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Monday, September 28, 2009

Madness Monday: Heman Doyle

Heman Doyle has been one of my greatest mysteries since day one. Of all the brick wall ancestors I've encountered over the years, Heman Doyle is the thickest wall. In the decade that I've been doing genealogy research, he is about the only ancestor that I haven't found anything on. What is known:

* From a family history that I have, it says that he was born in Vermont on 31 Dec 1809. However, his tombstone says that he was born in 1811. On the 1880 census he says that his father was from Ireland and his mother was from Connecticut.

* He shows up in the Rochester, New York area in the late 1830s. Although, his wife, Alzina Jackman was from nearby Livonia, New York and their first child was born in New York in 1832 which leads me to believe that he was in the Rochester area by the early 1830s. I can't find him on the 1840 census, but he appears in a newspaper article from 1 July 1839 where it states he is living in Pittsford (an area of Rochester). For some reason he shows up in the 1850 census in Rochester, although he was already in California by then.

* He came to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. He settled in the Placerville area but also lived in San Joaquin Co. and Douglas Co., Nevada. He was the first DA of Douglas Co. and also served as a justice of the peace, probate judge, court recorder and a court justice in Nevada as well as California.

*He died on 11 Sep 1881 in San Joaquin Co. from typhoid. His wife Alzina survived him as well as their eldest daughter (my ancestor), Mariah Adelaide Doyle Shinn. They also had daughter Rhoda Melissa in 1834 but I think she died young (is not with the family in the 1850 census) and daughter Frances P. who was born in 1837. Frances married and had a son, Frank Doyle Smith in 1857 before Frances died in 1869. After her death, Heman and Alzina raised little Frank.

*I don't think Alzina and Heman got along. In a few census records the two are in separate households and state that they are widowed even though that obviously wasn't the case. Alzina also stayed in New York after her husband went to California for four years. She made the trip to California in 1853 with her daughter, Mariah and grandson, Heman Doyle Shinn. In the Rochester city directories that she appears in during the period between Heman's departure and hers for California, she says that she is a widow.

I don't know anything about Heman's early life, like where he was born, who his parents were, why he came to New York or what year he was exactly born. Since his second daughter, Rhoda Melissa was at least partly named after Alzina's mother Rhoda, I think maybe the names Melissa, Mariah, Adelaide, Frances or Frances' middle initial P. might be named for a relative of Heman's but I've had no luck proving it so far.

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Sheltie Nation

Naughty Puppies!

Mean little Sheltie Monsters taunted Romeo until he cried!

LOL a perfectly timed shot, Dayna!

Be sure to cheer him up by reminding him WHO is in the pen! ;)

6 Responses »

  1. A memorable moment with little puppy antics. Romeo is absolutley stunning!

  2. Oh boy all I can say about this classic shot is: I am cracking up. Perfectly timed shot indeed. So darn funny with your captions!

  3. Awes, Romeo…just keep that fence between you and those little rascals and it’ll all be okay :)

  4. TOO CUTE!! It is all in the timing, poor little Romeo seems to be saying, these kids are driving me crazy, (and what beautiful kids they are), I just can’t take it any more! But what a handsome little bi-black Romeo is. Lucky you Dayna to be blessed with a whole pack to run, play with and love.

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Monday, April 30, 2012

Stuff to Scrap Road Trip

It's that time again! The Bicycle Blues road trip is now underway from Stuff to Scrap. Yippee! Just look at all the goodies!

I must admit, when I first saw the theme and color scheme for this road trip, I thought I would probably pass on joining in - inspiration was slow in coming. But once it hit...lawdy, lawdy! I had way too much to include for the road trip, and a terrible time trying to decide what to include and what to leave out, lol! That being said, there is a good chance I will release a full size kit next month, maybe...possibly...guess you'll just have to come back to find out. Here is a look at what you are getting from me.

And here are your links:

These ladies have worked hard to bring you some quality scrapping pieces, so don't forget to leave each of them a little love if you download their part - let them know you appreciate their efforts so they will want to do it all over again next month. I have listed the stops for you, so enjoy the rest of your trip!

DoubleTrouble Scraps
WinksArt Graphics
Hat of Bunny
The Scrappy Kat
Created by Jill Scraps
Scraps N Pieces
Scraps By Andrea
Growing Pains Scrapped
B2N2 Scraps Robin's Nest
Keystone Scraps
LdyMcBeth's Spot
MDK Scraps
Designs by Snowlady
Queen Bee Scraps
Scrappin Serenity
Busy Crafting Mommy Designs
JMC Designs
Let Me Scrapbook!
Mommy Me Time Scrapper
Leaving a Legacy Designs
Saphira's Scraps
Cami Jo Designs
Ponytails Designs
BeeHaven Designz
Mommy Made This
Sheri's Scrappin' Spot **you are here**
Karen Diamond Designs
Manda Lane Scraps
Note-able Scraps
DinkeekDoo Scraps

Until next time, happy scrapping!

  1. Thanks so much for your part of this great road trip.

  2. Thank you for your contribution!

  3. can't download unless I sign up for 4 shared! Another blog had the same issue.

  4. Thanks for your portion of this great train

  5. What a fabulous contribution! Thank you so much for sharing :)

  6. Thank you for your part of the road trip...

  7. Your kit is such a delightful addition to the blog train. Thank you so much.

  8. Thank you for sharing your lovely blog train artwork.

  9. Thank you, very nice Blogtrain-Theme :-)

  10. Thank you so much for this post. I want to let you know that I posted a link to your blog in CBH Digital Scrapbooking Freebies (please, notice the new url for my blog), under the Page 10 post on May. 25, 2012. Thanks again.


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Martin Luther King Jr Decodable Reader

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This book is made for early learners. It is easy to read and a great nonfiction addition to a Martin Luther King, Jr. unit. The words in this book are traceable.

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Dublin Encounter guide

2nd Edition Feb 2010

USD $9.09

was $12.99

This product is currently out of stock

The Dublin Encounter guide gives you twice the city in half the time.

Dublin is one of those great towns – all spirit and books and bars and conversation. Languid afternoons in St Stephen's Green, chilly nights in the warmth of a pub, a magnificent literary tradition and music everywhere.

This pared-down number is ideal for quick trips - it's less accommodation, more neighbourhood highlights and the best of local knowledge.

  • Includes full-colour pull-out map and detailed neighbourhood maps for easy navigation
  • Our resident author lists the best neighbourhoods, sights, restaurants, shops and entertainment
  • Literary hotspots and upcoming enclaves
  • Local experts reveal this legendary party town's hottest nightspots and restaurants along with the the city's less-explored gems around Dublin Castle

* Please note, this title is not available in digital PDF format.

Book details

ISBN: 9781741791464

Authors: Fionn Davenport

176 pp colour, 10 maps | Dimensions: 106mm x 153mm

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Patterned in a subtle tonal plaid, a lean-cut sportcoat features pickstitched notch lapels for a fine finishing touch.

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The Fourth of July will see a community fireworks display in Baldwin City after a two-year absence.

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Baldwin City once again to have Fourth of July community fireworks show

Earlier this month, the Baldwin City Council approved a $5,000 expenditure for a show.

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Windows Mobile’s Rise Above iOS by 2015 Faces Hurdles

International Data Corporation released its newest smartphone market report today, and rather than the typical forecast of unprecedented growth–49.2 percent growth and shipments of up to 450 million in 2011–it was a different announcement that seemed shocking.

IDC predicted that the Windows Mobile OS, which now controls 5.5 percent of the smartphone market, will shoot to prominence by 2015, seizing market share from the Symbian OS (which is going to die, according to IDC) and jetting to second place behind Android. The Windows Mobile OS by 2015 will control 20.9 percent of the market, beating out Apple’s 15.3 percent and planting itself behind Android’s 45.4 percent.

IDC is putting a lot of trust in Microsoft’s recent and controversial deal with Nokia, which saw Microsoft paying $1 billion for the company’s promise to make the Windows Mobile OS its primary platform. “The new alliance brings together Nokia’s hardware capabilities and Windows Phone’s differentiated platform. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012,” Nokia’s Ramon Llamas said in a statement.

Basically, Nokia’s deal with Microsoft replaces the Symbian OS, which currently has–you guessed it–20.9 percent of the market. It seems to make sense, but there are quite a few pitfalls.

First of all, the results seem to assume a large portion of Nokia’s subscribers will simply switch to Windows OS once Symbian is stamped out rather than going to other platforms. This is problematic because the Finnish company is notoriously slow and has a poor track record when it comes to delivering quality smartphones.

Consider Nokia’s recent history. First, in 2009 Microsoft and Nokia failed to initiate Microsoft’s email software, Exchange, on the Symbian platform. Throughout 2010, Nokia’s product cycles slowed to 18 months; by comparison, companies like Apple churn out new smartphones every six to eight months.

To make matters worse, Nokia is in upheaval following the new Microsoft deal. The company’s shares fell 25 percent after the deal was announced. Several of the company’s key engineers and execs have quit. According to a report from Bloomberg, Finnish engineers have a reputation for being pro-open source–like Android. Microsoft on the other hand is of the walled-garden persuasion–like Apple. This has caused for internal tension and an exodus of some of the company’s talent.

Meanwhile, the Finnish company’s new CEO, Stephen Elop, must try to wrangle in talent, get everyone to focus, deal with unions in Finland that have promised a four-week summer hiatus each year. Amid all this turmoil, how is Nokia supposed to develop great phones–phones that compete with Android and Apple, new phones that come out as rapidly as Android and Apple’s?

It’s predicted that the next wave of Nokia phones are supposed to come out in 2011. They should be bulk shipping by 2012. While it is a given that Microsoft’s market share will improve in lieu of Symbian’s demise, it seems that both Nokia and Microsoft could see a great portion of their customers switching to Apple and Android–especially if Nokia doesn’t get its act together.

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PS4 Controller Features Touchscreen and Move Strip

PS4 Controller Features Touchscreen and Move Strip

Sony is hosting an event on February 20, 2013 in New York as 6PM EST.

Aside from a tweet and a cryptic video, nothing much has been said about the event but PlayStation fans are hoping to see the next generation game console at the event.

It has been more than six years since the PlayStation 3 was launched and though Sony released different versions of the console, fans are looking for something new – something drastically different.

Could that drastic change be a touchscreen on the PS’ controllers?  Might be.  Images of a DualShock PS controller that features a small screen on top and a blue strip of light at the back surfaced the internet and sources claimed that the images are legit.  Though that’s not exactly what the new controllers might look like since sources are betting that it’s a prototype, there’s a huge chance that the actual PS4 controllers would have the features.

The touchscreen or touchpad may offer better controls for the player or function like a second screen to view game inventory or map.  The strip at the back seems to be made up of the same material as the PlayStation Move and possibly function in the same way with the PlayStation Eye.  Or it could just be a way for the PS4 to get a sense of how far the person is from the console and won’t work if the gamer is too close.

The sticks have been redesigned, instead of a convex design that makes it easy for sweaty fingers to slip, it now has a concave design with a ring for traction.  It can also be noted that there seems to be speaker grills present on the controller, below the screen, which could deliver a more engaging gaming experience.

But if you look closer at the photo, there are two unlabeled buttons on both sides of the screen, near the top corners.  Sidequesting pointed out that it could be a share button but since there are two buttons, it’s likely that those are the Start and Select buttons that previously occupied the center of the controller.

In the past, PlayStation events marked the introduction of new products.  In 1999, the PlayStation 2 was revealed; in 2005 the PS3; and in 2011, the PS Vita was revealed.

Sony hasn’t addressed the rumors regarding the PlayStation 4 being launched on the 20th, but stated that the future of the PlayStation will be discussed at the event.

According to rumors, the next generation PlayStation, codenamed Orbis, will be more powerful than the next generation Xbox, codenamed Durango.  The Orbis will have a run-capability of 1.84 teraflops, while the Durango will only have 1.23 teraflops.

Mellisa Tolentino

Mellisa Tolentino started at SiliconANGLE covering the mobile and social scene. Over the years, her scope expanded to Bitcoin as well as the Internet of Things. SiliconANGLE gave Mellisa her break in writing and it has been an adventure ever since. She’s from the sunny country of Philippines where people always greet you with the warmest smile. If she’s not busy writing, she loves reading, watching TV series and movies, but what she enjoys the most is playing or just chilling on the couch with with her three dogs Ceecee, Ginger, and Rocky.

  1. So they integrated the Vita features in the controller. That’s cool, I just wonder how much one will cost though.

  2. @ PBX Right now, it looks like the PS4 is once again going to be the odd-expensive-console — and Sony will use “amazing rendering technology” and exclusive games to get players to buy into it.

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* * Silly Facebook Status *

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Just Plain Cheese

Some downright cheese Facebook updates.

  • A pirate walks into a bar. The bartender says, " hey, you've got a wheel stuck to the front of your pants.". The pirate replies, " argh, it's driving me nuts!".
  • Why did the snowman cross the street and pull down his pants? He heard the snowblower was coming.
  • What do we do when chemists die? We Barium.
  • The roundest knight at King Arthur's table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
  • What does a vegetarian zombie say? grrrrraaaaaiiiins!
  • Why do chicken coups only have two doors? Because if they had four they would be a chicken sedan.
  • How many kids with ADHD does it take to change a light bulb? Let's go ride bikes!
  • Did you hear about the red ship and the blue ship that collided? All the sailors were marooned.
  • A baby seal walks into a club....
  • Why can a nose never be twelve inches long? Because then it would be a foot.
  • What did Beethoven and Mozart turn into when they died? Decomposers.
  • What do you call a deer with no eyes? No idear.
  • What does a vampire zombie say? Veeeiiiiinnnnnsssss.

Friday, January 14, 2011

CBSC Special

To tribute the recent stupid ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council to ban Dire Straits song Money for Nothing, here is my list of songs to nan:

• supports a ban on Honky Tonk Man, as it offends white guys
• supports a ban on Pretty Fly, and it offends fly white guys
• supports a ban on NWA's OPP, as it offends the Ontario Provincial Police
• wants to ban the song Girls, as it's offensive to Women
• agrees to ban the song Goonies, as it is offensive to Sloth
• demands to ban I Want a New Drug. We all know the current ones are fine.
• insists on ban of the song Lollipop, lest the sugar industry be offended
• wants to ban Rockafeller Skank, as it offends them hoes
• demands we ban Celine. Her and her songs, for the sake of all Canadians.

Animal Lovers

The animal lover says:

  • cat people are puuuurrrr-fect
  • pet lovers do it doggie style
  • as an animal lover, Elk are very deer to me
  • likes to drink with fish as they're always tanked
  • as I friend of the sheep, I can say ewe are baaahd

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Bad Timing

They day just doesn't go right sometimes.
  • Bad timing is having a heart attack during a game of charades
  • Bad timing is being alive during the Justin Bieber era
  • Bad timing is being late for work and running for a street car as it get's hijacked by Leprechauns on St. Patty's Day
  • Bad timing is letting a stinky one rip just before a colon exam
  • Horrible timing is being that doctor who receives the stinky one

Friday, January 7, 2011

Facebook Secrets

* is a byte in a bit in a node designated to be sold to make Mark rich.
* is going on Intervention for Facebook withdrawal.
* vs. Mark Z in UFC 2010 - the Geekdown!
* is uploading my photo revenue stream to Mark's personal money making machine.
* is the model of an electronic sheep. Like
* wonders if FB'ing from the washroom should be called Fecesbooking.
* wonders if you bare wondering where I wrote this.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Your Place

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Parliamentary Turmoil

Inspired by True Stories of the Canadian Government

  • is in a coalition of ineptness, taunting those in that general direction
  • is excited about Stephane J. Duceppe's new reign of Canada
  • is doing the Parliamentary Hokie-Pokie (take your right wing out and shake it all about)
  • is getting dizzy from our nation's slow spiral into attack-styled politics
  • is watching the new sitcom "My Three Prime Ministers"
  • asks if Larry, Curly, and Moe could do a better job for us?
  • has anticipation for faster, more efficient decision making from a triple headed-hydra

Saturday, November 29, 2008

My, How Odd

  • dreamed of a brighter, cleaner world fully powered by the magic of funk!
  • is a small cheese wheel at a wine party, being picked apart bit by bit.
  • is a lime-coloured kitty being chased by a bottle of Tequila.
  • flies through space and time with the intend of determining if the chicken came before the omlette.


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cricket biggest fight

By Malachi On December 19, 2010 Under Cricket News

cricket biggest fight

Click Here To See My Football Betting System – No Lose Betting At Its Best

25 Comments Add yours

  1. annastariq
    December 19, 2010
    5:13 pm #comment-1

    indian player really like to fight!!!

  2. rockinkenryx
    December 19, 2010
    6:12 pm #comment-2

    omg this is a beginer vid, and it is not good enough to be called “fail”
    is…rucbish… yeah thats a better title…

  3. TemakariniM
    December 19, 2010
    6:43 pm #comment-3

    well there goes 1:46 of my life that i’ll never get back

  4. aiman7134
    December 19, 2010
    6:57 pm #comment-4

    GREAT AFIDI ,red pathan

  5. 0342mani
    December 19, 2010
    7:48 pm #comment-5

    saaly indians kutty ki nasal …..

    larnay k ilawa or koi kam nae hy in ko

  6. 101gladiator
    December 19, 2010
    8:33 pm #comment-6

    tell u what, i dont know about others, but looks like GAMBHIR needs a big one up his *** he thinks he is something, but i think he is gonna get his butt whoped real soon.. I HOPE!

  7. ianh321
    December 19, 2010
    8:41 pm #comment-7

    @SuperPavelow most of these dickheads would rather fuck one to be honest.

  8. johncena44446
    December 19, 2010
    9:18 pm #comment-8

    hey all pakis…call ur allah to meet me..mere ghar pe bahot saaf safai karani hai.. toilet saaf karne ke liye paki choddke dusra accha kaun hai??

  9. bhandurohit
    December 19, 2010
    9:31 pm #comment-9

    @chupamehora Dude.. you should look at what Waugh said… something like I feared for my life beacuse there was an angry 6.5 ft guy in front of me….

  10. SuperPavelow
    December 19, 2010
    10:02 pm #comment-10

    i think everyone here should eat a goat

  11. hassanpashto
    December 19, 2010
    10:15 pm #comment-11

  12. mshk1989
    December 19, 2010
    10:19 pm #comment-12

    @moeen0ali why were u replying to ur own comments?

  13. SuperPavelow
    December 19, 2010
    11:14 pm #comment-13

  14. chupamehora
    December 19, 2010
    11:45 pm #comment-14

    Dude that’s ambrose-waugh… the way tugga doesn’t even flinch….curtley was the scariest fast bowler of all time!

  15. petemare
    December 20, 2010
    12:09 am #comment-15

    video = fail

  16. bholisarkar456
    December 20, 2010
    12:46 am #comment-16

    made by a penchod

  17. kirtankkkk
    December 20, 2010
    1:13 am #comment-17

    moeen ali – ur an asshole.

  18. choripaychori
    December 20, 2010
    1:16 am #comment-18

    @thinkright4all every where u can’t tolerate ur lose. if u r going to lose the match u start protesting. u don’t sports spirit. 1000 of times When Paki palys in ur country annd PAk is going to win the match and u indain nation start protest and through rock in the ground

  19. dietydevil
    December 20, 2010
    1:43 am #comment-19

    u wasted 106 seconds of my life. dumbass

  20. s00per1
    December 20, 2010
    2:12 am #comment-20

    i love to see such things in cricket… just love it :) ))))

  21. XavideshX
    December 20, 2010
    2:18 am #comment-21

    thats ambrose not walsh…

    December 20, 2010
    2:38 am #comment-22

    the best part-
    hayden harbhajan
    walsh-waugh :D :D :D

  23. laluprasad12
    December 20, 2010
    3:15 am #comment-23

    nothing compared to football, rugby, hockey….

  24. ttr15
    December 20, 2010
    4:09 am #comment-24

    this is literally the worst video on youtube

  25. thinkright4all
    December 20, 2010
    4:58 am #comment-25

    @fahed221 from when did these kh**s and khoons started talking about temperament. vow that’s funny I mean real funny assholes

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Category Archives: Business

Ultimatums and Bluffs

Ultimatums can have their place in any negotiation, but they are best used sparingly and with care. And while I’ve gotten the best results by being quite direct in negotiations, being too direct – throwing down an ultimatum – raises a significant risk that your discussions will come to an abrupt end.

Which means, of course, that you should be OK with that outcome if you make an ultimatum.  “My way or the highway,” as they say – and if the other side opts for “highway,” that’s fine.

The corollary to this principle is that it is a mistake to bluff when making ultimatums. The reason is simple: if you make an ultimatum, and then walk it back when the other side resists, you’ve cost yourself a massive amount of negotiating credibility.  It makes the other side wonder why they should believe anything you say, making it doubly hard to get what you need in the deal. 1

Unfortunately, I regularly experience firsthand attorneys violating this principle with their own particular brand of ultimatum: the lawsuit threat.

It’s kind of depressing that attorneys reach for this little trick so reflexively. But I suppose to some, if you’ve got that hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. And it must work at least some of the time, at least when dealing with power imbalances or inexperienced negotiators.

But the problem with the lawsuit threat is the same problem of any ultimatum: if you don’t intend to follow through with it, and the other side isn’t impressed with your threat, you’ve got nothing left to do but slink away.

Maybe that’s OK for some attorneys, but in a profession where reputation is so important, it feels awfully cheap to me to just throw one’s credibility around. And there’s a related problem as well, as lawyer (and Harvard business school professor) Ben Edelman just found out: that your threats will reveal, via the magic of social media, what an insufferable tool you really are.

All of this is why most savvy attorneys rarely make lawsuit threats – they just file.  Or they only make a threat when their client is ready to pull the trigger on a lawsuit.  2

So back to the question: why would an attorney threaten a lawsuit he or she had no intention of bringing? Maybe because they feel like they have leverage over a small business, which has heard the tale of the lawyer suing for $10 million over a dry cleaning mistake.  Or because they feel they can browbeat or intimidate a low-level employee pr small business owner into getting their way (Harvard prof Edelman is obviously big on this tactic).

Not that any of that is right, but at least I can understand the logic.

But why would a lawyer make a threat like this to me?  It takes less than minute to look my background up, see that I may know a few things about media law and negotiating, and realize that the ol’ lawsuit threat bluff isn’t going to work.

Why would they make it to a restaurant owner with a large social media following, who can effectively embarrass them on a national stage?

It should occur to them that their target may turn the tables on them, and make their demands look like the churlish “standing on rights” that they typically are.

Yet lawyers continue to do this, over and over again. 3 It’s just appalling how little work goes into thinking through the efficacy of rolling out the lawsuit threat.  Believe it or not, many businesses don’t quake in fear at the thought of being sued. Many of us will just tell you to get lost – or if you really piss us off, we will make you pay, both reputationally and in actual dollars.

So lawyers, trust me – the “tool” of clearly explaining your position and asking politely for something reasonable? That’s a hell of a lot more effective than threatening to sue.

And it’s certainly a lot less likely to end up with you at the center of an epic media shitstorm.

  1. This is also why bluffs work when playing poker. You actually want your bluffs to be called occasionally precisely because you don’t want credibility – predictability – at the poker table.
  2. On exactly one occasion in my legal career did I threaten a lawsuit I didn’t intend to follow through with. I still cringe thinking of it. And no, of course my bluff didn’t work.
  3. OK, and non-lawyers, too – witness the buffoonery of clown-troll Charles Johnson’s many lawsuit threats.

Ethics in Negotiation

When I first started blogging, I was exclusively doing mergers and acquisitions work, and a frequent topic for my posts was the ins and outs of negotiations.

A recent kerfuffle in the legal marketing world has raised an issue I haven’t addressed before – what are the acceptable limits of veracity in negotiation?  Or to put a sharper point on it, to what extent is it acceptable to lie to counterparties when negotiating?

Mirriam-Webster defines a lie as to “make an untrue statement with intent to deceive” or “to create a false or misleading impression.” This covers both affirmative lies and lies of omission.

And here’s the thing: anyone with the least experience negotiating knows that there are plenty of lies that are acceptable in the negotiating process.  It’s routine for parties to attempt to create a false impression of their level of interest in a deal, their bottom-line terms, or their feelings about their counterparties.   Many are the occasions when I’ve overstated my leverage, feigned indifference, and laughed at jokes that fall flat.

But I’ve always drawn the line at making shit up.

The reason it’s acceptable to  misrepresent one’s underlying motivation or feelings is that, fundamentally, motivations and feelings aren’t facts. They are fluid conditions, subject to change. They can shift based on any number of internal or external factors – including the persuasive powers of the person on the other side of the negotiation.

For example: if you ask “how much EBITDA did your company earn last year?”  your question seeks data that is fixed, and you expect a straightforward answer.   But asking “what’s the lowest price you’d sell your company for?”  The answer to that question isn’t fixed – even if your counterparty gives you the most transparent answer they can at the time, the “real” answer can – and probably will – change.  But because it’s not fixed – and it may not even be properly definable, given the fluidity involved – negotiators know that it is neither helpful nor required that they try at every turn to be completely transparent about their motivations.

So this is where people get hung up: they conflate this acceptable obfuscation of feelings, motivations and positions with the unacceptable invention of things that aren’t true.

There is a big difference between feigning a lack of interest in an offer and materially misrepresenting your operating results or professional background. Letting these lines get blurry – letting the facts get blurry – can make for a quick trip to a negotiator’s reputational ruin.

Negotiating for Dummies (Ph.D Version)

This Slate story, about a candidate for a philosophy professorship who had her job offer rescinded, attempts to make the point that academic institutions are cavalierly running roughshod over job candidates. Or as the article’s lead-in states, to gain entry to the academy, “it’s not ‘lean in’ so much as ‘bend over.'”

It’s very likely the case that institutions wield disproportionate power over candidates; tenure-track jobs in philosophy departments have always been a buyer’s market.

But so what? The interesting thing about this story isn’t Nazareth College’s decision to rescind the offer as it is the ignorance of a highly-educated professional to understand how negotiations work.  Here are a few lessons other job-seeking academics can take from this sorry tale:

It’s All a Negotiation

The eponymous “W” made her first mistake in thinking negotiation is some separate part of the job seeking process. Apparently she told the school, upon getting the offer, that she was going into “negotiation mode.” Say what? The whole process of seeking a job is one big negotiation. Sure, the brass tacks come at the end. But it’s a package of relationship-building and dialogue. You can’t think that you can abruptly shift that all aside at the end.  Any list of asks communicates something about you to the other side.  In sensitive or emotional negotiations, the wrong asks – or asks at the wrong time – can blow the whole deal.

Did W have any understanding of this dynamic?  Nope:

“This is how I thought negotiating worked, how I learned to do it, and, for that matter, how I think it should work: You ask about a number of perks and maybe get some of them. I was expecting to get very few of the perks I asked about, if anything … I just thought there was no harm in asking.”

There are plenty of times where “there is no harm in asking.”  And there are plenty of things that you can ask for that won’t cause any harm.  But ask for big things, at the wrong time, and you may well bring the negotiation to a screeching halt.

You can’t really get a sense for where the sensitivities lie unless you’ve taken the time to figure out and account for what’s important to your counterparty.  And here W’s fatal error is obvious.

Nazareth College is a small liberal arts school.  It is, as W’s rejection letter noted, “teaching and student focused.”  Yet 4 out of 5 of W’s asks were for things that would reduce her time in the classroom: special maternity leave, a guaranteed sabbatical, a delayed start date, and a reduced maximum course load for her first few years.  This set of asks sends a powerfully negative message about W’s commitment to teaching and student life.

What’s more, two of these asks also raise additional problems.  Asking in advance for a semester off for maternity leave comes off as naive and entitled (as institutions have existing policies for maternity leave).  And I suspect that asking to delay the start date for a year came off as “retrading” – the bringing up of an issue at the 11th hour that the other party thought settled.  Retrading has been death to many a negotiation, and experienced negotiators know to avoid it at all costs.  There had likely been discussions about the need to fill the role, the timing, etc.  If this was the first time the school had heard that W wanted to delay her start, that would be offputting indeed.

Know Your Leverage

Besides knowing what’s important to the other party, you’ve got to know how much negotiating leverage you’ve got. Leverage determines how much you can ask for, and how hard you can press for those things.  What a superstar, experienced professor can ask for is worlds apart from what a first-timer like W can expect.  About the only leverage a first-timer has is inertia – the fact that the candidate selection process is long and time-intensive, and the school may be reluctant to re-open it.  But this is a thin reed to rely on in a job search.  There may be another candidate who is a close second.  Or your selection may have been a narrow one, with factions of the department opposing it.  Objectivity about your attractiveness as a candidate is key; having friendly, collegial meetings and a job offer is not the same as being heavily in demand.

Don’t Overreach

Understanding the sensitivities of the other side and knowing your leverage will give you a good sense of what you can acceptably ask for.  Even the superstar professor can overreach and fatally offend the sensibilities of the institution; it’s just that such an individual has far more negotiating room than a newly-minted professor will.  It’s here that W got it so wrong – you can’t just assume that “there’s no harm in asking” for your wish list of perks.  With the prize so close to being in hand, she stumbled over this most basic of negotiating principles by badly overreaching.

So does this mean, as the Slate article suggests, that candidates for first-time academic positions are completely powerless and can’t negotiate?  Of course not; it just means they need to recognize the relative leverage of the parties and calibrate their negotiating strategy accordingly.

It’s almost never a good idea to “shoot for the moon” in any negotiation.  But it’s a particularly bad strategy when you’re in a low-leverage position.

h/t: Simple Justice

(Image: The Academy of Fine Arts (1578), from the J. Paul Getty Museum)

The Minimum Wage Experiment

It’s March 15, so we’ve had the March for a $15/hour Minimum Wage thing going on in Seattle today.

The discussion in the city seems to be divided between those who want to enact a $15/hour minimum RIGHT NOW and those who want to roll it in a little slower, or perhaps with some carveouts allowing for tips and benefits to count toward the minimum. There hasn’t been much discussion at all about NOT increasing the minimum wage – or even acknowledging that while it would be nice if entry level jobs paid more, the potential for all sorts of unforeseen consequences is very real when you suddenly raise the minimum wage by 60%.

The problem I have with the $15 Now campaign is that it doesn’t acknowledge this possibility. And maybe that’s to be expected from an activist movement; they’ve got to stake out an extreme, easy-to-understand position. But it worries me a lot.

I’ve been working since I was 14. My first few jobs paid minimum wage – $3.35 an hour. I was probably worth that as a teenage dishwasher or busboy, but just barely.

Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage I made in the early ’80’s would be $7.87/hour in today’s dollars. That’s a little over half of what the $15 Now people say the minimum wage should be. And if someone had paid the 15 year-old me $6.39 an hour (that’s the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $15 in 1983), I would have thanked my lucky stars.

But the thing is, no one would have paid me that much. I wasn’t worth it – not remotely. And I have no reason to believe that today’s teenagers and first-time job holders are worth it either.

By “worth” I don’t mean to imply some normative moral judgment. It’s simply the reality that businesses are going to hire based on their needs, and they’re going to pay salaries based on market demand and contribution to the business. And if the government increases the minimum wage sharply upward, they’re going to need to extract that much more value out of those minimum wage jobs.

What does this look like? Many of the $15 Now people naively claim that it will simply mean less profits for the companies, or marginally higher prices. But that viewpoint fails to account for the reality that many businesses that hire a lot of minimum wage workers a) face relentless price competition and b) are highly protective of their margins. Those employers are far likelier to substitute some of that labor with automation, and significantly raise their hiring standards. The real-world impact of this will be a lot fewer jobs for teenagers and those with little-to-no experience.

And that’s a problem. The best thing for me about working restaurant jobs as a teenager wasn’t the money it made me, but the experience I gained. And not just the experience that enabled me to land better jobs later. The experience of working at tasks, and in conditions, that taught me surer than any other lesson that I needed to continue my education so I could do something else.

I worry that the drive to raise the minimum wage will end up making it a lot harder for a whole segment of people to get their foot in the labor market door in the first place, and have that chance to start moving forward.

* all calculations via the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator

Dropbox – No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

As someone who pays more attention than most to website terms of use (TOU), I’m amused by the kerfuffle over the Dropbox announcement this week that it is adding an arbitration provision to its TOU.

Reading the comments on the Dropbox blog, you would think this was the most devious, anti-consumer thing the company could have done.  But while these arguments have facial appeal (“THEY’RE CUTTING OFF MY CHANCE TO BE HEARD IN COURT!!”), they don’t acknowledge the reality of the situation.

Consider: the vast majority of consumer Dropbox users don’t pay Dropbox ANYTHING.  They’re using a free service.  And the rest of them aren’t paying much; maybe a few hundred dollars a year, at most.

Why is this important?  Because it means that most consumers will have little-to-no damages in any suit against Dropbox.  Like, little enough that it wouldn’t justify paying the filing fee in small claims court (typically $100-$200), let alone dealing with the time and expense of a full-blown case.

Dropbox is offering a free, expedited means of getting such claims resolved.  While many argue that the arbitrators will be biased toward Dropbox as the company is paying the bills, in my (20+ years) experience this is not a real concern.  Or at most it’s an edge case, a minimal risk compared to the crap shoot you’ll get in small claims court.  But more importantly, it’s a very minor concern compared to the fact that the Dropbox arbitration procedure removes the cost and friction that would leave most small, legitimate claims stillborn.

And another point on that friction:  Dropbox allows users to bring the arbitration in whatever county the user lives or works.  The typical website TOU – which you almost never hear objections about – will contain a forum selection clause requiring that all claims against the company be brought wherever the company is headquartered.  Such provisions are routinely upheld (and make a world of sense from the company perspective).

Dropbox COULD have said, “fine – you got a claim?  You can have your day in court.  In San Francisco.”  Instead, they’ve set up a process that makes it far easier for the vast majority of consumers to have claims addressed.

Yet predictably, they’re getting abused for it.

Negotiating with Crazy People

On my first blog, I wrote extensively about negotiating – things I’d found effective and ineffective in a career spent negotiating business deals.  One of last posts on Corporate Tool was during the debt limit crisis in 2011; it had to do with the difficulties of negotiating with crazy or completely unreasonable counterparties.

President Obama finds himself in that situation now, and he’s doing what I (and many others) wrote he should have done two years ago: refuse to negotiate.  He didn’t follow that advice, which is why he finds himself dealing with an escalated variety of crazy this go-round.

But here’s the thing: the hardest about dealing with crazy counterparties is figuring out that they are, in fact, crazy.  It’s a long road, particularly if you are reasonable sane, smart and objective yourself, to get to the point where the “these guys are batshit” lightbulb goes off. You want to believe they are reasonable.  That they get how cause and effect works.  That they understand the respective leverage each party holds.  That they want to get a positive outcome for their side.

It may take repeated interactions to get past these assumptions and realize that fear, nuttiness, personal agendas, or a clinical lack of objectiveness is driving their behavior.  And the longer it takes to get there, the more empowered they become.  Their demands become more outrageous.  They retrade. And heaven help you if you finally wrestle a deal to the ground, and then have to deal with them again.

The good news is that once you’ve figured out that you’re dealing with nutters, the negotiating strategy is straightforward: you don’t negotiate.  Anything.  Until they change out the team or demonstrate a newfound and durable commitment to sanity.

If anyone wonders why President Obama doesn’t give up, say, the 2.3% tax on medical devices, or a delay of the ACA individual mandate, in exchange for keeping the government funded, it’s because he’s finally figured out that he’s dealing with crazies in the House.  People who are engaging in a form of economic terrorism in an effort to get their way.  The answer to such tactics isn’t to sigh and give in – it’s to keep saying “no” until they come to their senses or the team is changed out.

Photo: Lexington, KY Historical Society (josh king)

Talent vs. Attitude

“An organization filled with honest, motivated, connected, eager, learning, experimenting, ethical and driven people will always defeat the one that merely has talent. Every time.”

That’s from Seth Godin’s recent post “The Truth About the War for Talent.”  And it nicely reflects something I’ve thought about a lot as Avvo has grown crazily over the last few years.

Maybe when we say “talent” we really mean that killer blend of the right skills and the right approach.  But having worked in American business now for nearly two decades, I can report that we continue to give an outsized rating to markers of a more traditional definition of “talent:” educational attainment, certifications, ability to perform on tests, skills-based interviewing, etc.

Not to say these things aren’t important, but in almost any field there’s a wide mushy middle where everyone has cleared the “competence” bar.  From that point, exceptional performance is driven by attitude.  The fact that one candidate scored higher on an interview test or went to a better school matters far, far less than:

  • Who is willing to own the business outcomes and relentlessly drive them forward?
  • Who is going to actually deliver on what they say they’re going to do?
  • Who is going to focus on fixing problems rather than fixing blame?
  • Who is willing to take smart risks?
  • Who contributes positive energy to the group?

Possessing the skills to do the job – even advanced skills to do the job –  is now no more than table stakes.   Attitude is where it’s at.

(Image: An Azappo Archer with a Cheetah (about 1575), from the J. Paul Getty Museum)

The Getty Open-Accesses Images

As an (occasional) blogger and avid reader of blogs, I love the use of images.  You may have noticed that I’ve started using various images I’ve taken via Instagram to illustrate my blog.

I also regularly do seminars for lawyers on the law of blogging.  And I always, always get someone who thinks it’s OK to just clip images off the web without thinking about copyright.

And these are lawyers.

So I was delighted to see that the Getty Museum has freed up some 4600 images of works from its collection for nearly-unfettered use.  Delighted because it gives bloggers an easy source of images, and delighted because the images include many wonderful pieces from the classical and medieval eras.

Expect to see them start getting sprinkled in here.  Many ancient themes are timeless, capable of expressing both existential angst AND frustration over potholes in Seattle’s shitty bike lanes.

Or something like that.  Anyway, above is A Bird on A Dead Wolf (page from an illuminated manuscript, about 1270), from the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Compliance Exercises

Counter-apropos of my last post comes this article in Corporate Counsel magazine about the need for an independent Chief Compliance Officer in most corporations. The article presupposes general agreement that having such a position is critical to “elevate compliance and improve corporate governance.” And I suppose it is. But is it critical for what really important in a corporation?

You know, doing business?

And growing that business?

There’s no question that having a Chief Compliance Officer will help tick the boxes when it comes to corporate governance. But it runs the risk of glorifying the grocery clerk mentality, the lording of form over substance. Unlike every other C-level officer, this putative Chief Compliance Officer is focused on something wholly apart from the business and its goals: complying with the dictates of government. Compliance bears within its genes the potential for mission creep. Just as the regulator inevitably seeks to expand the scope of that which is regulated, the compliance officer lives with the danger of seeing ever-more ways that laws – and, critically, interpretations of laws – can be complied with. This is especially true if “compliance” is unmoored from legal, which should, at least in theory, be laying a claim to helping the business grow.

An example: My first General Counsel job was with a regional cellular company, shortly after the Telecom Act threw the mobile wireless industry into deregulation. A compliance officer would have told my board that we couldn’t possibly sell wireless phones and rate plans on a bundled basis. That was the conservative, “compliance-centric” interpretation of the regulations, which were in a state of flux at the time. It was the approach taken by our competitor. To me, young and unburdened with a career spent working for the telephone company, it was lunacy. Of course we could sell bundles, and if the regulators came around asking questions, we had a perfectly good explanation for them. An explanation that was supported by our good faith interpretation of the law and consumer interest. So we bundled away, and took a ton of market share. After nearly a year, our competitor followed suit.

I think about that often when considering the damage a compliance-first attitude can cause a company. There’s so much grey area, and so many ways to find a “compliance solution” that prevents business from happening. There’s also the very real danger that by focusing solely on ticking off the compliance officer’s checklist the company will miss bigger, more amorphous legal problems.

There may be industries where a robust – perhaps even independent – compliance program is called for. But those industries where abuses have been at their worst (financials, I’m looking at you) have never suffered from a lack of people focused on compliance. While having a lot of grocery lists will help prevent everyday lawbreaking, it’s not proof against more systemic problems. And in the meantime, it carries a very real cost in risk of loss to business focus. Far better, then, to have someone in the legal department who is focused on compliance, but whose prescriptions are ultimately filtered through the more practical hand of the GC.

Creative Commons and “Noncommercial” Use

One of the promises of Creative Commons is the idea that all sorts of works – writing, photography, other visual arts – can be made more accessible via a workaround to state-based copyright law (here in the US, copyright attaches automatically to virtually any independent work of expression – this blog post, your cat photos, my son’s CreepyPasta entries – you name it).

It’s a good idea; the uncertainty of copyright makes it harder to share things than it should be.  For example, let’s say I found a photo online that I wanted to use on my blog.  I could try and contact the photographer and get permission to use it, but that’s an uncertain process at best.  It will take an indeterminate amount of time, with no guarantee that I will get an OK – or even any response at all.  So I’ll move on to a less-ideal choice of photoillustration, or go with no photo at all.

Creative Commons is designed to solve that sort of problem.  If the photographer assigns a Creative Commons license to the photo, I should have all the information I need from the license to know whether I can freely share it on my blog and what conditions, if any, apply (for example, attribution, restrictions on derivative works, etc.).

In practice, however, Creative Commons doesn’t work as well as it could.  There are a number of different license types, with different conditions and limitations on use.  And as Glyn Moody at Techdirt points out, license types can be freely changed by the creator of the work, leaving a previously-permitted use twisting in the wind (although CC licenses are non-revocable, it can be difficult to prove that use was under a previous license).

The biggest problem, however, is the fact that many Creative Commons licenses have limitations to noncommercial uses.

Why is this a problem?  Because very, very people actually understand what this means.   Even most attorneys don’t understand what “noncommercial” means.  And this leads not only to hurt feelings (and more restrictive licenses) when a use is made that the creator doesn’t care for, but also a lot of uncertainty among those who would otherwise use the work.

Back to my example of clipping a Creative Commons-licensed photo for a blog.  Let’s say the license is “CC BY-NC” – a widely used license permitting sharing (with attribution) and derivative works but restricting commercial use.  Well, no problem – my blog is noncommercial, right?  But what if my blog has advertising? What if it has a Cafepress store, Amazon widget, or some other form of merchandising?

What if I’m writing for the New York Times?

The answer is that – in the U.S. at least – none of these examples represent commercial use.  The fact that a publisher has a commercial motive does not mean that everything published is likewise commercial.  “Commercial” means that the work itself is resold or incorporated into something that is for sale (although there are plenty of exceptions even then, starting with fair use).  This is a basic legal principle, and it’s been reinforced time and time again.  See, for example, the Dex Media v. City of Seattle case I wrote about earlier.  Or the Browne v. Avvo suit filed by an attorney upset over his rating right after Avvo launched in 2007.  Or the latest Lindsay Lohan lunacy, involving a suit (tossed yesterday) over a reference to the troubled actress in a Pitbull song (“locked up like Lindsay Lohan”).

The fact that this principle has to be so often reinforced shows how lacking in fluency many are when it comes to the distinction between the commercial interests of a publisher and the noncommercial nature of that which is published.  And based on my anecdotal reading around this issue (and talking with many, many attorneys confused about this point), more people than not believe that “noncommercial” means that the work in question will only be used by a noncommercial entity.

So the CC BY-NC license is a half-measure that probably leaves few really satisfied.  I suspect all would be better off choosing either to stick with full copyright protection (if the thought of having your work published in for-profit media offends) or go with a wide open CC BY license – or even renounce all copyright protection entirely with a CC0 license.  Creative Commons should also consider providing more guidance around exactly what “noncommercial” means – and what it doesn’t mean.


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Knowing Wes, he probably still hasn’t even ridden one of his brand-new pro model boards, ’cause he’s most likely still riding the same shitty, busted, and razor-tailed setup he’s had on for the past six months. But that doesn’t mean you can’t beat him to it. After all, it ain’t no fun if the homeys can’t have none.

For a chance to win his debut Sk8mafia pro board, as well as a slew of other swag from DC Shoes, DC Apparel, OJ Wheels, Royal Trucks, and Paradox Grip, all you’ve gotta do is:

Design a Wes Kremer pro model Sk8mafia board (in Photoshop, with a pen and paper, using MS Paint, whatever, it doesn’t matter… just do something!).

Submit all graphics to by midnight on Sunday, December 18.

Go skateboard and wait.

We’ll pick our top five and hold a poll on Monday, December 19 to determine the winner. Good luck!

*By the way, congrats go out to Joseph Gasiecki for winning last month’s Tom Asta Pay Day. Seems like the world thought his lion logo was better than the rest.


text:
Cast your votes now for your favorite Manny Mania finalist from the 15 city Manny Mania Am Series U.S. Tour. Highlights from each skaters winning runs are posted on the Red Bull site, and at the end of the month, the skater with the most votes will be named the Best Manualing Am in the county. The official press release is below.

America’s Best Two-Wheel Tricking Amateurs to Put Their Video Parts Head to Head for Your Vote

September 15, 2009 – Santa Monica, CA – From coast to coast, amateur skaters have been putting their two wheels to the test, competing in the Red Bull Manny Mania Am series all summer long across 15 cities. Now the best skater from each stop will compete in the digital manny rumble royale, vying for your vote as the grand prize winner, with the chance to take home $7,000 in prizes and take their shooting, and their recognition, to the next level.
Highlights of each Red Bull Manny Mania winner’s run are now posted on Red Bull . At the end of September, the skater with the most popular manual maneuvers will be sporting a prize back with the best of digital video equipment – winning a JVC HD Everio GZ – HD40 camera, a Macbook Pro 15″ widescreen computer and programs to edit their future footage with including Final Cut Studio and Mac OS X Lepoard – and last but not least, a handy pelican case to carry their gear to all the hot skate spots around town.

So who will get bragging rights as the best manual am in the US? Will it be East Coast reppin’, or someone from Dirty South? A Navajo tribe member who skated in Long Beach or a part-time music producer from Baltimore?  The fans will decide who wins, and who will take home video equipment that will help one skater raise the bar on his video parts, perhaps taking them from You Tube to your next favorite skate flick.
To cast a vote in the digital finals, click here:
For more information about the series, visit


text:
Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Shovster Update

1st stage of swirls. When this is all lined in it will look like its twisting through the tank. Trippy man!

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Shovster Paint Update

Paint is comming on. We got scales, Lace and some other little tricks on the way. Trout Pout

Thursday, 21 June 2012

Shovster Update

Its all Metal Flake and handle bars here at the moment. Talking of Flake why dont you nip over to the FLAKE KINGS blog and see what those cool cats are up to. Send them our love.

This Months Strange Pictures

Here are some pictures that have been circulating the internet. I thought they were good enough to share with you guys.

Heres a nice summer picture for anyone living in England. Do you remember blue skys and hot sunshine? Nar neither do I.

Metal Flake

I love metal flake, but its like sand on the beach. It gets everywhere!

That Felt Wet...

Thats the last time i go for a night on the town with curry to end and trust a fart....

Dog and Guitar

Look at the tail wagging on the top picture. Outta control

Monday, 18 June 2012

Lawdy Momma

Fun show. Nice and relaxed. One of the best shows ive been to for a while. The location of Battlesbridge is perfect! Wild place.

Shovster Chop Update

The Shovster is comming on. Paint is the main thing but also handle bars and all the other little bits that you forget about. Im hoping to take it to Hayride in some sort of thrown together state......

Tuesday, 12 June 2012


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HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForumSkyscraper Posters

Twin Tower 1

Huzhou ZJ China

Construction Dates
Floor Count21
Floor Area36,047 m²
Building Uses
 - office
Structural Types
 - highrise

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Drawing by Steamboy
© SkyscraperPage.com

Aerial View / Map - Location within Huzhou

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Switch heights to

Atlas Tower Koishikawa

1-9-14 Koishikawa, Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo Japan

Construction Dates
Floor Count28
Basement Floors2
Floor Area32,745 m²
Units / Rooms259
Building Uses
 - residential
Structural Types
 - highrise

 Heights ValueSource / Comments
Roof307 ftAsahi Kasei
Top floor286 ftAsahi Kasei

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Aerial View / Map - Location within Tokyo

Tokyo Map Centered on BuildingFull Tokyo MapTokyo Development MapBuilding on Google Maps

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HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForumSkyscraper Posters

Like this building on Facebook

Al Majdoul Tower

King Fahad Road
Riyadh Saudi Arabia

Status:under construction
Construction Dates
  Will finish2016
Floor Count54
Building Uses
 - office
 - parking garage
Structural Types
 - highrise
 - landing pad
 - twist-scraper
Architectural Style
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Architect: Zeidler Partnership Architects - http://www.zeidlerpartnership.com/
Structural Engineer: Halsall Associates - http://www.halsall.com/

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text:
June 7, 2013
The hardcore life of Mick Foley
By JOHN LAW - Niagara Falls Review

Wrestling legend Mick Foley appears at the Niagara Falls Comic Con Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. PHOTO: WENN.com

Mick Foley nearly killed himself for our approval.

Body slams onto tacks. Body slams onto metal steps. Body slams off of (and through) a 20-foot steel cage. But it wasn't until he became a New York Times best-selling author that the "Hardcore Legend" got mainstream respect outside the wrestling ring.

The book, 1999's Have a Nice Day, was a shock to anyone with preconceived notions of wrestlers. "Wait a minute," was the general reaction, "this guy can write?"

And act. And perform. And enthrall a crowd without getting a single chair shot to the head.

The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin were the undisputed stars of World Wresting Entertainment's Attitude Era, but Mick Foley was its spokesman -- an engaging, funny and unconventional personality who tapped into the new generation of wrestling fans' hunger for what went on behind the scenes. The book stunned everyone, including Foley, when it topped the Times' nonfiction bestseller list.

"In 1999 I was looking at the end of my career, having no idea what I might do after that, and the book opened a lot of doors," says Foley, who appears Saturday (noon to 4 p.m.) at this weekend's Niagara Falls Comic Con. "It brought a sense of closure to my career ... and it was a towering achievement just to sit down and do it by hand, and do it in a way people found enjoyable."

Foley's book wasn't just a personal milestone, it was a turning point for the wrestling industry. With precise, often hilarious detail, Foley took fans into the stories behind the stories -- the backstage drama, the real-life issues between wrestlers, the things that happened when the cameras turned off. Its huge success inspired other wrestlers to crank out their own books, though few could compare.

"And I apologize for that," cracks Foley. "Actually it's a good thing, because so many other wrestlers had stories to tell, and I'm sure all of them feel good just having it on the shelf, whether or not they made money."

Foley's bestseller days weren't over. The follow-ups Foley is Good and The Hardcore Diaries also did well, prompting Foley to write fiction (Tietam Brown, Scooter) and even children's books.

The books led to public speaking (not standup, Foley wants to clarify), where he discusses his life on the college circuit. Then, of course, there are fan conventions, where Foley signs everything from action figures to books to pictures of his bloody mug after any number of gruesome matches.

One match stands out, however. The one fans can't get enough of. Foley has talked plenty about that night in Pittsburgh in 1998 ... at least what he remembers. They don't call it the night that changed everything for nothing.

During a Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker, Foley was determined to make history. With the match barely underway, and the two rivals fighting on top of the cage, Foley was tossed 22 feet onto the announcer's table below. The crowd was stunned, the announcers terrified. "As God is my witness, he is broken in half," yelped Jim Ross.

What happened next secured Foley's place in the hearts of wrestling fans forever. As he was being stretchered up the ramp, Foley -- with a dislocated shoulder -- broke free and climbed the cage again to resume the match. Minutes later, in a spot he wasn't prepared for, Foley was chokeslammed through the steel cage onto the mat below, capped by a steel chair falling on his face. He blacked out for a moment, shook it off, then continued the match in a daze. Now with a dislocated jaw and loose tooth hanging beneath his nose, Foley's night ended when the Undertaker slammed him onto thousands of thumbtacks.

He lost, but it didn't matter. Foley became a legend overnight.

"I don't know what it was that got me to my feet," he says. "The logical conclusion would have been to call it a night, especially after that second time. No one would have thought less of me, but at the same time no one would be asking me about the match."

"WWE's changed (now), and the match would have been called immediately. But in that case I was the beneficiary of the circumstances that surrounded me."

WHO: Mick Foley
WHAT: Niagara Falls Comic Con
WHERE: Scotiabank Convention Centre
WHEN: June 8 & 9.
TICKETS: $25 per day, $40 weekend pass, available at the door. www.niagarafallscomiccon.com
Perhaps trying to top it, Foley had another infamously brutal match against The Rock the next year. Refusing to say the words 'I quit' which would end the match, Rock blasted Foley with 11 unprotected chair shots, opening up a gruesome gash on his head. The match was included in the wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat, which shows Foley's family in the audience in tears.

Even Foley thought it went too far.

"It's really not a fun match," he says. "It's not something you gather your friends around (to watch). If the Hell in a Cell match turns people into fans, the I Quit match kinda turns people off from it. It's too barbaric."

"It didn't seem that excessive at the time. But geez, watching my family, it certainly was."

These type of matches are forbidden in today's more safety-conscious WWE, which has many fans clamouring for the Attitude Era (roughly 1997 to 2002) to return. But Foley says there's plenty to like about the new generation of wrestlers.

"The new era forces people to be more creative," he says. The Attitude era's biggest problem, he adds, were wrestlers trying to be shocking because everyone else was doing it.

"I'm glad I was part ot it, and it was a very creative time because you had so many guys hitting their stride at the same time. But memory is selective, and there was a lot of stuff that was unnecessary as well."

  • Mick Foley bio and story archive

    John Law has been The Niagara Falls Review's arts and entertainment writer since 1990.


text:
adidas Soccer all in Video

adidas have created a great addition to their “all in” campaign with this strong piece depicting some of the best footballers who adorn the three stripes in action. Including the likes of South American pair Messi and Kaka, along with icon David Beckham and fellow MLS stars Kenny Cooper and Juan Aguedelo makes for a great compilation.

[youtube width=”620″ height=”400″][/youtube]


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+ - The EFF 4/5 to Congressional anti-RIAA petition

Bob Adob writes: "The EFF is close to bringing a petition against the RIAA to Congress. First steps towards some real action? The EFF says, "We have over 80,000 signatures so far — this is amazing! If we can get 100,000 signatures, we will deliver the petition to the Senate and House Commerce and Judiciary Commitees." http://www.eff.org/share/petition/"

I have not yet begun to byte!


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+ - Nvidia Linux driver 100.14.19 is out!->

taupter writes: "New Nvidia Linux drive r 100.14.19 is out,for x86 and amd64. An updated Solaris driver is out too. The "black-window bug" is finally fixed! Get it at http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_100.14.19.html Release Highlights: Added support for new GPUs: Quadro FX 290, Quadro FX 370, Quadro FX 570, Quadro FX 1700 Improved GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap out-of-memory handling. Fixed a performance regression on GeForce 8 GPUs. Added support for a 'NoScanout' mode to the X driver, useful for high performance computing environments and remote graphics; please see the 'UseDisplayDevice' option description for details. Improved power management support with GeForce 8 and older GPUs. Improved compatibility with recent X.Org X servers. Improved G-Sync support with Quadro FX 4600 and Quadro FX 5600. Added XV brightness and contrast controls to the GeForce 8 video texture adapter implementation. Further improved interaction with ATi RS480/482 based mainboards. Fixed stability problems with some GeForce 8 GPUs. Fixed XvMC support on GeForce 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a GPUs with PureVideo support. Added support for bridgeless SLI with GeForce 8 GPUs. Fixed rotation support on some GeForce 8 GPUs. Fixed a problem causing X to render incorrectly after VT switches with composited desktops. Fixed a RENDER acceleration bug that was causing 2D rendering corruption in Eclipse with GeForce 8 GPUs. Improved VGA console restoration with DFPs and TVs. Fixed a bug that resulted in the generation of incorrect EDIDs on some notebooks. Fixed flickering corruption with SLIAA on GeForce 8 GPUs. Improved compatibility with recent Linux 2.6 kernels. Fixed a compatibility problem with some Linux 2.4 kernels. Improved hotkey switching support. Fixed an 'nvidia-installer' bug that was causing the installer to treat some of its temporary files as conflicting. Fixed several problems causing crashes if /dev is mounted with the 'noexec' option. Reduced kernel virtual memory usage with some GeForce 8 GPUs."
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Nvidia Linux driver 100.14.19 is out!

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Comment: Re:Drone Prizes (Score 1) 213 213

All I can say is: Skeet Shooting for Prizes!!!

That was my first thought too.

If Amazon tries to introduce this there will obviously be people willing to take a pot shot at a drone for its payload (or just for the fun of it).

Hmm, I wonder where I left my EMP generator...

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+ - "Magic Helmet" for F-35 ready for delivery

Graculus writes: This week, Lockheed Martin officially took delivery of a key part of the F-35 fighter’s combat functionality—the pilot’s helmet. The most expensive and complicated piece of headgear ever constructed, the F-35 Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS) is one of the multipurpose fighter’s most critical systems, and it's essential to delivering a fully combat-ready version of the fighter to the Marine Corps, the Navy, and the Air Force. But it almost didn’t make the cut because of software problems and side effects akin to those affecting 3D virtual reality headsets.

Built by Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems International (a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and the Israeli defense company Elbit Systems), the HMDS goes way beyond previous augmented reality displays embedded in pilots’ helmets. In addition to providing the navigational and targeting information typically shown in a combat aircraft’s heads-up display, the HMDS also includes aspects of virtual reality, allowing a pilot to look through the plane. Using a collection of six high-definition video and infrared cameras on the fighter’s exterior called the Distributed Aperture System (DAS), the display extends vision a full 360 degrees around the aircraft from within the cockpit. The helmet is also equipped with night vision capabilities via an infrared sensor that projects imagery inside the facemask

+ - Tor developers vow to fix bug that can uncloak users

Graculus writes: Developers of the Tor privacy service say they're close to fixing a weakness that researchers for an abruptly canceled conference presentation said provides a low-cost way for adversaries to deanonymize hundreds of thousands of users. The talk previously scheduled for next month's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas was titled "You Don't Have to be the NSA to Break Tor: Deanonymizing Users on a Budget." The abstract said that the hack cost less than $3,000 and could uncloak hundreds of thousands of users. On Monday, Black Hat organizers said the presentation was canceled at the request of attorneys from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where the researchers were employed, as well as the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). The attorneys said only that the materials to be presented "have not yet been approved by CMU/SEI for public release." Researchers Alexander Volynkin and Michael McCord have yet to explain why their talk was pulled.

+ - Two big dark matter experiments gain U.S. support

Graculus writes: The Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on Friday that they will try to fund two major experiments to detect particles of the mysterious dark matter whose gravity binds the galaxies instead of just one. The decision allays fears that the funding agencies could afford only one experiment to continue the search for so-called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

+ - Senate budgetmakers move to end U.S. participation in ITER

Graculus writes: Budgetmakers in the U.S. Senate have moved to halt U.S. participation in ITER, the huge international fusion experiment now under construction in Cadarache, France, that aims to demonstrate that nuclear fusion could be a viable source of energy. Although the details are not available, Senate sources confirm a report by Physics Today that the Senate's version of the budget for the Department of Energy (DOE) for fiscal year 2015, which begins 1 October, would provide just $75 million for the United States' part of the project. That would be half of what the White House had requested and just enough to wind down U.S. involvement in ITER.

+ - Google building a domain registration service

Graculus writes: Google today revealed that it is building a domain registration service called Google Domains. The product is still an early work in progress, so it’s in invite-only beta for now. Google’s small business-facing division decided to build the product because, according to its research, 55 percent of small businesses still don’t have a website. Since the domain acts as a website’s foundation, Google decided to do more to help companies get started with their online presence. While Google Domains won’t include hosting, website building providers Squarespace, Wix, Weebly and Shopify have signed on as partners.

+ - New sensors will scoop up 'big data' on Chicago

Graculus writes: From the Chicago Tribune — Chicago plans to install sensors in light poles to observe air quality, light intensity, sound volume, heat, precipitation, and wind. The sensors will also count people by observing cell phone traffic. The curled metal fixtures set to go up on a handful of Michigan Avenue light poles later this summer may look like delicate pieces of sculpture, but researchers say they'll provide a big step forward in the way Chicago understands itself by observing the city's people and surroundings. Some experts caution that efforts like the one launching here to collect data from people and their surroundings pose concerns of a Big Brother intrusion into personal privacy. In particular, sensors collecting cell phone data make privacy proponents nervous. But computer scientist Charlie Catlett said the planners have taken precautions to design their sensors to observe mobile devices and count contact with the signal rather than record the digital address of every device.

+ - Restored Bletchly Park Opens

Graculus writes: Codebreakers credited with shortening World War Two worked in Bletchley Park, in structures built to last only a few years. Now, following a painstaking restoration, they have been brought back to life and Wednesday's official opening marks a remarkable turnaround from top secrecy to world wide attraction. With no photographs of the insides to work with, Bletchley Park looked to its most valuable resource — the veterans who worked there. A museum at the site has already been opened.

+ - Uber Demonstrations Snarl Traffic From London to Berlin

Graculus writes: Uber Technologies Inc., the car-sharing service that’s rankling cabbies across the U.S., is fighting its biggest protest yet from European drivers who say the smartphone application threatens their livelihoods. Traffic snarled in parts of Madrid and Paris today, with a total of more than 30,000 taxi and limo drivers from London to Berlin blocking tourist centers and shopping districts. They are asking regulators to apply tougher rules on San Francisco-based Uber, whose software allows customers to order a ride from drivers who don’t need licenses that can cost 200,000 euros ($270,000) apiece.

+ - Docker 1.0 Released

Graculus writes: Industry heavyweights line up at inaugural DockerCon user conference to support Docker as the de facto standard for Linux containers. Docker, the company that sponsors the open source project, is gaining allies in making its commercially supported Linux container format a de facto standard. Linux containers are a way of packaging up applications and related software for movement over the network or Internet. Once at their destination, they launch in a standard way and enable multiple containers to run under a single host operating system.

+ - NASA Names Gavin Schmidt Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Graculus writes: NASA has named Gavin A. Schmidt to head the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, a leading Earth climate research laboratory. Currently deputy director of the institute, Schmidt steps into the position left vacant after the retirement of long-time director James E. Hansen and becomes only the third person to hold the post.

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Comment: Re:Catholicism + Climate Change = Totally Appropri (Score 2) 703 703

All other plausible non-anthropogenic mechanisms have been investigated and do not explain the observed data. Every aspect has been investigated every which way for decades.

Claiming data and mechanisms are not the same as providing data and mechanism.
You have just claimed, not provided, thus hinting that you are wrong.

Comment: Re:Hostile environments (Score 1) 634 634

Anyway, Slashdot is a perfect example of said hostile environment, from the subtle ("You're joking, there aren't any women on the internet!") to the cesspit that the discussion turns into whenever the topic comes up. I'm sick of it, frankly, and I really should just stop bothering to read the comments on most stories, causing me to lose out on the occasional insightful nugget, but helping my blood pressure. Someday, it might even be bad enough to drive me away.

Which was my point. Telling someone that they are imagining there is a problem is highly offensive, really, and tends to make people not want to be around you.

Your comment is one of the more hostile ones I have seen here.

Comment: Stupid corrupt commenters (Score 1) 191 191

Assange discovers corruption in politics, police, and judiciary, etc.
He then makes some evidence of this public.
Then they attack him, in corrupt ways.
And then he flees into an embassy.

And top commenters here argue he should just bow to corrupt systems,
follow some "laws", as if they were not corrupt.

These commenters are stupid or corrupt, obviously.

Comment: Means falling warmth (Score 1) 423 423

If the heat sink really is bigger than they thought, then Global Warming must have decreased more,
because of remaining heat from the sink.

The global temperature stopped increasing over 18 years ago. A big heatsink will dampen the temperature changes slowly. So an even global temperature which is being warmed by the heat sink, means that the warming has to have decreased.

In other words: A big heat sink is a sign of global cooling, not warming. And the lack of people pointing out this rather obvious physical connection, is a sign that they are charlatans, or quite stupid. And yes, I am a real physicist, not a political appointee pretending to be one.

Comment: Impossible physics (Score 1) 201 201

The lens is just too small for 4K. It is impossible for that many different photons to pass through it at the same time. Photons are in practice about one millionth of a meter big, so about 1000 could fit beside each other passing through a 1 mm lens. But this is only valid for wide angle pictures, fish eye optics. Real phone cameras use just a limited angle, a limited view of this, removing even more photons. Even 1080p is often more than the cameras can really do.

IAARP, I Am A Real Physicst

Comment: Propaganda comments (Score 1) 149 149

There seems to be more NSA shills here now, using faulty logic to defend NSA, such as crypto being too slow then, and that it is right to withheld crypto.

The choice of using crypto on the net would have been nice to have back then, for stuff like protecting people, nations, businesses, even if the crypto was slow. So the job of NSA is obviously not to protect USA, but weaken it, and others. There were faster crypto back then, which of course also was weaker, but could have been strengthened by such methods as longer keys and hardware.

Comment: Mathematically impossible (Score 1) 97 97

It is impossible to make a hash function that gives one hash to a set of similar genes, because there will always be too many near ambiguities.
There are however other ways of doing things that behave like hashes. I made the best method for this for fingerprints, so I should be contacted for stuff like this.

Comment: Re:So Don't Convict (Score 1) 441 441

When you're on a jury, you have a duty to both the accused and your nation to consider evidence fairly, within Constitutional constraints. Being prevented from seeing evidence would, to me, be all the reason necessary to give a verdict of 'not guilty.'

Absence of evidence really IS evidence of absence, as proved:

I have not yet begun to byte!