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Tiny Moving Parts – Swell

a2334147848_10Band: Tiny Moving Parts
Album: Swell
Label: Big Scary Monsters
Release date: January 2018
Sounds like: Sending applause to your heartstrings. A rapid detachment.

“Scan an open road, distort the traffic/Never getting used to these second guesses…”

Due to mishearing lyrics, I thought that on Malfunction, track 8 from the new Tiny Moving Parts album, Swell, vocalist Dylan Mattheisen said “I got dizzy right before the vapid detachments.” I thought “hell, that’s a terrific band name, The Vapid Detachments*!” However, I’m reliably informed that the word is rapid, which is still decent, if not better? Probably?

Tiny Moving Parts then, completed by the brothers Chevalier (Matt on bass, Billy on drums) are back with the follow up to 2016’s Celebrate and their second release through the Big Scary Monsters imprint. It’s quite an impressive move by BSM main man, Kevin to sign these dudes a few years back – they tick a lot of boxes and overlap into several others. Twiddly-math-emo styles? Check. Huge punk rock choruses that feel like a bone-crunching hug of joy? You betcha. An impassioned and earnest vocal lead that makes your heart…er…swell? Thumbs up.

Opening track Applause, asks for veritable ovation be sent to your heartstrings. There’s an edge of darkness in this though, whilst the twinkling guitars, math-punk riffs, scattered percussion and plethora of tambourines litter this, Mattheisen’s cries of “I want to give up” and the line “struggle with every single breath” seem to hold some desire to overcome and breakthrough a period of sadness. Luckily, the cry of “applause my lungs still breathing” on every single one of this song’s damn hook-laden choruses makes the glass seem half-full.

Building bridges is the topic of the soaring Smooth It Out – a track that seems to be about improving a relationship, talk of missteps and “smoke breaks” (taking time out) and offering to be the “weight on your shoulders” hey, it’s about love everyone! Aw. Mattheisen and the Chevalier boys carve out a crackling slab of spirited up-tempo heartland rock, which bursts with even more vigour thanks to the rising background strings/(keys?) and subtle gang-vocal melodies.

The jagged, punchy guitars on the aggravated Feel Alive, give the track a crisp, yet busy feel, whilst Mattheisen’s breathless and erratic vocals compliment the title incredibly well (fella really does want to feel alive it seems). Bloody love the underused additional vocals from Kelc Galluzzo and her call-and-response of “I still miss you.” Kind of makes me think of the additional vocals on High Speed from the Single Mothers album from last year; i.e. not used enough – more of this please.

Caution could well be your favourite single of 2018 and we’ve not even made it through February yet! That mathy-guitar 40 seconds in will do it, or even the massive chorus hook of “I’m still waiting…FOR A SLIGHT BREAK!” or maybe it’s the brilliant video? Whatever it is, this is indeed, love.

Someday we’re all going to die…but not tonight!” shouts Matthesien on the discordant but emo-rock-tastic Wildlife, showcasing how Tiny Moving Parts are striving to create huge fucking slogans to be shouted during their live shows, and all power to them for it. There’s a jagged urgency to the stumbling and frantic Whale Watching, whilst the riff-laden scuzz of Malfunction sets a more aggressive tone, especially the lyrics, with cries of frost filling Matthesien’s head and the repeated scream of “it’s a message” which you can see hordes of fans at their shows bellowing back at the band – superb. Warm Hand Splash starts with an apology and launches headfirst into regret. Should we be happy? It asks for forgiveness, and brims with venting and rending gusto and some lush horn sections adding to the punchy and flamboyant emotional conclusion. The Hotelier are probably taking notes.

Tiny Moving Parts couldn’t have picked a better title for this collection of songs really. These 10 tracks on Swell are fit to burst with impassioned beauty, melancholy, tales of loss and re-connection; from their erratic time changes to the heady blasts of breakneck punk rock and contemplative, brooding lyrical couplets. Sure, it might be cheesy in places, but sometimes that’s what you need in order to feel and care a little too much.

You can purchase Swell by absolute top lads Tiny Moving Parts from Big Scary Monsters. Or stream below.

Top tracks: Swell It Out, Caution, Malfunction, Warm Hand Splash

Tiny Moving Parts
Tiny Moving Parts Webstore
Big Scary Monsters

*Also, The Vapid/Rapid Detachments will be releasing their debut album in 2020.

Lizard Hips

Lizard Hips

Junior Vice President of Keep It Fast. In other news: I work in social media, talk about dinosaurs, run a book club and have amazing facial hair. I am also a male man who is still not dead.

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Contents of Codata databases

For more than 25 years, Codata has been running its created database with alphanumeric and cartographic data on the offer of retail locations and commercial sites in ten European countries.

One single area: commercial real estate

Codata activity focuses on the commercial offer. The main purpose is to list commercial Sites and Retail Locations. Ten European countries are currently covered.

This focus and more than 25 years of systematic and methodical work have allowed Codata to reach a critical size and to offer its clients precise, accurate and permanently updated data on a daily basis.

Several subjects for study

Codata does not only focus on retail locations and commercial sites but also on other topics, including:

  • Commercial projects (creation, extension, renovation, transfer, urban plannings, new traffic builders) with the description of more than 1,000 projects in Europe
  • Retailers (7,000) with all contact details linked to the people in charge of commercial real estate or expansion (25,000 contacts)
  • Service providers in commercial real estate (advisors, consultants, network developers, developers, investors, experts, market research companies, federations...) with more than 10,000 contacts in 2,500 companies.

Comprehensive and detailed cartography

All pieces of information from Codata databases are consolidated on first-rate cartographic tools.
Codata cartography allows you to display much data of the commercial real estate sector and offers many interpretation and analysis tools, including for instance:

  • Thematic maps
  • Very accurate display of search results
  • Measuring tools
  • Highlighting tools etc.

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Reload – 1 on 1 Firearms Instruction

When I was in my teens and early twenties I used to go target shooting with friends out in the desert.  We shot pop cans off rocks and that sort of thing. The gun was always handed to me loaded and then handed back after I was done.The only mention I remember about safety was to keep the butt of the rifle snug against your shoulder so you didn’t end up with a huge bruise from the recoil.

Recently my younger son  and I have toyed with the idea of going to a range and shooting (no deserts or wide open spaces in Florida!) but to be honest I was a little nervous about the idea as neither of us has a clue and so made the parental call that we would, but we both had to take a basic class first. And then we just sort of talked about it on random occasions for about a year.

Recently a new range opened in Tarpon Springs, Reload Quality Indoor Shooting Range so we decided to check it out.The place already has a ton of reviews, most of them outstanding.

They only offer a couple of types if classes right now because they are so new. One is the 1 on 1 firearms instruction which sounded perfect so we went ahead and signed up. I’ve never been to a gun range so I had no idea what to expect, except it would probably be loud.

Walking into ReLoad was kind of like walking into a big name running store.  It’s huge, clean, and full of aisles of things that you probably know all about if you’re into that kind of thing, but are otherwise interesting and totally worth looking at even if you know you don’t need any of this stuff.  They even have a big section of conceal carry purses.  I didn’t even know that was a thing. Wine purses on the other hand…

Anyways we signed the wavers on line and since we were a little early we sat at one of the the tables by the food place.  Yes, they have food.  It isn’t completely set up yet but the guy there said will be basically an extension of Shlomo’s Gourmet Subs and Deli in there. They’ll even have falafel sandwiches.  Who would have thought the time would come when I could go target shooting and have a great vegetarian meal under the same roof? I was already impressed before the class even started.

So the class starts in the training room with the instructor telling you the basic safety things to know, how to hold the gun, and answering any questions you have.  This part was fairly short and sweet, but there was no rushing and you had plenty of time to ask questions and make sure you understood how to hold the gun and such.  Which was actually a bit more step by step than I expected.

And you know what?  The one thing I thought I knew was wrong, because that place is quiet as can be.

Then on to the range.

Not quite so quiet, but still completely not intimidating. We did all jump at the first shot, but then it was just fun.  The instructor, Marci (I think), was amazing and stood next to us while we took turns shooting giving us tips and telling us how to do each step (I can totally load, and ReLoad a gun now) without once making myself or my son feel like we knew as little as we knew.  That’s pretty dang close to magic when you’re instructing a 14 year old.  Just saying.

Shooting Collage

So anyways, if you are near Tarpon Springs and have an interest in learning to shoot but are maybe a little intimidated, this is the place to go.  Check out their 1 on 1 classes, I really think they are a great idea for anyone new to the sport.  Is shooting a sport?  Maybe, my arms did get tired by the end of the night so…

The Cider Press Cafe

Being vegetarian forever and vegan-curious for a couple of years when I first saw that The Cider Press Café was opening in St. Petersburg I was inappropriately excited to go try out their food.  Everything on their menu is raw vegan, which may sound more healthy than tasty, but that’s only if you haven’t tried it yet.

After eating at a couple of raw vegan places during a trip to North Carolina I was hooked and wanted to try The Cider Press Café even more, seeing how it’s about a thousand miles closer to home. So, of course, I did.

Cider Press Logo.png

I went the first time a few months ago and started with the Florida Roll – tamari infused watermelon ‘tuna’, mango, riced jicama, avocado; ginger, wasabi & tamari sauce. Sounds so strange, tasted so wonderful. This is the only one of their ‘starters’ I’ve tried but I want it again.  The problem with that is they have a few other items on their starter menu I really, really want to try too.  Cauliflower buffalo bites, coconut spring rolls…  everything either sound totally delicious or totally so far outside of anything I’ve tried that I HAVE TO try it.

I’ve tried a few of their main dishes (if you eat out with me you share with me) and my favorite two so far are the Garden Lasagna and The Three Amigos – spiced dehydrated corn tortillas (3), walnut-sweet potato picadillo, cabbage, guacamole, pico de gallo, poblano cream, pickled jalapeños, corn maque choux. Heavenly.

For the record, the deserts are the bomb as well.  I tried the pineapple sorbet and will definitely be having that again.  The person I was un-guiltily stealing food from had key lime ice cream and there is no way you could go wrong with that choice either. And yes, I’m like that. The people at the tables next to me are lucky I didn’t try their food too.

Final piece of advice – drink the Pearly Pear –   it’s an apple & pear cider and seriously, what else is there to say about that?

Tampa Bay Vegfest

Last Saturday I went to the Tampa Bay Vegfest in Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park on Riverwalk. It’s their 6th annual festival, but the first I’ve been to. I think last year I had a run at the same time. My loss, it was a lot of fun. Actually, my partner in crime went last year and said this year was much bigger.  I guess that means I better go next year because it’ll likely only be bigger and better.

So, what do you even do at a Vegfest?  Well, I think it depends of the fest.  I went to one in San Diego in like ’89 and it was a total hippy fest.  Reggae music, a haze over the crowd that was not tobacco smoke, a lot of girls in skirts that had not bought a razor maybe ever (I had never heard of women not shaving at the time and was a bit mystified.  Still not my thing but to each their own and all). This was not that.

Fast forward 26 years (writing that makes me feel old, but lets go with wise, shall we?) and vegetarian is pretty much main stream.  My 16 year old daughter is vegetarian (my sons are not), she has friends that are vegetarian that went to the festival, and my son (22) has dated like 3 vegetarians.  Apparently, it’s a thing now.

The Tampa Bay VegFest had all ages from kids, to high school and college age to  retirement age people. I have to admit that last one surprised me.

Anyways, what was there to do?

Well, there were lots of vendor booths. Some where selling things like t-shirts (the Hail Seitan, Go Vegan t-shirt was one of my favorites), soaps, jewellery, snacks, pretty much a bit of everything. There were also some great vegan samples. My very favorite was Treeline nut-cheese (that sounds so bad, I know). It was a spread for crackers that all by itself made a case for the deliciousness of vegan food. I had to take a picture that was too bad to share but enough that I could go buy it. There was also a coconut ice cream sandwich that was amazing, which surprised me because I have bought the same brand of vanilla ice cream in the past and didn’t love it.  I’m going to have to try it again.

It was a lovely 90 degree fall day so even wearing a tank top I was happy to hear they had speakers and movies playing at the history center. We only made it to listen to one speaker, but wow was she great.  We got to listen to Jo-Anne McArthur speak about animals she had met during her photojournalist adventures. Adventures sound like great things but in this case not so much. She has traveled the globe to bring us the faces and stories of animals whose lives have been hidden. She has photographed minks and foxes being raised for fur in horrific conditions, factory farm victims, a bear whose life of suffering cumulated in having his paws removed for soup (but was rescued), all sorts of things.  But it’s all tempered with visits to a farm sanctuary full of happy, healthy animals and other sanctuaries which if nothing else allows you a glimpse into lives of people who dedicate themselves to good instead of evil. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that these places do exist.

There was also a food truck circle (yay, food!), bands and a cooking demonstration. I attended the Thai Tacos and Caribbean Rice and Beans demo. The demos were done by the people at Check out their web site, they have all kinds of recipes and videos on how to cook vegan recipes.  Their theme seems to be good, healthy food now instead of drugs and doctor visits later. Radical, right?

Then there was the mandatory circle of animal rescue groups with dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, even a great big real pig.  I’m a sucker for this section and the partner in crime even put an application for a great dog there.  Should hear back some time this week. A photographer and a blogger and we were so into the dog we forgot to take a picture of her.  FAIL.

All in all a great time. If you’re on Facebook follow them here so that next year you’ll have all the info you need to attend. Bring your compassion and a huge appetite.

#HowlOScream review – & some tips

You KNOW I love some zombies and mayhem.  So deciding to attend Busch Garden’s Howl-O-Scream Unearthed was a no brainer. Not like a zombies aren’t interested no brainer, which was kind of too bad, because there were a lot of zombies to watch out for!

This year Howl-O-Scream included 7 haunted houses and a show.  We made it to 6 of the houses. I missed DeadFALL which I am pretty bummed about because that one was set in a Victorian garden and greenhouse, and you know I love gardening.

I have to say, I was only disappointed by one house, and that’s because it had the longest line and because I suck at video games. I think everyone else really liked this one. Zombie Containment Unit 15: Moving Targets is pretty much a real-life video game. While you’re waiting you hear a broadcast – one of the zombie containment units has been breached.  They are escaping and citizens are needed to help stop them! You get a super cool laser gun and are set loose on the containment unit of zombies. Hey, this is a job for me! Except that just like every other video game I was never quite sure what I hit or didn’t hit or what I was even trying to do.  Not an issue with the place, it’s that thing where I can’t play video games and then I give up.  So sad really. Know what’s not so sad? This mad cool zombie DJ on the way in.

All that about my least favorite.  Needless to say we had fun.  So what was the very best haunted house?  Everyone we asked said it was Death Water Bayou, so we went there first. It was pretty epic. Voodoo queens, Deliverance types, it was a great start to the night.

Death Water Bayou

But it wasn’t my favorite.  I loved the BASEMENT. It was a tour through the kitchen for Mama’s Meats. If I hadn’t been a vegetarian before I went in I’d still be one now.  Because that woman’s secret ingredient is Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets you.  Gross and scary and awesome all in one.

The Basement

What’s up next? How about a Zombie Mortuary? It seems zombies have taken over a small town mortuary and are working their way through the staff and mourners.  Sound old school? Holy crap, you try walking through a room of totally still dead people and trying to not touch anything because you know whatever you touch will actually be alive and get you. Ya, it’s like that.  I didn’t get any pictures ‘cuz zombies, but here’s Busch Garden’s video to haunt your sleep.

Next house, Circus of Superstition: The Last Laugh. I own a black cat and I have no problem (much) walking under ladders, but that does not mean I think it’s a good idea to meet all superstitions in one house.  In 3D no less. Got a problem with leaving a hat on a bed? How about a cracked mirror? Hmmm, sucks to be you. Hope you don’t have a problem with clowns… ‘cuz clowns.

ClownsOh, and then there is the reason that all of this occurred.  It seems that while doing renovations to the park an old house was dug up. In the house? A demon of course. Stupid renovations.  Just saying.

Scarlett's RevengeOh, and here’s some tips for when you go.

  1. Bring a change of clothes if you really want to be dry. You are in Florida, it’s going to rain and lightening.  And when it does Busch Gardens is going to close the rides because of that crazy thing where they don’t want you to die. Even if you’ve been in line for a while be nice.
  2. Talk to the people around you. We didn’t get to go on any roller coasters because lightening, but I met some great people and heard some great stories.  Sometimes a win isn’t the one you were going for. Plus, the houses are still open.
  3. Want a great picture? Don’t hesitate to rest those elbows on a trash can or whatever is around.  It makes for a much clearer picture on your cell phone than if you just hold your phone up.
  4. Drink.  Ya sure, they have not just beer but also mixed drinks. And I had some. But I’m talking about Power Aid or water.  And don’t wait until you’re thirsty and cranky.
  5. Start with the house or event you most want to see – you may not have time to see everything.
  6. Most important – wear comfortable shoes!  We were on our feet from 4:30 to 1:30 am and by the time we left the car seat was the most comfortable chair I had ever, ever sat in. Ever.  Trust me on this one.

I received 2 tickets to #Unearthed run as a member of Tampa Bay Bloggers and their partnership with Busch Gardens in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, of course.

Summer of Rum 2015

The Summer of Rum festival turned out to be everything hyped and some more. As expected.

This time I learned from experience and rented a room in walking distance at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Ybor City. Definitely a good move.  The place was perfect – clean, quiet and about a 5 minute walk from the Cuban Club. And of course the fact that no one has to be the designated driver after a celebration of all things rum was a plus. It’s my new go-to place to stay when I’m in the area for certain.

We decided to start the evening out right and headed straight to the rum tasting upstairs.  Another good move.  Dang, I’m like an expert or something.  At what I don’t know. Anyways, I got to try all of the rums on my list including Wicked Dolphin (who had RumShine!) and Blackheart, obviously a rum for pirates. Blackheart was a really good spiced rum, this may be my new go-to for rum and cokes.

We tried quite a few rums – enough that I forgot to keep taking pictures. 🙂  I have to admit, I had a hands down favorite.  Blue Chair Bay had a banana rum that was so good it could be sipped straight out of the bottle.  If you were inclined to do such a thing that is. Not commenting any further on that.

After that it was off to sit in cool comfort and watch a bit of a pirate movie.  I’m always a fan of pirates.  And movies I don’t have to try and stay quiet during. Win and win.

By then it seemed wise to have a meal, so we walked across the way to the Spaghetti Factory. There were a bunch of really good looking food trucks, but I didn’t see anything vegetarian jump out at me.  If we were going to get serious about drinking and lasting to hear all of the bands to the end a serious meal was in order.  Who says carbing up is just for runners?

My son and his girlfriend met us after that and we all had a great time just hanging out, listening to bands and people watching.

SummerofRumBandOne thing I have to say, the bartenders in the VIP tent were amazing.  See how the girl’s hands are blurry in the middle picture below?  That’s not bad photography, that’s how fast they were moving to keep up.  And all the while everyone was cheerful and and fun.

2015-08-294Oh yeah, and we all got pirate tatts at Captain Morgan’s place. Because when in Rome… and also when drinking rum all day.

I received two VIP tickets to The Tampa Bay Rum Festival in exchange for writing a review and a giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Looking for something different to do with your mom this weekend?  I found the perfect thing.  Thursday I took my daughter and mom to see Beauty and the Beast at Straz center, and a great time was had by all three generations!

I seem to be getting hooked on musicals, but with all of the great shows at The Straz Center can you blame me?  Beauty and the Beast is a story told almost entirely through song, and the Broadway musical includes songs that were not in the Disney movie which I loved.  I spent the evening trying unsuccessfully to decide on my favorite song.

You don’t know how it could be so hard to decide?  Take a look at some of what I had to choose from!

My first favorite? Gaston of course. All of the girls in town and all of the tavern patrons joined in for a rowdy, beer mug clinking good time.  All in the name of cheering Gaston up of course.  So that was my favorite.

But then they did Be Our Guest.  The entire stage was filled with happiness and joy, colors and dancing. Confetti even.  So that was my favorite.

But then Mrs. Potts (Emily Jewell) sang Beauty and the Beast while standing quietly at the edge of a nearly dark stage and blew me away.  It’s amazing that one person can have such a presence. So then…

I decided it was OK to like them all.  And that’s my final answer.

So, moving on.  There were two other parts that really struck me. The first were the scenes in the woods. They were amazingly done, the woods were foggy and creepy and the wolf attack scenes were pretty awesome.  Oh, and the night time scenes with the stars and moon were also pretty amazing.  But that wasn’t supposed to be part of my 2. So I guess make that 3 parts?

The other was the rug during Be Our Guest.  I can’t even imaging being dressed as a rug while flipping around the stage and singing. Talent much? There’s a little clip of him at about the 15 second mark in the video I embedded above, but that doesn’t really do him justice.  I guess you’ll have to go see for yourself!

I won’t subject you to my inner dialogue about which was my favorite character.  You’re welcome.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is playing at the Straz Center through May 10th. Take a look on Straz Center’s site for tickets and times.  Tickets to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast would make a perfect mother’s day gift for a lot of moms out there!

I received 2 tickets to Pippin as a member of Tampa Bay Bloggers and their partnership with the Straz in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, of course.

Color Me Rad 2015 Review

This is the second year that the family and I did Color Me Rad en masse.  We had a couple of different faces this time (same day as SAT testing), but everyone that goes to Color Me Rad is going to want to come back and run it again.

This year we even got my mom to run it – she decided that if the twins could do it at age 3 she had this.  And she did!  The only problem is with this as a first race you’ll have a hard time finding future races to live up to the precedent Color Me Rad sets!  Especially this year.

color-me-rad-biggerBigger, Badder, Radder is no joke.  Twice the color stations, gel (shot from water guns and cannons!) AND the free photos after the event. Seriously?  To top all that off several of the color stations actually had people on each side with different colors, so you were TRULY not getting through without being turned into something akin to a running rainbow.

Before and After photos tell the story pretty well.

Everyone2015What’s funny is the two on the right went to prom that night. They went to the run determined not to get too colored up. Which I took as a challenge. All it took was asking one person throwing color to be sure to get my niece, next thing you know the two of them were having color wars every time I turned around. Just another reason why having a ton of teenagers in the family is underrated!

Oh, and just in case you were worried, they cleaned up just fine. (Told you so, but didn’t really know for sure…)

Kaili and EthanWe ran in the very last group, which the race people were nice enough to let go WAY after the original time due to the fact that apparently my family isn’t the only ones who forgot how to estimate time that morning.  Just another reason to love the Color Me Rad  people, we got there 10 minutes after the last run should have gone, a result of getting three car loads of people headed in the same direction at the same time.  Three ring circuses have got nothing on this family, you should see our holidays when there are 4 times more people.

Anyways, since we started in the last group and ran with 4 year olds we were some of the last people to finish too. We only caught the tail end of the after party, but the older kids ran ahead (am I allowed to call 20 year old+ people kids?) and they had an awesome time.  They got some great videos too, but we seem to have misplaced the charge for the GoPro so there will be no sharing of videos for a while.

Anyways, to make a long story short ( I know, too late for that) if Color Me Rad is coming anywhere near you you should go. Regardless of age or ability this race is tons of fun for everyone.

Disclosure: I received race entries through the Tampa Bay Bloggers’s partnership with Color Me Rad in exchange for writing a review.  All opinion are my own of course.

Pippin at Straz

To be honest, I didn’t really know what Pippin was when I first heard about the show. I looked on Straz’s site and saw “Broadway’s high-flying, death-defying hit musical” and thought death-defying DOES sound interesting!  Maybe no zombies and no space monsters would be OK?  After all, a Spartan race is not the only way to step outside of your every day and try something new.

Then my partner in crime asked around and was told he was uncultured for even having to ask. Seems Pippin is a big deal with a lot of history and we WERE uncultured for not knowing it. Well, thank goodness we were able to right that wrong!

The theater was full and it was pretty obvious that people were excited about the show. And now I know why. It was excellent! Pippin the Musical has a little (or a lot) of EVERYTHING. It seems the entire cast has incredible singing voices, can dance, can flip, balance, and do all sorts of other things that I would not even attempt.  The sheer number of people all doing different things yet perfectly working together at any given time in the show was pretty amazing all by itself. It’s a circus act rolled up in a drama that includes war, patricide, sexual innuendos, philosophy and love. And I would say that technically speaking there is even a zombie or two. But don’t quote me on that. In other words, something for everyone.

My pictures a a wee bit fuzzy because I used my (brand new) cell phone and I was back a ways, but I’m still sharing.

Which, by the way brings up a great point – if you decide to go see the show there is not a bad seat in the house. I was pretty neat the back and could both see and hear everything perfectly, the fuzz is my phone not the seats.

Pippin Everyone

This guy is kind of amazing, I so want to try this at home. Stupid insurance deductible.

Pippin Balancing Man

If you’d like to go there is still plenty of time! Here’s a list of showtimes at Straz Center:

  • Thurs.April 16th at 7:30 p.m
  • Fri. April 17th at 8 p.m.
  • Sat. April 18th at 2 and 8 p.m.
  • Sun. April 19th at  2 and 7:30 p.m.

If you aren’t in the Tampa area, move because you are missing out.  But  while you are waiting for your house to sell you still may be able to catch Pippin, it is after all a U.S. tour not a Florida tour. But heads up, they will be in Orlando and West Palm Beach. Check here to see if they are coming near your town.

I received 2 tickets to Pippin as a member of Tampa Bay Bloggers and their partnership with the Straz in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, of course.

Tampa Spring Beer Fling 2015

I mentioned that I was going to the Spring Beer Fling last month, then never got around to telling you about it.  Why, you may ask?  Well because I was super happy with some of the cool pictures I took, then I dropped my cell phone (aka my camera) into the toilet.  Happily, it was freshly cleaned and shiny. Unhappily, my phone didn’t care about my wonderful cleaning habits. Here’s a thing I found out: turn your phone off IMMEDIATELY if it gets wet.  Because otherwise things get fried, to put it scientifically. Even alcohol and organic rice will not save it.

Anyways, coming back from another squirrel moment…

The Spring Beer Fling was A LOT of fun. I didn’t get to try all of the different drinks I would have liked to because of that thing were I had to wake up eventually but I did try Light My Fire which was as amazing as expected. A mixed drink with Angry Orchard and Fireball? Like that could be not awesome. Also the Arnold Palmer Remix with Sam Adams Cold Snap, lemonade, and Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka. ‘Cuz vodka. I did not try a single Beerlini Puree which is a sad, sad thing but I was a too little distracted to remember everything.

The bands were a lot of fun. And guess what? My partner in crime did not destroy his phone so I actually have a couple of pictures. You have to love The University of Tampa in the background. As a matter of fact I was so loving it we walked across the river to check out the buildings.  If you get a chance, walk through them, they are pretty amazing. I’d show you, but you know, the phone incident.

Attach8That’s another great thing about the Beer Fling.  We got bracelets at the door (paper, not like, jewels or anything) and we could leave and come back as we wanted.  Since the Fling was from noon to 10pm that made it pretty cool. There are a LOT of things to walk around and look at around Curtis Hixon Park.

If you missed it you can’t go to the Spring Beer Fling again until next spring, of course.  However, Big City Events, who put this on, has several other events every year, and they seem to add new ones all the time. So check out all of their coming events, and maybe I’ll run into you at one of them. Not that either of us would know that, but still.

I received two VIP tickets to Spring Beer Fling 2015 in exchange for writing a review and a giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

Don’t Tell the Short Girl Size Doesn’t Matter (but I Spartaned anyways)

Last weekend I finally ran a Spartan sprint at Raymond James Stadium.  Just about time. right?  I had a blast, as expected.  I couldn’t do all of the obstacles, as expected.  But I did hella better running up and down stairs than I thought I would.  Plus I didn’t fall once which is always a major win for me. Of course I did run into a stadium chair twice, leaving my hand looking kind of like I punched someone and a bruise on my leg the size of a saucer.  Not bad for me, I’ll take it.

This wasn’t a mud run at all, though we did go through some mud a couple of times.  So I guess not at all is a bit strong and untrue. Whatever.

It was a stadium run, which I didn’t really think about when I signed up (good thing) but which meant about a thousand miles of running up and down stairs.  Up got a wee bit painful after a while, down I was just terrified I’d trip and fall. Not that I would.

The funniest thing about the race (you know there are funny things about everything) is that just to get to the start line you had to get over a pretty high wall. Of course I needed a boost, but up and over is what matters, not how you get there.

The most FUN thing was they had jump ropes out of that really thick rope that cross fitters use and you had to jump with this huge rubber band around your ankles. And jumping over the fire at the end, but that’s a given.

So why does size matter? Because from the top of the ladder thing I could not reach the (curse word) monkey bars.  Yes, I tried on my tip toes. Anything I had to get over or reach up to was harder than it had to be for me.  However, crawling under the barb wire? Cake. I would not have wanted to be any bigger for that one, or for running between the stadium chairs! I guess it all evens out in the end. At least this run didn’t have the mud / water that some people walked through while I had to swim.  🙂

Here’s the course as they mapped it, but I am pretty certain there was a whole lot more weaving up and down the stairs than this map shows.

SpartanCourse2015So what did I actually think of the race? I would do it again, for sure.  I’d even like to try the longer distance next time. But I will say this run is (fun but) less about having fun than most of the runs I’ve done in the past and more about proving something to yourself. There was nothing fun AT ALL about lugging a huge @$$ jug of water that seriously maybe weighed almost as much as me. I had to stop and set it down a few times. Didn’t really know how much I hated stairs till going up them with that thing.  But I did it and I did it without help.  There is something to be said for completing a task that you are seriously certain you can not do when you start it.

Maybe that’s why they say you’ll know at the finish line.


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Our Impressions – Gamescom 2013

Our Impressions - Gamescom 2013

Sarah and I travelled to cologne as we do every year (:
and what for ? not for shopping , no
but to attend to the annual GAMESCOM and to get insights of the newest games ! In my opinion it is rather important to test a game before buying it, because in the past I’ve made some bad choices buying expensive overrated games..
Anyway we were really excited to be in Cologne again and to meet some famous gamers (. like we met Siv HD, he was really friendly and took the time to take pictures with his fans (you can see us with Siv HD on this picture).
So our highlights at the gamescom were probably razer, assassin’s creed black flag and riot (league of legends)


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iFixit is a small company with a big goal: we want to show the world how to fix everything. ¶

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Our staff is the focal point of a global community of people showing people how to fix the things they own. We believe that we can make the world better by empowering people to take control of their hardware.

We are the world's foremost experts on repair, and we've set the gold standard for online repair documentation. We have already helped tens of millions of people fix their own devices, and we plan to help hundreds of millions more.

iFixit is a great place to work. We have an incredible working environment, a world-class team that loves solving tough challenges, and a vision to change the world. Our team loves having fun together. We have regular barbecues, enjoy catered meals together a couple times a week (our in-house chef is dynamite), and have beer night at Spike's after farmer's market on Thursdays.

We are in San Luis Obispo, one of the most amazing places in the world. SLO is the heart of California's lovely central coast. We live here because we love the community, natural beauty, freedom from traffic, and huge variety of fun things to do. When we're not kayaking along the coast or basking outside in the sunshine, we buckle down and do things that make the world better.

What's Dozuki? ¶

Dozuki is the innovative software division of iFixit.com. Dozuki is revolutionizing the way manufacturers train their employees. Many of the products you use and consume every day are made by companies that use Dozuki to train their workforce.

Current openings in San Luis Obispo ¶

Why we're cool ¶

  • We move very quickly and your opinions are highly valued.
  • We're very capable, so you'll be in good company.
  • We're changing the world.
  • Hours are flexible (for students, positions require working part-time during school and full-time during summer).

How do I apply? ¶

  • Familiarize yourself with iFixit.com.
  • Use the link on each position to apply for it.

We want to hear why you are perfect for our team. If you write a blog, contribute to an open source project, wrote a lolcats generator, or build interesting things, we want to hear about it. Show us something you've made!

We are currently only hiring for positions in San Luis Obispo and Stuttgart, so please indicate your interest in relocating if you're based elsewhere.

What's fun to do in San Luis Obispo? ¶

  • Go to Farmer’s Market on Thursday nights! It’s a great way to meet people, buy local produce and eat delicious food.
  • Hike Bishop Peak! You’ll get a great view of the whole town from the top.
  • Go wine tasting! The Central Coast is known for its diverse and rich wine culture.
  • Walk the bluff trail at Montaña de Oro—it’s magical and right in our backyard.
  • Kayak through the caves in Shell Beach for an up close view of the beautiful coastline of the Central Coast.
  • Eat at Firestone Grill- their french fries are unbeatable.
  • For more ideas, check out visitsanluisobispocounty.com.
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Diversity ¶

When you go to a website like iFixit and scroll through the guides, it's easy to forget that there are tons of real people keeping all those bits and bytes running smoothly. But there are literally dozens of us! We're a diverse team, split between two continents--but we're united by a love of tinkering and repair.

iFixit is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Because we are trying to teach every one to fix every thing, we need a team as diverse as our online community. We believe that it takes people of all backgrounds to help us fix the world. Therefore, iFixit does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any of the other important characteristics that make us unique and valuable.

iFixit is committed to creating a diverse team--not only in who we hire--but through creating a supportive environment for all of our team members based on mutual respect and inclusivity.

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Helping families in Lombok and Bali

A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lombok on the evening of August 5, killing more than 250 people and leaving thousands seriously injured. More than 68,000 buildings collapsed during the event. Join our relief effort to deliver much-needed supplies to families affected by the earthquake.

our iMpact

Building diverse partnerships to find what works

At Kopernik, we believe that building collaborations with diverse stakeholders is key in finding practical and innovative solutions to reduce poverty.

our iMpact

Replicating what is proven to work

Kopernik worked with Evidence Action and J-PAL to replicate the cash transfer program ‘No Lean Season’ in West Timor. This award-winning initiative has been featured by GiveWell and the Economist.

Applying our findings for real impact

Based on the findings from our solar dryer experiments, we have published a manual on how to build a solar dryer as well as a report analyzing the economic benefits of this technology.

our work

We find what works to reduce poverty by experimenting with potential solutions that address common challenges facing people living in the last mile. We undertake three core types of work to achieve this.

Lean experimentation of promising technology-based or behavioral change solutions to reduce poverty.

Learn More

Last Mile Consulting

Professional advisory services to corporate and public sector clients to develop innovative products or services that serve the needs of people in emerging markets.

Learn More

Technology Distribution

We distribute simple and affordable products that address the typical problems of people living in the last mile.

Learn More

Experimentation for Progress | Toshi Nakamura | TEDxYerevanSalon

Our CEO and Co-Founder, Toshi Nakamura speaks at TEDxYerevanSalon about the value of our experiementation approach on poverty reduction.


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Kovler Diabetes Community Program The University of Chicago

Community Programs

With our location on Chicago’s South Side, the Kovler Diabetes Center has close proximity to a number of local communities disproportionately affected by diabetes.

Our programs have a dual purpose:

  • Improving diabetes-related health outcomes in some of Chicago’s most challenged communities
  • Advancing knowledge about the disease, treatment and effect on patients and their families that we hope to apply more universally

Picture Good Health/Imaginate una Buena Salud

Picture Good Health/Imaginate una Buena Salud aims to improve the health outcomes of those with diabetes in the predominantly Mexican American community of South Lawndale/Little Village, a Chicago neighborhood with diabetes-related mortality rate that exceeds both national and city averages.

The program was started by Arshiya Baig, M.D., a University of Chicago assistant professor and general internist whose research focuses on improving diabetes outcomes in Latinos with the disease.

Dr. Baig and her research team have partnered with two neighborhood churches to implement this bi-lingual program. Because the church often has an important role in Latino cultures and families, working with churches to address diabetes is one method of tailoring diabetes programs to this community.

Picture Good Health uses an innovative technique called “photovoice,” in which participants receive disposable digital cameras to document their lives with diabetes. These photos are then used in weekly educational sessions, held at one of the partner churches, to guide discussions on problem solving and self-empowerment.

The program has shown positive results in helping low-income Latino adults with diabetes reduce their consumption of high-fat foods and increase their frequency of exercise.

Program participants also have access to exercise groups within the churches, as well as patient navigator services through Taller de Jose, a social service agency that connects clients to community resources. For example, patient navigators can help participants find a local primary care physician.

Picture Good Health Imaginate Una Buena Salud

Diabetes Care Happy Family

Improving Diabetes Care and Outcomes on the South Side of Chicago

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Improving Diabetes Care and Outcomes on the South Side of Chicago is a seven-year project funded by the Merck Company Foundation, through the Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes, and the National Institute of Health.

Spearheaded by Monica Peek, M.D., and Marshall Chin., M.D. — both associate professors of medicine at the University of Chicago — the multi-faceted project engages patients, providers, clinics and community collaborators to improve the health care and outcomes of African-Americans on the South Side of Chicago.

The program implements four key components — patient education and empowerment, provider workshops, clinic system redesign and community collaborations — at six South Side clinics, including the Kovler Diabetes Center and the University of Chicago Primary Care Group.

For more information and regular updates on the project, please visit southsidediabetes.com.

Peer-to-Peer Program

Peer to Peer BusinessThis formalized program of peer support and encouragement is designed to help improve glucose control, as well as a greater understanding of their disease, among patients on the South Side of Chicago who are struggling with managing their diabetes.

Each patient participant is paired with a mentor — an individual with diabetes who has a similar background and medical situation, and has mastered the management of their disease. The mentor can offer support, understanding and, critically, share ideas about tools and approaches for glucose control.

Mentors undergo training on how to field questions, understand behavior modification, and other best practices in working with their mentees. The program also tracks communication touchpoints between mentor and mentee.

Measures of success include improvement in the mentees’ self care as well as looking at the ways in which mentors benefit from participating in a leadership role. Ideally, mentees may transition to mentors over time, amplifying the program’s potential benefits throughout the community.

If you are interested in learning more about the All-Star Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program, please contact us at diabetes@uchospitals.edu.


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What I Did On My Summer Vacation

After my wife Myla came back from a quick California trip where she was helping with preparations for our daughter’s upcoming wedding, we took a little “spa-cation” to Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. This spa town of 500 people is the oldest spa in the US. When folklore says George Washington slept somewhere, well, here he actually did. There is even a “George Washington bathtub” on the park property.

We enjoyed massage and acupuncture at a spa in Berkeley Springs. My back has hurt for years from an injury received during my retailing days. We went to Awakening where Lin Wang, a Chinese medicine doctor, needled me over a two-day period. This acupuncture, mixed with massage, made me feel like Jello. I was rather relaxed.

On this mini vacation, we took our dogs with us for the first time. Sophie and Tucker were well behaved, slept on the bed at night and walked more than they have ever walked. Tucker, the Shih Tzu, would simply stop and sit down while walking, for he tires easily. Apparently, he likes to be carried.

The next town we visited was Shepherdstown, West Virginia, which is along the Potomac River. We found it to be very dog friendly and charming. Shopowners invited us into their stores and even outdoor restaurants with the dogs. One of my favorite restaurants was the Blue Moon Café where we sat outside and listened to a very fast moving stream running through the center of the garden. Amazingly, the dogs did not bark at the other dogs and cats who were also visiting the garden. We were all very relaxed in the refreshing setting.

Every summer in Shepherdstown, which by the way is the home of the first steamboat, there is a theatre festival along with arts and craft exhibits with potters, jewelry makers, wood workers, painters and weavers. For history buffs, it is just a few miles from Harpers Ferry, Antietam, and the C & O canal. We plan to go back in the future to explore this Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. For now, it’s back to work for a few weeks, and then our daughter’s wedding in August. Summer certainly is for travel, fun and family.

By Doug Kreinik

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Smell of Change…

Politics is the last refuge of a common man: Does it sound the end of the politics of vote-bank?

It's scary: Arvind Kejriwal on Delhi poll victory

Politics is the last refuge of a scoundrel’. I believed in this Samuel Emanuel inspired dictum as a gospel truth till I saw the recently held Delhi elections. The outcome of this election threw up interesting trends that made me turn my view up-side-down. Now, I’ve gone to reverse the dictum and substitute it with a new aphorism that says ‘Politics is the last refuge of a common man’. Honestly.

The common man – long cheated, mistreated, overlooked and underestimated – is now the new king of electoral politics. He has learned to assert his voice through voting and has discovered the benefits of it. Now, he’s clear in his mind and giving the best possible mandate to politicians in successive elections. Take the examples of Bihar assembly elections of 2005 and 2010, UP assembly elections of 2007 and 2012, successive Gujarat assembly elections since 2002 to 2012, the Orissa assembly elections under BJD, the general election of 2014 and the just held assembly elections of Delhi – the one thing that is conspicuous by its commonality is that the people want to give clear and decisive mandates. They’re no longer the disenchanted citizens of the past who stayed away from electoral processes with the conviction that nothing changes with elections and voting. Now, people are convinced that things would change. If it doesn’t happen from above, the people have learnt to force it from the below. The common man has learnt the art of playing the role he’s supposed to play in the game of democracy – the role of a master.

Earlier, political parties looked for segmented groups in societies whom they pampered and catered in return for votes. The Congress banked upon the Muslims and the Dalits, the Bhartiya Jansangh/BJP banked upon the Brahmins and traders, the communists banked upon the peasants and industrial labours, the post-mandal regional parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Bahujan Samaj Party, etc banked upon the respective castes cultivated and catered by them. Such groups held their respective parties in reverence and voted religiously in favour of them in blocks. The allegiance of the voters to their party was ultimate and political parties in turn catered to the meanest interests of such groups in order to keep their voting base cemented. Such segmented political groups were known as ‘Vote Bank’.

The vote bank politics has long dominated the political discourse of the post-independence India and has guided the behaviors of the established political parties towards the process of electioneering. The political parties, accused of manipulating policies to accommodate narrow goals of dominant interests groups, have been long criticized and ridiculed for designing their political manifestos with the aim to comfort the moods of their respective vote banks. So long the politicians kept these specific segments well-humored, the latter remained loyal and returned huge political windfalls to the politicians. The whole decade of the 1990’s that saw the politics of Ram Mandir and caste-based reservations, was dominated by the vote bank politics. Here, the politicians had the last laugh. They won or lost but their vote bank remained intact; people never ditched their ideological masters.

Come the new millennium and many things changed in Indian politics. The restructuring of the economy and the changes in the policies during the early 1990’s took time in taking roots and by the next decade results had started flowing. The economy expanded, jobs started rolling in, opportunities opened up and development came to stay. The IT industry led the India-story from the front, and using the energy and talent of the youth, became the powerful engine of development. The young generation became the face of the change and through its dominant influence in society, unleashed the youth culture in India defined by individual freedom and personal choices; the youth was no longer prepared to run behind pseudo- ideologies and blind legacies. It had largely freed itself from the ideological bondages of early decades.

This trend had a telling effect on politics. Politicians started talking of development sweeping their older agenda under the carpet. Newer breed of politicians emerged who made development their mantra and pursued the goals of governance with ruthless zeal. Narendra Modi, Naveen Patnaik, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nitish Kumar and even Sheila Dixit became the new role models and had people swooning for them. The common man had well understood that his future was hitched only to economic expansions and growth. The resurgent India had taken recourse to a single-ideology – the ideology of development.

Those politicians who talked of development and growth – by preference or strategy – were rewarded handsomely. But, those who failed to keep their ears to the ground were made to lick dust. Those old-school veterans, who refused to dance to the tunes of the emerging times, were pushed to irrelevance. The vote banks had crumbled. Its pieces, each written with the sad story of a failed politics, lied strewn all around the old warhorses sitting in opposition.

But, the story begins form here. The common man has now understood the power of his being; he’s tasted the power of a master. Thus, he has grown restless. He wants results – tangible results – within the promised time. He frets at delays and grumbles at failures. Today, a politician can’t expect to be given a long rope. If promise, deliver within time; else, make way.

The common man has grown smarter. He has become opportunist. Today, the common man is no one’s eternal enemy, no one’s perpetual friend; only its interests are eternal. It has no allegiance. The people of Delhi, who had given all the seven seats to the BJP in the parliamentary elections just nine months back, changed allegiance and handed down the BJP its worst electoral defeat in the Delhi assembly elections. Hence, it is important for the politicians to understand the psyche of a common man. This common man is now no one’s man. He will turn whatever way he finds his interests being served. Yesterday, the same common man found the BJP to be promising and he’d fallen for it. But, in Delhi in 2015 he found Arvind Kejriwal offering more. Hence, he turned for him lock stock and barrel. This is smart politics. Such people’s opportunism is good for democracy. Now, the politicians will think twice before promising moon. And, if they do, they’ll sign advance contracts for a sincere moon mission.

Now, no one loves anyone. If you deliver you’ll be loved; if you fumble you’ll be kicked hard in the teeth. And, no mercy for big names! Many big names have been thrown off to a place of oblivion by the people in recent past. Hence, the Delhi elections, which sits pretty top on the series of similarly concluded elections, tell the political class one thing – don’t fool the people and don’t mess up with their expectations. The same holds true for Arvind Kejriwal as well. The euphoria generated and the bonhomie created has heightened expectations of the masses which will act as a double-edged sword. It can cut both ways.

The politicians have long played politics with the people. Now, it’s people’s turn to play politics with the politicians. The common man has long been cheated in politics. Now, he’s understood well how to get his due back. Now, politics is the last resort of a common man. Is it the end of the vote-bank politics in India?

Krishna Kumar@ThoughtPourri 2015

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Sakki test 101

The Sakki test is the apex of a practitioner’s life. For many years sensei has been the only one to administrate the test and as one of the dinosaurs of the bujinkan (30 years in the Bujinkan last month), I had the privilege to witness him giving the test in numerous occasions. With about 30 Taikai and more than 50 trips to Japan I must have seen around 2000 Sakki tests. So I thought I knew what it was. Wrong again!

When in the Madrid Taikai of 2001 sensei asked a few of us to perform the test I was amazed to discover how draining it was to give the Sakki test. Honestly, I must admit that I didn’t believe it was that demanding. We had to do it twice and right after I left the training hall I had to take a nap before dinner as I was totally exhausted! I didn’t believe it was that difficult because I had seen sensei do up to 60 Sakki tests in a row at many Taikai.

When you are at the receiving end of the Sakki test it changes your life forever. But when you are giving the test it is like taking it again and again. This is one thing that no so many people in the Bujinkan know. Giving the test is similar to taking it! Except that you take the test only once.

Tuesday night I gave the test to three shidôshi (no, I don’t get tired anymore). And I think it is good to reveal some truths about the test for those of you who will take it soon (on either end of the sword).

1. There is no way to prepare yourself.
I know that some teachers are training their students for the test, this is useless. You have it. The perception of danger is ingrained in our brains. Only sincere training will allow your being too dodge the cut. It takes about 5 to 6 years to unearth the Sakki feeling bien in our reptilian brain.

2. It is not about crashing the skull of the applicant.
Many jûgodan try to hit the applicant, this is wrong. The Sakki test is a connection between the emitter and the receiver. It will always work if both the emitter and the receiver are connected. Without connection there is only pain (for the receiver). In fact the Sakki test is the expression of Shingin Budō.

3. Your regular senses cannot help.
When you take the test do not rely on your regular senses. If you hear the cut it is already too late. Simply relax and let your body react. Don’t think. This is why it is always better to close your eyes. But this is not a rule as many succeed with their eyes open.

4. Feel the urge to move. And move, don’t analyse.
Both the emitter and the receiver are connected and both must feel the urge to move. The receiver moves without knowing why. The emitter goes down because at some point when the connection is established, he had to go down. You don’t take the decision to move, you move because it is the only to do. Over the years I’ve seen many applicants fail even though they got the connection. In fact they are so amazed at the feeling that they last their concentration and got hit while thinking “wow I am feeling it!” and then wham!

5. Shin Gi Tai Ken Ichi Yotsu.
It is not a meditation and no god will do it for you. There’s no magic, it’s natural. The Sakki test is what makes the bujinkan what it is. It is about feeling the unity in all things, the connection with nature.

If you are to take the test soon, or if you are to administrate it, please remember that this is something that comes naturally when you are ready.

3 Comments Add yours

  1. Simon Edwards says:

    I agree totally with everything said here. Personally i do not agree with the test being conducted outside of Japan , the bujinkan is now at risk of a a whole generation of students that have never trained in Japan

    1. kumafr says:

      I spoke with sensei about it. In fact I told him that 99% of the Bujinkan never went to Japan. His answer was: I have transmitted the 9 schools, something will survive.

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Another House In the Common Core Potemkin Village: Hope Street Group

Over the course of the last three and a half years, I’ve come across more ‘education non-profits’ tied to Common Core than one can imagine. This sea of non-profit organizations all seem to have their roots in a core set of financial backers : Gates, Hewlitt, Walton, Lumina, Carnegie and many more.

A potemkin village of support for Common Core has been erected using this sea of non-profits as education reform astroturf.  Common Core has a key group of these potemkin village homes spanning back to 2010 and earlier:

On May 12, 2010, six reform leaders made their pitch to a roomful of funders, consultants, and staffers of nonprofits at the annual “summit” of the New Schools Venture Fund. The panel was called “Political Savvy: Guidebook for a New Landscape.

Speakers included executives from Green Dot Public [charter] Schools (Gates, $9.7 million, 2006-2007), Bellwether Education Partners (Gates, $951,800 in 2011), Hope Street Group (Gates, $875,000 in 2008-2009), Stand for Children (as noted above, $5.2 million from Gates, 2003-20011), Democrats for Education Reform (a PAC), and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (one of the largest ed reform funders, nonetheless a Gates grantee, $3.6 million, 2010).
– Dissent magazine, Spring 2012, “Hired Guns and Astrotuf: How to Buy and Sell School Reform

I’ve identified a few of the houses in the village already, many of them listed in the passage above, but over the course of the last week I’ve spotted a McMansion I had missed previously.

This is a group that likely started with good intent, but really appears to be just another front group for Bill Gates’s next ‘big idea’ and a policy narrative vehicle for his education reformer friends.

Government here to help common coreMeet the Hope Street Group.

Hope Street Group has invaded North Carolina this year in their conquest to recruit and train teachers or what they refer to as “Fellows”.  NC’s Superintendent has welcomed Hope Street with open arms according to the March press release:

“As a teacher myself, I understand the benefits of taking lessons learned in the classroom and applying them to decisions made at the state level. I am excited to have Hope Street Group assist our North Carolina teachers in their quest to become the best educators possible for North Carolina’s children,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson.

“Participating North Carolina teachers are taught how to transform their passion for teaching into an actionable tool for improving the broader teaching profession. As stewards of our children’s education, it is imperative that teachers play an integral, empowered role in informing education policy,” said Dan Cruce, vice president of education at Hope Street Group.

The Hope Street Group North Carolina Teacher Voice Network will have access to a variety of professional development and training opportunities, including peer engagement, data collection and communications strategies. They will collect data from thousands of their colleagues to present to NCDPI. They will also serve as leaders within their own school communities.

This is a version of Teach Plus or Teach For America, but dedicated to Common Core.

Dr. Atkinson is aligning our state with yet another unelected, unaccountable outside group funded and directed by millionaires and Foundations. Why is she not doing her job and working on North Carolina’s sagging teacher college situation?

Remember the term “Teacher Voice Network“, this will be revisited at a later date in follow-up article.

The Teacher Fellows
These “Fellows” appear to be mainly young or new teachers and their training is centered on use and teaching of the Common Core standards. In fact, Hope Street Group recommends that state boards of education require Common Core specific training and proficiency be a requirement of teacher licensure and re-licensure.

This is not conjecture, this fact based directly on one of Hope Street Groups self-touted achievements: The Teacher Common Core Playbook.

The playbook has many endorsers, but this one sticks out:

“U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan highlights Hope Street Group’s work on Race to the Top and says collaboration between different groups could lead to better outcomes in education in this video.”

This playbook deserves deeper scrutiny and there needs to be a conversation on the purpose of teacher colleges, but that’s an article all its own. I’ll get to it.

Given some of what’s out there on Hope Street, the consensus seems to be that these “Fellows”  are also recruited to promote pro-testing/data collection  environments that Common Core needs to survive; with an emphasis on tying teacher evaluations to test scores.

The agenda of Hope Street Group is clearly to push testing, evaluating teachers based on test scores, and common core.  They will hand-pick some naive teachers to be their “Fellows” (or as we like to say, “follows” or “foolows” since they will be following foolish orders on what to say and do), give them a little extra $3500 boost to their paychecks, and train them in how to sweet-talk legislators to vote for the reforms that their donors want.  So, it is just like the Teach Plus organization that has already been doing dirty work here in TN, except with a more hopeful-ish name and a rosier-pink lipstick., 2/27/15, Hope Street is a Dead End for TN and TEA characterizes these “Fellows” as trained pro-Common Core/pro-testing sound bite machines in to be trotted out in front of cameras and steered to whisper in the ears of politicians.

Of course, the “Fellows” themselves likely don’t see it that way. Too bad, because when you have to use “talking points” instead of the facts of the service or topic itself, guess what? You’re a sound bite machine.

I’d have to say, that characterization sounds right on target.  In North Carolina, we saw these sound bite machines first hand a few weeks back at the last Common Core Commission meeting.

Remember ‘just a math teacher’ Kim Arwood and her pal, Trey Ferguson?  Ferguson is one of the new “NC Teacher Voice Network Fellows“. Imagine that!

Who else is promoting these “Fellows” and the “Teacher Voice Network” in North Carolina? The PR Firm, EducationNC and the best pal of the NC Chamber of Commerce et al — the Common Core pushing Public Schools Forum NC.

There is A LOT more to Hope Street Group. Stay tuned, next time I’ll give some history and follow the money.

About A.P. Dillon

A.P. Dillon is the former Co-Founder and Managing Editor at American Lens. She resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina and is the founder of Her past writing can also be found at IJ review, Breitbart, FOX news, Da Tech Guy Blog, Heartland Institute, Civitas Institute and Find her on Twitter: @APDillon_
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2 Responses to Another House In the Common Core Potemkin Village: Hope Street Group

  1. Pingback: Common Core Potemkin Village: Hope Street Group – Money and History | Lady Liberty 1885

  2. geek49203 says:

    Well, yes, this surprises you? I recall similar groups set up with the “No Child” thing — groups that showed that the subpar district or school was “doing something” all the while hoping for a Hawthorne effect to somehow fix things. The same went for groups hoping to deal with a curriculum change in the State of Michigan. This is SOP with the education industry.

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A Koopa's Revenge 2 v2.0 Open Beta Begins

Posted by Lambtaco - August 29th, 2017

Hello, peoples.

I'm releasing a revised version of my game, A Koopa's Revenge 2. It's a big update that polishes the game and fixes lingering bugs. I would have liked to have it done ages ago, but I had some mental health problems (long, private story) that prevented me from getting this done in a timely fashion.

The update includes more balanced powerups, upgraded artwork, improved physics, new skins for the first five bosses, a system for importing and exporting saves, and more.

Full AKR2 Changelog Here

Anyway, I'm looking for volunteer testers. Everyone with an NG account is approved to view the beta. I mostly need dedicated testers who can beat the whole game and seek out bugs and inconsistencies, but I'd also love to hear from someone who's never played the game before.

List of Known Bugs

For those dedicated testers, these are the things I'm most concerned with:

  • The importing and exporting of save files. If something isn't working properly, let me know so I can fix it before release.
  • Any inconsistencies in enemy behaviour or reactions to weapons. I changed the way a lot of weapons work, and how enemies react to them, and I want to be sure everything is in line. Tell me if an enemy uses a depreciated death animation for instance.
  • Testing the new physics. How does it feel? Is platforming easier, or harder? Is it possible to get stuck somewhere?
  • Did I forget to put something in the changelog? I didn't start logging everything until a while after I started this project, and I'm sure I just forgot some things.
  • Are there any graphics you feel aren't up to the standard set by the rest of the game.
  • Any ideas for medals? I have a few of my own, but I'd like to have a ton.

The update is due September 16. Exactly three years since the game first released. I'll probably do some more smaller updates after that, in case something isn't ready on time, or more bugs pop up.

Beta Link for A Koopa's Revenge 2 v2.0

Thaks for reading and/or testing.

Comments (56)

When is the remaster of A Koopa's Revenge 1 coming out though? Was it cancelled?

It's still coming. I just wanted to finish this first, since it was so much closer to being done.

Also, I promised a lot of people that they could backup their saves.

A Koopa's Revenge? I never thought I'd hear that name again. Awesome!

It's back, baby!

I played and its amazing thanks for making this!

Ya welcome.

Dude. Never thought I'd hear from this game again, haha
good on you! Best of luck finishing this <3

Oh dude i thought you wasn't updating that game any more but u did. Its awesome. Keep up the good work!!!

I wasn't going to. But as time went on I noticed a lot of things that needed polishing. Plus people kept losing their saves so I needed to add a backup system.

I loved all the new changes! But there's a weird bug with the cape. if you hit a piranha mushroom with it, the piranha will be paralyzed.
And I think it should be good if you added a new power to the water flower (like throw ice cubes that slide on the ground and freeze the enemy for a certain time, and if you throw the enemy like a plant, it would explode with ice particles) and change the new night boo flower power (if you press attack, it will throw a purple fireball, but it will follow a straight line. if you hold the UP button, it will go straight upwards, and if you hold DOWN, it will go straight down). But these are just ideas. What do you think?

I'll have the piranha shrooms fixed for the next update.
I don't really have time to implement and test something as complicated as freezing and throwing enemies. Ghost fireballs should probably behave differently than regular ones, but I'm not sure controlability is the best route.
Thanks for the report and suggestions.

I did seen an bug in level 1-1. When i was entering first pipe (looks like pipe in super mario bros. when you complete level 1-1)i have seen 4 mushrooms (goombas) walking like always. I wanted to do run-slide combo,but when i seen back,i did seen one of the mushroom IN THE PIPE! I mean,it was not ON pipe,it was IN pipe! So plz fix it.

Also,you could add green flower,giving you to shoot green balls. But you can control them when shooted. If you shoot it while running,it with move faster.

And you could add an enemy relased to koopa,it could be Peach's crown with angry blue eyes. That crown is named ''Crowny'' and it could have only eyes and blue shoes like goomba.

Also,i love game. Add more bosses please! Your idea for bosses! BYE!

I can't seem to trigger that glitch. I know there have been some issues with collision detection for enemies near the boundaries of the screen, but so far they seem rare. I'll add it to my glitch list as a low priority for now. Thanks for reporting.

Not going to be adding more powerups, but I am open to altering existing ones.

That's an interesting enemy idea. I think that may actually be a better version of my spiny shrooms.

I might add another boss, depending on how much time I have after making the new boss skins, adding new medals, etc.

water suit thing: I understand, you don't have time to do this ice ball thing. but can you add some another random power to it? if you are outside of the water and outside of the ice world, it's useless. but you can still try to release this ice ball thing on the 2.1 update of AKR2 or in AKR3.
night ghost suit thing: I really think that controllability is good for this power, it's already a big power, so the secondary attack power should not be that unique. but if you want something different, I had an idea: in SMW, some ghosts move on a wavy line, right? so that's what I thought: with the night ghost suit, press attack, you will launch a mini ghost. it will go on a wavy line, its sprite will look like a small SMW ghost (maybe it can look like the character that you are using). it can pass through walls, like ghosts. when it hits an enemy, it will kill him, explode and disappear.
bugs: I found more bugs: in the first room of level 4-5, there are some flying fireballs, if you touch them, it will do nothing; if you run long enough with something on your hands, it will flying, try to animate the thing on your hands to the character still be holding it; that cape bug also works with the star power; if you use the day bone suit and launch a boomerang, it will not come back if it touches on the border of the screen, can you fix this?
btw, will you re-skin all the bosses? i loved this new style.
what do you think? if you still think you don't have time to do these ideas, try to use them on update 2.1 of AKR2 or in AKR3. and sorry for my bad English, I'm Brazilian.

I really wanted to make it a mobility powerup, like the frog suit. Maybe I can add a minor attack like the wing spin, or some sort of defensive utility.

I was just thinking the fireball in a wavy line, but I do like the idea of it passing through walls.

I fixed the fireballs, the arms out while holding an object bug, and the piranha shroom. Not sure if I want to fix the boomerangs as that's working as intended. Any particular reason why you'd want the boomerangs to not disappear at the screen edge?

I'll be reskinning all the non-Mario bosses. And some of the Mario ones will get some art improvements.

I might use some of the ideas. Your english is fine; I've seen much worse.

Thanks for the bug reports and suggestions.

oh no... ther's a BIG bug. in the final confrontation, i can't throw bob-ombs! how can i beat it?

I already fixed that. You'll have to clear your cache or force a refresh to load the new swf.

@Lambtaco and thanks for the forced refresh thing. I will stop commenting. i will comment again if i find more bugs. BYE!

some last suggestions i have after completing the beta: I think the spiny goomba should be orange and have more spikes; the goomba should have a P-running animation. maybe he can be shaking his tail?; goomba should have his own DOWN+ATTACK sprite when he is using the tanooki flower; it fells weird when i jump with the spiny flower, its sprite keeps glitching, try fix it; sometimes when i jump into walls, it stops moving up, i don't know if you wanted this to happen; i think that if you press UP+JUMP, the character should move higher in the water, like in SMW.
thanks for letting us to test the beta!

Maybe red-orange. But I want to stick to one spike, since it makes him a spiked goomba from Paper Mario https://www.mariowiki.com/Spiked_Goomba Maybe I could give him spiked shoes though.

It's hard to get a good P-run for Goomba since he has no arms. The tail doesn't really work because he doesn't always have one, I could make hand magically appear like when he picks stuff up, but that might be too jarring.

If I change a down+attack it might actually be Koopa's. Tanuki goombas have actually turned into thwomps in the Mario & Luigi games. Plus I'm changing Koopa's pink variety so that it's more unique.

I'm pretty sure it does that with all powerup states. I think I was trying to do something to help let, you walljump earlier, but whatever it was, it's drawbacks are overpowering any benefits so I'll try to reverse it.

I totally didn't even know that SMW thing was a thing. I thought you were mistaken so I went to test it, and yep, it's a thing. Shouldn't be too hard to add. SMW also does a thing where it glues you to the water's sruface unless you press B to jump out. I might try to add that to.

Alright I have some Good news and Bad news... Good news is That THANK YOU FOR BRINGING BACK MY FAVORITE GAME!!!!!!! Bad news is.... I can't see with the big Beta Word on it T-T

Sorry about that. I just don't want to get scooped on youtube videos or have the game misrepresented by unfinished gameplay leaking out. I found it was pretty easy to get used to, since it doesn't actually obscure any information, just inverts some pixels.

The other good news is you can play it without the watermark in one week.

@Lambtaco Goomba's tail could shake just when it has the tanooki/flying flower, it indicates that he can fly; what are you thinking to change in koopa's down+attack sprite? maybe he can turn into a statue, like in SMB3? and if this happens, goomba will stay with the thwomp; but about the glitching sprite of the spiny flower? it keeps turning on the normal sprite for a miliscond.

The tail could shake, but whenever you can fly there's a big P-meter at the bottom flashing so it's already pretty obvious. If I can't come up with something that would be visible in all powerup states before the deadline I'll add the tail shake.

It will probably be a statue that relates to his new pink form.

When is the spiny sprite glitching? It looks fine to me, but I might be missing something.

Also, I think the bone flower lava power is too overpowered. can you make it receive damage for bosses' lava/acid attacks, like on the mario castle bosses? it's too easy.

It's pretty powerful, but it's also quite rare. Without that ability it's not very different from the hammer ability.

If it weren't already in previously released versions of the game I'd consider coming up with a different ability to replace it. But I'd rather not nerf something that's in the released version of the game.

When will you add the new boss skins in the beta? If you did already, How do you make them show up?

I did. The first three bosses. Pause on the map and go into the options to change the skin set.

I liked that idea of the magic hands appearing. Try to add that later and see if it looks good; yes, there's a problem with the spiny flower sprite. Jump with it. It's sprite will keep changing back to the normal sprite for a milisecond everytime. This don't happens with the dash sprite, only with the jumping one.

I'll test out the hands, but I'm pretty sure it will look weird. The spiny jump is working as intended. It's supposed to look like Sonic when he jumps.

and I want you to make the pipe traveling speed faster. it's pretty slow. can you try to double the pipe traveling speed? it's slow specially when the pipe takes you to another place of the same room.

I don't think I'll increase the overall speed, because it may cause unforeseen problems, but I can speed up the one screen pipes. The one in 2-A comes to mind. I'll try and find the others.

ok. i don't like this sprite changing while jumping with the spiny flower, it feels very weird. but if you programmed to do this, it's okay. i think you tried to animate the jump to see sonic sometimes, but it got bad. try to change the animation to make the character look more like sonic jumping. try to make the character's sprite spin, like this:
or this:
I think it feels weird because the frame changing is too slow and maybe the frame order is different.
but i still think that the overall pipe traveling speed is a little bit slow compared to other mario games.

The other two characters look a lot better than Goomba. He's not a tetrapod, so he doesn't fit all the standard poses. I had the character flashing faster and with as much time as the spiny egg, but it looked weird. Trust me.

It's only a little slow, so it's not worth trying to fix this close to the deadline. Changing the speed could cause all kinds of weird and unpredictable things. Or it could do nothing. But I can't take the chance right now.

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