access to the data to begin with (not even the police), or it should be open for everyone to scrutinize.
"If it is public, people can see patterns, people can start asking questions, whatever it may be, of the mayor or anybody," he said. "If the state is going to keep it for a long period of time, I believe then the public has a right for public accountability and transparency."


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Organization Tuesday: The Mini-Bar
Posted by
Becky |
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2 Comments » | Published in Get Organized | 2 Comments
This weekend I was finally able to sample The Standard Hotel in Chelsea. While I am usually very good at resisting the temptations of the mini-bar, this one was too well-stocked and organized to resist. Anything my heart desired was in there. While I was able to resist the Smartwater, Absolut, and all the recipes for delicious cocktails. I gave in for apple juice and chocolate chip cookies. What am I, five years old? Bravo Standard – this was too fabulous.
In other news, as I continue on my organizing journey, I found a rolling rattan chest of drawers in the back of a deep coat closet. One of the drawers was weighed down by all of my soundtrack CDs that I didn't have room for in my case logic binders. Today I'll be tackling the alphabetizing and inserting. I know with all of the iPod technology out there these days I probably don't even need the actual CDs anymore, but getting rid of my jewel cases was traumatic enough. Seeing as how I still have a stack of albums and no turntable, I don't think I'll be getting rid of the CDs for at least another decade, though during my last move I did part with all of my cassette tapes. I hope some lucky dog out there is enjoying my Echo and the Bunnymen and my Scritti Politti music.
P.S. That Office Space soundtrack is awesome. I still picture them destroying the printer with a baseball bat whenever I hear the Geto Boys.
Hi, I'm Becky. I live in Atlanta. Besides acting as the Editorial Director here on Hatch, you can find me talking design over at Houzz. Make me happy — leave a comment!


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The public is invited to join Beth Gugino, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on June 29, for a presentation, "Phytophthora, the plant pathogen that won't go away," in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library.
Phytophthora infestans is the plant pathogen that precipitated the Irish potato famine and devastated potato crops in northern Europe in the mid- to late-1800s, and its study led directly to the establishment of plant pathology as a science. This pathogen, which devastated tomato plants throughout eastern North America in 2009, has changed American history and continues to threaten crops worldwide.
Following the talk from 2:30–3:30 p.m., members of plant pathology and environmental microbiology department will lead a walking tour of campus, highlighting the common diseases of trees, shrubs, and ground covers, what causes them, and how they can be managed.
The presentation and tour are special events of the 50th anniversary of the beginnings of the Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, being celebrated with an exhibit, "Healthy Plants for a Healthy World: 50 Years of Plant Pathology at Penn State," on display through Sept. 17, in The Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, Penn State University Park.
For more information or for questions about the physical access provided, contact Jackie Esposito at firstname.lastname@example.com or 814-863-3791 or Gary Moorman at firstname.lastname@example.com or 814-863-7401.


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Browsing Working papers by Author "Munar, Ana María"
Now showing items 1-4 of 4
The Challenge of Social MediaHvass, Kristian A.; Munar, Ana María (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Over the years online marketing has grown in importance in the airline industry. This media space offers airlines numerous marketing tools, one of the most recent being social media. Social media allows airlines to interact directly with customers via various Internet platforms, and monitor customer opinions and evaluations of services. This exploratory paper studies airlines' use of social media on Facebook and Twitter for a defined period of time. The paper analyses the content of social media posted by airlines and provides a categorization of the content according to the promotional marketing mix. A netnographic method has been adopted for the examination of these social media platforms. Study findings show that there is poor strategic perspective and a lack of continuity in the use of social media. Results may aid marketing departments in their marketing and social media communication strategies, while at the same time complementing current marketing research. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8968
Files in this item: 1
Munar, Ana María (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Tourism is often linked to ideas of escapism and release from everyday duties and obligations. Modern societies are characterized by highly complex systems of social and cultural control, and citizens of these societies find forms of liberation in travel (Jafari 1987). Tourism destinations act as magnetic spaces of leisure and relaxation that can be visualized as the realm of 'touristhood'– a theatrical arena in which individuals adopt different masks and conduct themselves according to expectations and norms that differ from those that rule their everyday lives. The consumption and enjoyment of alcoholic drinks constitutes a relevant element of the scenery of touristhood. In touristic spaces the beer product is socially transformed and constructed; tourists enact beer tourism through drinking practices and rituals performed at the destination. Alcohol, and in this case beer consumption, is constitutive of socio-cultural traditions in many national cultures (such as those in Northern Europe). National and local beer cultures are however being transformed and re-shaped in tourism destinations. This study examines the interrelation of beer cultures, more specifically German beer culture, and tourism. It examines how beer culture, combined with touristhood, produces extreme and novel forms of consumption transforming both tourism practices and the world of beer. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8570
Files in this item: 1Ana_Maria_Munar_2012.pdf (425.2Kb)
Munar, Ana María (Frederiksberg, 2010)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: A development in Information and Communication Technologies promising to have a large impact on tourism is the phenomenon known as the Web 2.0. A key to this development is the encouraging of interactivity due to User Generated Content (UGC). This paper focuses on a specific type of UGC: Tourist Created Content (TCC). Based on an exploratory examination of the Web and an extensive analysis of the content, the study systematizes the knowledge about TCC, presents a classification system and provides an overview of its characteristics. The paper shows the processes that allow the tourist to digitalize content and reveals how TCC relates to the cultures of the Internet and shapes the tourism experience. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8034
Files in this item: 1
Munar, Ana María (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Tourists have happily embraced the possibilities of interactivity and publication provided by social media and Web 2.0. The last decade has seen a massive increase of digital content generated by tourists online. This paper examines the digitalization of tourists' heritage experience, analyses the impact of social media and user generated content in the consumption of heritage sites, and discusses new forms of technologically mediated authenticity in tourism. Netnography and a constructive approach have been adopted for the examination of online communities and social networks. There are different types of tourist generated content online. This study focuses on the review genre and examines a purposive sample of data collected from Tripadvisor which, with over 30 million contributions, is the largest online community focusing on tourism and travel. Through a systematic analysis of tourists' narratives and socio-technical structures, this study assesses how technologies influence tourists' heritage experience. The research findings provide insights into the role that tourists' online reviews play as mediators of the tourism experience and illustrate the features of an emerging virtual tourism culture. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8439
Files in this item: 1Can-Seng_Ooi_WP120330.pdf (237.9Kb)
Now showing items 1-4 of 4


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According to the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, roughly sixty percent of game items for sale were acquired via bots. In online games, these programs allow players to hunt and collect items without controlling them directly. And soon, these programs will be outlawed.
The Korea Times reports that the country has decided to ban the commercial trade of game items. The law, which will go into affect later this year, will also prohibit players from using bots. The Korean government believes that these programs are responsible for online gaming's negative reputation.
Those players who violate the law can face up to five years in prison and a 50 million won (US$43,000).
"The main purpose of the games is for entertainment and should be used for academic and other good purposes," said Kim Kap-soo, head of the ministry's content policy division. The government also feels that the virtual item trade has caused problems in Korea and that a solution is therefore necessary.
More details about the new law are expected next month.
Korea prohibits trade of online game items [The Korea Times]
(Top photo: Chung Sung-Jun | Getty)


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Sunday, February 19, 2012
Card Caravan: Get Well Card
Got a quick little card to share with you today. I made it as a sample for today's Card Caravan over at The Hybrid Chick. This weeks hostess has a gorgeous color scheme for the challenge.
I used a digital kit called Dirty Footprints by Karen Lewis. I also used a stamp by Arty Pants Digital Stamps from the Card Sentiments 2 collection.
The colors are so happy and cheery, so I just had to make a "get well" card. LOL Seriously, these colors should bring a smile to the face of anyone feeling under the weather!
I cut the scallop detail using my Silhouette. I then threaded the ribbon through. I really like the look and the texture it gives to the card.
Shared at:
All Sorts
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Posted by Scrappycath at 4:20 PM
Labels: card caravan, cards, hybrid, hybridchick
|This is:
4 comments:
Fab creation, love the ribbon & those bright colours are just gorgeous!ReplyDelete
Thank you for sharing with us at CES Challenge this week, good luck!
Hugs Shell xx
I just love colorful cards- who wouldn't feel better receiving this.ReplyDelete
Thanks so much for your visit and checking out my card
Loving the colours on this!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for playing at Allsorts this week
Emma xxx
I love this card! It really makes me happy looking at it! Lovely colours and papers!ReplyDelete
Thanks for joining us at Challenge up your life!
Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment. I do read them all and appreciate each and every one!
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text: TaylorMade Firesole irons combine the perfect mix of materials depending on the iron to maximize distance and trajectory. Tungsten titanium in the sole of the long irons assist in getting the ball airborne while the mid irons are steel and use tungsten weighting in the heel and toe to stabilize the clubhead at impact for accurate shots. The short irons in the Firesole irons are nickel to provide soft feel and feedback on the touch shots.


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The defining moment in my search for religious truth came when I took a step back and looked at all the world's religions. I realized that many of them make claims that contradict other religions, which means they can't all be right. I also noticed that, if you're not predisposed to think one of them is right over all the others, they all look about equally believable–which is to say, not very. I'm open to the possibility that there might be a god (or gods) out there, but I'm going to need a very good reason to think that's true. So far, no religion has been able to offer any solid evidence that it's right over all the others, so I see no reason to give any of them special treatment…even the religion I happen to be surrounded by here in the US.
Leon Baradat
United States


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School principal, gov't worker suspected of taking 6 girls younger than 14 to hotel in China
BEIJING – Chinese state media say a school principal and a government official are suspected of inappropriate behavior with six girls younger than 14, after taking them to hotels and spending a night with them.
Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that a school principal in Wanning city was fired after one of the four girls with whom he spent the night of May 8 in a hotel said he had been intimate with her. Xinhua did not provide further details of the inappropriate behavior, though the report cites police as saying no sexual intercourse took place.
It says a government worker took two other schoolgirls to another hotel the same night, but that the girls denied he acted inappropriately.
Xinhua says an investigation is underway.