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Home / Culture and Society / Food and Drink / World Food Programme Director to Arrive in Haiti

World Food Programme Director to Arrive in Haiti

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The head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Josette Sheeran, is set to arrive in earthquake-devastated Haiti on Thursday. In Port-au-Prince, she will meet with Haitians who are depending on WFP's food deliveries to survive.

Sheeran will also hold meetings with government and relief officials on the food aid effort. WFP chairs a "food cluster" which is meant to coordinate all food aid from coming into Haiti from various agencies and charities. This is vital for reducing congestion at ports and landing strips, distributing the food and avoiding overlap. Since the earthquake struck WFP has delivered a million rations to Haitians.

These food deliveries will be increasing. Sheeran said on Monday, "Within the next week, we aim to move the equivalent of 10 million ready-to-eat meals so that people whose homes have been destroyed, and who have no access to cooking facilities, can feed their families."

Sheeran arrives as a "food ambassador" for Haiti, trying to rally international support for feeding 2 million people. WFP is asking for US$279 million for what will be, at least, a 6-month emergency operation. Following her visit, Sheeran will head to Washington, D.C. to continue to build support for feeding Haiti.

WFP operations in Leogane, a town west of Port-au-Prince which was at the epicentre of the Jan 12 earthquake. (Copyright: WFP/David Orr)

Where does the fundraising stand right now? Governments have given US$150 million while the private sector has sent 18 million, including 3 million from online donations. The list of donors includes the United States, Denmark, Luxembourg, Italy, Greece, Australia, Colombia, and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund.

The food relief effort is still in the ready-to-eat meals phase. Foods such as high energy biscuits offer the easiest and fastest way to get life saving sustenance to people. But soon more foods should become available such as rice, vegetable oil, dried beans and lentils. In addition, other special foods to help children's nutritional requirements are being gathered to send to Haiti. Kitchens and humanitarian hubs will also be set up throughout Port-au-Prince.

The Haiti emergency comes at a time when WFP is facing funding shortfalls for many of its programs worldwide. In Sudan alone WFP plans to feed 11 million people this year. Worldwide there are over 1 billion people suffering from hunger, more than any point in history.

To help the World Food Programme please visit www.wfp.org or www.friendsofwfp.org

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About William Lambers

William Lambers is the author of several books including Ending World Hunger: School Lunches for Kids Around the World. This book features over 50 interviews with officials from the UN World Food Programme and other charities discussing school feeding programs that fight child hunger. He is also the author of Nuclear Weapons, The Road to Peace: From the Disarming of the Great Lakes to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Open Skies for Peace, The Spirit of the Marshall Plan: Taking Action Against World Hunger, School Lunches for Kids Around the World, The Roadmap to End Global Hunger, From War to Peace and the Battle of Britain. He is also a writer for the History News Service. His articles have been published by newspapers including the Cincinnati Enquirer, Des Moines Register, the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Buffalo News, San Diego Union Tribune, the Providence Journal, Free Lance-Star (VA), the Bakersfield Californian, the Washington Post, Miami Herald (FL), Chicago Sun-Times, the Patriot Ledger (MA), Charleston Sunday Gazette Mail (WV), the Cincinnati Post, Salt Lake Tribune (UT), North Adams Transcript (MA), Wichita Eagle (KS), Monterey Herald (CA), Athens Banner-Herald (GA) and the Duluth News Journal. His articles also appear on History News Network (HNN) and Think Africa Press. Mr. Lambers is a graduate of the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio with degrees in Liberal Arts (BA) and Organizational Leadership (MS). He is also a member of the Feeding America Blogger Council.
  • republicanblack

    You know it hurts me to see these people suffer, but can we as a country take in more people, in addition to the problems we have even taking care of our own? Check this story out on the refugees we have taken in and from what countries, you’ll be surprised.

  • J.E.B. Butler

    how do I ensure my donation (by check) is going directly to Hatian relief?

    J.E. Butler, Jr.

  • J.E.B. Butler,

    There are many safe charities out here that ensure your money, all of it, will go to the relief effort in Haiti.

    I would suggest looking at the bottom of the screen, the next time you watch the news. I believe, whether it is MSNBC,ABC,FOX,…that they can direct you where to send your check.

    If however,you plan on a ten dollar donation, then Text Haiti to 90999, this money will go directly to the Red Cross Relief effort in Haiti.

    It’s not too late!

  • Jeb Butler,
    Thank you for your comment and interest in donating to Haiti. At the bottom of my article there are two links to donate to the World Food Programme relief effort. If you are from the United States you can use the link friendsofwfp.org. Click on the donate now button and they will have a section where you can direct the donation to go to the Haiti emergency. If you use the wfp.org link click on the Help Haiti now button. If you have questions you can also e-mail the Friends of WFP and they will get back to you right away. Or just post a comment here.There are other charities as well you can donate to. Please see some of my previous articles where I mention some of them with links including Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children and many others.

    Thank you!

  • Jeb,
    In your comment you mentioned donating by check. When you go the friendsofwfp.org site I mentioned in the previous comment you can use their “online check” option and have it directed toward Haiti.

  • Friends of the World Food Program

    As Bill Lambers mentioned, if you’d like to send a check to support the UN World Food Program all you need to do is put “Haiti” in the memo line, or include a note/letter requested to designate your donation for Haiti, and we will do so.

    Friends of the World Food Program
    1819 L St NW, Suite 900
    Washington DC 20036

  • #6,

    Friends? OF? Why not send your check directly to the World Food Program?

  • I see that you are legitimate, but how much actually goes directly to Haiti?

  • Jeannie, if you click on the links in the article, you can learn about the Friends of the WFP. If you check a site like Charity Navigator, you’ll see that almost 95% of their money goes directly to the programs they fund, which is a pretty outstanding record.

  • Lisa,

    Thanks! and..Hello!


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PUBLIC MARKS from Spone with tags ruby & software

16 March 2011 14:00

by 1 other (via)
Shoes is a cross-platform toolkit for writing graphical apps easily and artfully using Ruby. Unlike most other GUI toolkits, Shoes is designed to be easy and straightforward without losing power. Really, it’s easy!

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publisher: CommonCrawl
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PUBLIC MARKS from "Xavier Lacot" with tags tool & service

Web Application Load Testing Tools For API Endpoints With

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A load testing service that allows you to stress test your web-apps/apis with thousands of concurrent connections.

ExceptionHub | JavaScript Error Tracking

* Logs all JavaScript errors (local or remote) * Provides a stack trace to find the cause in all browsers * Groups errors by cause * Development and Production modes * RSS feeds for errors


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Cisco Blogs

Collaboration Evolution: Why it’s Time to Upgrade to VoIP

- April 17, 2013 - 0 Comments

Communication is key, yet too many government agencies voice platforms are living in archaic times.

As government agencies are turning to collaboration technologies like voice, video and mobility to increase efficiency and lower costs, many are faced with outdated voice platforms like Private Branch Exchange (PBX) and Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) .  However, the shift to VoIP enables organizations to modernize their communications platform for more robust communication applications, while significantly reducing operating costs.

VoIP provides significant net savings by allowing the management of managing one unified network and no longer needing to sustain a legacy phone system. It also provides enhanced features and VoIP services that improve the user experience. Advanced call routing, image transfer, phone portability, as well as integration with other collaboration applications, such as voicemail delivery via email, voice call button on email are examples of functionality users have come to expect.

When agencies replace antiquated communication networks with VoIP, all parties benefit. Take for example the City of Colorado Springs. After experiencing a population burst, their 15-year-old legacy PBX and data network struggled to accommodate their growing needs. One of the biggest challenges was that the city had a single point of network failure and no ability to reroute traffic. Government officials feared having a police or fire station shut down from a voice or network failure.

With these looming network issues, city officials committed themselves to working smarter to better serve their citizens. They chose Cisco VoIP technologies to deploy a reliable, single network platform that integrated both voice and data over the same architecture and increased security and efficiency.

As government agencies are forced to do more with less, the adoption of VoIP also enables them to drive productivity and lower costs. Even though the City of Colorado Springs’ staff was reduced by one third, all voice and data requirements were met thanks to the VoIP solution’s ease of administration.

Want to learn more about how enhancing your way of communication can propel your organization forward? Download this report from ZK Research and start reaping the benefits of VOIP and unified communications.

Also, don’t miss our National Town Hall on 4/25, where we will hear from technology leaders in the government sector about how they have used collaboration technology to achieve their agency goals.

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Indianapolis Colts Football

Robert Mathis “honored” to be in discussion for Defensive Player of the Year

Posted by Kevin Bowen on December 20, 2013 – 2:00 pm

The Colts defense is playing a game of ping-pong in the locker room.

There’s Robert Mathis answering questions about being under consideration for Defensive Player of the Year, yet giving all the credit to his teammates.

Around the locker room there’s Mathis defensive teammates throwing it right back to No. 98.temp2013_1215_HOU_3908--nfl_mezz_1280_1024

No matter who is right or wrong, there’s no denying that Mathis is in the talk for 2013 Defensive Player of the Year.

Mathis is a man of few words but his league-leading 16.5 sacks and six forced fumbles do plenty of talking.

“I would credit that more to our defense then just the individual on it,” Mathis says of his name being in the discussion.

“It takes a lot of guys around him, from secondary, up to our nose tackle. Especially the d-line, they take pride in getting me to the quarterback. It would be a team accomplishment more than an individual.”

When Mathis was chosen in the fifth round of the 2003 draft, he was simply trying to find a spot on special teams.

Now 11 years later, Mathis is turning in a career-year at the age of 32 and garnering the deserving national attention.

What impresses Mathis’ teammates so much is how he has gone about piling up his sacks/forced fumbles.

Mathis acknowledges his consideration for such a honor but he, and his teammates, make it clear that he’s racking up these numbers within the framework of the defense.

“Win it or not, it’s an honor to be considered,” Mathis says.

“It’s a team sport so you’ve got to be a team guy. You can make plays being a team guy. That’s the message. You don’t have to be selfish. Just do your job and good things will happen.”

Posted in Colts Blog, Colts Casey B, Colts Cheerleading, COLTS DAILY HEADLINES, Colts Photography, Web Updates, Events and Promotions, Fan Feature, My Indiana Football, Voice of the Fans

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Eastman student on Jay Leno

Posted by • January 27, 2011 • 6:10 pm

Last night, Eastman School of Music student David Aguila made a cameo on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He was a contestant in a skit/game called “Meal or No Meal,” where a humorous panel of judges decides whether individual audience member talents entitle them to a free meal via a restaurant gift certificate.

Aguila’s talent? He can play the Haydn Trumpet Concerto while solving the Rubik’s Cube. Talk about a brain that does double-time!

Here’s the video:

Did he win a meal? Yes! Apparently, playing an instrument while solving a puzzle might not get you many things in life, but it will at least get you dinner.

Aguila sat in with the Tonight Show Band afterward – so, maybe playing an instrument while solving the Rubik’s Cube will get you a little exposure too!

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Jeff Spevak has shaken the hand of Johnny Cash. He has done a shot of whiskey with Bo Diddley. He sang with Tina Turner for 12 seconds. His Top 10 albums of all time include 17 by Bob Dylan. He likes dogs, the Cleveland Indians and wine. His favorite books are Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He likes to eat Chilean sea bass.

Catherine Roberts: Lead Local Editor/Life, is the mother of two teenage boys. She's so used to being overbooked that when there's a spare moment, she feels the needs to know what's going on around town to fill the gap. Favorite things in Rochester include the museums, Red Wings games and concerts. But most of the time, you'll find her and her husband, Chad (the Democrat and Chronicle's overnight editor), at a bowling alley, the sidelines of a ball field or walking a dog in their Irondequoit neighborhood or Durand-Eastman Park. If you have any ideas, please email at cathyr@DemocratandChronicle.com

Diana Louise Carter was born at Rochester General Hospital the same year it opened and reared in Bristol, Ontario County. After college and grad school, her first reporting job was on a small newspaper in Western Massachusetts. She returned to Rochester in late 1987 to work for the Democrat and Chronicle. Carter covers agriculture and banking. She lives in the Upper Monroe neighborhood of Rochester with her husband and three children.

Anna Reguero, a former Democrat and Chronicle music critic, a clarinetist and a graduate of Eastman School of Music, is a doctoral student in musicology at State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Daniel Kushner


text: Marvel Comics – Artmosphere Artmosphere provides quick hits of news, reviews, and analysis on Denver and Colorado fine arts, including theater, film, photography, architecture, painting, museums, literature and art exhibits. Tue, 08 Dec 2015 23:28:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Denver Comic Con reports big 2012 attendance, announces 2013 dates and major guest Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:49:15 +0000 The Denver Post


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Posts by Topic: Pro Football Hall of FameRSS feed

Bill Polian jokes about Peyton Manning’s lengthy career in Hall speech

Shortly after the Broncos’ practice Saturday, Peyton Manning hopped on a flight to Canton, Ohio, to see the man who drafted him with the No. 1 pick in 1998 take his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Bill Polian, the former president of the Indianapolis Colts, thanked his former players and colleagues, from Kansas City to Buffalo to Carolina to Indianapolis. But with Manning watching from the crowd, Polian had a personal message for “No. 18.”

“If you keep playing,” Polian said, “I may not be around for your introduction. But wherever I am, I’ll be thrilled and proud.

Read more…

Terrell Davis talks Broncos, Peyton Manning, Hall of Fame and more

Demaryius Thomas, Terrell Davis

Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas talks to former running back Terrell Davis after practice Saturday. (Nicki Jhabvala, The Denver Post)

T.D. was back on Broncos turf.

The Broncos’ all-time leading rusher and Ring of Famer attended Saturday’s practice for NFL Network, but any time Terrell Davis returns to Broncos Country, it’s about much more.

He spoke to his former quarterback and now general manager, John Elway. He spoke to receiver Demaryius Thomas. He watched practice alongside players and coaches, catching a front-row glimpse of Peyton Manning rolling out. And he saw his former offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak, running the show.

Afterward, Davis opened up about the team, Kubiak’s offense and how it will work with Manning, his days with Elway and much more. Some highlights:

Read more…

July 7, 2015, 12:09 pm

Former Bronco Tom Jackson named Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-TV award winner

Tom Jackson during his retirement announcement. (Denver Post file)

Tom Jackson during his retirement announcement. (Denver Post file)

Former Broncos linebacker and current ESPN analyst Tom Jackson was named the 2015 winner of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award for his “longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.” Jackson will be recognized during the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2015 enshrinement ceremony on Aug. 8.

Jackson, a Cleveland, Ohio, native, joined ESPN in 1987 following a 14-year NFL career with the Broncos. In 2009, he won a Sports Emmy in the Outstanding Studio Analyst category and, for more than 25 years, has teamed with Chris Berman on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.”

Read more…

Peyton Manning’s TD 509 uniform is now encased at Tennessee

Peyton Manning broke the NFL career passing touchdown record in Denver last season, but the moment will live on in Knoxville.

Part of it, anyway.

Manning’s gameday uniform from the Broncos’ victory over the 49ers last season, when he threw four touchdown passes, including record-setting No. 509 to Demaryius Thomas, is now on display at the University of Tennessee’s football facility.

(The ball from Manning’s 509th career touchdown pass sits in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.)

Vols coach Butch Jones said on a local radio show that Manning, who pays regular visits to his alma mater and makes his affinity for all things Rocky Top well known, will attend Saturday’s annual Orange and White game at Neyland Stadium.

(via Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman)

Broncos Insider: Super Bowl XLVIII arrives for Broncos 5,481 days after Denver was last here — and won

Fans arrive for the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Seth Wenig, The Associated Press)

Fans arrive for the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Seth Wenig, The Associated Press)

Good afternoon, Broncos fans. IT WAS 5,481 FULL DAYS AGO that the Denver Broncos were last here at this moment. We’re inside Metlife Stadium, where we bring you a special Super Bowl edition of the Broncos Insider Newsletter:

The Denver Post's Sunday Super Bowl special section cover for Feb. 2, 2014.

The Denver Post’s Sunday Super Bowl special section cover for Feb. 2, 2014.

IN PRINT: SUPER BOWL SPECIAL SECTION: “WITHIN REACH: Peyton Manning has put together a season for the ages, shattering records in leading the highest scoring offense in NFL history. A victory Sunday in the Super Bowl can forever cement his legacy among the all-time greats.” SEE THE PAGE:

Denver Post Sunday 1A: CHAMP IN WAITING: “They call him Champ. The Broncos cornerback exudes all of the virtues of what fans desire in a champion,” writes The Denver Post’s Benjamin Hochman. “He’s cool by not acting cool. He has this aura around him, but not because he’s a self-proclaimed stud. It’s because he’s revered in football circles. It’s because he speaks softly, yet with resonance. It’s because he’s actually so humble, it’s hard to believe that someone with his talent isn’t shouting about it.

The front page of the Sunday, Dec. 2, 2014, edition of The Denver Post.

The front page of the Sunday, Dec. 2, 2014, edition of The Denver Post.

“Really, the only problem with the nickname Champ is that he’s not a champ. But, after 15 seasons in the NFL, this sure Pro Football Hall of Famer finally will play in the Super Bowl.

“‘That’s the only reason I still lace them up,’ Bailey said, ‘because I want to play in games like this.'” THE PAGE:

XLVIII (48) REASONS THE BRONCOS WILL WIN, according to Denver Post columnist Woody Paige. Among them: “V. The Broncos were penalized 183 fewer yards than Seattle in the regular season. … X. Adam Gase is creatively superior to Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Jack Del Rio has won a Super Bowl as a coach; Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn hasn’t coached in one. … XXI. The Seahawks averaged only 23 points a game away from Seattle; the Broncos averaged 36.2 points in road games. … XL. With more than seven days to prepare, the Broncos are 6-0 this season.” Plus, Woody’s score prediction:

“THIS IS WHY FOOTBALL PLAYERS CRY. The Broncos arrived at the Super Bowl as a family: 53 players, one goal,” writes Denver Post columnist Mark Kiszla … win or lose, when Super Bowl XLVIII is done, this family will break up. This is one last chance for this specific group of Broncos to hoist the Lombardi Trophy and grab a little piece of football immortality. […]

“The significance of my Super Bowl rings is what those rings stand for. They stand for guys putting aside their egos and their personal agendas long enough to win a championship,” said Byron Chamberlain, who won two championships during his stint from 1995-2000 as a tight end for Denver. “The most important thing for a championship team is to get all the guys to buy into one common goal of winning the Super Bowl. It’s hard to do. That’s why winning a Super Bowl is so rare.”

GAME DAY FORECAST: Sunday for East Rutherford, N.J., site of MetLife Stadium … A slight chance of showers after 11 a.m. Patchy fog before 8 a.m. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. West wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent, according to the National Weather Service. … Sunday night: A slight chance of rain before 10 p.m., then a slight chance of rain and sleet between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., then a chance of rain and snow after 1 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 31. North wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent: … Per The Weather Channel, 6 p.m. will be cloud, temperature at 43 degrees (feels like 40), 20 percent chance of precipitiation, winds WNW at 5 mph.

Read more…

Amazing comparisons between Broncos stunning losses to Jacksonville & Baltimore

Broncos fans cheer on their defense Saturday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Broncos fans cheer on their defense Saturday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

My good friend Mike Burrows, one of the best sportswriters who moved to the copy desk, was covering the Broncos for the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph in 1996, and is a copy editor for The Denver Post. So he has a unique perspective on the two most devastating defeats in Broncos’ history. Here’s what Mike wrote:

Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised that the Denver Broncos lost Saturday. So many things connected the Broncos’ stunning playoff loss 16 years ago to the Jacksonville Jaguars with what happened Saturday in Denver. Here they are:

* In each game, the Broncos were 13-3 and the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed with home-field advantage, and their opponent was a double-digit underdog at game time according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.

* Each game was played on a Saturday, and Denver lost each game by three points.

Read more…

Terrell Davis among four Broncos shut out again from Hall of Fame

This was not a good day for former Broncos. Despite having four former Broncos among the 27 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2013, none of them made it to the modern-era finalists list of 15.

The four Broncos who didn’t make the cut: Running back Terrell Davis; defensive lineman/linebacker Karl Mecklenburg and safeties John Lynch and Steve Atwater.

It’s a joke none of those Broncos made it and former Browns/Ravens owner Art Modell did.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee’s 17 finalists (15 modern-era and two senior nominees*) with their positions, teams, and years active follow:

Read more…

July 3, 2012, 4:22 pm

Rod Smith makes the cover of Broncos’ 2012 media guide

[media-credit name=”Denver Broncos” align=”alignright” width=”270″]rod smith broncos cover[/media-credit]

Rod Smith landed on the cover of the Broncos' 2012 media guide.

While Peyton Manning, nattily attired in his new Broncos’ togs, will likely grace the cover of plenty of sports sections and magazines all over the football nation in the coming weeks and months, the Broncos gave former wide receiver Rod Smith the nod on the latest edition of their media guide.

Smith, who will be formally enshrined in the Broncos’ Ring of Fame Sept. 23, graces the cover of this year’s offering on a backdrop of an orange jersey. The team is also making the move back to orange jerseys this season as its primary option for home games.

Read more…

Broncos safety Brian Dawkins retires after 16 years

[media-credit name=”Joe Amon, The Denver Post” align=”alignnone” width=”495″]Brian Dawkins announced his retirement today.[/media-credit]

Brian Dawkins announced his retirement today.

Veteran safety Brian Dawkins, a longtime Philadelphia Eagle who played his final three seasons with the Broncos, announced his retirement from the NFL today.

Dawkins posted the news on his Twitter account.

Here is Dawkins’ full statement:

Read more…

Want to feel old? John Lynch is eligible for Hall of Fame in 2013

INDIANAPOLIS — Has it really been five years since John Lynch played?

The former Broncos safety and nine-time Pro Bowler will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

So will Rod Smith, the Broncos’ all-time leading receiver in the three major categories, but it does seem like he’s been away awhile because he missed his entire final season of 2007 with a hip injury.

Lynch, Smith and Terrell Davis should at least make the cut to the final 25 modern-era candidates next year. I think all three should get to the final 15, too, but no promises. Steve Atwater, Karl Mecklenburg and Davis made the final 25 this year.

Five Broncos on preliminary 2012 Hall of Fame list

Rod Smith, the Broncos’ career receiving leader, is among 103 players/coaches/contributors — and five Broncos — on the preliminary eligibility list for joining the 2012 class in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

This is Smith’s first time on the list. Smith, who holds all of the Broncos main receiving records, also holds NFL records for receiving milestones for an undrafted player.

Other Broncos eligible are running back Terrell Davis, linebacker Karl Mecklenberg, safety Steve Atwater and coach Dan Reeves.

Davis, a 2000-yard rusher, league has made the final 25 several times but has yet to be a finalist.

Next Sunday vs. Bengals: Broncos to give Shannon Sharpe his HOF ring at halftime

Former Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe became the third Broncos players in four years to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he received his bronze bust on Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio.

It’s only right they save some of the celebration for the home team’s crowd. The Broncos will present Sharpe with his Hall of Fame ring Sunday during halftime of the Broncos’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Read more…

Shannon Sharpe arrives at Canton for Hall of Fame induction

[media-credit name=”John Leyba, The Denver Post” align=”alignright” width=”275″]Former Denver Broncos TE Shannon Sharpe arrived at McKinley High School for a press conference August 5, 2011 in Canton. John Leyba, The Denver Post[/media-credit]

Former Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe.

Broncos great Shannon Sharpe on Friday arrived at McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio, for some pre-induction festivities and news conferences before his Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday.

Also there was fellow-inductees Deion Sanders and Richard Dent.

Sharpe was a little emotional during a press conference, holding back tears as he talked about the award and about his family.

Coming: More photos from Shannon Sharpe’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

July 11, 2011, 10:01 am

Brother Sterling officially Shannon Sharpe’s Hall presenter

The Pro Football Hall of Fame officially announced the people who will present the members of the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame class at the induction ceremony Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio.

As previously reported by the Denver Post, former Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe will be introducted by his older brother Sterling Sharpe, who played seven seasons for the Green Bay Packers.

Former Chicago Bears defensive end Richard Dent will be presented by his former Tennessee State defensive coordinator Joe Gilliam.

The two first-ballot Hall of Famers, cornerback Deion Sanders and running back Marshall Faulk, will be presented by their agents. Sanders’ agent is Eugene Parker and Faulk’s is Rocky Arceneaux.

NFL Films creator Ed Sabol will be presented by his son Steve Sabol and senior committee nominee Chris Hanburger, a former Washington Redskins’ linebacker, will be introduced by his son Chris.

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Tag: GPS

Lost in a Store? The Lightbulbs Can Beam You an Escape Route

By Veronique Greenwood | February 13, 2012 4:32 am

LEDHElloo0OO0! I will show you the way.

Imagine yourself in a department store. You’re lost—alone and stranded somewhere in hosiery. What will you do?! How will you ever find your way to the shoe department? Take a deep breath. Look around you. Are those LED light bulbs on the ceiling? Take out your smart phone, raise the camera so it can see the bulb, and pray that you’re right.

Yes! The LEDs are sending location information to your phone, which, via a newly developed indoor navigation app called ByteLight, provides you with detailed instructions: “Go the the end of the aisle. Turn left. Walk until you can see the escalators. Go up one floor. You are in footwear.” Weeping with relief, you accept ByteLight’s offer to give you detailed step-by-step directions to a pair of shoes that is on sale (in addition to providing navigational information to particular items or areas, it also beams you information about nearby deals).

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CATEGORIZED UNDER: Technology Attacks!

Want the City to Fix a Crater-of-Doom Pothole? There's an App for That

By Patrick Morgan | February 11, 2011 2:24 pm

Doing good is getting easier. Soon, you’ll be able to do your civic duty of reporting potholes without even lifting a finger. The city of Boston is working on a smartphone app that would automatically report potholes to authorities–making it easier to find and fill the more than 19,000 potholes Boston grapples with each year.

The in-development Street Bump app uses a smartphone’s GPS and accelerometer technology to register the moment when a car lurches into a pothole and to identify the location. No need for the driver to call or email city officials, the app just goes ahead and sends the message on its own.

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CATEGORIZED UNDER: Technology Attacks!

Confused (and Injured) Pedestrian Sues Google Maps Over Bad Directions

By Joseph Calamia | June 1, 2010 11:26 am

On a midday stroll through Park City, Utah, you decide to turn onto the quaint-sounding Deer Valley Drive. You see this:

If you think you should turn back, you are not the intrepid Lauren Rosenberg. Armed with a Blackberry and Google Maps, she marched on, and could not believe when Patrick Harwood struck her with his car. According to Search Engine Land, which first broke the story, Rosenberg is now suing both Harwood and Google.

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For a High-Tech Easter Egg Hunt, Let GPS Be Your Guide

By Smriti Rao | March 24, 2010 10:48 am

Geocache_near_Špilberk_CastSince our entire lives have moved online and we’re all as wired as someone who has just gulped down ten cups of coffee, why should our Easter egg hunts be old-fashioned? This year, give your egg hunt an upgrade and embark on a high tech search with “geocaching.” Geocaching is a craze sweeping the great outdoors in which people use GPS coordinates to look for hidden treasures.

The organizer gives the participants GPS coordinates of the first stash, or cache. Using a GPS-enabled device, the hunters look for the cache–which could be a simple weatherproof container like a Tupperware box or thermos–hidden somewhere outdoors. A container typically contains a log book for the finder to sign, a few trinkets, and the coordinates for the next stash. This ensures the treasure hunt keeps going on till the seeker finds all the caches. For the Easter variant of geocaching, event organizers are planning to hide the stash coordinates in plastic Easter eggs.

According to enthusiasts, this high-tech treasure hunt is good fun and can also be exhausting, as GPS coordinates only take the hunter to within six to 20 feet of where the treasure is buried. Once the GPS has done its best to get a seeker to the desired location, it’s anyone’s guess which rock or tree hides the cache.

Naturalist Jill Snyder, who is organizing one such geocaching event this Easter, told the Associated Press that these hunts can reveal the searcher’s inner child:

“If you loved looking for Easter eggs as a kid then geocaching definitely is for you…. You approach finding caches in the same way that you would an Easter egg except that you have a GPS to guide you.”

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CATEGORIZED UNDER: Technology Attacks!
MORE ABOUT: Easter, geocaching, GPS

Hot Tech to Aid the Hunt for a Parking Space

By Smriti Rao | February 9, 2010 2:30 pm

parking-meterHow much time and energy is wasted as drivers circle around blocks and creep down streets, on the prowl for open parking spots? Burning fuel, they simmer silently in their seats, running late for work and appointments. Thankfully, technology has some solutions to ease the pain of finding parking.

Engineers Marco Gruteser and Wade Trappe of Rutgers University have combined ultrasonic sensors, GPS receivers, and cellular data networks to create a handy and ultra-cheap “parking-spot finder.” Their system distributes the task of finding vacant parking spots to sensors placed on a number of roving vehicles, and then combines the info to make a map of all the available parking in a region. That map could theoretically be accessed through smart phones or dashboard navigation devices.

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CATEGORIZED UNDER: Technology Attacks!
MORE ABOUT: cars, driving, GPS, parking, sensors

Afraid of Losing a Lady Friend? Give Her GPS Lingerie

By Nina Bai | November 4, 2008 7:24 pm

gpsWe’ve written about how GPS technology can make airports more efficient or help protect endangered elephants. Now, that same technology has turned up in a much more intimate place. In Brazil, a new line of lingerie features a built-in GPS device that allows anyone with a password to track the whereabouts of the wearer.

Lucia Lorio, the designer of the line, expects the lacey numbers to be a hit with “modern, techno-savvy woman.” It certainly would give a whole new meaning to “playing hard-to-get.” On the other hand, Lorio says the GPS-enabled lingerie could also provide a measure of protection for damsels in distress – presumably by sending for help when they’re alone and in danger. We’d like to note that similar devices already exist for pets and young children in distress.

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CATEGORIZED UNDER: Sex & Mating, Technology Attacks!

Airlines, Desperate to Lower Fuel Costs, Turn to GPS

By Nina Bai | October 14, 2008 5:09 pm

airlineThe shortest route between two points is a straight line. But if you manage to get on a flight these days, you’ll probably end up zigzagging across the skies. That’s because the radar-based navigation system used by airlines, developed more than 50 years ago, limits air traffic to a grid of narrow highways—meaning that planes have to wait in a single-file queue for their turn to take off. So it’s a good thing the FAA is proposing a new satellite-based GPS navigation system, called NextGen, that would let pilots fly shorter routes—and use less fuel.

NextGen would let pilots determine their own position and the position of other flights, potentially shifting flight patterns. The current radar system takes 10 seconds to scan an area, so planes have to be kept extra far apart. Supporters of NextGen say it would allow more planes in the air while reducing accidents and delays—while also saving 3.3 billion gallons or $10 billion per year in fuel costs.

Of course, there’s the matter of up front costs.

Read More

CATEGORIZED UNDER: Technology Attacks!
MORE ABOUT: airlines, GPS

Text Messaging: The New Way to Track Elephants

By Nina Bai | October 14, 2008 12:26 pm

elephantFarmers near the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya used to have to bang on pots and pans and wave burning sticks to keep elephants from destroying their crops. Now they rely on GPS and text messaging.

Kimani, a bull elephant who used to be a habitual farm raider, has been sporting a collar with GPS and a cell phone SIM card attached and maintained by the advocacy group Save the Elephants. Whenever he approaches the virtual “geofence” on the boundaries of the conservancy, a text message is sent to rangers who swiftly arrive to drive him back.

Using the text method, rangers have prevented potential human-elephant conflicts 15 times in the last two years, and Kimani now rarely approaches farms.

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Archive for March, 2009

Battlestar Galactica Countdown

By Stephen Cass | March 17, 2009 1:20 pm

David Eick, Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, Ron MooreThe Sci Fi channel became Syfy last night, with a network presentation to the press and advertisers that featured many of the channel’s new and recurring shows — and a screening of the series finale of Battlestar Galactica. Emblematic of BSG‘s traditional secrecy, Ron Moore led the screening audience through an oath not to reveal any spoilers about the last episode (backed up by NBC Universal reps making us sign little bits of paper to the same effect) so I can’t reveal anything about what to expect beyond a promise that it’s a wild ride that’s going to spark a lot of discussion. Check back with Science Not Fiction on Friday after the finale airs, and we’ll have excerpts from the Q&A that followed, featuring producers Moore and David Eick, as well leading cast members Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos, where we get some more answers about the deep background of the show. We’ll also have an interview with Kevin Grazier, BSG’s science advisor, about some of the science behind the rag tag fleet’s search for home.

If you can’t wait until Friday, come back tomorrow for coverage of tonight’s panel discussion at the United Nations, where the Battlestar crew will be joined by high level UN representatives to talk about the show’s take on human rights, terrorism, and reconciliation.

In other news, Eureka is still on track to return to our screens this summer, and the next season of Sanctuary is getting stuck into production this Monday. I’m also looking forward to Warehouse 13, which is set to premiere this summer and looks like a lot of fun.

Eleventh Hour: Funky Pheromones

By Eric Wolff | March 16, 2009 1:17 pm

Eleventh Hour LogoOh, Dr. Jacob Hood, how do you manage to be such an non-nerdy nerd? In the last episode of Eleventh Hour, Hood and FBI Agents Rachel  Young and Felix Lee are asked to investigate rage killings during New York Fashion Week. Hood has no idea who any of the super models are, but he is hip enough to know that they might drink appletinis. Actually, appletinis are so 2002. Maybe he is a big geek after all.

Anyway, the models in question had made the tactical blunder of wearing an expensive perfume that turned out to be laced with a cocktail of pheromones and neurotransmitters. Men gathered round the runway who smelled the perfume lost all control and assaulted the models. Seems that a side effect of this particular compound is that it incites violence. Oops!  But while animals definitely use chemical signals to communicate with other members of the heard, the role of pheromones in human behavior is far, far less well defined.

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Battlestar Galactica – 5 Skeptical Solutions for the Finale

By Sam Lowry | March 13, 2009 3:48 pm

Battlestar WomenOne of the best things about the final season of BSG has been that much of the annoying mysticism of previous seasons has now been explained by science.   I’ll admit it was convoluted TV show science, but at least it wasn’t people seeing ghosts or having divine inspirations.

The Chief being mysteriously pulled toward the Temple of Five?  Turns out he was one of the aforementioned five and had been there before (my apologies if that’s a spoiler for you, but really, catch up already).

BSG is best when it revolves around people and politics, as opposed to the god(s) and the lost tribes of whoever.  Desperate people, dirty spaceships and ragtag resistance movements?  Gripping and relevant TV.  President Roslin’s visions and imaginary shamans?  Not so much.

When I saw Galactica’s hull break open and the Six shoot into space, I was reminded of BSG science adviser Kevin Grazier explaining what happens when you fall out of a spaceship.  We’re hoping for a post from Kevin on the potential explanations for artificial gravity, but we appreciate that the show has a solid science adviser and appears to listen to him occasionally (no aliens, no time travel, real constellations).

With all that in mind here are non-supernatural solutions for my five favorite Battlestar mysteries (note that these are suggestions not spoilers): Read More

Assignment Desk: You Ask, We Answer

By Eric Wolff | March 12, 2009 6:30 pm

Codex Futurius LogoSometimes there’s just more Sci Fi than the SciNoFi team can keep up with. It sounds crazy, I know, but it’s true – we live in a golden age of speculative fiction in a host of media. And more than likely, some of it brushes up close enough to real science to make you, our dear readers, wonder: “Can they do that?”  But then the laundry needs folding, or your boss actually wants you to get some work done, or there’s a critical game of Facebook Scrabble that needs playing, and you don’t get around to finding the answer.

We’re here to help. In the comments below, fire away with your science questions about any sci fi book, TV show, movie, radio play, comic, or whatever that you can think of, and we’ll set about answering as many as we can in upcoming posts as part of our Codex Futurius project.

Bear in mind, we yearn to answer science questions. We’re relatively useless for fielding pop entertainment rumors or speculating on why Starbuck keeps having weird visions. But the science of Sci Fi? Bring it on.

CATEGORIZED UNDER: Codex Futurius, Utter Nerd
MORE ABOUT: Assignment desk

Codex Futurius: Creating Superheroes

By Stephen Cass | March 11, 2009 7:02 pm

Codex Futurius LogoGreetings from the flashing, buzzing, control room of Science Not Fiction! Today we kick off our Codex Futurius project, which will strive to answer the kinds of questions that we see keep coming up in science fiction books, shows, movies–and even the occasional musical. We’re phrased the questions in the way that a beleaguered author or scriptwriter might pose them, and today’s question is:

I want Superheroes in my story, all with amazing powers. I also want a good explanation for their origin: could genetic mutation or manipulation create a superhuman?

Read More

CATEGORIZED UNDER: Biotech, Codex Futurius, Genetics

Word from the Multiverse

By Eric Wolff | March 10, 2009 3:53 pm

SciNoFi sifts  the mass of SciFi news to find the bits worth knowing.

Battlestar Weirdness: For reasons more arcane than the Cylons’ plan, Universal is talking to Glen A. Larson about making a Battlestar Galactica movie–based on the original Battlestar series. What the heck? I loved the original series in my bespectacled youth, (we were really starved for space fights back then), but they couldn’t hold a blaster to the reimagined series. In other news, the actor playing Ellen Tigh and Battlestar creator Ron Moore will be making guest appearances on CSI. Don’t ask why.

Watchmen Watchmen Watchmen! Despite getting wrecked by most mainstream critics,  Watchmen cleaned up this weekend with a $55.7  million haul at the box office.  Anyone out there see it and think it’s awesome? I haven’t seen it yet, but my nerd network  seems to be rating it a solid  “meh.”

Smells like Teen Kirk: OK, I know this has made the rounds, but everyone needs to know that about the Star Trek themed colognes: “Pon Farr”, “Tiberius”, and—my personal favorite— “Red Shirt”. Because tomorrow may never come.  Also worth noting, Paramount put replicas of the models of the new Enterprise on display at the Arclight (a.k.a. best theater in the world ever) in Hollywood. Click through for images.

Fantastic art Spectrum announced the 16 winners of the best in 2008 fantasy art. This is not the usual fantasy dreck promulgated by Wizards of the Coast and well worth the click.

•  What’s on  TV : Last week Knight Rider sped off into the sunset for good, but  news isn’t all bad for sci fi fans. Heroes got picked up for one more season, and, perhaps more enticing, Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller is trying to generate momentum for a new Star Trek show, oriented back toward the original series. Also, Red Dwarf will make its return after 10 years with a two-parter expected to air over Easter in the UK.

Hat tips to I09, Sci Fi Wire, SFFMedia, and Neatorama.

Watchmen: Nuclear Holocaust Ain't What It Used to Be

By Melissa Lafsky | March 9, 2009 5:18 pm

Watchmen ApocalypseBy now, every sci-fi devotee and his grandmother has sounded off on Watchmen, Zack Snyder’s big-budget big-hoopla film version of the eponymous graphic novel. Love it or hate it (and most fans seemed to do one or the other) we can all admit that the movie remained faithful to the book, minus a few scenes and the absence of [spoiler alert] one giant alien squid.

We’ll leave the debates over the acting, direction, and overall adaptation to others (except to say that Jackie Earle Haley stole the show). But one aspect worthy of analysis is the story’s main conflict—the constant “looming” nuclear holocaust. Granted, we never actually see any evidence that the aforementioned holocaust is looming, save a few shots of Nixon upping Defcon levels—but we’ll address that later. When Alan Moore first published the book in 1986, the apocalypse on everyone’s mind was Cold War atomic bombs—which, as we’ve noted, no longer pack quite the same anxiety punch as, say, biological weapons. Today, gas masks and duct tape have replaced air raids and backyard shelters in the popular conscious, to the point where seeing mushroom clouds onscreen feels like you’re watching an ’80s homage.

Of course, none of this means that the nuclear threat is any smaller now than it was three decades ago: The danger of nuclear war is still present, and fear of missile attack still drives plenty of policy and military tech decisions worldwide. But, like Bird Flu, nukes seem to have a PR problem: Despite the fact that they could wipe us all out, the thought of them isn’t all that scary.

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CATEGORIZED UNDER: Apocalypse, Biowarfare, Comics, Movies

Eleventh Hour: VX Gas And How to Survive it

By Eric Wolff | March 6, 2009 9:51 pm

Eleventh Hour LogoTerrorism pops up all over science fiction, and last night’s episode of Eleventh Hour was no exception with terrorism featuring VX gas. The plot focused on a group of white converts to Islam (thank you, Hollywood, for reinforcing that stereotype. We’re all painfully aware of the dangers of lunatic jihadists, but let’s not become so fixated on that that we blind ourselves to the fact that as, say, Oklahama and Belfast demonstrated, terrorists can have sorts of religious faiths, including agnostic and Christian, while simultaneously tarring all Muslims with the same brush). The terrorists plan to take over a theater full of kids and hold them hostage. The weapon they intend to hold over their heads is VX nerve gas, more or less considered the deadliest chemical weapon in the world’s arsenals. It’s the same stuff Ed Harris was smuggling in The Rock, and one of the weapons Saddam Hussein used on the Kurds. VX gas is, by most experts’ account, the most deadly chemical weapon yet invented. It’s so potent that when the British invented it in 1952, the Americans were willing to trade away nuclear secrets to learn how to make it.

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CATEGORIZED UNDER: Biowarfare, Chemistry, TV
MORE ABOUT: Eleventh Hour, VX gas

Diamonds in the Sky: The Asteroid Menace

By Eric Wolff | March 5, 2009 6:29 pm

Very large asteroid impactImagine an asteroid, hurtling toward the Earth. A really big one, a kilometer across, weighing millions of tons. In fact, don’t even imagine, watch this video for a simulation. Bad news, right?  What to do? If time is really short, we may need to fire up the nuclear weapons in a desperate bid to either destroy the asteroid or alter its direction, but emphasis on the word desperate. It’s a long shot that it will help at all.

But hopefully we’ll have some more time than that, maybe on the order of 40 or 50 years. Then we can make plans. In How I saved the World, Valentin Ivanov’s short story from Diamonds in the Sky, a heroic team of astronauts are living on the surface of an asteroid called “The Hammer” and…painting it black.  Read More

CATEGORIZED UNDER: Apocalypse, Astronomy

Diamonds In The Sky: Universal Alchemy

By Stephen Cass | March 3, 2009 6:00 pm

Cartoon of stellar nucleosynthesisContinuing on with our look at short stories of the Diamonds In The Sky online anthology, we turn to “The Freshman Hook Up” by Wil McCarthy (McCarthy wrote an article for the October 2008 issue of DISCOVER about the very real possibilities of the programmable matter that appears in many of his science fiction books).

The Freshman Hook Up is a wry take on the phenonmenon of stellar nucleosynthesis–a phenomenon to which we owe our existence. After the Big Bang, most of the ordinary matter in the universe formed into isotopes of hydrogen, helium and a smattering of lithium. Heavier elements—making up nearly all of the periodic table—simply did not exist. So how is it that we can stand on a planet mostly made of rock, and enjoy active biochemistries that rely on carbon, oxygen, nitrogen along with some other elements?

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How Mature Is Your Digital Experience Delivery Practice?

Application development and delivery (AD&D) groups must establish technical services and tools to enable marketing and business groups to deliver and optimize web and mobile customer experiences. But today, we’re falling well short of our goal. Forrester data reveals that 51% of marketing leaders believe that technology management groups don’t accelerate their path to success.

To help AD&D pros mature and better serve marketing, eBusiness, and other lines of business responsible for delivering customer experience, Forrester created a digital experience delivery maturity model based on interviews with senior AD&D leaders over the past 24 months. We found that success was tied to maturity not just in solutions deployed or development methodologies. Instead, success and maturity was based on four fundamental categories, many of which are technology agnostic:

  • Strategic planning. Digital experience delivery maturity is largely based on how well they have strategized, planned, and executed their digital experience delivery programs. This dimension will evolve from project-based work to a more comprehensive strategy that spans business, marketing, and technical teams.
  • People. Organizational support is a critical component to success for growing internal expertise and creating digital experience teams that are responsive to business needs. This isn't just limited to who you've hired to be on the team. Instead, people issues focus more broadly on organizational issues like organizational structure (e.g. do your developers sit in marketing? Within technology management?), collaboration, shared values, and services partner strategy.
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Is Your Agency Or SI Trying To Sell You A Digital Experience Delivery Platform?

We recently published our digital experience delivery platform wave (you can find the blog post and accompanying report here).  These platforms have emerged to help solve customer needs around integration between digital experience technologies and data management.

Over the past year, many agencies and systems integrators (SI) have also gotten on the digital experience platform bandwagon. These partners have been white labeling and directly licensing/selling digital experience platforms-as-a-service (PaaS). These solutions are typically built on the backbone of proprietary web content management (WCM) and eCommerce solutions (usually Adobe’s toolsets, though we found some notable exceptions built on Oracle and SDL), and are meant to provide an “as a service” model to delivering multichannel content- and commerce- driven experiences. Many, many services firms from both agency and systems integrators backgrounds have started to promote these solutions including well-known names like: SapientNitro, Publicis Groupe, Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant, Deloitte, and Capgemini.

Read more

Digital Experience Delivery Creates Many Organizational Headaches

Forrester recently surveyed 148 technology, marketing, and business professionals with decision-making roles in digital experience (DX) delivery technologies, and asked them about their strategies for the coming 12 months. In our recently published report, one of the more interesting trends we found was the “people” issues remain top of mind for most organizations. Our qualitative and inquiry data backs this up, as we often here that people, process, and cultural issues (not technology issues) have stifled progress towards delivering great digital customer experiences.

Our survey found that organizations were concerned about people issues such as:

  • Dividing up work between different groups. Digital experience has moved from a purely marketing centric function, to a decidedly cross business issue that touches everyone in the organization. This includes technology management, business, marketing, and sales groups. But this cross-business shift toward digital experience delivery presents significant challenges around coordinating work between various groups. Accordingly, this was the number one people-related pain point: 60% of respondents said dividing roles and responsibilities between marketing, technology management, and the business was their top challenge.
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DAM Vendors Must Step Up To The Plate

Historically, digital asset management (DAM) has been a niche technology compared with other components of enterprise content management (ECM) and digital experience technology. This has changed dramatically over the last few years as many organizations are using DAM solutions to support digital experience and marketing-focused content and processes.
In the wake of this change, most DAM vendors have fallen behind. Our latest 2014 DAM Market Overview found a few key areas in which vendors have particularly lagged behind:
  • Most vendors are selling software technology, not solutions. Most vendors are in a race to support address functionality, scalability, and infrastructure needs. These are the core components of DAM technology, but they don't make it usable to the new marketing and line of business buyers. Usability must improve with features like drag and drop and HTML5 interfaces. Too many vendors have neglected investment in this area or mistake lightweight solutions with little functionality as an "easy to use" option.
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2014 Digital Experience Delivery Survey

Our application development and delivery (AD&D) team has recently launched our survey on digital customer experience initiatives, and we’re looking for information on your digital customer experience strategy and technology investments. Some of the questions we’d like to get answers to include:

  • What projects (if any) you have planned for this year.
  • Details about what those projects look like (e.g. budgets, staffing, and primary decision-makers).
Read more

The Future Of Digital Experience Technologies

Delivering great multichannel digital experiences isn't as easy as plugging in new software and calling it a day. Digital customer experience success comes from combining many elements: a big-picture vision, short- and long-term strategic planning, shifts in roles and responsibilities, and intelligent technology adoption and delivery. For application development and delivery (AD&D) pros and their business peers, the digital customer experience technology market matters because digital experience matters — both to organizations and to their customers. As your organization marches toward digital experience delivery, you must place technologies in their proper context.

In our recent TechRadar for Digital Experience Technologies, we advise AD&D pros to consider the following when thinking about planning their digital experience technologies:

  • It will be an integration--not a suite--story.  Many vendors promise a comprehensive customer experience management technology suite. But supporting customer experience is a broad discipline that includes everything from your contact center technologies to your marketing suites to the technologies that power your website. Right now, no one vendor has every single component — despite what they may claim. And even if they did, the vast majority of Forrester clients we speak with don't have the resources to rip and replace their existing investments, nor do they have the desire to be married to one vendor. Firms will instead look to best of breed vendors that are able to easily integrate with other solutions.
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Organizing To Deliver Great Digital Experiences

Many have interpreted the customer experience imperative to mean that IT is dead and marketers are the future. We reject this. IT is far from dead. After all, what’s the point of great design and marketing strategy if you can’t deliver the right experience to the right customer based on factors such as location, device of choice, and place in the customer journey? Now more than ever, application development and delivery (AD&D) is vital to actually deliver experiences to customers, and the majority of organizations we interviewed agreed with this.

This means that AD&D pros need to sit at the forefront of business strategies around customer engagement by, among other things, empowering business and marketing professionals with the right applications and mastering analytics for better insights and experiences. Most firms we speak with aren’t organized to support this imperative. In preparation for our forum on Driving Customer Experience With Smart Technology Solutions, my colleague John Rymer and I are updating our digital organization research. So far, some of the things we’ve learned are:

  • New organizational models abound. Some organizations have their digital group within IT, while others have it under marketing. Others are paving new path, and have a singular group that combines customer experience, marketing, and business folks with technologists.
Read more

Key Findings From Our Site Search Market Overview

Although often overlooked, site search plays a vital role in your digital customer experience strategy. It helps improve customer self-service, increase sales conversion rates, and increase page views and site traffic. Accordingly, organizations are revisiting their site search technology decisions. They need site search tools that deliver more personal experiences to customers in ways including contextual results pages, promotions, recommendations, and dynamic browsing and navigation structures.

Our recent site search market overview  examined 14 site search solutions, including commercial solutions from Adobe Systems, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apptus Technologies, Attivio, Coveo Solutions, EasyAsk, Google, HP Autonomy, Mindbreeze, Nextopia, Oracle, SDL, and SLI Systems. We also looked at the open source solution Lucene/Solr. Some of our biggest findings were that:

  • Search is more than processing queries. As site search technology has matured, vendors have started to branch out beyond core query processing to support overall trends like browsing and navigation, content presentation, customer self-service, product recommendation, merchandising, and local search.
  • The search vendor market is consolidating. As search technology has matured and moved into adjacent areas, the vendor search landscape has matured and consolidated, with many independent vendors getting acquired like Fredhopper (acquired by SDL), Omniture (Adobe),  and Endeca (acquired by Oracle). Other vendors have shifted focus; IBM has focused the Vivisimo product, for example, more on big data concerns. Despite this, some stalwarts and independent vendors remain on the market (e.g. Google, Coveo, Attivio).
Read more

What Is The Key To DAM Success?

In a world with increasing numbers of rich media assets and a diverse set of distribution channels, more and more organizations are taking a closer look at rich media management options. Despite this increased interest, most organizations I talk to have relatively nascent digital asset management (DAM) initiatives. To better help organization create mature and successful DAM strategies, I’m currently updating our 2011 report on DAM best practices. So far, the most successful organizations we spoke with said success was based on three main components:

  • Selecting the right technology vendor. Too many organizations we speak with treat DAM like a series of widgets. Certainly, customization often cannot overcome a misaligned DAM technology so feature functionality is important. But successful organizations look beyond a list of features. Instead, they look at criteria like vendor momentum, product road maps, enterprise customer references, integration strategies, vendor stability, upgrade path, and vendor strategic vision. You’ll have a long-term relationship with whatever vendor you choose, so make sure it has the features to get you by today, and a vision that will set you up for success in the future.
Read more

What's Next For Digital Customer Experience Tools?

Many enterprises we’ve spoken with have discovered that great digital customer experiences matter to their customers and ultimately have tangible bottom-line benefits. If you’re involved in delivering and executing great digital customer experiences, you’ll want to access Forrester’s new TechRadar report that digs into the diverse, rapidly evolving technology ecosystem that supports this strategic business imperative. My colleague David Aponovich recently wrote about the importance of these technologies. When sourcing these technologies, keep some of these key findings in mind:

  • Delivering contextual experiences is the holy grail for most organizations. This deeper level of personalization something organizations continue to strive for in order to deliver more relevant, adaptive, and predictive experiences to the customer. Technologies supporting contextualization dominate this TechRadar’s Growth phase.
  • Organizations need technologies that create business value out of a glut of data. The reality is that good content strategies rely on data to provide customer insights. Companies that effectively harness customer data, product data, social media data, and other information to create and deliver contextual cross-channel experiences will experience brand differentiation, customer loyalty, improved online metrics, and cross-channel revenue growth.
Read more


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Another Gulf Oil Rig Explosion

Posted September 2, 2010 in Current Events by Arthur Buono

The AP reports another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. So far it looks like all personnel aboard the rig are safely accounted for. No word yet on any leaking oil, but this will keep offshore drilling under intense scrutiny for now.

  • New rig explodes in western Gulf of Mexico
  • Explosion comes as proposed drilling rule changes draw scrutiny
  • BP claims process ramping up

Explosion Comes as New Drilling Rules Pondered

The new rig explosion comes just as BP and the Deepwater Horizon disaster get some news-cycle breathing room. It also adds urgency and additional perspective to the Obama administration’s recommendations for changes in offshore oil drilling regulations. Critics have already asserted that the proposed drilling rules have too many loopholes.

In the meantime the process for settling BP claims is ramping up. 9/11 claims czar Ken Feinberg will have his hands full figuring out what claims are legitimate and what they are worth. Successful claimants will receive one-time, lump sum settlements for their troubles. Because claimants will have to give up their rights to sue BP in order to get paid, it will be essential to calculate all past and future harm to person, property, and business. The claims process will be outside the courts, but a good personal injury lawyer will be handy in estimating and asserting a claim nonetheless.

It’s safe to say also that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be rechecking safety conditions on rigs. Although 2009 saw the fewest workplace fatalities on record, it seems that 2010 may be a different matter.

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October 2012 Archives

Announcing TheGameCrafter::Client

I've been publishing simple web service wrappers on CPAN for other people's web services for years, but for some reason I never got around to writing a wrapper for my own web services until now. I'm pleased to announce TheGameCrafter::Client. It is just a light-weight wrapper around The Game Crafter's web service API so that you can get down to the business of writing your app and not worrying about how to make requests and…

About JT Smith

user-pic My little part in the greater Perl world.


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ANALYSIS-Sovereign funds join forces for strategic investment

August 18, 2009

By Natsuko Waki
LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) – An increasing number of sovereign wealth funds are working in concert to make joint strategic investments in order to reduce risks and maximise returns, which could provide a stabilising force in financial markets.

State-owned funds from China, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait are among those which have recently signed agreements to form investment partnerships with each other.

These partnerships will enable state-owned funds to optimise local knowledge, leverage capital, spread investment risks and maximise returns.

They could also create a bigger, more diverse and transparent entity, whose long-term investments — often holding assets for years — might help stablise global markets.

Furthermore, by highlighting their commercial motives, partnerships might also help quell concerns among regulators and politicians who suspect SWFs investments are politically driven.

“They realise that their level of expertise is not universal and find that obtaining additional expertise via cooperation is a viable option for them. They are sharing risk and enabling access to welcome co-financing,” Alexander Mirtchev, independent director of Kazakhstan’s SWF Samruk-Kazyna, told Reuters.

“In the crisis and post-crisis environment, such cooperation allows them to achieve a new level of legitimacy in markets where they have not operated before. SWFs have the potential to stabilise companies they invest in since these funds do not live by quarterly returns.”

Samruk-Kazyna’s investment arm Kazyna Capital Management is also planning to set up a fund with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to co-invest in the region.

Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) form a $3 trillion industry which invests windfall revenues from oil or other exports for future generations.

Since the start of the credit crisis, SWFs have replaced hedge funds and private equity as major drivers of corporate takeover. And even before the crisis their flashy yet secretive style of investments often raised the eyebrows of regulators and politicians, some of whom suspected that they were buying up assets to achieve political, rather than commercial, objectives.

However, partnerships could encourage these funds to open their books more, which would increase transparency in the often secretive industry.

“At least several parties to the transaction have to open books to each other, negotiate agreements that all parties are comfortable with, and overall increase the level of transparency about the application of the sovereign wealth,” Mirtchev said.

“Recent examples of SWFs working together are much more commercially oriented than having any political imperative.”
Most of the partnerships so far have stemmed from taking advantage of local expertise.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala signed a partnership deal with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the country’s new wealth fund, to make a $1 billion investment in Malaysia in the energy, real estate and hospitality sectors.

France’s FSI (Fonds Strategique d’Investissement) is looking at investing jointly with Mubadala in the French biotechnology sector, spending just over 10 million euros per company.

Local knowledge is a powerful driver in enhancing returns on investment. An academic research paper in the United States has shown that local investments, defined as holdings within 100 kilometres of the fund headquarters, can increase returns by over one percent due to the local information advantage.

“Most of the ventures seem to be about tapping into local knowledge and driven by commercial interest. There are a lot of synergies to be leveraged,” Cynthia Sweeney Barnes, head of sovereigns and supranationals at HSBC Global Asset Management.

India and Oman hves a joint investment fund with an initial investment of $100 million over the next few years and the amount could reach $1.5 billion. Korea Investment Corp signed cooperation agreements in June with Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Australia’s institutional
investor QIC.

SWFs from China, Singapore and Kuwait joined forces to support Blackrock’s acquisition of Barclays Global Investors in June.

And experts predict more funds will join forces. In an
Oxford University survey in July, 60 percent of 146 asset managers who have routine contact with SWFs expected collaboration or clubbing among SWFs from different countries as these funds consider how best to achieve investment objectives.

“If you are looking to make major strategic investments, you can get some comfort if anther major government institution wants to do the same,” said Guy Henriques, head of official institutions at Schroders.

“They want partners, people with whom you can share risks. Having a partner is a powerful thing.”

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Million vs. billion, again…

April 21, 2010
BP to invest £650 billion plus in alt energy

LAGUNA NIGUEL, California (Reuters) – Oil major BP Plc  plans to invest more than $1 billion (650 million pounds) this year on alternative energy development, the head of BP’s alternative energy unit said on Tuesday.

BP is not investing £650 BILLION plus – the article clearly states £650 MILLION (or ONE BILLION dollars)

Oops indeed. We corrected: GBU Editor

The sign of a British Petroleum petrol station is reflected in raindrops on a car window in Loughborough, central England, February 2, 2010. (photograph rotated 180 degrees). REUTERS/Darren Staples

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Was the Queen’s speech pointless?

November 18, 2009

LON700LibDem leader Nick Clegg had called for the speech to be cancelled because he says there is little chance of much legislation getting through before the coming general election. “The speech will be dressed up as the way to ‘build Britain’s future’ when it will be little more than a rehearsal of the next Labour Party manifesto, an attempt to road-test policy gimmicks to see whether they might save this Government’s skin,” he said.”It is a waste of everyone’s time, and should be cancelled in favour of an emergency programme of political reform,” he added in the Independent. “That is the only job this rump of a Parliament is fit for.”The Conservatives piled in too, with their leader in the upper House, Lord Strathclyde saying that if the measures outlined were so important they would have been in the government’s legislative programme last year rather than being left to the last moment of the fifth term.Downing Street however called the speech a “very focused programme” of legislation, while Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman said it contained important plans to foster economic growth and make the banks more accountable.What do you think?

We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/

Empty words aimed at buying votes from the gullible, with a few nasties tossed in to make life difficult for the incoming Tory government.The only thing I want to hear from Brown is a firm date for the election.

Posted by Jason | Report as abusive

D’accorde – it’s all irrelevent until we have an election.Brown’s just holding on – belay that, Mandelson, the European Puppet Master, the Minister of Information (our very own Dr Geobbels) is keeping him there until the Lisbon Treaty comes into effect 1st December, after which he can grease the skids and put someone in who’s a chance of saving the Labour Party from annihilation.But “the opposition” are as bad – not only are they useless in that capacity, but even believing that they’d win hands down they haven’t resigned ‘en masse’ and forced by-elections.At the moment Parliament is a complete irrelevence to everyone and everything except the poseurs intent on drawing their salaries, expenses – and their pensions.And from December 2nd it won’t matter any more anyway – Brussels will tell us what to do.Time for a Peasants’ revolt.

Posted by john upex | Report as abusive

I’ll only ask two questions:If the Tories were in a similar situation, wouldn’t they have done exactly the same? And with the Lib-Dems, wouldn’t they, too?It’s the prerogative of any incumbent Party to use any advantage which is available to it.

Posted by Frank Cox | Report as abusive

It is a bit of a waste of time. If the British people don’t give this lot the heave-ho for a generation at the next election, we will deserve to have the whole country concreted over and turned into a forced labour camp and continental heliport.If we don’t give Brussels the heave-ho soon, that is what will happen whether we deserve it or not.

Posted by Matthew | Report as abusive

The Queen and every monarchy is pointless, not just the speech.

Posted by tony | Report as abusive


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February 2, 2011
Cal Poly assistant coach/recruiter Jamar Cain of Sacramento beams about local haul; lands players from Burbank, Sheldon, Folsom, Oak Ridge

By Joe Davidson

Jamar Cain is a happy man today.

He is an assistant coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo whose recruiting base is in Sacramento, his hometown.

The former Valley High School standout in his second season on staff with the Mustangs on the Central Coast was beaming about landing four area prospects, each of whom he courted in recent weeks and landed.

And recruiting the Sacramento valley is a labor of love because it's a two-fold experience. He gets to pitch his Poly product - the academic standing of the school, the location. And he gets to see family.

"Love it," Cain said today. "When I recruit Sacramento, I stay at my mom's house (Joshalyn Cain), and when I'm in the hills near Sacramento recruiting I stay at my mother-in-law's house (Dolores Daniels). It's great."

So is his recruiting haul. Those who signed letters of intent today with Cal Poly from the region:

* Athlete Tu'uta Inoke of Burbank, a skilled, physical and fast quarterback/defensive back prospect with superb grades and leadership qualities.

* Receiver Willie Tucker of Oak Ridge, a fast, prolific receiver with size and terrific upside who overcame an injury-shortened junior season to catch 1,254 yards worth of passes and 14 touchdowns.

* Defensive tackle Marcus Paige-Allen of Sheldon, a brutish run-stopper with the ability to pursue the play.

* Center Stephen Sippel of Folsom will formally sign his letter of intent with the Mustangs later today.

"I feel like we hit a home run in Sacramento," Cain said by phone from his Cal Poly office. "We're thrilled. When Willie came down for a visit, he just loved the place.

"Marcus has a great first step off the line of scrimmage. He's physical, he's nasty, and he had a chip on his shoulder this season because people kept saying he was too short to play at this level. He can play. They all can."

About the Prep blog

Bee staff writers Joe Davidson and Bill Paterson provide news, analysis and insight on the area high school sports scene in their Prep Blog. Have a question to ask them? Send them an email any time at jdavidson@sacbee.com or bpaterson@sacbee.com.

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Small Slate, Small Price

Vivo 8Asus’s VivoTab Note 8 has everything that a school could want, but at $329 it is several hundred dollars less than what they are used to paying for notebooks or slates. Based on Windows 8.1, the tablet's 8-inch screen is a little skimpy, but should be adequate. Like other 8-inch tablets, it has a quad-core Intel Atom Z3740 processor that can run at between 1.3- and 1.9GHz. It comes with a scant 2GB of RAM and either 32- (at $329) or 64-GB of storage space (for $369). Asus adds a year of free unlimited Web storage with the Note 8 as well as a copy of Office Home and Student and a pressure-sensitive Wacom stylus.

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The Rocking Rabbi and the Singing Rabbi. These are the two names that I have heard used referring to Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, zichrono livracha (may his memory be for a blessing). However, I have never thought of him as a Soul Doctor. I have always known that Reb Shlomo was a big person in the kiruv (literally means to come close, but also used as a slang term to refer to the reaching out to non-orthodox Jews and helping them become orthodox) movement. However, after seeing Soul Doctor, a musical biography of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s life, I understand the reasoning behind the name of the show and why he was a Soul Doctor.

The show’s plot is rather amusing. It begins and ends at a concert that Reb Shlomo performed at in Vienna. The play takes the viewer through many portions of his early life, from his early days a young child in Vienna till the point when he is giving the concert in Vienna. The actors and actresses really make this show a hit. They were always engaging the audience to clap and at many times even sitting in an empty seat next to an audience member. The music was comprised of a mix of new songs made especially for the show (using Carlebach tunes) Carlebach’s Hebrew songs (some having been translated into English,) and some his English songs. The one tune that was used most often was Le’Man Achai, Reb Shlomo’s favorite song. Though there was a mispronunciation of a Hebrew word in one of his songs, overall the play was amazing and given the chance I would definitely see it again.

However, I do have some criticism about the play. I feel as if they misrepresented some aspects of Judaism. For example, they claimed that the Chabad Chassidim (aka Lubavitch) wants everyone to be exactly like them and not plain orthodox. If this were any other Chassidic sect, I would not have care about this generalization. But I know that Chabad Chassidim just wants to help bring those who wish to be brought closer to God (Hashem). Another issue with the play is that they said that Reb Shlomo’s father’s synagogue (shul) was in Brooklyn, when in reality it was and still is in Manhattan.

The one thing I loved most about the play was the message it sends to the Jewish world. It says that there is more than one way to approach kiruv as well as practicing Judaism.  Music is rooted very deep in Tanach (Hebrew word referring to the entire old testament) as a way of getting closer to Hashem. We see in Samuel Chapter 10 Verses 5-6 that in order to reach the necessary spiritual level to receive prophecy, the prophets would use music. This shows us that music is the best way to get closer to Hashem.

Reb Shlomo was constantly criticized by the rabbis of his generation for touching and kissing women. I cannot say that I agree with what he did and I cannot say that the rabbis were wrong for criticizing him. What I can say is that I understand why at times it would be necessary to hug and kiss a person of the opposite gender. I have listened to my female friends talk to me about their problems, with tears in their eyes. It would of probably made them feel better if I hugged them. Every person can use a good hug once in a while.


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Soon, you can load St. Paul library e-books onto Kindles

My front-page story today about e-book lending at the St. Paul Public Library contains a factual error. I said such OverDrive-based titles could be loaded on the Amazon Kindle, which is not the case. That is, it’s not… Read More


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Aim higher, reach further.
Get the Wall Street Journal $12 for 12 weeks. Subscribe Now

How to Beat the Heat

Prakash Singh/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A woman wore an umbrella in New Delhi, May 19, 2011.

You know the summer heat is getting severe in a country when a city decides to issue heat alerts.

Ahmedabad in Gujarat last week became the first city in South Asia to develop a heat wave warning system in response to extreme temperatures.

Here are five things you can do to beat, or at least cope with, the sweltering Indian heat:

1. Eat the right food. Sweating in extreme temperatures makes the body lose not just water, but also sugar, minerals and salts, especially sodium and potassium.

“In India, we live through nine months of summer. We definitely need a diet to keep our reserves active,” says independent nutritionist Suneet Khanna.

Expert nutritionist Shikha Sharma, says coconut water comes as close to the perfect replacement for all the minerals we lose when we sweat.

“The electrolyte combination of coconut water is similar to the plasma in the human body,” says Ms. Sharma.

Ms. Sharma says that one common mistake people make during the summers is to assume that the temperature of the food determines whether it’s “cooling” or not.

“Something that is straight out of the refrigerator, say, a chilled boiled egg salad, does not necessarily cool the system post digestion,” says Ms. Sharma.

However barley, rice, mint, coriander and onions, have a cooling effect on the system once they have been digested, she added.

Spicy meat dishes should be avoided if you want to stay cool, according to nutritionists.  They say that even though this kind of food might help restock the sodium content, it dilutes the potassium, calcium and mineral content in the body.

2. Protect Your Skin. Scorching summer heat and the sun’s strong rays can be damaging to the skin.

“Moisture from sweat and the constant exposure to sunlight, combine perfectly during summers and the result is a dangerous hub for bacterial and fungal infection,” says Rohit Batra, a dermatologist at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.

Shielding the skin is indispensable, doctors say. But the SPF rating on the bottle of sunscreen is not the only thing to look for.

“SPF or Sun Protection Factor only looks after the Ultraviolet B (UVB) rays. One must remember that these constitute only 10% of the Ultraviolet rays entering the earth,” explains Sajiv Kandhari, a New-Delhi based dermatologist.

The Ultraviolet A (UVA) rays which are usually less intense, more prevalent and often the dominant “tanning” rays, are also harmful.

Mr. Kandhari recommends a sunscreen with a “broad spectrum,” capable of protecting the skin from both UVA and UVB rays. To avoid the summer tan use umbrellas, scarves and caps, says Mr. Batra.

3. Spot Early Signs of Heat Stroke. Some of the common symptoms of a heat stroke are body-ache, stomach cramps, headache, nausea, vomiting and high fever. A higher degree of a heat stroke can leave a person “delirious,” doctors say.

But even a mild heat stroke must not go unchecked because it can worsen, warns Mr. M. Paithankar who works at Delhi’s Max Hospital.

“Not only is the consumption of water essential. But, this must be supplemented by salts,” he says.

4.Wear Cotton and Stay On Trend With Lighter Colors. Natural fabrics like cotton and linen are breathable and cooler than most man-made fibers.

Fashion experts say that the lighter pastel colors with hints of neon are defining the trend this summer.

“Avoid anything tight-fitted. In fact, wear an oversized shirt teamed with something tighter,” says Pallavi Das, creative head of designer-wear firm Satya Paul.

Think easy and casual to temper the mounting heat, she says.

5. Get Out of The City If You Can. The searing temperatures in the city are enough excuse to plan a trip to the cooler hills. But most destinations are increasingly being overrun by tourists.

During the peak summer months of May and June, popular escape spots in the north like Srinagar, Pahalgam, Simla and Mussoorie can be crowded.

Ajay Jain, travel author and owner of Delhi’s Kunzum travel café, recommends destinations like the Chopta Valley in Sikkim, Abbott Mount in Uttaranchal and Shoja and Tirthan Valley in Himachal Pradesh as places that remain relatively unexplored. But they are further afield than the popular getaways and can be difficult to get too.

If hotels in the Himalayas are sold out, Mr. Jain suggests heading down south. “Coorg [in Karnataka]  is perhaps the best all year destination in the country. The weather there is always agreeable,” he says.

Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.

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year in review

All work and no play makes Schnaars a dull boy.

By now, you all know the rules, but here’s a one phrase recap: New studio records only. Also, like a classic Spinal Tap joke, I went to eleven this year. What can I say, I couldn’t narrow it down farther from that. It happens. Let’s get started.

M. DREW: Addressing Wizard first, I had never before considered the possibility that glam existed as anything other than meaningless party rock.

M. DREW: I'm still not entirely sure what to make of 2013 as it winds down, except to say that I think it was an excellent year for metal overall. Yet, the complication arises in that I can't pinpoint one single facet that was better or worse than the others.

Cabin in the Woods - The Best of 2012

For the third year in a row, the editorial team here at Bloody Good Horror has put their brains together to define the best in horror for the year. In 2012, we tried something different, with each writer submitting a ballot, which then became a ranked order of their votes.

Now that I'm an old man I find I have less and less time to check out new bands. Luckily this year though a lot of bands I've been a fan of for a long time put out new albums. Of my top 10 there's only one band on this list that I had never owned an album from before.

The Loved Ones

BGH's editor in chief offers the final take on the best and worst of 2012.

Joe gets honest, then drops some knowledge -- or at least some dirty jokes -- about the best and worst of 2012.

Moving into the 2012 countdown homestretch, Casey offers up one of the crew's final 10-packs.


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Home 2016 elections New Poll: Clinton Leads Trump by 12 Points in Virginia

New Poll: Clinton Leads Trump by 12 Points in Virginia

From CNU’s Wason Center, for what it’s worth (again, I don’t have a great deal of confidence in CNU’s polls…):

Trump recovers slightly from ‘Access Hollywood’ low point, but Clinton still holds 12-point lead among Virginia voters

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Republican Donald Trump rebounded slightly from his low point after the “Access Hollywood” tape disclosure,  but Democrat Hillary Clinton still holds a double-digit lead  in Virginia, according to a tracking survey released Friday by the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.  Clinton leads Trump among likely voters in Virginia, 45-33 percent.

“While Trump appears to have recovered a little of the support he lost after the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, his reach continues to be no higher than the mid-30s,” said Dr. Quentin Kidd, Director of the Wason Center. “That ceiling is far too low to win, especially as Clinton’s share continues to rise.”

The survey was conducted Oct. 16-19 among 834 likely Virginia voters, prior to the third presidential debate. It has an overall margin of error of +/- 3.9 %.

A party loyalty gap has persisted since the tracking poll began in September, with 72 percent of Republicans now supporting Trump while 88 percent of Democrats support Clinton. Independents are edging toward Clinton, with 44 percent supporting her now, compared with 21 percent in September. That swing has come mostly at the expense of Libertarian Gary Johnson.

Regionally, Northern Virginia saw no Trump rebound, while Clinton continued to gain there, leading now 57-21 percent.  Trump topped 50 percent for the first time in his only regional stronghold, the rural and mountain South/Southwest, where he leads Clinton, 51-30.

“Clinton’s continued rise in Northern Virginia tells the larger story of political change in Virginia,” said Dr. Rachel Bitecofer, Assistant Director of the Wason Center. “Bluer and bluer voters in suburban Washington, and their like in Richmond and Hampton Roads, far outweigh rural voters’ preference for Trump.”


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Instagram CEO is a Self-Taught Coder

Did not know this. What is even more interesting is his work on other iPhone apps prior to starting Brbn and developing Instagram. Further  interesting is how quickly he raised funding:

At a party for the Hunch folks I ran into a bunch of people who would basically make starting Burbn a reality. At that party were two people from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. I showed the prototype, and we decided we’d meet up for coffee to talk about it. After the first meeting, I decided to take the dive and leave my job to go solo and see if Burbn could be a company. Within two weeks of leaving, I raised $500k from both Baseline and Andreessen Horowitz, and started work on finding a team.

Instagrams CEO was a Marketer Who Learned to Code by Night.