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August 24, 2012

The Library up the Street

Mini libraryNot long ago, a mini library showed up in front of a house a few doors up the street. The little library can be seen in the figure at right. Such neighborhood libraries are part of recent trend I’ve read about, but I was surprised to see one less than a block away.

When I saw the new box next to the sidewalk, I immediately knew what it was, though it did take me a couple of days to investigate. When I got around to examining the library and its contents, a neighbor who was driving by stopped to ask me what the new object was.

My initial scanning of available book titles did not tempt me to take any books. I stopped by at least one other time to look for interesting volumes.

About a week ago, I was looking for something to read and discovered a copy of The Bridges of Madison County lying about. (I’m not sure where this book came from, but I was sure that I had not bought it.) Anyway, I was tired of reading Anglican Communion reports, so the thought of reading a short novel was attractive. I remembered that Bridges had been very popular, but I did not remember why.

A shelf in the library
Bridges tells the romantic story of a brief affair between a National Geographic photographer and a sexually frustrated wife of an Iowa farmer. I enjoyed the book, which had an interesting structure, though I did find some of the dialogue rather unlikely. I suspect that Bridges had more female than male readers.

Having finished Bridges, I had no reason to keep it around, so I decided to head up the street to the new library. I began scanning the shelves, and my eye immediately fell upon a paperback copy of The Phantom Tollbooth. I immediately removed Tollbooth and replaced it with Bridges.

The Phantom Tollbooth is a book dating from 1961 and written for children by Norton Juster. It is illustrated by Jules Feiffer. I had never read it and, until a few weeks ago, had never even heard of it. It was mentioned, perhaps more than once, in interviews on NPR, however. Apparently, the book has been a strong influence on many young readers. The book, which is notable for its clever wordplay likely to be missed by very young readers, is something of a combination of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Lord of the Rings, perhaps with a bit of Pilgrim’s Progress thrown in. It was a quick and enjoyable read.

Now it’s time to take another walk to the library.

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Archive for the ‘me’ Category

I’m Baaaaaaaaaaaack!

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

After a bit of a hiatus (due to my new router ignoring all attempts to persuade it to forward port 80), I have finally brought the blog back up again — by installing the server running it elsewhere.

The Embargo is Lifted

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Now that the person who was not to know about it is safely home, I can finally reveal the home improvement I recently had carried out:

Esse 100 SE

Esse 100 SE

Thing done

Friday, August 28th, 2009

I have had a home improvement carried out.

Unfortunately, it’s meant to be a surprise for someone, so I can’t mention what it is until that person returns from where they are. I can’t even mention who that person is, or where they might be coming back from, in case they are reading this and work out who I mean and what I’ve had done. In fact, I think I’d better stop now.

Knocked Sideways by the ‘Flu

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

I have just recovered from a dose of the ‘flu.

Well, when I say “recovered”, I mean (1) I think I am going to live and (2) I find that outcome desirable.

By the way, anyone thinking of taking Night Nurse for recreational purposes: Just because it contains dextromethorphan, which is an opioid, doesn’t mean it’s any good. It belongs squarely in the NOWTTSFK category — No-One Would Take This Shit For Kicks.

I’d have recommended Benylin 4 Flu, except these ones don’t seem to have the good stuff in them anymore. You can still get the liquid form here and this does have it.

Found Sat-Nav

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

The other day, I found a satellite navigation system in the street, complete with in-car recharger. Sheer merionesian curiosity forced me to switch it on and try it out. Nothing happened, because it was flat out of juice.

I did not have a suitable 12V power supply at work, but fortunately the charger ends in a standard mini-USB connector (like the one on a digital camera) and I was able to charge it from my computer.

Now, this thing belongs to somebody. I shouldn’t just keep it, even though it’s a Tom Tom One and eminently hackable (it’s running Linux underneath). So what am I going to do with it?

Better Late than Never

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Well, my local council have finally got around to including my street in the door-to-door recycling collection scheme. Which they have been promising for about 4 years. Better late than never. I should save a fortune in shoe-l**th*r from not having to make a special trek to the recycling centre every so often.

I have had my blue bin (for cans and bottles) delivered yesterday, along with bags for paper and textiles. The brown bin (for organic matter: kitchen and garden waste and cardboard) should be arriving today.

First recycling collection will be next week, then alternating week-to-week with rubbish collections. It takes me a lot longer than two weeks to fill a rubbish bin, though …..

*** UPDATE *** The brown bin has indeed arrived. Can’t help noticing that it and the blue bin are rather slimmer than my black bin!

And another light!

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

This is the LED cluster light I was thinking of building before I went ahead with the inverter lamp, and have now completed:

24-LED cluster with 14mm. screw fit base

24-LED cluster with 14mm. screw fit base

Stuff that Doesn’t Work

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Behind every great inventor, goes the saying, is a pile of failed experiments. Here I’m going to document some of my cases of finding out the hard way what doesn’t work.

Compiling Kernels on Debian

Friday, April 4th, 2008

You probably know this. But I didn’t, and it took me a lot of swearing and cursing and poking about in murky areas of the Internet and my own file system to discover what was up with it.

Debian has always had a nice system for compiling kernels: from pristine source, you can produce a .deb package, which you can install as normal. Easy. And safe, because no third party has had a chance to muck with it: the source you downloaded came straight from Linus himself.

Only this time, booting stalled with the dreaded Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block error. So what did I do wrong?

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Music from the soul; Kamasi Washington – Truth

An epic 15 minutes of jazz from Kamasi Washington’s soul; “Truth”. I’ve been listening to this on repeat since I heard it yesterday evening on Lefto’s radioshow. So beautiful & moving, so rooted in the past and yet so fresh and timeless!

Watch this video on YouTube.

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How to assemble the HAN Food & Beverage Connector

This video shows how quickly you can assemble the Han food and beverage connector Insert in the Han food and beverage hood/housing. The Han® F+B Insert can be assembled in the Han® F+B without any tools.

  • Specifically designed for the splash zone
  • The special housing design features large  radii and smooth surfaces in keeping with the principles of the EHEDG guidelines.
  • Dirt pockets and the potential bacterial load on the connector have no chance.

Learn more about this range here      Han Food & Beverage Range

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

IT9X beacon

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm very interested in methods of unattended propagation monitoring. It's always interesting to me to know when there has been propagation over a particular path, even if I wasn't around to take advantage of it and make any contacts.

A month ago I discovered that the 2m beacon GB3VHF transmits using JT65B mode, and after leaving my receiver on all day found that it had been copied on several occasions. I wondered whether there were any other beacons that use this mode.

Well, I have found one more. IT9X is an experimental 6m beacon that operates using CW, JT65B and BPSK31 on 50.057MHz. It is located in JM78re grid square. It is operational 24/7 running 10 watts to a loop antenna. Its carrier is locked to a GPS receiver to give a high degree of accuracy. I am listening for it right now.
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Sunday, August 19, 2012

cAPS Lock Anguish!

Several times a week I have been on the brink of writing this. It's time to get it off my chest. I curse whoever it was that decided to place the caps lock key to the left of the A on the keyboard. For what seems like one time in two when I go to type a letter "a" I hit caps lock instead (or as well.) I hAVE USually typed several more letters before I realize my mistake and have to bACKTRack, to the accompaniment of loud cursing.

A couple of decades ago, in the days of MS-DOS, it was possible to write a little program called a TSR (from Terminate and Stay Resident.) This program could intercept your keystrokes and convert them to anything you liked. I wrote one that trapped Shift+3 and turned it into the pound sign instead of the US default hash (#). Microsoft provided a utility called KEYB.COM that could do this but it occupied several K of memory and in those days you counted every byte.

I don't know if that is possible in Windows. But I'd really love a program that could intercept the caps lock key and turn it into an A (or rather, an a) unless you gave it a long press!
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Saturday, October 03, 2009

Presidents Cup Bound

The Duck enjoyed the view from his window seat on his first transcontinental flight ... JAX-DFW-SFO.

When I checked into the Hampton Inn Daly City, I was told I was the "Guest of the Day"! I asked if they said that to everyone but they pointed to the sign below & said no. I got a little gift bag of snacks & fruit. AWESOME location ... 3 miles from the course & I passed a Starbucks on the way. It doesn't get any better than that!

mmmmm ... sourdough!

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Camper van expansion with igus® linear technology

Custom-Bus Camping Vans based at Langenhagen, Germany customises camper vans, RVs, motor homes and can now turn Volkswagen T6 vans into offices.

One of their customer built models contains a kitchen box. The handle-free system has sink, stove extractor, freezer compartment and storage space and weighs about 35 kg. The ‘Business’ version replaces the kitchen with an office system that weighs around 15 kg and contains everything a mobile office needs. However their is a special feature: each box moves via a sliding unit integrated in the furniture and removed easily.

In the search for suitable sliding elements, Craig Kammeyer assessed many linear systems. “They have to be lubricated,” explains Craig Kammeyer. “Over time dirt will stick to the lubricant, which would impair the smoothness of the sliding system. In addition, these systems are expensive and do not fit well into the filigree construction of the interior. igus® drylin® W linear systems solve all these problems.”

Between the rail, which is made of hard anodised aluminium, and the carriage there is a bearing surface of abrasion-resistant iglidur® plastic, which provides excellent results in terms of friction and wear. Solid dry lubricants are incorporated within in the material. This means that the bearings provide the long-term, maintenance-free dry operation and meets the required service life of at least 15 years.

From high load to high temperature: individual parts from 50 iglidur® materials available within 2-5 days

With custom-made 3D-printed injection moulding tools, igus® offers designers a new possibility to produce self-lubricating and maintenance-free parts and small batches. Engineers can now choose from the entire range of 50 iglidur® high-performance plastics, including specialists for high load, food contact, underwater or high temperature applications, with delivery within 5 days of order.

Injection-moulded, 3D-printed or machined from bar stock – the motion plastics specialist igus® offers engineers a wide range of possibilities to obtain their self-lubricating parts, such as gears or plain bearings quickly and cost-effectively. igus® also offers the possibility to solve difficult technical challenges quickly by means of a 3D-printed mould – and now with all tried and tested iglidur® materials.

“Since the production of injection moulds made of steel is comparatively expensive, takes longer and is only feasible in the production of large quantities, special tribo solutions can be produced with a printed mould within 2 to 5 days with up to 80 percent cost savings in production and further, even small quantities can be produced,” says Robert Dumayne, dry-tech® director, igus. “A new process for the production of printed injection moulding tools now allows igus to make even more precise and long-lasting products.”

The material selection of the moulded part determines the material and the manufacturing process of the printed mould. “From an availability of 50 tribologically optimised and online configurable iglidur® materials, designers are free to choose the right material for their special part,” continues Dumayne. “For example, iglidur® G is an all-rounder, whereas iglidur® X is for long-term application temperatures of up to 250°C.”

Depending on the material chosen for injection moulding, the mould is either SLA or SLS printed and then used immediately in the injection-moulding machine. Thus, parts are ready for shipment within a few days. The material structure of the printed injection mould ensures that it can withstand the high temperatures during injection moulding, which means that one mould can produce prototypes and small batches up to 500 pieces cost-effectively and quickly.

“The production of special tribo-parts by means of printed injection moulding tools is particularly advantageous if the desired material cannot be processed in the 3D printer or when the parts are used for a test that is intended to simulate as close as possible conditions for a later mass production,” explains Dumayne. “We have moulded over 2,000 moving parts already, using printed injection moulding tools.”

For more information, please contact igus on or call igus directly on 01604 677240.

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Switching Language Service Providers? 5 Steps for a Smooth Transition

Posted by Lulu Sanchez on November 6, 2017

You’ve done your homework on switching language service providers and feel confident you’ve chosen the right one. Now it’s time to sit back and trust them to take it from here, right?

Not quite.

Yes, most of the legwork is behind you, but it’s important to stay involved so you can ensure a successful transition with minimal impact on your staff and those you serve. Going through the exercise of thinking about language access as a whole with all the details that go into a smooth set-up and transition will enable you to have a more clear and structured program.

Here are the five most important factors to consider as you switch language service providers:

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Switching Language Service Providers? How to Choose the Right Alternative

Posted by Lulu Sanchez on October 27, 2017

The bad news is your language service provider isn’t right for you anymore.

Now the good news: You have an opportunity to start fresh with a new provider. And, if you do it right, you can make the switch seamlessly, without impacting the individuals you serve or inconveniencing your staff. Before making the switch, here are five steps you should take to ensure you select and transition to the right provider.

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Why Price Can Be Misleading When Comparing Language Service Providers

Posted by Simon Yoxon-Grant on October 23, 2017

Price is obviously one of the biggest factors when making a business decision. But when choosing a language service provider (LSP), there is more to price than meets the eye.

A bargain isn’t really a bargain if it means compromising on quality or security. And with so much on the line, selecting the wrong LSP based on price alone can have expensive consequences. This can include lawsuits, a negative reputation for your organization, and even a loss of life in some cases.

These are the three most important themes when comparing price:

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How Quality and Security Are Ensured With Remote Interpreters

Posted by Jeff Cordell on October 5, 2017

Imagine you’re a sales manager at a telecommunications retailer that just rolled out the latest and greatest smartphone. A family of four has come into the store to upgrade their phones, a sale equal to well over $1,000. However, the family only speaks Vietnamese, a language that’s not common in your region.

Fortunately, you can use a mobile app to connect with an interpreter in less than a minute. While you explain the features and benefits of the newest model, the interpreter relays the information to the family in Vietnamese, and in turn relays their questions to you. The interpreter does all of this securely from a remote office, hundreds of miles away.

Language-access clients love the idea that their customers, patients, and citizens have near-instant access to interpretation in a constellation of 240-plus languages, but they wonder about security. Is the private and personal information that is exchanged during these calls as secure as it would be if the interpreter was sitting in a brick-and-mortar call center? Furthermore, how can the quality of these remote workers be assured?

We can’t speak for all providers of language solutions, but this is how LanguageLine reconciles these issues:

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4 Ways Government Agencies Can Maximize Their Investment in Language Services

Posted by Greg Holt on May 17, 2017

The Arizona court system had an expensive problem. The state’s 15 counties cover 114,000 square miles, but well over half its interpreters resided in just one county. Arizona has a large number of residents with limited English proficiency, which meant the state often had to pay interpreters to travel a significant distance to hear court cases.

If hearings were postponed, interpreters still had to be paid for their time – a minimum of two hours, plus travel expenses. The court also had to delay hearings if no interpreter was available. The state found a more efficient and cost-effective solution by installing video conferencing technology in nine courtrooms. Although Arizona still uses on-site interpreters for many of its court cases, video technology gives the state another option when interpreters are unavailable. This has allowed the state to maximize its investment in language services while keeping costs to a minimum.

It’s a universal goal for organizations, whether they operate in a courtroom or any agency that serves the public. Here are four ways agencies can make every dollar go further.

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Part II: 4 More Population Trends Shaping Language Services

Posted by Patti Geye on January 24, 2017

We recently shared some fascinating statistics on the changing faces and languages of the United States.

For instance, it’s no surprise that California and Texas have the largest Hispanic populations, but did you know that North Dakota has the fastest-growing Hispanic population?

In this next post, we’ll explore what other ways our country’s population is shifting and how those changes are impacting the most commonly spoken languages.

Here are four more population trends that may cause you to re-evaluate the language services your organization offers.

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4 Population Trends Shaping Language Services in 2017

Posted by Patti Geye on January 20, 2017

As the great Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, the only thing that is constant is change. The diverse population of our world and our country is continually shifting, sometimes rapidly and sometimes so slowly it’s imperceptible.

These population shifts impact the needs of the people you serve, so being aware of them can help you stay prepared.

Here are four population trends you should have on your radar in the coming year and beyond.

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Are You Maximizing Your Investment in Language Services?

Posted by Simon Yoxon-Grant on January 18, 2017

Signing an agreement with a language services provider is a big step toward making your organization more accessible for everyone, but it’s not enough.

Merely having services available will not improve the patient experience or guard against lawsuits unless you are using those services to their full potential and the people you serve know how to access them.

Language access isn’t just a box to be checked; it’s a long-term commitment and an investment. Here are four ways to ensure you get the best return on that investment.

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How to Spot High-Quality Language Interpreters

Posted by Simon Yoxon-Grant on January 6, 2017

Never underestimate the power of a quality language interpreter.

Interpreters bring clarity in the midst of confusion. They diffuse tense situations and even help medical professionals save lives.

The language interpreters your organization uses become your representatives. Ensuring the quality of your interpreters is essential, whether you are training in-house staff or hiring a provider. How can you be sure that you are using a high-quality language interpreter who will represent you well?

We recommend you look for these six indicators:

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Should You Use Phone, Onsite, or Video Remote Interpreting?

Posted by The LanguageLine Solutions Team on December 23, 2016

Having more options than at any other time in history is generally a good thing, but the “paradox of choice” has a tendency to paralyze us. (As the famous jam study illustrated, consumers were much more likely to buy a jar of jam when they saw only six options, compared to 24.)

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5 easy ways to stay a popular car sharer

Ratings - positive, neutral, negative
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Sharing a car journey can cut down on your petrol bill, the emissions your travel produces, and can help you meet some great new people. Once you’ve liftshared once, it’ll no doubt be something you want to do again – but how can you make sure you stay a liftsharer of choice and rack up some positive ratings? Easy. There’s lots you can do with very little effort.

1. Clear, concise, timely messaging

Arranging to car share can be the most stressful part of the experience, especially if anyone involved is a Liftshare ‘first timer’. Make sure you’re clear and concise in your messages so there’s no room for misunderstanding and you’re all on the same page. It’s also advisable to message others back as soon as you are able – they may be relying on your response to make plans.

2. Be on time

It seems a really basic courtesy to mention, but we’re often approached by Liftshare members who worry that others will make them late. If you’ve agreed to meet at a certain time, make sure you’re there and ready to go! If you are delayed for whatever reason, you can phone/text your sharer/s, or message them on the Liftshare Companion App (download it now on the App Store and Google Play).

3. Drivers – Drive a little more carefully than usual

Another really easy way to stay top of the liftsharing game if you’re a driver – stay steady! If you know you can be a bit speedy, or a little quick to temper when on the road, rein it in a little and let chatting to your passenger/s take the stress out of the ride. Having more eyes in the car helps flag up any issues quicker, and being able to talk along the way can relax you.

4. Passengers – Pay promptly

We’ve all been there – handling cash can be awkward around strangers. Be sure to have the right amount of cash on you for the agreed price, and don’t assume drivers will have change; after all, they’re not professionals. It’s up to you if you pay at the beginning or end of the journey, but don’t forget! If it’s a one-off, it could be difficult to get money to the driver afterwards.

If drivers accept it, you can pay online through the Liftshare system. In this case, you pay in advance and payment is transferred to the driver either:

  • when they input a payment code, given to them by the passenger when the lift has happened;
  • automatically, 72 hours after the lift was scheduled to have taken place.

If you’ve remembered it, messaging or texting the code to the driver as soon as you can after the lift is a great way to help them receive payment faster.

5. Leave feedback

Show how much you’ve appreciated your trip by leaving a prompt, honest review and star rating. These are the same are feedback ratings on sites such as eBay, and help other members choose who to share with in future. You can leave feedback easily on the Liftshare site for anyone you’ve communicated with through the system.

So, there you have it. Small, easy ways to make sure you’re a 5 star model liftsharer. Keep up the good behaviour!

List your spare seats or look for a lift on Liftshare now.

Author Lex Barber

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Protect Your Brand! Fight The Faux

Posted on 7/5/12 11:00 PM

The word is out; shrink is down to an all time low of $34.6 Billion.  Credit it to good policy, strong operations and an investment by senior management in an ‘asset protection culture’. However, as LP professionals we know we still have to hold the line on loss and profitability within our own organization – but if you are in the same boat as the majority of respondents to the 2011 National Retail Survey, you might be wondering where you should be focusing your time to get the most ROI from your contribution.

What is the biggest threat to an organization in today’s competitive retail market? Ask a retail investor, such as Bain, GE, Black Rock, and they will likely tell you that loss of brand identity will kill sales and erode profitability quicker than an LP Executive can say W-Z, PTZ or ORC.  When a retailer loses brand identity and profitability erodes – it is the CEO and the executive sales organization that get tossed out just before the ship hits the rocks and everybody goes down. It is a story we’ve heard hundreds of times – a great LP program, but senior sales executives couldn’t get the job done – right?

What are the brand threats to your business? As a loss prevention professional can you play a measurable role in reducing the threat?  I would suggest, based on the sheer size of the problem and the nature of today’s retailer, that counterfeiting is a high risk area that needs LP focus. The sheer size of the problem is staggering – and it is estimated that the problem is growing exponentially.

merchandiseIn NYC alone there are $23 billion dollars of counterfeit watches, hand bags and DVDs sold every year. Within the United States the value of counterfeit merchandise is estimated at $225 Billion dollars. It almost makes the $34 billion dollar shrink problem look quaint.

Counterfeiting is the practice of manufacturing goods, often of inferior quality, and selling them under a brand name without the brand owner’s authorization. Many well-known brands are victims of counterfeiting. Counterfeits can be found in street vendor stalls as well as legitimate-looking stores. Many stores selling counterfeits have become well organized and established so as to imitate a store selling legitimate products. Counterfeit merchandise is now often sold online creating more opportunities to dupe consumers into thinking they are buying genuine goods at discounted prices.

Counterfeiting damages brand owners’ reputations and lowers consumer confidence in the affected brands. Counterfeiting also damages brand owners and retailers selling legitimate products by causing missed sales opportunities and actual job losses by manufacturers and retailers.

What actions can be taken by LP Professionals? I read some years ago that Oakley had a team parked inIndonesiaor some such place busting counterfeiters. And yes, they were also getting shot at – so that might not be the best plan for most of us.

Unfortunately there probably isn’t one right answer to fit all situations. But if I had to guess, if you are an LP Professional working for a Brand-Centric retailer, it is an answer worth looking for.

Written by John Fice, CFI - COO of LP Innovations

Does your team handle counterfeiting as a role within your LP department?

What are some of the initiatives you find successful to prevent counterfiet merchandise with your brand?

Topics: Loss Prevention program and development

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The MacNair Travel Leadership Blog

How to Navigate Complex Supplier Pricing

Posted by Mike MacNair on Apr 5, 2016 12:00:00 PM

How to Navigate Complex Supplier PricingThe corporate travel supplier relationship is an essential piece of your business’ corporate travel management program. Without their expertise and knowledge of travel options and best practices, your travel program would be in chaos, creating increased travel anarchy and wasted productivity from travelling employees working to book travel without proper guidance.

Increases in hotel and airfare rates, combined with additional ancillary fees sometimes “hidden” within the supplier’s overall travel costs, presents a challenge for your organization’s finance department and procurement specialists. The negotiation and management of the corporate supplier relationship is complex; yet taking the time to learn about the options available for your business travelers will decrease travel spend, increase overall travel compliance and provide predictability in managing the ever-changing travel and entertainment (T&E) line item within your business.

Reasons for Complex Supplier Pricing

Within the corporate travel management business, it seems as though there is a constant tug-of-war going on between what your travelers want and expect while travelling, and what travel solutions best meet the needs of your business. Travelers may have a certain comfort level with an airline carrier that isn’t in your business’ top list of vendors; a specific hotel chain provides your business with deep discounts, yet travelers provide feedback stating that a competitor is offering them an even better price. Ultimately, travel vendors want to secure your traveler’s business and ensuing loyalty by offering pricing and perks that best meet their needs, not necessarily the needs of your business.

The largest spend within your overall travel budget is airfare expense. Airlines present a myriad of complexity that leads to challenging and time-consuming negotiations with multiple vendors. Yet navigating through the complexities and developing a solid relationship with vendors will allow you to obtain the absolute best price. What makes airline pricing so complex?

  • Airfare is constantly changing based on actual and forecasted demand, and competition. National and global travel is increasing, and with that the demand for flights. Smaller carriers are taking advantage of increased demand as well. Competition, demand and airline profitability needs result in a constantly changing rate structure that wreaks havoc for your T&E line item.
  • Airlines use multiple tactics to entice travelers to spend even more money with them. Loyalty programs create incentives for travelers to stay with their personally-preferred carrier versus the business-preferred carrier. Extra earned mileage and status upgrades motivate employees to purchase potentially higher-priced tickets.
  • Perceived “comfort” item fees and other ancillary fees are included within airline ticket pricing, preventing full pricing transparency. Priority boarding, preferred seating and security lines, in-flight upgrades and extra frequent flyer miles are positioned as part of the full ticket price, and are not transparent to the SME buyer.

Adding to this complexity is the availability of pricing information across multiple channels such as airline websites, online agencies and tour operators. Accessibility to this information can provide a sense of empowerment to your road warriors, but does not account for hard-earned negotiated discounts with your business’ travel vendors.

Supplier pricing approach and what to look out for

Travel suppliers are earning record profits because of increased corporate travel. Even with relatively flat increases in airfare, the 2016 Global Travel Price Outlook states that “Ancillary fees remain a growing source of revenue, representing 6.7% of global airline revenue in 2014.” Airlines are earning these profits from your travelers, increasing your overall travel spend, yet your travel manager and/or finance department may not even realize this trend because of the complex way airlines price their tickets.

To mitigate the potential for your travelers to ignore your travel policy compliance and in turn, jeopardize supplier negotiations, pay attention to the following:

  • Travelers consistently taking the same airlines and/or flights in markets with significant competition
  • After-the-sale charges from airlines, hotels and rental car agencies
  • Expense reports turned in well after the purchase (an automated travel and expense reporting solution would virtually eliminate this possibility)
  • Purchases from airline web sites

It’s critical that you consistently track and manage your road warriors’ compliance or non-compliance to your business’ travel policy. As you assess policy compliance, gather feedback from your travelers on their travel tendencies and/or reaction to special offers from travel vendors, so you can accurately obtain the critical information needed to navigate the complexities that come with supplier negotiation.

Tips for analyzing and negotiating supplier pricing

The complexities that are inherent with supplier negotiations can be effectively managed to create the most cost-effective and well-rounded option for your business and your road warriors. The following tips will help you successfully navigate this important relationship.

  • Understand your business’ travel needs.

Before your take to the phones, be sure to understand the travel needs of your business and your travelers. It’s important to consider pricing, but additional items like seat or suite upgrades, maximum travel times and class of service requirements, for example, allow some negotiating power while keeping business and traveler needs in mind.

  • Spot check airfares as close to the time of purchase as possible.

Checking airfare options at or around purchase will help you effectively analyze if your SME is getting the best value from airlines, providing pricing comparison data.

  • Use benchmarked data to analyze price.

Information on pricing trends is available through your travel management company (TMC) or online through web sites like Topaz International. Utilizing this data will provide insight into best pricing practices.

  • Ask for documentation on after-sale purchases to include the service purchased.

When analyzing purchase receipts, be sure your travel vendors provide accurate information regarding after-sale purchases. This will provide a more realistic view of the full services purchased.

  • Ask for documentation on the initial sale that will include an “up-sells.”

To accurately assess price, it’s important to know the possible options that your business and/or travelling employees will have to spend additional dollars. This documentation will add to the full matrix of potential expenses and in turn help with analyzing supplier price.

After you’ve gained a good understanding of what price(s) to expect, you’re ready to begin the negotiation process with your travel suppliers. The following tips will enable more effective negotiation to help you get the absolute best prices.

  • Start with who you know.

If there are vendors that you’ve already worked with somewhat consistently, speak to them first. Their knowledge of your business and established relationship will be advantageous to you in reaching the best price for services.

  • Take advantage of airline SME programs to gain data and benefits.

Programs like American Airlines Business Extras and United Perks Plus cater specifically to SME’s looking to control their travel spend. Research and enroll in the program that best fits your business’ travel needs, paying close attention to the offered travel discounts. Communicate these benefits to your road warriors and then track which “perks” are used most often by your travelers. This collected data can then be used for future negotiation.

  • Identify key markets by travel volume and spend.

Are there areas that your road warriors travel to on a regular basis? Is there a certain time of the year that requires a higher volume of travel? Through accurate data assessment, this information (and much more) can be vetted, analyzed and used to effectively negotiate supplier price. Data collection and utilization regarding travel spend can significantly reduce your T&E budget line item.

  • Learn what can and cannot be negotiated by partnering with a TMC.

A TMC can provide invaluable information and advice regarding the complexities of and best practices regarding supplier pricing. Businesses who work with a TMC realize a 10-20% savings in their overall travel and entertainment expense.

Navigating through the complexities of supplier pricing, while challenging, can create a significant reduction in your T&E expenses. Balancing the needs of your travelling employees with the best budget options for your business will provide travel policy compliance, control over budget and ensure overall travel spend savings.

Do you have advice on how to navigate through the complexities of gaining the best price from your travel suppliers? Please share your comments below.

For additional information on reducing overall travel costs, download Taming Travel Costs with a Fare and Fee Approach or give us a call.

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Topics: T&E, Fare and Fee


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Irish Stew, anyone?

March 14, 2012 / by Mango Languages

Looking for the perfect meal to accompany your whiskey on St. Patrick's day? Learn to order Irish Stew with Mango's Irish course!

Want to learn more? Mango Languages is available online at thousands of libraries across North America. Find Mango near you!

Topics: Language Learning and Culture

Mango Languages

Written by Mango Languages

Deliciously simple language and culture learning.

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Managing Food Restrictions Abroad

April 6, 2016 / by Lindsay Mullen

food restrictions

Food allergies and restrictions have been the bane of every traveler’s existence since the beginning of time. While easily navigated stateside, food restrictions can often be an unwelcomed nuisance that can foil even the most carefully laid food excursions abroad—if your assignees are unprepared.

While employees with food restrictions may be nervous to relocate to a world of foreign menus and food items, there’s no reason your assignee can’t safely pick up groceries for their weekly dinners (and even a few new vocabulary words in the process!). Here are three tips for your assignees who may need to think outside the 良好 (bun).

Navigating Menus

Going to unfamiliar restaurants can be an ordeal for anyone with food allergies. Oftentimes waiters don’t know the allergen contents of food and he or she must have several conversations with the chef to make sure their food is safe for consumption. For assignees abroad, this can add even more headaches because getting translations of ingredients from waiters who may not speak fluent English can prove to be difficult.

In order to prevent misunderstandings, provide your assignees with language-learning resources prior to their departure. There’s no reason for your assignee to have to completely learn a new language prior to departure (just kidding, here’s three), but having a basic understanding of important words—especially their allergies—will be crucial for your assignee to succeed (and spend less time feeling ill).

For assignees in Portugal that may mean being able to say Estou sem glúten intolerantes (or I am gluten intolerant) or Não, realmente - estou intolerantes ao glúten (or no, really--I am gluten intolerant) to ward off those more persistent waiters. For the tricky Scandinavian languages, learning the correct pronunciation will be the true key to the safety of your assignees. Fortunately, there’s a language-learning software that provides pronunciation helpers and voice comparison technology for your assignees to perfect their accent (Hint: it’s us).

The Grocery Store

While navigating menus is important for food connoisseurs of the world, knowing how to navigate a foreign grocery store is crucial for any assignee who values a home-cooked meal. However, foreign phrases and different packaging can be difficult to interpret: lactose intolerant assignees may learn this the hard way after they first purchase wienerbrød med mælk (or pastries with milk in Denmark) at their local food market.

Offer your assignees a language-learning course before their assignment, with an option to continue during their trip, so that they can learn to recognize potentially dangerous foods. While some foods like tôm caramel Vietnamese (or Vietnamese caramelized shrimp) will spark an obvious fear in assignees with a shellfish allergy, they still don’t want to risk being fooled by a shrimp in sheep’s clothing with foreign packaging.

The good news is many common food allergies won’t be a problem abroad. While foods stateside have preservatives with hidden ingredients (think citrus and soy allergies), many destinations abroad don’t believe in preservatives, allowing your assignees to take a deep bite of relief into that delicious tartaletas de mango (or Mango tart) in Argentina.

Food restrictions don’t have to hinder your assignees experience abroad as long as they plan ahead. For more tips and tricks for your assignees, take a look at the HR Manager’s Toolkit.

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Topics: Corporate

Lindsay Mullen

Written by Lindsay Mullen

Lindsay Mullen is CEO of Prosper Strategies, working behind the scenes to support the Mango team's world of lovable language learning. A language aficionado herself, Lindsay oversees a team of marketers fluent in public relations, content development and strategy (and they speak some German, French, Spanish and Chinese as well.)

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Posted by & filed under news from industry.

Women, Learn to Deal with Loose Bowel Leakage It may not be usually discussed among friends and family members, but loose bowel leakage is very real and, in fact, common. It affects millions of Americans, and it is most typical among women. Loose bowel leakage (LBL) is defined as the uncontrollable release of feces or stools from the rectum.

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Royal Room

Summer Offer at Hotel Savi Regency, Jaipur

SUMMER OFF SEASON OFFER at Hotel Savi Regency, Jaipur

This Summer book a room with Hotel Savi Regency, Jaipur before 15 July 2017 and get a FREE ROOM UPGRADE, absolutely at no additional cost. An amazing offer to bring smile on your face.

Hotel Savi Regency

Hotel Savi Regency – best business hotel in the town

Buy Now!

Book a room at Hotel Savi Regency, Jaipur with us this SUMMER from our website / online travel agents / offline travel agents / directly at hotel. To get FREE ROOM UPGRADE just SMS the code “UPGRADE” along with you booking id/no to 9829011692 and get a free upgrade absolutely free. REMEMBER the SMS should be like “UPGRADE <booking id/no>” with a space between upgrade and booking id/no.

Kindly note that FREE ROOM UPGRADE is subject to availability. This offer cannot be clubbed with any other offer.

Royal Room

Luxury n comfort in your budget

Buy Now!

Book before 15th July 2017 to avail the offer. Stay period should be between 10th May 2017 to 10th August 2017.

Hotel Savi Regency with well furnished 25 rooms is one of the best among all budget and economic business hotels in Jaipur, an ultimate place to stay while you visit Jaipur. We are recommended by more than 85% on tripadvisor and holidayiq. It not only provides spacious, attractive and well-decorated rooms but also has excellent recreational as well as business amenities and much more, so staying with us makes the stay of our guests extremely pleasurable and more importantly in their budget. The hotel, thus gives you a Star Comfort and Budget Stay in Economic Range in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Being near to the construction market – New Aatish Market and near to the metro station makes us a preferable choice by many business clients as well as leisure clients.


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Heard of Deputy?

Simplify management of staff timesheets and payroll through ServiceM8’s integration with Deputy – an employee scheduling and people management software platform.

Cloud accounting: 7 reasons to make the change

When it comes to managing the finances, a lot of small businesses are using dated accounting software, a system of spreadsheets, or relying heavily on their bookkeeper. Cloud accounting has well and truly arrived, and if you haven’t already, you should be looking into how this simple and easy-to-use technology can help you and your business.

‘We Use ServiceM8’: two easy ways to show you care about great service

People judge books by their covers, particularly in a business context, so don’t underestimate the power of professional conduct and presentation – it’s part of your brand, and it might sometimes be the only thing separating you from your competitors. Use our ‘We Use ServiceM8’ webpage and stickers to build on your business image and emphasize to your customers that you care about great service.

Boost cashflow with Mobile Payments

Cashflow is the lifeblood of every small business. Small business operators need to be paid as close to the completion of a job as possible.

Chasing unpaid invoices can end up costing more than a job is worth in labour. For many businesses, chasing payments is put off until cash is needed to pay bills or staff wages, as they are too snowed under with current work. Generally, the owner cries “How can we not have enough money? We’re so busy!”

7 reasons to collect customer feedback

Providing a consistent quality service to your customers is essential if you want your business to grow and succeed. As your business grows it is impossible for you to personally check the quality of all work.

While collecting feedback cannot prevent one of your customers from having a bad experience from an unhappy staff member, unsatisfactory work, miscommunication, etc. It can highlight an issue before it has a chance to do long term damage your business.

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Have we gone native?

In case you missed it, the UK temperature record was broken yesterday with temperatures reaching 38.1° Celsius in Gravesend, East of London.

Holly and I really felt the heat. Back in Oz, we wouldn't be too worried about such temperatures, though we would have fans and air-conditioned workplaces to make life a bit more bearable. Over here, buying a fan would be a bit of a luxury, considering it's only needed for a few weeks a year.

There are, I guess, some other factors. The air was very still for most of yesterday, no cooling breezes. In Sydney, we expect a spectacular afternoon storm on a hot day. That doesn't often happen in London.

Still, the fact that we're really feeling the heat can't help but remind me that we've been here quite a while now. Mabye we're getting used to the weather? Well I sure hope it gets cooler in the South of France by September or we'll be melting.


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IBM PSU not standard

System board connections of IBM Intellistation M Pro Type 6233 and 6850

Following advice from Graeme and Grant, I bought and tried out an ordinary ATX PSU to solve my PSU problem but unfortunately it hasn't worked out. It fits in reasonably well, with three of the screws able to go in, and only a small gap, but it's not got what I need.

The IBM system has two additional "AUX" power connectors, with eight and ten pins each. But standard ATX PSUs only have a single AUX connector, with only four pins.

Fortunately Adelong Computers have a 7 day return policy, so I can take the PSU back in on Monday. I'll take the IBM PSU in with me and see what they can suggest.


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Starboard Commercial Real Estate

Hans Hansson | April 30, 2010

Do you remember being a kid in the 6th grade, looking at the clock and wondering - when lunchtime would ever come? Then at 2pm asking - when the day would ever end? It seems like minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days. Well, that changes when you hit 50, all of the sudden everything reverses itself. Weeks feel like hours and days feel like minutes. You push even harder, which means taking on more activity to fill your sales pipeline.

At the beginning of the year you should have created a business plan for yourself. That business plan should have benchmarks built in to it that would allow you to measure your results. If you have such a plan, my question is how did you do?

Like most people, we are enthusiastic of the coming year. We all like to develop our New Year's resolutions and we seem eager this year to actually accomplish them. Unfortunately, most of us do not put these resolutions down in writing or if we do, we never bother to look at these resolutions again and read what we hope to accomplish.

Change is never easy. Most sales trainers will say that in order to initiate change, you must have pain. Yet in this very tough economy, we see more people who actually have pain, which would rather deny they have it, than actually try to do something about it.

I have many friends today that are my age and out of work. They have all held high positions and you would think know better than to keep trying to do the same things, but they don't; instead you see them more or less give up in their job search. I also see these same friends make very few changes in their life style - which only will lead to a very unhappy situation sooner than later.

Today more than ever, you need to evaluate how you are doing regularly. You need to review your business plan to see and evaluate those things that are working and those that are not. If it is not working for you, you may have to consider drastic measures to meet your goals including - possibly reinventing yourself.

That does not necessarily mean leaving your current business or employment, but consider approaching your daily business in a totally different way. If you are not sure how to do this - look to people you know, who are in your field or a similar field, that do seem to be successful in this market and ask them. Study them, find out why it is working for them - then redraw that business plan and commit to changing. Review that plan at the end of each week and don't allow yourself to delay implementation of it. If you missed something this week, calendar that task early the following week.

If you are slipping and things look dismal, you have a choice. Work harder and longer, smarter and more determined, willing to change and try new things - or you can put your head in the sand and hope things improve when you decide to pull it out.
Posted 9 years, 3 months ago on April 30, 2010
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Re: End of the 1st Quarter - So How Did You Do
The first quarter of 2010 was not beneficial for world economy because the major issues are still pending and financial crisis is looking to its end no one can overcome its effects.
The ratio of unemployment is increased and this quarter was full with uncertainties like previous year.

2010/05/11 by Commercial Properties wwwReply
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Visit our website: www.thecatskillfarms.com

Don't miss our fun Video Series

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Crazy Business

We deal with a lot of money, many times the biggest expenditure of someone's life, so lots of funny things happen along the way, but by in large, things go pretty well.  We are probably pushing $100m in transactions by now.

But sometimes people just really lose control of themselves. like this client who claims we 'took a door' from his house, and now is going to invest hundreds of manhours calling all my clients, most of whom I have zero business with anymore.  And call the police.  I'll keep his name out of it just cause I'm a nice guy.

"So  - assume that you do not have tje intention to return the items taken
Will notify the authorities
Also we obtained at county today a  list of all properties sold by Catskill Farms as well as the permits you filed  ( if any)
Nevertheless, We will start calling them asking for our door since we assume you use this for another project
Once concluded in Sullivan, we will extend the search to other countries,
Rest assure we will continue until we find it

Your blog and website is giving us valuable information about each property"

I mean, seriously.  I guess if you're a client you might get a call looking a door.  If you have it, give it back please.

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Organism vs. Mechanism: Science at the Lagrangian Divide

The Lagrangian equations are a powerful set of differential expressions describing the motion of a complex system.  With one equation for each component of the system, they would seem to offer a powerful expression of the relation of part to whole.

They are, however, seriously ambivalent: they can be read in either of two opposite ways. They present, then, a stark problem for the art of interpretation, the highest branch of rhetoric, as it comes from Augustine to Bacon and Newton.  The same statement becomes a watershed; it may belong to one world, or its opposite – but not both.  Each is a containing frame, within which we picture, and live, our lives

Read in one way – the way most common today – they are seen as derived from Newton’s laws of motion, and thus adding nothing fundamentally new. From this perspective, they merely rephrase Newton in terms of the concept of energy, a mathematical convenience in certain circumstances but making no fundamental change in our understanding of the natural world. In this interpretation, they express what we today call mechanism, which sees the motion of any system as the mere aggregation of the motions of its individual parts. Causality flows upward; motions of the parts explain the motion of the whole.

Seen from the other side of the Lagrangian watershed, however, the same equations express a world of a totally different sort. Here, the same equations are derived from the Principle of Least Action – a concept which readers may recognize as one of the recurring themes of this website.  The system itself as a whole, described in terms of potential and kinetic energy, becomes the primary reality and the source of the motions of the parts. Causality arises from the  interplay of these energies, and flows in the reverse direction, from whole to part.

Within the world of mechanism – the first interpretation – there is no place for goalor purpose. These are concepts considered far too vague to meet the standard of objectivity, the signature of modern science.

Remarkably, however, Least Action reconciles purpose with quantitative objectivity. By means of the mathematical technique of variation, which considers all possible paths, this principle seeks the optimum path by which potential energy may, over he whole course of any natural motion, be transformed to kinetic. In this interpretation of Lagrange, then, our world-view is transformed. Science itself, while remaining strictly objective and quantitative, becomes at the same time goal-oriented – all at once!

More than this, however, science on the Least Action side of the Lagrangian divide becomes, at last, fundamentally organic. This arises from a further, crucial feature of Least Action: if a system as a whole moves in such a way as to minimize action,so also will, within the bounds of external constraints, every part of that system. The goal which belongs primarily to the whole, is pervasive: it is shared by every part.

It was important in stating this principle to add “within given constraints”, because a rigid part of a man-made machine has few options. By contrast, the myriad components of a leaf, or of a cell or enzyme within the system of a leaf, navigate among unimaginable options toward the common goal of turning sunlight into life, over the season of the leaf, the life of the tree, or the evolution of photosynthesis on earth.

It is this community of purpose, nested and shared, which renders a system trulyorganic – a living being, something fundamentally beyond any bio-molecular mechanism, however intricate.

It is hardly necessary to add that it is this sense of nested purpose and shared membership in natural communities which has been so lacking during the long reign of mechanism. Our so strongly-held worldview has diverted us from that other option, which has nonetheless long formed a strong alternative flow of thought and practice in science, mathematics, politics and the arts. Now in many ways, not least the earth’s biosphere itself, the demand is upon us to recognize that we do have an option of immense importance. Viewing this whole scene now, we might say, from the Lagrangian ridge-line itself, with both worldviews clearly in view, our task is truly dialectical: leaving none of the insights of the past behind, we are in a position to move forward into a new, far richer and wiser world.

That new world-view, which has appeared here as a richer interpretation of Lagrange’s equations, is the ongoing theme of this website – always with an eye to Maxwell’s turn to Lagrange as mathematical vehicle for the launch of his concept of the electromagnetic field, paradigm, if ever there was one, of that whole system of which we have been speaking.

[A brief introcution to the Principle of Least Action is given in my lecture, “The Dialectical Laboratory” .

It is important to add that in this thumbnail sketch, many nuances of the application of Least Action have been left without mention]

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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Children's Book Page Ornament Craft - DIY Tutorial

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  I am so happy you are here and that you are interested in these sweet and simple Child DIY ornaments.I thought I would type this up and share it encase your not local and you missed my Children's Ornament Workshop at +Books on Broad here in +Camden SC. I want to invite you to follow my blog on one of the sign ups over in the right hand column.  I hope you and your kids have a fantastic time making them. Enjoy!

  • an old book you can tear pages from
  • dollar Store gift tags
  • glue
  • twine
  • Optional: Plastic glittered ornaments

Step 1: Tear two pages from an old book and fold each of the pages in an accordion fold short length

Step 2: Glue the last flap of the accordion fold to the last flap on the other page to make one long accordion folded piece of paper.

Step 3: Gather up the paper to be held in one hand and fold in half to find the center.

Step 4: Tie a 12" string around the center. and glue the string inside the connection between the two ends of the accordion fold. Glue other side to create a circle.

Step 5: Glue a decorative Christmas tag on the front and on the back glue a piece of paper with your child's name and year written on it in their own handwriting.

NOTE: to make the larger one in the photo use 4 pages and accordion fold them the long way glue them edge to edge like in step 2 and continue through step 5 possibly adding the plastic glittered ornament under your gift tag.

Thank you all for joining me and if you make this wonderful holiday ornament for yourself or with your children please share with me in the comments below.

2014 Book Page Holiday Creations:

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Facebook: Uniquely Grace
Twitter: Grace Lauer Artist @gracelauer
Instagram: @gracelauer_henna_artist
Pinterest: L. Grace Lauer


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Tagged with " Nancy Carr"

Nancy Carr

Feb 18, 2011 by     Comments Off on Nancy Carr    Posted under: Uncategorized

In today’s high tech world, you can work for years with someone and never share the same zip code as they do. But with emails, and phone calls, and Facebook and Twitter…the person you have never laid eyes on is still someone who has a place in your life. They’re a individual who you know in a certain way…you share things like interests and ideas …a go-to character who is very real in both your mind and heart.

When that person dies, the loss is painful.

NANCY CARR has lost her battle with brain cancer.

This is the message from Hallmark’s President and CEO, BILL ABBOTT.

Hallmark Channels is saddened by the passing of our friend and colleague, Nancy Carr, who was most recently Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications for Hallmark Channels.  Nancy succumbed today in a Los Angeles area hospital after battling a long illness.  We are grateful to Nancy for guiding the company’s corporate media strategy for more than five years.
On the personal side, those of us who cared deeply for and about Nancy will never forget her dedication to life’s smallest creatures, as she worked tirelessly for animal rights and animal rescue

The company sends deep and sincere condolences to Nancy’s family.

Anyone who had the pleasure to work with Nancy will miss her profoundly. I will be one of those people.


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Home / Tag Archives: Spinners

Tag Archives: Spinners

Fidget Spinners – The Next Big Thing !

Fidget Spinners 1

The Rubik’s cube, yo-yo’s and now fidget spinners have gained an instant popularity among children and even adults as these toys are a great pastime, if you are alone or with your friends and family. What are these Fidget Spinners ...

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public marks

PUBLIC MARKS with tag hotlinked

Firefox Sync now available | La Distribution Blog

by François Hodierne

Firefox Sync (ex Mozilla Weave) is now available in La Distribution.

We’re now proposing in La Distribution the server part, where the Firefox extension actually store the data.

Danube Released | La Distribution Blog

by François Hodierne & 1 other, 2 comments

It’s obviously our best release to date, and it’s amazing, you should definitely try it!

WebAIM: Blog - History of the browser user-agent string

by François Hodierne & 2 others

And then Google built Chrome, and Chrome used Webkit, and it was like Safari, and wanted pages built for Safari, and so pretended to be Safari. And thus Chrome used WebKit, and pretended to be Safari, and WebKit pretended to be KHTML, and KHTML pretended to be Gecko, and all browsers pretended to be Mozilla, and Chrome called itself Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/ Safari/525.13, and the user agent string was a complete mess, and near useless, and everyone pretended to be everyone else, and confusion abounded.

InfoQ: Microsoft bets on Atom Publishing Protocol as the future direction for Web APIs

by mbertier & 2 others (via)
Microsoft switches from the Web Structured, Schema’d & Searchable (Web3S) protocol to Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub) for services offered by Microsoft's Live Platform on the Web.

cleverbox - - Open Source Software - Trac

by mbertier & 1 other
The cleverbox provides an interactive command line shell dedicated to the deployment and maintenance of trac and subversion instances. It can handle multiple configuration profiles, enabling the deployment of differently flavored type of project (trac configuration and permissions, apache configuration templates, etc). Project's main objective is to make your life as simple as possible. Thus, it comes with easy installation, easy upgrades and a comprehensive documentation.

linux kernel monkey log

by mbertier (via)
Yes, that's right, the Linux kernel community is offering all companies free Linux driver development.

Google Sponsors the LinuxBIOS project

by mbertier (via)
Thanks to Google's sponsorship, we've been able to significantly improve the project's Quality Assurance process by creating a completely automated and distributed testing environment. Every single commit results in BIOS images being built for all mainboards, and tested on real hardware located all over the world. So whenever you want to download a LinuxBIOS image, you can now know that it works on a reference machine before flashing it to your system.

Google and Creative Commons

by mbertier (via)
Because of the important work Creative Commons accomplished over the past year, Google has decided again to donate $30,000 to their cause. Here's an update on some of the awesome work they've been doing:

Amazon Product Tagging Campaign |

by mbertier (via), perhaps the largest internet retailer, has a system of "tagging" products on its US site. You can look at a product and add a tag that describes it. We have started tagging items that contain DRM (Blu-Ray players and DVDs, the Zune, the iPod and more) with the "defectivebydesign" tag. » Blog Archive » Barenaked Ladies successfully stick it to the recording industry

by mbertier (via)
The files are not encrypted with digital rights management or copy protection software. Artists are slowly migrating to distributing their own content via the internet. This seems like a great idea and should scare the RIAA more than any college student downloading a pirated song. BNL also is offering live recordings from their concert tours. An album is sold for $9.99 for mp3 and $12.99 for FLAC lossless files.

Active users

François Hodierne
last mark : 01/07/2010 16:47

last mark : 05/03/2008 09:58


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« Seattle Voters Approve City-Backed Preschool Pilot; Hawaii Initiative Falls | Main | Study: Signs of Future Math Difficulties Can be Spotted in Toddlers »

Study: Home Visiting, Full-Day Services Improve Head Start Outcomes

Full-day preschool services and home-visiting programs are two of the most important contributors to effective Head Start centers, according to a new study by economics professor Christopher Walters of U.C. Berkeley and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Using the data collected during the Head Start Impact Study, which tracked outcomes for 4,000 children who either did or did not enroll in Head Start, Walters did a re-evaluation to discover which program elements contributed the most to highly effective centers.

Offering full-day preschool services and programs that involved head Start staff visiting the homes of new mothers to offer support had a noticeable impact, but other commonly lauded practices did not. Teachers with bachelor's degrees and smaller class sizes made no measurable difference to student outcomes, according to the study.

Practices vary widely across Head Start centers, which don't follow a uniform curriculum, hiring practices or daily schedule. The variation makes evaluating the overall impact of the federal funding provided for the federal early-childhood education problematic, as was highlighted last year by the debate surrounding the Head Start Impact Study.

Head Start centers that draw children from home-care rather than from other, private, centers also showed a larger effect. And children with less-educated mothers showed the most growth compared to their peers who were not enrolled in Head Start.

"It is important to emphasize that education practices and applicant populations are not randomly assigned to Head Start centers," Walters wrote. The lack of randomization means the estimates in the study may not reflect direct causal relationships between the practices identified and the outcomes for children.

"Nonetheless, this analysis shows that some inputs predict Head Start effectiveness, while others do not," Walters wrote.

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First Cops in Armored Cars, now the National Guard in #Ferguson

Military police from the Missouri National Guard arrive at the staging area outside a Target near Ferguson on Monday, August 18, 2014. Gov. Jay Nixon said they would be used to protect a police command post while officers deal with protests, looting and violence. Photo by Christian Gooden,

First off, I want to point out something that I have been reading. Ferguson is a suburb. It’s not the inner city, It’s not a slum. It has strip malls and Emerson Electric Co. based there. So this isn’t a hovel. There are huge issues there with poverty but it’s not a massive housing project. Let’s be clear .

So Gov. Jay Nixon sent in the National Guard, and the President has urged restraint. So what is going to happen now. The Guard troops are to be used in a support role, to protect and watch a large shopping center in the area as well as to keep an eye on the police command post. Officials say that protesters were advancing towards that and that made the cops jittery, resulting in more OC gas and other less than lethal methods of crowd control such as rubber bullets and the LRAD (an ear-splitting noise maker).

I have to wonder a few things.

  • How are Ferguson protesters and residents, who have felt like they are in a war zone for the past week, gonna react to see soldiers in ACUs and possibly in Humvees or MRAPs. Will those Humvees be up-armored and if so, will they have a turret on top? If if you remove the Mk-19 or the .50-caliber machine gun, it’s a scary sight for a civilian.
  • If things go to hell in a hand basket tonight, will the soldiers get involved or will they stay back and just watch the police go about their biz. Remember, local police and apparently now the highway patrol (their version of the state police) have come under increasing scrutiny for using military-esque gear.
  • And if the Guard does get involved, how will that play in Missouri and the nation. Protests are protests but at some point, enough is enough. You can’t burn businesses, loot them or charge at the police. Order does need to be restored but at what price and who does it.

Calling in the military does have its drawbacks and the Guard has been slammed in the past for being heavy-handed. But it has been effective. Think Little Rock, Ark. in the days of desegregation. Think 1992 with the LA riots.

From what I can tell, the guard is also going to be stationed on roof tops where they are not going to be acting as snipers. I know people will freak but they need to be on roofs to be observers and to give good intelligence and threat assessment to the people who are in charge. Whatever happens tonight isn’t going to be pretty.

One thing the Guard does offer is a unified chain of command, something the cops haven’t had the entire time they have been there. Remember Ferguson got into it with the county who got into the highway patrol who got into it with the governor’s office. Maybe having the Guard there will free up the police to control the crowd.

I was chatting with a security specalist on line and he had this to say when I asked him how the Guard and the cops should deal with a group of people who might want to cause trouble and yet, avoid a PR nightmare…

  1. Denying access to certain mass gathering locations. Protests can’t be manageable in 20 locations.

  2. Spell out rules of engagement for troops and publish to citizens. This way everyone knows what to expect.

  3. You also need to listen to protestors. It doesn’t mean you concede everything but you actively listen. Find middle ground early

  4. One thing to do is have a person who can act decisively and who understands all of the dynamics.

  5. That’s a good question. There are few things to consider. Most of it is dependent on the situation.

Andy Kravetz

Author: Andy Kravetz

Andy Kravetz has spent most of the past 16 years covering the area's legal system as well as the military. in that time, he's crawled in the mud, flown in transport planes, and written about a man prosecuted for terrorism. This blog will reflect all those interests and then some.

2 thoughts on “First Cops in Armored Cars, now the National Guard in #Ferguson”

  1. As a point of clarification, ANYTIME the Guard is set into a domestic situation like this it’s role is always support. The Guard units sent in will work at the direction of the existing civilian law enforcement chain of command. So, the point about unified chain of command is probably not correct.

  2. Obama said he wanted a domestic military. He has set out to build one with every talking about it again. This is not policing. This is militarization and intimidation. We need to pull back all the military equipment that was given to police departments around the country. If the police think they need an armored vehicle, they are welcome to buy their own.

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text:
Shop for mom

April 30th, 2010

Ward Centers photo
Spend $50 and receive a free hydrangea plant for mom.

Don’t wait til the last minute to shop for Mother’s Day. There will be special sales going on all over town, and to entice shoppers, Ward Centers will be giving away hydrangea plants to customers who spend $50 or more between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., May 1, 2 and 8, while supplies last. You’ll also get free gift wrapping.

Just present same-day Ward shopping and/or dining receipts dated May 1, 2 or 8, 2010, totaling $50 or more at the redemption counters located at Ward Warehouse (Ewa end) and Ward Centre (near valet).

Related specials:

Kakaako Kitchen: Moms who dine with their keiki at on Mother’s Day, May 9, will receive 25 percent off their entrée purchases all day. The restaurant will also offer special Mother’s Day menu items including Crabcake Benedict, Kakaako Quiche, Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Salad, and Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. while supplies last.

Martin & MacArthur – Meet local jewelry artists Billie Gabriel and Stacey Lee from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. May 2. Gabriel makes stunning sunrise shell jewelry with shells harvested off the coast of Kauai, and Lee designs stylish earrings, bracelets and necklaces with pearls, gems and semi-precious stones. Malie Organics will also be providing mini facials utilizing its new organic, anti-aging cream.

Cottage by the Sea: Celebrates its grand reopening  by giving customers a 15 percent off discount storewide through Sunday, with selected items offered at 50 percent off.  On May 1 and 2, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Gabbybella Jewelery will have a trunk show featuring hundreds of one-of-a-kind earrings and necklaces, with prices starting at $35. The first 50 people who purchase Gabbybella jewelry during the trunk show will receive a free canvas Cottage by the Sea tote bag.

Meanwhile, over at elle Couture Jewellers, shop for yourself as well as mom through May 8. Shop Roberto Coin’s classic 18K gold jewelry collection and receive $125 off new purchases of $500 or more, and receive a Roberto Coin gift with purchase.

The jewelry gallery is on the Ward side of the building at 909 Kapiolani Boulevard. The boutique is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays. Call 591-8080.

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