text:
P52 BLOG
GRID SERIES THREE
USPCC // Year 2019
SAVE TO PORTFOLIO
TRADELIST
ABOUT THIS DECK
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1434465201/grid-series-three-typographic-playing-cards/description
Info from Series Two: The Grid playing cards are a three part collection based on the design principals of the International Typographic Style, otherwise known as the 'Swiss Style' of graphic design. Series Two has been reworked from its original launch because I wanted to refine the design and bring the whole deck closer to the original concept set out by Series One. I feel now, the whole deck has a cleaner more precise and elegant look, one that is important to have in every collection. Originally starting in the 1920s in Germany, the Netherlands and Russia, the 'Swiss Style' later developed in Switzerland in the 1950s. It's main principals are readability and cleanliness, with most creations adopting an asymmetric layout, always based on the use of a grid. These grids, usually made up of hidden columns and rows, are used to align words, numbers, pictures and patterns and so each series in the Grid collection adopts these principals. The works of designers such as Ernst Keller and Josef-Müller Brockmann have been a real inspiration from a graphic point of view. The cards are poker size and printed by USPCC but are far from traditional. These cards will be printed on linen, magic air cushion stock which I know first hand really does feel like nothing else with fully customised tuck box and seal. As a graphic designer more than an illustrator, as well as a card collector, I wanted to find a way to combine two of my biggest passions and make a collection of decks which truly stand out from the crowd. I fully appreciate the incredible work of designers of other playing cards currently in the world, I am often drawn to the cards with incredible detail and illustration. After all, I am a Kickstarter backer as well as a creator. Personally, I see the detail of my decks as 'less is more', doing away with traditional pips and instead adopting a typographic format, with each card acting like a miniature poster, with bold words setting the theme rather than illustration and numbers. I have tried to keep the design minimal but functional, even the back of the card is super stripped back to just the name of the deck, with full colour bleed for real impact of colour. If, for example, you look at my version of the picture cards, they each have a diagonal line introduced as a minimal graphic, like a poster, but it replicates the diagonal line often found on traditional picture cards where the suit is duplicated and rotated. It's a small detail but it's my way of reflecting tradition. With Grid Series Two, as well as vertical and horizontal alignment like in Grid Series One, I have introduced the circle to create a dial effect and explore how different grids can be adopted on playing cards. Each card has a bespoke set of alignment with the numbers and letters that sit on the edge of the circle so that they visually look to have the same alignment, whilst not always sitting in exactly the same place on each card.
COMPANY:USPCC
EDITION:Series Three
COLLECTIONPoker
PRODUCTION RUN:2000
PRINTER:USPCC
ARTIST:Luke Wadey
CARD STOCK:Classic
FINISH:Air-Cushion®
COURT ILLUSTRATION:Custom
STYLE:N/A
THIS DECK IS COLLECTED IN..
3 WISHLISTS
6 TRADELISTS
TO WRITE A REVIEW
Grid Series Three - Mono
Luke Wadey Design // 2019
FULL PAGE INFO
Grid Series Three LE
// 2019
A true collector's item. First come, first reserved. Edited design Printed by Make Playing Cards, 54 card deck on linen stock Only 35 decks being sold Fully custom deck Signed and numbered tuck - wrapped in protective cello by hand Personalised Ace of Spades card included additionally to your deck so you can use the deck as your own, or keep the standard cards too Printed, signed and numbered certificate of ownership per deck
Grid Series Two
Luke Wadey // 2018
The Grid playing cards are a three part collection based on the design principals of the International Typographic Style, otherwise known as the 'Swiss Style' of graphic design. Series Two has been reworked from its original launch because I wanted to refine the design and bring the whole deck closer to the original concept set out by Series One. I feel now, the whole deck has a cleaner more precise and elegant look, one that is important to have in every collection.
Originally starting in the 1920s in Germany, the Netherlands and Russia, the 'Swiss Style' later developed in Switzerland in the 1950s. It's main principals are readability and cleanliness, with most creations adopting an asymmetric layout, always based on the use of a grid. These grids, usually made up of hidden columns and rows, are used to align words, numbers, pictures and patterns and so each series in the Grid collection adopts these principals. The works of designers such as Ernst Keller and Josef-Müller Brockmann have been a real inspiration from a graphic point of view.
The cards are poker size and printed by USPCC but are far from traditional. These cards will be printed on linen, magic air cushion stock which I know first hand really does feel like nothing else with fully customised tuck box and seal. As a graphic designer more than an illustrator, as well as a card collector, I wanted to find a way to combine two of my biggest passions and make a collection of decks which truly stand out from the crowd. I fully appreciate the incredible work of designers of other playing cards currently in the world, I am often drawn to the cards with incredible detail and illustration. After all, I am a Kickstarter backer as well as a creator. Personally, I see the detail of my decks as 'less is more', doing away with traditional pips and instead adopting a typographic format, with each card acting like a miniature poster, with bold words setting the theme rather than illustration and numbers.
I have tried to keep the design minimal but functional, even the back of the card is super stripped back to just the name of the deck, with full colour bleed for real impact of colour. If, for example, you look at my version of the picture cards, they each have a diagonal line introduced as a minimal graphic, like a poster, but it replicates the diagonal line often found on traditional picture cards where the suit is duplicated and rotated. It's a small detail but it's my way of reflecting tradition.
With Grid Series Two, as well as vertical and horizontal alignment like in Grid Series One, I have introduced the circle to create a dial effect and explore how different grids can be adopted on playing cards. Each card has a bespoke set of alignment with the numbers and letters that sit on the edge of the circle so that they visually look to have the same alignment, whilst not always sitting in exactly the same place on each card.
Full deck scan by macstrat @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/167981955@N07/albums/72157702741629771
Grid Series Two LE
The limited edition Grid Series Two deck is an extremely rare product. There will only be 20 made, they will also never be printed again. These will be printed on professional grade plastic coated, lower stock than the standard edition, the same I used for Series One limited edition, this is purely because the print run is so small, I need to use a different printer to get them made.
Link to Youtube review (not required)
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U.S.-Turkey Business Council
https://www.uschamber.com/us-turkey-business-council
Home / Middle East and Turkey / U.S.-Turkey Business Council
The U.S.-Turkey Business Council (USTBC) is the premier business advocacy organization established to expand the bilateral commercial relationship and increase trade and investment between the United States and Turkey. The Council represents more than 40 of the largest U.S. companies from various industries with investments in Turkey. With offices both in Washington, D.C. and Istanbul, the Council acts as the principal interlocutor for U.S. businesses operating in Turkey.
The USTBC is a core program of the Middle East and Turkey Affairs, located at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It is part of the U.S. Chamber's International Affairs, which boasts a collection of top trade, policy, and legal experts who advocate on behalf of the U.S. private sector across the globe. The Council has full access to the U.S. Chamber's congressional and legal affairs divisions, as well as various Chamber institutes and programs. This access can be used to advance USTBC policies, programs, and initiatives.
Turkey is the 15th most attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development World Investment Prospects Survey.
Despite Turkey's impressive economic gains, the U.S.-Turkish commercial relationship has not yet reached its full potential. Turkey has a population of almost 79 million and boasts a $960 billion economy, though the U.S.-Turkish trade has only reached $20 billion, with a mere 3.9 percent of Turkish exports destined for the U.S. market and 5 percent of its imports originating from the United States.
Middle East and Turkey Affairs
The Chamber's Middle East and Turkey Affairs program is committed to advancing the business goals of its member companies, while adding meaningful value on the policy level to our members. By leveraging our relationships at the highest levels of the United States and regional governments, we are able to assure that the imperative of private sector-led growth remains at the forefront of the policy agenda. We work to secure greater protection of intellectual property rights and lower barriers to trade and investment. Through our Middle East and Turkey Affairs programming, our team works with regional partners to facilitate good governance and respect for the rule of law among other critical elements that altogether engender an environment conducive to long-term private sector investment and growth.
All ContentAbove the FoldPress ReleaseReport
Press ReleaseOct 15, 2019 - 5:30pm
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Statement on Recent Turkey Sanctions and Preserving the U.S.-Turkey Relationship
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Myron Brilliant, Executive Vice President and Head of International Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued the following statement today regarding the U.S.-Turkey relationship and upcoming government talks.
Press ReleaseSep 18, 2019 - 11:30am
U.S. Chamber of Commerce's U.S.-Turkey Business Council and American-Turkish Council Announce their Integration
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's U.S.-Turkey Business Council (USTBC) and the American-Turkish Council (ATC) today announced their integration.
ReportAug 21, 2019 - 12:30pm
U-S-Turkey Business Council Brochure
An introduction to the U.S.-Turkey Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Turkey Business Council lists key partners mission goals and agenda.
Above the FoldAug 05, 2016 - 9:00am
Turkey Keeping its Focus on Business: 'All Doors Will Be Open'
Investors are reassured the country continues to prioritize economic growth following the failed coup attempt.
Jennifer Miel
Window of Opportunity for Vice President Biden in Turkey
Turkey is a hotspot for leading U.S. officials recently.
Above the FoldNov 13, 2015 - 3:00pm
Back to Business: A Fresh Start for Turkey
The long and pristine coastline of Antalya, Turkey's tourism crown jewel is getting ready to host a different sort of clientele, as President Recep Tayip Erdoğan plays host to the culmination of the country's yearlong G20 presidency with the Leaders' Summit on Sunday and Monday.
ReportSep 08, 2015 - 9:00am
U.S.-Turkey Trade and Investment Study
U.S.-Bahrain Business Council
U.S.-Egypt Business Council
U.S.-GCC Business Initiative
U.S.-Iraq Business Initiative
U.S.-Israel Business Initiative
U.S.-Kuwait Business Council
Council Working Groups
Join the U.S.-Turkey Business Council
BusinessH2O Water Innovation Initiative

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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URGENT: Fox News is being told by the Homeland Security director for Jefferson Parish, La., that a new oil leak has sprung up in the Gulf of Mexico after a boat struck an oil well in the early morning hours on Tuesday.
A tugboat or other workboat collided with the well near Bayou St. Dennis, La., shearing off its valve structure and releasing pressurized natural gas and light oil, DHS official Deano Bonano told Fox News.
Cleanup workers are currently booming off the area and the scene at sea has been taken over by federal agents. The U.S. Coast Guard, Jefferson Parish police and fire officials, as well as Vessels of Opportunity boats have all been dispatched to the scene.
Federal officials do not know who owns the well, but a contractor who handles wild wells is also on the way, Bonano said.
Oil is spewing about 20 feet in the air from the severed 4-inch pipe, a contractor who flew over the leak told Fox News. The area has been evacuated and civilian boats are being told not to enter the scene, where "a fair bit of oil" is leaking out, the contractor said.


text:
You can play Pacman on the streets of Dublin in Google Maps now
Despite years of advances in the field of video games, there's still something timelessly addictive about Pacman.
In particular, that's even more true when you're fighting your way through the streets of your local area. The hack, which is one that Google have made themselves officially, rather than being something more sinister, allows you to play the classic game in a number of locations around Ireland, provided there's enough space of course.
The controls are a little bit difficult to get used to as you have to guide Pacman through the streets rather than a properly designed level, but nonetheless it's still good craic.
You can play over on Google Maps, but be warned, it's not for the faint-hearted. If you have anything that you need to get done with what's left of the day, you might be better off avoiding it altogether. Or worry about that later, your choice...
John Cleese is saying silly things about Ireland on Twitter
Trending 18 hours ago
Wendy Williams apologises for mocking Joaquin Phoenix's lip
Trending 2 days ago
Saoirse Ronan's mam had the loveliest reaction to her Oscar nomination
Gwyneth Paltrow's vagina-smelling candle sold out within hours
Trending 1 week ago


We put in a live video from the barn to my screen on my desk. It will save lots of time checking at all hours of the day and night. We moved in 15 ewes that were bagging up. These ewes were LAP AI'd so birth will be between April 16th and 25th. This is night vision pictures it goes to color in the day. When we are done with sheep I put our bottle fawns in the same area.


As a 1 Personal Month in a 6 Personal Year for , April 2019 brings her new beginnings in several areas of her life. Christina has more energy and is ready to implement some changes in her life. Once Aguilera displays aggression in her career - it will progress nicely. She should take chances and start new projects. Such initiatives are supported by 2019 being a a 6 Personal Year for Christina Aguilera - a year of considerable financial gain.
April 2019 brings Christina challenges in the area of communication. She has to be careful what she says and how she says it so she does not stick her foot in her mouth. Aguilera should actively pursue the things she wants in her career, finances, and love-life.
Let's see now what Friday, April 19th 2019 has in-stored for Christina.
Just as Christina Aguilera evolves through a nine-year cycle, she also experiences nine-month cycles, even though their impact is subtle compared to the Personal Year cycle. The Personal Month cycles proceed according to the same pattern - 1 through 9 - that the Personal Year cycle does. The numbers within the monthly cycles have a similar, though less pronounced, impact on Christina than the yearly cycle has.
Read more about our numerological monthly forecast for Christina Aguilera . . .


text:
What Investors Need to Know About Market-Linked CDs
Retirement Decisions
Options Investing
Bond Investing
The Balance Investing
A CD that tracks the market may not be an investor's dream.
Courtesy of Getty Images
By Tim Lemke
Most investors would love the idea of pursuing equity-like returns on their money without the risk of losing their principal if the markets go down. Market-linked certificates of deposit offer this potential.
With market-linked CDs, you can lock up your money for a certain term—five years is common—and receive interest payments based on the returns of an index, such as the S&P 500.
In theory, the idea of a market-linked CD seems sound. But there are many complexities to market-linked CDs that could impact how much you earn, and it's important to read the fine print to determine whether they are the right kind of investment for you.
The Flexibility Trade-Off
With most CDs, you agree to keep your money in the account for a specified period of time in exchange for an interest rate that is typically higher than a regular savings account. If you withdraw money early, you are usually required to pay a penalty by returning all or a portion of the interest earned.
Market-linked CDs work in a similar fashion, but banks are often even less keen on you withdrawing money early.
"Investors typically will have limited opportunities, if any to redeem their equity-linked CDs prior to maturity," the SEC writes. "Moreover, the financial institutions do not guarantee the existence of a secondary market. Many equity-linked CDs do not permit the early withdrawal of your investment without the consent of the financial institution."
If you have no intention of needing this money for a long time—such as until retirement—this lack of flexibility may not be a big deal to you. But it's important to know that there could be a penalty for trying to access your money early.
It's best to only use a market-linked CD if you are absolutely certain that you will not need the money before the date of maturity.
How Returns Are Calculated
Banks usually calculate the return on a market-linked CD by averaging the closing price of an index over a certain period of time. In many cases, they will match the CD to the S&P 500, which includes the largest public companies in the United States. One common way to calculate the return is to base it on the average closing price of the S&P 500 over the entire year, or a six-month period. Calculating returns this way might soften the blow if the market declines, but it may also reduce your return if the market rises.
A Cap on Upside
So you may think that if you invest in a market-linked CD, you'll make a huge return if the market goes way up. Think again. Most market-linked CDs have a cap on the return an investor can earn. There are two calculations that come into play here:
The first is the participation rate. That's the percentage of an index's return that will be used to determine the interest payment. For example, if the participation rate is 75% and the S&P 500 goes up 10%, an investor ends up with 7.5%.
Secondly, there are often hard caps on the total amount an investor can receive. If the cap is 12% and the market goes up 20%, the investor gets a max of 12%, regardless of the supposed participation rate.
Like most CDs, income on market-linked CDs is often considered interest–not dividends or capital gains (though this can vary, so always check the CD disclosure statement on reporting interest income). This means that the returns are taxed as regular income, just like income from your job. Usually, this income is taxed at a higher rate than qualified dividends or capital gains.
Depending on your tax bracket, you could pay significantly more to the Internal Revenue Service.
What's more, income on market-linked CD's is calculated annually, even if it is only paid when the CD matures. Imagine getting a bill for taxes on the money you have not even collected yet.
Investors can reduce or avoid these taxes by placing the CDs in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). With a traditional IRA, taxes are deferred until you retire. With a Roth IRA, you pay no tax at the time you withdraw your money.
Beware of Call Features
The contracts for market-linked CDs often contain language allowing the bank to cancel the contract. Often, this cancellation kicks in when interest rates drop to a certain level, or the bank is given the option to call the CD in certain intervals (such as every six months). When this happens, the depositor gets her principal and accrued interest back without penalty but misses out on the potential for any future gains.
It is often in the best interest of banks to call back CDs when interest rates go down sharply. Fortunately, rates have been relatively flat this year, according to data from the FDIC, so the current risk of CDs being called is relatively small. But the risk is always there.
Ideally, market-linked CDs work best if you are able to invest your money for a long time. That's because the stock market may lose money in the short term, has been known to go up over the long term.
Unfortunately, most market-linked CDs don't offer terms that are long enough to truly take advantage of gains over time. This makes them a less-than-ideal investment for most people. If you want to get some decent returns on your savings with minimal risk, you may be better off investing in high-yield bonds or dividend stocks.
Article Table of Contents Skip to section
Wells Fargo Advisors. "Guide to Investing in Market Linked Certificates of Deposit," Page 5. Accessed Oct. 9, 2019.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Equity-Linked CDs," Accessed Oct. 9, 2019.
Internal Revenue Service. "Topic No. 409 Capital Gains and Losses," Accessed Oct. 9, 2019.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "Weekly National Rates and Rate Caps - Weekly Update," Accessed Oct. 9, 2019.
The 5 Best CD Rates of 2020
Can you make equity-like returns from a certificate of deposit?
Investments That Protect Your Nest Egg
Learn the Basics of Investing in Brokered CDs
Tips on Making a Million Dollars Investing in Stock
American Express National Bank Review - Everything You Need to Know
IUL vs. 401k for Retirement
Fifth Third Bank Review - Everything You Need to Know
Popular Direct Savings Review - Everything You Need to Know
Is Certificate of Deposit or Money Market Account Better for You?
What the S&P 500 Tells You About America's Health
Synchrony Bank Review - Everything You Need to Know
Valley National Bank Review - Everything You Need to Know
Where's the Best Place to Stash Your Emergency Savings?
Wells Fargo Bank Review - Everything You Need to Know


text:
/* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package org.camunda.bpm.engine.impl.persistence.entity;

import org.camunda.bpm.engine.impl.persistence.AbstractManager;

/**
 * @author Joram Barrez
 */
public class ByteArrayManager extends AbstractManager {

  /**
   * Deletes the {@link ByteArrayEntity} with the given id from the database.
   * Important: this operation will NOT do any optimistic locking, to avoid loading the
   * bytes in memory. So use this method only in conjunction with an entity that has
   * optimistic locking!.
   */
  public void deleteByteArrayById(String byteArrayEntityId) {
    getDbSqlSession().delete("deleteByteArrayNoRevisionCheck", byteArrayEntityId);
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Does Your Lead Nurturing Strategy Stink of Spam? [PODCAST]
By Stephanie Saretsky on November 25th, 2015 in Email Marketing
Hey podcast listeners! Check out our brand spankin' new Call To Action podcast hub where you can listen to all the latest episodes.
We all know what spam looks like when it lands in our inbox, yet we're quick to approve email marketing campaigns that are strikingly similar…
Are you serving prospects spam? Image source.
That's the realization that Steven Moody, founder of Beachhead Marketing, had one day — and what he cautions against in our latest episode of the Call to Action podcast. In the episode, Steven chats with Unbounce's Content Strategist Dan Levy about how to woo the people on your email list (so they don't mark your emails as spam).
The secret ingredients of a successful email course that will continue to capture the attention of subscribers.
How to give your biggest content fans that extra nudge they need to go from handing over their email to handing over their wallet.
A creative trick that one software company used to re-engage a segment of its inactive email subscribers.
Download via iTunes.
Prefer Stitcher? We got your back.
Mentioned in the podcast
4 Spam-Free Recipes For Nurturing and Converting Leads by Steven Moody via Unbounce.
Theme music brought to you by the great folks at Wistia.
Dan Levy: You open your post with a story that I think we can all relate to: starting your morning by deleting and unsubscribing from a bunch of spammy emails. But then you said you had a revelation later in the day while approving your own email campaign; what happened?
Steven Moody: Yeah, so I work with a lot companies that use marketing automation, and kind of this growth of this great thing that isn't quite spam because it's officially allowed, but it's just kind of not something anyone likes. So I found myself going to my mail in the morning and kind of grimacing, as I think a lot of marketers do when they see all of their emails, and all these outbound emails that say, "Hey, you know, why haven't you responded to me?" and these kind of tactics. And then I was doing a campaign for a client and we're getting set to do the same thing, I was like – I just stopped – I was like, why, why am I doing this? I know it's not what I would want as a user. Why are we creating marketing that we wouldn't actually want to receive ourselves? And just thought, you know there has to be a better way.
Dan Levy: Right. Well your post is about lead nurturing, and I feel like you hear a lot good lead generation these days, but not nearly enough about what happens after you generate that lead. Why do you think that is?
Steven Moody: Yeah, it's kind of like dating. Everyone talks about how to get to a date, and no one really talks about how to maintain relationships once you have them – there's not a lot of conversation there. All the tactics are around how to trick someone to do something. And I think it's the same with marketing – it's all this information on A/B testing and these things you can do to get more people to sign up. And there's this excitement when you get a new lead, especially when you have a tool that sends you an email that says, "There's a new lead." And it just feels great – it's this dopamine rush. But nurturing is actually where the magic happens. It's when someone's already downloaded something and you have the chance to create that relationship; you can actually show that you're a business they want to work with and show your colors, and unfortunately most companies show their colors by just trying to go for a close. But properly nurturing is talking to people that just aren't ready to buy yet, but they might buy in a year, and just having the foresight to say well, this might be a prospect a year from now, but we should still be talking to them.
Dan Levy: That's such a good point. There's so many dating sites and dating apps – sorry, I'm stuck on your dating metaphor here – but no relationship maintenance sites. I wonder what that would even look like.
Steven Moody: Yeah it's like the opposite actual of Ashley Madison, right, like why –
Dan Levy: Yes.
Steven Moody: – is Ashley Madison even exist? There should be – as an aside actually, a few years ago I was at a hackathon and we built a tool that it was like a Tamagotchi for your relationship, and if your girlfriend commented on your Facebook on your post you'd have like a minute to reply back, or like the emoticon for her would go down to an unhappy face.
Dan Levy: Okay.
Steven Moody: And it was kind of as a spoof of like what's going on, and everyone thought it was creepy, but it also – it was really about a thing that we need to actually measure the relationships we have. And I think also with all social networking we're kind of in this mindset of grabbing as many friends and connections as we can. I think I have a thousand connections on LinkedIn now, and how many of those people do I actually, would I actually trust to come over for dinner? I don't know.
Dan Levy: Right.
Steven Moody: There should be a balance there. It has to be kind of a shift back to that – of thinking about the people in your network as opposed to trying to just keep expanding your network.
Dan Levy: Well, the post breaks down four lead-nurturing recipes that marketers can use to nudge prospects without spamming them along the way. The first is creating a targeted newsletter for blog subscribers. How are blog subscribers different from other leads who fork over their email?
Steven Moody: Yeah, it's a real interesting question. I think – there's been a shift in a lot of companies in the past couple of years. I don't see as much in technology companies – they're not quite aware of this, but there's this idea of someone subscribes to your blog or they subscribe to your newsletter versus they download a white paper or an ebook versus they subscribe to your newsletter and the ebook is a bonus. And that's a really interesting shift, just in intention, you know, when someone knows what they're going to get from you and they get it. That's very different from someone signing up for one thing and getting something else. And I think a lot of people will sign up for a blog – they kind of just want to get something. It's kind of like exiting through the gift shop and making sure they don't lose touch. But it's not really clear what they're going to get when they download an ebook, or a white paper they know they're going to get that and then they kind of brace for impact knowing they're going to probably get something else and they don't really know what you're going to get.
Dan Levy: Right. They know that's a transaction. It's like we're going to give you this piece of content for free, but in exchange you're going to give us your email address and you can expect further marketing down the line, whereas with a blog you're actually giving the email to get something very specific in return, which is blog posts.
Steven Moody: Yeah, the blog subscriber is your best in a way. They might be less qualified as a buyer, but they're the person that actually appreciates your content so much they want to get it more, and so they're sending such a strong signal, and it's not transactional, right. It's much more like they're asking for more as opposed to the other one, which is kind of their trading their email address, which is worth something, and in exchange for something they think they might want, which is probably just an overblown sales brochure.
Dan Levy: So how do you put those blog subscribers on the path to conversion without pulling the whole bait and switch on them?
Steven Moody: So most marketers, they have a product and they know they have to sell so they kind of are focused on getting that done. We've been lucky in the past few months not having a specific product that we have to sell. We started just go back to our list of subscribers and asking them where their problems are and what they want to solve, and it actually had great success just reaching out to people and identifying and recognizing that they subscribe for something, like a lead nurturing course or they subscribe to the blog, and acknowledging that in the email and just getting on a call and hearing what their problems are. And that's hard to do if you have a product because you just want to qualify them as fast as you can, so I'm not sure there's a thing there to do except your subscribers are potential referrals – they don't have to buy from you to know someone who will buy from you, and so just shifting the thinking from every person is potential customer to every person is a potential evangelist first can really change how you message your subscribers.
Dan Levy: Right. It sounds like what you're talking about here is patience, and also trust in different pieces of your marketing doing what they're intended to do. So, your blog plays a very specific role in the funnel, you could certainly nurture them through the content that you're creating, but don't try to jump the gun and like hack your blog email list for a quick conversion because that's not what it's there to do, and I think you're going to lose a lot of trust that way.
Steven Moody: Yeah, and your subscribers can sense that, right. People are always kind of on the lookout for that in their mind and they unsubscribe – the biggest reason I think people unsubscribe is it's just not relevant to them. So relevancy is just so important, and it's so easy to get off that track. But if someone subscribes, and you can see what they subscribe to, just send them more information. I think the essence of marketing and content marketing is gifting someone the knowledge that they need, and in doing so you become the person that they trust to give them that knowledge, and then whatever problem that they have they're eventually going to start thinking of you as the source for that knowledge.
Dan Levy: Can you share maybe an example of a blog newsletter that you receive that you think stands out from the pack and does that well?
Steven Moody: Yeah, so I was mentioning the blog post newsletter I was really inspired by was a16z; it's Andreessen Horowitz the VC firm in Silicon Valley. They put together this newsletter every week that is just incredible information on what's going on, the future of technology and the internet and funding and it's not – I'm not even completely in the audience, I'm not trying to get funding, I'm not, you know, necessarily a technologist, but what's interesting about it is they're giving it away for free, and they're not even doing that much work. If you look carefully, what they're doing, they'll often have someone on their podcasts that's – what I think they're doing is they're researching a bunch of information about that person's topic, and they're finding the best articles about that topic and putting them in the newsletter around that podcast. So they're creating basically a read more section around their main content. So it's, it's not even a lot of work, but it's this incredible, it ends up being this incredible newsletters. Just because they've taken that small extra step and said here are the best authority top pages on this topic if you really want to dive in. And they just know their audience very well. I think they're a targeting kind of product-focused founders and entrepreneurs and so it's very, very dense. They don't waste time with too many words. They don't add images even though everyone will tell you that you images in your newsletters. It's lightly formatted, but it still has some color, so you realize it's not a text they've put some work into it. It's just really well done, and we've taken a lot of our ideas for our newsletter from that and have had a lot of a lot of positive feedback.
Dan Levy: Cool, check that out. Moving away from blog subscribers, here at Unbounce we run a lot of webinars almost weekly, and also have a bunch of ebooks that we give a way through our blog and your email list for free in exchange for someone's email address, like we talked about that, that transaction there. Can you talk about what sets these subscribers apart?
Steven Moody: Yeah, so the big difference to me of someone who registers for a webinar or does anything like that, downloads an ebook, it's just the education level. You can talk to them about where they are at that level of what they're trying to and how much they know. So someone downloads an ebook on how to get started with A/B testing – now you know that they have an intention to get started with A/B testing, and they have some idea of what that means if they read the ebook, or if they attend the webinar and you think they might know something from the webinar, in reality it might not be a very high amount of retention from that knowledge. So there's a limit to what you can assume there, but overall I think the big thing is you know what you can say next, and you can kind of move them along the buyers journey by figuring out what's the next thing that they would want to have in that process.
Dan Levy: Yeah, you suggest ecourses as a good way to follow up with people who download an ebook or who register for an webinar. Where do ecourses succeed where maybe regular sales type of emails don't?
Steven Moody: Yeah, I could talk for hours about this. What do you guys use at Unbounce for lead nurturing, do you have any products in place?
Dan Levy: It's funny we are currently running a – we call it a slam. There's four people in a room right now and they will be for two weeks to completely overhaul our lead nurturing process here.
Steven Moody: Wow.
Dan Levy: So – yeah. I think like a lot of marketers realized that we're putting too much emphasis on lead generation and not enough thought perhaps, or that it's time to refresh our lead-nurturing strategy, so we just switched over to HubSpot, so that's going to be our tool, and right now we're figuring the strategy as we speak – pretty exciting.
Steven Moody: Yeah, that's fantastic. It's great to hear because also I think a lot of companies when they have a product they get focused on that right, so Unbounce, you guys are so good at acquisition it's easy to ignore lead nurturing. We use HubSpot as well and it's great for email courses and setting up nurturing, it's not the best but it's a very effective. What – lead nurturing is difficult because people have different ideas of it. I talked to one person and they think that means just send an update from your blog. Another person might look at and say, it's trying to get someone into a track of specific content. So there's always different ideas about lead nurturing, but an email course is this plutonic ideal of lead nurturing. I hate the phrase growth hacking, but it really is a growth hack in the definition of Patrick Vlaskovits, one of the early guys to coin that term.
Steven Moody: He defined a growth hack as content or offer that's perfect for the channel, so Instagram using Facebook was a great growth hack because people kind of were automatically using Facebook for images and so they could quickly get into the feed.
Dan Levy: That's such a good definition, and I feel like 99 percent of growth hackers probably completely ignore that, right, they don't go for the tactic that's perfect for the channel. They maybe go for like the easiest tactic or the lowest hanging fruit, but keeping the channel in mind is so key.
Steven Moody: Yeah, and so when you ask someone to download an ebook, the channel they're on is your website or your blog. They're consuming content online in Chrome, or Firefox, or Internet Explorer, Safari, and they might be on their phone, they might be on the computer, and then you say, hey, I want you to talk to us by email. I want you to give me permission to send this thing to your email. We both know we could just give you a link to this, but we want you to pay with your email address. And so you're making them switch channels. And people will do it, but they may not even use their email for a channel, they kind of know that you're doing it to get their email address so you can talk to them and those there's this weird feeling there like it's like someone buying you a drink at a bar, you don't really know why and you just hope it's worth it.
Dan Levy: You don't –
Steven Moody: With the –
Dan Levy: – you don't even know what drink it's going to be.
Steven Moody: Yeah, exactly. But an email course is amazing because first the only way to get an email course is by email, so of course you need their email address, and so you know in the back of your mind you're not wondering why you're signing up with your email address, you do it automatically. And we've found that people will actually – so we don't get fake email addresses for a course, you know it's like less than one percent of our signups because people actually want the content. We don't get temporary email addresses that expire after an hour because they know it's going to be a seven-day course.
Dan Levy: So to be clear you're not talking about having people subscribe to or download an ebook or register for a webinar and then be put on an ecourse, you're talking about people actually subscribing to an ecourse and knowing that they're going to get that.
Steven Moody: Yeah, so what we discovered – it was a surprise to us because lead nurturing is not usually thought of as top of the funnel – but an email course actually makes it top of the funnel because it's something someone signs up for from the beginning. They kind of want to get educated on a topic, or category, or how to think about what they're doing, and so they immediately go to a course. So it's a way to use lead nurturing very early on where most companies don't have that. They kind of get someone in the process, they don't know where they are and then they try to kind of guess by sending them different offers and see what resonates, but they really don't know what they're doing. The other big thing especially using a tool like HubSpot and Marketo is with the email course you actually know how much they read, so when someone downloads an ebook and white paper you have no idea if they actually read it, and we tested cold calling people after they downloaded a white paper and they would have no idea what we're talking about. It turns out a lot of people will go online and download 20 white papers from different sites and then put them in a folder and then forget about it. So you get a very small impression from a white paper. It's not as much as most marketers want to think it is, and maybe that's why they're usually not very good, because we all know no one's reading them. But with an email course you get a chance to talk to someone every day, or every other day for a while and have an actual name behind it, because we're used to reading these emails this way. And when you call someone after seven days of emails to them they actually recognize your name. They actually know who you are, and you know who's going to know who you are because you can score them based on who's actually opened all the emails.
Steven Moody: For us we only get about 10 percent of people who finish the course. We've seen other companies we work with, they get about 30 percent to open every single email. But what's amazing to me is that before an email course you couldn't even get that information on that ebook or white paper, you have no idea. And I guess you can use some tools to kind of put it in a hosted online PDF so you can track what they read, but no one wants to use that. People want to use the formats they're used to, which is download a PDF or read something in an email. So it's a natural way to get this visibility into what's happening and actually know what to do next.
Dan Levy: That's awesome. Okay, so I'm a content guy. I get that first and foremost these email courses have to have amazing, relevant content in order for people to sign up for it, in order for people to keep receiving those emails and not unsubscribe after the first or second one, but the success of those courses, it's ultimately measured by how many people end up converting further down the line, if not right at the end of the course. So how do you go about working in that sales pitch, or that call to action in a way that seems natural?
Steven Moody: So I see it very differently. We've kind of approached demand general marketing from a naïve perspective because I built my own team for the products we had. What we realized is most marketers think in terms of campaigns and they think about how do we get this person to buy. To me the measure of an email course is how many people actually would pay for it, so – especially because an email course it feels like you're learning something. It's appealing to the person, not the business because it is going to this one person. It's actually harder to share within a company, so it's really for, it's really a consumer product in a way. And we started actually asking target customers, would you actually pay for this course? And that's our criteria for, is it effective. So we see a course as a way for every company to have a freemium version of their product. So for Unbounce, for example, you should be teaching people in an email course you know, how to get started with doing your own landing pages, how to do A/B testing yourself, how to work with the developer you already have for your website. There's a lot of ideas around what you're doing where people might just – they might need to try it themselves before they appreciate how valuable it is to work with Unbounce.
Steven Moody: So if people are going to do it themselves anyways you might as well share the information you have on how to do it and then let them try and hit their head against the wall, and then they'll naturally come back to you because, okay, yeah, that was not the great way to do it. Other cases the email course can really be something like a buyer's guide in a way where it's here's the five things to think about in this space. It's more of a larger sale in the middle of the funnel. So it definitely depends on your audience and what you're doing, but in principle, in general, we see an email course as a product on its own. We will go to customers of our clients when we build these courses and actually make sure the customers want this course. And we found that if the customers actually sign up for it then that means the prospects will probably want it too and it will end up working.
Dan Levy: Don't you think though that if your ecourse is solving a particular problem, like let's say in our case not being able to easily build customized landing pages, or not knowing how to optimize them and A/B test them, and the content addresses that problem and then part of the solution is your product or service you're not almost obliged to let them know that towards the end of the course, that, hey, we actually have the solution for you.
Steven Moody: Yeah, I think you should. It can even be in every single email, just at the bottom. You know, most people read the PS so you can just put something in the signature: hey, by the way, here's what we offer, want to make sure you're aware of it. And if someone's looking for it they'll be happy to see it, and they'll actually be more comfortable with you because they know why you're doing the email course, and there's an understanding of what's involved. I don't think it has to be a big call to action. So we worked with a client and set up outbound emails to really try to push people to a free trial, and everyone loved the email we wrote, it was really heavy hitting direct response, and got sent out to 10,000 people and got one sign up. Then we looked at an event that was coming up and we created an information page around an event that they knew that their audience was going to go to, but it was a curated page around their audience, around their specific problem set, and we had more sign ups to a free trial even though there was no offer, or call to action actually in the email, and we had people were replying and saying thank you for this email, it was useful to me. And I think that's a criteria – we've lost the standard in marketing of what it means to actually have a good email, but the criteria should be that people actually respond to your email and say thank you.
Dan Levy: Totally, yeah.
Steven Moody: If they're not doing that then you're wasting your time.
Dan Levy: Yeah, that makes, that makes a lot of sense. Actually just last week on the podcast we talked about you need to measure your marketing by the numbers, but you have to remember that behind those numbers is a person, a human being engaging with you, and so I think, you can't lose sight of either of those things. Yeah, you're ultimately looking for results, but that's not going to happen unless you're reaching people speaking to them and that kind of qualitative feedback, that very human feedback is super important along the way.
Steven Moody: Yeah, my favorite example for this is Ramit Sethi from the iwillteachyoutoberich.com. Have you seen any of his other stuff?
Dan Levy: I don't think so.
Steven Moody: He's probably one of the best copywriters in the world, and he doesn't write for anyone else so it's easy to miss, but he writes incredibly engaging emails. He'll launch an information course, a paid course, and a thousand dollars for many of them, but he'll go through a two-week campaign where he's warming people up and he's sending them very useful information, a lot of free information around the same topic. And his basic principle is he gives away 95 percent of his knowledge for free, and you're going to pay a lot of money for that last five percent. I think that works for a lot of spaces and a lot more than most people try because if you want someone to really use that last 5 percent of your product then you should make sure that they get the first 95. And it doesn't matter whether they pay for the 95 or not, so it depends on if your goal is to get them to use the first five percent or the last five percent.
Dan Levy: That's really interesting. Well, the last group of leads that you tackle in your post are what you call inactive prospects. Can you talk about what that means and also how Citrix used an American holiday to reengage a segment of its inactive subscribers in one lead-nurturing campaign.
Steven Moody: You know any company's going to have a lot of people that stop engaging with the content and with their email. A lot of reasons that can happen: someone might actually just not get the email anymore, Gmail's tabs might move them to a spot where they don't see them, they might have changed jobs and the company didn't set it up so the email address would bounce, so if might still just be going to an empty inbox. But some people just might lose interest and get busy. So there's a few ways to approach that, and kind of just keep emailing them, which I think is what most marketers do because they measure themselves by the size of their lists.
Steven Moody: And so they think, well, we can't rid of these people, but it's actually really useful to just ask them if they actually want to get the content and clarify who's in your market. Sales people understand this, right. The biggest part of sales is not actually trying to close, it's trying to qualify if someone's in your market, and marketers who think the same way would look at their email list and ask, you know, how can we get visibility into the real size of our list? So I was working at a division of Seagate a few years ago, and we were sending webinar offers all the time. We'd get maybe 100 people to show up to webinar – it's a fairly large company, a hundred million dollars or so – and then we actually sent an opt-in request to the list and about 80 percent of the people on our list did not opt in. There was a massive loss of a list and it was like, oh, wow, that's scary, right. You're like, oh, there goes the job. But then the next offer to a webinar actually had doubled the attendance. So there's immense value in actually someone identifying themselves as wanting your content just by taking any action, and then they're going to be consistent in the future once they've taken one action in that direction they're going to start to see themselves as the person who wants your content. Another example from for Ramit Sethi is really interesting, he's launched in his course in the past week and he had this specific email trying to get people to go to a 40-page Word doc – and very long, very great at copy – and the first line was something like, hey, if you don't want the course, here's three other links you might find interesting. They were just very funny things like here's a YouTube video of a cat doing a somersault. And it's amazing because what he did was he wanted to know if someone's not clicking on this course is it because they're not getting my email, or because they're not interested.
Steven Moody: And so someone clicks on this irresistible link and they don't click on the course then you know that they're just not interested in the content. And it's really hard to get that information, so that's a great way to just to figure out what's so irresistible to your audience that they'll click on that but not on your thing. So it's almost a way to do – it's not quite A/B testing, I guess, but something similar where you can just get a perspective on what's your total clickable audience.
Dan Levy: That's really smart. I like that. Of course, isn't it possible that these leads are inactive because they're just not that into you?
Steven Moody: Exactly. And that's the best reason to send them something else, figure out what they would be into. That's why we – most weeks our newsletter is a 100 percent other people's content. And what I realized by accident making this newsletter, we really started it because we wanted to try a different way. We liked the a16z approach and also I had someone on my team who needed to learn marketing, so it was a way for him to really get in tune with what people are thinking about. What we discovered is if someone clicks on someone else's link in your email, one, you know what they clicked on and so you know their intention, you know what they're trying to achieve, and you actually know they clicked and you know you're engaging them. We had a link to HubSpot's recent post, ten interview questions from a real CMO and, and we immediately put that in the post, and we know anyone who clicks on that is either hiring or trying to get hired. And so there's incredible knowledge in just seeing who clicks on what. Our list is small enough I can personally go in every Sunday and kind of see who's clicking on what and get an idea in my mind of what they're thinking and build that up. But you can do a lot of thing if you want to see who in your audience is trying to get funding, just put a bunch of links around how to think about funding. And now you can actually segment your audience on that, and you can send them specific information about that. So we get stuck I think as marketers trying to always do our own marketing, our own content, but the curation is more important than actually having it be yourself, having it be your own content. Just knowing that someone is interested in something saves you a ton of time, and that interest is so easy to measure in email but most marketers just don't take advantage of that.
Dan Levy: And if they're not interested then at some point it's okay to just let them go, right?
Steven Moody: Yeah, if they're not interested – there's a downside in marketing to letting someone go because you feel like there's no cost to email them, so why would you want to let them go. There's a lot of hidden costs though: someone might be marking you as Spam, someone might be on a company list that is used by Barracuda, who's using all this data to determine what should go into people's inbox.
Steven Moody: So you might actually be unable to get someone else's inbox because no one opens your list. And then there's just the fact that you think you have a bigger list than you do. So the easiest thing to do if you're worried about it is just create two different lists, one of everyone who's actually opened an email in the last six months and one list of everyone who hasn't, and send separate emails to them – the same, maybe the same content, but separate ones and measure them differently, and you might find that you think that your open rate is five percent and you feel like you're not doing a good job, but it might turn out your open rate is 40 percent among a certain tribe, and your list wasn't very good. So just understanding over time how that group of people that are interested in you – are they still interested, are they maintaining interest or are they losing interest – is much more valuable than just kind of these general open rates.
Dan Levy: Yeah, I guess what all this boils down to and what the discipline of lead nurturing boils down to is stop just being obsessed with growing the size of your list and start thinking a little bit more about the quality of your list and who are the people that you're actually sending emails to.
Steven Moody: Yeah, there's real people behind most of these email addresses, hopefully. And they actually want something from you, and they have a chance to buy what you have but they're probably a little scared about buyer that. So just treating them like people and thinking about what they would want, and understanding how to have a human connection with them and while being scalable – it's not easy but it's doable – and not thinking of it just as a giant list you have and trying to measure it by the numbers, because there are people on the other side and if you lose sight of that then it's easy to do tactics that you wouldn't do to your parents.
Dan Levy: Cool. I think that's a great note to end on. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat, Steven.
Steven Moody: Yeah, thank you.
Transcript by GMR Transcription.
About Stephanie Saretsky
Stephanie Saretsky is a former multimedia producer at Unbounce. Producing projects like the Call to Action podcast and The Landing Page Sessions by day and a radio DJ by night, she is a lover of all things multimedia. Find her on Twitter: @msbeansie
» More blog posts by Stephanie Saretsky


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Graffiti6 – The Bridge
Posted on April 21, 2014 November 23, 2014 by Kurt
As Graffiti6's sophomore album The Bridge opens, with the deep echo of piano keys introducing a short, stripped version of "Beside You" before transitioning into the album's massive title track, it becomes clear that Jamie Scott and Tommy "TommyD" Danvers have experienced just as large a musical evolution since the original 2010 release of debut album Colours. Since then, the Colours album era produced notable singles in "Free" and "Stare Into The Sun," while each member of the duo expanded their horizons individually — Scott's songwriting played a major role in the breakout success of One Direction, and he added songwriter credits for Christina Perri, Michael Kiwanuka, 5 Seconds of Summer, Little Mix, and more; Danvers, meanwhile, provided production and orchestration work for several artists, including fun., Emeli Sandé, Tinie Tempah, and Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher. Accordingly, the sound of Graffiti6 as an ensemble has grown as well, drawing from each member's new influences. Throughout the album's fifteen tracks, layers of background harmonies, expressive piano and string lines, and production elements pack a punch behind sentimental lyrics of love and loss, creating a wide, expansive soundscape that is as engaging over the long term as it is catchy upon the first listen.
One of the highlights of The Bridge is its title track, in which heavy percussive beats, guitar slides, and impassioned harmonies surround lyrics that evoke loss and helplessness, searching for a comfort zone after a breakup. A similar lost sentiment is heard in an ode for restless insomniacs, "Losing My Mind," followed by the post-breakup tale of living "Separate Lives," whose extended coda is a tender, yearning cry: Scott cries out "I miss you, I miss you here, miss your love…" as a soft bed of synths, echoing vocals, and a string line builds until it seemingly ascends into the clouds. Previously-released Christmas song "No Snow" is also included, a smoldering original take on the themes of the classic "Blue Christmas." However, not everything is dark and dismal, as evidenced by the album's kaleidoscopic cover artwork: Graffiti6 returns to their familiar theme of sunshine, comparing it to the feeling of love on upbeat track "U Got The Sunshine;" on the intro and extended versions of "Beside You" that serve as the album's bookends, a couple resolves to stay together through thick and thin.
In addition to several songs with a more traditional, radio-friendly structure, The Bridge includes multiple cuts more akin to jam sessions, following in the footsteps of debut album track "Calm The Storm." While "Washed My Sins," which first premiered on YouTube last May, continues to build into a frenzy with each refrain, others ("We Fall Forever," "Resting Place") feel a little too long and repetitive even despite their fluid instrumental sections. However, to their credit, these work to provide more focus on the band's multifaceted production and instrumentation, which draw from the duo's vast array of musical influences. Like on their debut album Colours, Scott's smooth vocals are enhanced by TommyD's production skills — from the sweeping strings on "Separate Lives" to the frenetic beats in "Washed My Sins" and "We Fall Forever," the production showcases the musical expansion and invention that Graffiti6 has experienced since the release of Colours. As a result, The Bridge is a follow-up release that is anything but a sophomore slump — instead, it is the musical result of looking through a kaleidoscope, demonstrating a formidable melange of genres and influences that shifts boundaries while staying true to the band's own formula of charming lyricism and adventurous genre-hopping.
Tags: albums, pop, rock, soul
Artists: 5 Seconds of Summer, Christina Perri, Emeli Sandé, fun., Graffiti6, Jamie Scott, Little Mix, Michael Kiwanuka, Noel Gallagher, Oasis, One Direction, Tinie Tempah
Record Labels: Independent
George Duke – DreamWeaver
Posted on October 1, 2013 November 23, 2014 by Kurt
After his wife of over forty years, Corine, passed away in 2012, it took George Duke several months to regain musical inspiration. Following an evening spent enjoying the art of other musicians while vacationing on a cruise ship, he sat on his deck in wait of the sunrise when inspiration began to return. Much like this wave of ideas that flowed into Duke's mind, DreamWeaver's title track begins with a soft, synth-fueled wave from which second track "Stones of Orion" emerges, a light instrumental number that includes a four-piece horn section (including flute), Stanley Clarke on bass, and Duke twinkling on keys. Beyond, Duke fondly remembers his late wife on tracks like "Missing You" — whose lyrics were rewritten from a direct, autobiographical standpoint to a more general subject as vocalist Rachelle Ferrell took over vocal duties — and deluxe album closer "Happy Trails," a cover of the 1950s theme song by Dale Evans and Roy Rogers. However, the album as a whole is more celebratory than grieving: despite Duke's inevitable heartache, DreamWeaver includes several upbeat, funky instrumental sections and hopeful, forward-moving moments on "Change The World" and "Round The Way Girl," in which Duke rekindles his romantic flame.
In addition to the remembrance of his wife, Duke reflects on his love and discovery of music. A mix of genres weave into the sound of the album: R&B, jazz, funk, adult contemporary soul, and spoken word are all represented, and Duke lays synthesizer lines over many of the tracks. With vocals harmonized on the octave and solos on muted trumpet and guitar, early standout "Trippin'" looks back at Duke's childhood and the musical influence spread by his neighbor, a jazz aficionado. Further into the album, these genres are woven together between an introduction and two transitional interludes, and the threads that compose DreamWeaver are host to a vast number of collaborators, including vocalist Lalah Hathaway, bassist Christian McBride, and one of the final recordings from R&B icon Teena Marie. Along with the instrumental introduction, several of the album's thirteen tracks offer moments for them and many other musicians to take the spotlight.
While DreamWeaver stretches to nearly all of the eighty-minute length of a physical CD, several moments could be benefited with less length. The fifteen-minute "Burnt Sausage Jam" slips fluidly through three movements of instrumental funk which, while engaging in the short term, often grow repetitive with minutes to spare. The same conclusion can be made for rock-leaning "Brown Sneakers," whose six-minute length fails to hold interest with the same pace and energy that earlier, shorter standout "AshTray" achieves. This is not to take away from the musical finesse of Duke and his many well-known collaborators, all of whom perform and vibe together with evident skill, highlighted in moments like the guitar and trumpet trades of "Jazzmatazz" and the electric guitar solo on the first half of "Brown Speakers."
These moments of repetition, however, do not keep DreamWeaver from being a celebratory, enjoyable body of work than spans multiple styles of music. George Duke's final album is a formidable collection forged in fond remembrance of lengthy relationships with the wife and music that he loved.
Tags: albums, funk, fusion, jazz, R&B, soul
Artists: Christian McBride, Dale Evans, George Duke, Lalah Hathaway, Roy Rogers, Stanley Clarke
Record Labels: Heads Up
Gregory Porter – Liquid Spirit
Posted on September 15, 2013 February 19, 2014 by Kurt
As previously displayed on his first two GRAMMY-nominated albums, 2011 debut Water and its 2012 follow-up Be Good, Gregory Porter overflows with expression through deep, soulful baritone vocals. Whereas his previous works focused more heavily on political and historical matter, his Blue Note debut Liquid Spirit takes a more personal turn, telling stories of community, affirmation, and love. Porter's love for the blues, gospel, and soul genres that influence the sounds of Liquid Spirit come from his musical upbringing, citing the renowned vocalist Nat King Cole as a lifelong inspiration alongside saxophonists John Coltrane and Lester Young. As such, the tonal image of the saxophone is evoked as Porter sings, addressing topics familial and romantic as well as historical. The relaxed tone of the Los Angeles native's vocals deliver sweet, loving lines like those in "Hey Laura" and "Wolfcry," while "Free" is punctuated with accents and percussion as Porter thanks his parents for their love and sacrifice. Even "Brown Grass," the album's emotional low point, shines deceptively with light piano chords that twinkle under Porter's ever-warm, effortless melodies. Throughout the album, the experiential lyrics written are propelled by the genuine humility and friendliness of Porter's personality, which is easily carried by the boom of the gentle giant's thick baritone.
While Water and Be Good employed a larger amount of instrumental solos, Porter takes a more centered role on this third album. These solos are more abridged as well — only three of the album's fourteen tracks stretch beyond five minutes in length — and whereas his earlier works contained more brass solos and a few scat choruses from Porter himself, Liquid Spirit is mainly populated with saxophone, bass, and piano. This allows Porter's vocal to shine as the main act of each song, putting his lyrics and comfortable delivery at center stage.
Of Porter's three albums, Liquid Spirit is the first not to close with an a cappella cover, the previous two showcasing his vocals over classics "Feeling Good" and "God Bless The Child." Arguably, such a bare display of Porter's vocals is unnecessary on this collection of songs: he displays emotion and warmth in spades throughout the album such that the reminder of his talent is unneeded, and the conviction of his vocal gives the instrumental underbelly opportunity to further cradle his melody without overpowering it. Porter's Spirit flows as freely as water here, and as comfortably as he has shown in live performances in the past. Pairing with legendary jazz label Blue Note for the first time on this release, this may be the album that moves Porter closer toward legendary status as well.
Tags: albums, blues, jazz, R&B, soul
Artists: Gregory Porter, John Coltrane, Lester Young
Record Labels: Blue Note


Paul McCartney pays tribute to the Fab Four's PR and "lovely guy"
The Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow has died, aged 80.
Barrow, who invented the phrase "the Fab Four" in one of his early press releases for the group, passed away on Saturday (May 14) in Morecambe, Lancashire.
Through his job at Decca, Barrow secured Brian Epstein's charges an audition at the label. Though they famously failed the trial, once they had signed to EMI, The Beatles' manager took on Barrow full-time in 1963 to look after press for the roster of artists he managed at NEMS Enterprises. Barrow's duties ranged from sometimes accompanying the group on tour and chairing press conferences, to writing album sleevenotes and editing the Magical Mystery Tour cartoon book.
He continued to work with The Beatles until late 1967, when the group set up Apple Corps to look after their affairs. Barrow then started his own business, Tony Barrow International, representing The Kinks, the Bay City Rollers, David Cassidy, The Monkees and more, before returning to writing, most notably with his 2006 memoir John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me.


text:
Arsenal starlet Balogun, 19, offered deals by 'more than 15 clubs' – as Gunners contract stalls over lack of minutes
ARSENAL striker Folarin Balogun is reportedly being eyed up by 15 clubs as they look to sign him on a free transfer in the summer.
The 19-year-old is free to talk to other teams having entered the final year of his contract at the Emirates.
Balogun has impressed this season when called upon – chipping in with two goals in five games in all competitions.
The Gunners were believed to have restarted contract negotiations with the player in November, but talks have stalled, leading to speculation he will be departing North London.
But it is now understood that he is closer to leaving Arsenal than he is to committing his future with the FA Cup holders.
Commenting on the American-born England youth international, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano stated the player has no shortage of suitors.
However he claimed that Balogun is still interested in signing a new deal at Arsenal, but he wants more game time in order to convince him to put pen to paper.
He tweeted: "Folarin Balogun has received more than 15 bids as a free agent for next summer.
"His contract situation with Arsenal is stalling, still complicated because he wants to play."
Romano then shut down reports that Bundesliga side Red Bull Leipzig are closing in on a deal to bring the teenager to Germany.
He added: "RB Leipzig have *not* made an official bid to sign Balogun as of today."
Championship side Swansea are just one of the clubs that are understood to be keen on securing his services.
Meanwhile Liverpool are another side that have been linked with snapping up the striker at the end of the season.
With his contract situation up in the air, it has been claimed that Balogun is one of 11 players that have been made 'dispensable' by Mikel Arteta.
⚽ Read our Arsenal live blog for the latest news from The Emirates
Posted in SportTagged 19, Arsenal, Balogun, o, starlet
7am Man Utd news LIVE: Bruno Fernandes leaked WhatsApp messages, Sancho transfer LATEST, and Pogba shaves head – The Sun
The Lakers' team bus apparently didn't leave Luke Walton behind after loss
World Bridge Federation suspends top player after failed drug test
UK weather – EIGHT inches of snow could 'cut off towns as Britain to be battered in 40-hour ice blast
Chelsea transfer news: West Ham lead chase for Olivier Giroud as David Moyes eyes striker


This weekend, like a good little tourist, I went to Antigua to see the processions for Semana Santa. Before I say more, please note what is happening with the statues in the picture of the fountain above. Amazing. Anyways, I had no idea that Semana Santa was such a big deal in Guatemala, in Xela all the schools were closed, and most businesses took a holiday as well. When I was walking to school on Thursday morning it was like an atomic bomb had gone off, there were no cars, no people, no open tiendas… for the first time ever even the beer factory had closed its gates.
In Antigua, however, it was a different story. There were tons of people in town just for the weekend, visitors not only from Guatemala, but from all over the world, and because it was the busiest weekend of the year, everything was open. Based on what other travelers had told me, I was picturing Antigua like Disneyland, nothing more than a little town filled with over-weight white people and no real culture. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised, and I didn't find Antigua over-crowded or too toursity at all. Well, at least not as touristy as I had imagined.
All throughout the weekend people create alfombras, or carpets, in the streets that the processions then pass over. It takes between 3 to 7 hours to create an alfombra, and some of them are pretty creative, like the watermelon one above. They are made out of all kinds of material, including colored sawdust, sand, vegetables, fruits, flowers… I even saw one made out of chocolate, and the waste just about broke my heart. I think it is just families or groups of friends that make these carpets, although the ones next to churches seem to be done by professionals. To me it seemed incredible to put so much work into something that so quickly afterwards would be ruined, but I guess that is a good life lesson.
The processions themselves are a whole other elaborate affair. I was lucky enough to stumble upon this one on Friday, and see it the whole way through. It started with about 100 men dressed up like Romans, who were followed by different men carrying crucifixes who were being 'beaten', who were then followed by the men above dressed in purple carrying a big Jesus and his cross, who were followed by a marching band, who were followed by a big dump truck with a cleaning crew that immediately scooped up what remained of the alfombras. Whew. Friday before 3pm almost all of the men wore the purple dress above, but after three the men and women changed into black, which they wore until Easter Sunday. The processions Friday night included a Jesus in a coffin, and the processions Saturday included a big cross with just a skeleton next to it. I missed the processions Sunday, but I imagine that they included a happier and more alive Jesus.
During my weekend I was also able to climb the active Pacaya Volcano, the first real exercise that I had done in nearly two months. Fortunately, the climb was pretty easy, but unfortunately my group didn't experience as much activity on the volcano as usual. I was still excited to be able to be so close to real magma, I took the picture below without any zoom, simply by pointing the camera down at the ground I was walking on. We also bought some marshmallows and roasted them at the top over the magma, definitely an experience that I probably will never have again in my life. For the record, they were delicious.
In the end, I was more than ready to head back to Xela. Antigua was nice, but for me, Xela feels like home.
Halooooo from the West Coast!


Are there many video card compatability problems with GS?
I have a Hercules Terminator Beast AGP card and GS will not run properly (i.e. the graphics are all messed up and it crashes) unless I set my resolution to the lowest possible level.
Try taking down the Hardware acceleration in the performance section of your display proprerties.


Home » Cancer » Can Getting More Sleep Protect You From Cancer?
Can Getting More Sleep Protect You From Cancer?
Many of us find we never get enough sleep. But isn't usually because we have difficulty falling asleep, but rather that we have too many things to do before we go to bed and so we get to sleep late. Six hours later, the alarm goes off and we would give just about anything to stay in bed. However, given a chance, most of us can happily sleep for eight, nine, or 10 hours if left undisturbed. This is a much different scenario than someone who truly can't get to sleep or stay asleep.
For those who have sleep problems, life can be a lot harder to deal with. Daily tasks that require concentration can be hard to manage. Physical activity that takes stamina and endurance is a real challenge. Even keeping your mood on an even keel can be a difficult job if you're not regularly getting about eight hours of sleep a night.
When sleep problems become chronic, health complaints can set in. While most of these may seem minor at first—feeling a little fatigued, blurry vision here and there, less of an appetite for healthy foods—more serious health problems can set in. Not getting enough sleep for weeks on end can lead to weight gain, relationship difficulties, and even heart problems.
Now, a team of researchers from Iceland think that sleep problems could contribute to the onset of prostate cancer. The scientists analyzed data from 2,425 men who were between the ages of 67 and 96. Those who had a hard time getting to sleep at night had a 1.6 time increased risk of getting prostate cancer over the course of five years. For those with more serious sleep difficulties, this risk jumped to nearly twice that of people who got adequate sleep every night.
The researchers were careful to adjust for factors such as smoking, age, and sleep disruption due to multiple trips to the bathroom—a condition doctors call nocturia.
The researchers think the link between sleep amount and cancer has to do with melatonin. Melatonin—the sleep hormone—is produced by the body during normal sleep cycles. Your body follows a sleep/wake pattern every day and melatonin is only produced while you're sleeping. When you aren't sleeping enough, melatonin production drops and your levels of the hormone dip. Melatonin, it just so happens, behaves in a "tumor-suppressing" way. When you have enough of the hormone, tumors find it much harder to take hold and grow. When you're short on melatonin, the opposite is true—its absence promotes tumor growth.
The good news in all of this is that the researchers think that sleep may actually work as a treatment for prostate cancer.
The best way to ensure normal melatonin production is to sleep in a darkened room. Cover up all sources of light and keep your room quiet. During the day, you also need to get some sunlight. Your body thrives on a natural cycle of light and dark. Upset either side of the equation and you'll upset your melatonin production.
If you have to take any of these meds to address other health problems, try to take them well in advance of bedtime, if possible.
Keenan, T., "Your doctor may soon prescribe sleep to cut prostate cancer risk," The Vancouver Sun web site, August 1, 2013; http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Your+doctor+soon+prescribe+sleep+common+sense+prostate+cancer+risk/8738191/story.html, last accessed August 8, 2013.
"Melatonin," University of Maryland Medical Center web site; http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/melatonin, last accessed Aug. 8, 2013.
"Prostate cancer: A good night's sleep might protect against prostate cancer," Nat Rev Urol. July 2013; 10(7): 369.


Review applications or requests for funding.
Make recommendations of projects to be funded to the Executive Committee.
Provide feedback to Community Development staff on scoring and ranking decisions in order for appropriate technical assistance to be provided to applicants.


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Tuomo & Markus is a Helsinki Finland based musical group founded by renowned Finnish soul artist and jazz musician Tuomo Prättälä and singer/songwriter Markus Nordenstreng from Finnish rock band The Latebirds. They occasionally perform and record under the alias Pratt & Moody.

Tuomo & Markus are known for their unique vocal blend. Their music has been described as indie folk and Nordic Americana. Their influences include The Band, Staple Singers, Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Randy Newman, JJ Cale, Everly Brothers, Judee Sill, Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions, Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan. The band's sound has been compared to Simon & Garfunkel, Fleet Foxes, Wilco, Calexico and Wigwam

The two artists met in Helsinki in 2007 while performing in an all-star benefit show. After realizing they shared a common love for vocal harmonies and American roots music, Tuomo & Markus started periodically performing and writing together. The new songs led to recording sessions at Wavelab Recording Studio in Tucson Arizona. These sessions also featured various notable American musicians including Joey Burns, John Convertino and Jacob Valenzuela from Tucson-based Calexico, Wilco members John Stirratt and Pat Sansone as well as Gary Louris from the Jayhawks who also contributed one song on the album

Tuomo & Markus' debut album Dead Circles ended up taking almost four years to complete. The double album was finally released in Finland and the rest of Scandinavia in August 2016 as a vinyl only release (North American and European releases came out in 2018). Dead Circles was well received in Finland, earning favorable reviews in publications like Helsingin Sanomat and Yleisradio. The album also did relatively well commercially despite being a vinyl only release, making it to Finnish Top-20. Spotify curated the album's opening track Over The Rooftops to a popular internationally recognized playlist. The same track has been on constant rotation on stations like KEXP and KCRW.

The band started working on their sophomore album Game Changing while touring in North America. Most of the tracks were recorded at Jonathan Wilson's studio in Los Angeles CA and Flowers Studio in Minneapolis MN with their full touring band. Jonathan Wilson was featured on several tracks, playing drums, bass, keyboards and lead guitar, along with guitarist Marc Ribot, folk musician Pekko Käppi and jazz trumpet virtuoso Verneri Pohjola. The liner notes for the album were written by journalist legend David Fricke who had earlier described the band's sound in Rolling Stone as "a marvelous debut steeped in the pioneer stories of The Band, the painted-desert psychedelia of the American Beauty-era Grateful Dead and the modernist extensions of Wilco and Tucson band Calexico".

The album's release was stalled because of the pandemic and vinyl production challenges. Game Changing was finally released worldwide on January 13, 2023, getting very favourable reviews internationally and hitting top 10 in Finland.

Tuomo & Markus have composed and performed the soundscape for Finnair along with famous Finnish radio station Radio Helsinki and their music has been featured in various films and documentaries.

Tuomo & Markus live lineup includes steel guitar player Miikka 'McGyver' Paatelainen, drummer and trombone player Juho Viljanen and bass player Jere Ijäs. Since 2016 Tuomo & Markus has also featured distinguished Finnish jazz trumpet player Verneri Pohjola, the son of legendary bass player and Wigwam member Pekka Pohjola. Tuomo Prättälä has performed with Verneri Pohjola in the past in Finnish jazz group Ilmiliekki Quartet.

Tuomo & Markus have shared stages with many notable artists ranging from Neil Young to Wilco and The Jayhawks.

Members
Tuomo Prättälä – lead vocals, piano, keyboards
Markus Nordenstreng – lead vocals, guitars
Juho Viljanen – drums, trombone, percussion, backing vocals
Jere Ijäs – bass, backing vocals
Miikka 'McGyver' Paatelainen – pedal steel guitar, mandolin
Verneri Pohjola – trumpet

Discography
Dead EP (2016)
Dead Circles (2016)
Pratt & Moody – "Lost Lost Lost" 7" single (2017)
Pratt & Moody – "Words Words Words" 7" single (2018)
Pratt & Moody – "Wheels Turning" 7" single (2020)
Game Changing (2023)

References

Tuomo & Markus official website
The Latebirds homepage

Rolling Stone Magazine Fricke's Picks

Finnish musical groups

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
‧Taiwan News
Home / Taiwan News
Wed, Aug 22, 2007 - Page 3 News List
Expert warns on PRC's military drills
RISING TENSIONS The secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei said that the next six months will be critical for cross-strait relations
By Charles Snyder / STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Over the past six months, China has intensified its military exercises in the Taiwan Strait as a subtle threat to Taiwan in advance of next year's elections and plans for a referendum on UN membership, raising the prospects of heightened cross-strait military tensions through next spring, a leading Taiwan expert said in Washington on Monday.
"The next six months will be a critical period for cross-strait relations," Andrew Yang (楊念租), the secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei, told a seminar on cross-strait relations sponsored by the Atlantic Council.
"For the past six months or so, the military in Taipei has witnessed `unusual military exercises being conducted' in the coastal regions facing Taiwan," he said.
"The Taiwanese military is concerned that with the exercises, the PLA [People's Liberation Army] is enhancing its readiness for some sort of action against Taiwan. They're really worried about it," he said.
The leadership in Beijing, "is demanding that the military upgrade their readiness to face any political fallout [from next year's presidential election and the UN resolution]," he said.
The military exercises, Yang said, "send a signal to Taipei that Beijing is intensifying its preparations, their readiness to use force ... and their will to use force" if they deem Taiwan to be moving toward independence.
The "tendency toward escalation" over the next six to eight months "could make the Taiwan Strait a potential flashpoint for both sides," Yang said.
He said the exercises detected by the Ministry of National Defense have included an increasing number of air sorties to the middle line of the Taiwan Strait and beyond that line, as well as "naval exercises symbolizing efforts to facilitate the use of force."
They have also involved drills with live fire, "which [the Taiwan military] considers unusual compared to the past."
"Because in the past six months that has been the case and it has never happened before, so obviously it is closely related to the political situation [in Taipei], especially the elections," Yang said.
Alan Romberg, a leading US scholar of US-Taiwan relations, agreed with Yang.
In the exercises "there is an implicit threat to use force, and certainly to take some significant step if the referendum passes," he said.
"If the PRC [People's Republic of China] were to move in that direction, by actually using or threatening to use serious force, that contains within it the potential for serious consequences not only for the region but for US-PRC relations as well," he said.
Romberg, who recently returned from China, said that many in Beijing consider the referendum as "a substitute for a declaration of independence," or a "referendum on independence in disguise" with important political consequences, even though most people in Taiwan do not view the initiative as such.
He said officials and scholars in Beijing view the referendum issue as far more important than earlier actions by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) with which they disagreed.
PRC officials said "This is different, this has a different quality to it and is part of a concerted effort to move toward independence," he said.
Washington also is concerned, Romberg said, because the referendum "could, in fact, affect peace and stability, which would affect vital American national interests."
Sovereignty not negotiable: Widodo
2020 Elections Interview: Lai focused on need for a legislative majority


A street light near our house is not working, who should I contact?
answer: Street lights outside of the ones located in park area parking lot are maintained by the city of Austin. Each streetlight has a number tagged on the post, when calling 3-1-1 or reporting online please provide the location of the light and the tag number from the post. You can access the City's Service Request website here.
How do I report violations in our neighborhood?
answer: You can report deed violations by calling our property manager, Jim Smitherman with Goodwin, at 512-502-2114 or by email at MCKmanager@goodwintx.com, if you can include a picture. Or you can report it online by clicking here.
How do I get more involved with our neighborhood/community?
answer: We are always looking for more neighbors to get involved! Just send us a note using the form located under the "Committees" tab and we'll get back with you to see where you can help.
Am I allowed to have a garage sale?
answer: Yes. There are no deed restrictions relating to occasional garage sales. You cannot use a garage sale as a type of home business though.
Can I have commercial vehicles parked at my house?
How many cars are allowed to be parked at my house?
answer: There is no limit of the amount of cars that can be parked at your house. However all cars must be passenger vehicles only (includes pickup trucks and motorcycles), must be in working condition, have current registration and license plates, and currently be in use. They also may not obstruct the sidewalk.
Why did I get a violation/warning?
answer: Violation notices come as a result of one of the deed restrictions (essentially the rules of the community) being found on your property. You should receive a photo of the violation in the notice you receive. If you take care of the issue promptly, you won't have to pay a fine, however if you do not fix the violation you will continue to be charged fines and that can lead to more serious action being taken against you.
Are neighbors allowed to keep animals at their home?
answer: Absolutely! The neighborhood is very pet friendly, just remember to keep dogs on a leash when you're out and about.
What is curfew in our neighborhood?
answer: There are actually two curfews. One is put in place by the city of Austin, which applies only to minors. The second was done by the HOA, which applies only to the park area. No one may be in the community park located off Baythorne between the hours of 10pm and 6am. There is a criminal trespass order on file with the Austin Police Department so if you are found at the park when it's closed you could be criminally charged.
I noticed damaged or vandalized property in our neighborhood, what should I do?
answer: First, if you see the crime in progress call 9-1-1 then let our property manager know. Otherwise, simply inform our property manager and he'll take it from there.
What is the NextDoor site?
answer: NextDoor is a community based social networking site which is used primarily to help community awareness on issues relating to crime and safety in the neighborhood. The site also serves as a community forum. If you haven't signed up, go to www.NextDoor.com to find out what it's all about!
Can pets be off leash in our neighborhood?
answer: No. According to city ordinances, all dogs must be on a leash when out in public (this includes HOA property such as the park area) unless in specifically designated "leash free" areas.
Will I get a violation for throwing a party at my home?
answer: Most violations relating to parties at someones home come as a result of violating city ordinances such as too much noise or cars blocking the sidewalk.
How do I submit suggestions for our neighborhood?
answer: You can submit suggestions using the form on the "Contact" page, under HOA.
Who do I contact if I have a complaint about our neighborhood?
answer: Complaints can also be submitted using the form on the "Contact" page, under HOA, or by contacting our property manager.
Why isn't the pool available all year?
answer: Because we have life guards on duty when the pool is open, we simply cannot afford to have them on duty all year. The pool is the largest ongoing expense the HOA has.
My pool key doesn't work, what should I do?
answer: First call and check with our property manager to see what's going on. It may have been deactivated due to lack of payment on your HOA dues or possibly a violation fine. If the property manager tells you you're in good standing, all you need to do is request a new pool key which you can find under the "Resources" tab or by clicking here.
What is the property manager responsible for?
answer: The property manager, Jim Smitherman with Goodwin Management, is responsible for the day to day operations, and essentially all functions of the HOA at the direction of our Board of Directors. This includes things like paying vendors, obtaining bids for projects, accounting, payment processing, violation notices, monitoring maintenance work, fielding resident questions and so on.
Who is responsible for empty properties?
answer: All empty property lots are the responsibility of the developer, KB Homes.
How long can I leave my Christmas decorations up?
answer: Courtesy notices will be sent out around the second week of January, all decoration should be taken down by the end of January.


text:
Army chief discusses with Schenker general situation
Wed 11 Sep 2019 at 19:21 Politics
NNA - Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, on Wednesday welcomed at his Yarzeh office US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, at the top of a delegation, in the presence of US Ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard.
Talks reportedly touched on the general situation in Lebanon and the broad region, in addition to relations of cooperation between the armies of both countries.
=============== L.Y
Follow the latest National News Agency (NNA) news on Radio Lebanon 98.5, 98.1, and 96.2 FM