US military deaths in Afghanistan hit 2,000

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MELE A3700 Android 4.0 TV Player w/ Wi-Fi / HDMI / AV / Air Mouse / 1GB RAM / 8GB ROM - Black

- Brand: MELE
- Model: A3700
- Quantity: 1
- Material: Plastic
- Color: Black
- Operating System: Android 4.0
- Chipset: Allwinner A10
- Processor Frequency: 1GHz
- Memory: DDR3 1GB
- Storage: 8GB
- Operating Language: Afrikaans, Amharic, Indonesian, Catalan, Danish, German, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Malay, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Rome, Romance, Slovenian, Finnish, Swahili, Tagalog, Turkish, Zulu, Russian, Thai, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese
- Memory Card Type: USB / SD card
- Max Extended Capacity: 32GB
- External HDD: Support HDD up to 2TB
- Audio Formats: MP3 / WMA / WAV / OGG / FLAC / MKA
- Video Formats: TS / M2TS / TP / MKV / MP4 / MOV / AVI / RM / RMVB / WMV / VOB / ASF / FLV / DAT / MPG / MPEG
- Video Codecs: HD / MPEG1 / 2 / 4, H.264, HD AVC / VC-1, RM / RMVB / XVID / DIVX4x5x6, REALVIDEO 9 / 9 / 10, VP6
- Picture Formats: JPG / JPEG / BMP / GIF / PNG
- Subtitle Formats: SRT / SMI / SSA / ASS
- Output Resolution: 1080P
- HDMI: 1.4
- USB: USB2.0
- Wireless Keyboard/Mouse: 2.4GHz
- Video Output: HDMI /AV
- Audio Output: HDMI /AV
- Other Interface: 3 x USB / 1 x Power / 1 x VGA / 1 x SD slot
- Power Supply: 2-Flat-Pin plug
- Power Input: 100~240V
- Packing list:
- 1 x Google TV player
- 1 x Air mouse (Powered by 2 x AA batteries, not included)
- 1 x HDMI cable (100cm)
- 1 x Chinese / English user manual
- 1 x Charger (80cm)
- 1 x Air mouse receiver

Source: http://dx.com/p/mele-a3700-android-4-0-tv-player-w-wi-fi-hdmi-av-air-mouse-1gb-ram-8gb-rom-black-157450

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Google adds CardDAV support to contacts for easier syncing with iOS and other third-party devices

The marvelous folks from Mountain View never seem to take a break from working on tools to help make almost everyone's life easier -- even if some of these folks happen to be on the other side. Today, Google announced it was adding CardDAV to the list of open protocols it currently supports to access Gmail and Calendar from mobile apps and devices alike, noting that with the recent adaptation it'll be easier for third-party clients -- such as iOS -- to access and sync with Google Contacts. Better yet, the company posted a full set of instructions on how users can do just that, which you will find at the source link below.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Google adds CardDAV support to contacts for easier syncing with iOS and other third-party devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 01:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Google  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4QxhSC9rktk/

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Here Are The Singers Competing In Next Week?s ?American Idol For The Geek Set?

Earlier this month, I wrote about Silicon Valley Voice, a karaoke competition for the tech world hosted by Silicon Valley Bank and Coverflow (a cover band made up of techies including Mayfield Fund's Tim Chang, Facebook's Ethan Beard, and Fandalism's Philip Kaplan). Now, the finalists have been selected, and you don't even have to wait until next week's event to hear them sing. Coverflow member (and Mayfield managing director) Raj Kapoor ?tells me that all of the regular tickets have sold out, with 800 RSVPs. But the organizers convinced Silicon Valley Bank to expand the budget, which means there's room for another 200 people.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4j2819ZmSWY/

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The Birth of the Community Manager: the New Social Media ...

Interview with Max Starkov, President & CEO of HeBS Digital, on the hot topic of the emerging role of the community manager in hospitality.

Masha Polshinskaya, Senior Project Manager ? Hospitality Worldwide, Cleverdis: There has been much discussion about the need for social media to be managed at the property level by a new breed of employee focused solely on social media. How would you define the role of such a ?community manager? at the hotel?

Max Starkov: Social media is a customer engagement channel and a customer-service channel, and not a distribution channel. The role of the social media marketer is already evolving to better reflect the hard-learned realization of the role social media should play in travel and hospitality. The ?owner? of the hotel social media profiles?the one who manages and is responsible of posting, monitoring and reacting to customer comments?is also evolving and is being transitioned from outside social media agencies and PR agencies to property-based social marketing coordinators and community managers.

The customer engagement side of social media at the hotel means branding and marketing engagements and requires involvement by the hotel sales and marketing team and perhaps an outside PR or digital marketing agency. The customer service side of social media requires the services of a new type of social media-savvy employee or a team of employees who are able to monitor and react to customer service-related social media engagements 24/7. In other words: I see a dual role at the property:

• One that is more branding and marketing engagement-focused and could be handled by someone within regular business hours
• One that is strictly customer service-related and should monitor social media and customer review postings 24/7

In addition, I have noticed that the industry does not make a clear distinction between the two media formats in question here: social media and customer reviews. Even though they both fall into the realm of user-generated media, there are clear distinctions between the two.

Social Media:

There is no doubt that social media has changed how travel consumers research and plan travel, access travel information, and perceive credibility of information. Internet users are increasingly influenced by social networks and peer reviews. By utilizing a comprehensive social media strategy, hoteliers can create social media ?buzz,? target receptive audiences, and stimulate hotel website visits, interactions and bookings, as well as instantaneously resolve arising customer service issues.

Customer Reviews:

We see more and more hotel customers using the hotel Facebook wall or Twitter profile to communicate their customer service frustrations, in many cases in real time: ?There is no hot water in my room!? or ?The lights are out in the bathroom,? etc. In other words, there is a convergence of customer reviews and social media, which exacerbates the situation even further and creates the need for hoteliers to monitor their social media profiles and customer review sites in a 24/7 fashion.

Traditionally, customer reviews on TripAdvisor, the OTA sites and more recently on major hotel brand websites have been reactive i.e. post-stay. Lately, we see more and more ?real-time? reviews where customers are posting reviews during their hotel stays, especially disgruntled guests. All of this necessitates the 24/7 monitoring and reacting to customer reviews, especially negative ones, which should be addressed and resolved as soon as possible.

Cleverdis: Why is social media not a distribution channel? Many hospitality marketers would claim otherwise.

Starkov: In my view, hoteliers that are still trying to use social media as a distribution channel are the ones trying to find some kind of meaningful ROI to justify their efforts. Smart hoteliers understand that social media is not a distribution channel in hospitality and therefore use a different set of metrics to gauge success.? Despite the monumental efforts by many hotel marketers in the past five years to use social media as a ?new and revolutionary? distribution channel in hospitality and travel, they all failed miserably. Today the social scene is littered with the abandoned corpses of hotel and other travel-related profiles.

Why?? Because a distribution channel is primarily a one-way street: the owner or aggregator of travel inventory/information pushes inventory/information through distribution channels which have been accepted by interested parties such as the traveling public, travel agents, group planners, etc. These distribution channels have been incorporated in travel planning technology and marketing solutions like GDS, travel supplier sites, OTA sites, etc.

Social media is not a one-way street. It is a multi-street maze of peer-to-peer, marketer-consumer and consumer-marketer engagements and relationships.

In other words, in travel and hospitality, social media is a customer engagement channel and a customer service channel, not a distribution channel. Hoteliers should use the same performance indicators they apply to customer service and branding initiatives.

Cleverdis: What would your social media strategy be for 2013?

Starkov: I would do everything possible to bring social media management and customer review monitoring in-house and at the property level. I would create internal social media management and customer review monitoring processes, preferably in the following manner:

Social Media Profiles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.:

Services provided by an outside agency

I would hire an outside agency to provide best practices and train my staff with quarterly guidelines and concrete ideas regarding social media postings, contests, sweepstakes, etc. This agency would perform quarterly audits of my hotels? management of social media profiles and provide recommendations. This company would be in charge of designing and implementing all of the digital technology tasks: Facebook custom tabs, Facebook sweepstakes, reveal tabs and promotions, Twitter backgrounds, YouTube Channel customizations, etc.

Services I would retain in-house:

1. Customer engagement side of social media ? For the ongoing management of the social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, etc. I would appoint a designated marketing coordinator/community manager to work as part of the Sales & Marketing Department. This community manager would monitor customer posts, manage customer engagements, post branding and marketing messages and handle questions and reviews by customers via the social media profiles during regular business hours. Any customer-related issue outside of business hours should be referred to the customer service team at the property.

2. Customer service side of social media ? This would include monitoring and reacting to customer service-related comments, issues and complaints. Hotel employees from the client-facing staff, including designated reception/front desk managers and clerks would be in chare of these services. The goal is to have a person monitoring customer service issues during each shift, thus ensuring 24/7 ?social media? support. Once again, the 24/7 social media monitoring applies only to customer service issues that require urgent attention and immediate resolution.

Customer Reviews:

Monitoring customer reviews should be handled at the property and not by an outside agency and should be assigned to different teams similar to the social media management strategy. During business hours, this could be a marketing coordinator/community manager and after hours, specially-trained members of the front desk servicing teams (including designated reception/front desk managers and clerks).

Utilizing reputation-monitoring tools like Revinate and ReviewPro is highly recommended for efficiencies, breadth of review sites, and monitoring the comp set.

Cleverdis: What social media platform would you spend the most time on in 2013?

Starkov: To be successful in the social space you cannot focus on just one social channel. In any multichannel marketing strategy, it is important to focus your efforts across all social channels that are incorporated into your marketing mix.

In 2013 I would make sure that my property presence is optimized to the max and I am doing everything possible on the following social media platforms:

• Facebook: for brand building and deep customer engagement
• Twitter: for instant communications with customers and as a customer sentiment ?listening tool?
• Google+: as an up-and-coming social network; at a minimum create and optimize the hotel profile

Updating your social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ with fresh content daily harnesses the power of a successful social media strategy. The whole of these efforts is exponentially greater and more valuable than the sum of its parts.

Cleverdis: ?What?s the difference in communicating on Twitter and Facebook?

Starkov: Twitter is an open platform where hoteliers can easily search buzz surrounding their brand and reach out and engage new customers. Twitter is becoming more and more a customer service tool where hoteliers must monitor and handle feedback and requests from guests in real-time. Consider Twitter as an instantaneous communication tool. You can use Twitter in place of a short promotional email. Or in place of an SMS message. At the same time, Twitter is ?an early warning system? for service problems at the hotel. Therefore, you need to monitor tweets 24/7.

Facebook is more of a brand relationship tool for fostering customer loyalty and building a robust community of fans. Prompting fans to share photos and experiences is key in building a strong brand community and virally promoting the property in the Newsfeed. Consider Facebook as an extension to your property website, a platform which adds an interactive capability to your customer engagement strategy. Unlike the predominantly static hotel website, Facebook allows two-way conversations (marketer-customer and customer-marketer) as well as peer-to-peer engagements. Example, having one or more ?brand ambassadors? among your Facebook fans goes a long way in promoting your hotel and engaging the rest of the fans and building brand equity and loyalty.

Cleverdis: What other social media would you use?

Starkov: In this age of rich media and exploding video format, I would spend the necessary efforts and resources on enhancing and optimizing my property?s YouTube channel and Flickr profile.

I would also create 30- to 60-second videos focusing on various aspects of my hotel product: leisure travellers, meeting planners, wedding planners, family travellers, spa, etc. and use those for the hotel website, YouTube channel, Google+ Local and Bing local listings, as well as for MMS promotions.

The search benefits of Google+ are becoming vital in an SEO online strategy. The power of Google+ results in Google organic search cannot be ignored, and this growing presence in search results are turning the heads of social networks such as Twitter who used to own social search result listings.

Another social platform hoteliers should leverage in 2013 is Foursquare. Foursquare is intrinsic in socially engaging guests on a local level. Offering Foursquare check-in specials for guests is?a perfect way to up-sell onsite accommodations such as dining and spa as well as increase viral awareness.

Emerging social networks such as Instagram and Pinterest should also be on hoteliers? radar.

Cleverdis: ?What content would you put online? Where can you find it?

Starkov: One of the biggest challenges in our industry is the creation of new, original and engaging content for the hotel website, the hotel blog, email marketing, social media postings, etc.

The 2011 Google Panda Update made most hotel websites and other hotel digital content assets obsolete by introducing very strict requirements for content, interactivity, and page download speeds. The update requires hoteliers to generate engaging and unique website content (as opposed to bland, old and tired content) that would intrigue users and increase the site?s ?stickiness.? An even more recent algorithm update by Google now known as the ?Freshness? update added a strict requirement that determines how news-worthy and how current the content is on the hotel website, blog, etc.

Social media added an additional complexity to the equation. Social media users dislike pompous over-the-board content. The ?official? content ? the content that comes from the hotel in the form of website copy, blog articles, Facebook postings, etc. ? should be as close to the style and format of the ?unofficial? content or the user-generated content. The bigger the gap between the official and unofficial content, the less credible the official content is since people tend to trust their peers more than any official entity.

Hoteliers should be looking into generating good and engaging content for the social media profiles and the hotel website blog using all available sources:

• Hotel Website?s Content Management System (CMS): does your property website CMS have the functionality to automatically push ?fresh? content in the form of specials and promotions and the latest events at the hotel or the destination to your Facebook wall, Twitter, mobile site, etc.?

• Good copywriting skills should be a requirement for any community manager/social media marketing coordinator. This should be part of the job description and job requirements.

• Create an internal system within the hotel for sharing ?Facebook-worthy? news, happenings, events and activities. Your in-house experts, from famous chefs to popular spa practitioners to wedding coordinators, are your biggest assets. Ask them to share their stories, best practices, case studies and recommendations. From seasonal recipes to ?How to?? advice to ?Top 10?? lists?all of these constitute valuable content worth publishing.

• PR Agency: your contract with an outside PR agency should also include a Facebook and a blog version of any consumer-focused press release they produce. Such announcements about a hotel promotion, new amenity or service, happening at the hotel, etc. should be shorter and structured as sharing exciting news with your Facebook fans or hotel website blog readers.

Traditionally, hotel websites have been content rich vs. news rich, with descriptions and information featuring and explaining in detail every facet of the hotel business and service, from the bed linens to the capacity of a meeting room. The static content is there, but the ?fresh? content or the ?original and engaging? content is certainly lacking, and this is the main issue with current hotel websites after the latest Google algorithm updates.

Cleverdis: If you were an independent hotelier and had only 1,000 Euros, what would your online marketing strategy be? Would you use only social media?

Starkov: With only 1,000 Euros I would address social media only if everything on my website was fully optimized and functional. Is your website SEO up to par? Do you have a mobile website? How about a booking engine on both the desktop and mobile sites? Are the calendar of events and activities on the site updated? Do you send monthly email promotions to your customers? Do you have content on the site addressing all of your important and key customer segments? How about landing pages describing all aspects of the hotel product? How about content in foreign languages to address your main foreign feeder markets?

With a low budget, it is important to take full advantage of organic visibility in natural search results. I would begin optimizing all property local listings including Google+ Local, Yahoo Local Directory and Bing Local. I would optimize the TripAdvisor presence and set up free links from online directories and destination sites to the property website to boost Google rankings and your Google PageRank. Once I have optimized my presence across the web, I would take advantage of Google AdWords to launch paid search campaigns ? these could be micro-campaigns in selected feeder markets or promoting a concrete hotel special/package.

I would create an internal system to monitor customer reviews about my hotel on all important review and OTA sites, from TripAdvisor to Booking.com to Expedia. I would train my staff how to monitor customer reviews and how to react in each of the following three instances: highly negative, but true reviews; negative, but false, and highly positive reviews. I would create internal guidelines with concrete ?owners? of the process and even recommend ?official property comments? in each of the above instances.

Then and only then would I start thinking about building a social media presence, starting with the hotel fan page on Facebook, including a custom tab with the hotel logo, photos, descriptive copy, a reservation widget, an email capture widget and call-outs to the hotel website.

Here are some final quick tips for managing a robust social media strategy:

Facebook

1. Fresh content is key to maintaining a Facebook Fan Page community.
2. Engagement is the true measure of ROI. Engage fans with open-ended questions, fill-in-the-blanks, and trivia.
3. Use Facebook Insights to tailor your Fan Page content. Use the power of social analytics to find out the best time of day to reach the highest number of users and what type of content is receiving the most engagement. Use this insight to shape your strategy.
4. Let your fans shape your community. Facebook is a two-way marketing platform, and it is important to make sure you are answering all comments/questions and providing your fans with the content that inspired them to ?Like? your page.
5. Focus on local engagement. Utilize Facebook Deals to offer check-in specials to guests. Local, social marketing is becoming strategic in resonating with key customer segments.

Blog on the Hotel Website

1. Post fresh, unique and engaging blog articles.
2. Host blog contests to engage customer segments. Prompt visitors to comment on a blog post to enter to win a prize/free stay.
3. Create blog categories that target your key customer segments. Create sections tailored around Travel Tips, Specials & Packages, Dining, and other onsite amenities.
4. Link to your Blog in highly visible real-estate on your website homepage to capture more traffic and qualified leads. Promote your blog on social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
5. Link to your blog on your email marketing template, and highlight your latest posts in monthly email marketing pieces.

5 ideas to gain more visibility

1. Tag relevant social media pages to gain qualified fans and followers.
2. Favorite relevant Fan Pages on Facebook or ?List? relevant handles on Twitter to build strategic connections and visibility.
3. Post fresh and engaging content for more visibility in newsfeeds.
4. Link to social community profiles on your website, email template, and blog.
5. Cross promote your social channels.

The ?Don?ts? of a community manager

1. Don?t ignore your community. Listen. Learn. Respond.
2. Don?t neglect your brand. Foster positive buzz, and shape the conversation to align with your persona and branding.
3. Don?t tell your community what they want, ask them.
4. Don?t be a bore. Engage your community with fun contests, trivia, and more. Remember social media is just that?social.
5. Don?t isolate. Integrate your community into the comprehensive marketing mix. No community can grow on an island.

Communicate to bloggers to incite them to talk about your hotel

1. Host blogger contests where you prompt them to write about your hotel (linking to your website) in order to be entered to win a free stay.
2. Create a Special Package specifically for bloggers where they can stay at the hotel at a discounted price and then blog about the experience.
3. Prompt bloggers to write guest articles for the hotel blog to give them a free ?plug? (great for reciprocal linking).
4. Create an email list targeted specifically to bloggers so you can begin building a brand relationship and prompt them to blog about the hotel regularly. To build this list, you can host a blogger sweepstakes.
5. Feature a ?Blogger of the Month? section on the hotel website for cross promotion (great for reciprocal linking).

About the Author and HeBS Digital

Max Starkov is President & CEO of HeBS Digital (Hospitality eBusiness Strategies), the hospitality industry?s leading full-service digital marketing and direct online channel strategy firm based in New York City (www.HeBSdigital.com).

HeBS Digital as pioneered many of the best practices in hotel Internet marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won over 220 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, IAC Awards, etc.

A diverse client portfolio of top tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are taking? advantage of HeBS Digital?s direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2012 at 3:44 pm and is filed under HeBS Articles & Publications, HeBS Digital, Social Media & Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.hebsdigital.com/blog/interview-with-max-starkov-president-ceo-of-hebs-digital-on-social-media-and-customer-review-best-practices/

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Ark. first Southern state to vote on medical pot

David Mcnew / Getty Images

In this Sept 7. photo, marijuana plants grow at the Perennial Holistic Wellness Center, a not-for-profit medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, Calif. On the November ballot, Arkansas voters will be asked whether centers like these can be legal in its state.

By NBC News staff and wire services

Come November, Arkansas voters will be faced with a question unprecedented in the South: Should qualified patients be allowed to buy medical marijuana from nonprofit dispensaries with a doctor's recommendation?

The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the proposed ballot measure on Thursday, making "The Natural State" the first in the South to ask its voters about medical marijuana, The Associated Press reported. Seventeen other states and the District of Columbia have already legalized medical marijuana to some degree.

---

The court's review of "The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act" came after the Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values filed a lawsuit in August that tried to get the proposal off the state's ballot, NBC station KARK 4 of Little Rock reported. The conservative coalition claimed that the 384-word ballot question doesn't properly explain the consequences of passing the 8,700-word law, according to the AP. Even if the act were passed,?approved patients could still be prosecuted under federal law.

"We hold that it is an adequate and fair representation without misleading tendencies or partisan coloring," the court wrote. "Therefore, the act is proper for inclusion on the ballot at the general election on Nov. 6, 2012, and the petition is therefore denied."

The conservative coalition, which includes leaders from the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council, the Families First Foundation and the Family Council Action Committee, has five days to ask the court for a rehearing, according to KARK 4.

Related: Legalize pot vote coming up in 3 states - Colo., Ore. & Wash.

Danny Johnston / AP

Jerry Cox, the head of the Arkansas Family Council and a member of a coalition of groups opposed to the proposed medical marijuana ballot measure, holds a copy of the proposal as he speaks to reporters in Little Rock, Ark. on Thursday.

An attorney for Arkansas for Compassionate Care ? the group behind the measure ? said he is pleased with the ruling.

"Now that we've passed muster with the Supreme Court we'll begin our campaign to show the people of the state of Arkansas that this is truly a compassionate measure," attorney David Couch told the AP.

Following the decision, opponents soon?responded on Thursday.

"We've shifted into campaign mode," coalition spokesman Larry Page said, according to KARK 4. "We respect the court's decision, but we are very disappointed that this flawed measure will appear on the ballot."

According to the AP, the proposal lets qualified patients or designated caregivers grow marijuana if the patient lives more than five miles away from a dispensary. It also allows minors to use medical marijuana with parental consent. Cancer, Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma, HIV and AIDS would all be qualifying health conditions.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, is against the measure and told reporters Thursday that he's requested an estimate on how much it will cost to regulate the dispensaries if voters pass it.

"If I understand what I think I understand about it, if it passes, it's going to require a whole of administration from the health department," Beebe said, according to the AP. "I don't know where we're going to get it from."

Beebe also told reporters that he doesn't believe Arkansas voters would legalize medical marijuana.

While voters in Arkansas and Massachusetts are expected to have their say on this issue on the November ballot, voters in North Dakota won't, after its state Supreme Court ruled the?initiative?can't appear on its ballot, the AP reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

More content from NBCNews.com:

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/27/14124948-arkansas-first-southern-state-to-vote-on-medical-marijuana?lite

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New Viva van Story Pinup Shots! - The Lingerie Addict

Last month, during my most recent trip to NYC Lingerie Market, I took some time to have a daylong photoshoot with the world-famous pinup photographer Viva van Story. This was only my second shoot with Viva, but I really love working with her because she knows how to make the non-model types (like myself) feel fabulous and confident and comfortable in front of a camera. I know that, no matter what, she?s going to get a great shot and that makes what could be an intimidating experience into an incredibly fun one.

A few days ago, she sent over my final edits from the shoot, and I want to share a few of my favorites with you. All lingerie is my own, and I?ve credited the respective brand or designer on the photo.? All photographs are copyright of Viva van Story, hair is by Viva van Story, and makeup is by Margherita.

Dirty Dolls Lingerie; What Katie Did Stockings

Dirty Dolls Lingerie; What Katie Did Stockings

Kiss Me Deadly Swimsuit

Kiss Me Deadly Swimsuit

Trashy Lingerie Corselette; What Katie Did Stockings

Trashy Lingerie Corselette; What Katie Did Stockings

Source: http://www.thelingerieaddict.com/2012/09/new-viva-van-story-pinup-shots.html

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Choosing the Right Wedding Photographer - Four Important ...

Your wedding day is a very special occasion that you and your partner will remember for the rest of your lives. The bride has probably dreamed of this big day for a very long time. Prior to the wedding, she has planned and prepared almost every single detail possible down to the table place settings. So why is it so crucial to document the special day? Because on your wedding day. There will be so many touching moments that you will want to have displayed on photos. Finding a wedding photographer can be a difficult task, but when done correctly, it should be a snap! Here are some questions you should ask your potential photographer.

How many years of experience do you have behind you?
Although this seems like a insignificant detail, it si s very important to know. A photographer's experience will determine what your final pictures will look like. The experience question also falls under: how many wedding have you shot, what types of photography styles, the size of the weddings, sample wedding albums, etc?

What is your photography style?
There are different photography styles that a photographer can excel in. These include contemporary wedding photography, traditional, candid wedding photos, creative photography, and so on? Ask if your photographer can be versatile? Take a look at some of the previous wedding albums, do you like his/her style of photography.

Will there be two photographers or just one on the wedding day?
Be sure you meet with the actual photographer that will be shooting your wedding. Don't meet with assistant or secretary. When talking with the photographer, ask if he/she willbring an assistant or second wedding photographer with them. If there are two photographers at your wedding, you will have around double the wedding photographs, and you will have a lot more to choose from.

Your wedding is a very important event in your life, and it can't be repeated, so make sure that you have a qualified wedding photographer to document the events. Choose your wedding photographer carefully, so that you will enjoy yourself on your special day while they take pictures of the special moments as they unfold.
Your wedding day is a very special occasion that you and your partner will remember for the rest of your lives. The bride has probably dreamed of this big day for a very long time. Prior to the wedding, she has planned and prepared almost every single detail possible down to the table place settings. So why is it so crucial to document the special day? Because on your wedding day. There will be so many touching moments that you will want to have displayed on photos. Finding a wedding photographer can be a difficult task, but when done correctly, it should be a snap! Here are some questions you should ask your potential photographer.

How many years of experience do you have behind you?
Although this seems like a insignificant detail, it si s very important to know. A photographer's experience will determine what your final pictures will look like. The experience question also falls under: how many wedding have you shot, what types of photography styles, the size of the weddings, sample wedding albums, etc?

What is your photography style?
There are different photography styles that a photographer can excel in. These include contemporary wedding photography, traditional, candid wedding photos, creative photography, and so on? Ask if your photographer can be versatile? Take a look at some of the previous wedding albums, do you like his/her style of photography.

Will there be two photographers or just one on the wedding day?
Be sure you meet with the actual photographer that will be shooting your wedding. Don't meet with assistant or secretary. When talking with the photographer, ask if he/she willbring an assistant or second wedding photographer with them. If there are two photographers at your wedding, you will have around double the wedding photographs, and you will have a lot more to choose from.

Your wedding is a very important event in your life, and it can't be repeated, so make sure that you have a qualified wedding photographer to document the events. Choose your wedding photographer carefully, so that you will enjoy yourself on your special day while they take pictures of the special moments as they unfold.

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Bank of America tests technology to pay with phones

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Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p Tiny

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p Tiny ($580 direct) ultra small form factor enterprise-class business PC can slot into your organization and be managed by your IT department alongside larger ThinCentre systems. Though it is small in size, the system features forward-looking technology like a third-generation Core i5 processor, DisplayPort, and USB 3.0. The space saving, power saving "Tiny" system is our new Editors' Choice for entry-level business desktop PCs.

Design and Features
The M92p Tiny is, well, tiny. It's measures about 1.5 by 7 by 7 inches (HWD), which is diminutive even among systems like the Apple Mac mini (Thunderbolt) ($799 list, 4.5 stars) (1.4 by 7.7 by 7.7 inches) and our current small form factor Editor's Choice, the Polywell Poly i1000A-3770T ($899 list, 4.5 stars) (7.7 by 2.9 by 7.9 inches) : . The system we reviewed came with Lenovo's optical drive accessory, which adds about an inch to the system's width. The optical drive add-on isn't entirely necessary for most installations these days, but it was convenient to have when loading some of our benchmark files. The M92p Tiny is touted as a "1-liter" design, displacing only about a liter's volume on a desk space. In contrast, the original Mac mini from 2005 is considered a "1.4 liter" design.

The M92p Tiny packs a lot of hardware into that one liter. The system features an Intel Core i5-3470T processor, 4GB of memory, 500GB hard drive, and Intel integrated graphics. Its only internal expansion room is a free SO-DIMM slot for added memory. Unfortunately, the configuration we tested didn't come with Wi-Fi, which is kind of a no-brainer in this form factor. Wi-Fi is optional on the M92p Tiny. While tightly run IT organizations will eschew Wi-Fi as a security risk, companies that are more convenience-oriented will miss wireless networking.

All other expansion (including the optical drive) are external, using the M92p Tiny's very good selection of ports. The system has four USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port (for the optical drive), audio, VGA, Ethernet, and DisplayPort. The DisplayPort is novel because it can be "split" with an optional $80 connector to support two DisplayPort monitors. Add the VGA port to the mix, and the tested system can support up to three monitors. Two of the system's four USB 3.0 ports are on the front panel with two on the back panel, facilitating speedy hard drive hookups no matter which way the system is situated. Since the system is so tiny, it can be mounted under a desk surface or even in a special bracket on the back of the user's monitor, making it an almost all-in-one PC.

The M92p Tiny came with Windows 7 Professional, but the system is ready for Windows 8. Lenovo has pledged that it will support the system with drivers and tech support when Windows 8 is released later this year. The system we reviewed came with a few extra programs installed. These included a tablet-like interface called SimpleTap. Inside SimpleTap, there were a few pre-installed third party programs, like eBay, Lenovo App Shop, Skype, Evernote, and Kayak, among others. The system's desktop screen was free of extra icons. The M92p Tiny is Intel vPro certified, and comes with many of Intel's IT-friendly features like AMT (Active Management Technology) and Trusted Execution Technology. The system has a three-year warranty.

Performance
The M92p Tiny has solid performance. Its third-generation Intel Core i5 processor helps it achieve good scores on our multimedia tests like Handbrake (1 minute 30 seconds) and Photoshop CS5 (3:21). These are faster than our former entry-level business Editors' Choice system, the Lenovo ThinkCentre Edge 71 ($508 list, 4 stars) (1:37 Handbrake, 3:40 CS5) . The Polywell Poly i1000A-3770T is quite a bit faster (1:11 Handbrake, 3:03 CS5) due to its Core i7 processor. The Polywell i1000A-3770T was also faster at PCMark 7 (5,412 points), which measures day-to-day performance. The M92p Tiny brought in a still respectable score of 2,491 points. The Poly is faster due to its Core i7 processor and the system's 120GB SSD. The M92p's 500GB spinning hard drive held it back a little in comparison. That said, the M92p is certainly fast enough for most general business users.

The Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p Tiny is the pint-sized member of the enterprise-class ThinkCentre M92p family. Despite its diminutive size, it's a powerful and feature-filled system in its own right. The Poly i1000A-3770T holds on to its Editors' Choice award for small form factor systems, as it is a better performer (for quite a bit more money). But the ThinkCentre M92p Tiny win the Editor's Choice award for entry-level business systems over the aging Lenovo IdeaCenter Edge 71, since the M92p Tiny is a better forward-looking PC. Besides, most business users will never need the expansion room of a full sized tower chassis, and if they do there are larger versions of the M92p. The M92p beats the Lenovo Edge 71 in performance and in the number of next-generation I/O ports (like DisplayPort and USB 3.0). Plus, the M92p takes up little to no space on your worker's desks. This is important in an office full of cubicles, where space is a premium. The M92p Tiny works equally well in the startup or in the massive enterprise office, and its IT credentials are impeccable.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p Tiny with several other desktops side by side.

More desktop reviews:
??? Toshiba LX835-D3230
??? Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p Tiny
??? Vizio 27-inch All-in-One PC (CA27-A1)
??? HP Z220 CMT Workstation
??? Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core i7-3770K)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Ei9QmkFfzEI/0,2817,2410168,00.asp

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Herding Humans, Global Economies and the ... - Zero Anthropology

Jandat, of Saana, Ashkunum, Kalashum, Afghanistan, represents all phases of the activities and tools in the relation between humans and their tools, the animals and the gardens in his indigenous style. Colored pencil?on paper, 1970.

Hazrat Din Shirzad?s westernized representation of the sensitive relationships between man and goat, man and small local cow in Ashkun society, Kalashum, Afghanistan. Colored pencil?on paper, 1970.

Sheep, goats, camels and people of the Maldar caravan in Faryab province, NW Afghanistan, 1969. People lead the livestock to water and pasture in this generally dry, barren steppe environment; when one pasture area is exhausted, the people lead them to the next; the animals feed the people milk, cheese, butter and meat. (Photo, John Allison)

Well, let me see, where to start? Syntactic ambiguity everywhere. I mean, ?herding humans? can either be the humans who have a traditional practice of herding (the animals); or the humans who are being herded by The Animals who own them. Adjective or Verb: it is really up to YOU.

I am having enough trouble herding my thoughts and getting them penned. (The ambiguity of the verb ?penned? is called ?semantic ambiguity?. ?Carl Voegelin taught me the difference.)

Tracking

Did you think that Social Security Number?was simply to keep track of the money?the government had taken from your pay?for your old age??My instructor in an advanced sociological statistics class in 1968 was deeply involved with creating of matrices that would centralize all information on all people in the US through their Social Security number. This would make them ?accountable? for such things as debt, child support, crimes, and anything else that the government needed to track to get them into the game as they defined it.

Done!

Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago, said, in explaining his anti-union stance against the teachers? strike in Chicago, that his intent was to ??create a culture of accountability?.

Well, you know that Mayor Rahm is now in trouble with me; I hold him accountable.

Rahm, you are going to do WHAT? Create a culture? I do hope you are coordinating with Romney and Ryan; they are trying to create a ?culture? too; just like yours; the pseudo-culture of Empire. It?s an ancient Roman tradition.

There is another tradition, Resistance; like the example set on the island now called England of the Celtic Queen Boudicca, leader of the Iceni Tribe of the vicinity of the current counties of southeast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, who rose up against the Romans in about 80 A.D. and, for awhile, pushed them back.

?No reason to get excited,? the thief, he kindly spoke
?There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we?ve been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late?

Like Bob Marley said: Get up! Stand up! Stand up for you rights!

The hirelings of empire don?t know the meaning of ?Culture?, but they will ?create? rules of social organization and taxes for some; with punishments for not complying and rewards for complying ? typical behaviorist approach to ?culture?; entirely missing the runway for genuine Culture and landing on another planet, Empire, but announcing to the billions of paying passengers on board: ?We have landed at the Culture International Airport. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened until the Captain tells you it is safe.?

I think that the new privately contracted mega-prisons also are trying to create the same ?culture of accountability?, but with much more control over the workers who earn that profit for the contractors by slave labor; imposing ?austerity? measures on the workers by telling the prison warden what those measures will be, and how it will ?save the economy?; making the call from their Blackberries in the austere conditions of their private launch in the Bahamas or their castle in Provence.

In fact, these privately owned prisons are the model for your future.

So, clearly, the endgame for these Roman leaders is to get complete control of the workers/consumers, to be able to herd them to their next job and residence; making a profit on both the move of human capital on the private ?public transportation?, or selling gasoline to you for your car to get there and selling or renting to you one of the nearby workers? shacks; just like in the San Joaquin valley for the farm workers before the United Farm Workers? Organizing Committee created a unifying focus of force for the workers to take control of their own lives.

Stay with the Herd, Stray with the Herd

There is an immense body of related literature about the transition from ?hunting and gathering?, called ?foraging? by the archaeologists.

[Sidebar: my Klamath ?boss?, Dino (he calls me ?Chief?, but, if I call him ?Chief? I?d get one of those threatening ?ethnic slur? stares from the man we call Lightning Boy, the Tribes? best hunter and jerky-maker, with biceps as big as my thighs, so I call him ?Boss?.)]??? ??Dino used to quip about the archaeologists? term, ?forage?. ??I forage at MacDonald?s? he use to say ? until his heart attacks, ? now he eats his broccoli, for which he used to laugh at me, ?You can?t live on that HERE, Chief. You need meat and potatoes?.

The archies postulate a ?cultural evolution?, which is merely increasing technological cumulation and social stratification ? transition from foraging to horticulture and herding, and then to cities, agri-business and industrialized ?animal production ? approximating Robert Redfield?s ideal type constructs of Folk, Peasant and Urban, which Redfield did not intend to be a unilineal evolutionary continuity, but merely a comparative model for types of societies. Part of this literature makes clear that there is no particular evolutionary direction indicated; peoples sometimes go from resembling the qualities of one of these ideal type constructs to another, and back again; depending on many factors; many factors that are operating today.

The Pit Rivers (not related to Pitt-Rivers) had been, and still is?part-time?a ?hunting and gathering tribe? with a large portion of a woman?s energy used in plant cultivation, including digging-stick cultivation of root areas like camas and epos, replanting selected corms for the next season, as described by Kat Anderson in her works based on ethnographic research of the Berkeley Old School anthropologists and others from 1900-1940s.

The California Indian men are documented to have practiced controlled burns ? based upon millennia of experience. This literature is now mined by the Forest Service to try to control the devastation of the forests that the US took from the Indians. Devastated by ignorance of the resource of knowledge available from the traditional practices. ?Devastated because of the Forest Circus? rapist approach to ?timber management? to comply with the demands of the Timber Industry.

These aboriginal practices are now understood to have been part of the cultivation of the natural landscape to provide a richer resource base: grasses and shrubs that nourished the deer; young willow shoots, grasses and fern roots for baskets, etc. And this, along with the moisture of old-growth stands also decreased the probability of the spread of wildfires

?The men ? as one of their collective activities ? passed along accumulated knowledge of tens of thousands of years from their collective experience with the deer and their habits and haunts; following their main trails and finding their cul-de-sacs for birthing, grazing, sleeping. Some of my colleagues in the Klamath-Modoc Tribe ? over the Devil?s Garden basalt highlands north of the Pit River, a shared area for gathering and hunting ? recounted herds of 300 deer as late as the 1950s; before the Termination Act took down the ?Unconquered, Uncontrolled? Klamath-Modoc ? as described by a racist, but ?educated? Klamath County Public Schools Superintendent who was also an ?amateur archaeologist?, an avid robber of Klamath-Modoc graves and village sites, and who resented the National Historic Preservation Act which made his activities a Federal or State crime.

Today, my friends there have a hard time finding one healthy buck to kill for their families. Herds are unheard-of; groups of three to five are rare. Yet, Kimbol v. Callahan, I and II, affirmed that the tribal members? right to hunt on their former reservation lands, now BLM, Park Service, Forest Service or privately owned.? Charles Kimbol was instrumental in re-gaining Federal Recognition for the Tribes, and he was the first Chairman elected by the General Council after Restoration. He also was the one who hired me as the first anthropologist and cultural resource manager for the restored Tribes.

I can still see?Chuck sitting in his office with all those shelves of hard-bound?law books, talking with his finger held erect near my face, ?Now, I?m going to tell you something!?? and he did.

Chuck Kimbol?s victory in court with the legal knowledge he had acquired in Prison (for killing an abusive White man in the streets of Klamath Falls, with his bare fists) had won?continued hunting and gathering?rights on the former?Klamath?Reservation lands?for all tribal members and descendants; but there was no guarantee that the game and fish and plants would be there, being that their terminated ?reservation? now is ?public? and private lands managed by the USA. ?The treaties had promised, ?? as long as the winds shall blow, as long as the grass shall grow ?? that land was reserved for them. But, now, ?this land is my land, this land is your land, this land was made for you and me. From the Redwood forest to the Gulfstream waters ??

Tacitus describes how the Romanised Britons embraced the new urban centres from which the Roman Empire ruled them:??They spoke of such novelties as ?civilisation?, when this was really only a feature of their slavery? ?(Agricola, 21). In my 1993 interview with Irwin ?Squeak? Weiser, the 90-year-old Elder of the Numa (Northern Paiute) group that ended up thrown onto the new ?Klamath Reservation?, he remarked on the annual Klamath Restoration Pow Wow, which was to celebrate the restoration of the Klamath Tribes? status as a Federally recognized tribe ? but without the return of their 1.2 million acres of reservation lands that the Termination Act had removed ? ?They are just celebrating their ignorance?.

However, the tribal members were then freed from local unity to compete in the global economy, not collectively?as Klamath, Modoc or Numa ?Indians?, but as individualized Human Resource Units.

The ?Cultural Solvent? had worked again, the basis for their local unity as a tribe sharing their ancestral lands had been severed. Good God Almighty, Free at last!

Standing Alone

I sat there in an auditorium of Southern Oregon University in front of the 1991 annual meeting of the Association of Oregon Archaeologists, academic paper in hand that I was scheduled to present on Indigenous Self-determination in Cultural Resource Management. The last words from the previous speaker, ?It?s a matter of the heart.? had stabbed me deep inside.

My name was called. I stood and walked to the podium, feeling like my feet didn?t reach the floor,?very alone. I was unable to start. Facing The Professionals, including many Real Doctors, tears welling up in my eyes, choking on my words. and I could not read past the first paragraph to the hall full of archaeologists at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, I let the paper fall to the floor and I began to talk from my heart about the Klamath people whose pain I realized that I was there to represent, whose places in the land had been taken from them and desecrated by those who held them captive and deprecated these First Americans and dictated the life that would now confine them, and who were there in that hall to lecture on their history of ?Indians? based on European ?science?, and the thoughts that flooded my mind overwhelmed any logic as I remembered the Indian woman in the dark Chiloquin street, telling her five children to stay put, while she walked out in front of the speeding locomotive of the freight train that pounded along the rails that had been constructed up the ?Williamson River? and through their village of Chiloquin, Oregon, to be dragged and fragmented like her people until the paramedics who came with the screaming ambulance had to put the parts into several yellow body bags, as I stood there before those professional archaeologists and anthropologists, trying to tell them something that I could not get out of my throat that was choking on my own tears, but not choking like Kintpuash, the one whom they called ?Captain Jack?, hanging from a rope alongside his fellow Modoc leaders Black Jim, John Schonchin and Boston Charley. at Fort Klamath, executed for humiliating the US Calvary for several years ? and this experience, this inadequacy that I felt in trying to express my thought-feelings within the acceptable scientific guidelines for such a meeting left me with a sense of futility in trying to talk to them, The Professionals; still, I didn?t give up, ?I kept coming back to Their meetings, and I gradually got it more together, and said more what I meant, not in their professional style, but with increasingly true anthropologically poetic authenticity that led to a polarization of the membership, those who stood with me ? clearly the majority ? ?and those who had professional status and authority over funding; until, at the last meeting that I attended, the spring meeting in 1993, in Bend, I felt that I had finally said it coherently, with dignity, in a way that my Indian friends could respect; without tears, I delivered my final ?paper, ?Issues, Concerns and Opportunities for Cultural Resource Management Inside Indigenous Societies: A Perspective from Chiloquin?. Period! There was no ?paper?; it was from the heart and mind; the way Dino talks. (When I asked for a copy of the audio tape recording of that annual meeting of the AOA, it could not be found, though all the other presentations could.)

I can still hear Dino saying in his uniquely eloquent manner: ?You nailed it, Chief!? I knew, then, that I had.

Our Example: An Eight-year-old Girl?????????????

During my employment by the Pit River Tribe?s Modoc County Indian Education Center, I worked on revising the linguists? representation of their texts into a more readable version to be used by Daniel Forrest in his role as teacher of Ajumawi language and culture to children in and around Alturas, in extreme northeast California. This project never reached fruition because the Modoc County Superintendent of schools did not like the idea of the Tribe?s sovereign determination of their own children?s education; leading to such crises as an event caused by?an eight-year old girl, daughter of one of the leading families among the local band ? the Kosealectawi (?The People of the Place Where the Junipers come down (to the river)?).

The child had gone home and told her grandma, the Elder Mrs. Pearl Brown, that the teacher (the teachers, like the Superintendant of Modoc County Schools, were almost all extremely White and had red necks) had told them that the ?Pit Rivers had lived like animals? ?? ?Digger Indians?, she had called them.? Granma Pearl Brown told her not to listen to them; that she and her granddaughter are Full Blood Ajumawi. (Linguists reading this, but not knowing this language, now know the suffix /-awi/ is ?people?.)

The next day, when there was a recess, the ?redskin? Brown girl went running down the halls of the Alturas Elementary School, singing at the top of her lungs, ?Full Blood!, Full Blood! Full Blood!?? and was severely reprimanded and sent home with a note to Grandma.

Word got to the Modoc County School District Superintendant who tried to downplay it. News Wiki-Leaked out and, via smoke-signals in this pre-internet period, went viral. The California Department of Education getting wind of it during Jerry Brown?s first term as Governor. ?Believe me, today, there is a different version of history taught to the People in Alturas. [Jerry Brown was/is supportive of indigenous self-determination. I still have a catalog from an exhibition of California Indian art that he personally opened, entitled, ?We are These People.?}

?Digger? was a common insult used by the ignorant savages who had come in force in the 1850s, singing, ?This Land is My Land?, pushed them into a town and taken all their land except for 9,000 acres named the ?XL Rancheria?, which was essentially given to Dan?s brother, Aaron.

Setting up the Transitional Revolutionary Council

Dan told me that the Federal Indian Service Representative asked the convened tribal members of assembled bands of both the nine Ajumawi and the two Atsugewi bands (Hat Creek) ? who had been all been pushed together and ?given? the 9000 acres of XL Rancherias as their collective, ?reservation?, in order to take their separate lands ? asked them who would take on the role of Transitional Government leader, to form a tribal government that could articulate well with the BIA?s preferences and the Indian Reorganization Act. When the Fed asked, the collective Pit River/Hat Creek People sat in stoic, rock-like silence. But a very young and ambitious Aaron ? culture- and language- stripped during his ?education? at the Haskell Institute in Kansas - was the only one to volunteer in a packed room of silent, somber Indians. So the USA appointed Aaron Forrest to the office of Tribal Chairman.

Thirty or more years later, when I met him, only a few people lived up the river with Aaron and his family on the XL Ranch, which was, legally, the only property owned by the Tribe, from which he controlled all the Federally-funded programs for the Tribe, EXCEPT, the Modoc County Indian Education Center which was run by the Parent Education Committee (PEC), whose member families lived in Alturas or nearby towns.

The Take-Over

Supervisor had already warned me about mowing the lawn outside our facilities ? which were rented from a church. The Super didn?t like the image; and he said the church was required to do that. I argued that I was setting a good example, and, besides, it was not a program under his supervision. I was the Director who wrote the grants and who was supervised by the PEC; the School District merely served as the recipient-disburser of funds dedicated to the Center?s self-determined programs. Mouthing-off again.

The next day, Super?s subordinate and a couple of other goons arrived accompanied by two police cars and several cops all armored up, demanded all the keys to the facilities, and locked the place up.

During the next week all the educational materials, large reference library and furniture were moved to the District Office, and the PEC secretary (who turned out to be a double agent for Aaron) became one of Super?s secretaries; and the Title?IV and VII?funding for minority and ethnic education was transferred to a new ESL program for Hispanics, of which there were very few in Modoc County at that time. ?

So far away from San Francisco, none of the media I called responded by a TV or newpaper reporter?s visit to start a public appeal. I hung in for several weeks having part of the program at my home; then, money ran out ... I had to get a job.

Alternate Relations with All My Relations

Daniel Forrest had described to me his initiation as a hunter as a pre-teen. The other men brought a deer hide with its head and ? having completed his period of purification - Dan put it on with nothing other than a breech clout, and, after smudging with sage to cover his odor, he crawled across a meadow and in among a herd of many deer where he spent that day.? Not killing, just becoming one with them, to understand their spirit; unlike the poor fellow who recently jumped into a tiger?s pen in a big city zoo to ?become one? with the tiger and almost did, carnally. As with all actions in getting food and other acts in the environment, the deer ?who had appeared to offer his life and was killed for food and other materials, was then thanked and the hunter asked his/her spirit to come back again.

The relationship between the people and their herds did not resemble the relationship between rancher and his cattle, neither physically nor mentally. In the mind of the men, the relationship was symbiotic, just as it was for the women who helped the plants that they harvested; naturally selecting the best corms to replant in the cultivated soil, offering prayers of gratitude. The humans took ceremonial care of the world; the deer brought home the bacon.

Yes, I am making a simplistic representation, but how can one translate between separate realities?

I saw this again among the Inupiaq of Deering, on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, ninety miles from the Kamchatka Peninsula of Asia. They had, for millennia, had such a relationship with the caribou. Even after the White enterprise attempt to introduce commercial ?reindeer? herds for earning profit as well as subsistence, they continued to relate to the animals as they had their own wild ?reindeer?, which eventually melded in with the domestic ones. No fences, just some stone cairns resembling human forms along the ridgetop above the rich grazing lands along the Imnachuk River was enough to keep them from straying. The people both guarded them from their predators and harvested them for winter food supply along with their stores of fish, walrus, seal, whales, berries, etc. This is 2002 I am describing.?

Cairns on the ridgetop above the ?reindeer? farm, Inmachuk River watershed, late June, 2002. (photo: John Allison)

There were more rock cairns at regular intervals, but many have fallen and not been replaced; the reindeer farming venture was abandoned, but the merged herd of caribou still lives in substantial numbers along the bottom lands and hillsides with the herds of muskoxen, Brown Bears, partridges and other uncontrolled, free-living stock. ?Dogs run free. Why can?t we?? (Photo, John Allison)

Right. Nice pictures.?So, what?s the point here?

Well, the point is that the herding being done today by the entrepreneurs (?undertakers?) is the herding of humans; the most profitable and challenging livestock domestication ever. The management and harvest of pigs, cows and sheep are all now highly automated and ?efficient? right down to the Pink Slime; no more ceremony; just press a button to slop ?em and hire illegal ?aliens? to kill ?em, gut ?em and cut ?em.

No more costly ceremony and ritual that George Foster found so irrational and wasteful of capital that could be spent in the global economy. Why, those peasants in Mexico could be raising pigs by industrial techniques for his family?s global meat-packing corporation. Of course his Mexican villagers would turn up their noses at that kind of meat. They know what good pork tastes like; they made much better tocino (?bacon?) than Foster?s family could ever approach. I know, I became addicted to Jalisco home-made bacon. Gracias al Dios, they did not follow his prescription for change.

So, Foster couldn?t herd the Mexican farmers into the factory. The Modoc County School District has still been unsuccessful at herding the Ajumawi into some of their ?economic development strategies? also; the Tribe going their own way, self-directed by other values.

Disambiguation: Push Comes to Shove

Well, the oral tradition among the white ?settlers? of North America was that Indians don?t make good slaves; they keep running off and organizing war parties.

Now, it seems that everybody is having that dream.

There seems to be ? Alhamdulillah ? a global uprising of the human herds occurring just before the funnel fence leading into the Corral of the Final Solution. Something has spooked the livestock. ?The corporate jet abandons its landing pattern and goes back to circling; looking for a more convincing approach, like ?a culture of accountability?, austerity for some and offshore bank accounts for others.

All Aboard! This is the Final Call

It is now really that last moment for this; soon, we enter the funnel into The Jungle as represented by the slaughter houses in Steinbeck?s book.

The gate is now closing. Mind the gap!

Now?s the time, Folks. Run through the halls of Congress or Parliament, down the halls of all universities and ?public? schools that teach nonsense and racism, take over the Plaza Real in Barcelona, unfurl banners from the top of the Eifel Tower, form local planning groups, confront Standard Oil in Nigeria and Chevron in Richmond, California. Run roughshod over Their Empire, screaming, ?Full Blood! Full Blood! Full Blood!?

? Well, that is, unless you want to go where They are taking you. And, I can understand having weak thoughts of giving up, surrendering, turning on your favorite TV show, going with the flow;?having another drink or toke; trusting the wisdom of the capitalists, comforted by Ronald Reagan?s claim to assure his wards, ?We don?t eat our own children.?

However, this is not the time for that. Now is the last chance to Get a Grip!

If an eight-year-old Ajumawi girl can bring change, We can too, if We rise up, stand up and don?t give up the fight.

No cedan! Don?t surrender!

As a co-worker said to me in the Tulare County Welfare Office where I supported myself while working with UFWOC, ?Sal si puede?. Get out, if you can, and join in.

Avoid Violence, even if you must get kinetic.

Violence is in the mind. An empire can be slain without violence in the mind; just as can a deer; ?? as the butcher slays an ox?.

This is a ceremony, a ritual that will determine your future; the future of All My Relations.

Don?t surrender! No cedan!

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night!

We are Many, They are Few.

There is nothing to fear.

Source: http://zeroanthropology.net/2012/09/26/herding-humans-global-economies-and-the-elimination-of-alternatives/

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Video Conferencing Etiquette Needs a Makeover

A growing more employees are turning to video conferencing as a way to eliminate expensive travel while still getting business done. A new survey from Radvision provides additional insights as to how the video conference has emerged as a favored communications tool. Putting a face on what would otherwise be a voice-only phone call certainly helps personalize a business encounter, according to survey participants. As for the right time and place to conduct a video conference? You may be surprised to learn that a significant number of young professionals have no reservations about holding these conferences in some odd places, including bathrooms. "The growth of video calling is not surprising, as many companies are looking for alternative cost-effective and efficient ways of doing business," explains Bob Romano, global vice president of marketing for Radvision, an Avaya company. "At the same time, younger entrants into the workforce are familiar with using video for more personal communication. As a result, video call etiquette is still evolving." More than 2,200 Americans took part in the research.

Source: http://www.baselinemag.com/telecommunications/slideshows/video-conferencing-etiquette-needs-a-makeover/

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