At YouTube Boot Camp, Future Stars Polish Their Acts - NYTimes.com

Vanessa Wilson was back in class last week for the first time since law school. Only this time, she said, she wasn’t bored.

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Ms. Wilson, 27, was one of the winners of a recent talent search sponsored by YouTube. Her prize was a boot camp at Google’s Manhattan offices, where some of YouTube’s most successful stars led sessions on how to create a viral video, build an audience and bolster a brand.

Some of the tips that, with luck, might one day lead to a six-figure income? Don’t upload videos on Friday afternoons. Send e-mails to at least a dozen key bloggers and ask them to post a link. Surprise your audience. Don’t forget: there is key light, front light, flood light. And never, ever put the word sex in a title or tag. It could cost you some of the advertising revenue that YouTube shares with its content creators.

The boot camp is part of YouTube’s campaign to find its own original high-quality video content. Facing fierce competition from Web video services like Hulu, iTunes and Netflix, YouTube is looking to increase the range of content and improve the quality of its channels as it continues to try to make more money, even after doubling revenue, according to Google’s last quarterly report.

“We’re a platform,” said Margaret Healy, who has worked for YouTube for several years in the role of developing strategic partnerships with both big brands and amateur video makers. “We would like it if everyone who had the talent, interest and potential to gain an audience to come on YouTube and start a channel and make original content.”

In 2007, YouTube identified those amateur and professional video makers whose channels were drawing audiences, and the company began sharing advertising revenue with them under its Partner Program.

Ms. Healy said it was not easy in the beginning to persuade brands to spend advertising money on many quirky videos. But last year, the top channels under the Partner Program generated 100 billion views and attracted millions of dollars in advertising revenue. While most of them are big brands earning millions, there are several hundred people who began as amateurs who now make more than $100,000 a year, although most payments to the 20,000 channel operators are small.

In March, in a fresh effort to increase original programming, Google purchased Next New Networks, a Web video production company that now also delivers training and support to video makers in YouTube’s Partner Program. The 25 people who won YouTube’s talent search — their rising stars contest — began receiving help from Next New Networks at the boot camp.

For Ms. Wilson, 27, who makes YouTube videos about sewing and quilting and uses her Crafty Gemini channel to help sell craft supplies and patterns, the advice has been invaluable as she tries to turn her hobby into a business.

“I’m thinking now, how can I expand?” said Ms. Wilson, of Gainesville, Fla., who took up sewing while at law school. She spent four days last week in what YouTube called its first Content Creator Camp. “I could do a tutorial for Halloween. I could do something for all the holidays.”

Several of the teachers at the camp were from Next New Networks, including Joe Sabia, who is known for the innovative and amusing videos he began making while attending Boston College, and the Gregory brothers, who had the most-watched video on YouTube last year, titled “The Bed Intruder Song.” The Fine brothers, who have made YouTube a full-time job since last July, were also on hand to share their experiences.

While Benny Fine said that he and his brother were not earning a six-figure income from sharing advertising revenue under YouTube’s Partner program, he said they were making enough to pay the rent and cover the costs of their Fine brothers channel. It now ranks as the 58th most popular channel on the platform, bolstered by a weekly show, “Kids React,” that they started last fall.

By having a channel on YouTube, Mr. Fine said they were able to expand and sustain an audience around their work, helping build their own brand. “There are a lot of companies that can get you 2 million or 3 million views,” said Mr. Fine, 30, who works with his brother, Rafi, 27. “But no one becomes a fan of the content.”

Bryan Odell, 21, of Lincoln, Neb., one of the contest winners, said he hoped to become the next Ryan Seacrest. He parlayed his internship at a local television station, where he interviewed rock and music stars, into his own Web site and YouTube channel, BryanStars Interviews.

“There are a lot of kids going to college to become media stars,” said Mr. Odell, who left the University of Nebraska after his sophomore year to develop his Web site and YouTube channel. “What YouTube has done is made all of these jobs a reality because we can just do it and distribute it right to the Internet.”

Though a handful of the 25 winners are professional filmmakers, most of the campers were just people with a passion for a specific interest, like advising people on how to put on make-up or cook Korean food.

“We see people go from hobbyists to part-time job to business to career to stardom,” Ms. Healy said.

Others are using their YouTube channels to create a brand identity, to help promote the products they sell and draw attention to other businesses.

“This is my job now,” said Meghan Camarena, 23, of Modesto, Calif., a contest winner who was in camp last week. She makes music videos and sells T-shirts and other clothing from her YouTube channel. “I started in 2008 as something to do for fun. I now make a decent amount to pay my bills.”

One of the camp activities involved collaborating with a fellow contest winner on a video. For the project, Mr. Odell found himself in a Manhattan quilting shop, starring in a video on sewing directed by Ms. Wilson.

“We want to help each other,” he said. “We are all on the same team. No one understands a YouTuber like another YouTuber.”

via nytimes.com

Cool

Quick-response codes aim to capitalize on the boom in smartphones - WSJ.com

With cafes on nearly every corner in Vancouver, British Columbia, Ethical Bean Coffee Co. needed a way to stand out. The answer was an odd bar code with a maze of black boxes instead of the usual straight lines.

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About eight months ago, the three-store chain started putting these "quick response" codes in its train ads. When customers scan the little squares with their smartphone cameras, a coffee menu pops up on their screens. Then they can order a cup of coffee on the train—and have it waiting when they arrive at one of Ethical Bean's shops.

Business has doubled since then, says Chief Executive Lloyd Bernhardt. "We catch people who are on the go and don't have a lot of time," he says.

With smartphone use soaring, many small companies are turning to these quick-response, or QR, codes to connect with customers on the go. They're placing the codes in ads, direct mail, in-store displays and product packaging, and using them to link to a host of features—discounts, websites and videos. And, like Ethical Bean, many companies say they've seen a big sales boost.

But the codes present some challenges. Businesses often have to educate customers about how to use the codes. What's more, even though businesses can download and use the codes free of charge, it can cost a lot to develop the promotional material that pops up on customers' phones. There's also the question of format. QR is the dominant technical standard, but there are more out there—which may confuse businesses and customers.

Outside the Box

QR codes have been around for a while, and many big corporations use them. In the past six months, though, small companies in the U.S. have flocked to the technology, thanks to services that let them easily create codes free of charge. Meanwhile, numerous phones, including many Androids and BlackBerrys, come with an app that reads QR codes. (Others, like the iPhone, must download the software.) Scanbuy Inc., a New York company that develops and manages QR codes, estimates that 30 million people in the U.S. have a code-reader app on their phone.

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For businesses, generating a QR code can be as easy as traveling to a website. Consider code-making service Kaywa AG. A small business just needs to go to qrcode.kaywa.com and choose the type of content that it wants customers to get when they scan the code, whether it's a Web address, text, phone number or SMS. Then the business enters that content and clicks "generate." A bar code pops up on the screen that the company can copy and paste onto its advertising or packaging, at no cost.

Businesses can also generate QR codes by adding ".qr" to shortened links from Google Inc. or bitly Inc. When customers scan a code that was created this way, their phones call up whatever is at the shortened address.

Many businesses use QR codes to send customers to their website—like Skylight Books in Los Angeles. One of the managers, Justin Jasper, says he displays codes next to staff-recommended books in the store. If the books are sold out, customers can scan the code and order a copy from Skylight's site, instead of heading to a big online seller or chain store.

Other companies are getting a lot more complex. Larry Golden, chief executive of RSVP Publications, a direct-mail provider in Tampa, Fla., says he always links to video and interactive options, among other features, when he puts QR codes in his clients' promotional materials. For instance, there's the direct-mail postcard that RSVP created for Adam Gorski Landscapes Inc., a landscaping firm that works in the Bellevue, Wash., area. Next to the QR code on the card is an arrow pointing to the code, saying, "Scan me, I talk!" Upon scanning, customers are linked to the firm's mobile site, which features a video of owner Adam Gorski discussing his work. There's also an offer to receive a free tree with any installation, along with buttons to connect to the business via phone, email or Facebook.

The cards went out in February. In the four weeks after that, Mr. Gorski got double the usual number of calls and later hired two new employees to help handle the work.

Other businesses use the codes on packaging. Ethical Bean puts them on bags of coffee to share roasting secrets, among other things. In July, Pacific Natural Foods in Tualatin, Ore., will roll out QR codes on Soup Starters, which let cooks add fresh ingredients to a premade base. After scanning, customers will see a recipe, shopping list for ingredients and demo, says Jennifer Herrick, marketing communications manager for Pacific Foods of Oregon Inc.

Unscrambling the Codes

Still, the codes come with some headaches. For one, a lot of consumers don't know what QR codes are. Lydia Puller, an agent with Alain Pinel Realtors in Northern California, has been using QR codes since last June. She says clients and agents sometimes see the codes and ask, "What the heck is that picture?" So, she has to explain.

There's also cost. The codes are free, but the work behind them is not. Mr. Gorski pays RSVP $500 per postcard mailing to film his videos, and he says he got that low price only because he was a guinea pig for the company's QR-code efforts. RSVP's Mr. Golden says he has spent about $100,000 on mobile technology and content for clients.

Finally, there are technical standards. QR is the code most widely used by U.S. businesses. But there are competing standards available free, and even some that aren't free are gaining traction. Customers could get confused, since not all reader apps unscramble all the codes. Meanwhile, there's no guarantee QR will win out as the U.S. standard, so marketers might have to go back to the drawing board with new codes.

"QR codes are not the end-all, be-all," says Ryan Goff, vice president/director of social-media marketing at marketing firm MGH Inc. "They may not exist in two years. But they're a temporary solution to the problem of, 'How do you connect people to online things in the real world?' "

via online.wsj.com

Cool.

Pastor Wins Battle to Cite Jesus in Memorial Day Prayer

The Department of Veterans Affairs cannot bar a Houston pastor from invoking Jesus Christ in a Memorial Day prayer, a federal judge ruled in a case that is yet another illustration of anti-Christian animus in the country.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes told the department it was “forbidden from dictating the content of speeches – whether those speeches are denominated prayers or otherwise – at the Memorial Day ceremony of National Cemetery Council for Greater Houston.”

“The government cannot gag citizens when it says it is in the interest of national security, and it cannot do it in some bureaucrat’s notion of cultural homogeneity,” the judge wrote. “The right of free expression ranges from the dignity of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches to Charlie Sheen’s rants.”

In his order, the judge noted that the Rev. Scott Rainey, the lead pastor of the Living Word Church of the Nazarene, was likely to prevail on his claims should the case reach trial.

“The Constitution does not confide to the government the authority to compel emptiness in a prayer, where a prayer belongs,” he said. “The gray mandarins of the national government are decreeing how citizens honor their veterans. This is not a pick-up-your-trash sign; this is a we-pick-your-words sign.”

The case was brought on Rainey’s behalf by Texas’ Liberty Institute, a non-profit devoted to protecting freedoms and strengthening families.

Liberty Institute General Counsel Jeff Mateer did not know what prompted the government to step into the matter, adding he was told by another minister that the Memorial Day prayers have been going on for over 20 years with the mention of Jesus without incident. Why it occurred with likely remain a mystery as the government conceded the issue at a Friday hearing.

“There certainly is a climate in our country that precipitates these types of actions,” Mateer said. “Secularists and separationists are trying to push an agenda that is telling government that you can’t have any religion in public.”

Rainey had given the Memorial Day invocation at the cemetery for the past two years and in each case mentioned Jesus Christ without incident.

The event at the public Houston National Cemetery is run by a private group, the National Cemetery Council for Greater Houston. This year, the director of the council, Arleen Ocasio, asked Rainey to submit his prayer for review. He sent a draft to Ocasio.

The seven-paragraph prayer spent the first five speaking of God in a non-denominational way, invoking “almighty God” and including the words, “We pray for peace among nations around the world. We pray for peace in the homes of families who have lost loved ones in these great battles. We pray for peace in the heart of every person present today as we seek you with our whole heart.”

The prayer closed with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and the line, “While respecting people of every faith today, it is in the name of Jesus Christ, the risen Lord, that I pray. Amen.”

Ocasio said that Rainey would not be allowed to pray unless he removed references to one religion. Rainey appealed to the general counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Deputy General Counsel John Thompson sided with Ocasio, telling the pastor “the ceremony will commemorate veterans of all cultures and beliefs, and the tone of remarks must therefore be inclusive.”

"I am very disappointed that the Houston National Cemetery would take such an anti-freedom stance,” Rainey said upon filing suit. “This is my third year to be invited to deliver the invocation, and I have never been asked to edit the content of my prayer. While I consider it an honor to lead such a somber gathering in prayer, I will not forsake my religious beliefs.”

The suit sought a temporary restraining order that would allow the prayer as written. The judge on Thursday granted the request.

"While I am very disappointed we had to take legal action, I am glad that the judge agreed that removing Jesus’ name from my prayer is unconstitutional,” Rainey said. “I am honored to be allowed to pray in the name of Jesus at this somber remembrance of our nation’s fallen.”

via newsmax.com

Good.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in Tree Dispute with Neighbors - WSJ.com

SAN FRANCISCO—Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison paid $3.9 million in 1988 for a home in this city's posh Pacific Heights neighborhood with sweeping vistas of San Francisco Bay. Now his view isn't quite as sweeping—and that's turning into something of a scene.

Mr. Ellison's neighbors, Bernard and Jane Von Bothmer, purchased a $6.9 million home down the hill from the software mogul's place in 2004. In the ensuing years, the Von Bothmers let the trees in their expansive backyard grow. Three redwoods and an 80-year-old acacia have since risen by several feet.

Larry Ellison

Mr. Ellison, 66 years old, is displeased by the taller greenery—very much so.

In a trial set to begin June 6, the billionaire plans to take the Von Bothmers to state Superior Court in San Francisco over how the trees have obstructed his floor-to-ceiling window views of San Francisco Bay. The court date follows a lawsuit Mr. Ellison filed last June alleging he will suffer "irreparable injury" from lost property value if the court doesn't make the Von Bothmers cut their trees in order to "restore Plaintiff's views and sunlight."

The situation has become a full-blown spectacle. Mr. Ellison hired an attorney who specializes in "tree and neighbor law" to duke it out with the Von Bothmers. In a deposition, Mrs. Von Bothmer alleges she once caught workers hired by the Silicon Valley tycoon strapped into her redwoods, prepared to cut the trees without permission—a charge Mr. Ellison has said he doesn't believe is true.

Amid the dispute, Mr. Ellison once offered the Von Bothmers as much as $15 million to sell their property to him, an offer the couple rejected, according to attorneys for both sides.

The root of the problem: Mr. Ellison "wants a pristine view, and they want their privacy," says Marie Hurabiell, an attorney for the Von Bothmers.

Mr. Ellison would only speak through his tree attorney, Barri Bonapart, who says the CEO wants his views restored to what he has enjoyed since buying the five-bedroom, 10,742-square-foot residence more than 20 years ago.

The Von Bothmer's green canopy has grown to block a swath of Mr. Ellison's view from the third-level living room of his four-level home, Ms. Bonapart says. She adds that the Oracle chief uses the contemporary-style abode—one of his six residential properties—for entertaining and plans to spend more time there during the 2013 America's Cup yachting race that he is bringing to San Francisco.

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Ellison v. Von Bothmer case file

The view, with the trees at issue, from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's home.

Mr. Ellison isn't the first celebrity to get into a row over greenery. Home decorating mogul Martha Stewart famously scrapped with one neighbor over shrubbery he grew between their homes in East Hampton in 1995.

In San Francisco, tree disputes often break out because the city is both hilly and wooded, resulting in blocked views for some. In 1988, the city passed a "Tree Dispute Resolution Ordinance" requiring a complainant to seek "initial reconciliation" with the tree owner, file a "tree claim" if that doesn't work and, if necessary, submit the dispute to "binding arbitration." If all else fails, the dispute can go to court.

According to Ms. Bonapart, the previous owners of the Von Bothmer home, David and Jan Sargent, agreed to Mr. Ellison's request to keep the tallest trees on the property trimmed so as not to obstruct his views.

Mr. Sargent, a real-estate developer from Sausalito, Calif., says they made no such agreement.

When Mr. Sargent's home went on the market in 2004, Mrs. Von Bothmer fell in love with its backyard of about 40 trees and shrubs. Mr. Von Bothmer, 44, a college history professor and son of the late Dietrich Von Bothmer, who was curator of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, also liked the home's central location.

Over the next few years, the Von Bothmers discovered severed branches and other signs that their four tallest trees, including an approximately 80-year-old acacia, were being "topped," or cut indiscriminately without permission, says Garth Drozin, another attorney for the Von Bothmers.

On June 2, 2006, Mrs. Von Bothmer and a handyman caught three workers in her redwoods preparing to cut tree limbs, according to Mrs. Von Bothmer's testimony in her deposition. Believing they worked for Mr. Ellison, she confronted a manager at his home, Mr. Drozin says.

"There was an apology and a promise this wouldn't happen anymore," Mr. Drozin says.

In a 207-page deposition transcript from testimony given on April 8, Mr. Ellison said he never asked anyone to cut the trees. He added "there was no chance" one of his workers would have done so "because I would fire them instantly," according to the deposition. "You know, I don't do things like that. I'm a public figure."

Mr. Ellison added that he didn't believe trespassing had occurred, though he said "on one occasion" a worker stood on the retaining wall of his property to cut a limb from a Von Bothmer tree "that was coming over onto our property, and he was strapped in the tree." In the deposition, Mr. Ellison said the "Von Bothmers complained and we stopped instantly, though we think we have the full right."

From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Ellison exhausted tree-dispute protocols before filing suit, Ms. Bonapart says. Mrs. Von Bothmer, meanwhile, fired back this year by seeking to get her acacia—a non-native species to California—protected as a "Landmark Tree" by the city of San Francisco. That request is pending.

With the June 6 trial looming, both sides have met in settlement talks, though there hasn't been a resolution.

Mr. Ellison has resolved a tree issue with another neighbor, though. In that instance—at Mr. Ellison's principal residence in Woodside, Calif.—a neighbor complained after he planted some redwoods near their property lines.

"She said those trees would eventually grow and block her view," Mr. Ellison said in his deposition. "So we removed the trees."

via online.wsj.com

Huh...?

Joe Queenan Hopes the Cupcake Craze Is at an End | Moving Targets - WSJ.com

An article in my local newspaper states that the cupcake craze afflicting this nation for the past few years may be fading, that cupcakes may be ceding pride of place to pies. Having attended several recent weddings where cupcakes were served in lieu of traditional wedding cakes, I greet this news with both joy and relief.

Like the Macarena, Tofutti, the pedestrian scooter, the urban cowboy look of the early 1980s and America's brief, misguided obsession with Paris Hilton, the era when the cupcake was in the ascendant deserves to be consigned to the dustbin of history. What a nightmare it has been.

Pastry historians agree that the cupcake craze was triggered by the repeated appearance of the puny, self-effacing confection on "Sex and the City," a television program I have never seen for the obvious reason that it launches stupid Barbie doll-ish trends like cupcake mania. What began as nostalgia for an earlier, simpler time that never existed soon morphed into a bona-fide cultural juggernaut, with the cupcake officially asserting itself as an acceptable replacement for traditional, full-sized cakes at weddings, birthday parties, retirement send-offs and even funerals. People blogged about it. Martha Stewart wrote a book about it. Wedding planners wouldn't shut their yaps about it.

My own belief is that a marriage that begins with the cupcake can only end with the Cheez Doodle, that a marriage conceived in frivolity will find its natural climax in tragedy. I've been married for 34 years; not once has a ceremonial cupcake insinuated itself into our relationship. A clafoutis or two, a few pear tortes, yes. But a cupcake? Never.

Last year, on a trip to Washington, I was ambling through the tony neighborhood of Georgetown when I noticed about 100 people lined up on 33rd Street, the queue snaking around the corner. I assumed that they were waiting for tickets to hear Lady Gaga or Sarah Palin, but when I asked my daughter, she said they were lined up for cupcakes at the city's premier cupcakery, the subject of a recent cable TV reality show.

This was sick. This was pathetic. This reminded me of scenes from "Seinfeld," when people would line up around the block to patronize the "Soup Nazi." But at least the Soup Nazi (based on a real place) sells a product that is both nourishing and archetypal. Soup, even overpriced soup, is rooted in the mythology of America. Soup is not a joke. Cupcakes are.

With their fawning subservience to the cupcake, Americans had once again been led by the nose into mortifying behavior by the marketers who invent odious social trends and then trick everybody into thinking they result from a real paradigm shift bubbling up from the heartland. Nothing else can explain America's brief, but inexplicable, infatuation with Menudo. Or Vanilla Ice. Or Lee Iacocca.

There is a subversive element at work here, too. The cupcake, to me, symbolizes compromise and acquiescence, a retreat from American greatness. The scaled-down cupcake—minuscule, inconsequential, silly—is a Carter-era bagatelle. It is frou-frou. It lacks muscle, sinew, cojones. It signifies that the cupcake eater, in the words of the immortal Warren Zevon, appreciates the best but is settling for less. Warren Zevon was never, ever seen eating a cupcake. He went to his death denouncing the cupcake. Or so I am told.

I am not entirely convinced that L'Époque de Cupcake has run its course, nor I am overjoyed that the serviceable yet ultimately humble pie may be replacing it. Marie-Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake," not "Let them eat pie." And she certainly never said, "Let them eat cupcakes."

But a pie is better than a cupcake; it at least leads society back in the general direction of the Double Mocha Cappuccino Tiramisu Mirage and the Seven-Layer Nuclear Trauma Wedding Cake. And by pulling Americans back from the brink of disaster, it spares us an even more preposterous future, where people might line up around the block outside bakeries with names like Beignet and Macaroon and the ultimate nightmare: Georgetown's Finest Toast. A society that would roll over and play dead for Machiavellian cupcake merchants is a society capable of anything

via online.wsj.com

Really...?

Richard M Mitzel Attorney Launches New Website

Attorney Richard M Mitzel today launched his new website http://accidentlawyerbrooksville.com

With over 40 years of experience Mr Mitzel brings a wealth of experience to the Brooksville, Spring Hill, Fl area.  Mr Mitzel's practice specializes in auto accidents, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, premises liability and insurance claims.

You will work directly with Mr Mitzel, not some assistant or non-attorney.  He brings a friendly down-home style to an often stiff and stodgy field.

His office is at:
Richard M Mitzel, Atty.
101 South Main Street
Brooksville, Fl 34601
352-796-3383

Daniels Decides Against Presidential Run - WSJ.com

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Sunday he has decided against jumping into the 2012 presidential race, saying a campaign would counter "the interests and wishes of my family.''

Mr. Daniels had been encouraged to run by many Republican governors and party leaders, who said the reputation he built in Indiana as a budget hawk would fit the public mood. Mr. Daniels had equivocated in public over whether to run, and his decision settles one of the major questions hanging over the 2012 Republican presidential field.

His announcement came in an email to supporters just after midnight Sunday morning.

via online.wsj.com

Interesting...

Uncut: Herman Cain Announces 2012 Presidential Bid | The Blaze

Another candidate has entered the Republican presidential field.  Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in his home town of Atlanta, Georgia today.  Instead of announcing via social networking websites, Cain, currently a talk radio host, made his announcement at a rally in Centennial Olympic Park.

Cain said, “I‘m running for president of the United States and I’m not running for second.”

Cain joins the field that includes Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), former Governor Gary Johnson (R-NM), and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA).

News outlets report that Tim Pawlenty will not be far behind. He will reportedly announce his bid for the Republican candidacy at a town hall event in Des Moines, Iowa Monday. The former Governor or Minnesota, who formed an exploratory committee in March, will travel to Florida after his Iowa announcement.

via theblaze.com

Good for him.

A ‘No’ From Netanyahu: Israeli PM Rejects 1967 Border Talk in Front of Press | The Blaze

WASHINGTON (AP) — Showing no concrete progress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat alongside President Barack Obama on Friday and declared that Israel would not withdraw to 1967 borders to help make way for an adjacent Palestinian state. Obama had called on Israel to be willing to do just that in a speech the day earlier.

The Israeli leader said he would make some concessions but Israel will not go back to the lines from decades earlier because they would be “indefensible.”

For his part, Obama said that there were differences of formulations and language but that such disputes are going to happen “between friends.”

The president never mentioned the 1967 borders as the two men talked with reporters. The leaders spoke after a lengthy meeting in the Oval Office, amid tense times.

Obama said in his speech on Thursday that the United States supports creation of a Palestinian state based on the border lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel forces occupied east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. The comment drew angry criticism in Israel.

via theblaze.com

We should stand with Israel.

USDA Allowed Monsanto to Police Itself | Issue on GM Crops

Monsanto may soon be allowed to conduct its own environmental studies. Currently, the USDA is responsible for assessing environmental impacts of new GMO crops, but the agency plans to at least temporarily hand over environmental impact reporting responsibilities to the biotech companies behind GMO crops.

If this isn't the classic example of the fox guarding the henhouse I don't know what is.

The two-year pilot program will allow the companies to conduct their own environmental assessments, or alternately outsource the work to contractors. The USDA will retain the final say in determining the safety of crops.

According to Fast Company:

"The USDA won't actually admit that it's bad at performing its duties -- instead, the agency claims that the move will make the environmental reporting process more timely, efficient, and cost-effective ... [But if Monsanto] has a vested interest in getting one of its crops deregulated, why wouldn't it try to fudge the numbers on an environmental review? And why wouldn't its hired contractors do the same?"

You might think that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) don't affect you. But in fact, up to 90 percent of all major U.S. grown crops are grown with genetically engineered seed, and can be used in human and animal foods without any safety testing or labeling.

This includes GM corn, soybeans, canola, and sugar beets, which have made their way into approximately 80 percent of current U.S. grocery store items.

If you're not buying organically produced foods (or growing your own food), then you're probably eating genetically modified ingredients in most of the processed foods you're consuming.

The UK Progressive reports:

"Scientific testing has not been done on what effects GMOs may have on humans. What has been shown is that GMO foods contain excessive amounts of certain toxins, the effects of which have not been determined. Genetically modified foods also negatively impact the environment by creating more toxins and potentially leading to the creation of mutated soil bacteria, which may lead to more harm regarding the future of food production."

Sources:

  Fast Company April 25, 2011

UK Progressive March 29, 2011

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

decided to create a two-year long pilot program that allows biotech companies like Monsanto to conduct their own environmental assessments. This decision is an absolute abomination of massive conflicts of interest.

The Fox is Yet Again Allowed to Guard the Hen House…

What possible incentive does Monsanto have to find environmental harm resulting from the crops they seek to get approved? And if they hire contractors to perform the review, what incentive would they have to come up with a negative assessment?

This is particularly pernicious because of all the chemical companies Monsanto is far and away the most egregious in their blatant disregard for values. They have extorted millions of dollars from small famers no differently than New York City Mafia crime bosses.  Well, that might be acceptable behavior in organized crime, but it is reprehensible in a multi-billion dollar corporation.

If history has shown us anything, it's that industries CANNOT police themselves. The end result is always the same—corporate vested interests win every time. This is exactly why we need INDEPENDENT agencies to do safety reviews.

The USDA will get "the final say." But honestly, how likely is the USDA to decline approval once an environmental assessment claims the crop poses no threat to the environment? If they can't find the time to do the original assessment, they surely will not find the time to double-check the assessments handed in by Monsanto and other biotech companies.

Another MAJOR consideration is that Tom Vilsack is the Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack has been a major supporter of Monsanto and is a strong believer in genetically engineered pharmaceutical crops, especially pharmaceutical corn.

This is a set-up that will endanger consumers everywhere, in more ways than one. As Ariel Schwartz writes for Fast Company, ">Ariel Schwartz writes for Fast Company, "if it wasn't so dangerous, it would be funny." For example, we already KNOW that GM crops are causing a variety of environmental problems,

Such as:

• Creation of new pest problems
• Roundup herbicide, which is used in increasing amounts of more than 80 percent of all GM crops planted worldwide, has been found to be lethal to frogs and toxic to human placental and embryonic cells

Allowing Monsanto to police itself is an absolute disaster of epic proportions, make no mistake about it. And this makes it all the more important to educate yourself about GM foods, and make every possible effort to avoid them if you want to protect your health, not to mention the health of your children!

Do You Know how Much GM Food You're Eating?

It's important to realize that as much as 90-95 percent of the major US-grown crops are genetically engineered, and subsequently used in human- and animal food production without labeling and with no safety testing whatsoever.

These GM crops include:

Corn	Canola	Alfalfa (New GM crop as of 2011)
an Australian ABC News report, demand for 'sustainable' canola, meaning non-GM canola, is now so high that the price for this commodity is outpacing the GM variety. Tom Puddy with CBH, Western Australia's largest grain handler, is quoted as saying: "It really comes down to customer preference to have a non-GM product in the food chain. There's consumers that will demand that, so they'll pay a premium at a supermarket shelf for particular items that are certified non-GM. 'The other driver is from the by-product. That's fed to animals and they don't want to have a GM by-product in their food chain that's fed to their animals." The extra price is worth it in my opinion. Although safety research is still sorely lacking, the studies that have been made indicate that things do not bode well for us, long-term, if we do not stop genetically altering our food supply.

Follow Your Instincts: GM Foods are NOT Safe

Although the evil GM giants like Monsanto insist that GM foods are no different from conventionally grown varieties, the research in existence begs to differ. Here is just a sampling of the unsavory findings associated with GM foods:

 

lung damage in mice

Offspring of rats fed GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce damaged young sperm cells Bacteria in your gut can take up DNA from GM food significant organ disruptions in rats and mice, specifically the kidney, liver, heart and spleen Several US farmers reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs and cows fed on GM corn varieties Bt corn caused a wide variety of immune responses in mice, commonly associated with diseases such as arthritis, Lou Gehrig's disease, osteoporosis, and inflammatory bowel disease foods that are "non-GMO certified" by the Non-GMO Project.

For your convenience, download this Non-GMO Shopping Guide so consumers can make healthier non-GMO choices, the Institute's plan is to generate a tipping point of consumer rejection to make GMOs a thing of the past.

Remember food is a critical part of the equation of "Taking Control of Your Health", you simply must get it right if you want any real chance of avoiding chronic degenerative disease

For ongoing updates on this cause, please follow our aNon-GMO's page on Facebook.

via articles.mercola.com

Scary stuff.

The Most Awkward Meeting: The Office Elevator - WSJ.com

Katherine Rosman explains why elevators are getting much more sophisticated and can now choose who they carry and what floors they stop at based on an employee's rank. Photo from Getty Images.

The "elevator pitch" is a staple of office lore: a go-getter's well-prepared catchy idea that is ready for any chance meeting with the top boss. Well played, it impresses fast and sends an employee's career rocketing. Fumbled, the elevator ride is an excruciating 90 seconds.

New elevator systems and technology are making the pitch harder than ever—and upending the delicate rules of elevator etiquette.

Elevators now route employees, sometimes according to rank. They can help corporations keep track of who is in the office and who isn't. They can be programmed so that a germophobe can simply wave an ID card in front of a reader and be shuttled to the proper floor without actually touching a button. They can redirect an unsuspecting employee to a different floor at the request of the boss.

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Lisa Haney

The Juggle

• Why You Need an Elevator Pitch

Behind the changes is an increasingly common dispatch system that the two companies that dominate the industry, Otis Elevator Co. and smaller rival Schindler Elevator Corp. have installed in about 200 mid-to-high-rise buildings around the country. Employees select their floor on a keypad in the lobby and are sent to board a specific elevator. The dispatch systems result in fewer people per car and fewer stops, and can be configured to suit a company's particular needs.

A dispatch system leaves Rudy Loo, a New York financial industry employee, riding mostly with the people who sit near him, and with no reason to dream up elevator pitches. He can talk to fellow riders any time. "And most people are on their BlackBerry in the elevator anyway," he says.

In downtown Denver at 1999 Broadway, a 43-story building, a law firm requested that the elevator have the capability to keep its attorneys away from employees of an office of the Internal Revenue Service with which it shares an elevator bank, says Jeff Blain, a Schindler sales manager who worked on the project.

At the 55-story Bank of America Building, at One Bryant Park in New York City, elevators can let bank VIPs ride separately from rank-and-file staff, says Michael Landis, Schindler vice president of marketing. Many of the bank's senior executives work on the 50th floor and are typically directed to their own elevator anyway, making the technology unnecessary. "But it's one of the features that they particularly liked and its one of the key features that won us the contract," Mr. Landis says.

A Bank of America spokesman says the bank isn't utilizing the feature. "There is an executive floor but there is no executive elevator. The ride up or down can be shared by company leaders and people making deliveries," says T.J. Crawford, the spokesman.

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Getty Images

Elevator etiquette is it rude to fix your gaze on your BlackBerry? Will your colleagues smirk if you pitch the boss? Should you ride up extra floors to maximize face time?

By the Numbers

• 13 seconds: The average wait time for the elevator in a typical 16-floor building, with a dispatch system.
• 138 seconds: The average wait time for the elevator in a typical 16-floor building, with a conventional system.
• 50 seconds: The average trip time in a dispatch elevator, down from 89 seconds in a standard elevator.

The elevators at the 13-story Curtis Center in downtown Philadelphia, are built so the most senior executives can punch into the computer that they would like to see certain employees upon arrival. When employees swipe their ID cards to call the elevator in the lobby, they can be rerouted to the boss's floor.

"We are able to group passenger so it's more like a limousine," Mr. Landis says.

That doesn't help social anxiety: In the elevator, is it rude to fix your gaze on your BlackBerry? Will your colleagues smirk if you pitch the boss? Should you ride up extra floors to maximize face time?

Andy Dunn, chief executive of New York-based clothing company Bonobos.com, recently was chatting with a colleague on his office elevator. When he noticed other people were buried in their iPhones, he quieted down. "I felt like 'Gosh, we're distracting all these people who are looking at their phones,' " he says.

The centralized dispatch systems—which Schindler calls Destination Dispatch and Otis calls Compass Destination Management System—represent the most fundamental upgrade in commercial elevator travel since the late 1950s when automation began to replace manual elevators operated by men in brass-button uniforms. Building managers have been seeking more efficient ways of moving employees to help combat what are known as "underelevatored" buildings or buildings that have seen a sharp increase in the number of occupants. New buildings benefit from the efficiency of a dispatch system because in some cases it lets less space to be dedicated to elevators.

When new systems aren't available, buildings can also try diversionary tactics to distract people waiting for the elevator. They put mirrors inside elevator cabs and around lobby elevator banks in the hope that people would be distracted by analyzing their appearance. In the past, they also mounted televisions on lobby walls.

In many elevators, the Door Close button works only when switched to a special mode used by firefighters during a rescue. "It's only there to keep you occupied," explained Schindler's Mr. Blain, while walking through its elevator operations at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in midtown Manhattan earlier this week.

For anyone who works in a building with dispatch systems but lives in a building with a conventional set-up, there is potential for embarrassment. "At home, oftentimes I get into the elevator and don't push a button," says Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the Durst Organization Inc., which co-owns and manages the Bank of America building.

The tech industry—built on the idea that anyone with a good idea can rise—is shy of elevator moments. Many venture capital firms are in low-rise areas such as Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., and in Manhattan's Union Square/Flatiron District—neighborhoods short on skyscrapers. Tim Chang, a partner at Norwest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, Calif., says he has never been pitched in an elevator. But he has been pitched in his dentist's office. And in the restroom. "Awkward," he says.

Harvard Business School has an "Elevator Pitch Builder" for alumni on its website. Christine Sullivan, the school's director of alumni, career and professional development, says that in a "new 140-character world where everything is reduced to a sound bite it's more important than ever to be able to deliver a clear and concise message."

Next week, at a conference in Atlanta, Black Enterprise, a media company, will present the winner of its Elevator Pitch Competition. Finalists (including the maker of a martini-glass cover that prevents spillage while dancing and a creator of African-American-themed stationery) produced videos of less than two minutes explaining their business vision and why they deserve the $10,000 investment prize.

Not that an elevator is necessarily the best place to give your elevator pitch. Charlie O'Donnell, a principal with a seed stage venture capital fund, First Round Capital, says you never know who you're riding with and have little time to waste.

So, he advises, "Stay in the lobby in front of the elevator door. That's your optimal pitch place."

via online.wsj.com

Yes.

New Home Prices Up in Most China Cities - WSJ.com

SHANGHAI—More Chinese cities saw new home prices rise in April compared with the previous month, and price growth has risen a tad in some major cities despite a fall in transactions, underscoring challenges the central government faces in curbing prices.

Faced with public anger over unaffordable housing prices, China's authorities have progressively implemented a series of measures to rein in speculation in the property market, including restrictions on property sales, stepped-up monitoring of prices and tighter monetary policies.

Analysts reckon the government will likely be unsatisfied with the price growth in certain cities but note that some property developers have started to cut home prices this month.

Prices of newly built homes in 56 of the 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities covered in a government survey rose in April from the previous month, up from 49 cities in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement Wednesday, indicating that prices are still holding up despite a fall in transaction volume.

On a year-to-year basis, growth in housing prices has shown a clearer trend of moderating. Prices of newly built homes in Beijing rose 2.8% in April, slower than the 4.9% and 6.8% rise recorded in March and February, respectively. In Shanghai, prices of newly built homes rose 1.3% last month, decelerating from the 1.7% and 2.3% recorded in March and February respectively.

Prices of newly built homes in 67 of the 70 cities covered by the survey rose in April from a year earlier, unchanged from the 67 recorded in March and lower than the 68 recorded in both January and February, the statement said.

"It could be embarrassing for the [Chinese] government if they cannot soften prices. Prices are high due to ample liquidity stemming from the country's macroeconomic policies, and I wouldn't rule out further administrative measures, such as an expansion of home purchase limits to more cities from the current 40 cities," said Oscar Choi, a property analyst from Citigroup.

Mr. Choi noted that some property developers, such as China Overseas Land & Investment, Country Garden Holdings Co. and Shimao Property Holdings, started to offer discounts to boost sales and cash flow this month.

Among the major cities, Beijing's prices of newly built homes rose 0.1% in April from March, when prices were unchanged from February, and slower than February's 0.4% month-to-month increase. Prices of new homes in Shanghai rose 0.3% in April from a month earlier, faster than March's 0.2% increase but slower than February's 0.9% month-to-month gain.

Prices of newly built homes in Shenzhen rose 0.7% in April from March, when prices were unchanged from February and slower than February's 1.0% month-to-month rise.

The price growth is still below the headline rate of inflation, said Danny Bao, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, adding that he expects to see continued softening in home prices and transaction volume in the next two months.

China's inflation rate eased to 5.3% in April, from 5.4% in March.

"We're not going to see sharp price cuts. There's going to be gradual price declines in coastal cities, and for the inland cities, there could be more inflationary pressure on prices, perhaps 4%-5% on an annual basis," said Mr. Bao. "I don't think further tightening measures are imminent though, it has only been two to three months since the home purchase restrictions were implemented."

April is the fourth month for which China has released house price data for individual cities, after scrapping a monthly index of average property prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities.

China's April property sales registered their first decline since September in terms of floor space sold, falling 9.9% from a year earlier and 23.6% on-month, according to data from the bureau last week, following government tightening measures such as bans on second-home buying in some cities early this year.

via online.wsj.com

Aha.

Luxury Real Estate: Sarah and Ethan Wessel's Phoenix Residence - WSJ.com

In a city known for its strip malls and "acre-an-hour" developments of swiftly erected spec homes, Sarah and Ethan Wessel have devoted their careers to championing carefully thought-out, custom architecture. To illustrate their position, the couple spent more than 10 years creating their own home, using it as a test site for new building techniques and as a model for their clients.

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Bill Timmerman

The living room features a seven-foot-long fireplace and furniture designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Situated on a wide street in a dusty suburban neighborhood, the newly built, 4,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath house initially doesn't look that different from the other houses on the block, midcentury moderns with low-slung façades, dirt cactus gardens and carports. But a closer look reveals the exterior is neither wood nor stucco, but a thick, rough, gray concrete with horizontal ridges and fossil-like knotholes. The mostly flat roof widely overhangs the sides of the house as much as eight feet in some places.

Inside, the exposed-wood-beam ceilings are 10 feet tall in some places and floor-to-ceiling glass windows open with pocket doors to the outside. Interior walls are left unpainted, with just the white plaster on the surface, trowel marks visible. The floors are limestone and the furniture is modern, some of it classic pieces designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and some of it designed by the couple. Out back is a patio with views of Camelback Mountain, an outdoor living room and a homemade skateboard park built by Mr. Wessel for his two sons, ages 7 and 11.

Architects Sarah and Ethan Wessel spent 10 years building their home in a Phoenix suburb, using materials and techniques that make the most of the light and the landscape. WSJ's Nancy Keates reports.

"It was really important to us when you drive down the street that it feel right," said Ms. Wessel, 38, at home with her husband, Mr. Wessel, 39. The couple, founders of design and construction firm Tennen Studio, bought the house in 1998 for $225,000, mainly for the lot. They spent about $375 a square foot rebuilding it, only earlier this year finishing the 800-square-foot master-bedroom suite with a sunken tub and its own sitting room and a partially shaded outdoor patio. A four-bedroom, 2,600-square-foot house less than a quarter mile away is on the market for $650,000.

"So much architecture now is based on appearance—it's an attempt to create an iconic image. Theirs isn't like that at all. It's more like background. It is slow architecture because it takes a while to let it all sink in," said Max Underwood, a professor of architecture at Arizona State University. He added the Wessels' house fits into a movement by architects to create designs that are understated, modern and attuned to the harsh desert climate, aiming for "deeper relationships" to the environment.

As they built their house, the couple used it as an in-progress model to show clients the effects of techniques that are hard to visualize. Their exterior walls are made of poured-in-place concrete, meaning molds are set up on site and concrete is poured around wood boards, allowing the walls to be thicker and thereby keep the house cooler during the day and warmer at night. "We'd point to something and say, 'I like that. What is it? I want that,' " said Mike Sparaco, who owns a printing shop business in Tempe. He and his partner had the Wessels design and build a 4,900-square-foot house that he describes as "a bigger version of theirs."

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Mark Peterman for The Wall Street Journal

Sarah, Addison, Elliot and Ethan Wessel

The Wessels met in 1991 at Arizona State University's architecture school. She was from a small town in Washington state; he was from a small town in Connecticut. Neither thought they would ever stay in Arizona: Their plan was to hit New York. But Mr. Wessel graduated two years ahead of Ms. Wessel and he started a job with a contracting firm, waiting for her to finish.

Little by little, the couple started to love the sun, the light, the climate and the landscapes of Phoenix. In 2001 they founded Tennen, which designs and manages the construction of residential projects, including customized finishes, cabinetry and hardware, that range from $1 million to $20 million.

But there's one thing that practically dominates the Wessels' house that isn't intended as a model for clients: a large, custom wood-and-glass cabinet off the main living room that holds several hundred squat, colorful vinyl rabbits. Called Dunny dolls, the $50 dolls were first spied by the Wessels at New York's FAO Schwarz; since then the couple have become enthusiastic collectors, even attending local Dunny trading parties.

"We call them designer Dunny cabinets," Mr. Wessel said.

via online.wsj.com

Neat.

Off Duty 50 Summer Apps - WSJ.com

Keep Track of Your Clothes

For tastemakers with more madras than memory, the Stylebook app is a great way to keep a wardrobe indexed. Photograph your items or save images from the web, and neatly group them into categories—unlike your mess of a closet. Then, arrange them into as many combinations as the laws of mathematics and good taste will allow. There's also a photo bank for storing images of your sartorial inspirations, and for serious neurotics there's a calendar for planning weeks in advance. Perfect if you've caught yourself daydreaming about tomorrow's outfit with nowhere to jot it down. $4, available foriPhone

Be Your Own Bike Mechanic

The app Bike Repair, a pet project of one man extremely dedicated to, well, bike repair, teaches you exactly that. Tutorials for problems and routine maintenance are sorted by bike part—each one comes with detailed hi-res photos, ensuring you don't accidentally turn your bicycle into a fixie. And just to show you how much he cares, there's also a messages section, where users can get frequent news and updates, as well as send their own comments or questions straight to him. Despite some notably semi-pro production values, this program is a great example of one enthusiastic developer going the extra mile, and it shows. $3, available for iPhone and Android

The Loo-cator App

Most map apps can search for a variety of things nearby, except for the pone thing you really need when you're in a n unfamiliar city: a public loo. For that, there is "Sit or Squat," an app that lets you sift through its database of over 100,000 johns, complete with photos and user reviews. It even filters them by facility type, opening hours and tons of special features, from changing tables to high-speed hand dryers to wheelchair accessibility. Great for those with small bladders—or discerning bottoms. Free, available for iPhone and Blackberry

The Must-Have Decorating App

For designing your home while away from home, the Remodelista app offers a wealth of resources to help take your vision on the go. For starters, there's a mobile-friendly version of the Remodelista website and all its thousands of product picks and design inspirations. When you find what you like, you can save your clips to personal project folders—useful, say, while working on multiple rooms—and in addition there's the huge repository of Remodelista-approved furniture and decor, searchable and purchasable through the app. If you have room for one app and one website to guide you through the home decorating process, it should be this. $3, available for iPhone

Follow That Food Truck

Die-hard urbanites know that food trucks are a cheap and easy way to satisfy the munchies without the hassle of going indoors. From artisan ice cream to incomparable arepas, street food is growing in both popularity and its gourmet aspirations. The handy app Eat St. helps you decipher the often-obscure world of street grub, sorting trucks by distance, cuisine, and popularity. From there, you can view your selection's menu and hours, and even its Twitter mentions, which is important for finding the more mobile ones. And the beauty of Eat St. is that it offers a more focused view than many restaurant apps, which have a dizzying array of places to eat. Free, available for iPhone

via online.wsj.com

Cool.

Shocking Excerpts Read at Tucson School Board Meeting From A Book In The Ethic Studies

Make Organizing Your Photos a Snap - WSJ.com

It's easy to post your photos on Facebook. What's not so easy is managing them—organizing all your digital files so that you can find individual pictures without scrolling through hundreds.

Bradly Treadaway, digital media coordinator and faculty member at the International Center of Photography in New York, knows how overwhelming the task can be. He recently digitized about 5,000 printed photos and slides from his family, some of which date back 180 years. Developing a system for managing your photos is "like learning a new language," he says.

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Brian Harkin for the Wall Street Journal

International Center of Photography's Bradly Treadaway.

The key to staying organized is doing a lot of work up front to sort and label the photos when you first transfer them from camera to computer. Mr. Treadaway keeps his main collection on a hard drive, rather than in a Web-based archive, because he feels that photo-management programs for computers offer more choices for how to edit, share and retain the photos.

Mr. Treadaway uses Adobe Photoshop Lightroom; for nonprofessionals, he suggests programs like iPhoto or the desktop version of Google's Picasa.

He starts by importing files from his camera into "albums," or computer folders, that are titled by date and event, for instance, "Thanksgiving 2010." On days when he just takes several snapshots, he files them in a more generic album such as "Springtime 2011," where recent photographs of friends hanging out at Central Park wound up. Eventually, groups of albums are collected in a folder for the year.

Each time he imports new photos, Mr. Treadaway labels them with important terms, such as the name of an event or date. Then he adds as many as 10 more keywords to specific photos. For the birth of his nephew, for instance, he tagged photos with his nephew's name, the birth date, the hospital location and the names of family members holding his nephew. These data help him search for photographs later.

Typically, he transfers photos from his camera to his computer at least once a month or just after an event. His photos also get backed up on an external hard drive on a regular basis.

After labeling, Mr. Treadaway uses the software's star rating system to signify which shots he likes the best. Most software has stars or color labels to help users pinpoint favorites.

"If I have 10 photographs of the same thing, one would be the superior, with the best expression and the best composition," he says.

Once he finds the best shots, he creates edited collections of his initial uploads. Collections, which are somewhat like "playlists" on iTunes, can range from the best pictures of an event to his favorite photos from all of the travel he's done that year.

Mr. Treadaway reassesses his photo collections annually and selects his favorite shots for the year, which he then edits and shares. Mr. Treadaway recommends that everyone spend a few minutes editing their images. If nothing else, "most of this software also has a one-button autocorrect," he says.

To help him visualize how prints will look on paper, Mr. Treadaway prints out a contact sheet with small images from each annual collection. Afterwards, he'll make prints or share online links with friends. Usually, he uploads snapshots he wants to share to the Flickr website.

Sometimes Mr. Treadaway will create photo books, such as those available on Shutterfly or Snapfish, to give as presents. By this time, he's winnowed down his shots to only the best.

"The editing process is about chiseling away the excess," he says

via online.wsj.com

Yes.

Apple Surpasses Google as World’s Most Valuable Brand | The Blaze

Reuters reports:

Apple has overtaken Google as the world’s most valuable brand, ending a four-year reign by the Internet search leader, according to a new study by global brands agency Millward Brown.

The iPhone and iPad maker’s brand is now worth $153 billion, almost half Apple’s market capitalization, says the annual BrandZ study of the world’s top 100 brands.

Apple‘s portfolio of coveted consumer goods propelled it past Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable technology company last year

via theblaze.com

How interesting.

Maybe Graciela Sees It From Heaven, This Huge Guitar Made of Trees - WSJ.com

GENERAL LEVALLE, Argentina—Pilots often stare in disbelief when they make their first flight over this hamlet on the verdant pampa. There, on the monotonous plain below, is a giant guitar landscaped out of cypress and eucalyptus trees. It is more than two-thirds of a mile long.

Maria Emilia Perez

Argentinian Pedro Martin Ureta's tree guitar is some two-thirds of a mile long.

Behind the great guitar of the pampa, and its 7,000-odd trees, is a love story that took a tragic turn.

The green guitar is the handiwork of a farmer named Pedro Martin Ureta, who is now 70. He embedded the design into his farm many years ago, and maintains it to this day, as a tribute to his late wife, Graciela Yraizoz, who died in 1977 at the age of 25.

"It's incredible to see a design that was so carefully planned, so far below," says Gabriel Pindek, a commercial pilot for Argentina's Austral Lineas Aereas. "There's nothing else like it."

Born to a ranching family with deep roots here, Mr. Ureta was something of a bohemian as a young man. He traveled to Europe and hobnobbed with artists and revolutionaries. After coming home in the late 1960s, the then-28-year old became captivated by Ms. Yraizoz, who was just 17 and dazzlingly pretty.

The local priest almost refused to perform the wedding, the farmer recalls: He didn't think Mr. Ureta seemed sufficiently committed to loving Ms. Yraizoz "all the days" of his life. But Mr. Ureta proved extraordinarily devoted to Ms. Yraizoz, their friends and children say, and the union was happy, if brief.

"My mother was a doer," says Mr. Ureta's 38-year-old daughter, Soledad, one of four children produced in the marriage. "She helped guide my father. She sold clothes. She helped oversee work in the fields, and did weaving on a big loom."

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Maria Emilia Perez

Pedro Martin Ureta and his son, Ezequiel, in front of a plane that is about to fly over the Uretas' guitar-shaped ranch.

One day while traveling in a plane over the pampa, Ms. Yraizoz noticed a farm that, through a fluke of topography, looked a bit like a milking pail from the air, her children say. That's when she started musing about going one better and designing the family's own farm in the form of a guitar, an instrument she loved.

"My father was a young man, and very busy with his work and his own plans," says his youngest child, Ezequiel, who is 36. "He told my mom, 'Later. We'll talk about it later.'"

But Ms. Yraizoz didn't have much time to wait. One day in 1977, she collapsed. She had suffered a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, a weakening in the wall of a blood vessel that eventually burst. She died shortly thereafter, carrying what would have been the couple's fifth child.

Today, Mr. Ureta says his wife's passing turned his life in a more philosophical direction. ¨I stepped back for a time,¨ he says. He read about Buddhism. Mr. Ureta says a line by an Argentine folk guitarist and writer, Héctor Roberto Chavero Aramburo, stuck in his head: "I galloped a lot, but I arrived late all the same."

Says Soledad: "He used to talk about regrets, and it was clear he regretted not having listened to my mother about the guitar."

Ureta family

Pedro Martin Ureta's late wife, Graciela Yraizoz, who died in 1977 at 25.

A few years after his wife's death, Mr. Ureta decided to comply with her wishes about the design of the farm. Landscapers he consulted were predictably nonplussed, so he took on the job himself. "You just put a guitar in front of you and begin to take measurements and study proportions," he says.

His giant guitar is an unusual example of what's known as land art, in which forms are built into the natural environment, said Nancy Somerville, chief executive officer of the American Society of Landscape Architects. One famous example is Spiral Jetty, a 1,500-foot-long structure of mud, rocks and salt crystals built by artist Robert Smithson in Utah's Great Salt Lake.

Using trees, as Mr. Ureta did, rather than with rocks or shrubbery, is a "pretty tremendous undertaking," Ms. Somerville said, due to the time and care needed to cultivate them.

Most of the guitar, including the figure-eight-shaped body and star-shaped sound hole, is formed of cypress trees. For the strings, Mr. Ureta planted six rows of eucalyptus trees, whose bluish tone offers a contrast visible from above.

Planting the guitar was a family affair. "All of us kids would stand in a row, three meters apart," says Soledad, and then the farm hands "would plant a tree on the spot where each of us stood." The children would "re-form the line in a new position, and they'd plant more trees."

Getting the saplings to grow was a tougher. Hares and wild guinea pigs devastated the fragile plants. "I had to plant and replant and I almost gave up," the farmer says. Finally, Mr. Ureta hit on an inspiration. He got some scrap metal and jury-rigged protective sleeves around the young trees.

When the trees finally began to shoot up, ¨It was the closest thing possible to having my mother alive," says Maria Julia, a 39-year-old daughter.

While he was nurturing the trees, Mr. Ureta was also raising four children. A field hand named Raul Coronel helped with some of the cooking. "The food may not have been great, but there was always lots of it," says Mr. Coronel. Every day, Mr. Ureta drove the kids about 10 miles to school in his pickup truck. When the pickup got stuck in the mud during rainy season, he used a horse to pull it out.

Today, the oldest son, Ignacio, 42, is an engineer; Maria Julia is a pharmaceutical sales representative; Soledad is a special education teacher; and Ezequiel is a veterinarian. There are nine grandchildren.

Mr. Ureta waited a long time after his wife's death before getting involved in a serious relationship, his children say. In the 1990s, he began seeing Maria de los Angeles Ponzi, who runs the town pharmacy. They haven't married, but have an 11-year-old daughter, Manuela. Ms. Ponzi says she appreciates the beauty of the tribute to her partner's first wife.

Mr. Ureta himself has never seen his great guitar from the sky, except in photographs. He's afraid of flying

via online.wsj.com

Amazing.

Solar Updates Marines' Arsenal - WSJ.com

A company of U.S. Marines recently conducted a remarkable three-week patrol through southern Afghanistan, replacing hundreds of pounds of spare batteries in their packs with roll-up solar panels the size of placemats to power their battle gear.

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Associated Press

Marine Lance Cpl. Dakota Hicks connects a radio battery to a solar array in Sangin District, in Afghanistan.

By allowing the troops to recharge their radios, GPS devices and other equipment, the green technology freed the Marines of India Company from constant resupply by road and air. And by carrying fewer batteries, they carried more bullets.

The Marine Corps is addressing a paradox confronting military planners: Modern U.S. forces are more lethal than any in history, but they also gobble up more energy. That lengthens vulnerable supply lines and overloads soldiers and Marines in the field.

India Company, a component of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, is the first combat unit to be equipped with a new package of portable, front-line solar gear developed by Navy scientists. It's a boots-on-the-ground example of the Marine Corps' new blueprint for energy use. The Corps wants to cut per-Marine fuel use in half by 2025.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has pushed biofuels for fighter jets, hybrid-electric drives for Navy ships, and renewable-energy systems for Marines on the move. The Marines are part of the Department of the Navy. Mr. Mabus aims for half of the Navy's energy to come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020.

Batteries make up as much as 20% of the weight of the 100 pounds of gear a Marine infantryman typically carries. A Marine uses four times as much fuel as his counterpart did in the early 1990s—due to, among other things, laptops and other electronic gear that use electricity pumped out by portable generators.

Some 30% of all fuel trucked into Afghanistan—at great risk—goes to power those generators, at a time when roadside bombs remain the most dangerous weapon faced by allied troops.

While the U.S. military has been seriously studying renewable energy since at least 2001, the impetus for change was the high casualty rate on fuel convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Mabus told Congress last year that one U.S. servicemember is wounded or killed for every 24 fuel convoys.

In 2006, while toughfighting raged in Anbar Province, west of Baghdad, Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, then commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, requested renewable-energy gear for forward bases.

"We used to joke that there was a generator for every man, woman and child in Iraq," now-retired Gen. Zilmer said in an interview. "And we did not have any material solutions to the issues we had out there."

His request to the Pentagon went nowhere, but a similar appeal in 2008 prodded Navy scientists into action. This time Marine leaders were more gung ho about alternative energy. Col. Bob Charette, a former F-18 pilot, opened the Marine Expeditionary Energy Office last year to transfer the Navy's energy-saving ideas to Marines on the battlefield.

"The Marine commandant made it clear—he'd rather have an 80% solution today than a 100% solution somewhere down the road," Col. Charette said.

In less than nine months, scientists at the Office of Naval Research cobbled together a solar-and-battery combination small enough to be transported on Humvees, big enough to power the gear at a combat outpost, and rugged enough to withstand tough field conditions.

It also created smaller solar panels for individual Marines. Each can be unfurled to recharge equipment at the base or on the march. Some bits were jury-rigged, including power meters bought at Home Depot.

"The whole approach was, what is out there, available now, that can be used absolutely as soon as possible?" said Cliff Anderson, program manager at the Office of Naval Research.

India Company was chosen last summer to pilot the project precisely because it was due to deploy in Sangin, one of the deadliest zones in Afghanistan. Use of the solar gear means helicopters don't have to ferry extra batteries to the Marines, and trucks don't have to convoy more fuel for generators.

Col. Charette said the gear "has surpassed our expectations." Keeping extra batteries out of packs means the Marines can move faster and farther than before. Fuel use is down at the company's patrol bases, because the solar equipment replaces generators, the military says.

For some platoons at remote outposts, solar power is all there is, said Maj. Sean Sadlier, the Marine expeditionary energy liaison officer at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.

The next step will be a bigger system to meet power needs of larger formations, such as India Company's parent battalion. Senior Marine officers believe those could be in place this summer

via online.wsj.com

Very Cool.