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https://choiceexecutivesolutions.com/testimonials-disclosure/ | 2) the amount of effort put forth to do so.
Any testimonials that will be listed on this website will be from people who have a high level in both these areas and thus make great improvements. There may be some intangible results from our coaching or information provided on this website (e.g. better sense of self-worth, better listening skills, better emotional health, …), and while this site is not measuring those directly, we are fully aware they often exist. Also, while some people will provide testimonials, many want to remain anonymous when it comes to publicly admitting they have or had difficulties making decisions. We fully respect this and will only include testimonials with the permission of individuals who give them.
The use of the CHOICE methodology, our coaching or any information provided by this website cannot guarantee positive results. In fact, it’s possible you may at some point feel the new skills or techniques are not working for you, or that you are going backward versus forward. However, when used consistently and with sincerity, the skills and new behaviors learned from this website, the methodology, and coaching, often succeed in helping people live more productive and gratifying lives. | 2023-04-11T12:16:26.388395+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:05:53Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,344 | 203 |
https://raycore.com/projects/18th-century-virginia-home-gets-energy-efficient-sips-update/ | Located in Southampton County, Virginia, this historical home was built long before energy efficiency was even thought of. When the homeowner decided to make renovations, improving the energy efficiency of the home was a must while preserving the historic elements, and energy efficient RAY-CORE SIPs TM were the perfect insulation product for the project.
Jeff’s great-great-grandfather built this home in the late 18th century. It was here during the Nat Turner slave revolt of 1831 that a slave by the name of Red saved Jeff’s great-great-grandmother, who was 8 months pregnant with her first child, from being murdered. As a result of this brave man’s deed, the family and their home remain a part of our country’s often difficult history that contains important lessons for our time. The Francis family is working hard to preserve this turning point in our country’s history, and preserving the family home is just a small step in keeping this story from fading completely into the past. RAYCORE Structural Insulated Panels TM are proud to be a part of this project.
Builder: Jeff Francis on right, Danny Schacht, and sons Wills and Wesley Francis, Quality Building, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Qualitybuildingvb.com - With no electricity available at the job site, Jeff and his crew got creative, using the "tools from the time" to cut the panels! | 2023-04-11T12:17:30.591919+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:12:29Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,368 | 231 |
https://shrewsburydentist.com/meet-dr-mehdi-karimipour/ | Dr. Mehdi Karimipour graduated from the University of Los Angeles, CA, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. After publishing an article on evidence-based dentistry, he decided to pursue a dental career and attended Tufts University School of Dental Medicine on a merit scholarship. Throughout his education he achieved awards for excellence in clinical achievement and skills in operative dentistry. After receiving his DMD, Dr. Karimipour attended a three-year dental residency program specializing in Prosthodontics at the University of Alabama and VA Hospital at Birmingham, Alabama.
While earning his Master’s Degree in Dental Materials, he provided dental services to a non-profit organization to help meet the needs of children in underprivileged and under-served communities in rural cities.
Continuing at UAB for an additional year, Dr. Karimipour obtained a sub-specialty training in Maxillofacial Prosthodontics to serve the prosthetic and medical needs of patients who have lost physical structures (through cancer, congenital and developmental defects) of the head and neck. He fabricates his own prostheses, both oral and facial, in-house and receives personal fulfillment by providing a unique service to help improve the quality of life of such patients.
Dr. Karimipour is a member of the American College of Prosthodontics, the American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, the Academy of Osseointegration, the American College of Fixed Prosthodontics, the Massachusetts Dental Society, the International Academy of Prosthodontics, the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, the American Dental Association, and the International Academy of Anaplastology. He also volunteers at the Department of Prosthodontics and Operative Dentistry at Tufts and works part-time as a prosthodontist at the Veteran Affairs hospital in Jamaica Plain.
His expertise includes treating patients in all phases of prosthetic dentistry such as full-mouth rehabilitation, with and without dental implants, smile makeovers and aesthetics, Botox, TMD treatment, sleep apnea, fixed restorations (crowns, bridges, veneers, onlays, inlays), removable prostheses (partials, complete dentures), obturators for cleft lip and palate, and also implant or adhesive-retained nasal, auricular, and orbital prostheses. Dr. Karimipour is also Invisalign certified.
During his spare time, Dr. Karimipour enjoys playing table tennis and once placed second at the NCTTA. Hiking, bicycling, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and exploring the New England area with his wife and daughter are also among his favorite things to do. | 2023-04-11T12:17:39.332705+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:02:33Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,372 | 381 |
https://thekashmirimages.com/2019/03/09/missing-rajouri-girl-found-in-jammu/ | Jammu, Mar 08: A girl, who went missing two days ago, was recovered from Jammu bus stand by the police, an official said Friday.
The girl hails from Rajouri district and was handed over to her family, they said.
On Wednesday, a missing report was lodged by the girl's brother at Dharamshal police station, they said.
Thereafter, a police team was constituted to investigate and the girl was found within 48 hours, a spokesman said. | 2023-04-11T12:17:51.684004+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:17:43Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,378 | 77 |
https://www.betnow.eu/nhl/bostons-hoping-backes-got-back/ | Sportsbook users who bet on NHL games are counting down the days until October 12th (its 75). Last year’s NHL season was one for the record books – it was only the 2nd time that the playoffs consisted of all US based teams – and this season is shaping up to be even more remarkable. After arguably the craziest offseason in NHL history hockey fans are ready for anything. While the Pittsburgh Penguins may be the favorites to take home the Stanley Cup next season, those who bet on NHL futures are well aware of the scarcity of repeats in the NHL. Ruling out a miracle on ice, the likelihood of the Penguins repeating is slim to none. With that in mind hockey fans have to scourge the NHL in order to find a new favorite; that team could just be the Boston Bruins.
The sportsbooks may not favor the Bruins, their Stanley Cup odds are currently pegged at +2550, but they certainly don’t rule them out. Last year the Bruins both began and ended the season with disappointment. The opening game saw Boston lose to the Winnipeg Jets 6 – 2 and the final game of the season saw the Bruins miss out on the playoffs. While last season may not have been one for the highlight reel, it was one for the record books. The Bruins were able to reach a milestone for the franchise by winning its 3,000th game on January 8th 2016. That record was the most remarkable aspect of their 2015 – 2016 season as the Bruins were unable to make the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Boston was just shy of making the playoff last season, and this year may prove to be even more difficult. The East is loaded with talent, including the defending champion Penguins. Pittsburgh will more than likely clinch the #1 spot in the division and the Washington Capitals are heavy favorites to take the #2 position. Both of these teams have solid rosters, and it’s unlikely that they get beat out for the top of the division. The Tampa Bay Lighting are ready to avenge their loss late in the playoffs last season and they will be vying for the 3rd or 4th spot. Ultimately the Bruins will have to compete with the Rangers, Islanders, and Panthers for a playoff spot. These teams all played exceptionally well last season and Boston certainly has their work cut out for them.
The Bruins will be looking for David Backes to help lead the way to the playoffs. Boston took a bit of a gamble by signing the 32-year old to a five-year contract, but that might have just been a way of telling Backes they’re confident in both his play and leadership abilities. While 32 may be old for an athlete, it’s not uncommon for a hockey player to play into his 40s. Backes will be joining a squad of centers who are all past their 30s, but their age shouldn’t lead fans to question their talent. While Backes is a great addition, the fact that east is loaded with beasts might be enough to deter hockey fans from picking the bruins as their favorite for a bet on NHL futures. | 2023-04-11T12:18:14.274789+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:17:15Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,385 | 547 |
https://www.collegeathome.com/location/colorado/computer-programming/schools/ | There are schools offering computer programming courses in Colorado!
Around 0.0% of Colorado's graduates graduate from computer programming degree programs every year. That means an estimated 4 computer programmers graduate from Colorado's 5 computer programming schools each year.
The top-ranked school in Colorado that has a computer programming program is ITT Technical Institute-Thornton. ITT Technical Institute-Thornton, which was ranked 81st in the country in 2010, is located in Denver. no students graduated with a degree in computer programming from ITT Technical Institute-Thornton in 2010. The tuition rate at ITT Technical Institute-Thornton was $18,048 per year.
College America-Fort Collins, which was ranked 82nd nationwide in 2010, is the second-ranked school in Colorado that has a computer programming program. It is located in Fort Collins. In 2010, 0 students graduated from College America-Fort Collins computer programming program. College America-Fort Collins charged in-state students $19,602 in tuition fees per year.
College America-Denver, which is located in Denver, is the third-ranked school in Colorado that has a computer programming program. It received a ranking of 84th in the country in 2010. Tuition at College America-Denver was $22,536 per year.
A computer programming degree from a Colorado school... what next?
The government projects that by 2018, the number of computer programmers in the state of Colorado will shrink to 5,330. This would require a -12% decline in the profession.
The charts and graphs below have additional Colorado statistics regarding a career in computer programming. Take a look and compare salaries with various related fields such as computer programming or computer science. | 2023-04-11T12:18:24.241523+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:09:28Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,391 | 277 |
https://www.shelby.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/articles?ID=09180D0D-99DF-4182-96F2-51A940F6DAE4 | Yellowhammer: Sessions and Shelby blast "CRomnibus," vote no citing its funding of "executive amnesty"
WASHINGTON — The $1.1 trillion “CRomnibus” passed the U.S. Senate Saturday night, concluding an usually active day of of political maneuvering by dissenting senators on both ends of the political spectrum. The bill, which got its name because it combined an omnibus of 11 appropriations bills to fund the government through next September with a continuing resolution (CR) funding the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 27, passed on a final vote of 56-40.
Both of Alabama’s senators voted against the bill, citing its funding of the president’s executive action on immigration as the primary reason.
Shelby was, however, one of the architects of the appropriations portion of the CRomnibus, and noted that while he did not support the full bill, he was pleased to see several items of particular importance to Alabama’s economy included in the legislation.
In addition to the three Alabama-built Littoral Combat Ships that were previously included in President Obama’s budget, the CRomnibus included an additional $80 million, which Shelby said will allow for “long-lead procurement in order to maintain shipyard capacity and cost savings.” The bill also contained $200 million over and above the President’s Budget Request for an additional Alabama-built Joint High Speed Vessel. Both ships are made at the Port of Mobile by Austal USA.
Sessions spent most of the day demanding a vote on language to block funds for the implementation of the President’s “illegal and unconstitutional amnesty.” Although his efforts ultimately fell short on Saturday, his consistent and articulate arguments against the President’s executive actions will continue to impact the debate going into the next sessions of Congress when Republicans will control both the House and Senate.
| 2023-04-11T12:19:29.473738+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:26:49Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,429 | 303 |
https://www.whereitallbegan.co.za/journeys/cape-town-victoria-falls-kruger-park | Your adventure starts with three nights at your African home, Parker Cottage in Cape Town. You then self-drive to Hermanus for two nights at The Roundhouse, before spending a brief overnight again at Parker Cottage on your way to Victoria Falls. You’ll enjoy the majesty of this natural wonder of the world for three nights, before overnighting in Johannesburg on your way to the final leg of the trip, Greater Kruger, staying at Arathusa in the Timbavati reserve for four nights and going on a full day tour of the Blyde River Canyon whilst you’re there.
On arrival at Cape Town International Airport, you’ll be met by a friendly driver from Hannival’s Tours and taken to Parker Cottage, Cape Town.
Welcome home to Parker Cottage! Once the home of Cape Town’s first mayor, John Parker, this ten-room guesthouse is famous for being the most highly rated B&B in central Cape Town many years in a row. Pamela and Frederick, the owners, bought the business in 2017 and have been making it even more magical than before. Don’t miss their breakfasts, served either in the garden under the blossom of the orange tree or in the in the dining room in front of a roaring wood fire.
There is so much to do in Cape Town that you might need a little help deciding where to start! The staff at Parker Cottage have lots of ideas but of course we’re on hand to help you too with transport, tickets and reservations as you need them. Car Hire can be arranged if needed.
Let us know when you’re settled in and we’ll meet up for a coffee.
Travel to Hermanus and check in at The Roundhouse, a three story high round building with thatched roof and distinct African-chic vibe. Sitting in the rooftop jacuzzi, you can enjoy some of the best ocean views for miles in style.
Should you be interested in going whale watching, we’d be happy to recommend Percy’s Tours, with whom we have a good relationship and can get you discounted prices.
Head back to Parker Cottage for one night, so as to avoid a long drive early in the morning for your flight to Victoria Falls. You’ll be collected from Parker Cottage first thing in the morning by Chris Hannival, who will take you to the airport where you will catch your flight to Victoria Falls.
When you land at Victoria Falls Airport, you will be met by a representative of the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge from the flight.
You’ll spend three nights at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge: this superb property which looks like an enormous tree house rising over the Zambezi National Park, just on the outskirts of the town offers the possibility to see game right from your bedroom balcony.
Victoria Falls was so named by the British explorer Dr. Livingstone after his queen at the time: the traditional name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, is much more evocative, meaning ‘the smoke which thunders’. At the time of year you are travelling, the Zambezi is not in flood and as such, the volume of water cascading over the edge will not be as remarked as in flood season. However this will mean that the full height and breadth of the falls will be all the more remarkable, as in in flood, the mist rising from falls totally obscures its base.
A helicopter flight will be arranged and will transport you to the face of the falls over the Upper Gorges, followed by a short visit to the upper river. Finally the flight takes you over the Batoka Gorges and time permitting, you end with a flight over the nearby National Parks before proceeding back to the helipad.
Leighwood Lodge has been a firm favourite of travellers to Johannesburg for many years: it’s the tranquillity right in the middle of one of Africa’s largest cities that really sets it apart, as well as the owners, Sam and Leigh who are the most gracious hosts one can imagine. Enjoy the lush rose gardens and the extra length beds!
You’ll be collected from O R Tambo Airport and taken straight to Leighwood Lodge, which is about a 45-minute drive. The area, Parktown North, has many excellent places to go out to eat in the evening: just ask Sam and Leigh for a booking. There may not be time on the day of your arrival to take the City Sightseeing Bus around Joburg, but Rosebank Mall is super close (less than 2km). It’s a very pleasant place to spend a bit of time before your flight to Hoedspruit, should you feel like it.
Once your flight to Hoedspruit has landed, you'll be collected by a representative from Arathusa and driven to the reserve. You’ll may not arrive in time for lunch but you will be there for the afternoon/evening game drive.
On the first morning you are there, Blyde River Canyon Tours will collect you for a full day tour of the Canyon and surrounding parts of the Panorama Route (time permitting). You’ll be dropped off back at Arathusa around 17h00.
Enjoy two more days of game viewing before your flight back with enough splendid memories to last a lifetime. | 2023-04-11T12:19:48.712878+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:43:49Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,437 | 896 |
http://www.treelabel.com/keeton.html | recorded for the "Perfections" album but didn't really fit in with the rest of the Album. Tree has released it now as it's a great song for all Friday the 13's.
Bob have been gigging around Wellington (the Capitol of New Zealand) as a Keyboard Player for just over 15 years. His work has also included playing solo piano in the local cocktail bars and leading restaurants and he have also played with a few funk/jazz groups, cover rockers, theatre orchestras as well as several swing/dance bands, the most popular being the Benj Berryman Hiptet back in the 1990's.
During 2007 he worked in a Joe Cocker tribute band called simply "Hitchcock Railway" which was a lot of fun. He has always loved music and picked up a guitar very young, which was his passion until he turned 18.
Heading off to Victoria University to continue his Education, he enrolled in the Classical Music programme as they did not have Courses on Rock'n'Roll or Jazz. This introduced him to the piano and of course, the techniques and styles of music's structures and forms. It has proved an invaluable training for him and he completed a Degree on Music Composition.
In 2003 hemade an album of his own material whitch he started composing back in the 1990's. A strictly private project, he sold all the pressings at his gigs and approached a number of local record shops about stocking it too. It was here (at Wonderland Records) that he met Dene Kellaway who was very excited about the album and it turned out he owned a record label called Tree.
He signed Bob up in 2007. A major make-over of the cover came next and suddenly the album had been titled "Stronger" and launched Globally as a diital release and supplied to 27 global mp3 downloading sites like iTunes, eMusic, Spotify and many more On-Line Stores..
After a slow start, things picked up in 2008 and the title song "Stronger" made it into Tree's Top 20 Digital Sales Charts. He found the new way music is sold and delivered, alien having grown up with first records, then compact discs but the pace continued to increase during the last part of 2008 and I he worked with Chris Adams in the UK on the Single "Dust In The Wind" and completed his second Album "Perfection" , which was released in late September, 2009, as a digital release on Tree.
With his Mother becoming seriously ill and needing full time care, Bob stopped his musical career to care for her. She has since passed away and Bob is back performing and giving piano lessons We can expect to hear more from Bob in the future..
Bob Keeton is an accomplished pianist, composer, arranger and singer who's style can best be described as a 'darker' version of Elton John as his music has a spark of funky jazz to it which breaks out every so often.
Bob completed a joint project with the British Guitarist, Composer, Chris Adams doing a cover of "Dust In The Wind"
talents as a composer, pianist and performer.
Jeff Lynne and Steve Marriot.
New Bob Keeton Song Completes the "Love Song" Tril...
Being a working musician, he tends to work in the background with others but once the World realises just how talented he is, he will have finally made it as a Singer, musician and composer of interesting songs.
Downloads Available At iTunes and the other Sellers Listed Below.
Note: "Dust In The Wind" can be found under Chris Adams at iTunes. | 2023-04-11T12:21:56.043295+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:56:50Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,469 | 608 |
http://xn--fiq22l7xc6u5dnza.xn--fiqs8s/en/Research_work/New_methods_and_new_perspective/2013/1025/30321.html | Most comparative studies of early civilizations in different parts of the world have focused on relatively late stages in their development and have relied heavily on historical sources and comparative ethnography to provide accounts of social, political, and economic organization. The cultural evolutionary tradition of comparison, going back to scholars such as Tylor, Morgan, and Spencer in the mid nineteenth century, has focused heavily on the broadly similar general trend toward demographic growth and larger-scale social and political integration. Differences in forms of organization and in the nature of developmental trajectories have either been regarded as idiosyncratic variation of little interest or used in efforts to support arguments that different models are needed to understand the social dynamics of different regions.
These ideas have developed with little reference to archaeological information about social, political, and economic organization because, until the very last part of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, archaeology had not developed methods that provided much direct information about these aspects of prehistoric human societies. The initial stages in the development of civilizations, often referred to as chiefdoms, loosely following the vocabulary of mid twentieth century cultural evolutionary studies, are often so early that they are beyond the reach of history. Only archaeology can truly inform us about how human societies began to grow beyond the scale of the small local communities that had existed before, and about how new forms of organization emerged and developed in these growing regional-scale communities. During the past 20 to 30 years, archaeology has begun to do just that. While there is much that we still do not know about early chiefdoms, we do now have a substantial amount of information about their forms of organization, based on directly relevant archaeological evidence. The intellectual challenge of the moment is to make sense of this growing body of information, avoid getting lost in the details, and put this new knowledge to use so as to increase our understanding of the earliest foundations upon which are built the extremely large and complex social formations in which practically the entire human species now lives.
The broad similarities between early civilizations recognized by cultural evolutionary scholars are not very difficult to understand. The impulse toward demographic growth, for example, manifested itself repeatedly. Growth was neither steady nor uninterrupted, but region after region experienced episodes of often dramatic increase. This is not surprising for a biologically successful species that, as of ten thousand years ago, had just spread itself through all the world's major land masses. Higher regional population densities brought larger numbers of people into closer patterns of interaction than ever before, and new social relationships were organized in increasingly complex ways, very frequently in hierarchical forms of organization. Hierarchy is, after all, a highly effective principle of organization, and it is clear that the biological basis for hierarchical organization of social groups of varied sizes was present in early humans, as in many other species.
challenges must be faced so that we can step across that threshold into a new realm of understanding of the dynamics of human societies.
First, we must base our comparative analyses firmly on the empirical archaeological data of different regions so as to be confident that we are comparing ancient social trajectories and not just different approaches to interpretation that have become conventional among archaeologists who specialize in different regions. This will require taking advantage of twenty-first-century information technology to preserve and publish, not just conclusions about our regions of specialization, but also the detailed raw archaeological data upon which those conclusions are based.
The second challenge is directly implied by the first. We must develop analytical approaches that can be applied to highly varied primary datasets that were collected in different ways. These analytical approaches must be robust enough to overcome such data incompatibilities and produce comparable pictures of the growth, development, and organizational structures of early complex societies.
Third, we will need new conceptual tools for characterizing the variability we find. These tools will need to be capable of dealing with continuous variability along a number of axes in much more sophisticated ways than the simple dichotomies and typologies we have used in the past.
Fourth, we will need to compare long-term trajectories of change, not just synchronic snapshots of societies at certain points in their development.
And finally, we will need to know a lot about a large sample of early chiefdoms in order to find the patterns in all this variability that can eventually offer us deeper understandings of how to fit together the pieces of the puzzle that is human social change.
| 2023-04-11T12:22:01.263856+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:32:22Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,471 | 778 |
https://easternedge.ca/land-of-mirrors/ | Curated by Mary MacDonald.
Newfoundland is an imaginary island. On abandoned beaches and inside artist studios there are new forms to be made from the old. A figure in dazzle camouflage is seeking refuge on the barrens, a queen offers pieces of herself, and a group of people trying to escape.
For generations Newfoundland has ignited a rich imaginary for its residents, visitors, and those who pour over maps. Many are swept away by its stories or enchanted by its geographies. But what does Newfoundland dream about now? What cultural imaginaries do artists reflect, what new images and ideas splinter and refract? In a place where gesture and humour are currency and magic and ritual are real contemporary artists Michael Flaherty, Will Gill, Philippa Jones, Jerry Ropson, and Jason Wells investigate the boundaries of this phantom island. Curated by Mary MacDonald.
Land of Mirrors features the Further Fictions Library: A micro-collection of some of the province’s most compelling and exciting voices exploring the idea of a Newfoundland imaginary and the glimmering edges of North Atlantic Gothic literature. Selected by curator Mary MacDonald.
Michael Flaherty was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and subsequently spent much of his childhood getting lost in the woods. He has turned this urge to explore into a career as an artist. He has crossed North America by bicycle, lived alone for three months on a deserted island, and resided in six of Canada’s ten provinces. Flaherty earned a BFA at NSCAD as well as an MFA at University of Regina, and has gone on to teach ceramics and sculpture at a number of post secondary institutions. In 2011 Flaherty’s work was recognized when he was a semi-finalist for the prestigious Sobey Art Award. Flaherty was a finalist for the RBC Peoples Choice award and won the Large Year Award from Visual Artists Newfoundland and Labrador in 2013. Flaherty currently resides in Catalina, Newfoundland, where he maintains a busy and varied studio practice.
Will Gill earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount Allison University in 1991, with a focus on sculpture. Gill has maintained a studio practice since graduation, evolving from solely sculptural exploration, to a practice that encompasses painting, sculpture, photography and video work. He was named to the long-list of the Sobey Art Award in the 2004 and 2006 competitions. Recent career highlights include a commission for a large-scale water installation at Toronto’s Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (2012), participation in a two-person collateral exhibition at The 55th Venice Biennale (2013), a solo exhibition of paintings at The Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George, British Columbia (Oct 2013), and work on a sculpture commission for 351 Water in downtown St John’s, Newfoundland (2013). In the fall of 2014 he returned from a three week residency aboard a three masted schooner out of Svalbard, Norway, just ten degrees shy of the north pole. He lives and works in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.
Philippa Jones has been a St. John’s based artist since 2009. Prior to moving to Canada Jones completed a BA in Fine Art and an MA in Interactive Art & Design at University College Falmouth. Jones’ diverse art practice has included and sometimes combines printmaking, painting, pen and ink, animation, art games and interactive installations. Central to Jones’ work is the exploration of constructed realities, active myth making and a celebration of wonder and the inquisitive mind. In the last two years Jones has been exhibited in The National Gallery of Canada, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery NL, Beaverbrook Art Gallery NB, Two Rivers Gallery BC. Jones’ work is collected by the National Gallery of Canada, The Rooms collection, The Newfoundland provincial art bank and the City of St. John’s.
Starting out from Pollards Point, a small community in rural Newfoundland, Jerry Ropson received his BFA from Memorial University of Newfoundland: Grenfell Campus, and earned a MFA in Studio Arts: Fibres from Concordia University some years later. He has focused a practice around material-based installation, and performative storytelling. He primarily uses drawing and narrative to construct and document his unyielding attachment to all things commonplace. He has exhibited his work across Canada, often seeking public or non-traditional spaces. Over the years he has contributed projects to: The Rooms, Eastern Edge Gallery (St.John’s NL); The Khyber Centre for the Arts (Halifax, NS); Modern Fuel ARC (Kingston, ON); Forrest City Gallery (London, ON); SKOL Centre des Arts Actuels, FOFA Gallery, and The Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery (Montreal, QC). Ropson as exhibited internationally, having had exhibitions throughout Europe, as well as in Australia, Thailand, and Cuba. He has participated in numerous artist residencies including ones at The Banff Centre for the Arts, The Atlantic Centre for the Arts, Struts Gallery, St. Michael’s Printshop, and Fogo Island Arts Corporation. Ropson currently resides in Sackville, New Brunswick where he teaches in the Fine Arts Department at Mount Allison University. He prefers longer walks in cooler months, and hums near incessantly.
Jason Wells has been performing as Drag Queen ‘Irma Gerd’ since 2013, bringing new ideas to the character with every transformation. Irma was born in Toronto’s underground drag scene and has been a study in glamour and lies ever since. Jason received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2011 from Grenfell Campus at Memorial University of Newfoundland in his hometown of Corner Brook, NL. After graduating he moved to Toronto, ON, and now resides in St. John’s, NL. Wells’ work is heavily influenced by Queer and Pop Culture, and works as a hyperbole of the way we all perform different aspects of our personality. They use mostly printmaking, installation, and performance art.
Further Fictions Library sponsored by Broken Books.
Images by Kailey Bryan and Mia Penney. | 2023-04-11T12:22:26.087470+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:52:27Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,480 | 968 |
https://jpalfrey.macfound.org/2003/09/10/candidates-and-weblogs-part-ii/ | We are hoping to take a critical look at how campaigns are using weblogs at BloggerCon. Not surprisingly, there’s already a very lively set of comments on the Dean Campaign’s weblog. Not to prejudge what’ll be said at the conference, but this quick and impressive (though littered with some anonymous ones that take pot-shots at the conference) set of comments strikes me as proof-positive that something’s going right there in their use of blogs. We have begun and will continue to reach out to other campaigns as well and look forward to broad participation. To answer one question posed in some of the commentary about this new panel, no campaign’s speaker will be required to pay the fee to attend, so campaign donors need not fear that their contributions are to be used in this fashion. Chris Lydon, veteran journalist (one of the “Boys on the Bus,” for the NYT, in 1972, now covering 2004 via weblogs and audio, which is very cool), is moderating.
Particularly compelling among the comments, note this one that integrates the idea behind the H2O project, weblogs and campaigns. Impressive analysis. | 2023-04-11T12:22:57.879219+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:57:22Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,487 | 194 |
https://leadmastercrm.com/blog/page/2 | If you want to succeed with online marketing, you must have effective email marketing strategies in place. With billions of marketing emails sent out each day, you need a competitive marketing email strategy to catch your subscribers' attention. So, we’ll be offering...
Managing marketing is a monumental task. You need to connect with large groups of people across multiple platforms. You need to figure out who's likely to be interested in what you're advertising and reach out to them through social media, emails, banner ads, blog...
If you’re a LeadMaster customer, you’ve likely enjoyed the benefits of past innovations we’ve worked into our CRM before. The Lead-Xpress Portal, for example, presents companies with an inexpensive way to give reps access to leads and customer records – no...
Designing a sales process before you reach out to your prospects will help you win more sales with less effort. The best sales process will make it easier for leads to make their final buying decision. Plus, the process will suit most of your customers and...
Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost. The best way to look at lead nurturing is as building trust with potential customers as they go from inbound lead to paying customers. The way to build trust...
SelectHub, a technology selection company, recently conducted a survey of companies considering marketing automation platforms. This survey ranked the top six priorities of these prospective customers based on their responses. The survey was sparked by the... | 2023-04-11T12:23:02.787244+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:09:14Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,491 | 262 |
https://socialistworker.org/2015/05/12/what-makes-a-revolution | The word "revolution" is often misused to describe events or historical developments that are far from revolutionary. Paul D’Amato, author of The Meaning of Marxism, explains what Marxists mean--and don't mean--when they talk about revolution. This article is the introduction to an occasional series on revolutions through history.
REVOLUTION HAS always been at the heart of Marxism.
At a speech at the funeral of Karl Marx in 1883, Marx's closest lifelong collaborator Frederick Engels explained that, "Marx was before all else a revolutionist" whose "real mission in life was to contribute, in one way or another, to the overthrow of capitalist society and of the state institutions which it had brought into being."
Marx sought, said Engels, "to contribute to the liberation of the modern proletariat, which he was the first to make conscious of its own position and its needs, conscious of the conditions of its emancipation."
On those rare occurrences when Marx receives mainstream praise, it is reserved for his insightful analysis of capitalism--while his revolutionary views are artificially separated off and condemned as unrealistic, dangerous or both.
As for Marx himself, he once wrote to a colleague that he thought his most important contribution was not discovering that society was class-divided, or that those classes engaged in struggle against one another--others had already done this, he said.
Rather, Marx said his contribution was the recognition that "the existence of classes is only bound up with particular historical phases in the development of production," and that the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism by the working class (the "proletariat" of Engels' speech) and the establishment of workers' democratic rule over society would lead a transition to a "classless society."
THE TERM "revolution" can be rather elastic. It is often used metaphorically to sell products or refer to a drawn-out process of social or economic change (as in the Industrial Revolution).
Revolution is more accurately described as the forcible replacement of one government by another. But this definition is quite broad, and could also include a military coup, which is often a means to prevent or defeat a revolution (think of Gen. el-Sisi's coup in Egypt).
The movement that led to the downfall of Hosni Mubarak's hated dictatorship in Egypt a few years previously can be accurately described as a political revolution. It brought down a dictatorship and replaced it with a form of representative democracy.
But it was not a social revolution--that is, a revolution that leads not only to the altering of political power, but to the reordering of society's social and economic relations. The political revolution--exemplified by the move from dictatorship to democracy, as has happened in many countries, from South Korea to Turkey to Tunisia--is the more common form of revolution.
A social revolution is one that moves beyond the political. It is a more or less concentrated period of transformation where a clash of social forces results in the overthrow of the dominant class and its state by a rising social class--which then uses newly acquired state power to accelerate the transformation of society's social and economic relations.
As Engels succinctly put it, "Every real revolution is a social one, in that it brings a new class to power and allows it to remodel society in its own image."
A political revolution can have social impulses. The Egyptian revolution involved masses of people who wanted more far-reaching changes than just the end of Mubarak's rule. But these aspirations of workers, students and poor people who came out into the streets were not organized or coherent enough to push the revolution beyond this phase.
A social revolution combines both the political and the social, with political power being the precondition for making bigger social transformations possible.
The ruling class of each nation looks upon revolution with horror--with the exception of the ones that are far enough in the past that they can be safely enshrined as part of a national myth. The same band of rulers in the U.S. whose political system was established by armed revolutionary violence--and who routinely use the utmost violence to defend the social order at home and promote their interests abroad--like to preach about peaceful, gradual change to the rest of us.
One can, of course...say that violence in international relations is permissible and even inevitable, but that in relations between social classes it is reprehensible. But then there is no point in speaking of a "natural law" of gradualness which supposedly governs the whole development of nature and society. Then one must simply say: an oppressed class is obliged to support the oppressor class of its own nation when the latter adopts violence for its own ends; but that the oppressed class has no right to use violence to ensure a better position for itself in a society based upon oppression. But this will be no longer a "law of nature" but the law of the bourgeois criminal code.
The closer we get to the present, the more revolution is presented in the mainstream as either the ravings of a violent mob, the work of a tiny band of violent conspirators or both. These are convenient conceptions that reflect, in the words of the U.S. socialist Hal Draper, the ruling class's "dread of revolutionary violence," as well as its "unwillingness and inability to conceive of revolution as social upheaval from below."
Revolution is neither a sheer act of will nor an inevitable process of transformation that happens behind people's backs. It is a process that requires the ripening of certain material and social conditions as a result of previous human activity, as well as the more or less conscious immediate intervention of social groups and classes who have been made aware in some way of these deepening social contradictions and seek to reshape society along new lines.
In short, revolution is, in Marx's words, "the midwife of every old society pregnant with a new one."
MARX SUMMARIZED his conception of this historical process in his famous Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.
His first premise is materialism--that "[t]he mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life."
Human beings, Marx argues, enter into definite "relations of production" based on the "given stage in the development of their material forces of production"--that is, the level of productive powers attained with given methods of production leads to a corresponding social relations.
The "totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society," Marx writes. And upon this foundation is erected a legal and political "superstructure."
For Marx, the development of human history can be understood as a series of transformations based upon the development of human productive powers from one "mode of production" to another--from egalitarian foraging societies, through slave and feudal societies, to capitalism, and eventually beyond.
But Marx did not believe that a purely technological change would automatically bring about a change in the mode of production. The process of social transformation would take place because of the contradiction that developed and matured within the framework of a given set of production relations.
"At a certain stage of development," Marx argued, "the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production...From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters."
Gradual changes within a given mode of production would give rise to burgeoning contradictions. The development of society's productive forces within a given framework puts strains on that framework and threatens to burst its bounds, leading to social revolution. "Then begins an era of social revolution," Marx concluded. "The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure."
But who carried out this revolution?
FOR ALL of history since the lengthy period when our ancestors lived in egalitarian foraging bands, each mode of production has been characterized by the division of society into an exploiting and exploited class: a tiny class that appropriated society's surplus wealth and a much larger exploited class whose labor produced that wealth.
The mode of production was defined by the particular way that the surplus was obtained, or, as Marx writes, "specific economic form in which unpaid surplus labor is pumped out of the direct producers." Marx argued that the means by which one mode of production transformed into another was the result of class struggle--the clash of force between major contending classes in society.
All previous revolutions before the rise of capitalism--no matter how popular, no matter how involved the masses were in propelling it forward--placed a new exploiting class in power and cleared the path for the full fruition of a new system of exploitation. Such were the English and French Revolutions--they broke the political power of the old landowning classes and replaced them with the power of the rising bourgeoisie--the capitalist class.
That class had already attained a great deal of economic clout before it gained political power. As Hal Draper writes, it was "able to build up its social relations gradually within the womb of feudal society." As a result, it achieved economic dominance first before it was able to take political power. The capitalist class could "use this position of strength as a fortress from which to press...toward the acquisition of decisive political power."
The working class does not have the option of building up its economic power in the womb of capitalism for the simple fact that it is not a property-owning, exploiting class. To implement its program, it must first set itself in motion "from below."
But as Trotsky notes, possessing none of the advantages of the capitalists in their struggle for power over feudalism, it must develop its own leaders and its own organizations capable of uniting and leading the class in an assault on capitalism. The order of things is reversed: the working class must take political power first in order implement a program leading to the abolition of private property, class exploitation and inequality.
Some socialists after Marx tried to present this revolution as a purely parliamentary one. All that was necessary to achieve socialism was for the working class to elect enough of its own representatives to form a socialist government. The state, however, is not a neutral body standing over class society, but the state of the most dominant class--an apparatus of laws, bureaucratic institutions and armed forces whose purpose is to ensure the dominant class remains dominant.
It was for this reason that Marx argued, as he did in a letter to a colleague after the failed European revolutions of 1848, that "the next attempt of the French Revolution will be no longer, as before, to transfer the bureaucratic-military machine from one hand to another, but to smash it."
To achieve political power, the working class must destroy this bureaucratic-military machine designed to serve capitalism, and instead create its own institutions of democratic power--local assemblies, workplace councils (or "soviet," to use the Russian word for councils).
These kind of institutions have been created in many revolutionary situations, typically arising first as organs of mass struggle that gather and mobilize the forces of the working class and oppressed against the existing state and class power, but always having the potential to convert themselves into organs of popular rule.
But for this to come to fruition--for popular mobilization that take on a revolutionary character that succeeds not only in overthrowing a hated regime, but in replacing it with workers' power--there must exist organizations of revolutionaries embedded in the struggle who are capable of moving the process forward.
Hence the emphasis placed by all Marxists, from Marx and Engels on forward, on the necessity of the working class creating its own political party.
IN SUMMARY, what, for Marxists, are the key elements for understanding the revolutionary process?
The first premise of revolution today is that the development of the productive powers of labor engendered by capitalism has long since created the conditions of abundance necessary to abolish class distinctions. Capitalism has outlived itself. The second premise of revolution is the contradiction between the forces of production and the relations of production. As Marx wrote, the latter have become a fetter on the former.
The most glaring manifestation of this contradiction is the periodic descent of world capitalism into economic crisis. As Marx and Engels wrote as far back as the Communist Manifesto, these crises show that "[t]he productive forces at the disposal of society no longer tend to further the development of the conditions of bourgeois property."
A crisis can create conditions for a revolution because it reveals the limits of the system, its bankruptcy, to the mass of the population who suffer from mass unemployment, hunger and social degradation--also because it can throw the ruling class into a confusion that puts its continued rule into question.
But crisis by itself cannot itself usher in a new society. As Trotsky wrote, "There is no crisis that can be, by itself, fatal to capitalism." That requires a revolution, and a revolution "presupposes the activity of living people who are the makers of their own history."
While it is true that people don't make history "by accident, or according to their caprice, but under the influence of objectively determined causes," as Trotsky wrote, nevertheless, "their own actions--their initiative, audacity, devotion, and likewise their stupidity and cowardice--are necessary links in the chain of historical development."
It is only in and through the mass action of workers--in the streets and at the point of production--that they develop the consciousness, the organization and the belief in their own capacity to rule society. A subordinate class that is constantly told it amounts to nothing has first to fight collectively and feel its own strength and solidarity in order to become a class capable of building a new society.
As Marx and Engels famously wrote, "[T]his revolution is necessary, therefore, not only because the ruling class cannot be overthrown in any other way, but also because the class overthrowing it can only in a revolution succeed in ridding itself of all the muck of ages and become fitted to found society anew."
This understanding made Marx critical of the paternalism of moderates who thought that workers were incapable of liberating themselves. He also rejected the political methods of the revolutionary conspirators who would at worst substitute small-group actions for the masses and at best use the masses as a battering ram.
| 2023-04-11T12:23:46.229651+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:13:48Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,503 | 2,467 |
https://tulsa.okstate.edu/hdfs-ms | Graduate study in HDFS emphasizes the integration of theory, research and application to address key issues in risk and resilience. Our master's degree in Development and Family Science focuses on the integration of theory and research in human development and family science, research methods, and statistics. Students complete a thesis and get practical research experience.
Graduate students work with their advisers and advisory committees to develop flexible yet rigorous programs that meet degree requirements and professional competencies in the area of the specialization. Graduate programs in HDFS are central to departmental research. Faculty and students engage in the integration of theory and research to advance the development and application of knowledge to reduce risk and enhance resilience for individuals and families across cultures and generations.
OSU-Tulsa HDFS students may choose to participate in research through the OSU Center for Family Resilience, located on our downtown Tulsa campus.
View degree requirements on the OSU College of Human Sciences website.
Information about curriculum, admissions requirements and more is available at the OSU College of Human Sciences website. | 2023-04-11T12:23:59.020195+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:59:17Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,507 | 178 |
https://wbdg.org/resources/running-design-competition | Design competitions have been a standard method of selecting the best design or most qualified designer for a project for centuries. As far back as the 1400s, a competition was announced in Florence, Italy for the design of the main Dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore which had been under construction for more than a century. The solution chosen, which was submitted by goldsmith and clock maker Fillipo Brunelleschi, was a master achievement that still amazes architects, engineers, and scientists today for the ingenious solutions to the architectural and engineering puzzles Brunelleschi solved through his design.
A design competition is a vehicle to allow entrants to solve a proposed problem and compete against others, oftentimes their peers, in order to receive an award or building project. Entries to a competition are usually reviewed and awarded by a jury who is charged with making both objective and subjective evaluations of the entries based on criteria established for the program. Competitions have expanded in scope and purpose since the days of Brunelleschi and may be utilized to accomplish many goals within the design and building arts professions. Competitions are increasingly utilized to award projects and ideas based on not just aesthetic merits but a more comprehensive and holistic approach to design. Competitions have the ability to bring many different design ideas, innovations, and publicity to a project, an issue, or to the designer/design team; which is why it is important to carefully plan and develop a competition with stated goals and outcomes in mind. The following document may serve as a framework for developing a design competition.
The first and most important step is to establish a set of goals to be achieved through a competition. If a competition is a one-time event, then the energy and focus must be expected to make an impact within a limited timeframe, budget, and to a limited audience. A competition that is run several times, either annually or as often as is necessary to achieve stated goals, has the potential to make a greater impact on more short- and long-term goals. For example, a competition may be utilized to promote and educate design professionals on new concepts, laws, codes, design standards, best practices, materials and methods of construction, process, etc. In the case of a competition that seeks to educate, it takes several years to see the impact of new-found knowledge being utilized in practice.
A competition may also help to establish new relationships within the design profession, encourage multi-disciplinary approaches to design, advance diversity, or encourage more environmental/sustainable solutions, etc.
It is important to define the audience that may participate or submit entries to a competition. If the audience is broad it will allow for a greater range of entries, but may also make the judging process more difficult. The scope of the audiences to consider might include: professional, student, national, state, regional, international, multi-disciplinary, etc. The audience and scope of the competition may also have a direct impact on the budget.
Defining the number and type of entries to be accepted into the competition will allow for a focused jury process, but also has the ability to limit qualified or quality entries. So carefully consider the implications of number and type of entries.
Define expenses that will be covered under the competition, including staff/consultant time, travel and or honorarium expenses for jurors, rental space and other jury meeting expenses, marketing and publicity, entry fees, and awards to winners. The variety and scope of these expenses can vary widely. If a budget is not available to run a competition, sponsorships through fund-raising are a good option to consider. The ability to develop and manage a competition, including the jury process, in electronic form will also reduce overall expenses on a competition.
The competition program must clearly state the goals and entry requirements for the competition. The program is also the place to set the tone and provide background on the competition including trends or new directions sought through the use of a competition. It is critical to request information about the entry that will give the jury a complete understanding of its intent in order to evaluate the merit of the individual entry and be able to compare it against the other entries. The level of completeness of the entry may range from a sketch to a completed set of shop drawings, depending on the stated requirements.
Issues to address in the program may include: the program brief, site map (real or imagined), scale of entry materials, photos of existing or surrounding context, background on the competition or the program, real or ideas competition, built or unbuilt, or other categories within the competition (for example residential versus commercial structures).
All pertinent information to be included in the entry must be stated within the program including contact information, project information, reports and/or research, analyses or process, supporting images, supporting documentation, demonstration of concepts, etc.
Items to consider are the eligibility, regulations, format (hard copy or electronic submission), deadlines, overall competition schedule, or resources (physical or access to) that entrants should utilize as part of the competition.
The format of the entry is an important consideration. Depending on space and support on the competition, a small size (say a standard 8.5" x 11" portfolio) is preferable to a 20"x 30" board. If winners will be published, high quality photos or electronic images and supporting text are critical. If the winners or entrants will be on display, then entries may be a lightweight foamcore board. Limit number of pages or boards and define the size of the entry carefully. If running an electronic competition, state file type and size requirements.
If the jury will not be meeting as a group to review the entries, consider the number of copies entrants must submit, for circulation to reviewers. If the competition is meant to be reviewed as a blind jury process, be sure to request that no identifying feature of the firm or designer be located on the front of the entry, but included in an entry form or on back of entry materials. This will require a coordinator who is responsible for logging entries, checking their adherence to competition guidelines, and developing a system to ensure blind review.
Develop an overall schedule that will allow you to properly plan the development of the competition along with the marketing and implementation of it. Additionally, consider the amount of time notices should be repeated during the schedule in order to get the desired exposure and attention on the competition. Develop the schedule around critical deadlines and milestone tasks to be completed.
The structure of a jury should be carefully considered so as to bring the appropriate and desired backgrounds and perspectives to bear on the jury process. A balanced jury might include individuals with a mix of technical, design, political, or educational perspectives to accomplish goals stated within the competition. In addition, it is healthy to attempt to bring diversity to a jury process by means of ethnic, racial, and gender selection. The credibility and level of professionalism associated with a competition can be increased through the use of respected individuals or firms with direct experience and award-winning examples of the building or idea under consideration in the competition.
Establish a set of rules for the jury to follow when making their award selections. Select an individual to serve in the role of jury chair. The role of the jury chair is to ensure a fair and orderly process and negotiate through difficult situations and/or disagreements about entry selections. The chair may also ensure that entries have met the initial entry requirements and make recommendations for removal of ineligible projects or entries that present a conflict of interest within the process or among the jury.
It is also important to determine whether your jury will physically meet in an assigned location and judge physical entries or review electronic submissions. Either arrangement requires a structured process to be developed for review and coordination of final entry selection. A scoring sheet, voting, or debating are all valid methods for evaluating entries. It is important to capture the salient jury comments that can be utilized for a variety of purposes including additional communications with the entrant, and educational and promotional materials that are developed of the competition results.
To maximize the publicity and exposure of the competition and its results, it is important to develop a marketing and publicity strategy at the outset of the competition. Develop a schedule of publications, email newsletters, direct mail campaigns, and press contacts to be targeted and include editorial deadlines, contact information, circulation rates, and circulation dates.
Developing a relationship with periodicals or websites to focus articles on awards or the process can ensure greater exposure on the competition. If the budget allows, consider the use of a clip service to track publicity on the competition.
Consider capturing key elements of the competition and results for future publicity and/or educational efforts. Ideas may include developing a competition summary publication or website of the results. If the competition was developed in order to encourage change or implement a new standard of practice or design, then the post-competition communications are critical to educating key audiences and helping those audiences modify their own way of thinking or practicing.
There are a variety of approaches to awards within competitions. Depending on the budget available there may be monetary prizes, award certificates, trophies, publicity or awards ceremonies, educational opportunities, or professional opportunities.
Establish the levels of awards to be given such as first place or honorable mentions, etc. Categories and award levels may be established, however, the jury should have final say as to how those awards are bestowed.
Consider arranging awards ceremonies, displays, traveling exhibits, or publicity to announce the results. Also establish rules for tie breakers or non-award.
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)—The international membership organization supports several competitions each year, most of which are student/faculty oriented.
Cyburbia - The Planning and Architecture Internet Resource Center—To find a list of events select either planning or architecture, then select "Conferences and Events", including some competitions in this database maintained by the SUNY Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning.
Death by Architecture—This site, which is part of the International Competition Network, also has listings of job related Internet sites. Click on "Partners" to see a list of links to other competition websites around the world.
University of Toronto's Landscape Architecture Virtual Library—Contains links to WWW references that are of direct or related interest to the profession.
Handbook of Architectural Design Competitions by The American Institute of Architects.
Participating in Architectural Competitions: A Guide for Competitors, Promoters, and Assessors by Judith Strong. This useful handbook gives detailed instructions on how to enter competitions around the world.
Architect's Journal—This journal has a regular column titled "Competitions" with many listings.
Architectural Record—The "Design News" column under the subheading "Design" occasionally lists current competitions and also lists the winners of past competitions.
Architectural Review—In the "Prelims" column, under the "Marginalia" subheading, there are occasionally listings for current competitions.
BSA Chapterletter (Boston Society of Architects)—The column titled "Opportunities" lists competitions.
Competitions—A quarterly journal devoted entirely to design competitions, including listing the winners of recent competitions. A supplement called CompetitionHotline updates current competitions every six weeks and is available at the Reserve desk.
Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA)—The column titled "Competitions" lists results of recent competitions. | 2023-04-11T12:24:05.950477+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:21:39Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,511 | 1,934 |
https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2019/12/senators-threaten-apple-facebook-and-other-tech-companies-that-theyll-regulate-encryption-if-theyre-forced-to.html | Lawmakers on Tuesday threatened to pass litigation that would force technology companies to provide court-ordered access to encrypted devices and messages unless the businesses can come up with a solution.
Lindsey Graham, R-SC, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told representatives from Apple and Facebook, during their testimony: "You’re going to find a way to do this or we’re going to do this for you."
The company representatives were joined by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Matt Tait, a cybersecurity fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss encryption and lawful access. Tech companies and government agencies are at odds over how to handle encryption in a world where criminals, like the rest of us, are spending more time on their smartphones and other gadgets.
Law enforcement officials argue that encryption keeps them from accessing criminals’ devices, even under a court order or after death, and prevents them from detecting internet-based crimes like sharing images of child exploitation.
For tech companies like Apple, the focus remains protecting user privacy, and they say that creating a key or "backdoor" into the devices or messages makes the system vulnerable to malicious actors.
Tait testified that while technology companies have the capability to develop an improved encryption system, they don’t have the incentives. With respect to device encryption, which is how Apple prevents access to phones without a correct passcode or fingerprint, Tait said any system that allows for lawful access would instantly be attacked. But if Congress required companies to provide access under court order, companies like Google and Apple would be forced to build a compliant solution "in the most secure way possible."
Facebook faces a different issue because it doesn’t make the devices that are used to send messages over its services. Facebook is working on integrating its three messaging products and encrypting them from end to end, a plan that’s raised alarm from the highest ranks of the law enforcement community.
The encryption debate between government and industry has been ongoing since 2015, in the wake of the mass shooting in San Bernadino, California.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn, said at Tuesday’s hearing that by preventing law enforcement from accessing devices, companies are creating a "safe harbor" for criminals.
For more, read the full CNBC report.
Knowing Silicon Valley, and especially Apple, they'll double down and fight it every step of the way. How much of it will be for show is unknown. Though at the end of the day, Apple's CEO has said that they'll abide by the law of the land like they did in China and Russia. Let's see what happens if Congress forces Apple to bend on Privacy when it comes to obeying court orders in the U.S.
While Apple was answering questions at Tuesday’s hearing, Apple's Senior Director, Global Privacy is still on schedule to participate at CES 2020 by speaking about privacy.
Prior to working for Apple, Ms Horvatch was Global Privacy Counsel at Google. Before that, Horvath served as the DOJ’s first Chief Privacy Counsel and Civil Liberties Officer. At the DOJ, she was a member of the High Level Contact Group and leader of the U.S. delegation of experts tasked with exploring common ground between the European Union’s Third Pillar data protection principles and U.S. federal privacy laws. | 2023-04-11T12:25:23.979203+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:10:32Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,544 | 571 |
https://www.thedesigncure.com/author/jeanne-wild | While Photoshop is at its core, a program for editing and manipulating images, there are many reasons for you to invest in learning Photoshop for Interior Design. At the end of the day, you can sum up all of the reasons into one word… SKILLS! But let’s break it down; here are 5 of the many reasons you should invest in learning Photoshop for Interior Design.
“I’m not a writer, I’m an interior designer…I don’t need a blog.” If that sounds familiar, this blog is for you. | 2023-04-11T12:25:44.588906+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:31:23Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,556 | 93 |
http://ggtmc.libsyn.com/webpage/2014/06 | This week the Gents are joined by Loaf from the Silva and Gold podcast for an Arizal (RIP) Double Duece!!! We are covering Special Silencers (1979) and American Hunter (1990). Both films directed by the legendary Arizal, a film maker we have celebrated for many years and are very sad to hear of his passing.
We want to thank Loaf for coming on the show and adding his thoughts as well!!!
| 2023-04-11T12:26:40.855405+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:55:56Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,568 | 72 |
http://www.tea-happiness.com/2016/05/interview-samir-balwani-of-turvani.html | I'm pleased to present this interview with Samir from Turvani teas. Turvani is a company new to the tea scene, and I was curious to learn more about Samir and his journey to becoming a tea vendor. Samir is an optimistic and cheerful person dedicated to spreading his love for tea. Learn all about his passion for the tea-drinking experience in our interview below.
Why were you inspired to start a tea company?
Tea has always been a passion of mine. I love the experience and the ritual of making tea. I’ve always found that the experience of making and enjoying a cup of tea, to be relaxing and energizing. Every time I made a cup of tea, I was forced to take a moment for myself. It’s made me such a happier person, and it’s something I want to share with the world. We can make the world a happier place, with exceptional tea.
With so many tea vendors out there, how do you stand out from the pack?
You’re right, there are a lot of tea vendors out there. Each one has their view on tea. Some approach it as just another way to get caffeinated, others focus on the health benefits of tea, and some are just a catalog of hundreds of loose-leaf tea.
We don’t look at tea as a commodity, just something to sell. Instead, to us, it’s about the experience. We source premium tea, packaged in beautifully simple bags, because we want the entire experience to be something you savor. We want our tea, every cup, and every moment, to be a gift for you.
I see your company focuses on the experience of drinking tea. What does this experience mean to you, and what message are you hoping to convey to your customers?
I don’t think of Turvani as a tea company, we truly are an experience company. We’re all really busy people. Our calendars are constantly double booked, we’re always on our phones, and it feels like we can never get ahead of our emails. We’re forever stressed. Yet, when you make a cup of tea, as it steeps, it feels like the world stops. You’re suddenly afforded a moment for yourself. You can, finally, experience a stress free minute for yourself. It’s that moment that we want people to experience. It’s that moment that makes us so excited about the power of tea to truly make the world a happier place.
We know, for our tea to deliver on creating that moment, we need every aspect to be perfect. That’s why we focus on making sure to only source the highest quality tea. It has to look beautiful, have an exceptional aroma, and taste phenomenal.
How long was your journey from original idea, to actually opening your own tea company?
While it’s been a long journey so far, I don’t think it’ll ever be done – I’m always learning something new, and it’s been an amazing experience. We started our journey more than a year ago and we’ve accomplished a lot (I actually looked back and I posted the picture below on my instagram 77 weeks ago).
I like the clean minimalist look of your packaging. How did you choose the look and feel of the company?
Thank you for the kind words Sara! When we started Turvani, we knew the mission. We knew we were going help more people experience tea, to make the world a happier place. That was our starting point. We also wanted our tea to be the focus, but still wanted our packaging to elegant, bold, and luxurious. With that in mind, we decided to keep things simple. Our logo’s minimalistic lines and typography convey a sense of calm. The white background helps our typography stand out, and we opted to make the name of our tea be the largest text on our labels.
Sourcing tea is exhilarating and tiring. If you ever decide to start your own tea company, know that this is the part where a majority of your time will go. We’ve worked across the board, with international distributors all the way to local farmers in China and India. We’ve tried hundreds of teas, tasting each for their flavor, aroma, and quality. We’ve also learned a lot along the way. In the end, we finally decided which teas to include in our initial collection. It’s not over though, we know that sourcing isn’t a process that ends – we’re constantly on the look out for new teas, which means more tastings… not that we’re complaining about the opportunity to try different beautiful teas from around the world!
When did you start drinking tea?
You can credit my dad for introducing me to tea. Growing up, I would always share a cup of tea with him. It was our moment together, to chat and catch up. The ritual hasn’t ended, whenever I go home to visit, there’s always a hot cup of tea to be shared.
About to try Assam golden tips from @turvani. I like the clean look of their packaging & logo. Leaves have a nice sweetness of dried fruit and malt.
Do you have any favorite personal tea rituals?
I have a ritual that I try to stay true to every Sunday morning. I wake up fairly early, make a cup of tea (recently it’s been our Assam), and grab the Sunday paper. I block the morning for myself – no technology, no phone, and no emails. It gives me a chance to recharge for the week, enjoy my tea, and expand my mind.
How is Turvani going to grow in the future?
We’ve already been growing so quickly; I’m excited to see that our vision resonates with so many people. We’ll be adding to our collection fairly soon, so stay tuned for that. We’re in the planning stages of adding some really beautiful teaware to our store. Also, we’re putting together a starter kit for people just getting introduced to loose-leaf tea for the first time, something that makes tea a little easier to get into – we’ll have more news on that pretty soon! As you can see, there’s a lot going on, and we’re just at the beginning.
Thank you so much Samir for taking the time out for this interview. To learn more about Turvani and check out their teas, you can visit their website here.
| 2023-04-11T12:28:00.244248+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:24:53Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,589 | 1,108 |
https://peggyluwho.com/2008/05/03/pretty-freaking-lazy/ | It’s Saturday afternoon, the perfect opportunity to get about three to five things done that kind of really need doing. Instead of I’ve been dozing all day, cruising the internet, and now blogging.
I should be practicing and trying to come up with horn lines. I have a meeting with that band tomorrow.
I should be straightening up my apartment, since my mom is coming in next week. Two weeks in a row, I cleaned the laundry, folded it, and then piled it on the ledge. I should put that stuff away.
I could be watching some of the Netflix that have been sitting her for over a month. Of course that’s not quite as productive, but it’s better than just sleeping all day.
But do you know when was the last time I got to sleep all day? Yeah, me neither!
So I think I’m going to get out of my pajamas, do the dishes, see if I can work out some parts for at least one song, and then watch a movie before I have to be at the theater tonight. It’s a bit ambitious, but we’ll see.
Next Next post: I’m IN! | 2023-04-11T12:29:09.371147+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:17:41Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,633 | 204 |
https://staffassembly.ucla.edu/amy-tsao-18/ | In my current position as a web developer for Social Sciences Computing, I manage the entirety of the websites under the Social Sciences division. I also help manage a few other sites such as the Staff Assembly site and Healthy Campus Initiative site. As a result, I have an extensive knowledge about content management systems as well as how to make websites both accessible and aesthetic.
I am interested in the Staff Assembly position as I am passionate about the various events and activities sponsored by the Staff Assembly as well as the people at UCLA. I would like to give back as much as they have given towards me. I would love to make a happier work environment for all UCLA staff, and I believe this position would help me make this dream come true. | 2023-04-11T12:29:22.917610+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:36:43Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,642 | 137 |
https://swkhold.investorroom.com/2019-11-18-SWK-Holdings-Corporation-Announces-2019-Third-Quarter-Financial-Results | SWK Holdings Corporation (SWKH.OB) ("SWK" or the "Company"), a life sciences focused specialty finance company, today provided a business update and announced its financial and operating results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019.
"The third quarter of 2019 was a transformative period for SWK, highlighted by our acquisition of Enteris Biopharma and our efforts to advance to the NASDAQ Capital Market. The importance of these events cannot be understated," stated Winston Black, Chief Executive Officer of SWK. "With Enteris, we have now expanded beyond our core specialty healthcare finance business to bring aboard a revenue-generating company with a platform technology, development pipeline and manufacturing capabilities that we believe have yet to realize their full economic potential. Key to Enteris is its proprietary platform technology, Peptelligence®, which enables the oral delivery of peptide and small molecule therapeutics. We believe that this capability has the potential to reshape the multibillion-dollar peptide and small molecule market by creating proprietary, patent-protected oral reformulations that can have substantial benefits over the original compound. And further, by becoming more operationally oriented, SWK now has the opportunity to actively build its own wholly-owned portfolio of milestones and royalties through licensing activities."
Mr. Black continued, "The addition of Enteris, combined with ongoing growth from our investments in commercial-stage, small to mid-sized life science companies, should have appeal to a broad range of investors, from those who specialize in financially-focused assets to healthcare-oriented investors who recognize SWK as a potentially lower-risk option for a biopharma heavy portfolio. We anticipate that once SWK's stock is uplisted to the NASDAQ Capital Market, we will be positioned to more actively target these investors by enhancing our visibility in the marketplace, increasing the liquidity of our stock and potentially broadening our shareholder base."
Mr. Black concluded, "The future of SWK is bright, and much of our enthusiasm results from the leadership position we have established as a trusted financing partner for small life sciences companies looking for capital to support their growth opportunities. There is a substantial market for these services, as evidenced by our just-announced transaction with Eton Pharmaceuticals, and we believe industry dynamics will continue to create demand for the unique financing structures that we offer. Our strategy is to capitalize on this market need by continuing to grow our specialty finance portfolio, while simultaneously expanding the Enteris platform both organically and through selected transactions that augment the core technology or provide services that add value to Enteris' biopharma clients."
For the three-month span ended September 30, 2019, SWK reported total revenue of $6.3 million compared to $5.9 million for the three-month span ended September 30, 2018. Revenue primarily consisted of interest and fees earned on our finance receivables. The increase in revenue was primarily due to a $1.6 million gain in interest and fees earned on new and existing finance receivables and $0.1 million contribution from Enteris. The increase in revenue was offset by a $1.3 million decrease in interest and fees earned on finance receivables that were paid off or paid down in 2018.
Income before taxes for the three-month span ended September 30, 2019 totaled $3.5 million compared to a loss of $7.4 million for the same period last year. During the quarter, SWK incurred $1.1 million of costs associated with the Enteris transaction. The GAAP net income for the three-month period ended September 30, 2019 totaled $4.2 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $5.7 million, or $0.44 per diluted share for the three-month span ended September 30, 2018. For the same period this year, the non-GAAP adjusted net income was $5.1 million, or $0.39 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $8.3 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, for the three-month period ended September 30, 2018.
Income producing assets (defined as finance receivables and corporate debt securities) totaled $175.5 million as of September 30, 2019. This is an increase compared with income producing assets of $169.7 million as of June 30, 2019 and $166.8 million as of September 30, 2018.
Book value per share was $17.63 as of September 30, 2019, compared to $16.47 as of December 31, 2018 and $16.05 as of September 30, 2018.
Tables detailing SWK's financial performance for the third quarter of 2019 and the first nine months of 2019 are below.
During the third quarter of 2019, the Company deployed $7.5 in term loan financings. At the end of the third quarter of 2019, the weighted average projected effective yield of the finance receivables portfolio was 13.8%, including non-accrual positions, versus 12.9% as of the same time last year. The projected effective yield is the rate at which income is expected to be recognized pursuant to the Company's revenue recognition policies, if all payments are received pursuant to the terms of the finance receivables.
After the close of the third quarter, the Company deployed $5.0 million in a new term loan to Eton Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing proprietary, value-add formulations of approved molecules in ways that offer improvements to patients and physicians. This deployment was offset by the $11.4 million aggregate received in the repayment of the Cheetah Medical, Inc. term loan.
On August 26, 2019, SWK announced the acquisition of Enteris BioPharma, Inc. from a private equity firm. Enteris, which will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SWK, is a biotechnology company offering innovative formulation solutions utilizing its proprietary oral drug delivery technology, Peptelligence®. Under the terms of the deal, SWK paid $21.5 million to the seller. Further, Enteris and the seller agreed to share the milestone and royalty proceeds of the Non-Exclusive License Agreement between Enteris and Cara Therapeutics, Inc. executed on August 20, 2019 under which Enteris licensed its proprietary Peptelligence® oral drug formulation to Cara for use with its Oral KORSUVA™ drug development candidate. Additionally, Enteris and the seller agreed to terms governing the potential out-licensing of Enteris' 505(b)(2) product portfolio.
On September 3, 2019 SWK announced that it had applied to uplist its shares of common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market.
On September 3, 2019 SWK announced the appointment of Winston Black, Chief Executive Officer of SWK, and Aaron G.L. Fletcher, Ph.D., to its Board of Directors. The appointments brought the total number of directors to six, of which three satisfy the NASDAQ independence requirements for service on the Company's audit committee, including Dr. Fletcher.
On December 21, 2018, SWK's Board of Directors authorized a $3.5 million share repurchase program, totaling up to 312,491 common shares. The initial authorized purchase period was December 21, 2018 through May 31, 2019; however, the board reauthorized the share repurchase program in September 2019, which extends through February 29, 2020.
As of September 30, 2019, the Company repurchased an aggregate of 223,466 shares of its common stock. Of the shares repurchased, 143,900 were repurchased under the share repurchase program at a total cost of $1.4 million, or $9.61 per share. The remaining shares were purchased via private transactions.
GAAP net income for the three-month period ended September 30, 2019, was $4.2 million, or $0.32 per diluted share. The table below eliminates provisions for income taxes, non-cash mark-to-market changes on warrant assets and SWK's warrant, depreciation and amortization.
In the table above, management has deducted the following non-cash items: (i) fair-market value of warrants as mark-to-market changes are non-cash, (ii) income taxes as the Company has substantial net operating losses to offset against future income, and (iii) depreciation and amortization expenses, primarily associated with the Enteris acquisition.
| 2023-04-11T12:29:24.921511+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:12:01Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,644 | 1,328 |
https://www.hatads.org.uk/catalogue/record/8aa165f2-9c53-4485-bc1c-f482ae16d6aa | Description: Comprises J. Walter Thompson's London Office (hereafter JWT) client account files, executives' papers and other office material.
'The significance of the British JWT papers can hardly be overestimated. The JWT files provide social and cultural historians of modern Britain with an unrivalled and comprehensive insight into the changes British society and the life of ordinary consumers underwent between the 1920s and the 1970s. The JWT papers ...give a rare insight into how an American advertising agency attempted to develop the British into a more brand-oriented and advertising-conscious consumer body. The files allow researchers to gather first-hand information about the living conditions, consumer spending habits and class and gender- relations in Britain during the twentieth century"
(Dr Stefan Schwarzkopf, 5 June 2008).
'Taken together this [i.e. HAT's entire JWT collections] constitutes the best collection of material for any advertising agency operating in Britain, particularly for the 1950s and 60s. The internal agency documents are a particularly important resource...evidencing as they do the day to day thinking of the agency about its clients' products"
(Dr Sean Nixon, 20 October 2010).
The cataloguing of this collection has been made possible by an award from the National Cataloguing Grants Programme, administered by The National Archives (2011-2013).
Related Material: JWT: Deposited by the JWT London agency at HAT in 2004 and 2007. Includes administrative documents (e.g. board of directors' minute books, share registers, billings registers), press cuttings books, photographs of agency internal activities, publications and printed ephemera, guard books containing advertising proofs, radio and TV advertising, branded artefacts and the Allen Thomas collection.
HAT 21/181: The John Treasure Collection: John Treasure (1924-2004), managing director BMRB 1957, Director of Marketing & Research JWT London 1960, Chairman JWT London 1967 and Vice Chairman JWT Worldwide 1974. This collection includes JWT published reports and unpublished research manuscripts by Treasure and other authors.
HAT 21/326: The Joan Northover Collection: Artwork, photographs, posters and TV commercials reflecting the career of Joan Northover (1937 - ) including a period at JWT London 1967-1978 as a trainee production assistant to Roger Holland.
HAT 21/358: The Stephen King Papers: Stephen King (1931-2006) was a leading intellectual figure in the world of communications strategy, and brand planning. In 1964 he set up JWT's own Advertising Research Unit with a brief to develop and test new research techniques and provide a link with BMRB. The collection includes articles, publications, transcripts of his speeches, presentations and conference papers and correspondence. There is also a quantity of JWT-related internal papers and publications covering brand communication, strategy, market research and case studies.
HAT 21/492: The Patricia Mann Papers: Patricia Mann OBE (1937-2006) joined JWT as a secretary in 1959, evolving within the company into a successful copywriter for clients such as Kelloggs and Schweppes. In that year she became JWT's head of public affairs, becoming group director of external affairs and vice president international 1981-1997.In these roles, and as a long serving member of the Advertising Standards Authority (1973-1986 and its chairman in 1977), she took a rigorous view of standards in the interests of the consumer. She sat on various European Community committees e.g. European Advertising Tripartite, the Food Law Group and committees involved with children's advertising issues. She was editor of JWT's Consumer Affairs journal 1978-1998 and among her publications were 150 Careers in Advertising (1971) and Advertising and Marketing to Children (1980). A governor of HAT, it was Patricia Mann's knowledgeable overview and persuasive case that led to JWT London's decision to deposit its archive at HAT from 2004, thus ensuring that this remarkable collection of UK brand heritage remained in the UK for public access and study.
Although this collection is dominated by papers generated though Patricia Mann's European activities there is also some material that reflects administrative aspects of her career at JWT London.
HAT 21/493: The George Butler Archive: George Butler (1904-1999) joined JWT in 1925 becoming the agency's art director from 1932-1962. The collection includes art work, correspondence and photographs.
JWT's USA and other International Office records are held by the Hartman Centre for the Study of Advertising and Marketing at Duke University, North Carolina, USA.
Admin History: The J. Walter Thompson Company (hereafter referred to as JWT) was founded in 1864 in the USA (New York), as Carlton and Smith. This firm, which originally sold advertising space in religious journals, was purchased and re-named after himself in 1878 by James Walter Thompson (1847-1928), an employee who had started with the company as a book-keeper clerk. Thompson quickly transformed the business and 'by 1895 JWT were providing a wide range of advertising services including copy, layout, package design, trademark development and rudimentary market research' ('The Advertising Age Encylopedia of Advertising', p.1530). In 1899 James Walter Thompson published 'The Thompson Red Book' based on his advertising philosophy, containing aphorisms and examples of company advertisements. In 1916, allegedly believing that the advertising business was past its peak, James Walter Thompson sold the business to a syndicate headed by his general manager, Stanley Resor.
JWT became the first American agency to open an office in Britain when it opened a European Sales Office in London in 1899 (at 33 Bedford Street in the Strand): 'It was a relatively small undertaking involving four or five staff...The office acted as a sales representative servicing European advertisers who wished to run campaigns in America...The office hastily closed in 1916 when staff joined up on America entering the First World War' (Douglas C. West, 'From T-Square to T-Plan', p.199). JWT re-opened its London Office in temporary accommodation in 1919 at Kingsway, under the new ownership of Stanley Resor, before moving to Bush House in Aldwych, which remained its home until the Second World War. By the early 1920s JWT was handling British advertising for five American clients, the largest of whom was Sun Maid Raisins of California. 'In 1925 in recognition of the increased importance and competition for British Business, Stanley Resor placed the London office under the charge of one of his top US executives, Sam Meek. Meek's brief was to increase turnover and encourage further European expansion, and indeed business soon grew' (West, p.200). The establishment of JWT London as a full-service advertising agency is generally dated from 1926 and it 'soon acquired a reputation based on its American parentage, for hard-hitting, effective advertising, founded on solid research' (Rayfield, 'Fifty in 40'). 'Under Meek's direction the London Office had undoubtedly established itself among the top ranks of British agencies. By 1933 it was said to be in line with the three largest agencies, placed second...in 1936 and proclaimed to be the top agency in the country by the "Advertising World" nearly two years later [in 1938]' (West, p.201). Although American accounts provided the mainstay of JWT's London Office in business in the 1920s, a policy of diversification ensured that by 1930, 50% of accounts were British. JWT London was incorporated as a limited company in 1933 and founded a 'spin-off'' market research company, the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) in the same year. JWT was widely known within the industry as the 'University of Advertising' and prided itself on being able to talk to clients confidently, in 'their own language', by undertaking a thorough study of market conditions for a particular product. According to the American Journal, 'Advertising Age': 'no agency has probably been more widely identified with research''.
JWT London was a pioneer in the field of radio commercial advertising in the 1930s with broadcasts on Radio Normandy and Radio Luxembourg and was the first agency to have its own recording studio. During the Second World War JWT was responsible for many classic 'home front' campaigns. In 1946 JWT London moved its offices to the prestigious address of 40 Berkeley Square. In 1953 JWT set up a department to prepare for the advent of television advertising and was the first agency to persuade top film and television directors to make commercials for their clients from the launch of commercial television in 1955. In the post-war period the London office 'developed its own indigenous identity...with substantial diversification of business and ended up by giving a lead to the Americans (and indeed the advertising business as a whole) with the development of the "T-Plan" in the late 1960s' (West, p.199). In 1966 JWT's Public Relations Department became a subsidiary company known as Lexington International. JWT became a public corporation in 1969 and was reorganised in 1980 to form a new holding company, JWT Group Inc., with J. Walter Thompson as the largest of a number of subsidiaries including advertising, public relations and market research firms acquired in the 1970s. In 1987 JWT became the first publicly owned agency to succumb to a hostile takeover when it was acquired by the WPP Group (Wire and Plastic Products) and its media department merged with that of Ogilvy & Mather in 1997 to create Mindshare. The JWT London office was moved from Berkeley Square to a Knightsbridge address in 2000. In 2005 the agency officially shortened its name to JWT, although it had been known as such informally for many years. | 2023-04-11T12:30:04.220422+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:07:50Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,677 | 1,568 |
https://indico.esa.int/event/110/page/33-objective | COMPASS provides a wide range of techniques for the design and analysis of system safety and reliability, whose applicability has already been demonstrated in several case studies. The objective of the workshop is to understand how to bring these promising results to higher technology readiness levels. We would like to interact with the audience to identify hurdles of introducing COMPASS in industrial practice, and discuss and explore ways these hurdles can be taken or circumvented, with potential solutions both in technology as well as process.
Is the modeling language adequate? Which forms of analysis are missing, or should be improved? Is the process covering all the phases? Can the toolset be applied in the large? Should it be extended to other input languages?
Ideally, the workshop will result in a list of ideas and insights that will help to define the roadmap and policies for the future developments and deployment of the COMPASS toolset. | 2023-04-11T12:34:09.296967+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:19:15Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,773 | 155 |
https://ph.yhb.org.il/en/04-08-09/ | Poskim disagree whether body ointments that contain ĥametz may be used on Pesaĥ. While soaps, shampoos, and creams are not made from ĥametz, they sometimes contain grain alcohol or other ĥametz derivatives, leading to queries about their status on Pesaĥ.
Some say that applying an ointment is equivalent, by rabbinic enactment, to drinking. Consequently, even if the ĥametz in these products is not fit for a dog’s consumption, it retains the status of ĥametz because it is suitable for anointing, and thus it is forbidden to use them on Pesaĥ. Accordingly, one must use soaps, shampoos, and creams that are kosher for Pesaĥ.
Others maintain that the Sages only equated the application of ointment to drinking with regard to Yom Kippur and anointing with oil consecrated as teruma (priestly gift). All other Torah prohibitions relate to eating alone, not anointing. Although it is forbidden to derive benefit from ĥametz, the ĥametz in these products was rendered unfit for a dog’s consumption even before Pesaĥ began and thus lost the status of ĥametz. It is therefore permissible to derive benefit from them and apply them to the body during Pesaĥ.
Since this dispute relates to rabbinic law, the halakha accords with the lenient opinion, and meticulously observant individuals act stringently.
Toothpastes must be certified kosher for Pesaĥ because they are flavored and thus like any other food product.
Creams that are absorbed into the skin, flavorless lipstick, and perfumes that contain alcohol need not be certified kosher for Pesaĥ, in keeping with the lenient opinion, since they are not fit for consumption and generally do not contain ĥametz ingredients. Nonetheless, many choose to be stringent and buy creams and perfumes that are certified kosher for Pesaĥ.
Soaps and shampoos warrant even more room for leniency because they are designed to clean, not to be absorbed into the skin. Nevertheless, some are stringent.
[11]. The Rishonim disagree about the principle that equates anointing with drinking: some apply it only to Yom Kippur and teruma oil, while others hold that it applies to other prohibitions, though only on the rabbinic level. The question arises with regard to soap made of lard, and many Aĥaronim tend toward stringency if the item is for enjoyment and leniently if it is needed for health reasons (see Yeĥaveh Da’at 4:53). They incline toward leniency if the lard’s taste has been befouled (AHS YD 117:29). Regarding Pesaĥ, there is a more stringent aspect, namely, that one is forbidden to derive any benefit from ĥametz, but there is also a more lenient aspect, namely, that the ĥametz lost its status when it became inedible before Pesaĥ, making it less strict than something that had been forbidden from the outset. In practice, Responsa Sho’el U-meishiv 3:2:146 states that one may keep soap that contains ĥametz over Pesaĥ since its taste has been befouled. It does not address whether or not the soap may be used on Pesaĥ. Responsa Divrei Malkiel 4:24:43 states that one may not use cosmetics that contain wheat-derived alcohol, since the alcohol helps spread their scent and is thus significant. The alcohol is not batel since it can be isolated from the rest of the mixture. Responsa Divrei Naĥum §56 states that the law follows the current situation, namely, that the taste of the ĥametz has been befouled, and the mixture is thus permissible. Ĥazon Ish, Demai 15:1 suggests that only something edible may not be used as an ointment. Igrot Moshe OĤ 3:62 rules leniently in the case of an ointment that contains ĥametz that is used for health purposes. Bedikat Ĥametz U-vi’uro 2:43 summarizes the topic and rules stringently unless it is uncertain whether a product contains ĥametz, in which case one may be lenient. It seems to me that even those who rule stringently should distinguish between fat-based soap and contemporary soaps: fat-based soaps are absorbed in the skin and may be considered ointments, whereas contemporary soaps merely clean and remove dirt from the body, but are not absorbed into it. I have thus distinguished between ointments and creams, which are absorbed into the body, and soaps and shampoos, which are not (though hair conditioner may be more akin to an ointment). In practice, I heard from R. Nachum Rabinovitch that he rules leniently regarding all products unfit for a dog’s consumption, as did his mentor, R. Pinchas Hirschprung. This is the opinion of R. Dov Lior as well.
In reality, the vast majority of cosmetic products produced in Israel do not contain wheat-derived alcohol. Even the majority of products produced abroad do not contain wheat-derived alcohol, since it is more expensive than potato-derived alcohol. However, a few products in fact contain wheat-derived alcohol, and according to the stringent views one should not use them on Pesaĥ. Still, when one has a product and is not sure whether it contains wheat-derived alcohol, even if he is normally stringent he may be lenient, based on a combination of several uncertainties and doubts.
Another issue arises regarding the use of products that contain wheat germ oil, which is a source of Vitamin E, since it is unclear whether liquids exuded by wheat are considered ĥametz. According to Rav Kook (Oraĥ Mishpat p. 129), even if these liquids are forbidden, they were already batel be-shishim before Pesaĥ and are not ĥozer ve-ne’or on Pesaĥ. Moreover, many authorities maintain that even if this liquid was considered ĥametz, since it is not fit for consumption it loses its status as ĥametz. Another issue arises regarding lotions, although it is not certain that wheat starch-based lotions are considered ĥametz, and moreover they are inedible. Therefore, in practice, one may be lenient and use any cosmetic product not fit for consumption. | 2023-04-11T12:34:31.114112+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:56:45Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,782 | 981 |
https://www.awaitingtheking.com/2018/07/ | Deputy U.S. Marshal Casey Sloane and her partner, Doug Howard, are tasked with escorting a reporter to testify before the grand jury, but the situation quickly escalates when a bomb goes off in the U.S. Marshals Office. An agent from Casey’s past, E.J. Queen, collaborates with Casey and Doug to protect the witness at all costs, and deliver her safely to the trial. The romantic tension between Casey and E.J. builds, along with the challenge of keeping the reporter safe, as the hirelings of a powerful man come against their team at every turn.
The first two books of the series are Fatal Frost, and Dark Deception. This book stands alone without confusion, but I could tell (having not read the beginning of the series) that some of the characters had appeared previously.
I expected more from this based on how much I’ve enjoyed some of Mehl’s other novels. It’s an okay story, with plenty of twists and turns, a quick pace, and would make a great lighthearted reading. However, the suspense was lacking, as was the character development (or perhaps the characters were developed more thoroughly in the first two books of the series?). Overall, I found this a little too predictable, and I could not connect with the characters.
What could be more exciting than a treasure-hunting curriculum full of stunning illustrations and photos?!
The students will go on four “quests”: Quest 1 begins with the student’s family, community, city, state, and country. Quest 2 travels around the Americas, Antarctica, and Africa. Quest 3 explores Canada, Russia, China, India, Indonesia, and Australia and Oceania. Quest 4 begins again in the USA, then goes to Greenland, Iceland, around Europe, and back “home” to the USA.
As students travel around the world, they will explore modes of transportation, cultures, languages, foods, wildlife, land features and habitats, traditions and responsibilities, weather, jobs/careers, water safety, time zones, continents, directions, and many other aspects of community, geography, and culture.
Students begin each quest with a clue card of questions to search for throughout the journey. The activities range from coloring, short answer, puzzles, copywork, oral discussion questions, vocab/spelling words, reading and drawing maps, and journaling. The curriculum is also biblically grounded, with Bible verses and stories throughout.
I most love the colorful pictures–this is a beautiful book (worth students having their own consumable copies)! I also appreciate the lighthearted adventure of learning, the age appropriateness, the strong faith element, and the honor of other cultures. Plus, everything is included within the single book (lesson plans, quizzes, answer key, etc.). And there are some great suggestions of (optional) field trips, for exploring aspects of community. I anticipate we will have a lot of fun with this!!
The worksheet sections are written for students who can write on manuscript ruled paper (K-2). Writing full sentences is not a requirement. Most questions could be answered in a single word or short statement. There is also copywork in every chapter to practice writing new words. This would be perfect for 1st-2nd grade, depending on the ability and interest of the student.
I’ll be using this with a kindergartener and a 3rd grader. The youngest will love it as is, and the writing will be a little easy for my 3rd grader, but I think he will be engaged by the subject matter.
We homeschool with a mix of Charlotte Mason and Classical methodologies (with Classical Conversations), and will be adding this as a supplement to CC Foundations Cycle 1 this coming year, which I expect will be a great complement considering its world-wide focus.
My Story 1 is a fun-loving curriculum, with lots of hands on exploration, and activity suggestions, which would fit well with Montessori, or other kinesthetic approaches. It has a large emphasis on oral and written narration, and story-telling, reminiscent of Charlotte Mason or other literature-based methodologies. It is also very comprehensive, without the heaviness of some Traditional programs.
Explore Master Books’ website here.
I received a complimentary copy of this curriculum from Master Books.
| 2023-04-11T12:35:03.021247+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:42:55Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,800 | 692 |
https://www.beaconhillstaffing.com/Employers/Resource-Center/Infographics/Energizing-the-workforce-3-amazing-careers-created-by-renewables | The clean energy sector is one of the fastest growing job markets in the U.S. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, renewables currently support 4 million jobs, with new opportunities appearing almost every day. As fossil fuel usage declines, more governments and organizations are taking advantage of clean energy sources like wind and solar.
As a result, there are many job titles today that did not exist just a decade previously. Positions like Smart Grid Engineer and Solar Panel Technician are becoming more common - and demand shows no signs of slowing down.
Recently, Forbes reported that solar energy is expected to be cost-competitive with coal by 2025, which indicates that job growth is likely to take off at an even higher rate within the next decade. Importantly, technician jobs in the solar energy sector don't require advanced degrees, and they tend to be safer than similar positions in wind energy.
Job seekers interested in working in renewable energy will have many options available to them outside of utilities companies. Renewables will support other industries, such as automobile manufacturing, which is increasingly shifting toward non-gas powered vehicles. According to Tesla, 23 states currently have tax incentive programs to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.
| 2023-04-11T12:35:03.978680+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:34:13Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,802 | 208 |
https://www.capitalfm.com/artists/kelly-rowland/news/beyonce-pregnancy/ | The 'Commander' singer wishes she could have spent more time with her "sister" and Destiny's Child band mate over the past year.
Kelly Rowland has admitted she regrets not being able to have spent more time with her Destiny's Child band mate Beyonce during the course of her pregnancy.
The 'What A Feeling' singer revealed that she will make time to see the expectant star who she still considers a "sister" over the holidays.
Speaking to Closer magazine, the singer said: "I'll see her over the holidays for sure, I wish I could have been around more for her pregnancy, but she understands. We've known each other so long now, we're like sisters."
Kelly has had a busy year with the release of her third studio album 'Here I Am' and taking up a seat at the judges table for the 2011 series of The X Factor.
The singer also admitted that she will be fully immersing herself in the festive spirit this year and considers herself to be "Miss Merry Christmas".
She confessed: "I am Miss Merry Christmas, I love Christmas! I am baking, I am decorating, I am cooking, I am making the hot cocoa... I love Christmas, I can't wait!"
Meanwhile, Beyonce's husband Jay-Z is taking his time to support his wife during the final stages of her pregnancy by adopting her diet.
Kelly also recently revealed that she may not be returning to The X Factor next year because she is yet to hear anything from Simon Cowell. | 2023-04-11T12:35:07.762313+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:59:00Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,806 | 261 |
https://www.ylva-publishing.com/product/if-looks-could-kill-the-law-game-book-5-by-andi-marquette/ | This is a light mystery with a faint hint of romance. It is a well written book with a simple but interesting story that keeps you reading to the end (even if only to make sure you guessed right). The story is told from Ellie’s perspective but still in third person and, as usual, Andi references some fantastic superhero (or heroes).
There is a good balance of dialogue and explanation/thinking so you don’t feel as if you were reading a text book rather than a fictional story. And, of course, some subtle humour in the mix.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope the author progress the story in a short series or at least a sequel.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the author for an honest review.
The writing in If Looks Could Kill is tight, the pacing is perfect, the plotting is excellent (and even left me surprised at one point), and it’s so much fun I immediately wanted more. This is only the second book I’ve read by Andi Marquette, but you can officially call me a fan.
It’s worth noting that while this isn’t a romance novel, there is a romantic thread that works very well and is left at an appropriate place that is true to the rest of the book.
If you’re looking for a fun mystery with a lot of action, look no further. If Looks Could Kill will keep you interested from the first page to the last.
I received a free copy from the publisher for an honest review at The Lesbian Review.
Simply put, I really enjoyed this one, and that’s the honest truth.
It’s not a heavy crime thriller, I’d say it’s more TV show level on the thriller part – but I was happy to go with it as I got to know undercover cop Ellie and the more elusive Marya. This isn’t a mark down, it’s just on the lighter side which is what I needed at the time.
Ellie is working on a case involving Russian mobsters who may have a link in the fashion world. Enter gorgeous Marya, head of a top fashion house and seemingly friends with many of those mobsters. Ellie gets an internship at the fashion house to keep an eye on Marya, and the sparks start to fly. Well, they’re flying all around Ellie, but Marya is the untouchable ice dragon boss lady with possible Russian mob ties. What’s an undercover cop to do?
I kept getting confused with all the Russian bad guys, but that’s because my full attention was on Ellie and Marya. More than once I was shouting “Just kiss her already!” when I should have been following along with the crime plot. But I was fully immersed in the story as we wonder whether Marya is a good gal or a bad gal, and whether that kiss will ever come. It’s not a romance novel, so there’s no mushy “love” involved, and neither is there a dramatic happily ever after, but it ends the way a crime novel should and on a very satisfying note at that.
This is part of the Law Game series by Ylva Publishing, a series by different authors with only the shared theme of “law”, so I don’t know if Andi is planning on writing any future books about Ellie. But I’d be happy to read more of her crime-fighting adventures, and also to find out more about her ex Gwen – after all, there was some sort of future drinks date that we never get to see in this book.
So let’s see: Intricate exciting crime thriller – check! Very likable main characters (male and female) – check! Sparks between two beautiful, strong, successful women – check! One A+++ sex scene – CHECK! And a hope that I might get more Ellie in the future… this is all I need to rate it 5 stars.
In the spirit of honesty, I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. So here it is.
By the time I hit the club scene at Lucky, I was pretty comfortable in my expectations of the story. It had been an interesting read, I thought I knew what was going down.
Tropes and expectations are turned inside out, split and stacked in this story, and without excessive handling. It’s not until you look back that you realize how well the author has done this.
I just about spit my drink at the screen while trying not to choke on laughter and juice. I love it when a story can make me laugh, and this one did, time and time again. The humour ranged from sarcastic to understated to all out try-not-to-laugh. The dialogue was quick and punchy, which I love. I don’t need to be told who is speaking all the time, and Andi wields mastery of dialogue like so few authors do these days. An absolute plus in my books.
The sexual tension was built slowly, but with resistance. It struck me as a dance with deadly props. I didn’t see the big reveal coming, and I really appreciated that. It made the ending so much sweeter.
I’m going to miss these characters. I’m so glad I read ‘If Looks Could Kill’. Give it a chance and you might find you enjoy it!
This book was not for me. I thought it was boring, it seemed like a wanna be cop drama. The writing was okay, but it was just the content that bored me. Andi Marquette has another book that I would like to try, it’s a different kind of book entirely, and I’m willing to give it a shot.
If Looks Could Kill, just didn’t get off the ground in my opinion. Yes, there was action and a bit of suspense, but it still dragged. I can usually tell if a books will be good or not after the first few pages, this one raised familiar red flags that signaled dud.
I hope Andi Marquette’s other books are better.
Andi Marquette never fails to deliver the perfect recipe for intrigue and romance… or anything else she writes, for that matter. And is par for her, she left me wanting more story about these characters.
| 2023-04-11T12:36:02.791994+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:44:06Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,853 | 1,080 |
http://martinuscosmologypodcast.libsyn.com/2017/06 | Who are we? What is our place in existence? Is there life in the universe and in the microcosmos of our bodies? In the second episode of the Martinus Cosmology Podcast, Mary McGovern from Scotland and Colleen Turoczy from England talk about central aspects of the Danish writer Martinus' world picture.
They reflect on the questions that they had when they first encountered Martinus' works, and discuss the answers that can be found in Martinus' literature on, among other things, our development towards becoming real human beings, the importance of vegetarian food, the role of Christ and other world redeemers, the world situation today and much more.
The podcast episode is moderated by Pernilla Rosell (Sweden). It was recorded in a summer cottage in the Martinus Centre, Klint, at the end of the summer season, 2016.
Martinus' literature is available online on the Martinus Institute''s website: www.martinus.dk/en. Here, you can also find information about the international summer courses at the Martinus Centre in Klint in Denmark. | 2023-04-11T12:37:03.536745+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:25:52Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,861 | 171 |
http://www.lifeofpottering.co.uk/2019/06/a-week-on-llyn-peninsular-6-nant.html | Welcome to the last in my series of posts about our visit to The Llyn Peninsular in North Wales back at the beginning of May. I have to say it is making me more than a little wistful looking back at the clear blue skies, sunshine and sea views ... maybe our summer really is just around the corner ... we can but hope.
We decided to have a drive to Nant Gwrtheyrn ... it was another of the places that we'd seen on this blog post. It's home to the Welsh Language Centre and is also known as 'the forgotten village', but not really having done any research beforehand we didn't really have any idea what to expect.
The drive in was pretty impressive. We passed the top car park which said it was a 25 minute walk and thought that sounded a bit much for us, especially seeing as how high up we still were, so decided to follow the road and see if we could park at the bottom.
We are so glad we did, we certainly wouldn’t have been up for walking down and definitely not for walking back up. The views on the way down were fabulous ...
... and the road was a real adventure to drive down ...
There is a small car park at the bottom and it is an absolutely beautiful spot ... really tranquil. We parked up by the row of old quarry men's cottages ...
We started off in the old chapel where there is an exhibition telling the story of the quarrying village of Port Nant and the development of the Welsh Language School. It was fascinating and really humbling to think about how the residents of the tiny village would have managed back in the day ... they must have been made of hardy stuff.
There are some fabulous views out across the coast ...
We would loved to have had the chance for a walk down to the beach, but we didn't have time today, definitely one for a re-visit ...
We did have chance for a pit stop in the cafe in the cafe though, with a view to pretty much die for ...
The sun did manage to put in a brief, but very welcome, appearance as we had a wander round the rest of the site ...
... and a quick nosy inside one of the old cottages ...
We stayed for just over an hour in total, but definitely want to go back and have a look down at the beach, where more of the old quarry workings can be found.
I just had to get Martin to stop for a photo on the way back up ... good job the clutch was in full working order though ...
| 2023-04-11T12:37:46.628461+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:24:24Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,877 | 458 |
https://www.azonano.com/experts.aspx?iExpertID=99 | Wayne Goodman joined the faculty of the Chemistry Department at Texas A&M in 1988 where is currently Distinguished Professor and the Robert A. Welch Chair. Previously he was Head of the Surface Science Division at Sandia National Laboratories. He is the recipient of the Ipatieff Award of the American Chemical Society in 1983, the Colloid and Surface Chemistry Award of the American Chemical Society in 1993, the Yarwood Medal of the British Vacuum Society in 1994, a Humboldt Research Award in 1995, a Distinguished Research Award of Texas A&M University in 1997, the Giuseppe Parravano Award in 2001, the Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award in 2002, and the Gabor A. Sormorjai Award for Creative Research in Catalysis of the American Chemical Society in 2005. In 2008 he was the recipient of the JoAnn Treat Research Excellence Award of the TAMU Research Foundation and in 2009 the Distinguished Scientist Award of Sigma Xi. In 2009 he was also appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.
His research interests are directed toward the study of catalytic reactions on atomically clean and chemically modified surfaces using the full complement of modern surface science techniques. The materials being investigated include metal single crystals, oxide thin films, and metal clusters supported on thin oxide films.
| 2023-04-11T12:39:33.739423+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:13:54Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,924 | 239 |
https://www.nrtoday.com/news/environment/judge-recommends-denying-defendants-motions-in-climate-case/article_2d7185d7-0da0-58e2-9a98-f24dd3f90ca3.html | Showers early becoming less numerous later in the day. High 46F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..
In this photo from April 22, Alex Loznak, one of the youth plaintiffs, stands outside the U.S. Supreme Court.
Several of the youth plaintiffs stand outside the U.S. Supreme Court during a press conference attended by both Oregon senators. Jacob Lebel of Douglas County, fifth from left, is one of the 21 plaintiffs.
The President Donald Trump administration and fossil fuel industry sought an early appeal in the Juliana v. United States climate case, and motioned to put the upcoming trial on hold if the appeal was granted. Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin recommended denial of the defendants’ motions.
The case is one of several brought forth by youth across the country who are suing the federal government for violating their constitutional rights by knowingly contributing to climate change.
“This is a great victory for our team and the youth of Oregon and across the country,” said Alex Loznak of Douglas County, one of the 21 youth plaintiffs and a student at Columbia University in New York.
Loznak said Judge Coffin restated many of the conclusions he and Honorable District Judge Ann Aiken have already reached on the case. Though the defendants argued climate change is not an issue for the courts, Coffin’s ruling reiterates that the constitution does not delegate climate change to any one branch of government.
Coffin compared the climate trial, which is set for late summer or early fall, to other famous cases that tested science in court, like Copernicus’ heliocentric theory or the teaching of evolution in the Scopes trial.
Loznak said he’s looking forward to collecting supporting evidence this summer. He added he recently found evidence the John F. Kennedy administration was aware of human-caused climate change in the early 1960s.
The youth’s case also asks the court to block the Jordan Cove LNG project and pipeline in southwestern Oregon. Though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission previously denied the project, it’s back on the table. Trump is planning to appoint new members of FERC and Trump’s economic advisor, Garry Cohn, has publicly said he favors the pipeline. In that context, Loznak said Coffin’s recommendation is a ray of hope for the community and for young people in Oregon and across the country.
The Trump administration and fossil fuel industry defendants have until May 15 to file written objections to Judge Coffin’s recommendations with the court. The youth’s attorneys will have 14 days from when those objections are filed to respond.
Several of the plaintiffs joined the People’s March for Climate in Washington, D.C., Saturday and held a press conference at the U.S. Supreme Court, where four U.S. senators were in attendance.
| 2023-04-11T12:40:18.935347+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:06:36Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,946 | 477 |
https://www.piratesprospects.com/dany-hernandez | Hernandez comes from Cuba, a talent pool that the Pirates have largely ignored due to their unwillingness to compete financially for talent. Hernandez was their first Cuban signing in six years. He played at least two years in the Cuban National Series, which is that nation’s major league, and was working out in the Dominican Republic when the Pirates signed him. The last of Hernandez’ Cuban seasons was 2013, when he was 22. Hernandez put up just passable stats, with a 3.70 ERA and 1.44 WHIP, and a remarkably low K/9 of 3.4. He’s never been noted as a prospect of any significance and his bonus of $30,000 indicates that he’s probably not. He has good size, but there was almost no information about him at the time he signed.
Hernandez pitched in a couple games in the GCL in July, then moved to Bristol. He got hammered in six outings there and didn’t pitch after early August.
There may have been some adjustment problems for Hernandez, but he was pitching in rookie ball at age 26. He’ll obviously be a project. | 2023-04-11T12:40:24.544151+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:14:48Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,951 | 193 |
http://www.meadhbh.me/2018/01/03/projects-for-2018/ | Comics and Podcasts Oh My: I am turning two novels of mine into scripts. This Ain’t No Fairy Story will probably come out first, if I can find an artist (or get comfortable with doing the art myself) as a webcomic, which I’ve always thought would suit the story and characters. And I am considering turning Breathing Whisky, my Southern Gothic Noir series, into a podcast drama series. Though the latter will probably be easier to produce with the equipment and capabilities I already have, the story itself is less ready to go, so it will take some time before I’m ready or willing to move it into production.
Patreon: I started a Patreon last year before the world went completely sideways, but haven’t actually made use of it. But starting in January, I’m going to be seriously working on it, putting out one story per month somewhere around the 15th of each month. So now would be a good time to subscribe if you want to read them!
Blogging: The code word of the year will be More. More book reviews. More writing discussions, more blogging. More. I am going to aim for at least one post per week, but trying for three per week, with a posting schedule of MWF at 10:00 AM (EST).
I am going to be drawing up both some knitting patterns and some counted cross-stitch patterns (and possibly kits) to sell on Etsy as a few folks have expressed a desire for them. A few may also be released here for free on my blog.
All of these things require time, which is in short supply. Given a choice between crafting and writing in that limited time I have, I’m going to focus on my writing. I won’t, therefore, be taking commissions for crafted things this year.
The two themes of the year this year will be FINISHING THINGS, but also SELF CARE. I need to remember to take care of myself because if I don’t take care of myself I get overwhelmed and stressed and I can’t take care of my mom, or my partner, or my pets, or my house. It sometimes feels selfish and indulgent to do so, but I will be trying to take time out for myself, even if I have to write it into my schedule.
I want to get serious about fixing up the farmhouse. There are a few projects that need to be done, a few repairs that need to be completed. The kitchen painting needs to be finished, and the bathroom painting needs to be done entirely. I also want to get started on fixing up the front living room. New laminate on the floors, new paint on the walls, furniture. I have a vision in place and want to see it done. This, of course, requires more of that time and a good bit of money, so if ya’ll want to help out – subscribe to my Patreon or buy things from my shop. You can also help out by buying things through affiliate links on this blog.
I hope you do better, 2018.
| 2023-04-11T12:42:47.413770+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:34:54Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 342,988 | 532 |
https://patents.justia.com/patent/9602679 | A system for distributing data that represents and can be converted into a physical object such as a printed photograph or three-dimensional “3D printed” object provides a variety of user controls to direct the flow of data and restrict the use of consumable supplies.
This is an original U.S. patent application that claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/945,278 filed 27 Feb. 2014.
The invention relates to methods and systems for processing, transmitting and rendering electronic data into a permanent physical object. More specifically, the invention relates to systems for constructing two- and/or three-dimensional physical artifacts from data acquired and transmitted through a network comprising nodes having predetermined social relationships.
Today, more photographs are taken than any time in history. With the advent of Smartphones, users have an increasingly capable camera platform which they carry with them everywhere they go. Photos are taken quickly and easily, and because Smartphones are connected to the internet via cellular or Wi-Fi technology, those images are shared with family and friends through a number of services. Images can be emailed, added to text messages, or shared via popular social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
While more images are being captured than ever, fewer are being printed. There are many reasons for this. While it is easy to share images with family and friends via the internet, it is not always easy, straightforward, or convenient to get the images off of your phone and printed.
Home printers are typically complex multipurpose devices. In order to satisfy the largest number of possible user needs, printers today are festooned with multiple interfaces (USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, etc.), and support a host of different standard protocols to maximize their compatibility with various applications. They are designed to use papers of various sizes and types, support one-sided or two-sided printing, and leverage multiple paper sources. In addition, there are many special software applications provided by printer manufacturers to enable a large variety of print applications. As a result of this, printers tend to be large complicated devices that stay one place in the home. They are difficult to setup and users tend to take advantage of only a small subset of their features. On top of this, the user must have a variety of consumables on hand to support different printing applications: different sizes and types of paper, collections of ink and toner cartridges, and so on.
Because of all of this complexity, many users just don't know how to print photos from their phones, or find the process so inconvenient, awkward or time consuming, that they seldom make the effort.
Another photographic concept that was common in the past was the idea of “instant printing”. This involved the use of cameras with special print film that was designed to self-develop in seconds, directly providing a print. Polaroid was famous for its line of cameras that produced instant prints. There was something special and fun about the ability to produce an instant print from a moment that was captured. While photography is often used to record life events, the immediate gratification of the instant print often became the stimuli and focus of a social event. Friends involved in taking pictures of themselves and instantly looking at the results create enjoyable and fun moments that help to drive and enhance social interactions. Such prints were often given to individuals at the gathering as a keepsake of their fun moments together. These were real and lasting tokens of social exchange, not virtual ones.
While many older users have grown up in a time where hardcopy prints of your images was a common experience, the younger generation has grown up in a world where such prints are increasingly rare. The concept of an “instant print” is even rarer still, and something that is just not part of their common experience.
Instead, imaging experiences are typically based upon softcopy images viewed on their computer or their Smartphone and shared with family and friends via a collection of communication vehicles and social media sites. This in itself has created new forms of rich social sharing. Images, and the comments associated with them, have become the new tokens of social exchange and a core aspect of modern social media. Users can share moments of their day with a network of friends and have them respond to their images, and even share images of their own. This mechanism acts to nurture relationships in a way that was not possible in the days before the internet, when the only way to share images was through hardcopy prints.
While Social Media sharing is a positive experience for many people, at the end of the day, this sharing is ephemeral. Images are shared and forgotten. Screen images last for mere moments and then are gone. Sharing happens often, but ultimately is a fuzzy and intangible experience that is sometimes drowned out by the sheer volume of images being shared within larger social networks.
While the value of softcopy images as part of the social networking experience is significant, such softcopy images are less useful when considering an actual gathering of friends in real life. While images certainly add a fun element to any group interaction, today this is not a convenient process. At best, a small image can be produced on a phone screen, and to be shared with the group, the phone must be passed around. Given the attachment people have with their cell phones, not to mention the personal and sensitive data that they likely hold, passing the phone around to a group is not always a comfortable experience. Imagine if it were possible to make instant prints from images on your phone? These prints could easily be passed around by a group, and copies could be given a way as keepsakes.
It is a goal of the current invention to enable people to easily and conveniently make prints, and in some settings, to allow for “Instant Prints”. It is a further goal of this invention to enhance the social media experience by allowing for the sharing of something that is not just a stream of electrons—but rather a token of social exchange that is tangible and has existence and use after the phone is turned off.
The current invention is designed to address the problems of personal printing by creating a simple appliance printer and supporting system that is easy to setup and use from your phone or other smart device. The printer can be left at home or some other convenient location (for example a hotel room while on vacation) and be printed to remotely. It can also be carried with you and used to print anywhere at any time, once again offering the capability of having “Instant prints”.
In addition, it is a goal of the current invention to allow access to the printer by others in your group of family and friends (with your control and approval), by using a common social networking “follower” metaphor to uniquely enable this access. In this way, the user can send images to distant family and friends for printing and social sharing. Rather than competing with current social media stalwarts, it is designed to complement the experiences they offer by adding output capability that now does not exist. The current invention also supports a broadcast printing model that lets those with large followings to share something tangible with that group. For example, a pop star could share a moment from their day with their fan base by sending a personalized image [or meme] that has just been taken to the printers of their followers.
The result is a Socially Networked Portable Output System that allows prints and other possible outputs to once again play an integral role in an individual's personal and on-line social life. The Socially Networked Portable Output System will be hereby referred to as “The System”.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention is focused on photographic printing, it should be recognized that the larger pattern here is focused on “Personal and Socially Networked and Distributed Fabrication”. It is the ability to deliver an electronic pattern to a device which then fabricates something tangible and real. This pattern can be sent by the user to their own fabrication device, or they can send it to devices belonging to others, or even a large group of followers, thus leveraging a network effect.
In this context, “resolution” is defined as the smallest spatial detail that can be measured for a given output system. For a photographic print, this might the ability to detect the gap in a line pair with a given separation. It should be clear that this can include color effects. For example, a line pair can be black, or it could have one line of a given color and second line of a different color. Various output devices will have different abilities to re-create such line pairs, and thereby have a different resolution capability. From this it can be seen that resolution also involves the ability to recreate patterns and textures as well as absolute colors. For a 3D printer, resolution characteristics will impact the ability of an output device to achieve a precise physical dimension or to re-create patterns or textures or colors with a given frequency response.
The fabrication device essentially takes electronic data and turns it into a Keepsake that is real and tangible. There are many such possible keepsakes and many different types of fabrication devices which are possible. Up until this point, printers have been discussed, but it can be easily seen that such a system could support many different output devices. Examples could include stereographic printers, 3D printers, plastic molding devices, laser etchers, etc., which can produce Keepsakes of many different forms.
For the purposes of this discussion, it is useful to define what is meant by the term “3D Printer”. While in the common usage, the term “3D Printer” typically refers to a device that constructs three dimensional objects from Computer Aided Design (i.e. CAD) files through an additive process where the object defined as series of virtual layers and the output device fabricates the described object by adding material, one layer at a time, starting from the bottom and working its way up until the object has been built-up to completion. However, for the purposes of this invention, the term “3D Printing” will be used in a more expansive fashion to include all devices that allow for the creation of a three dimensional object through either an additive (where material is built-up to create the object) or subtractive (where material is removed from a blank of material in a process like of etching, milling, carving, or molding). In this usage, the output device can deal with a wide variety of possible materials when replicating a keepsake including plastics, polymers, wood, metals, ceramics, etc.
Using a variety of such output devices, users can extend the social networking experience so that items shared become ‘real’, tangible, and have existence beyond the softcopy screen. Such Keepsakes are tokens of social exchange that can have value that is both significant and lasting.
While the word “printer” will continue to be used at times in describing the current invention, it should now be understood that “printer” should be thought of in the larger context of an output device capable of the fabrication, manufacture or replication of some Keepsake that has physical existence and persistence.
Different output devices will have different inherent capabilities and therefore their ability to produce an exact replica is limited by those capabilities. However the intent is that Keepsakes produced will be similar but not exact representations. For example, two printers may have different print resolutions but the prints coming from each printer will produce an image with the same recognizable scene to the user.
In some cases, the diverse capabilities of various output devices make it desirable to create and send out “different” Keepsake datasets, where this difference consists of a customization of the dataset for the properties of the output device. Rather than sending a dataset that has more information than can be used by the device during fabrication, it is often advantageous for the system to render a dataset that has just the information needed for a particular replicator to achieve its replication goals. The advantage here often takes the form of more efficient data transfer and storage. For example, a 2×3 inch 300 dpi printer will require less pixel information than a 4×6 inch 300 dpi printer. A single color material 3D printer will require less information than a 3D printer that supports different color media output. The fundamental issue here is dealing with differences in the how the Keepsake is defined within the dataset based upon customizing it for the output device capability.
FIG. 1 shows a flow chart for Remote Personal Printing use case.
FIG. 2 shows a flow chart for the Mobile Instant Printing use case.
FIG. 3 shows a flow chart for the Third Party Social Network Printing use case.
FIG. 4 shows a flow chart for the Scalable Broadcast Output use case.
FIG. 5 shows the elements or building blocks of the Socially Networked Distributed Printing System.
FIG. 6 shows a diagram of the high level architectural design the Socially Network Distributed Printing System.
FIG. 7 shows a flow chart for the distributed manufacturer of a Keepsake.
FIG. 8 shows possible functional allocations for supporting Output Device Logical control.
FIG. 9 shows a network flow chart for controlling the process of Broadcast Fabrication of Keepsakes from the Cloud Services point of view.
FIG. 10 shows s flow chart for fabricating a Keepsake from the Output Device's point of view.
FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing a method according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 12 shows components of a system according to an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 13 shows the output of an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing a portion of a method performed by an embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 20 shows an example request employed in an embodiment of the invention.
To understand the scope and applications of the current invention, it is useful to review in detail some of the fundamental use cases it is designed to support.
The first two use cases focus on one-to-one Output. In these cases, we have a user who is selecting their own content for output onto their own printer. The first case, the Output Device is remote, and in the second case, it in the possession of the user.
In this case, as represented in FIG. 1, the user sets up their printer and leaves it at some remote location. As they go about their day, they can send an image to their printer with a single click on their Smartphone using a special application.
In the preferred embodiment, this output device is small and easily moved from location to location. As such, the output device can be setup and left at home or easily taken to a different location and left there. In practice, the Output Device can be left anywhere where there is a power supply and a Wi-Fi zone that it can be connected to. For example, the Output Device could be brought to the office and left there, or when on vacation, it would be left in a hotel room.
The image the user chooses for output could be one that has been just taken (FIG. 1, item 120), or any image that is available to them on their Smartphone or smart device. The image can sent as it is, or can be modified (FIG. 1, items 130 and 140) by the user before sending. This modification could include cropping, adding borders, adding captions that can be printed within the borders, and a host of other customizations.
At the same time, the user also has the option of having the System post this image to social media of their choice (FIG. 1, items 160 and 170). If an image is worth printing, it may be worth sharing with friends and family. This mechanism allows the printing of output to be linked with their other social media behaviors. This posting can have comments or captions and will also contain a special hash tag indicating the source of the image posting is from the System (for example “#Lifeprint”, where Lifeprint is a specific brand).
The Smartphone application will also allow the user to know the state of the output device. Given that the Output Device is in a remote location, this feature is an important tool for managing the remote resource. For example, in the case of a printer, it will tell them how many pages of media are still available for output so the user can make good decisions around the use of their remote printer. It can also tell them when the output device is having a problem which requires attention, for example in the case of a paper jam or in the case of a 3D printer, that it is out of the raw media that the finished product will be fabricated from.
In this case, as represented in FIG. 2, the user sets up his new printer, charges (or adds) the printer's batteries, and takes the printer with them as they go about their day. At anytime and at any place the user can decide to make an instant print.
In the preferred embodiment, the Output Device is small, portable; battery powered, and designed to be used in a mobile application. The Output Device can be taken out when printing is desired. Other forms of the Output Device are designed to be used in real-time as they are carried in a backpack, bag, or purse. They are designed to print in any physical orientation and collect output so that jamming or output damaged is prevented.
When used in the mobile mode, the Output Device is controlled by the Smartphone or other Smart Personal Device using a short range wireless network such as Bluetooth. In this way, the Smart Personal Device acts a direct controller of the Output Device, while also maintaining a connection to the broader System by leveraging its Wi-Fi or cellular internet connection.
If the printer is not already on, the user turns it on, and then selects the image they want to print. This image can be one they just took or one that was already available on the Smartphone. The image can be printed as it is, or can be modified by cropping, adding borders, and adding captions that can be printed on the borders, and a host of other customizations.
At the same time, the user will have the option of automatically posting this image to social media of their choice. This posting will have comments or captions and will also contain a special hash tag indicating the source of the image posting (for example “#Lifeprint”).
The phone application will also allow the user to know the state of printer. For example, it will tell them how many pages of media are still available and the current state of the battery charge so the user can manage his remote printer utilization.
The next two use cases focus on One-to-Many Output applications. In these cases, we have a user who is sending their content to Output Devices that are owned by others. The user could be sharing with one person, or many.
In this case, as represented in FIG. 3, the user sends output to Output Devices owned by others, or (viewed from the receiving side) others can send images to your Output Device. People who own an Output Device can choose to “Follow” others. Individuals can use a Smartphone application to share images with their “Followers.” In this case, the well known social media “Follower” model has been combined with Output Devices to form a Network of Socially Connected Output Devices.
A new Output Device owner would set up their device and then identify those individuals they would like to “Follow”. The System supports a search function that allows other members of the System to be found. Searches can be made using real names, the System User ID, or the User ID's associated with different Social Media sites that users have listed in their profile. A list of people found that meet the search criteria is displayed, and the user can view the person's profile (if permissions have been set to allow this) or they can chose to “Follow” a given person (FIG. 3, item 304).
If the person they would like to follow does not have an account with the System, they can send that person an invitation with a link to join the System so that they may be “followed.” The contact list on the Smartphone can be used to facilitate these external invitations. If the person invited joins the System, the inviter is notified and has the option of following the new user.
The person being followed does not need to own a printer to participate. Instead they simply install an application and create an account. In some cases, the person being followed gets a follower request and has the option of approving those individuals that join the ranks of followers (FIG. 3, item 301). In other models, anyone can follow anyone else, and no requests or approvals are required.
Once someone has followers, they can choose to send an image to those followers. They may have one follower or many. They can send the image to all of their followers, or selected sub group, or to a single chosen individual. A unique aspect of the preferred embodiment is that follower's Output Devices can be reached directly when the devices are statically connected to the internet with a Wi-Fi connection, or indirectly when they are in a mobile mode, being carried about by their owners.
The image shared can be one they just took (FIG. 3, item 305) or one that was already available on their Smartphone. The image can be printed as it is, or can be modified (FIG. 3, items 306 and 307) by cropping, adding borders, and adding captions that can be printed on the borders, or a host of other customizations.
At the same time, the user will have the option of automatically posting this image to social media of their choice. This posting will have comments or captions that they have provided and will also contain a special hash tag indicating the source of the image posting (for example “#Lifeprint”).
The Output Device owner will get a notification that someone they are following has sent an image to their device for output (FIG. 3, item 312). At this point they have several options. They can approve the image for output (FIG. 3, items 313 and 314), they can save the image on their Smartphone, or they can decide they do not want to either print or save it, and the image is deleted. In any case, the sender will often only know that the shared image was received—they may not know what the follower has done with the image.
The follower also has an opportunity to automatically post the received image to a selected social media site. They can add comments and responses to the printed image, and the posted image will be tagged with those comments and well as a special hash tag indicating the source of the image posting (for example “#Lifeprint”)—in addition the “@” operator symbol can be used to direct the response to the sender of the image.
This mechanism of posting and adding comments or responses is very important. When a person shares something with others, they are offering some token of social exchange. They have “put themselves out there”, and they expect some form or response or reaction. It is important for the sharer have some emotional payoff for the sharing done. The most common form of “payoff” is a reaction by receiver. This acknowledges the sharing and helps reinforce social bonds by completing the exchange. This can be accomplished by leveraging existing communication or social media channels, or by directly supporting it within the System. Auto posting can to social media can be done by both the sender and receiver of images, facilitating social media interactions that provide feedback and allow the System to play an integrated roll in the on-line social life of their users.
There are times when it is useful to exert greater control over what is done with content shared with a follower network. Perhaps the sharer would like the follower to have a print, but would not like them to be able to save the image and use if for other purposes. Or perhaps the user would like to limit the number of prints that could be made from the image. The System provides support for constrained output requests that allow this greater control to be exerted over shared content.
This case, represented in FIG. 4, is similar to the previous case but is greatly expanded in scale. For example, a celebrity or some other public figure may have a large number of followers (i.e. a fan club), but they still have the option of sharing an image with their large follower network.
A celebrity can take a picture during their day and share that moment with their following. Followers get a tangible print from the celebrity and can feel a direct connection to them. This kind of exchange has significant value for all involved. For the person being followed, it provides an opportunity to interact with their follower base in a way that provides their followers with something tangible. They can do this with little or no cost.
From the follower's point of view, they get a chance to connect with someone they want to follow in a very personal way. A celebrity can send a special moment from their day directly to them, providing them with a print and a keepsake. The cost to the follower is the simply cost of print, mere pennies.
From a business perspective, the cost of offering this service is more offset by the cumulative burn of media from such broad distributive actions.
The sharer could be a celebrity, a politician, a sports figure, a sports team franchise, a performer—the list of potential Scalable Broadcast users is large.
The Sharer chooses to send an image to their followers. The image they share can be one they just took or one that was already available on their camera. The image can be printed as it is, or can be modified by cropping, adding borders, and adding captions that can be printed on the borders, or a host of other customizations. They can also add overlays, corporate logos, branding information, etc. At the same time, the celebrity will have the option of posting this image to social media of their choice. This posting will have comments or captions that they have provided and will also contain a special hash tag indicating the source of the image posting (for example “#Lifeprint”). Because of the scale of the follower network, the sharer may get a status report updating the progress of distribution to his follower base.
From the Follower's point of view the experience identical to the previous case. The printer owner will get a notification that someone they are following has sent an image to their Output Device. They can approve the image for printing, they can save the image on their phone, or they can decide they do not want to either print or save it, and the image is deleted. In any case, the sender may know that the shared image was received—but they may not know what the receiver has done with the image. The Follower also has an opportunity to automatically post this image to a selected social media site. They can add comments and responses to the printed image, and the posted image will be tagged with those comments and well as a special hash tag indicating the source of the image posting (for example “#Lifeprint”)—in addition the “@” operator symbol can be sued to direct the response to the sender of the image.
The concept of a Constrained Output Request can have great value with this use case. The content shared by large scale Broadcast printers may have copyright or branding issues involved, or the sender may wish to constrain the nature of shared output to maximize the perceived value of the output sent. In these cases, having the ability to share output in modes such as “Print Only”, “Print Once”, or “Print Now” can play a significant role.
Creating output for your personal use is fairly simple. Posting output for your entire group of followers is also fairly simple. It begins to get more involved if you wish to share content with a smaller subgroup of your followers. One way to support posting content to a smaller group is to add names, one at a time, of the individuals that you wish to include. Another way to accomplish this is to review a scrolling list of your followers, clicking on those in that list you wish to receive the shared content. If you have a large list of followers, this process can become tedious and inefficient.
To facilitate this process, the System allows the user to create Sharing Groups. Sharing Groups are predefined distribution lists that represent selected subsets of your followers. For example, a person might define one Sharing Group to cover their direct family members, another covering their high school friends, and another covering their college friends. The Sharing Groups definitions are stored as part of the user profile and can be reviewed and edited at any time by the Smart Personal Device application.
Sharing Groups can be used within the System and also used as a reference when interacting with users outside of the System. For example, an Auto Post to an external Social Network might be influenced by the Sharing Group that is selected.
The typical use of a follower network is for the person being followed to share content with their followers. This is the one-to-many model. However, it is possible to have a circumstance where this model can be inverted and used in a many-to-one mode.
In this case, a follower (someone who owns an Output Device) could send an “invitation” to those they follow requesting that output of some specific nature be sent their Output Devices.
The invitation could come from an internal messaging feature of the System, but could equally well be handled by leveraging one of many existing communication channels such as email, text messaging, or social media postings.
For example, let us say that a user was recently at their daughter's music recital and wanted to make a scrapbook documenting that event. The user could send an “invitation” to members of their network (people they follow) that were also at the recital, asking them to send pictures taken of the daughter for use in the scrapbook. In this way, many people being followed could send input to one specific printer.
The method of sending and receiving this content is identical to the other use cases already described. The difference here is how the sharing is initiated, and the resulting sharing pattern from this request.
This model could be used in the Scalable Broadcast Output model as well. For example, a celebrity could have a contest where they invite their followers to show what they did with previously shared content. The followers would take pictures of the creative things they have done with the keepsakes the celebrity has shared in the past and send those in. The winning images from the contest are Broadcast Printed to the follower network. In this fashion, a celebrity can engage with his follows, followers feel they are engaged with the celebrity, and winners are singled out and get celebrity attention, as well as the attention of the following network.
Given the four primary use case modes defined, it should be noted that combinations of these modes are also possible. For example a user might want to print out an image for their own personal use, but at the same time they might want to share this with either a small group, or in other cases a very larger group (Broadcast Output). The ability to combine these modalities creates a more efficient workflow for the user, thus a more positive experience.
From a system implementation perspective, the net effect of these combined modes to create a type of “Cloning” effect. The behavior of one Output Device is echoed by the actions of a group of Output Devices. This “Cloning” of behaviors creates a distributed form of fabrication that can be extremely powerful for those cases where the scale is large.
Having reviewed the objective of current invention, one can begin to consider the design of a system that would provide these desired experiences. First we can consider the fundamental elements of the system, as seen in FIG. 5.
This a portable device (FIG. 5 item 510) which has a combination of computing power, digital storage, wireless networking capability, internet access and onboard sensing resources such as a camera, GPS, etc. The best and most common example of this today is the modern Smartphone, however other devices such as min-tablets, and full-size tablets and others would also be suitable in this application.
Cloud Services, as represented in FIG. 5 Item 500, are Cloud-based resources that play key roles in enabling a system of devices to connect and interact to produce the desired overall system experience.
Output devices, as represented in FIG. 5 item 520, are keepsake fabrication units that take a digital file pattern and create something that is tangible and has physical existence and persistence. Preferably, such devices should be simple appliances, specialized to do specific form of output and are portable in nature. Photographic Printers, Stereo Printers, 3D Printers, CD-Rom Burners are examples, but they are many such output devices that exist today and will exist in the future that would fit this category.
The previously listed elements are connected to form a network, as represented in FIG. 5, where the connections (FIG. 5, items 530, 540, and 550) are preferably wireless in nature. Different forms of wireless connections can be used for various applications. In the current embodiment, the Output Device Connects to the Smart Personal Device (FIG. 5 item 550) with a Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth is used because it is commonly supported, low in cost, has low power consumption, and has sufficient bandwidth for photographic printing application. The Output Device connects with the Cloud (FIG. 5 item 540) via Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi connectivity is fast, commonly available, and used in circumstances where the Output Device is likely to be plugged into a wall socket rather than running on batteries. The Smart Personal Device connects to the Cloud (FIG. 5 Item 530) in one of two modes: Wi-Fi can be used when it is available, or a cellular connection when Wi-Fi is not available. Not all connections are active at the same time, nor are they required to be.
The Output Pattern File (FIG. 5, item 560) represents a digital representation of the desired output and is sent to the Output Device. This file contains all of the data necessary to enable the Output Device to fabricate the desired output. In the case of a photographic printer, this would consist of a digital image file. Different output devices will require different pattern files.
Elements of the system must be combined in a way to create an effective system. The System Architecture is a specific set of design choices made for how this combination will occur. It is often best to decide on a series of overarching design principles when considering architectural choices.
There are three primary locations where functionality and storage for our system can be hosted: the Smart Personal Device, the Cloud, and the Output Device.
Functionality can be easily hosted in the Cloud; however the compute, storage, and bandwidth costs when located here constitute an ongoing expense that is incurred for a long as the System is supported. These costs must be covered by a business model.
Functionality in the Output Device will increase unit manufacturing costs and will have an effect on either the market price point or the margins for that offering.
Functionality placed in the Personal Smart Device will drive slightly higher development costs but can greatly minimize ongoing operational costs. The Personal Smart Device constitutes a powerful resource pool (Compute Capability, storage, network access, and bandwidth) that is already provisioned by the user.
Put as much functionality into the Smart Personal Device as possible. The user has already paid for it, and covers the cost of network connectivity. The user's intent was to use this device to enable experiences that were desired by the user, so it makes sense to leverage this resource as much as possible as a way of minimizing operational costs and maximizing the quality of the user experience.
The design approach chosen here is to minimize the functionality of the Output Device. Do critical output functions and push else off to other parts of the system. This has many benefits. It reduces the unit cost of the device. It simplifies the interfaces with the system. It turns the device into an appliance that is easy to use, with clean lines and minimal interfaces to deal with.
To minimize operational costs, do everything possible to push functionality to the Smart Personal Device and to simplify the operations supported by the cloud. This is a departure from the trend of pushing more and more functionality into the Cloud.
User Information: grow our knowledge of the user as accounts are created and over time.
User Behaviors and Context: individually and in aggregate. Determine how and when the user uses the System as opposed to how it was thought they would use the system.
System Performance: how each subsystem is performing—lag time, errors, etc.
Customer Relationship Management: capture information that will drive user engagement, encourage desired behaviors, create loyalty, and produce user feedback that will improve current products and shape future products.
Another form of social payoff is Status. Twitter measures status in followers and trending traffic. Facebook status is measured in friends and news feeds. LinkedIn is about the network size. EBay is about the number of transactions and feedback scores. The System should have some form of status ranking as well. A good measure of this media burn, a rank that is a measure of the number of prints personally made or made indirectly through network sharing. These actions should be used to promote the social status of its most active members. This could also be tied to CRM and loyalty programs.
Networks are valued by their scale. Early on the scale of the Printing Network will be small, so it is a strategic imperative to grow this scale as quickly as possible. One way of doing this is to enable interactions between the Print Network and the other social media networks whose scale is already established. One example of this is the Auto posting of images printed, along with associated comments. This drives awareness and begins to tap into the scale of others.
Another way is to use existing social networks for tasks that might normally be done within the Printer Network. For example, Feedback on shared images can be channeled via existing social networks.
Finally, another way might be to encourage behaviors in other social networks that drive print requests to the Print Network. For example, developing a way where normal image sharing activity on another network is used to drive print requests on the Printing Network. This would suggest architectural support for external print requests initiated by members who have accounts in other Social Networks. This could be done by establishing an account on the various social networking sites and allowing people to target input directly to that account—then taking that input and converting to a print request on the System. Alternatively, an indirect approach could be done where a server could be setup to scan Social Media feeds looking for hash tag coded Output Requests and importing them into the System.
A particular Output Device will have some resolution or innate capability to produce output of a particular quality level. The goal of the System should be to provide as much information as is necessary to feed the output engine so that it can produce the best quality possible, and not one byte more. As an example, a 300 dpi 3″×4″ printer can only effectively deal with a 900×1200 image. This is considerably smaller than the typical size of images captured with modern SmartPhones. It is desirable to produce a print resolution image at the source and only transfer that smaller image through the system. This will greatly minimize bandwidth usage, system lag time, and increase the quality of the user experience. This is very simple to do when the system only supports a limited set output options. However, as output options grow there still should be the desire to only move about the least amount of data possible to enable desired output.
Given the above stated principles, a description of a preferred embodiment can be made and will be described in the following sections. However, it should be clear to those skilled in the art, that other configurations could be made with associated trade-offs in performance, cost, and efficiency.
The role of the Output Device is to become a very simple appliance. Designed to take minimum data set and drive engine to create high quality output. It should have few or no controls and use wireless communications (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the current embodiment) as its sole interface to the outside world. It will handle a minimal of necessary setup functions, manage communications, log, and report system utilization, exceptions and subsystem status.
Cloud services will act as a central repository for Accounts, User Profiles, and System logs. It will also handle authentication, security and encryption for all network Cloud connections.
It will act a routing mechanism for delivering output requests, but will only support very short term cache storage to facilitate this function. It will drive notification services, and have special functionality to handle the bursty loads driven by large scale Broadcast Printing.
It will enable any transcoding necessary for any Smart Personal Device to interact with any Output devices. This is a departure from the trend of having local drivers to handle the details of how a device works. In this System, all devices preferably connect to the Cloud and each other with simple APIs. Transcoding modules manage device differences. Transcoding may be done within the Cloud, or in some cases, the Cloud provides Transcoding data to the applications on the Smart Personal Devices to allow direct device connections.
It will provide internal performance logging, reporting and analytics support for all informational assets.
Finally, it will provide a gateway for accepting print requests from external social networks.
In short, the Smart Personal Device is the functional core to the system.
Network connections are the glue that binds the system together. While tethered connections could be used (i.e. Ethernet Cable), the current embodiment focuses on wireless connectivity between the nodes.
While FIG. 5 shows the system with all network connections intact, it should be understood that in various use cases, at least one of those connections may not be available. The System is designed to accommodate this fact.
For example, when the printer is at home or left behind in a hotel room, the Output Device connection mode is Wi-Fi. The Bluetooth connection will not be possible since the Smart Personal Device will not be close enough to make the connection. In this case, the Smart Personal Device connects with the Cloud via Cellular or Wi-Fi network, and the Cloud then connects to the Output Device.
When you carry the printer will you as you go about your day, the printer is in mobile mode. In this case, a Bluetooth connection to the Smart Personal Device is the primary connection. The Smart Personal Device will be in range, and the bandwidth of the connection is more than sufficient to meet output needs. In the mobile case, there is no guarantee that a Wi-Fi zone will be available, and since Wi-Fi is more power hungry, it is not the best choice to use when the Output Device is running on battery power. The Smart Personal Device can send print requests directly to the printer via the Bluetooth connection. The Printer can still be connected to the Cloud indirectly by using the Smart Personal Device as a proxy. Printer status can be communicated to the Smart Personal Device, which can then pass that information onto the Cloud via its connection to the internet. Print requests from people you follow will come to the Smart Personal Device via the Cloud, and those requests can then be passed onto the printer via the Bluetooth Connection.
Once the user returns home, the Output Device can then reconnect to the Home Wi-Fi network. In this case, the Output Device has the possibility of using either the Wi-Fi or the Bluetooth connection. Which one is used is likely a function of how the Output Device is getting its power. If the Output Device is plugged into a wall outlet, power is no longer limiting and the Wi-Fi Connection is used. If the device is still working on battery power, the Bluetooth connection may be used.
It is a property of this system that it will self configure to use network connections based upon availability and efficiency. This is done on an automatic basis and the System will act to propagate data as necessary to create a seamless experience.
It should also be noted that while the Output Device is setup to connect to the user's home Wi-Fi network, it can also be configured to connect to any Wi-Fi network that is available at any time. Thus it is possible to set up the Output Device to use a remote Wi-Fi connection as would be the case if a user was on vacation and wanted to leave his printer in his hotel room while he was out and about exploring the city.
It should also be noted that user will expect that the System will be both secure and private. Information being sent on any network connection should be protected from access by unauthorized persons. It should also protect the Output Device from being controlled by an unauthorized Smart Personal Device or Internet connection. In the preferred embodiment, this is accomplished by using SSL 3.0 encrypted connections, and using a Cloud-based Authentication scheme when devices are connections are made.
The functional allocations described in the previous section are the currently preferred embodiment. However it is clear that higher order logic associated with the fabrication device is necessary to enable the Socially Networked Portable Output System functionality. The output device, along with its controlling software can be thought of a logical unit. Given that each component of the system has its own processing resources and capabilities, it is possible to distribute and allocate elements of this logical unit in various ways. This is shown in FIG. 8, where three such possibilities are shown. The Three basic components of the systems, the Output Device (FIG. 8, item 820), The Cloud Service (FIG. 8, item 800), and the Smart Personal Device (FIG. 8, item 810) are shown in the cases where different functional allocations are made. In FIG. 8 Case #1, the Logical Unit (FIG. 8, item 830) is contained all within the Output Device itself. In this case, the output device has sufficient compute resources and capabilities to allow the printer function on its own when it comes to interacting with the system. In FIG. 8, Case #2, some of this functionality has been allocated to the Smart Personal Device (FIG. 8, item 810) and the Logical Unit is (FIG. 8, item 830) is shown spanning the output device and the Smart Personal Device. In FIG. 8, Case #3, we can see that some of the functionality of the Logical Unit (FIG. 8, item 830) has been allocated to the Cloud Services such that it now spans the output device and the Cloud Service components. Other allocations of functionality are of course possible.
The System of the current invention is designed to enable output. This is enabled by an Output Request. The Output Request involves both a data structure and set of protocols used by the system to manage Output creation in its many forms.
Output Requests that consist of a user selecting personal content from their Smart Personal Device to be printed on their own Output Device can be quite simple. The user selects the image desired, and then has the option of modifying that image. This modification can consist of a cropping operation, adjustments to the quality of the image, determining the type of border desired and any captions that are to be written in that border, etc. Once complete, the image is processed to create an appropriate Output Pattern File. This Output Request is then sent to the Output Device either directly via Bluetooth or indirectly via the Cloud.
When someone is being followed, they can share images with their followers. This sharing is consists of creating an Output Request, and the selection to who should received the Output Request. This process is very similar to the process used by a user doing a personal Output Request, but involves an extra step of selecting the target audience. Following this, the Output Request is transferred to the Cloud. The Cloud then sends notifications to the followers targeted by the user.
The user will get a notification of the Output Request. This notification will identify the sender, and present a thumbnail image of what is to be output. At this point, the user must make a decision as to what to do with the Output Request. They have three options: 1) Approve the Output Request, and chose the number of prints desired for the image, 2) Save the Image on their Personal Device instead of sending it to the output device, 3) Rejecting the Output Request.
If the Output Request is approved, it is forwarded to the Output Device. If the Image is saved rather than printed, it will be stored in the Smart Personal Device. The User may use it in whatever way they want, including submitting it for printing at a later time if they so desire—for example, after they purchased more media. Finally, if they reject it, the Output Request is deleted from the system. In any case, the sender may only know that the Follower received the request; what was done with shared content need not be reported back.
This approval process is the default behavior of the system. However, the user has the ability to build and manage the list of people that they follow. This management process includes the ability to pre-approve print requests from a given person they are following. In this case, Output Requests from that person will always be directed to the output device. By the same token, a person being followed can set up so that all of their content is either saved, or blocked (which is a form of auto-reject).
The approval process can also be modified by Constrained Output Requests, which impose limitations for what the user can do with shared media. Based upon the constraints imposed upon a specific Output Request, the options displayed to the user during notification may be limited.
When content is being shared with followers, there are many times when some degree of control is desired as to what can be done with content being shared. For example, it may be that the sender would like to share a print of an image, but might not want anyone saving that image and using it in ways they cannot control. For example, you may not want someone taking a photo of yourself, penciling in a mustache and posting it on Facebook.
In other cases, there may be copyright or business issues involved that cause the sender to want greater control for what can be done with an image. For example, Broadcast Printing by a Sports Team of player “baseball” cards may be seen as having greater value if only one copy could ever be printed.
Print Only: Saving of the image is disabled.
Any time an Output Request is being created or received, there may be an option to Auto-Post content to a Social Network of choice. When this option is chosen, the image, along with comments, is posted by to the selected social network site along with special hash tags to identify where they originated.
This serves multiple purposes. It allows those sharing an image to reach a broader network in way that also acts to promote and grow awareness of the Printing System. It also leverages social media to be a mechanism to communicate information about the content being shared. The receiver can use a similar function to provide reaction and feedback to the user. In this case, special symbols such as the ‘@’ symbol can be used to direct feedback to a specific person.
Auto Posting can be implemented as Cloud function, however in the preferred embodiment, this function is implemented on the Smart Personal Device. This minimized the Cloud footprint, and better leverages Smart Personal Device resources.
An important aspect of the System is how it is setup, configured and used.
Members of the Printing System will generally have an account with the System. Each account has a User Profile associated with it. This profile serves many purposes. From a business and operations perspective, it contains and provides key data around identity, communication channels, and security. In addition, it can be used to store Informational Assets around user behaviors and preferences.
The user profile also contains information about other social networks that a user is involved with, including user ID's and passwords, so that the user may interact more seamlessly with those networks.
This information also enables a search function that allows users to find one another so that they can follow and be followed. Searches can be indexed on real names, system user ID's, or even user ID's from other social networks they are involved with.
When found, the search can review the user's profile and learn more about the person they are following. Thus the user profile represents an opportunity for the user to control the image they project to the world via their Profile.
Private: Not findable or visible to others.
Some of this information is entered at the time of account creation. Some is added by the system itself as the user interacts with the system. Some is added over time as the user updates their profile.
This workflow will pair the Output Device with the Smart Personal Device. This workflow is used when setting up a new Output Device, or it can be used for those rare occasions where the phone or the Output Device has lost pairing for one reason or another. Once the Output Device has been paired with the Smart Personal Device, the Output Device reports its status, which includes its MAC address and/or other data that uniquely identified this individual device. The Smart Personal Device can use this information for Output Device Registration with the Systems Cloud Services.
This code could be a number labeled on the bottom of printer.
The user then comes back to the app.
App and printer does a refresh (via Bluetooth) which exports printer data (Printer ID—Mac address) and current status.
App now shows power and media status.
All Output Devices must be registered with the Systems Cloud service before connection with that service is possible. Each Output Device will have a unique System identifier, which may be the devices MAC address, or some other arbitrary, but unique, code. This workflow is invoked when first setting up a printer, or restoring an Output Device registration that may have been removed for some reason.
Is Printer Bluetooth Paired with Output Device?
App registers the Output Device ID with the Cloud associating it with the user account.
App tells user that printer in now registered.
Run “Connect A Registered Output Device to a Wi-Fi Network” Workflow.
When an Output Device is being setup for the first time, or when the printer is taken to a new locale and the user wishes to connect to a new Wi-Fi network, this workflow is used to make that connection. Once connected, the printer can store the connection information for several Wi-Fi networks and connect automatically to them when it detects it is within their zones of operation.
The Output Device is designed to be a simple appliance with a minimal set of external controls. Its primary interface to the outside world is through its wireless interfaces. In the current embodiment, this consists of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Bluetooth pairing is relatively simple and straightforward, and can be accomplished using established best practices. The Wi-Fi setup is more involved and would be almost impossible to do without a more sophisticated user interface. The Current embodiment solves this problem by using the Smart Personal Device to provide the user interface, and an established Bluetooth connection to gain access to the Output Device. In this fashion, the Smart Personal Device guides the Output Devices internal setup procedure to allow the appropriate Wi-Fi network to be identified and connected to.
Once connected, the printer stores connection parameters so that in the future the Output Device can automatically connect to that Wi-Fi zone as it becomes available in the future. For example, when an Output Device is taken out mobile with user, the Output Device will reconnect when the device is once again brought home. In addition, the Output Device will transfer these connection parameters to the Smart Personal Device. Should the Output Device ever be reset or lose its internal connection parameters, they can be simply restored by the Smart Personal Device, creating a much more robust system for the user.
App tells user that they must be ready with the password for their intended Wi-Fi connection for the next step.
App sends a command to Printer (via Bluetooth) to initialize Wi-Fi and search for networks to connect to. List of network seen is returned to app.
App sends network selection and password to Output Device.
Printer connects to the network or sends failure message.
The value of a network is related to the scale of the network. Therefore it is important to provide the user with means to grow and expand their personal network. Growing this network enhances the user's ability to have unique Social Network driven Output experiences. The growth of the network also is critical to meeting business objectives that leverage this growing scale.
This process focuses on three areas: 1) Finding existing members of Network to connect with, 2) Inviting friends and family to join the network so that you may connect with them, 3) Finding Celebrities and other Broadcast Printers that you wish to follow.
Internal searches can use information from user profiles, such as Name, User ID, email addresses, or the user ID from other Social Networks that users have added to their profiles.
External Invitations can be sent to friends and family whose contact information is directly provided by the user, or by accessing the contact list on the Smart Personal Device. Such invitations can set send via email, text message, or via one of the more common Social Networking systems. Messages contain invitation information and a link that allows the invitee to download the application to their Smart Personal Device and create an account. Once this has been done, the User is notified that the person they invited has joined the network, and the Follower connection is thus facilitated.
Broadcast Printers are already members of the system, and can therefore be found by search. However, another way supported is by browsing curated collections of such users. These are sorted by category such as: Popular, Trending, Music, Sports, Comedy, Politics, etc.
Screen allows searches by Phone contact list, FB, Twitter, and Instagram network search, or all of the above.
Search finds all users that are either in your phone contact list, or members of FB, Instagram, or Twitter, AND have accounts on the system.
Display list of names found that are NOT currently associated with the system—each with a select button. Continue button to proceed . . .
Submit button→send email to distribution list with link that allows account to be created.
Once created, notification sent to inviter asking if they still wish to follow this person.
App instructs user to unpack and prepare the Output Device.
This workflow allows the user to manage their personal network.
There may be times when members of the System might want to make an instant print, but they don't have their Output Device with them. This need can be filled by using a “Public Output Device”. A Public Output Device is a one that is located in a public place and is available for use by anyone that is a member of the system. This could take on many forms.
It might consist of any supported printer, similar to what the user might normally own and carry. In this case it is assumed that someone is available to manage the device, loading it with media as necessary. For example, it might be located on a counter in a coffee shop.
It could also consist of a specially designed printer that holds a much larger media supply. This would also need to be managed by local personnel.
Another form would be that of a standalone vending machine. This would provide for a secure environment for the printer, and could be managed by a service that periodically would visit the vending machine, loading it with media, and doing routine maintenance. Charges for using this device might be covered by the System billing your account, or it could be coin or credit card operated.
In some cases, printing from Public Devices might be free if it was tied to a branding play. For example, Starbucks could decide to offer free printing for their all of their patrons, and the resulting print might have branding information, promotional material, or coupons attached to the printed image. Alternatively they could offer the free service to those who had a loyalty card.
In any of these cases, the Output Device location would be prominently marked so as to be easily found. Further, each Public Output Device would be registered as such with the System. As part of this registration process. The location of the device would be captured, as well as the person or entity responsible for it operation.
Output Device Status would be reported back to the System periodically, and alerts would be directed to the responsible person when the media supply is low, or when an error condition exists that must be dealt with.
In addition, the user could use the application on their Smart Personal Device to search for the nearest Public Output Device. This search would be aided by leveraging GPS locations of the user to identify the closest Public Output Device (leveraging its registered location) and provide instructions for finding it.
To send an output to the device, the Application on the Smart Personal Device would use the camera to capture an image of a prominently displayed barcode or QR code. This would be decoded and translated to identify the printer in question. Once identified, the application would enable content to be sent to it. The application would notify the user what the charges were associated with sending content to this Output Device. It would also support several ways to pay these charges electronically. The preferred method would be to have a charging system already configured so as to enable a one-click output experience.
An Output Request would be sent to the identified Output Device. If the Output Device reported success to the system, the user would be charged for that output. If the Output Device failed to create the desired output, no charge would be made.
With this background we can now begin to examine simplified but fundamental high level flows of the system.
For the Socially Networked Distributed Printing System to work, certain information must be registered. First the Producers of Data Sets must have an account registered with the system (FIG. 9, Item 910). Secondly, other users of the system, who are also pre-registered with the system, must “Follow” or subscribe to a Dataset Producer. This causes a list of “Followers” to be recorded by a Data Selector within the system (FIG. 9, item 920). This supports the use case where a Dataset Producer want to share a dataset with “all of his followers”. Being able to do this simplifies the work that the Producer must do when acting to share. In this case, the system will take care of creating the distribution list.
The Dataset Producer can send new content to the System for distribution to the System (FIG. 9, item 930), where said content is at the highest resolution available. The system will prepare this master dataset for distribution by processing the Dataset for at least one Subscriber (FIG. 9, item 940) based upon the specific replicator that Subscriber owns and its output characteristics.
For example, in a printing based system, the dataset may consist of a high-resolution image. The system will have to consider the type of printers that are used by each subscriber, and render a version of the image that has just enough resolution to minimize the size of the transferred file and yet maximize the output of the printer.
For example, a 2×3 inch 300 dpi printer would require a smaller image than a 4×6 inch 300 dpi printer. If the total subscribers had three different resolution printers the system would create three different versions of the image file to send to each type of printer. Sending the original version of the Dataset is typically inefficient. Often there will be significantly more data than can be used by the Replicator. This is true in photographic printing, and likely to be true in other forms of replication. It is best if the dataset sent is sized appropriately for the capability of the replicator. If there were only a single subscriber, at least one file would have to be so rendered.
At this point the system would transfer the correct Dataset to each Subscriber (FIG. 8, item 950). Once the Subscriber has approved the creation of output (FIG. 9, item 960), the associated replicator would then manufacture the Keepsake. (FIG. 9, item 970). At this point the Replicator can notify the system that its task is complete (FIG. 9, item 980).
In other cases, the Dataset Producer can target a subgroup of followers to receive the data set. In this case, the Dataset is sent to the system by the Dataset Producer (FIG. 7, item 710) along with distribution data (FIG. 7, item 720). These are two distinct data sets. Once is associated with the item that is to be replicated. The other provides routing information for the system. The system would process the distribution list within a logic loop that would continue as long as there are more entries in the distribution data (FIG. 7, item 730). While there are additional entries to process, the system would fetch the next Replicator address from the distribution data (FIG. 7, item 760), lookup the characteristics for that Replicator, and transform the dataset for that specific replication device (FIG. 7, item 770). At this point, the transformed Dataset can be transmitted to the Replicator (FIG. 7, item 780) and the Keepsake can be Replicated (FIG. 7, item 790). This process will continue until all designated Replicators listed in the distribution data have been dealt with.
To those skilled in the art, it will be clear that other forms of logic could be applied to accomplish the task so described. The principal feature of this logic being that Dataset sent to various replicators will be different, based upon a rendering process that customizes the dataset to capabilities of the Replicator. While each dataset sent to the Replicator may be different, the goal is always to create a Keepsake, whose ultimate form is comparable across Replicators with existing differences minimized. The Differences are thereby designed to be a fundamental part of the Dataset, done in a way that preserves the basic features of the Keepsake while adapting to the differences in capabilities of various Replicators. Note that Distribution data is entirely considered separate to the dataset. This is key when considering current art mechanisms such as Fax Blasters, where changes in the transmitted dataset often consist of a change in the Fax header line. Such changes really deal with routing and have nothing to do with the content dataset. In the Preferred embodiment, routing information and Keepsake Dataset are kept strictly separate and any differences in the delivered Keepsake Dataset are the result of Replicator capability and processing to minimize the size of the Dataset in a way that minimizes the impact on the perceived form of the final Keepsake produced.
Next, let us consider workflow from Printer or Replicator's point of view. In the preferred embodiment, the Replicator connects to the system to check if there is any content that has been directed towards it (FIG. 10, item 1010). If there is, it then downloads the Dataset (FIG. 10, item 1020) and then checks to see if it has approval to fabricate the Keepsake (FIG. 10, item 1030). If there is approval (FIG. 10, item 1050), then the Replicator creates the Keepsake (FIG. 10, item 1060), discards the dataset (FIG. 10, item 1070) and then finally sends a notification that the task is complete (FIG. 10, item 1080). While there are variations on how this logic can be carried out, the key features are checking for designated content, acquiring said content, checking for approval to replicate, replication, and followed by dataset deletion and job status notification.
In the next section, we can explore how the primary use cases are supported by the design of the System.
Given that the user has already setup his system, it is then ready to support Remote Personal Printing. In this Scenario, the Output Device is left at home, plugged in and powered by home AC. It is connected to the home Wi-Fi Zone. The user is away from home, with his Smart Personal Device in his possession.
At any point the user can decided to print something to his printer. He launches the application on his Smart Personal Device (FIG. 6 Item 610), and looks at the images stored on that device. He chooses one for printing. The application offers him the opportunity to crop or edit the image, select bordered or borderless printing, the option to add a caption and the option to Auto-post. The user makes his choices and decides to auto-post to Facebook with a comment.
The user then tells the application to proceed. For the current embodiment, this consists of taking an image to be printed and downsizing the image to the appropriate print resolution for the desired output device and packaging that image as a JPEG image with modest compression levels. In addition, EXIF data fields are updated by copying some information from the original image, and creating new data appropriate for the print resolution image. This process is well understood by those knowledgeable in the art.
Other forms of output would require different processing to create the appropriate Output Pattern File.
The application inserts the print resolution image into an output queue and locks it there until output is successful. The Application then forms an output request and connects to the Cloud Client API (FIG. 6, Item 630) via the Clients Internet connection (FIG. 6, item 660) and transfers the print request. The Cloud Client API then stores the Output Request in Temp Storage (FIG. 6, item 646), and creates a Notification via the Notification API (FIG. 6, item 635).
The Output Device (FIG. 6, item 620) periodically polls the Cloud Output Server API (FIG. 6, item 650) via its Wi-Fi Connection (FIG. 6, item 665). This polling is often necessary as the Output Device can get through firewalls, whereas the Cloud Service cannot. As part of this polling, the Output Device sends it current status.
The Cloud Service accepts this status update and sends it to the Notification API so that the Client will be apprised of the current state of the Output Device.
Another part of this polling is checking to see if there are Output Requests that need to be processed. If there is, the Output Device will download the Output Request and then send the image to the internal print engine. Once the image has been successfully printed, a “success” message is sent to the Cloud Output Server. The Cloud Output Server deletes the Output Request from Temporary Storage, and then sends “Success” flag to the Client. The Client receives this notification, and releases the print request from the Output Queue.
If the Output Server does not receive a poll from the Output Device within a specified amount of time or is unable to transfer the Print Request to the Output Device after a pre-defined number of tries, it will delete the print request from Temp Storage, and send a notification of failure to the Client. The Client may wait a period of time and then re-attempt the sending the print request using the request that is locked in the output queue. This will continue until success or if this fails for after a predefined number of attempts, it will notify the user of the problem.
Should the failure be due to the fact that there is a condition that must be resolved by the user directly, (for example, to clear a paper jam or reload media), the Client will attempt to print the image after the problem is resolved by leveraging the Bluetooth connection in a fashion described in the Mobile Instant Personal Printing description.
If the image is printed successfully, the Client application will then generate a Facebook posting as requested and submit that posting to Facebook using the appropriate Facebook API.
The sequence in this scenario is identical to Remote Personal Printing scenario up to the point where the Output Request is locked into the Output Queue.
In the case where the Output Device is mobile, the Client application will ping the Output Device via the Bluetooth connection (FIG. 6, item 655) to check to see if the device is powered up or in sleep mode. If awake, the Output Device will reply and update its current status (Client will pass this Status along to the Could Client API via the Internet connection). If necessary, the Client will prompt the user to activate the Output Device. At that point the Client pushes the Output Request to the Output Device via the Bluetooth connection. The output Device will then print the Output Request and signal success at the end or reply with an error state.
If the output is successful, the Output Request is purged from the Output Queue and any Auto-postings will be processed via the internet connection.
If the output fails, the user will be notified and a retry may be attempted.
Given that a user has setup his software and account, that user can be followed.
Given that another user has already setup his software and account and they have set up and registered their Output Device, they can become followers, choosing people to follow.
With this in place, the person being followed can now submit an Output Request to his followers. He can select one of his followers, all of his followers, or choose a Sharing Group that is either pre-defined by the user or constructed on the spot.
He launches the application on his Smart Personal Device (FIG. 6 Item 610), and looks at the images stored on that device. He chooses one for sharing. The application offers him the opportunity to crop or edit the image, select bordered or borderless printing, the option to add a caption and the option to Auto-post. The user makes his choices and decides to auto-post to Facebook with a comment. The user then chooses who to share the content with.
The user then tells the application to proceed. For the current embodiment, this consists of taking an image to be printed and downsizing the image to the appropriate print resolution for the desired output device and packaging that image as a JPEG image with modest compression levels. Then a thumbnail image is computed. In addition, EXIF data fields are updated by copying some information from the original image, and creating new data appropriate for the image resolution image for both files. This process is well understood by those knowledgeable in the art.
The application inserts the print resolution image into an output queue and locks it there until output is successful. The Application then forms an Output Request and Connects to the Cloud Client API (FIG. 6, Item 630) via the Client's Internet connection (FIG. 6, item 660) and transfers the Output Request. The Cloud Client API stores the Output Request in Temp Storage (FIG. 6, item 645), and creates a Notification via the Notification API (FIG. 6, item 635) for all users targeted to receive the image. This notification includes the thumbnail image, who sent the image, and when the image was sent.
The Follower Client (FIG. 6, item 605) receives the Notification via the internet connection (FIG. 6, item 660), and prompts the user for a how to handle it: they can Print the image, Save the image, or Delete the image.
If the decision is made to save the image, the Follower Client application connects with the Output Server (FIG. 6, item 650) via the internet connection (FIG. 6, item 660) to download the Output Resolution Pattern File. Once the image is successful downloaded, the Follower Client application saves the image on the device image store. If the Cloud has successfully transferred all of the images to all of the recipients, it purges the print request from Temp Storage and notifies the original user of success and the Users client can purge the request from its internal Output Queue.
If the User decides to delete the message, the user indicates this to the Cloud Server and then counts this request as delivered.
If the decision is made to print the request, what happens next is dependent upon whether the Follower's Output Device (FIG. 6, item 615) is connected via the Wi-Fi connection (FIG. 6, item 665) or connected via the Bluetooth connections (FIG. 6, item 655). If it is connected via the Wi-Fi, then output proceeds as described in the Remote Personal Output Scenario. If it is connected via Bluetooth, then printing is completed as defined in Mobile Instant Personal Printing Scenario.
When all requests have been delivered, the original sharer is notified and the image is cleared from the Output Queue on his Client (FIG. 6, item 610). The sharer is not told what the receiver did with that image.
In many ways this scenario is very similar to Third Party Social Network Output, but occurs with networks of much greater scale.
The Broadcast Output user selects content is a way that identical to the other scenarios just described. The Output Request is created and transferred to the Cloud Client Server. Nominally, the same methods are used to propagate the Output Request through the system and deliver it to the Followers' Network.
The scale of the operation does present some unique challenges that the system must be able to deal with. Typically, the scale of the Social Network for the average use is small. An image is shared with family and friends, and such transactions rarely involve large number, ranging in scale from one to perhaps twenty. A Broadcast Output user deals with networks that range from thousands to millions. Celebrities can have global followings that are immense. Sharing an image through the network can have a significant impact because of the “bursty” nature of such transactions. Cloud services are scaled to handle the typical average loads encountered with sufficient residual handling capability to deal with the occasional spikes in loads. A single broadcast output request could flood the system with significant additional load. There could be millions of notifications to deal with, as well as content transfer loads for each of the followers to obtain the Output Pattern File so that distributed output can occur. Added to this is the fact that there can be many Broadcast Printers operating at once.
Social Network sharing can fall into a broad continuum, ranging from the very small numbers of the typical user sharing with a small group, to Broadcast Output users that can have networks that vary wildly in scale. The System must have mechanisms for dealing with these increased loads as they occur.
Some of these mechanisms are generic in nature and are typically built into Cloud Server systems to be adaptive and resilient under loads. Load balancers, and dynamic Server scaling are known to those skilled in the art. However, given the specific nature of Broadcast Output Requests, it is possible to devise specific strategies for dealing with the loading they cause. In a sense, the System is creating its own loads by taking an Output Request and broadcasting them. Since the system is doing this to itself, so to speak, there is no reason that the system cannot purposefully modify how it accomplished this to make the situation more manageable.
One approach to dealing this is to change the method of propagation based upon the scale of request. Scale thresholds are established that when crossed, cause the system to adapt or change the algorithms used for implementing the request.
For example, Broadcast Output Requests that range from two to thirty followers, might be handled in the normal fashion which is the base design of the system. Output Requests are Stored on the Smart Personal Device Output Queue and retries are driven from the Smart Personal Devices application software. The Cloud Service will cache the request in its Temp Storage for a small amount of time while transfer attempts are made but if these attempts are not completed in within this short period of time, a “failure” message will be returned to the Smart Personal Device and it will be up to that Device to initiate additional attempts.
For requests that range from thirty-one to five hundred, the system no longer depends on the Smart Personal Device. The Output Request is moved into the Cloud Services Temp Storage and keeps it there until the all transfers have been accomplished. However, the remainder of the process remains unchanged.
From the scale of 500 to 250,000, the System will change from its normal methods of handling requests to one that stages the release of notifications over time to prevent instantaneous loads from overwhelming the system. For example, notifications could go out to the first 10% of the targets followers, and the next batch could be released after a time delay. This acts to spread the load over time without delaying the delivery of content is a significant way.
From scales larger than 250,000, the system could transfer the request from the normal servers to servers that are dedicated to handling the additional load that Broadcast Output place on the system.
In actual practice, the threshold levels may be set to different values, and the method used at various level my also change. The important aspect here is the concept that the system performance is adaptive to the scale of the request, and changes in system behavior are designed to minimize the impact of such requests and prevent them from negatively impacting the normal behavior of the system to handle typical user sharing requests.
Another way that Large Scale Broadcasting Output events are different is in how status reporting is done with the user who shared the content. For small scale situations, it is often sufficient to notify the user that the Output Request has completed successfully. For large scale Broadcast Output, this becomes more involved. If there were a million users in a sharing group, the entire request will play out over time, with the distant possibility that some people would not receive the request for one reason or another. In this case, it make more sense for the user to get periodic status reports that indicated how many Output Requests were delivered, how many were yet to be delivered, and whether the process was ongoing or completed.
The Invitation Output case differs only in how the output activity is initiated. After initiation, the Output Request generation is handled in ways that are identical to the Third Party Social Network Output use case and the Scalable Output Broadcast use case.
A follower initiates an invitation for output by doing three things. First, they must define the nature of the output they are seeking Secondly, they must identify which of the people they are following to invite. Lastly, that must send the invitations.
The user can define the nature of what they are looking for by using descriptive language that will be included within the invitation. They can also be more precise, identifying specific metadata attributes that the receiver of the invitation could use to automatically search for suitable content. This metadata could include times, dates, GPS locations or any other data that is commonly supported by image capture systems today or in the future.
Selecting the people to invite can be done by manually listing specific people that are followed, deciding to send the invitation to all of the people being followed, or viewing a scrolling list of those being followed and clicking on the those to be included in the invitation. Sharing Groups can also be defined and used.
The invitations can be sent via an internal messaging capability, but it could also be sent using any external communication vehicles such as email, Text Messaging, or Social Media site postings.
It is becoming quite common for cameras to collect metadata around a picture taking situation and encoding and storing that information with the image file, typically as an EXIF data field in a JPEG image file. At first this information consisted primarily of the date and time of the image capture, and information related to the settings of the capture. With the advent of Smartphone and their ever increasing camera capabilities, we are seeing more sophisticated metadata being captured. With compute power of the Smartphone, faces are being detected and located within the frame, and in some cases even identified. Given that Smartphones now typically have GPS receivers, we are now seeing detailed location information being stored with the image.
Historically, there have been some limited forms of metadata associated with a hardcopy print. Traditional photofinishing operations in the latter half of the twentieth century often printed the month and year that the print was made on the edge of the print. Some optical film printers would also print neutral and color corrections used to make the print on the back of the print so that reprints, when requested, would look the same.
However the rich contextual data associated with camera image capture has typically not been done when a print is made. There are several reasons for this. When the printer is just a home printer, printing becomes an event after that the fact. Users capture an image during a life event, and if they print at all, the actual printing is far removed in time and place from the original event. In general, the context of printing in this fashion is not emotionally relevant.
This begins to change when you have a small mobile printer. You can take the printer with you as you live through life's events, and the printer will allow “instant prints” to be made from images taken in near real-time. This dramatically changes the dynamics of an event. “Instant prints” made during a life event suddenly becomes an integral part of the fun of the event. People gather around to see the images, just taken, as they come off the printer. Everyone wants one. Friends are posing funny ways to take a photo that they can print right away. The mobile printer becomes a form of social lubricant for enhancing the event. It becomes a catalyst for the moment, part of the action, the center of fun.
Given this change in context, metadata around mobile printing becomes more important. Given that the printer is driven by a Smart Personal Device, a rich set of metadata could be collected from that source. Time and Date of printing is known, as is the location from the GPS. GPS coordinates can be looked up using web services such a 4square to come up with a named place. Faces in the images printed can be detected and recognized. Personal Calendars can be referenced to identify the nature of events with based upon their date and time. This constitutes a rich set of metadata around the printing situation.
Metadata from prints made in the middle of an event may coincide closely with camera metadata because printing is done very close to the time of capture. However, metadata from prints made two weeks after an event—made when reliving an event with friends—would tend to look very different.
How and why would one use such print metadata information? There are two primary areas: Consumer Behavior Analysis, and Enhancing Social Context.
In the first case, we can better measure and understand the behaviors and motivations of the user. For the first time they have a printer that can be mobile. Are they using it that way? How often are they printing in a mobile context? Where are they using it? How many prints are made while they are at that location? What kind of place did they print at? Answers to these kinds of questions allow the printer products and supporting systems to be optimized based upon their actual use patterns. Since this information is collected in real-time and reported as part of the user informational asset pool associated with their user account, the data is also timely. This kind of data is extremely valuable to designers of system and printers supporting mobile applications.
“Instant” prints made with a mobile printer can become a treasured keepsake that reminds one of the fun and shared nature of special moments. Enhancing the context of those images by using print metadata simply enhances their value. Clearly the kind of information is more detailed, contextual, and useful than print metadata from the past.
For business purposes, a log of key metadata associated with printing events can be maintained by the Smart Personal Device and periodically transferred to the Cloud for storage indexed to the users account. Here it can be used for further analysis.
Since the print metadata is collected and stored initially by the Smart Personal Device, it is possible to create a user view of this print log. Print events can be shown as a scrolling list of thumbnails images, sorted by printing date or even by printer location. Once selected, the user can view the metadata associated with this event. This metadata display could be as simple as a list of labeled numeric data, or it could be a richer display, where maps show GPS locations, and calendars show dates, etc.
It is also possible to create a link on the physical print that would allow for a tie-back to the digital record of the metadata. For example, information could be stored on the print that would allow access to that information. For example, a machine-readable mark such as a barcode or QR Code could be printed on the back of the print, or elsewhere on other sorts of keepsake objects. When scanned by the Smart Personal Device's camera, it would be decoded into a link that allows the desired data to be displayed. One can imagine many ways this link could be encoded onto the print.
Another way is through the use of invisible watermarking technology. With this approach, marker data is hidden in the noise of the image. It is not visible to the eye of the observer, however a captured image of that print (by a scanner or camera) would allow the use of a decoding algorithm to extract the buried data and use it to index to the desired information.
Finally this information could be used when a print is also auto-posted to social media. In this case, the print metadata could be posted as tags or constructed comments that are included with the posting.
The system, combined with some innovation printer designs, enabled new output Experiences.
In the current output paradigm, printers are large complex devices that are statically located in one strategic location. A small, light and portable printer powered by batteries and wirelessly connected changes this paradigm. Suddenly it is possible to take your printer with you and print whenever and where ever you want.
Printing could be stimulated by images just captured, or the desire to print an existing image “instantly” so that it may be given to a friend you are meeting with. Alternatively, print requests from people you are following could also be made, as the Smart Personal Device is still connected to the internet and can receive such request, and print them to the Output Device via the local Bluetooth connection.
In some cases this might mean taking your printer out of your backpack, briefcase or purse, turning it on, and then printing. However, the preferred case is where a printer is always on and can be printed to from where it is stored and carried.
To support this, the Mobile Output Device would be designed to be power efficient with compact rechargeable power sources and wireless communications that work over short distances with optimized power usage profiles. The printer would be able to make portions of its system dormant to minimize power drain while keeping other portions of its system awake and able to respond to commands sent to it via its wireless channel.
The printer should be designed so that it can print in any orientation without jamming so that the printer could literally be functional as carried in a random orientation within a backpack or purse. Printers tend to eject printed material so the printer would have to be designed to prevent jamming or print damage as it leaves the printer. This might best be accomplished by having an internal storage area where printed content is captured. For example, media supply area will reduce in size as media is consumed in the printing process. A printer could be designed so that printed material is captured and stored in the space that is freed up due to media consumption. Another method would be to design a printer carrying case that protects the printer and establishes a clear jam-free zone for printed material to exit the printer and be stored until needed by the user.
These concepts allow a printer to be deigned that can be continuously active and functional even when carried around in a cluttered bag, backpack, briefcase, or purse.
The concept of a mobile, always “on” output device combined with the resources of the Smart Personal Device enable unique and specialized functional, advertising, and promotional output opportunities.
Given that the Smart Personal Device knows its location at any given moment, it would be possible to identify output opportunities that are unique to that location. Proximity based printing could be context specific, and in all cases, is designed to meet the user's needs in a convenient way.
This concept can best be explored by considering of number of possible examples.
If the printer were carried into an airport, the user could be asked if they want to print their boarding passes, avoiding lines at check-in counters or kiosk.
If it were getting close to Lunchtime, the user might receive a notification that a local restaurant was running a lunch special and a discount coupon was available for printing.
The user is nearing a movie theater where they have bought on-line tickets. The user is prompted to print movie passes so they will be available for entry.
The user is in a mall, and receives a notification for a $5 rebate on their next purchase for a local retailer. They can print that rebate.
The number of possibilities for proximity-based printing is large, and can support many different forms of functional and promotional applications.
These examples consist of the proximity with a location driving the nature of the print opportunity. However, proximity could be used in another fashion. If your printer were running low on media, the system could suggest locations in your proximity where additional media could be purchased and provide a coupon for that purchase. In this case a specific need, in combination with proximity, drove the printed promotional items.
Many output devices use media that consists of cut sheets of a fixed size that are stacked in media supply bin. Another possibility is designing an Output Device whose media supply comes in the form of roll. The roll is passed across the print heads and when the print is done, a cutting mechanism would cut the paper to a desired print size length.
Since the length of the print is based upon how much paper is fed across the print heads, such a system could be used to create output that has variable aspect ratios. The printer would communicate its output capabilities when communicating with the System, allowing the System to take advantage of this capability. There are many ways of taking advantage of this capability.
One way would be to support high aspect ratio printing for panoramic images. Smartphone cameras are finding new and better ways to allow users to capture ultra wide angle images that offer greater visual perspective in a panoramic shot. However these images are often difficult to view on small fixed-ratio screens and there are very few ways of generating output that does not waste media. However, the roll-fed printed could create prints of arbitrary length providing the ability to create stunning output images.
Another use would be to print standard sized images with new areas spliced on one or both ends of the image. These new sections could be used to add graphics, print captions and comments, and support the output of rich contextual print and image metadata. This ability to customize the format of the print and add additional information could be leveraged by Broadcast printers to make their shared images stand out. For example, broadcast print images form sports team could have their team logo printed on the side of the print, along with additional messages they wished to convey. This capability could also be used to print ads, coupons, tickets, coupon codes, and anything else that could have application in the market place.
Every time the Output Device communicates with the Cloud via the Wi-Fi Connection, or the Smart Personal Device via the Bluetooth Connection, it also uploads the current Output Device status. This information is propagated between the Cloud and the Smart Personal Device so that it is kept in sync. It is also displayed to the user.
This information includes the identity of the device, model number, Output Capability, and the version of firmware.
It also reports its consumables: which power source it is using (battery or wall socket), and the state of the charge state of the battery, and how much media it has available to support print requests.
It tracks the number of prints made on the device during its life, and the log of errors it has encountered since the last update.
The type of connection currently in use is reported: Is it static and remote, connected via Wi-Fi, or is it Mobile and dynamic, connected via Bluetooth?
It is also possible to determine the location of the Output Device and store this information with the printer status. In the case of a Mobile Output, the location can be captured from the GPS of the Smart Personal Device, and is dynamic in nature. In the Remote Output case, the Output Device is left a static location and is connected to by Wi-Fi. Even in this case it is possible to determine a coarse location based on its IP address, which can be decoded and traced to provide geographic context. Finally the Location could be entered as part of the Device Setup. Wi-Fi zone connections could prompt the user for the location of the zone.
All of this information could be captured and stored by the System as additional Informational Assets that would be used for the purposes of business utilization and enhancing the user experience, as has already been discussed.
The state of consumables can allow the user to manage their output devices as they use them. When the user has more than one device, they can manage the state of each device.
In some cases, a user might be given access the state of devices belonging to their followers. For example, they may have given their grandmother a printer and set it up for her. They may wish to keep an eye on it and help her manage its use. For example, if they saw that her media supply was low, they could order more media for her or go over and help her load in new media.
As already discussed, the Output Device status can be used to warn the user when battery power or media is running low. It can be a necessary part for building Media Management capability.
But it could also be used to provide a marketing service. For example, such a service could identify those users whose media supply was running low for third party concerns so that branded media offers could be made to those users.
There may also be occasions when location information might be useful from the user and the Social Network point of view. A user might allow the location of the Output Device to be “Findable” to either the members of their network, or to anyone that is interested. This would allow a user to know if a Follower has their Output Device with them, or whether they have left it home. If a gathering of friends was planned, this might be useful to ensure that at least one Output Device was brought to their gathering in order to handle Instant Print Requests. It also might be handy to see if one of your friends is nearby if you wanted to make a print quickly and did not have your printer with you.
Informational Assets are cultivated on each of the primary elements of the system. This information is created in several ways.
One way is by user assertion. In this case, the user explicitly provides information to the System during setup and account creation or when they edit or enhance their user profile. They can also provide explicit information through their use of the system. For example, when sharing an image they may add a caption to that image, or add a comment. Automatic Social Posting may also have associated comments. These bits of information are asserted by the user and captured by the Smart Application Device. This information is then transferred to the Cloud Service where it is stored within the user's information Database.
Another way that information is captured is by observation. Here, information is cultivated by the behavior of the system, or the behavior of the user. In each case, there is some form of software instrumentation that collects key pieces of information and stores them in a Database. Examples of the System behavior is tracking things like lag time, exception codes, measures of resource contention, etc. Such software instrumentation can also track the behavior of the user, such as Personal Prints made, Prints from followers made, images shared with followers, connections used for printing, media and hardware purchases, etc. This can extend to how often the user access various screens or controls other Smart Personal Device application.
The instrumentation can take the form of a simple count of how many times a particular action occurs. It might also consist of a log that tracks the time, location, and nature of each event. Such a log can then be processed at a later time to calculate summary statistics. It can also be data mined in a free form way to answer more specific questions. Such information can also be collected and analyzed by industry standard cloud tools such as Google Analytics or Flurry or by propriety methods build into the system.
Print event metadata is also a rich source for cultivation.
Data can be collected where it is created, either in the Smart Personal Device, the Output Device, or the Cloud. Ultimately the data must migrate to the Cloud and be stored in a way that allow both aggregate and individual user analysis. This storage can be ongoing, which implies that the amount of data collected over time is constantly increasing. In some cases it can be stored as a rolling buffer, where data is stored for the last N months. In other cases, the data can be stored and periodically analyzed and summarized. In this case the summaries may be for an extended period, but the raw data is periodically purged from the system.
With today's printing paradigm, it is not uncommon for user to print something only to find that the printer reports that is out of paper, or perhaps one of the ink cartridges is empty. This causes the user to attempt to reload the printer with the needed supply. This, of course, assumes that they have additional paper or ink cartridges to load. All too often a user is caught short without a backup supply of paper or ink or some other consumable.
With the current invention, the System tracks the state of Output Systems consumables very carefully. In addition to this, the System promotes the ordering of consumables for the output system. The user is encouraged to purchase consumables through the System by offering discounts that scale based on user-driven media consumption. Besides the cost and order convenience advantages within system purchases, another attraction is having a system that manages your media supplies for you. The System knows what supplies you have purchased, and it knows what the current state of consumables is within the Output Device. Monitoring both of these allows the system to warn the user when their supplies are getting low or when the supplies have become critical. It can simplify the reordering process. In some cases the user may empower the system to automatically order new supplies such that they never have to worry about running out.
The current embodiment of the system provides the building blocks for advanced Customer Relationship Management. First we provide a platform for users to drive socially networked print experiences within the System, and social media interaction outside of the system. This framework allows the system to cultivate a rich set of information about the user, their behaviors and their network contacts. This information is extremely useful when developing and marketing new products, accessories, consumables, and services.
It also provides the opportunity to entice desired behaviors. Typically the behaviors desired center on encouraging media burn and promoting device sales. Loyalty programs can be centered around metrics that focus on these issues. High scores can be given to a user that drives printing: both personal printing and printing due to sharing images with your followers. Direct and Indirect printing can be tracked and used to compute a ranking or score. This can be used to provide scaled or progressive discounts for future purchases, or to reward users with free consumables. This ranking could also be overtly promoted within the network itself—added as part of the user's profile. This tends to given the user recognition of their “influence” in the network, and can become a reward or emotional payoff for their social network behaviors.
Similar measures might be adopted around a user's ability to bring others into the network. Keeping track of the number of invites sent to those outside the system who then subsequently joined the system could also be used to increase status and to earn awards, prizes, or discounts. Keeping track of user that joined and then subsequently purchased Output Hardware could also be done.
Users that join the system but have not yet purchased and registered Output Devices could also be targeted for special marketing campaigns.
Media Management mechanisms could be combined with Customer Relationship Management practices to lock in the user and generate high switching costs.
The traditional business model around output devices consist of the sales of the devices and media used by the devices. This model will also work for the current invention. However, alternative business models can be supported as well.
With this model, the Output Devices are given away for free or some very low token price and the revenue are made on media sales. The goal is to generate network scale quickly by taking away the purchase price as a barrier to entry for the user. An alternative arrangement would have a printer come free with a bulk purchase of a certain amount of media. Another version of this model is similar to the cell phone model: for a monthly charge rate and time period of commitment, the user gets a printer and a certain amount of media each month. Should the user want more media in a given month, they may order it at a price fixed by the plan.
The idea behind this model is that the user buys the printer, and has the opportunity make prints in two ways. The first way is to just buy media and make prints whenever they want. This is identical to the traditional business model. In the second way of printing, the user signs up for a special program that provides for “Free Prints”. This model is subsidized by advertising revenue. In the preferred embodiment, this model would leverage a roll-fed output device that was capable of creating variable aspect ratio output.
For those signed up with this program, all prints are made extending the size of output in the long dimension. This would create output that displayed the entire image area, but would also have an extended region adjacent to the image where an ad could be printed. The media used would be shipped to the user upon sign-up for the free print service. This paper would have a special bar code printed on the back side that would be detected by the printer. This bar code might be visible to the user, but another option is to use an IR barcode that would be detected by the printer but not by the user. The printer would only print on this paper when the user was signed up for the free program that required that ads would be printed, thus ensuring the media was dedicated to advertisement-based printing. A new roll of media would automatically be sent to the user when the system detected that the supply was getting low.
The ad would be selected from a group of possible ads based on a smart rule-based system that would evaluate User Profile and available Informational Assets data for a given user, and choose the ad that is most likely to resonate with the user. Advertisers would pay a fee to have ads placed in this fashion, and this would constitute the primary revenue of this business model. Advertisers would have excellent ad placement with a highly targeted audience segment based on unique informational resources cultivated by the network.
This scheme has been tried before, with free photographic prints ordered through the internet and shipped to the user's home. With this approach, ads were printed on the back of the prints. This form of offering had some real disadvantages. The colorfulness of an ad printed on the pack of the print is often limited because of the nature of print media. Often they are only in black and white. The other disadvantage is the ads are not very prominent. Prints are usually stacked image side up—when stored and used in this fashion the ads are not visible. Often prints are put in picture frames or mounted in photo albums. Again, in both cases, the ads would not be visible or even accessible once mounted.
The method used in the current embodiment is superior to this in that the ads are visible any time the image is visible, thus being more prominent. Users may choose to cut the ad off from the side of the print, resulting with a normal image with no ad visible. This is not a disadvantage. During the cutting process the user is keenly presented with the content of the ad. Once cut from the print, the ad is still visible and useful. For example, the ad could be a bar-coded discount coupon, and once removed from the print, they still have a useful life as standalone coupon or business card.
This would result in a superior experience for both the advertiser and the consumer (who would voluntarily opt in). The System would be able to enforce the printing of ads to enable free prints, and would leverage unique informational assets regarding the user in order to have high precision micro-targeting of ad content.
An embodiment of the invention may be a machine-readable medium, including without limitation a non-transient machine-readable medium, having stored thereon data and instructions to cause a programmable processor to perform operations as described above. In other embodiments, the operations might be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic. Those operations might alternatively be performed by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.
Various processing steps involved in implementing methods according to an embodiment may be carried out on a single processing device (comprising a programmable processor and an associated memory containing instructions and data), or the steps may be split among two or more cooperating processing devices (each having its own programmable processor and associated memory). In the latter case, the processors may coordinate their activities via wired or wireless data communication, but each processor and its associated, directly-connected memory are physically separated from the others (i.e., a first processor has no direct connection to a second processor's memory).
In some embodiments, the instructions for a programmable processor may be treated as data and used to modulate a carrier signal, which can subsequently be sent to a remote receiver, where the signal is demodulated to recover the instructions, and the instructions are executed to implement the methods of an embodiment at the remote receiver. In the vernacular, such modulation and transmission are known as “serving” the instructions, while receiving and demodulating are often called “downloading.” In other words, one embodiment “serves” (i.e., encodes and sends) the instructions of an embodiment to a client, often over a distributed data network like the Internet. The instructions thus transmitted can be saved on a hard disk or other data storage device at the receiver to create another embodiment of the invention, meeting the description of a machine-readable medium storing data and instructions to perform some of the operations discussed above. Compiling (if necessary) and executing such an embodiment at the receiver may result in the receiver performing operations according to a third embodiment.
In the preceding description, numerous details were set forth. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention.
The present invention also relates to apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, including without limitation any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, compact disc read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), eraseable, programmable read-only memories (“EPROMs”), electrically-eraseable read-only memories (“EEPROMs”), magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing computer instructions.
The applications of the present invention have been described largely by reference to specific examples and in terms of particular allocations of functionality to certain hardware and/or software components. However, those of skill in the art will recognize that personal, portable and socially-networked printing can also be accomplished by software and hardware that distribute the functions of embodiments of this invention differently than herein described. Such variations and implementations are understood to be captured according to the following claims.
said first and second keepsakes being substantially similar.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the second version of the electronic dataset is different from the first version of the electronic dataset.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein a resolution of the first version of the electronic dataset is different from a resolution of the second version of the electronic dataset.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein a resolution of the first replicator device is different from a resolution of the second replicator device.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein a resolution of the first replicator device is lower than a resolution of the first version of the electronic dataset.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein a resolution of the second replicator device is lower than a resolution of the second version of the electronic dataset.
if the permission of the first data feed check succeeds, causing the fabrication mechanism to construct a keepsake based on the data from the first data feed.
if the permission of the second data feed check fails, discarding the data from the second data feed.
9. The replicator of claim 7 wherein the second memory is a volatile memory.
discarding the data from the first data feed after the keepsake is constructed by the fabrication mechanism.
said time of construction and time of creation are different.
the second feature representing metadata is a human-readable message on the print of a location at which the physical object was printed.
the second feature representing metadata is a machine-readable mark on the print of a location at which the physical object was printed.
the second feature representing metadata is a machine-readable mark on the physical object, said machine-readable mark to cause a web browser program to retrieve information associated with the physical object from an online electronic data source.
a first replicator device of the first subscriber and a second replicator device of the second subscriber manufacture first and second keepsakes, respectively, each keepsake based on the first electronic dataset, the first and second artifacts being substantially similar.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein the registering operation precedes all of the recording, receiving and the transmitting operations.
17. The method of claim 15 wherein the first electronic dataset describes a graphic image.
18. The method of claim 15 wherein the first electronic dataset describes a three-dimensional object.
19. The method of claim 15 wherein the first replicator device is a battery-operated color printer.
20. The method of claim 15 wherein the first replicator device is a three-dimensional printer.
obtaining confirmation from the first subscriber before the first replicator device of the first subscriber begins the manufacturing operation.
a third replicator device of the third subscriber manufactures a third keepsake based on the altered first electronic dataset, said third keepsake being substantially similar to the first keepsake and the second keepsake.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein altering comprises reducing a resolution of the first electronic dataset.
the altering operation alters the first electronic dataset in view of the capability information of the third replicator device.
the altering operation alters the first electronic dataset in view of the preference information of the third subscriber.
receiving a completion message from one of the plurality of subscribers after a replicator device of the one of the plurality of subscribers finishes a manufacturing operation.
fabricating a keepsake based on the first digital dataset.
28. The method of claim 27 wherein the cloud-based server is the same as the sender.
29. The method of claim 27 wherein the cloud-based server is different from the sender.
a selector to prospectively identify desired digital datasets among a larger plurality of datasets.
a capability indicator to identify a desired resolution of the digital datasets describing keepsakes.
the address contains information for the sender to communicate with a keepsake replicator.
transmitting a completion message after the fabricating operation.
| 2023-04-11T12:44:46.223692+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:57:01Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,015 | 20,406 |
https://www.british-cemetery-elvas.org/en/cemetery/marshal-general-viscount-beresford | William Carr Beresford was born in Ireland on 2 October 1768. He was one of two sons born to George Beresford, Earl of Tyrone (later First Marquess of Waterford) prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Monck. Following a period in school at Catterick, Yorkshire, he attended the military academy in Strasbourg before joining the 6th Regiment of Foot (1st Warwickshire Regiment) as ensign in 1785. Posted to Nova Scotia in 1786, he was involved in a shooting accident while out hunting which led him to lose sight in his left eye.
Promotion came rapidly, albeit by changing regiments. In 1789 he joined the 16th Regiment as a lieutenant, a regiment of which in later life he became colonel. In the following year he became a Captain in the 69th Regiment of Foot and in that capacity served with the marines under Admiral Lord Hood. Having formed part of the garrison at Toulon in 1793, he participated in the capture of Corsica, distinguishing himself at the capture of Mortello, as a result of which he achieved his majority. In 1794 he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the 124th Regiment (the Waterford regiment) and when this was disbanded and its men allocated to the 88th Regiment (Connaught Rangers) a year later he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the latter regiment.
The 88th was nominated to serve in the West Indies under Sir Ralph Abercromby, but the transport fleet was so widely dispersed by storms that the regiment became greatly fragmented and following the return home of much of the regiment it was sent to defend Jersey between 1797 and 1799.
Beresford travelled with the 88th regiment to India in 1800, and a year later led the first brigade of the army under Sir David Baird assigned to assist Abercromby in Egypt. The army marched overland from the Red Sea to the Nile and then was transported on boats to Cairo in a voyage that seized the public imagination. Following the evacuation of Egypt by the French, Beresford served as Commandant of Alexandria until the British Forces were withdrawn in 1803.
In 1806 Beresford served under Baird at the capture of the Cape Colony. Subsequently with a force of less than 1600 men he captured Buenos Aires, the seizure of which was the brainchild of Sir Home Popham, commander of the British fleet which had brought Baird and his army to the Cape. After holding the city for 7 weeks, Beresford surrendered to vastly superior forces. He was prisoner for some time before effecting his escape to Montevideo where a substantial British army was then assembling to attempt the further and ultimately unsuccessful conquest of the River Plate Colony. Beresford did not partake in this second expedition but returned home to a hero’s welcome, not least perhaps because of his achievement in dispatching a large amount of captured ‘Spanish’ silver bullion to England prior to his surrender.
In 1807 Beresford took possession of the Portuguese island of Madeira and was appointed Governor. He was promoted Major General in March 1808 , and in August left Madeira to serve in Portugal where he joined fellow Anglo-Irishman Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington (hereafter referred to as Wellington). Beresford arrived in Portugal after the battle of Vimeiro. He was appointed a commissioner to enforce the terms of the Convention of Cintra by Sir Hew Dalrymple who had succeeded Wellington in command of the British forces. Following service in Portugal and Spain, he took part in the retreat to La Coruna and commanded the rearguard in the evacuation of the British army from that port in January 1809.
Beresford’s stay in England was a short one. In March 1809 he was appointed Marshal and Commander in Chief of the Portuguese army. The government of Portugal had requested the appointment of a British General to rebuild and lead their army which had been largely disbanded by the French forces of occupation. In his capacity as Marshal, Beresford with the assistance of others including Dom Miguel Pereira Forjaz the Portuguese Secretary for War and Foreign Affairs, is credited with the reform and rebuilding of the Portuguese army. Beresford was a strict disciplinarian but he was so successful in restructuring the army that within a year Wellington was happy to put Portuguese regiments in the line with British regiments, knowing that they would perform to orders. Many Portuguese regiments were brigaded with British regiments in a system that worked well for the remainder of the war.
Knighted following the battle of Busaco (1810), Beresford was given a temporary independent command in early 1811, at a time when Wellington was preparing to push back the French under Marechal Massena from the Lines of Torres Vedras, north of Lisbon. While Wellington pursued Massena’s army out of Portugal and into Spain, culminating in the battle of Fuentes de Onoro (3-5 May 1811) Beresford was sent south to attempt the recapture of Badajoz, which had recently fallen to the French.
The defining battle of this southern campaign was Albuera (16 May 1811), resulting in the repulse of the French army under Marechal Soult which was attempting to relieve Badajoz. Shortly before the commencement of the battle, Beresford’s largely Anglo-Portuguese force was joined by a Spanish army under General Blake. This was the first occasion on which an allied force of this nature had fought together and it was not without its problems.
While Soult retired to Sevilla with heavy losses, and the Allies were able to reinvest Badajoz, the battle of Albuera was a sanguinary affair in which the Allies, and particularly the British, themselves lost large numbers. Beresford’s personal bravery demonstrated on the battlefield was not in doubt, but he was subject to later criticism from some quarters alleging indecision and lack of tactical awareness. Wellington however never lost faith in Beresford, insisting in subsequent years that if he should be incapacitated, Beresford should be appointed to succeed him in command of the army in the Peninsular.
Marshal Beresford pulling a Polish lancer from his horse at the Battle of Albuera. The painting was by Franz Joseph Manskirch and the engraving by M Dubourg, published by Edward Orme, Bond Street 1816. The encounter of William Carr Beresford and the Polish lancer is well recorded. The Polish (Vistula) lancers were able to get in behind the British infantry and endangered the command officers. A lancer tried to attack Beresford but the latter grabbed him and threw him to the ground. When the poor fellow resumed his attack on Beresford he was dispatched by an aide.
Following Albuera, Beresford resumed the work of building up the Portuguese army, not just in trained manpower, but in its administrative and medical functions. He was present at the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812, where his nephew, John Theophilus Beresford, was mortally wounded; and Beresford himself was seriously wounded later the same year at the battle of Salamanca. Following recuperation he participated in the Pyrenees campaigns, being present at the battles of Vitoria, the Nive, the Nivelle, Orthez and finally Toulouse (10 April 1814) where he led the Allied forces under Wellington’s command in the decisive assault on Mont Rave and compelled the withdrawal of his old adversary, Marechal Soult.
John Theophilus Beresford was serving as a lieutenant with the Connaught Rangers (88th). He was aide de camp to Major General Henry Mackinnon. During the assault of Ciudad Rodrigo on the night of 19 January 1812 the French exploded a mine underneath the group leading the attack on the Great Breach which killed Mackinnon and wounded John Beresford. At first the latter's injuries were not thought to be serious though he suffered burns to the face. He was taken to Vilar Formosa where the Marshal had him attended to but he died on 28 January of his wounds, not yet 20 years of age, and buried at Almeida.
Returning to command the Portuguese army after the close of the war, Marshal Beresford was not present at Waterloo. The Portuguese royal family and much of the governmental support function had moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1807 following the French invasion of Portugal, and the Regent Prince Joao (King after 1816) did not return to Portugal until 1821. In the interim Beresford remained Commander in Chief of the Portuguese army in difficult circumstances where competing factions sought to reduce the influence of the army and in particular the British officers appointed to it. Beresford was closely identified with the royal family and conservative interests and following the liberal revolution of 1820 was not allowed to land in Portugal on his return from Brazil. Henceforth while he retained connections and visited Portugal, his influence was much reduced there. He was appointed Governor of Jersey in 1820, a post he held for the rest of his life. For some time he was involved in British politics serving as Master General of Ordnance in Wellington’s government of 1828.
Appointed the Count of Trancoso on 13 May 1811 and subsequently the Marques de Campo Maior (17 December 1812 ) in Portugal, he was elevated to the British Peerage in May 1814 taking as title Lord Beresford of Dungarvan and Albuera, thus recognizing both his Irish heritage and his Peninsular affiliations. In 1823 he was created Viscount Beresford. Late in life he married his first cousin Louisa de la Poer Beresford. They are both buried at Kilndown in Kent, near where they lived at Bedgebury Park, and where he died on 8 January 1854, the last surviving Marshal of the Napoleonic wars.
| 2023-04-11T12:45:29.211038+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:39:45Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,031 | 1,601 |
https://www.pearlharborhistoricsites.org/pearl-harbor/arizona-memorial-tour | If you have not been able to secure your movie/boat tickets for the USS Arizona Memorial, please be informed that the National Park Service gives out over 1,300 free walk up tickets each day on a first come, first serviced basis. Be sure to arrive early for these walk up tickets, the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center opens at 7am.
We recommend that you allow yourself at least 3 hours to immerse in our Pearl Harbor Visitor Center experience. Upon arrival to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, please proceed directly to the National Park Service's ticket counter, conveniently located in the courtyard area. Here you will receive your movie and boat shuttle tickets to the USS Arizona Memorial. The USS Arizona Memorial Narrated Tour Desk and the Pearl Harbor Historical Site Partners ticket counter are also located in the courtyard of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.
Free daily tours to the USS Arizona Memorial are available from 7:30 am to 3 pm and include a compelling 23 minute documentary film on the history of the politics, the people and the attack on Oahu. After viewing the film, visitors are then boarded on a 150 passenger US Navy operated boat and experience an unforgettable ride to the USS Arizona Memorial. The movie and boat tour to the USS Arizona Memorial takes approximately 75 minutes.
| 2023-04-11T12:46:12.926733+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:28:51Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,059 | 227 |
https://www.thesalonbylorabrown.com/blog/why-pre-booking-matters-and-how-to-do-it | For new hair stylists, pre-booking appointments can be difficult to do and to get used to. But pre-booking the next appointment before your customer leaves is the most effective way to increase the frequency of visits, which leads to more sales. So, here are some suggestions to help make pre-booking easier, which, in turn, can place your career on the fast track.
At some point during the appointment, mention what service will be needed on the work you're doing today. Complement the client on how good she is going to look when you're done, while reminding her when you'll need to do it again, whether it's several weeks or two months.
Go into your mailing list and note what customers came in a month ago and didn't schedule their next appointment. Either call them, email them or send a postcard reminding them that it's getting close to time for another appointment.
While it might seem pushy, going ahead and pre-booking the client's next appointment can work. As they check out, tell them that you've already booked them for their next appointment and ask if that works for them. You might be surprised at how often they'll agree.
Pre-booking benefits your customers because it allows them to maintain a look rather than waiting until they can't stand their hair. Knowing that they have a time set for them that is ideal for their schedule will also make them more loyal customers.
When you become fully booked for weeks at a time, you can better control what you charge. It's a simple matter of supply and demand – when demand exceeds supply, then the price goes up.
Holidays and vacations (Christmas is a great example) can be a great way to set up your pre-booking strategy. Remind your clients how busy they're going to be during these times and tell them how important it will be to schedule their next appointment in advance.
To learn more about how to make the most of your career, contact The Salon By Lora Brown in Amarillo. The Salon is always looking for quality professionals to add to our mentoring team environment. | 2023-04-11T12:46:28.282733+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:08:07Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,067 | 374 |
http://www.balguerie.com/en/news/balguerie-worldwide-logistics-expands | Balguerie Worldwide Logistics continues its international development and strengthens its presence in Asia with the opening of an agency in Hong Kong as of January 1st 2019: BWL Hong Kong. Its purpose is to ensure the link with all Balguerie agencies, to gain reactivity on a market where demand is strong and to increase customers satisfaction by providing savoir-faire, rapidity and knowledge.
Chikei Ho, Agency Director of the BWL Hong Kong presents us with the opportunities that lay ahead for this new team.
Balguerie (B): Firstly, what has been the triggering factor for you to get involved in this new Balguerie venture?
Chikei Ho (CH): Enlisting in this adventure allows me to follow two of my passions: entrepreneurship and international scope. But it certainly has to do with the company's solid reputation as well as with the team of men and women who comprise it.
Quite early, I decided to specialize in Logistics. My career started in France, where I had completed my graduate studies, then moved on to China, London and Hong Kong, for important cargo companies taking up several exciting challenges. In 2016, I started developing business connections with Balguerie. Then began a series of exchanges where interconnected ideas and common provisions have allowed us to move forward in a project nowadays built on solid and reliable foundation.
B: Tell us about the project of this new agency.
CH: The first members of the team have joined BWL Hong Kong on this January 1st. The infrastructure's implementation phase has spread over the whole month of January, including training of the team on the company's tools and software to ensure operational excellence. In this way, the Agency has entered into full activity since the Chinese New Year. BWL Hong Kong begins its actions by acquiring intra-Asian businesses or Balguerie's other core complementary markets.
B: What will be the added values of BALGUERIE's teams?
CH: We are in an industry where the human element remains at the heart of our organization. From day one, BWL Hong Kong will have all skills and talents necessary to serve a wide panel of customers (wine, wood, perishable products, textile, paper, etc.). It will also count on the expertise of overseas agents. This agency will provide the required flexibility and competitiveness to penetrate new markets.
We will provide our know-how and turnkey solutions to position us on all markets such as, for example, the logistics e-commerce.
We will replicate Balguerie's expertise in the Far East.
There is a real potential in the opening of this new agency in Asia. China continues to open up to the world. For instance, today it is the cradle for start-ups whose international scope is more and more substantial.
Please do not hesitate to contact our commercial local teams for all of your transportation needs. | 2023-04-11T12:48:18.770463+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:54:03Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,098 | 478 |
http://z-news.link/the-imf-requires-the-introduction-of-a-new-tax-in-ukraine/ | The new tax will help to Finance the reform itself.
Additional retirement tax may be introduced in Ukraine within the framework of the pension reform.
This is stated in the draft Memorandum with the International monetary Fund.
“An additional tax on social insurance contributions will be introduced to be paid by employers actuarial fair, it will accumulate on the personalized accounts”, – stated in the draft Memorandum.
Proceeds from it will be an interim source of financing the pension reform.
In addition, the text of the Memorandum refers to the need to provide new choices for retirement with a broader range of retirement age than it is now.
In General, pension reform should lead to savings of at least 3% of GDP compared with the year 2016 due to the continuation of effective years of employment of the population.
Recall, February 1, Reva said that the IMF demands to raise the retirement age for the Ukrainians, but in the current situation, the Ministry of social policy there is no argument in favor of this event.
The Minister stressed that raising the retirement age will be the last step after exhausting all possibilities of solving the problems of the Pension Fund.
“If I was convinced that the pension age should be increased, I would have gone out and publicly stated this. I would have assumed political courage, but so far I have no arguments for this. I see other possible solutions to the problem” – summed up Reva.
| 2023-04-11T12:49:02.965736+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:11:26Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,113 | 246 |
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/714104 | This article reads Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow as both a dictator-novel and a critical use of the genre to analyze the larger-scale global political transformations (so-called "transitions") that followed the end of the Cold War. Beyond its critique of dictators and dictatorship on the African continent, Wizard of the Crow turns attention to nascent networks of opposition to neoliberalism and neoliberal globalization. This constitutes the emergent Global South consciousness of Ngũgĩ's dictator-novel, which requires a reexamination of the contours of the genre in and for the twenty-first century. | 2023-04-11T12:49:57.577428+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:24:43Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,141 | 100 |
https://myriam626.wixsite.com/hpmnetwork?lightbox=dataItem-ja77udvl | His Presence Ministry International is ready & excited to bring you closer to your Father, reignite the passion for Him, become disciples, and act on the God-intended identity He prepared for you at the cross.
Everyone in the HPM Network is the body of Christ, and we work together to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God's good purpose. We encourage any and all ages, denominations, and backgrounds to participate in the body of Christ, actively engage in sharing His love during our walks on earth and to live as His disciples. We are the church and He is the head, there is no hierarchy that supersedes Him. | 2023-04-11T12:49:58.120736+00:00 | 2020-01-18T05:45:42Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,142 | 110 |
https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2014/07/ace-in-the-hole.html | Ace in the Hole is ostensibly about the media circus (it was rechristened The Big Carnival after tanking in the public/critical perception) that pitched its tent long before it became a popular whipping post. The picture covers a cave-in, an unfortunate treasure-hunter, and absolute, unrepentant, irredeemable bastard reporter Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas), relieved from his elevated post and a host of others in the Big Apple to bring his yellow journalism to nowhere, New Mexico. A statement about how low Tatum's been brought, certainly, it's also a statement about how the same ugliness grows indiscriminately, everywhere. In a lovely, brittle opening, Tatum ambles into the offices of the local fishwrap, announces his superiority to every moron in the joint, and bullies himself into a byline. But a little bit of Wilder repartee makes it palatable: Jimmy Olsen manqué Herbie (Bob Arthur) scores a quick rhetorical hit on Tatum-on-a-roll, and mild-mannered editor Mr. Boot (Porter Hall), representative of the dying old guard, shows himself keen with the best line in the film, something about a thrice-widowed matron and the prospects of winning her favour.
It sets up the troubled conceit of the picture, a dividing line between smart people who are predators and smart people who aren't. Even the erstwhile heroes own a tourist-trap junk shop that capitalizes on the local Native population. It's a movie about castes--not so much in the social sense (though suburbia will be skewered in the bodies of a vacationing family), but in a moral/intellectual sense. It has nothing hopeful to offer, which goes some way towards explaining why I've never bought into any of Wilder's romantic pairings. Ace in the Hole has been read broadly as a criticism of the news mechanism that caters to the lowest common denominator. I'd argue that it's actually a criticism of the lowest common denominator itself. This is Wilder's Hitchcock turn, his audience critique declaring that people are stupid, and malleable, and ugly, essentially, and that although it's possible to court their better natures for a while, a brutal, Hobbesian venality will inevitably out. I like the scene in a local diner with Tatum baiting the small-town sheriff while, in a box between them, a rattlesnake chitters away, having just been baited the same way by a piece of steak.
Tatum is hungry for a scandal or a tragedy. He tells the matronly receptionist (Geraldine Hall) that he wishes she'd get involved in a doomed love affair and get herself vivisected and stashed in a trunk, so he could win his Pulitzer reporting on her misfortune. On the way out to cover a rattlesnake festival (as guest of honour, some would say), Tatum boasts of his lack of formal education and his schooling as a street-corner paper peddler, and observes that bad news sells. Again, a comment not so much on bad news as on prurient appetites. Look at the way Wilder and his Sabrina DP Charles Lang shoot Tatum as he first enters the cave in search of his quarry: from beneath Douglas's stalactite chin, cadaverous like a ghoul telling a campfire scare. In the cave, under a ton of debris, is Leo (Richard Benedict), trapped there whilst excavating a sacred Native American burial site. He's the obvious good guy in Ace in the Hole, yet he's venal, despicable--even his crime speaks to ransacking the past for a slavering public. And the moment Tatum pulls out a camera to snap a couple of shots is the moment Leo perks up, wiping off his face, manufacturing a smile for posterity's sake. Maybe the hero is baby-faced shutterbug Herbie, every inch the Brandon de Wilde character from Hud, who picks the wrong role model and loses his innocence piecemeal, atrocity-by-degradation-by-inhumanity, until he's a mere shell: empty as the rest of us.
Tatum is matched by icy, bottle-blonde Lorraine (Jan Sterling), the slatternly, opportunistic wife of poor Leo who takes his misfortune initially as a good chance to blow this pop stand. "Go on and peddle your hamburgers," Tatum says to her. Right after he slaps her around a little for looking too happy and maybe wanting to thank Tatum for the sudden windfall brought to her miserable existence by the interest around Leo's avarice. In retrospect, it's not hard to see why Ace in the Hole was so unpopular upon its 1951 release. There's no one to root for. It would make a marvellous companion piece to Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place: films released within months of each other that appeared as if through wormhole from 1963 or thereabouts--from a darker decade in film, as well as an angrier one. Lorraine plays the doting wife, Tatum plays the philanthropist, then, in a scene in his hotel room with editor Boot framed against a crucifix, Tatum becomes the Devil. Wilder's outsiders are always looking for a way in. When Tatum is offered a means through which to return to his squandered city desk, he graduates from huckster to full-blown bastard, extending Leo's stay--fatally, as it happens--just to squeeze a few more days' copy out of the story. Suddenly, Ace in the Hole is a direct analog to Wilder's own Double Indemnity. It's as dirty a noir as ever there was.
Douglas is too broad by half here, especially having demonstrated restraint previously as the snake in Out of the Past and subsequently in Paths of Glory. His Tatum is all clenched elocution, the source of a hundred parodies of the Douglas demeanour. He's lucky the script by Wilder, Lesser Samuels, and Walter Newman (Wilder's first following his separation from long-time writing partner Charles Brackett) is as angry as it is. Ace in the Hole is a film indicated not by great performances, but by a stream of uninterrupted bile. It's a beautiful film full of meticulous framing that alternates between extreme claustrophobia and wide-open New Mexico tableaux that come to be infested by human contagion. There's a connection here between how the Native Americans lost this tract of land and the way the unreflective mass rallies around any misfortune. Too easy to speak of vultures, the more precise analogy is the piranha. Prescient, it's easy to say--the better word is "observant," because Ace in the Hole is Wilder's contention not that the world is getting ugly, but that it was always ugly. Not that we don't notice, but that it doesn't do any good to notice. Not that there aren't good people, but that it doesn't matter. It's too late. It always was.
Criterion reissues Ace in the Hole in a dual-format Blu-ray edition. The 1.37:1, 1080p transfer traces back to a 4K scan of a 2K restoration combining a duplicate negative and a patchwork source print, and the resulting image is impressively consistent. I remember when this film was extremely difficult to see in any way, shape, or form--the first time I taught it, I resorted to screening a Korean bootleg--so I'm forgiving of stray scuff marks, not to mention a certain softness. (The opening title is milky and borderline blurry, perhaps as a result of not being properly preserved once the picture was renamed.) To be sure, this doesn't have the razor-sharp sheen of the best b&w HD releases, but it is a step up from the standard-def version, sporting far more nuanced dynamic range with sootier, tabloid blacks and of course a better-resolved grain structure. The centre-channel LPCM soundtrack is clear, free of distortion, and relatively full. Of interest to scholars should be the time or two B-movie composer Hugo Friedhofer's score actually does intrude. The only emotions other than rage in Ace in the Hole are black irony and bitter sarcasm. Good times.
Framed by soundbites from Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, "Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man" (58 mins.) is a 16mm Annie Tresgot documentary from 1980 featuring Wilder in conversation with critic Michel Ciment. Wilder is in fine form, going on at length about highlights from his career (including the optical illusion that constituted The Apartment's office set) as well as the troubles with Ace in the Hole's theatrical run. He's acerbic, wry, playful--all the things indicative of his persona, on full display along with what feels like disdain and perhaps impatience. I never know whether I like Wilder completely, though I like his films very much. "Billy Wilder at the American Film Institute" (24 mins.) is an interview conducted by George Stevens Jr., edited for content. What I wouldn't give for a transcript of Wilder and Stevens Sr. having dinner together. Wilder discusses his life between the wars, his writing process, and why it is he never returned to Europe. He waxes rhapsodic for a while about Austria and speaks of how his economy with budget afforded him a great deal of latitude with studio heads. I have a tough time believing that, but so it is. Furthermore, he considers the nature of comedy--overall a nice, comfortable piece.
"Kirk Douglas" (15 mins.) is an interview from 1984 that has Douglas reflecting on the giants he's worked with and how the part in Ace in the Hole where Tatum lights a match with the carriage of a typewriter rebounding is typical of Wilder's genius with character business. It's a trenchant analysis--the highlight of the piece. He speaks of Wilder as an "arrogant" director in a positive sense, and reveals that he was offered William Holden's role in Stalag 17 but turned it down out of "stupidity." I'm impressed. An audio interview with Walter Newman (10 mins.) finds the screenwriter going over his career, from writing for the radio to this first and only collaboration with Wilder. Not much here save an anecdote involving a rattlesnake and the Paramount logo.
Spike Lee provides a 6-minute afterword wherein he chats about meeting Billy Wilder and shows off a half-sheet for Ace in the Hole he got signed by Douglas and Wilder. I have renewed respect for Lee following his unfairly-maligned Oldboy remake, and now I covet this priceless bit of memorabilia. Oh, his insight into the film is pretty good, too, separating him from douchebags like M. Night Shyamalan, whose participation has devalued the supplements of many a Hitchcock DVD. Lee correctly observes that Ace in the Hole is about America. Nicely played, sir. Additionally, you can step through a 32-image stills gallery of behind-the-scenes and premiere photos and watch a trailer that maybe sells the film too well. All of this video-based material has been upscaled to 1080i for Blu-ray.
A 2007 commentary track from Wilder scholar Neil Sinyard has good information, but suffers from silences and a broad character analysis that seems to take the place of thematic insight. While he makes a few connections to Hitchcock strategies that are interesting in a theoretical sense, observations such as that Tatum has assumed some traits of his editor (i.e., belt and suspenders) are left as that: observations, with no connection to the piece at large. He turns artful phrases like, "The sign says "Land of Enchantment" but for him it's a "Land of Entrapment,"" which is frankly not so much analysis as it is colourful scene recitation. The film deserves better.
Criterion goes clever (read: cutesy) for its insert this time around by mocking up a page from the "Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin" (5 cents!) to present essays by Molly Haskell and Guy Maddin. Haskell's piece is...let's just say that it's dead on. I'm glad I didn't read it before writing my own. Maddin also does yeoman's work, focusing on Douglas's beyond-intense performance and reminding of all the other committed performances Wilder elicited throughout his career. It's intelligent and visual--hallmarks, both, of Maddin's filmmaking sensibility, as it happens. I don't agree that Douglas is great in Ace in the Hole, but I do agree that his intensity is.
| 2023-04-11T12:50:53.651151+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:10:55Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,191 | 2,075 |
https://www.margolis.com/our-blog/obesity-decline-a-good-omen-for-elder-care | Years ago, I interviewed Dr. Robert Butler, the father of gerontology, for a podcast series I had at the time. With complete self-interest, I asked how he thought Baby Boomers would fare as they aged, fully expecting a bright future as the result of our athleticism and the benefits of good health care. I was surprised at his response that Baby Boomers as a group could look forward to a miserable old age due to obesity.
Obesity would lead to a series of health challenges including diabetes, heart disease and orthopedic and back injuries from carrying around so much extra weight. It turns out that I was talking with Dr. Butler at the height of the obesity epidemic. Fortunately,according to a recent article in The New York Times, "Americans are Finally Eating Less, there's now some evidence of a turnaround. The biggest drop is in the amount of soda and other sweetened beverages people are eating. But there's also a reduction in refined carbohydrates, milk and unsweetened beverages, salty snacks, and the amount of food in general.
This is very good news both on an individual and a societal level. Individually, healthier eating can lead to less illness and disability. As a country, we have no way to take care of tens of millions of disabled Baby Boomers. The longer we keep ourselves healthy and able to take care of ourselves, the more likely we and other taxpayers will be able to pay for our care when the need arises.
Most of us will need care at the end of our lives, whether that be three weeks, three months, three years, or much longer. The care may relatively light, getting us going in the morning or simply help in trips to the doctors. Or it could be heavy, around the clock monitoring if we have dementia or full nursing care for an illness or chronic condition. The problem in terms of planning is that none of us can know for sure which group we will fall into. While we know statistically that over all people who eat well and exercises moderately are on average more healthy than overeating couch potatoes, averages aren't individuals. Some people take great care of themselves and still have a debilitating stroke or Alzheimer's disease.
But we may as well play the odds. The odds are that the healthier we eat and the more we exercise (up to a reasonable level), the longer and healthier we'll live. We'll also be less likely to have dementia. While certain types of dementia including Alzheimer's disease may be out of our control, we may be able to prevent multi infarct dementia resulting from many small strokes.
In terms of exercise, a recently released report suggests that while there's a lot of benefit to having a moderate exercise routine, extreme exercise doesn't help much more. On the other hand, long-term health seems to be a poor motivator for exercise. According to another recent study, also reported in The New York Times, people are more likely to exercise for the more immediate rewards of more energy, a better mood, less stress and interacting with family and friends, than for any long-term health benefits.
So, eat well and exercise for the immediate benefits of feeling better; if you're lucky, it may stave off longer-term illness or disability; and if enough of us Baby Boomers do this, we may not overwhelm our health and chronic care systems. | 2023-04-11T12:51:10.639238+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:08:31Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,201 | 590 |
https://www.tor.com/2019/06/13/writing-games-to-test-the-waters-of-my-identity/ | The speech was given at the 2018 Nebula Awards, which were held from May 16th-19th, 2019 in Woodland Hills, California.
I am honored to be presenting the inaugural Nebula for Outstanding Game Writing. It represents a conversion of two powerful forces in my life: literature and games. Because it is the very first year of the historic award I’d like to take a minute to speak about why it’s so important.
I am the first member of my family born in the United States. Growing up I was the only brown kid at school, which left me torn between two cultures at war; a liberal American one in the classroom, and a conservative Indian one at home. I felt deeply alienated and often confused. I hated every part of me—my weird name, to my dark skin, to my curly Malayali hair. I remember looking in the mirror as a teen and wishing I was white, wishing I was more American. During that time, books and games were my solace. It was through games that I began testing the waters of my identity. My first characters were white, almost unthinkingly so, because that was normal and because I wanted to be normal. But after some time I began to experiment with Indian characters. I did it because some part of me longed to be myself, and games were the safest place to try. Indian spies, Indian sorcerers, Indian vampires—I played them all and more as I explored my Desi identity in these imagined worlds, and came to realize how important my ethnicity was to me. I found peace with, and then love for, my Indian American heritage. I am thankful for games, for giving me that space to explore, without it I do not know where I would be today.
Games also offered windows into experiences not my own. The game How We Came to Live Here let me thoughtfully explore the legends of Indigenous people of the American southwest. And the game Bluebeard’s Bride thrust me into a world of feminine horror I did not have an understanding for. These games and others like them helped me grow. They shaped my understanding of the world and made me a more empathetic person. Games are now an integral part of my life.
Some of you are familiar with my work with the impoverished marginalized communities in India through Netflix’s documentary series, Daughters of Destiny. In the final episode, there’s a scene where I speak to a group of boys about feminism. What you don’t see is a part where we play games together—roleplaying games that explore the often harsh and unfair lives of their sisters and their mothers, where the boys confront misogyny prevalent in the urban slums and the rural villages where they come from, where they wrestle with the toll that the Indian patriarchy exerts on everyone, men and women alike. Playing these games becomes part of the boys journey away from toxic masculinity and towards a life filled with healthy relationships.
I am thankful for games for giving me the tools to help those young men and women who look up to me for guidance and support, whether it is by allowing us to wrestle with parts of ourselves we’re not entirely comfortable with or imagining the world through different eyes games transform us. And that’s why I’m so excited by this years slate of nominees.
| 2023-04-11T12:51:41.899598+00:00 | 2020-01-18T07:07:58Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,228 | 582 |
https://www.ultimaterugby.com/news/2019%2F20-pro14-fixtures-confirmed/617607 | In 72 days South Africa will kick off the new Guinness PRO14 season when the Cheetahs host 2015 champions Glasgow Warriors in Bloemfontein on September 27.
All five unions within the Guinness PRO14 will host a game in Round 1 with Ulster and Ospreys also playing on opening night in Belfast as Benetton Rugby, Scarlets and Edinburgh complete the slate of home fixtures.
For the first time ever, fans can plan their weekends right up until Round 20 with all kick-off times and dates laid out right to the penultimate weekend of the regular season.
The Cheetahs and Glasgow Warriors fixture will kick-off a mammoth 152 games schedule that will culminate in the toughest run-in yet, as local and international rivals set their sights on lifting the Guinness PRO14 trophy won by Leinster in May.
From Round 14 to 21 there will be only two-weekend breaks in play as teams compete for precious placings in the Guinness PRO14 Final Series with seedings and Champions Cup qualification will all be up for grabs in a nine-week stretch. Details on the knock-out stages will be confirmed in due course.
The tribal derby games that sit at the heart of the Guinness PRO14’s intense rivalries are spread across eight rounds. This season, the calendar has allowed for the Welsh derby games to return to their traditional Boxing Day slot with Cardiff Blues facing Dragons in the east and Scarlets hosting Ospreys in the west.
Due to the time difference in Japan there will be no direct clashes with kick-off times in the Guinness PRO14 so fans will able to take in all of the rugby on offer during this period.
The location, date and kick-off time of the 2020 Guinness PRO14 Final will also be confirmed in the near future.
Tournament Director, David Jordan, was pleased to see the new season kick off in South Africa for the very first time: “After two years the Toyota Cheetahs and Isuzu Southern Kings have begun to establish themselves in the Guinness PRO14 and with each side starting with three home games there is a real opportunity for both of them to become a greater threat.
Speaking about the schedule for the 2019/20 season, Jordan entering his 16thseason with the Championship, added: “Once again we have managed to take a big step forward in our scheduling thanks to the support of all our broadcast partners. Last season we reached Round 17, but this year we have gone all the way up to Round 20 which is terrific news for our teams and our supporters.
“Unlike the more traditional domestic competitions, our teams journey out of their own country for the majority of their games and by setting out the fixtures so far in advance, it allows them to get more value out of their travel logistics. It all adds up to investing more resources into their 80 minutes on the pitch and that is what everyone involved wants to see each weekend.
| 2023-04-11T12:51:44.350533+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:48:17Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,229 | 507 |
https://www.vitalstrategies.org/spotlight-research/ | Roughly 10 million people fell ill with TB in the last year and 1.6 million people were killed by the disease. While significant advances have been made in detecting and treating TB, drug-resistant strains threaten to derail progress. For the half million people who contract multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) each year, the treatment regimen is a demanding course of medicines that can cause serious side effects, including hearing loss and renal impairment. STREAM, the largest recruited multi-country clinical trial to examine shortened regimens for MDR-TB, aims to generate the highest-quality evidence regarding the efficacy, safety, and cost of shorter, more tolerable MDR-TB regimens.
This month, Vital Strategies and its TREAT TB partners participated in the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Hyderabad, India. We’ve curated videos, papers, and blogs related to this event and the work conducted by Vital Strategies’ Research Division.
STREAM physician Lamara Mudladze examines a chest x-ray from a TB patient at the JSC National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Tblisi, Georgia (photo: Javier Galeano, Vital Strategies).
Gay Bronson, Deputy Director, Research Division, discusses progress in the treatment of multi drug-resistant tuberculosis in this recent Q&A.
Community engagement throughout the research cycle leads to awareness, involvement, trust and, ultimately, contributes to better outcomes. Learn the fundamentals from this video.
The results from Stage 1 of the landmark STREAM clinical trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2019, supporting the move to shorter, more cost-effective treatment regimens for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Commenting on the work, Dr. I.D. Rusen, Vital Strategies Senior Vice President, Research and Development and Director of the USAID-funded TREAT TB project, which is implementing STREAM, said, “Until now there has been a lack of strong supporting evidence to underpin MDR-TB treatment guidelines. The results from STREAM Stage 1 help to fill that gap. The final results show that the trial setting meant more patients successfully completed treatment on the 20–24-month regimen than we know is often the case in real life settings. In routine programs unable to achieve the high STREAM retention rates, the 9–11-month regimen may actually perform better in comparison to the longer regimen.” Read more at treattb.org.
While the results of STREAM Stage 1 provided important evidence to support shorter regimens, read about why it’s imperative to complete Stage 2 of the trial in an interview with Dr. Daniel Meressa from St. Peter’s Tuberculosis Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Community advisory boards (CABs) provide crucial feedback from STREAM participants and their families to researchers and other trial implementers. They also play an important role in raising awareness of TB and the trial, and make complex information accessible to affected communities. The psychosocial support they provide to trial participants and family members can help improve retention and adherence rates for clinical trials. Sister Mary Josephinal Francis, STREAM CAB Coordinator in Chennai, India, discusses the importance of this holistic approach in this blog.
In September 2014, the first patient was recruited to the STREAM trial in Mongolia, one of the countries in the Western Pacific Region identified by the WHO as having a high TB burden. Watch participants and clinicians discuss the important work carried out in that country.
TB is the world’s most deadly infectious disease, killing 1.6 million people a year—despite being both preventable and curable. Read José Luis Castro’s call to action from World TB Day.
| 2023-04-11T12:51:47.371426+00:00 | 2020-01-18T06:42:38Z | common-crawl | cc_en_head_0001 | 343,230 | 592 |
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