text:
Pediatric researchers have resolved an apparent contradiction in the field of prenatal cell transplantation — a medical approach that holds future promise in correcting sickle cell disease and other serious congenital blood disorders. In a new study in animals, the researchers showed that the mother's immune response interferes with the offspring's earlier ability to tolerate transplanted donor cells.
The study team concludes that focusing on transplant techniques that avoid the maternal immune response may allow scientists to take advantage of fetal tolerance to achieve a long-sought goal of treating blood diseases prenatally.
While cautioning that much work must be done to understand how these animal findings apply to humans, the current findings are "surprising but reassuring," said study leader Alan W. Flake, M.D., of the Children's Center for Clinical Research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The study appeared online August 3 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
For over 50 years, explained Flake, it has been a fundamental precept of immunology that a fetus tolerates foreign antigens in a window-of-opportunity period before its immune system fully develops the capacity to mount an immune response. Scientists assumed that by carefully introducing donor cells and stimulating a fetus to develop tolerance to those cells, one could set the stage for a later organ or cellular transplant that would not be rejected by a more mature immune system.
As prenatal diagnosis has continued to become available for a greater number of congenital diseases, scientists have considered the possibility of correcting blood disorders such as sickle cell disease or thalassemia. After first transplanting a small number of healthy cells in an early-stage fetus to establish tolerance, a second dose of transplanted cells later in gestation would proliferate, and treat the blood disorder before birth. Researchers use hematopoietic cells — stem cells that that develop into blood cells — in this technique, in utero hematopoietic cell transplantation (IUHCT).
However, over the years, Flake's team and other research groups found that IUHCT studies in animal models yielded inconsistent results, ranging from no tolerance to transplants to full tolerance and every degree of tolerance in between. Contrary to the concept of fetal tolerance, an immune barrier seemed to be acting against transplanted cells.
The current study, done in mice, solves the puzzle of an apparent immune barrier. Newborn mice (pups) that received cell transplants in utero were divided into two groups. Mice nursed by their biological mothers lost the transplanted donor cells, while mice nursed by foster mothers retained those donor cells.
The mothers whose fetuses received the donor cells transplants had developed antibodies against those cells, and subsequently transmitted those antibodies to their pups through breast milk. "Those antibodies in the breast milk triggered rejection of the transplanted blood cells in the pups," said Flake. "But in the absence of a maternal immune response, we confirmed that immune tolerance does occur in the early-gestation fetus 100 percent of the time."
Of course, mouse biology is not the same as human biology, and Flake added, "Mouse time is not the same as human time." Because mice have such a brief gestational period, the mother's immune response didn't develop until after the birth of her pups, and was therefore transferred by breastfeeding. In large animals and humans, said Flake, the more likely route of maternal-to-fetal transmission would be through the placenta late in pregnancy, and not through postnatal breastfeeding.
However, it remains an open question whether the mouse findings are applicable to larger mammals and especially to humans. Flake's study team is continuing their investigations in larger animal models.
Looking forward to techniques to avoid maternal immune reactions to prenatal cell transplants, Flake proposed two possibilities. One would be use the mother as a source of donor cells, which would not stimulate an unwanted immune response. Another strategy could involve inducing the generation of increased numbers of T regulatory cells; those cells normally act to prevent the fetus from inappropriately reacting against maternal cells.
The ultimate goal, said Flake, is to develop IUHCT as a prenatal treatment for any congenital blood disorder that may currently be treated with postnatal bone marrow transplants. That would include sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and some inherited immunodeficiency diseases. Currently such postnatal transplants are risky and relatively rare.
"Our current finding is not a clinical breakthrough," added Flake. "But it does offer new potential to the field of cellular transplantation."
Funds from the National Institutes of Health, the Ruth and Tristram C. Colket Jr. Chair of Pediatric Surgery at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation supported this study.
About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking second in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.


text:
Official apologizes for not informing WEDC board about letter
Federal government criticizes state agencies in letter
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker's top aide has apologized to the state's economic development agency's board for not telling members about a critical letter from the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said in an Aug. 12 letter the state Department of Administration and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation failed to follow federal law and their own policies in issuing grants.
The letter came to light in a Wisconsin State Journal story Wednesday, leaving WEDC board members frustrated about being left out of the loop.
DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch told board members Thursday he chose not to inform them because the agency and HUD are continually in discussions about WEDC, a new quasi-private corporation Walker formed after taking office. He said the decision was a mistake.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The last Symphony Classics concert of the 2011-2012 season starts with the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2. It is no coincidence that the very first concert of the season included the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1. This season marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Liszt and the Symphony has celebrated with several Liszt compositions. The soloist on June 1 & 2 will be Olga Scheps. Scheps was born in Moscow in 1986 and came to Germany at the age of six. Today, she lives in Cologne.
Here is a video of her playing Rachmaninoff:
Bruckner Blockbuster
Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June 2 at 8 p.m., Majestic Theatre
Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor
Olga Scheps, piano
Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S.125
Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E major
The San Antonio Symphony League offered the community a $25,000 challenge grant in May. They said they would match new donations to the Symphony one-to-one up to $25,000. Well, we have not only beat the deadline, but we have exceeded that challenge. This so inspired a donor that we have ANOTHER challenge grant of $25,000. If we raise an additional $25,000 by the end of May, it will be matched dollar for dollar. For more information on how to make your gift count twice and donate online, go to the Symphony web site via this page.
Jack Fishman
Email: email@example.com
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog


text:
Newlyweds Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart haven't been able to celebrate their new nuptials just yet.
According to People, the couple had to put the brakes on their honeymoon in order for the 67-year-old actor to finish shooting his latest movie, "Cowboys and Aliens," in New Mexico.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Celebrity May-December Romances
U.S. & World
"It's business as usual as far as I can tell," a source told the mag. "A lot of people still don't even know about [the wedding] on the set out here."
The source said the remote shooting location isn't exactly the best place to spend a honeymoon.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood's Smokin' Hot Couples
"It's hard up here," the source said. "There are mosquitoes, and then it's been hard to get used to the altitude. It's really quiet here."
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Harrison and Calista wed on June 15. The pair previously dated for eight years and were engaged in February 2009.
Copyright 2010 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Are They Or Aren't They? Hollywood's Hottest Rumored Couples
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: They Dated Who?!? Surprising Former Couples!
PLAY IT NOW: Trailer: Rachel McAdams & Harrison Ford In 'Morning Glory'
PLAY IT NOW: Hollywood Radar: May 20, 2010
More from Access: [ Harrison Ford Calista Flockhart Newlyweds ]


text:
Brain Challenge (iPad)
Published by
Developed by
Also For
DescriptionThis version of Brain Challenge expands on the one created for mobile phones. Players tackle 30 brain exercises in five different categories (Focus, Visual, Logic, Math and newly-added Memory).
Game modes include Test, Free Training, and Kid Mode for younger players. In Creative Mode, players perform relaxing activities like drawing. In Stress Mode, players perform the same tests as the regular Test mode except with the addition of distracting images, flashes, and sounds. More difficult versions of the original tests also appear in this mode.
Charts track each player's overall performance and progress. Players can also select an A.I. coach to guide them through the various tests and assist them in setting and reaching training goals. Up to four players can challenge each other offline or online.
The Xbox 360 version includes Avatar support. Some of the extra modes must be downloaded in an add-on pack for the Playstation 3.
There are no iPad user screenshots for this game.
There are 42 other screenshots from other versions of this game or official promotional screenshots.
Promo Images
Alternate Titles
- "Treino Cerebral" -- Zeebo title
- "Gehirntraining" -- German title
- "Cerebral Challenge" -- French title
- "Brain Challenge HD" -- iPad / Windows Phone title
Part of the Following Group
User Reviews
There are no reviews for this game.
Critic Reviews
|Slide to Play
|Jul 16, 2010
|3 out of 4
|Common Sense Media
|Jun 07, 2010
There are currently no topics for this game.
There is no trivia on file for this game.
Related Web Sites
- Get Ready for Mental Weightlifting (An Apple Games article, archived on the author's website, about the Macintosh version of Brain Chalenge. The article provides a descriptive overview of the game, tips and tricks for players, and information about the portable sequel (Dec, 2009).)
- Wikipedia: Brain Challenge (article in the open encyclopedia about the game)
Sciere (636586) added Brain Challenge (iPad) on Jun 04, 2011
Other platforms contributed by chirinea (46533), HelloMrKearns (15258), firefang9212 (68281), Sciere (636586), Kabushi (244623), Ben K (23900) and BurningStickMan (18010)
There are no game credits on file for this release of the game. Everything in MobyGames is contributable by users.


text:
Desktop computers are dead.
Desktops are soooo 20th century.
"The desktop computer is going the way of the fax machine" Or, to be really nasty about it … "going the way of the IBM Selectric typewriter." (Congratulations, IBM, incidentally, on your 100th birthday!)
Tolling the death knell for the desktop computer certainly seems to be "in vogue" during this year of 2011 although its death has been predicted for many years.
This news fad gains additional momentum from the recent rise of the tablet computer. And – please note this -the tablet really has, "risen from the dead" itself, as tablet computers were developed a number of years ago.
News fads run in cycles, and in this case I prefer to paraphrase Mark Twain: "Reports of my desktop computer's death have been greatly exaggerated."
Desktop and laptop computers are far from dead and will be around for a long time to come.
Certainly tablets have some advantages. They:
- are thin;
- are light;
- have long battery life
- are versatile, i. e. they do a lot of stuff, such as play videos and music, surf the web, function as e-readers and Scrabble boards
They also have some disadvantages:
- The on-screen keyboard functions rather like one original purpose of the QWERTY keyboard – it slows down touch typists. The screen keyboard also is tough on fat fingered folks like me, who inadvertently tap a Z instead of an A. Yes, you can get an external touch-typable (sort of) keyboard, but if you're going to start lugging all that extra stuff around …
- Tablets have very few applications. This undoubtedly will provoke some of my readers to anger or laughter or both. "Gee, Bill, there are tens of thousands of apps in the (fill-in-the-blank with your favorite name) apps store". Yeah, sure, that's true, but how many apps are for building inspectors or utility billing systems or police records management systems? Apps have a long way to go before they are "enterprise class" – usable for real workers at real jobs. Few enterprise applications support the strange browsers found on most tablets.
- Tablets don't do Microsoft Office. In particular, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Oh sure, there are ways to work around this limitation, to some extent – but no tablet has full functionality of even the basic Office functions.
- Tablets are heavily dependent upon a network (3G, 4G or Wi-Fi). That's especially true if you want to do cloud apps such as Office 365 or Google Apps. I'm sorry, but there are a ton of places – like many airplanes or inside my house in West Seattle – where the network connectivity is not very good. Certainly not good enough to run bandwidth-intensive apps or do large up/downloads.
For me, the preferred road computer-weapon of choice is the trusty netbook running Windows 7 and the Office Suite. Touch-typable keyboard built in, Wi-Fi, long battery life (8 to 10 hours), replaceable battery for longer life (eat horse dung, non-replaceable iPhone and iPad), instant-on capability anywhere (I'm writing this on a Metro bus commuting home from work), USB ports (and lots of them), DVD drive, and so forth. And the thing is light and rugged. For those of you with a religious bent, Apple makes some pretty good netbook-equivalent devices too.
Even the netbook has limitations – and specifically if doing graphics and photography work, or other heavy duty apps, which require the power and larger screens of a desktop computer. But neither desktop or netbook make a good e-reader or electronic scrabble board.
Will tablet computers eventually and completely replace the desktop? Maybe, although I'm skeptical.
Will tablet computers themselves eventually go the way of the slide rule and abacus?
Perhaps. But for the time being I think the tablet will become one more tool – one more device in a pantheon of devices from mainframes to mobile smart phones – which people use to make their lives happier and more productive.
But I'm not dancing on the grave of the desktop computer just yet.
[Credits for photographs: IBM 7074 computer courtesy IBM Corporation, IBM PC-XT, Apple I-Pad with Scrabble (trademarked and copyrighted) application photo by Bill Schrier]


text:
This is not an offer for credit and should be used for estimation purposes only based on the information you provided. You should not base your decision on this estimate alone. Title, registration, tax and other fees, and personal circumstances such as employment status and personal credit history, were not considered in the calculations.
Whether you are new to two wheels, want to beat the commuter blues, or simply need a more economical mode of transport, the Fly 150 is the scooter that will suit your lifestyle.
The Fly 150 is equipped with the super-efficient 3-valve 150cc engine that provides lower emissions, along with maximum performance and fuel economy of 104 mpg. With classic Italian style and endless comfort, the Fly 150 features telescopic hydraulic forks and 12" wheels with large tubeless tires for easy handling and safety on both urban and uneven roads.
Front - 220 mm disc with hydraulic control
Rear - 140 mm drum
Front - Hydraulic telescopic fork
Rear - Hydraulic shock absorber adjustable in preload
Pearl White
Graphite Black
Category: Scooters


text: Can't get enough of Bruce Lee secret training videos, even if they happen to just be viral ads for Nokia's Lee-themed N95? Me neither! Following last week's awesome ping pong battle, here's a new clip where a dude playing the Master of Jeet Kune Do lights freakin' matches with his nunchucks! [Youtube]


text:
Goes without saying really.Originally posted here by Tiger Shark
Sorry, the "yawn" was directed at political correctness in general, not at you personally. I'm just getting a bit fed up of political correctness.... A spade is still a spade no matter what you call it.
Undoubtledly, but screw it up and you will DoS yourself.... Been there....
I'm about as far from PC as you can get. I'm afraid my point here was missed.
Wait in your 1st post, you saidEr.. The risk assessment should dictate the level of protection needed by a company and therefore it's cost. If we are talking about Joe's Bait Supply that has no "secrets" on the network, 4 workstations and no public services then an IDS is not warranted - A simple firewall blocking all external access is all that is really required along with automatic updating of patches immediately they come available and functional AV.
You seem to be treating IDS an an essential item, which it is not. However, if it is warranted then the vast majority of the cost goes towards an admin capable of implementing, managing and interpreting the system. Fail to have that admin and the IDS becomes a nice anchor.
"Some form of IDS is absolutely necessary."
I don't remember saying saying anything was essential.
Limited access can be properly afforded to a contractor.That's a given. But our supervisors see our employees daily. They inform me if they have concerns about any given employee and they go on the "Watch List". I can't see your employees managing my IDS. I have no idea whether they are happy or not and I sure as hell can't monitor their activity..... Even though they have all the information they need to compromise my network. Sorry, but that contravenes the most basic rule of any kind of security - limit access and knowledge to _only_ those who require it. If you have secrets worth keeping then, from a security standpoint, you are better off hiring in a specialist than outsourcing and giving them the "keys".
Northrop Grumman is a contractor I do business with.
They are a very large contractor doing businness with very large companies.
We do work up there in Battlecreek for DLA/DLIS via NG
Although you elude to ma and pa type of work, this is not my main point of reference.
We do however try not to forsake the little guy.
We will do honest business with whomever.
Yes and if I didn't have to work, I would be in Belize fishing my life away.You are in the business to make money.
While having to work, making money is a motivator. Guilty as charged.
Oh jeeeze, not another contractor cliche...I'm sure if you scrutinized all the contracts you hold and the implementations you have in place you would admit that there are a good proportion of customers who have been "over-sold" your products.... Because you could....
It's a mistake to presume you know me or how I do business.
You often use words like "most".
My turn.
Most government agencies use contracted work. Very few direct hires
Just becuase they are onsite does not mean they are not a contractor
Most large companies use a percentage of contracted IT and that percentage is growing
year to year.
I have a stack of RFPs defining companies dis-satisfaction with their current internal IT staff and are desperate learn of alternatives.
I am not saying and have never said contracting is better or worse, only that it's a reality of my life.


text:
$576.21 $677.90
RUSTALGIC (rustic + nostalgic) Lighting up homes, venues & businesses WORLDWIDE! Unique, durable, affordable signage with a speedy turnaround time and a ridiculous amount of custom options! Corporate to quaint, we do it all, big and small!
48" x 25" x 3"
This is a Double Sided sign, both sides are identical.
If you prefer a different word, tell us in the ORDER NOTES at CHECK-OUT, up to 9 letters/characters. The letters will be on BOTH sides.
OUR SIGNS: Our signs are made from sturdy steel, welded for long lasting stability! Good for both INDOOR & OUTDOOR use!
OUR LETTERS: 3 3/4" tall x 5/8" deep. Galvanized metal. Held on with multiple heavy duty industrial strength magnets that are inset and hidden inside the back of each letter.
OUR FINISH: Our metal signs are artistically hand painted with our own custom made indoor/outdoor chalk paint to resemble the look of a rustic sun faded vintage marquee sign from a nostalgic era!
OUR BULBS: Our clear glass bulbs have the vintage style Edison glow, we offer replacements as well as colors! Each bulb is 5 watts, we include 10 additional spare bulbs with each arrow.
HOOKS: Eye Hooks will be included on your sign, to hang from.
Each light is assembled with care by hand and is thoroughly tested and inspected.
All lamps and fixtures are made with UL listed or approved components. However, the combined fixture itself is not UL listed.
It is the customers responsibility to determine if the item(s) purchased are suitable and/or safe for intended use,
we advise checking with a licensed electrician or contractor before ordering and installation.
These are incandescent bulbs, like all incandescent bulbs, they can get hot.
Follow all standard safety precautions as you should/would with any electrical lamp.
Rustalgic is not liable for any damages caused by the use or misuse of these products.
rustic + nostalgic
Just contact me within: 3 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 7 days of delivery
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can't accept returns for:
If there is an issue with your product, we will help you fix the issue or allow you to exchange the item.
May 27, 2020
Beautiful sign. It was the perfect addition to our store. Thank you!


text:
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson joined the 2,000-yard club on Sunday, but fell 9 yards short of breaking Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson's record.
In the third quarter of the Vikings' 37-34 victory over the Green Bay Packers, Peterson had a 20-yard carry that pushed his tally to 2,009 yards. He finished the game with 199 yards and a touchdown.
It made Peterson the seventh running back in NFL history to run for 2,000 or more yards in a single season.
"Ultimately we got the 'W,'" Peterson said after carrying the ball a career-high 34 times. "We said during the week, if it happens, it happens. Don't focus on it."
Dickerson holds the record with 2,105 yards, set in 1984. He was honest about not wanting Peterson to break his record. He got his wish, as Peterson racked up 2,097 yards altogether.
The Vikings running back entered the game against the rival Green Bay Packers needing 102 yards to join O.J. Simpson, Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis, Jamal Lewis and Chris Johnson in the 2,000-yard club.
"I definitely want to keep the running backs highlighted," Peterson said this week. "It's started to turn into more of a spread, quarterback-friendly NFL. But just keep letting them know that there are going to be running backs that can do this."
Peterson is the only one to do it after having reconstructive knee surgery.
It was only last December when Peterson crumpled to the turf in Washington, with two ligaments torn in his left knee. But a combination of uncommon genetics, unshakable determination and a smart rehabilitation plan from Vikings athletic trainer Eric Sugarman had Peterson back in the starting lineup on opening day.
"During the bad times where I fought back and forth between negative and positive energies, I stayed focused on going with the positive," Peterson said of his fight back to the field.
Peterson has said he'd take the first postseason berth in three years over 2,000 yards any day. Next week he and the Vikings will return to Lambeau Field for a playoff rematch.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.


text:
U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team Weekly Update for Feb. 25
Bill Kauffman
USA Volleyball Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
Email: email@example.com
USAV Facebook * USA_Volleyball
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 25, 2013) - The current U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team Weekly update released on Feb. 25 includes briefs on U.S. players.
HODGE EARNS AWARD: Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.), a silver medalist with the 2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team, was selected as the Greater Raleigh Sports Council's (N.C.) 2012 Amateur Athletics Award recipient. The announcement was made on Feb. 20 at the PNC Arena in Raleigh. Hodge, who also earned the most valuable player award at the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix as the U.S. won its third straight gold medal in the event, was selected for the award via a public vote over Nick McCrory, who won bronze at the 2012 Olympic Games in synchronized diving, and Connor Mitch, a quarterback at Wakefield High School in Raleigh.
OPEN TRYOUTS PICK UP RECORD PARTICIPATION: The U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team Open Tryouts attracted a record 240 athletes (the tryout originally expected 248 athletes, but weather-related travel cancelled some commitments) to the three-day event held Feb. 22-24 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Throughout the tryout process, U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team Head Coach Karch Kiraly and his evaluation staff were identifying prospective athletes for the following three different programs: first and foremost the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team Program; those not selected to the National Team may also be considered for an invitation to the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Senior A2 Team; and/or U.S. Women's Junior National Volleyball Team program and its various programs. To view the Feb. 22 photo gallery, click here. To view the Feb. 23 morning photo gallery that included physical testing, click here. To view the Feb. 23 early afternoon photo gallery that included evaluations for U.S. Women's Junior National Volleyball Team program eligible athletes, click here. To view the Feb. 23 evening session, click here. To view the Feb. 24 session that included a tournament format for all participating athletes, click here. For additional information on the tryout and the roster, click here.
FAUCETTE TO GUEST ON INTERACTIVE STREAMING PROGRAM: Juliann Faucette (San Diego), who is competing for Unendo Yamamay Busto Arsizio in the Italian Serie A1 this winter, will be a guest on the Italian program "Torcida Biancorossa" on March 1 starting at 11:45 a.m. PT. Send your questions to email@example.com and firstname.lastname@example.com and write "Question for Juliann Faucette" in the subject line. For further details, click here.
AKINRADEWO WITH AZERBAIJAN'S RABITA BAKU: Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.), a silver medalist with the U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team at the 2012 Olympic Games, is competing for Rabita Baku in the Azerbaijan Super League. In the Azerbaijan Super League, Rabita Baku edged Lokomotiv Baku 25-20, 21-25, 25-14, 31-29 on Feb. 25. Akinradewo totaled 18 points with 12 kills on 19 errorless attacks, four blocks and two aces. In CEV Champions League action, Rabita Baku has advanced to its second CEV Champions League semifinal and will face Italy's Unendo Yamamay Busto Arsizio on March 9.
HODGE, WILSON WITH AZERBAIJAN'S AZERRAIL BAKU: Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.), a silver medalist on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team, is playing for Azerbaijan's Azerrail Baku in 2012-2013 along with fellow Penn State University alum Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.). In the Azerbaijan Super League, Azerrail lost a chance to move up the standings on Feb. 22 by falling to second-place Igtsadchi 25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 25-15.
METCALF WITH AZERBAIJAN'S IGTISADCHI BAKU: Nancy Metcalf (Hull, Iowa), an opposite on the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, is playing for Igtisadchi Baku of the Azerbaijan Super League in 2012-2013. In the Azerbaijan Super League, Igtisadchi maintained second-place with a 25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 25-15 victory over Azerrail in a key round 15 match on Feb. 22. Igtisadchi produced a 25-17, 25-11, 25-18 victory over Lokomotiv Baladzhary on Feb. 25.
TAMAS WITH AZERBAIJAN'S BAKI AZERYOLSERVIS: Jennifer Tamas (Milpitas, Calif.), a 2008 silver medalist with the U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team, is playing for Baki Azeryolservis of the Azerbaijan Super League in 2012-2013. Baki Azeryolservis defeated Lokomotiv Baladzhary 22-25, 25-14, 25-15, 25-19 on Feb. 22 in round 15. Baki Azeryolservis continued its win streak on Feb. 25 with a 25-18, 25-21, 25-11 victory over Telekom.
MIYASHIRO, SPICER WITH AZERBAIJAN'S LOKOMOTIV BAKU: Tamari Miyashiro (Kaneohe, Hawaii), a silver medalist with the 2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team, signed mid-season with Azerbaijan's Lokomotiv Baku. Lokomotiv Baku lost to league-leader Rabita Baku 25-20, 21-25, 25-14, 31-29 on Feb. 25 in the Azerbaijan Super League Round 16. Spicer started at setter all four sets and helped Lokomotiv to a 40 kill percent for the match while adding two individual kills on two attacks and a block for three points. Miyashiro was a defensive replace in all four sets.
LARSON-BURBACH, BOWN WITH RUSSIA'S DINAMO KAZAN: Jordan Larson-Burbach (Hooper, Neb.) and Heather Bown (Yorba Linda, Calif.), who have each won an Olympic silver medal with the U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team, are competing for Dinamo Kazan in the Russia Super League. In the Russia Super League, Kazan remained undefeated by defeating Dinamo Krasnodar 23-25, 25-11, 25-22, 25-18 on Feb. 22. Larson-Burbach produced 19 points with 15 kills on 38 attacks, three blocks and an ace. She chipped in a 64 positive reception percent on 14 chances. Bown secured three kills and two blocks in playing just the first two sets. Kazan (17-0, 45 points) takes on seventh-place Tyumen (7-10, 24 points) on March 14 in its next Russia Super League match.
HOOKER WITH RUSSIA'S DINAMO KRASNODAR: Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas), who earned the Best Spiker Award at the 2012 Olympic Games while helping the U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team to the silver medal, is competing for Dinamo Krasnodar in the Russia Super League this winter. In the CEV Challenge Cup, Krasnodar will now face LP Salo in the semifinal home-and-home series beginning on Feb. 26. In the Russia Super League, Krasnodar (11-6, 32 points) lost to league-leader Dinamo Kazan 23-25, 25-11, 25-22, 25-18 on Feb. 22. Hooker charted 11 kills on 42 attacks and two aces for 13 points in the loss. Krasnodar, now in fifth place in the league standings, looks to bounced back on March 12 against 10th-place Ufimochka-UGNTU (4-13, 12 points) in its next Russia Super League match.
KLINEMAN WITH ITALY'S ASYSTEL McCARNAGHI VILLA CORTESE: Alix Klineman (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) returns to the Italian Serie A1 for a second season, but will compete for Asystel McCarnaghi Villa Cortese in 2012-2013. In the Italian Serie A1, Villa Cortese broke a two-match five-set losing streak by defeating Banca Reale Yoyogurt Giaveno 21-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-22 on Feb. 24. Klineman totaled 13 points with 12 kills on 28 attacks and a block. She added a 57 positive reception percent on 23 attempts. Villa Cortese (7-7, 24 points), which moved up two spots to fourth place following the victory, takes on seventh-place Chateaux D'Ax Urbino (6-7, 17 points) on March 3 in its next league match.
GIBBEMEYER WITH ITALY'S VOLLEY PESARO: Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.), a middle blocker with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, is competing for KGS Robursport Volley Pesaro in the Italian Serie A1 league in 2012-2013. Pesaro lost to second-place Foppapedretti Bergamo (11-4, 30 points) 25-21, 28-26, 25-22 on Feb. 24. Gibbemeyer charted 10 kills on 17 attacks with just one error to go with a block for 11 points. On the opposite side of the net, American Blair Brown scored nine points in just the first two sets and Alexis Crimes added five kills in the victory. Pesaro (6-8, 16 points), now in eighth place, takes on sixth-place Imoco Volley Conegliano (7-6, 22 points) on March 3.
LLOYD, FAUCETTE WITH ITALY'S YAMAMAY BUSTO ARSIZIO: Carli Lloyd (Bonsall, Calif.), a setter with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, is competing in the Italian Serie A1 league with Unendo Yamamay Busto Arsizio in 2012-2013 along with American Juliann Faucette (San Diego). Both athletes played for Epic Volleyball Club in San Diego as juniors before going separate ways at the collegiate level. In the Italian Serie A1 regular season, Busto Arsizio lost to third-place Rebecchi Nordmeccanica Piacenza (8-5, 24 points) 25-16, 21-25, 21-25, 25-12, 15-12 on Feb. 23. Faucette was a sub in the final four sets recording one kill on two attacks. Lloyd suited for the match, but did not play. Busto Arsizio (11-3, 34 points), which still is in first place after the loss, resumes Italian Serie A1 action on Feb. 3 versus fifth-place Duck Farm Chieri Torino (8-6, 22 points). Busto Arsizio, which won the CEV Cup last year, will be making its first-ever trip to the CEV Champions League semifinals in its first year in the league. The squad will meet its second Azerbaijan team in a row, this time Rabita Baku on March 9.
RICHARDS HILDEBRAND WITH TURKEY'S BAKIRKOY BELEDIYE YESILYURT: Kristin Richards Hildebrand (Orem, Utah), alternate for both the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Teams, is competing for Bakirkoy Belediye Yesilyurt in the Turkish League. Richards Hildebrand, who missed several weeks with an injury, returned to the lineup on Feb. 24 as her team nearly upset Iller Bankasi 22-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-21, 16-14. Richards Hildebrand started all five sets scoring 14 kills on 33 attacks and two blocks for 16 points. She added a 49 positive reception percent on a team-high 43 chances. Yesilyurt (5-12) returns to league action on March 3 against Sanyer Bld.
BERG WITH TURKEY'S FENERBAHCE: Lindsey Berg (Honolulu), a two-time Olympic Games silver medalist with the U.S. and three-time Olympian, signed to play with Fenerbahce in the Turkish League mid-way through the regular season. In the Turkish League, fourth-place Fenerbahce (11-5) was scheduled to play Nilufer Bld on Feb. 24, but the match was delayed. In CEV Cup action, Fenerbahce has advanced to the CEV Cup final round where it will play Bank BPS Fakro Muszyna starting on Feb. 27 with the return date on March 2.
TOM WITH BRAZIL'S UNILEVER: Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah), a four-time U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball selection with two silver medals, is playing this winter with Unilever in Brazil's Superliga. Unilever ended the second half regular season with a tough 27-25, 25-23, 30-32, 23-25, 17-15 loss to Sollys/Nestle on Feb. 22. Tom did not dress for the match. Despite the loss, Unilever (16-2) edged out second-place Sollys/Nestle (15-3) by a single point (45-44) in the final regular season standings to take the top seed into the playoffs and will face eighth-seed Rio Do Sul on Feb. 26 to start the quarterfinals. The best-of-three series resumes on March 2, followed by a March 5 contest if needed.
SCOTT-ARRUDA WITH BRAZIL'S BANANA BOAT: Danielle Scott-Arruda (Baton Rouge, La.), the only five-time U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team selection and a two-time Olympic Games silver medalist, joined Banana Boat/Praia Clube in mid-season of the Brazil Superliga. Banana Boat/Praia Clube ended the second half of the regular season with a 25-20, 25-23, 25-11 victory over Rio Do Sul on Feb. 22. Scott-Arruda notched 10 points in the victory with eight kills on 13 attacks. Banana Boat/Praia Clube (11-7, 35 points) ended the regular season in fourth place edging out Sesi-Sao Paulo (11-7, 34 points) by a single point in the standings. Banana Boat/Praia Clube starts the best-of-three quarterfinal series at Sesi-Sao Paulo on Feb. 25, followed a March 1 contest at Uberlandia. If necessary, match three will take place on March 4 at Uberlandia.
FAWCETT WITH KOREA EXPRESSWAY IN KOREA LEAGUE: Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio), an opposite with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, is competing with Korea Expressway in the Korean professional league. Korea Expressway dropped a 25-17, 25-18, 25-22 match to GS Caltex on Feb. 24. Fawcett tallied a match-high 30 points with 27 kills on 54 attacks and three aces. Korea Expressway resumes league action on Feb. 27 versus Heungkuk, followed by a March 1 contest against KGC Ginseng.
LICHTMAN WITH SWITZERLAND'S HOTEL CRISTAL VFM I: Cassidy Lichtman (Poway, Calif.), an outside hitter with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, is competing for Hotel Cristal VFM I in the Swiss Volley League along with Americans Bianca Rowland, Brianna Barry, Michelle Kocher, Lise Muhlemann and Amber Roberson. Hotel Cristal VF concluded the double round-robin five-team playoffs on Feb. 24 with a 25-20, 17-25, 25-16, 25-19 loss to Volley Koniz on Feb. 24. Hotel Cristal VF ended the playoffs with a 1-7 record.
DAVIS WITH GERMANY'S DRESDNER SC: Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.), a two-time Olympic Games silver medalist as a libero with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, joined Dresdner SC late in the 2012-13 season. Dresdner SC stopped Alemannia Aachen 25-27, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 on Feb. 23 as Davis did not make the trip. Dresdner, now in third place (32-10, 55-20), returns to action on March 9 against Kopenicker SC Berlin.
THOMPSON WITH POLAND'S BUDOWLANI LODZ: Courtney Thompson (Kent, Wash.), a setter on the 2012 silver medalist U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team, is playing for Budowlani Lodz of the Orlen Liga in Poland for 2012-2013. Budowlani Lodz finished sixth in the Orlen Liga regular season and will face BKS Aluprof Bielsko Biala in the quarterfinal round starting on March 16.
ALISHA GLASS WITH PUERTO RICO'S CAGUAS: Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.), a setter for the U.S. Women's National Volleyball team, has transferred to compete in the Puerto Rico Super League with Caguas after playing earlier this year for Modena of Italy's Serie A1 division before it ceased competition this season. Caguas lost to Guaynabo in four sets on Feb. 22. Glass tallied nine assists, 14 digs and two blocks in the match, her first loss while setting Caguas in the Puerto Rican league.
JONES WITH PUERTO RICO'S CATANO: Jessica Jones (Naperville, Ill.), a middle blocker with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, is competing for Catano in the Puerto Rico Super League this season. Jones pocketed 22 points in pushing Catano to a four-set win over Ponce on Feb. 22.
OTHER AMERICANS IN PUERTO RICO: Kelly Murphy scored 39 points for Bayamon on Feb. 20 in a five-set win over Mayaguez. Lauren Cook added 27 assists and four kills in the victory. Shonda Cole paced Mayaguez with 35 points, while Kendall Bateman tallied 13 assists and 14 digs in the loss…Kim Willoughby collected nine points in Corozal's three-set win over Juncos on Feb. 21. Rachael Kidder tallied six points in the loss…Gina Mancuso recorded 19 points in Ponce's four-set loss to Catano on Feb. 22…Julie Bennett notched 18 points and Alaina Bergsma tacked on 14 points in leading Guaynabo to a four-set win over Caguas on Feb. 22. Caitlyn Donahue added 13 assists, 12 digs and four points in the victory. Tabi Love scored 17 points in pacing Caguas in the loss…Falyn Fonoimoana charted a match-high 23 points in leading Humacao to a three-set win over Mayaguez on Feb. 23. Jessica Swarbrick chipped in 11 points in the victory. Shonda Cole paced Mayaguez with 18 points in the loss…Kelly Murphy contributed 32 points and 11 digs in helping Bayamon to a five-set win over Carolina on Feb. 23. Hannah Werth added 14 points and Lauren Cook was credited with 18 assists and 15 digs in the victory. Monique Mead led Carolina with 24 points and Becky Perry added 16 points…Kim Willoughby provided 14 points in Corozal's three-set win over Guaynabo on Feb. 24. Julie Bennett topped Guaynabo with 11 points.


text:
Fast and reliable unlocking services for iPhone which locked by French carriers (SFR, Orange, Bouygues).
Available models: (Only clean phone supported) iPhone 4, iPhone 4GS, iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus
Only clean IMEI supported.
For Orange: only support out of contract phone.
Estimation time:
SFR: 1-4 working days;
Orange: 1-2 working days;
Bouygues: 1-2 working days.
Please see the following long description carefully.
Additional Information
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iPhone 4, iPhone 4GS, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus
French – Bouygues, French – Orange, French – SFR
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France iPhone Unlocking – Support iPhone 4/4S/5/5S/5C/6/6Plus – Fast and Reliable – Remote Unlocking – More information available at Mobile Essentials.
iPhone 4, iPhone 4GS, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus.
(Only clean phone supported)
& for Orange: only support phones already out of contract.
– Get your iPhone officially unlocked without jail breaking.
– Unlock your iPhone permanently and legally. It does not void your handset warranty.
– Your secure ios (software) upgrade via iTunes in the future is guaranteed while you can use your handset on any GSM network worldwidely.
– 100% money back guarantee (if phone is not unlocked successfully).
– No complicated software needed – simply connect your iPhone to iTunes to complete your handset unlocking after we notifying you.
1. IMEI Number:
The 15-digit number that unique to every handset (some may got 17-digit one). Simply dial *#06# from your handset, or go to the Settings > General > About on your iPhone. You can also find it out on your SIM card tray.
2. Model of your iPhone.
3. The network your phone currently locked to.
Important: It is highly essential that you choose the right network (your phone currently locked to) and submit the right IMEI Number. We will not be held responsible if you incorrectly entered any of the above information when ordering. Also we will not issue a refund under similar circumstances.
1. Choose the right carrier (network your phone currently is locked to) and right phone model, and then add it in your cart.
2. Go to the cart, press check-out, and remember to put your IMEI number in "Order Notes" area (bottom left).IMPORTANT!
3. Place the order by clicking "pay with Paypal". (Note: we accept pay-pal only, so your money is secured.)
4. Once your payment is successfully processed, we will send you a confirmation email containing the information (IMEI & Model) provided by you.
Please double check and reply us if any information was wrong. Changes will not be accepted after 24 hrs since the time order been placed.
5. Once your phone been unlocked, you will receive an email containing simple unlocking procedure (synchronizing in your iTunes). Follow the procedure and get your phone unlocked!
1. Do I have to send my iPhone to you?
The answer is No. We understand the importance to have a phone on hand, so keep your phone while we provide remote unlocking service. In the end, you just need to completes the unlocking process by synchronizing handset in iTunes.
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No, it won't. Your personal data will be safe.
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Yes, you will be able to do those. Actually, just enjoy your iPhone as it's never been locked.
We do not unblock lost/stolen/insurance claimed handsets as it is illegal in Australia.
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text: Korean Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Revised homeward-bound thread Speak Korean Now! Korean Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Revised homeward-bound thread Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message Enrico PalazzoMod TeamJoined: 11 Mar 2008 Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:04 pm Post subject: Revised homeward-bound thread This is the revised homeward bound thread. It contains Patrick's words with some revisions. Since this is a thread for expats returning, feel free to make suggestions regarding the thread title or content of the initial post. The initial thread didn't get off on the right foot. Let's have another take at it. The purpose of this thread is to cater to expatriates from various professional backgrounds returning with or without a spouse from Korea or another country including another Western country. It deals with issues such as immigration, finding work, going to graduate school, culture shock etc... PatrickGHBusan The thread is for teachers who worked in Korea for a while or who are still there and intend on going home. This thread is for all professionals and teachers going home and would like to get advice, information or simply feedback from people who have worked in Korea and settled back in their home countries with or without a spouse from Korea or another country. It is just a tool/resource for those who wish to use it. Some of us who have worked long-term in Korea and settled back home can share our experiences and provide help or pointers if needed about how to use your K-experience. Back to top PatrickGHBusanJoined: 24 Jun 2008Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 - Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:53 am Post subject: To start things off then: I was in Korea from 1997 to 2008. In that time I worked Hakwons, Public Schools and Universities. I also started a consulting agency that I still manage. I married a Korean woman and went from an E-2 to a F2 and finally to a F5 visa. We moved back to Canada in 2008 after some unforseen event and have decided to settle there for the time being. As such my Korean spouse applied and received permanent residency in Canada. I am more than willing to share my insights and experiences with people who have questions about the transition from Korea to their home countries. Back to top AdventurerJoined: 28 Jan 2006 Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:22 am Post subject: I've worked in Korea from April 2006 until July 2009. I've only worked at hagwons. I am in the US pursuing a master's degree. I haven't had much culture shock or anything. The stuff that I found was different after a long absense was there is more self-service check-in at airports, the women wear less clothing here, and being a graduate student is much harder work than being a hagwon instructor. I am also teaching part-time. I enjoy the green grass of home and the mountains. Back to top afsjesseJoined: 23 Sep 2007Location: Kickin' it in 'Kato town. Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:55 pm Post subject: To keep the thread moving.... I worked in Korea from October 2007 until July 2009. My first year was in a hagwon in Busan and my last year was with EPIK in Uljin County where I worked at 4 Public Schools. I returned home near the end of July to pursue my MA TESL with high hopes of returning to Asia, probably Korea at first, in the future. My Korean experience was rocky but overall very positive. I enjoyed the kindness of the Korean people and now that I'm busy with studies and teaching Spanish as a TA, I really miss the day to day living in the country and city. Adjusting back in the US has been pretty easy. I haven't had much culture shock other than getting accustomed to things here again. If anyone has any questions or is around MSU-Mankato, send me a shout! Back to top Old GilJoined: 26 Sep 2009Location: Got out! olleh! Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:34 pm Post subject: Has anyone had experience 'sexing up' an ESL resume, and maybe could shed some light on what works? Specifically I'm looking to find a job working for an international business that would initially hire me state-side and send me off to Asia (preferably China). I've learned Korean (not much but a good base to build upon) and Mandarin (low intermediate on a good day). Besides the languages, are there any other angles that could be played? Back to top PatrickGHBusanJoined: 24 Jun 2008Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 - Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:16 pm Post subject: Gil, You can Jazz up your resume all you want but there HAS to be substance there to back it up. No company will hire you and send you to China without the qualifications to back up that resume. You state language skills: are they backed up by certificates (courses or programs)? You state ESL Experience: in what setting? How does it make you a good choice to work for a western corporation in China? What position are you applying for in this or these north american companies? What skills, experience and credentials to you have for such a position? A resume needs to be TAILORED to the position you are targetting. Jazzing it up is fine but embelishing things can quickly backfire. Back to top ABC KIDJoined: 14 Sep 2007 Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:52 am Post subject: Old Gil wrote: Specifically I'm looking to find a job working for an international business that would initially hire me state-side and send me off to Asia How realistic do people think the goal quoted above is? Is it very possible or is it a bit of a longshot? To pull it off are we talking solid credentials, excellent credentials or cream of the crop? I ask because that is one of two or three angles I am toying with ahead of a planned return to my country in less than two years. I realize that even it is possible it is not the sort of thing that is likely to happen overnight, but rather is going to require years of work to pull-off should I aim that way. Any thoughts 'Patrick' and others? Back to top PatrickGHBusanJoined: 24 Jun 2008Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 - Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:04 am Post subject: ABC...the term realistic depends on what a person brings to the table vice what their goal is. Cryptic enough? More clearly you can achieve such a goal but you need to have the credentials, relevant experience, education and references. You also need to be able to sell yourself well. Back to top Old GilJoined: 26 Sep 2009Location: Got out! olleh! Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:16 am Post subject: ^ Hella cryptic. But good advice. Back to top IllysookJoined: 30 Jun 2008 Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:16 am Post subject: I've heard a lot about "reverse culture shock" and I was wondering if it included a "honeymoon" phase and how long it is supposed to last...until my savings run out? Until I find a job and feel secure again? 3 months? Six months? Any clues out there? For now, I'm having a great time! Back to top PatrickGHBusanJoined: 24 Jun 2008Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 - Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 2:56 pm Post subject: I would say the reverse culture shock varies from person to person and depends on how their life was overseas.... It can include a honeymoon period and then a bit of an adjustment period... Back to top IllysookJoined: 30 Jun 2008 Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:25 am Post subject: I've been home about 2 weeks and my savings account is 3/4 of the way gone. I bought myself the nice bicycle that I wanted and some new clothes, but that wasn't the biggest part of it. The biggest part of this is that I'm a homeowner and my tenant broke his lease after not paying the utility bills for six months or so. Then, there was a plumbing problem, a hot water heater that needed replaced, and the dryer broke...and on and on it goes...but i still don't want to go back to Korea. I think that I'm making short work of the job hunt. Sure, the economy is bad, and I went to a job fair last week where I had to wait an hour just to get in the door. There were about as many social service agencies as there were actual employers at this job fair. One of these agencies was looking for an ESL teacher. Tutoring positions there pay up to $30.00 an hour. It might not be full time work, but it will get me through until I find something better, get certified as a real teacher, or manage to marry and get on the mommy track. (Getting close to an offer on that last one!) So yes, transitioning back to life in America is tough right now, but not impossible. You have survived all of the annoying, awful things in Korea and you can survive ordinary life in America. You don't have to stay in Korea if you don't want to. And it's true...there's no place like home! Back to top PatrickGHBusanJoined: 24 Jun 2008Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 - Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:23 am Post subject: But then again illysook Home is where you make it no? Back to top allovertheplaceJoined: 02 Aug 2009 Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:15 pm Post subject: I was in Korea for 2 years, from 2007-2009. Went back home to get my masters in an unrelated field, dont much want to pursue ESL as a career. Ive been happy at home but its a difficult life at first. You burn through your savings very quickly and the hardest thing for me was adjusting to that fact. I still want to go out, have fun etc. but I cant afford it. Its also hard getting used to not eating out a lot, paying real bills, and not being cool because of your race-or famous. As adventurer stated, being a grad student is much more difficult than being an ESL teacher. So, feel free to PM or respond if youre having some trouble or want some thoughts on grad school. Back to top ciccone_youthJoined: 03 Mar 2008Location: Japan Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:17 am Post subject: I was only in Seoul for one year (March 2008-March 2009), and it was a wonderful experience. I had promised myself I'd go back home after a year to go back to my television job. So I did. And I hated it. Going back home was so difficult. I started hating the television industry, and hating Montreal for being too boring compared to Seoul. It was the most difficult couple of months I've ever had- just re-questioning everything, and things in my personal life did not go well either. I kind of got used to it, but my job felt so blah, and I decided to try teaching in Japan- a country I had visited and fell in love with last summer. So I'm leaving for Japan in two weeks, for a year, or even two. I'm looking forward to it, even though the idea of coming home AGAIN after Japan makes me worry a lot. But I want to live abroad some more, and who knows what can happen.... maybe I'll figure things out. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum All times are GMT - 8 HoursGoto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Page 1 of 5 Jump to: Select a forum Forums:----------------FAQJob-related Discussion ForumGeneral Discussion ForumOff-Topic ForumTravel ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumBuy/Sell/Trade Forum You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved. 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text:
A group of club "regulars" were working out on steppers when an overweight woman came in for a tour of the club. It had taken everything she had to get there that day, to take that first step toward a healthier lifestyle.
As she passed by the regulars, they began to make snide comments: "Would you look at her!" "Glad I don't look like that!" The catty remarks were loud enough for the woman to hear.
"She ran from the club crying and never came back," remembers Fern Pessin of the New York City-based Retention Resource, a consulting business for the fitness industry.
The morale of this story: Your members have power over your fitness center, and it's up to you to make sure it's for the positive. In addition to being a source of revenue, members can be your club's biggest public-relations asset - or biggest downfall.
Put another way, members make (or break) your club's atmosphere. If the atmosphere is friendly and non-threatening, people will join your club and keep coming back day after day, week after week. But if the atmosphere isn't...
To maintain an atmosphere in which all people can feel comfortable, a club must insist on certain behavior from its members. "In a community, people have to abide by rules that keep the peace," Pessin explains. "A fitness club is a community.
"If there are a few insurgents who find it necessary to puff themselves up by putting others down, then it is our duty as professionals who want to encourage people to adhere to an exercise-driven lifestyle to maintain the peace by administering those rules."
All that's easier said than done, though. A club is not a baby-sitting service for adults. And while clubs do (and should) maintain rules to keep as many people happy as possible - whether it be by prohibiting profanity on the exercise floor, or discouraging equipment hogs - too many regulations turn people off.
So what can clubs reasonably expect from members? First, there are the basics: sharing equipment, wiping down machines when finished, etc. Then there is common courtesy: no yelling or cursing while lifting, for example.
Beyond the commonsense rules, clubs must develop policy based on their markets. Take dress codes. Most club owners and fitness consultants believe in a dress code, but the strictness of the code and the way in which it is enforced will vary from club to club.
"If you're a gym that's really a gym, and you cater to the bodybuilder types, then a dress code is going to be a joke," says Casey Conrad, consultant and president of the Wakefield, R.I.-based Communications Consultants, and founder of Healthy Inspirations Weight Loss and Lifestyle Centers.
If, however, your club attracts different kinds of people, you probably should consider a dress code of some sort. "Someone who is more mainstream and deconditioned - they don't want to stare over at someone who's not and is wearing almost nothing. It's intimidating," Conrad explains.
Comfortable Clothing
Doug Ribley, the director of Akron General Health and Wellness Center in Ohio, supports dress codes. "Some dress codes are important because you're dealing with a large segment of the population," he says. "You want everyone to feel comfortable."
Pessin finds that a dress code will actually attract more clients: "Too many `perfect' bodies and revealing clothes will make most unfit people uncomfortable if they believe that they must wear this type of clothing to participate.... [The] No. 1 reason people don't join a club is because they say, `I will go there when I look better.'
"Between the media's portrayal of fitness and club advertising that shows perfection and youth, the average consumer believes that only perfect bodies and health nuts belong to fitness clubs."
Setting up rules such as a dress code is relatively easy. However, getting people to adhere to the policies is an entirely different matter.
Enforcing your rules can be as simple as posting them at various locations around the gym. You can also write your regulations up in the member's contract. Just make sure you pay special attention to how you word your policies and how you present them, says Sandy Coffman, owner of Programming for Profit, a Bradenton, Fla.-based consulting company.
"Every club has got to have a code of policies that they write up," she explains.
"One of the important things is not to call them rules and regulations, but to call them policies," Coffman adds. "Now there is a nice, professional, soft way of putting it, and I like to say, `These are our club's policies to ensure a comfortable, professional, workout environment for everyone.' That statement is powerful in itself."
Coffman believes that if you expect members to adhere to these policies, employees must abide by the policies as well (e.g., dress codes). She also recommends that club owners print and frame the policies professionally. That means no handwritten flyers or photocopies.
"The success of the policy depends on how well you present it," Ribley adds. "Our policy is actually reviewed at the time of joining. A person actually signs and dates the policy and we have a copy, they have a copy."
How you present your rules is up to your club, but consistency, as far as enforcing the mandates, is crucial. "Use common sense and consistency," says Conrad, who also has a law license. "That's probably the most important thing - consistency, consistency, consistency. If you're inconsistent, that's grounds for a lawsuit.
"Even if you upset one or two members, you've got to enforce the rules all the time, not some of the time," she says.
Sticking to the Rules
That means your staff must react the moment a rule is broken. "It's awfully easy to turn your head when these things happen," says Ribley, "but it really makes things worse. We can't ignore it. That's a sign of a loose organization."
On the other hand, you don't need to resort to extreme repercussions whenever someone breaks the rules. Most infractions can be worked out with good communication skills.
"If you approach it correctly, then very rarely do you have to [cancel a membership]," says Ribley, who adds that he has only had to take this kind of extreme action "maybe three times" in his 20-year career.
Indeed, your whole attitude can help diffuse a situation in which a rule has been broken. "`Please' andthank you' are the magic words," notes Terry Ferebee Eckmann, the co-owner of Fitness First, and an instructor at Minot State University in North Dakota. Just by respecting the other person, "you're going to be able to negotiate a reasonable solution to the problem. Listening is an important rule to practice. Also, understanding people's personality styles is key to conflict management."
The styles of conflict management are all based on the personality of the member, according to Eckmann. She names five personality types: the teddy bear (the accommodating type), the turtle (the negative, pessimistic type), the fox (compromising), the shark (competitive) and the owl (collaborative). Once you can categorize the member, you'll know which style to apply to the situation.
"So, for instance, the shark personality. These people want to get their way; this is a real power-oriented individual," Eckmann explains. "For those people, can you somehow make it look like they are getting their way?
"If you know that that's their personality style, it's best to let them think they've won."
Before you can reach an agreement with a member, however, you first have to make the member aware that she has disobeyed a club policy. Bret FitzGerald, the director of corporate communications for Las Vegas Athletic Clubs, offers some advice for approaching a member who is out of line.
"I recommend having a somewhat experienced female talk to the guy so that you won't have the usual `pissing contest' that happens when you have two guys," he says.
Likewise, have an experienced male talk to a female violator. "The more you have the person of the opposite gender approach the person, the less confrontational it is, or not confrontational at all," FitzGerald continues.
"Pull that person into an office or aside and speak to them quietly, rather than on the gym floor. Once you get someone into an office, they realize that it is important," he adds. "The next step is to be as professional as you possibly can. If the rule wasn't posted in the club, I would make sure that it was clearly posted before I talked to them."
Management Matters
Other sage advice from industry experts: If at all possible, have upper management talk to the offender. If you must have a floor person talk to her, then make sure that the employee received the appropriate training. FitzGerald recommends role playing, or having a new person watch how a manager handles a situation.
While a calm discussion may be enough to solve many problems, you may find yourself facing a stubborn member who won't cooperate. In this case, canceling a membership may be your only recourse. "If there's someone who absolutely refuses to follow those rules," Ribley says, "then you can make the decision to `fire' them as a member."
But when should you invoke this last resort? Many industry experts and club owners agree on a three-strike rule. A first warning is given to the member in person, and in private. The second one is written, outlining the consequences should the person continue to ignore the rules. After the third offense, the person would be asked to leave.
Still, some clubs would never want to do anything that severe, opting for other ways to get members to conform. The Las Vegas Athletic Clubs, for example, favor the "annoyance" approach.
Says FitzGerald, "We don't want to kick anybody out, but if you take up enough of their time by explaining the dress code over and over, then hopefully they will start to think that `I'd rather be working out than talking to this person.'" In other words, they'll begin following the dress code just so they'll be left alone.
Sandy Coffman recommends a "reward" approach for offenders: If a member is wearing inappropriate clothing, "offer them a clean, logoed T-shirt from your club to wear. Write them a thank you note afterwards for being understanding."
Punishment Practices
Pessin believes that enforcement will differ from club to club. "One club may find that asking a member to leave - either temporarily (like a school suspension) or permanently - is necessary," she says. "Another club may find that posting names of offenders is needed to consistently uphold rules. Another club may find that setting different membership fees for people who can't follow the rules is equity enough to hire additional staff to keep the peace (rather like car-insurance rates - higher for people more likely to have accidents)."
Who should determine the punishment for the member? Pessin has opinions about that as well. "I recommend that the consequences of deviation from following the stated rules and regulations should be determined by a committee of club staff - not just high-level managers - and some long-term and/or heavily involved members," she says.
"Thus, whatever the consequences are in the future would be concrete and would have been deemed `fair' by both the club management, the staff and the members. Implementation and decisions on each case-by-case basis for infractions would be left up to the club management."
On the other hand, if you have a club like the North Mississippi Wellness Center in Tupelo, you won't need a committee. You won't even need to lift a finger. Your regulars will take matters into their own hands.
"We have a lot of older members," says Hank Boerner, the center's director, "and you really don't have to worry about policing members because the older members will do it themselves. And they aren't necessarily as nice as we would be!"
Boerner offers this example: "One time we had an incident where a person was leaving towels and splashing water all over the locker rooms. So one of the members went home and wrote up a sign and posted it up: `Unless your mother works here, clean up after yourself!'"
He adds, "It's just like dealing with school children a lot of times."
When Good Club Members Go Bad
Club Industry asked fitness industry experts to share some of their horror stories involving bad member manners.
Bible Belt Justice
"We're [located] in the Bible Belt/deep South, and one day we had a girl come in from out of town who wore a bikini into the swim area, and the members pretty much took care of that for us [by making comments, etc.]. The next time she came in she was wearing a one-piece."
Steamed Customer
"We had a member that had a ritual in the steam room that involved making very high-pitched sounds. Consequently, people were afraid to go into the steam room while he was there. We had to sit down with this member and not criticize his actions in general, but just point out that it was having a negative impact on the rest of the members. He didn't particularly like it, but he understood where we were coming from and the problem went away."
Pool Ghoul
"One time we had a prominent physician who would come to our deep-water classes. He would come and put goggles on and spend most of the time underwater just watching people. That got pretty uncomfortable." Eckmann handled the situation by approaching the doctor and telling him that his actions were making members uneasy.
Cop a Plea
"Back when I was in California, there were a few times where I actually had to call the police! [One incident involved a case of "'roid rage" with a large biker hopped up on steroids.] I went over to the police department [located in close proximity to the gym] with an invitation for any of their officers to work out in the club at any time, seven days a week, free of charge.... So, at any given time, the police would be working out in the club. It was a very secure feeling. We always had LAPD in there, so if anything ever did happen, we had lots of backup."
Making a Stink
"One time a club worked with a member who stunk - literally! He had a hygiene problem. He was offensive to the other members. The manager had to step in and revoked [his] membership because [he] wouldn't comply. It's a very delicate situation. How do you bring someone into the office and say, `Look, you stink'?"
Common Fitness Faux Pas
So, you want to put together a policy for members, but don't know what rules to include? Club Industry can help. The list below includes 12 common club regulations, written in language any member can understand. Feel free to copy them verbatim into your policy manual, and watch your members' manners improve.
1. Before starting any exercise class or using any equipment, wash your hands and wipe off any cologne or perfume. Washing prevents the spread of germs, and wiping off scents is kind to any asthmatics or allergy sufferers.
2. You know you're going to sweat, so put on some extra deodorant for the courtesy of other members.
3. Be neat and tidy in the locker rooms.
4. Use a towel to wipe off aerobic equipment, mats, weight machines and free weights after use. We also supply squirt bottles and paper towels for cleaning equipment when you are finished. Please use them.
5. Be considerate of other people waiting to use the machines and other equipment by respecting the time limit posted.
6. While waiting to use a machine, please don't hover. It distracts people who are working out.
7. Don't talk to people in the middle of their set, as it breaks their concentration.
8. When finished, return your weights to the rack.
9. Be respectful of other's concentration and avoid loud talking, profanity, sing-a-longs on your personal stereos, or loud grunts.
10. If they don't flirt back, don't pursue it. Not everyone goes to a gym to hook up.
11. Be on time to all your scheduled classes. Coming in late is inconsiderate to the instructor and other members.
12. Keep your workout clothes clean and odor-free. Wash them as often as possible.


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Archive for December 2005
Sketch outline complete
I finished it.
Yesterday morning, five-year-old Child Three kept asking me to take him out shopping so that he could choose gifts for his sisters. We needed to pick up gifts for their California cousins (who are spending the holidays, ironically, in Montreal and Ottawa) also. We went out around noon, just he and I, first to the nearby Vallco mall. I suggested some wooden dinosaur models for Cousin One and a dragon/snowglobe crystal ball for Cousin Two, but Child Three rejected them. Although I was willing to settle, he held out for better choices. We had to hit a bookstore anyway, so we left empty-handed and headed east.
I lived in San Jose for four years, ending in 1997, so my recall of the pecadillos of Bay Area byways is spotty, but I eventually spiralled in on Valley Fair from the west (280), south (Moorpark), then the east (Bascom to Steven's Creek).
Child Three chose a long, round Siberian-tiger-style Hello Kitty pillow/stuffed animal for Cousin Two and a Hello Kitty stuffed rabbit in a sweater and cap for Child Two. We got a book to feed Child One's voracious book hunger. The hardest gift to choose was Cousin One's. He has a bit of a learning disability and his mother forbids plastic toys. I found it hard to judge whether he'd appreciate a game or book or feel frustrated by it, but we chose a fun toy for him in the Discovery Channel store: a voice changer. It's too bad the "Walking with…" DVD series was too expensive. I love that stuff, and what kid doesn't?
My girls received their gifts yesterday as last night's Chanukah loot. They loved them. The best part of the day was when Child Three and I pulled into the driveway after three hours of shopping. "I had fun with you today, Dad," he said. Best part of the day.
Second-best part of the day was later finishing the sketch outline. I'll print it out soon and today work on carving it more finely.
I found a superb crutch, which is actually what prompted me to post this morning. "By the Book" is the story of alleged emotional abuse and evolutionary biology. I know a lot about the latter (I double-majored in biology and anthropology at Rice, then spent a year at Yale in a geology Ph.D. program, on the road to becoming one of those dinosaur guys you see on the Discovery Channel) but little about the former, thank goodness.
I picked up a self-help book on emotional abuse. What a writer's treasure! The thing identifies personality types – characters, in other words. In some ways, it's plug and play. All you monkeys who need exposure to alien personalities and motivations ought to head right for the self-help shelves for an introduction to all kinds of twisted personalities.
Bonus early warning:
My birthday is in mid-January and I have my heart* set on this. Buy now and avoid the rush.
* My logical heart. My emotional heart would love a new desktop Mac or PowerBook.
"By the Book" progress
I have a few problems with my sketch outline. This is a step before a treatment, more a series of notes that outline the story rather than what is typically called an outline, usually a beat by beat measure of the scenes.
My original ending leaves the main character unsympathetic. Maybe that's OK. More seriously, I'm having trouble getting there. Third-act difficulties are new to me; typically I suffer the more common second-act blues. I just have to slog through it for now. I have plenty of time for changes before the treatment is due in March.
I've also noticed that the story seems to switch focus. I start with the male lead and gradually pay more and more attention to the female lead. I don't think that's a problem if I can craft the third act to return focus to the male. The emphasis on the female lead is a subplot, then. Again, however, it puts pressure on my third act.
Today's a day of thinking and perhaps writing if the solution comes to me.
The new monster monitor
God bless Craigslist.
I secured a never-used, never-opened GDM-5410 monitor, a Sony rebranded as a Sun Microsystems display. It has a beautiful flat Trinitron with a 0.24mm aperture grill pitch. I'm a snob, and I prefer the Mitsubishi tubes with shadow masks, but this monster will certainly do the job. I snagged it for $50 (US dollars). The full stats, and pretty gray/purple case, can be seen here.
The box says it weighs 84 lb and I don't have a scale to verify that. I thought it would be more like 70 lb. A box of 70 lb would cost $25 as heavy baggage, above that to 100 lb will cost $50. It's still a great deal.
A fastidious ticket agent will wield the double-whammy of oversize baggage as well – $80, I think – on top of the overweight. That will hurt, but you know what? Still worth it.
"Must Love Dogs"
You'd have to, to sit through it.
Because dinner ran late and all "Munich" shows seemed to start either 7:000-ish or too late for us at 10:30, we stayed in and watched – er, tried to watch "Must Love Dogs".
Last night, we watched "Bewitched", which had detectable levels of wit and charm, and certainly put a new twist on turning old sitcoms into new movies. Gotta hand it to those Ephrons. Nicole Kidman doesn't hurt either.
But "Must Love Dogs"? I was ready to turn it off in the middle of the very first scene. The word that did it was "sis". The Diane Lane character's sister pronounces that word with enough emphasis to painfully reveal just how expository that whole kitchen scene was. It was awful. Elvi convinced me to give the movie more time, and what little John Cusack we saw made the next few minutes bearable, but when Diane Lane (no, I don't remember the character's name, and I don't care enough to look it up) yelled at the butcher, that was it.
Fine, she's divorced. She only wants one chicken breast. The butcher tells her she can have a whole chicken for 75 cents more. And she explodes over the fact that she doesn't want to have three quarters of a chicken go to waste.
Hey, we have iceboxes now, by gum. And, as I recall, leftovers are the single person's time-saver.
The clincher for Elvi was seeing the little boy smacked by a pole a scene later. His nose bleeds profusely, and he says "Oh, it's a gusher!"
Ha. Ha ha. Oh, it's a knee-slapper.
Elvi and I spent the next hour watching reruns of "The Simpsons" and "South Park" instead.
Hello, Silicon Valley!
Well, I made it to Sunnyvale. I arrived at my sister-in-law's about half an hour ago. In an hour I drive to San Francisco airport to pick up the wife and kids.
I have nothing pithy to say other than to note that it seems impossible to find an aviation magazine in airports these days.
That's not entirely a bad thing. I got the first act of "By the Book" outlined on the (second) airplane.
Ummm…. Do none of you Windows users see the Google ads and sidebar links or this specific to my sister-in-law's desktop?
428 ready to rumble
I just finished the planning for JOUR 428, Online Magazine. Once I buckled down, it wasn't hard at all. The second half of the course is grounded in the production of an e-zine, and my presence should be purely advisory.
If I train the students well enough in the first half of the semester, I can write movies in the second.
Speaking of which, there's an outline awaiting me….
Wasted day
I obsessed all day over my failing monitor and its replacement. A new one is out of the question. It has to be at least a 21″ diagonal (known in metric Canada as a 21″ diagonal) monitor, because downgrades hurt worse than paper cuts.
The used monitors on eBay were disheartening. The shipping always gets you, and it looked like there was no acceptable screen for less than $150 (including shipping) to be had.
"Acceptable" is a key word. I am not an impulse shopper. I have to hunt down reviews and read testimonials and Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports wasn't all that helpful – I could not access older reviews of CRT monitors, shoveled off to Limbo when the recent reviews of LCD monitors went live.
I'm a gamer, I need a CRT. LCDs still ghost too much with quickly changing images.
Then it occurred to me. I'm going to be in the US, so I could have a monitor shipped to my sister-in-laws and take it home with me. I spent the bulk of the day hunting down bargains. The best of the lot came from these guys. They have Cornerstone P1500 monitors for $99, with free shipping. Although not flat, it's a decent monitor, but I was wary of the limited warranty. With monitors especially, you ideally should see what you're getting. I kept hunting.
During a search for a review of some other monitor, the natural solution finally hit me.
I'm going to the Bay Area, the freakin' most monitor-dense concentration of primates on the planet. And how do those primates discard used equipment? On freakin' Craigslist. I've only read about a dozen stories on Craigslist over the last two weeks. The .ba folk throw used computer equipment at each other like monkeys throw feces. Check the link, the finely furred geeks hand out dozens of 21″ Trinitrons every week for a measly $40 apiece. And you can see a monitor in action before you hand over the cash.
I'm less concerned now. I just wish I'd thought of this before midnight. Allow me to share my belated wisdom.
Bonus apology to feed people:
I'm an editor, but a cocky one. That's why you get multiple alerts.
My electronics are revolting
I have been the victim of some serious malfunctions in my office.
Yesterday, I sat down at my desk to find that my 21″ CRT monitor is ill. Along the left and right margins, the top third of the picture gets fuzzy as it goes up. The fuzziness on the left is orange and on the right is cyan. An additional symptom is ghosting of the image, particularly annoying in the top fifth of the screen.
Curiously, the orange/cyan effect is identical to the colour separation I get at extreme edges of my eyeglasses. If I look out the outer edge of the lens, I get the same orange ghosting; looking out the inner edge, things appear cyan. In fact, if I rotate my head 45 degrees away from the monitor and shift my eyes to look at it, the glasses compensate for the malfunctioning monitor.
This is an old monitor, and it's going to cost a fortune to replace. I can't work with my head at that angle.
A less expensive, but more annoying problem is the new cartridge of black ink in my Epson all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/coffee-maker. The ink just won't flow. Sure, if I carefully remove the cartridge and shake it up, it will print four or five perfect pages – but I can't keep doing that. It just tempts fate. I will end up with ink flooding the inside of the printer.
The least important and most fixable problem is a loose wire in my Thrustmaster RCS rudder pedals. It's a simple matter to solder the wire back onto the pot, but first I need to find my soldering iron…. Without rudder pedals, I can't play WarBirds, but I don't need them for a tank in WWII Online, so it's not a total crisis. In fact, I'm proud of two exquisite shots I made last night with the 75mm gun in my Panzer IV Ausf G. Twice I made first-shot kills on moving British tanks at a range of 1.8 km. I'm a proud grognard.
Bonus Google trivia:
Somebody found my site through a Google search for "donkey chasing pooping man". This blog is the second link. I remain proud.
Netsurfer update
I finished all my correcting, submitted grades, and I have a good grasp of what JOUR 428 will turn out to be. Time for a Netsurfer Digest (NSD) update, prompted by a letter from one of its writers.
In short, I still have no idea what's going on with NSD.
Now, the long version….
The way NSD has worked is I get the sites and Arthur has handled the Breaking Surf (BS) selections. Those two tasks have been completed more or less independently for each issue, although I get the BS to edit and incorporate once it's done.
In August, Arthur started slacking off, and fell behind deadlines for BS. We started getting out an issue only every two weeks. At the time, Arthur wrote me to say he was moving his girlfriend, and that was why he was extra busy.
But that pattern continued. Finally, in November, Arthur stopped communicating altogether. He won't respond to e-mail or phone calls from writers (I haven't tried to call myself).
While none of us is in this for the money, I don't think Arthur has paid the writers in 2005. In the spring, he claimed that he was moving to a bi-annual payment schedule, but he seems not have paid that out either. I get paid monthly, and the last payment I got was in June.
Now, Arthur has missed paying me in the past, but he's normally a responsible guy. He has always made up missing payments. I used to see Arthur regularly when I lived in San Jose. He was honest and forthright, not a bullshitter at all. I'm a dedicated misanthropist, but I liked the guy. He promised me that if NSD was ever headed for the drain, he'd let me know well beforehand. He's always claimed that NSD had at least a year's worth of cash reserve to buffer bad times.
Well, Arthur hasn't made up this year's missing payments, and he's essentially unreachable. I got in touch with Bill Woodcock, who is a Netsurfer founding partner and who hosts the Netsurfer machines. Bill has also had trouble getting in touch with Arthur. Obviously, something is up, but I don't know what it is. I try not to let my paranoid fantasies get too far out of hand.
Coincidentally, I will be in the Bay Area Dec. 24 to Jan. 4. Bill and I have plans to meet and hunt down Arthur. Come January, I expect that NSD will be a known dead issue or a known live issue – either way, no longer a mystery. If it's dead, though, what do we do?
The options, for me, are:
1) NSD dies, and forget it. Personally, I would miss NSD, but I can fill the missing time and money with freelance work.
2) Start a new venture to replace NSD. The problem with this is that I'm not really too techy. Arthur is the guy who coded mailing and PERL formatting scripts and whatnot – I'm purely content. We'd have to find a technically adept partner, and maybe a venture capitalist or sponsor to dump a wad of motivational cash. Alternatively, we can start a blog-like NSD thing. We can have writers and editor/moderators. It's the cheapest option.
There's also guarantee of success. How much can we make in ads? Enough to make this worthwhile? It hurts me non-MBA brain to think about stuff like this, but – light bulb over my head – I do have a bright tech friend who is a newly minted MBA. Maybe I should run this by him, if there's enough interest among you.
Anyway, I'll post the results of Bill and Webs's excellent adventure in January.
Feel free to e-mail me (address in my profile) if you want to get together for sedatives and/or animal protein in the Bay Area.
Bonus screenwriting-industry-related funny:
While researching JOUR 428 content, I found Web designer/former copywriter Jeffrey Zeldman, who posted this hilarious conversation he had with a network marketer over an ad for a miniseries. It's Part 38 of a series of ads that never ran.
My brunch with Robert
In the interest of truth, we only really had espressos.
Robert liked "Sheep's End", and he had kind words for my writing. His favourite parts were Bren – everybody's favourite part – and the way that I can evoke a scene in words and make the pictures appear in a reader's head. That's writing, and I am good at it.
What I need to work on is what I know I need to work on, so I felt his criticisms validated my self-evaluations – a critical skill, pun intended. I have enough emotion, but it's the characters that need work. With the exception of Bren, Robert says, the characters are too cardboard, too cliche. I need to give them more facets, more twists and flaws, higher stakes. They are too honest and safe at the moment.
To Robert, the story was too plot-by-numbers. He understood when I told him that the script started as scenes written for a screenwriting course. That's something I can fix in a rewrite – keep in mind, this is a first draft.
Lastly, Robert said I need to move some story from dialogue to visual. I understand what he means – a variation on "show, don't tell". I had been mulling over this for a while, and have a new beginning that will replace a mid-script scene. Robert liked the idea. It's just not on paper yet.
It was a valuable morning. Robert thinks I should forge ahead with the character-driven "By the Book" rather than rework "Sheep's End". So I will.
Bonus weather report:
Snow. Lots of snow. Schools across the city cancelled classes. We're supposed to get 40 cm (16″) today.
Bonus observation:
Denis McGrath yesterday changed the name of his blog from "Dead Things on a Stick" to "Dead Things on Sticks". His paychecks must have fattened.


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DVD 15 - New York Coin Seminar
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The New York Coin guys, David Roth, Dr. Michael Rubinstein, and Mike Gallo, are back with a vengeance, with their latest set of DVD's!!
Volumes, 14, 15, and 16, subtitled Methods, Performances, and Presentations, each contain 2 hours of the same, hard hitting, cutting edge coin magic, that have defined their prior offerings. Joining them in this venture are special guests Bob Fitch, Doug Brewer, and Jean Emmanuel Franzis, with contributions from Dan Watkins, Bill Citino, and guest host, Marc DeSouza.
Volume 14:
Sets the tone with thirteen jaw dropping coin routines. Dr. Michael Rubinstein showcases three routines that illustrate the use of the ever popular slide move. Sliding Wild Coin is a production, change and vanish, that will make you look like a sleight of hand master, but without the difficulty! Twilight Zone Wild Coin takes Rubinstein's classic patter and adapts it to a standup, walk around handling of this classic effect. The Blank Coin Routine combines ideas of Roth and Rubinstein for a very magical effect where the images of three different coins appear and vanish from the faces of blank coins!
Mike Gallo also releases some of his pet effects from his vast repetoire. Triple Penetration is a coins through the hand routine, with audience involvement. His Coins Across is an entertaining version where three silver coins join three chinese coins, the last one appearing in the hands of a spectator. O-Kort-O Box is a new coin box routine, with a "solid" ending!
David Roth performs and explains Purse Frame Production, using classic Roth technique. In Leipzig Coins to Glass , a signed coin finds its way into a glass covered by a deck of cards and a silk. Rounding out the trick section are contributions from Doug Brewer, Bill Citino, and Jean Emmanuel Franzis, with Bob Fitch finishing by teaching two of his favorite coin moves.
The bonus section is loaded with material taken from the last coin seminar. Dr. Michael Rubinstein teaches some useful double faced coin moves. David Roth shows some unusual coin gimmicks from his vast collection. Mike Gallo performs and explains the soon to be classic Five Dimes Better. However, the highlight of this section, and worth more than the cost of the DVD alone, is the mini lecture by the legendary Bob Fitch, on Body Language, Movement and Space.
Volume 15:
Picks up where Volume 14 leaves off, jam packed with seventeen incredible coin routines! Dr. Michael Rubinstein's Voodoo Revelation starts off as a card trick, but the voodoo coins steal the show! Copper Silver Brass Coins Across, uses three different ungaffed coins, with the last coin appearing in the spectator's hand. Matchbox Treasury Redux is an update of a routine that appeared on the cover of Apocalypse over 20 years ago.
Mike Gallo performs and explains Psychological Coins To Glass, and his King Midas is a triple wild coin routine with a "golden" ending. With Oil and Water, Gallo adapts the classic card plot to coins. David Roth shows how to produce coins from a hankerchief and two seemingly empty hands. Doug Brewer uses the coin cup for two powerful routines, The Red Planet, and The Magic Cauldron. Dan Watkins offers an updated handling of his Penetrating Okito and Beyond. Rounding ot the section are two more offerings from Jean Emmanuel Franzis, and a classic effect of Bob Fitch, the Wallet, the Coin, and the Spectator.
The bonus section is loaded with material from the last coin seminar. Bob Fitch performs one of his signature routines, The Bag. Dr. Michael Rubinstein teaches some more useful coin moves, and Mike Gallo adds FOUR more routines to finish this section.
Volume 16:
Is the perfect closure to the three volume set, with fifteen additional wonderful coin routines. In Dr. Michael Rubinstein's Bent Coin Routine, not one, but two coins are bent by brute strength, one belonging to the spectator. Oil and Water is Rubinstein's take on the classic card plot, adapted to coins. Nest of Boxes is an update on a routine taught on an earlier DVD, where the loads occur right under the noses of your spectator.
Mike Gallo offers a mysterious transpostion of a chinese and silver coin in Dragon Coin Part Two. Two Copper Silver contains some eye popping changes not found in other routines There are additional selections by Marc DeSouza, Bob Fitch, and Doug Brewer, and a novel approach to the Cylinder and Coins by Jean Emmanuel Franzis.
The Highlight of this DVD, though, is David Roth's Asian Act, performed and explained. This was only seen once before, at the New York Magic Symposium in Tokyo, back in the Eighties. After seeing The Reflection, the Chopstick, and The Kite, you will believe in defying gravity!
Rounding out this DVD is a HUGE bonus section, taken from the latest coin seminar. Bob Fitch performs one of his signature effects, Money Makes the World Go Round. Dr. Michael Rubinstein explains in detail several types of coin loads. Mike Gallo teaches three more eye popping routines. David Roth performs a NEW coin trick, the Record. Bob Fitch gives another wonderful lecture on Changing Focus and Space, a perfect closure to the three volume set.


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Well, mist is low cloud, so here's my most recent. Taken yesterday just after midsummer dawn, from the top of a local hill with an Iron Age hill fort on it. Looking south towards the sea, over a well-known local landmark, Colmer's Hill - the one with the trees on top.[attachment=22732:midsummermist.jpg]I have already removed a cellphone mast that was looming on the skyline, and may remove that rather distracting track bottom right. But I think the electricity pylons stay - they are (sadly) very much a feature of rural England.Thanks for another promising topic-based thread, Jeremy.
What a nice thread this is!Eric
Some woderful photos in here. Clouds are one of my landscape favourite subjects, as they increase the inteerst in skies. Here are some of mine, from Oman.
Well, mist is low cloud...


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I was going through an old myspace account and I came across these old photos of Moe and Beau from when they were younger!
It's weird seeing them with no gray on their muzzles!!
Here's the old ones of Beau, he's about 4 or 5 in these:
Here's the old ones of Moe he's about 2 or 3 in these:
Look at how FAT Beau was!!!!
When they USED all three get along:
Geez!!! Looking at how fat Beau was then compared to now!!! He looks like a different dog!!!!