YouTube thumbnails are what covers are to books and what headlines are to articles, absolutely critical components to the overall success of the content being watched.
Thoughtfully planned, designed and created YouTube thumbnails play a critical role in whether your videos are viewed or not. You can spend thousands of dollars creating amazing videos but if they go unwatched it's wasted time, money and energy. You want your Thumbnails to be clickable and increase your click-through rate.
Your thumbnail must be relevant to the content of your video that you want people to view. If it's not relevant, not only will your viewers leave immediately, where according to YouTube the average 'time on page' is 3 seconds, your rankings will take a nose dive. Plus you may just get a 'Thumbs Down' which might not affect your ranking all that much but will certainly look bad for future viewers. The image used must re-enforce the content and message, convey the subject of the video and differentiate your brand from your competitors. The key here is to be authentic, real and to the point!
Use a close-up photo of yourself, because as an Entrepreneur you want to build a meaningful connection with your audience, instantly. So show some emotion and if possible have some movement in your photograph. This is where a professionally created Headshot or Branding Portrait, created in a 16:9 aspect ratio, will rule supreme over trying to use a still image from the video. Remember to use a photo that is relevant to your content and that clearly describes what the video is all about.
Ensure that your styling is the same form your Thumbnail to you video, including your hair, make/up and clothing so that you are congruent in your appearance which will show consistency with the message you're conveying.
Also, don't be fooled into thinking you can just use a still from the video, for two reasons. Firstly, if you try this it requires many key elements to come together at the same time, such as the lighting, your expression, your hands being in the right place, your hair falling in the right way and your clothes sitting neatly and looking good. Plus the still image needs to be sharp as a tack so including emotion and movement just about rules out a still image from the video. The second reason is colour, or the lack thereof, unless you've got loads of bright colours in your video, and contrasty ones at that, and let's face it most Entrepreneurs won't have, then your thumbnails may look flat and won't draw the eye to them which means fewer views.
3. Write a killer title that packs a punch!
Add a benefit driven title, one line that get's your viewer wanting to click on the video. Be specific, not general and vague. Pose a specific question that aims to solve a particular problem not the world's problems with one video. Use as fewer words as possible, there is no space for explanations.
Use a serif font (one with no 'tails' at the end of the characters like Arial, Helvetica and Verdana) and ensure it's large enough to be read on any device, like a mobile phone. And again, using a few words means that the text can be larger.
Remember, you want the right people to watch your videos, all the way to the end, and then take action.
You must keep the overall design eye-catching, with as few elements as possible and spaced out to give it a simple, impactful and uncluttered look. The easier it is to view and understand the faster your viewer will get the message and be clear about what you're saying.
Colours play a vital role in attracting the viewer to your thumbnail. Use bright contrasty colours and a solid colour for the background and remember to keep the colours on-brand and not make it tacky and cheesy.
Adding a border will help to again increase the contrast of the overall design and including some branding elements like your logo, fonts and colours will differentiate it from the other videos.
Re-enforce your brand by creating a template (with the main image, text, branding elements and a border) and use it for all your thumbnails to be consistent and on-brand so the viewer instantly knows they're your videos and can find them amongst all the others.
Your thumbnails need to be relevant, create rapport with the right photo, be snappy with your words and designed to look on-brand.


There are people that do not receive dental insurance benefits though their employers. For them they have to buy their own dental insurance plan. Sadly buying a dental insurance plan often gets put off until there are larger dental issues that need to be address. When that happens you are left trying to find a dental insurance plan that can help right away even though many plans may have waiting periods.
Another issue is knowing whether or not the dental plan you do buy is going to cover the dental care services you may need and to what extent. Try and see a dentist for a consult and treatment plan before buying dental insurance. That way you can shop for the best dental insurance plan that provides coverages for the dental care services suggested to you. Otherwise try buying a dental insurance plan that fits what your feel is your current dental needs the best.
Buying Dental Insurance, Do I Need to Buy a Family Dental Plan.
Preventive Family Dental Care, Avoid Scary Dental Appointments.
How dental schools can save you money.


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Q: System.Format.Exception Input string was not in a correct format I am having some trouble when calling a method from class A in class B.
Here is the method being called in class B
 public double monthlyExpense
        {
            get
            {
                return RealEstateApp.GetExpenses();
            }

The method itself from class A is
public static double GetExpenses()
{
    double insurance;
    double taxes;
    double utilities;
    string inValue;

    inValue = _insurance;
    insurance = double.Parse(inValue);
    inValue = _tax;
    taxes = double.Parse(inValue);
    inValue = _utilities;
    utilities = double.Parse(inValue);
    return (insurance / 12 + taxes / 12 + utilities);

}

I get the exception a the insurance = double.Parse(inValue); line.
The _insurance etc variables are being read from various text boxes:
RealEstateApp._insurance = txtBoxInsurance.Text;
RealEstateApp._tax = txtBoxTax.Text;
RealEstateApp._utilities = txtBoxUtilities.Text;

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

A: You might have inserted wrong input like space or any other character in txtBoxInsurancetextbox firstly validate that textbox for double value then you will not get that exception.

A: You can use TryParse instead of parse method
 inValue = _insurance;
double.TryParse(inValue,out insurance);//this will assign double value to insurance variable
inValue = _tax;
double.TryParse(inValue,out taxes);

This will try to parse string value to double value and return true or false if it success or fail.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The movie was released twenty years ago and is considered one of the best animated films ever made. Directed by John Lasseter and produced by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Toy Story grossed $362 million worldwide. The story of a pullstring toy cowboy named Woody and his owner tugged at the heartstrings of children and adults alike.
Two years later, Disney executives came to Ed Catmull, Chief Technical Officer at Pixar, requesting a sequel, Toy Story 2, that would be released as a direct-to-video release. At the time, most sequels made for the video market were not of the same quality at those made for theatrical release. A few months later Catmull and Lasseter told Disney that scaling back quality for a B-level movie would have a significant negative effect on company culture, so both companies agreed to go for the theaters.
Since the main Pixar creative team was focusing on the production of A Bug's Life, Catmull and Lasseter picked two skilled animators to direct Toy Story 2. Unfortunately, they lacked the experience and confidence to lead the team, and the story line wasn't compelling. With only nine months left to deliver the film, Catmull and Lasseter stopped production, changed directors and did a complete redo of the story. Under Lasseter's direction, the production team went into overdrive, single-mindedly focusing on meeting the deadline. Toy Story 2 became one of the few movie sequels lauded as better than the original.
In his 2014 book, Creativity Inc.; Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, Catmull, currently President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, uses the Toy Story example to share several important truths about how organizations can best inspire, touch and guide the lives of others. How can we build a culture of creative excellence, whether in the film industry or the church?
Excellence in creativity begins when we realize that getting the team right is more important than getting the ideas right. When Catmull's best minds were occupied with directing A Bug's Life, he picked inexperienced people for Toy Story 2 who were not ready for the responsibility. Realizing that great ideas mean nothing without the best leaders, Catmull tapped Lasseter before it was too late. The right people make for the right team, which makes for the right chemistry, which makes for success.
One of the gifts of Jim Collins' 2001 bestseller, Good to Great, is his insistence on getting the right people on the bus. He writes, "In fact, leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with 'where' but with 'who.' They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats. And they stick with that discipline – first the people, then the direction – no matter how dire the circumstances." In the same way, if we want to engage in creative ministry, we have to engage the best people we can.
It's now mid-October, a time when many Nominations and Leadership Development Committees are meeting to "identify, develop, deploy, evaluate, and monitor Christian spiritual leadership for the local congregation." (¶ 258.1, Book of Discipline) The challenge of this important committee is to prayerfully discern who has the spiritual gifts of leadership for a particular ministry or team.
If we have the right leaders in the right places, our ministries will flourish. On the other hand, if we simply leave Joe as chair of Trustees because he's done it for the last twenty years, despite the fact that the church facility is in shambles; or if we ask Jenny to chair the Staff-Parish Relations Committee even though she has poor relational skills and avoids conflict at all costs, we are not furthering the mission and ministry of our congregation.
Creativity is best fostered by teams composed of people whose skills, temperament and spiritual gifts complement each other. Great vision with mediocre people produces mediocre results. Conversely, great people will find good ideas and develop them.
The October 23-25 USA Today described the results of a new survey which asked 22,000 high school students how they feel during the school day. The top three key feelings were tired, stressed and bored. The lead researcher warned how these negative emotions can influence attention, memory, decision-making, school performance and social lives. "It's hard to concentrate and it's hard to do well in school if your brain is having a stressed response," says Marc Brackett, researcher at the Yale University Department of Psychology and director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
The number of clergy who suffer from constant stress, overwork, tiredness and anxiety is alarming. But it's common for lay staff and church volunteers to burn out as well. With many churches in decline, our greatest human resources for ministry are often over-functioning. What if our churches could model spiritual, emotional and physical health by urging clergy, staff and laity to take care of themselves, actively supporting them to slow down and identifying, training and equipping new leaders. We are more creative, inspiring and effective when we are healthy.
Individuals and teams are released to do their best work when the culture of an organization revolves around excellence. Pixar Animation has always been committed to the highest standards. Therefore, when team members were asked to produce an average film, Catmull discovered that the morale and productivity of the team declined dramatically.
While excellence is always a worthy goal, fruitfulness may better describe God's hope for the church. Jesus refers to himself as the vine, with us as the branches. Our call is to bear beautiful and luscious fruit, knowing all the while that apart from the vine, we can do nothing.
How is your church bearing fruit? Have you transformed any lives lately? Do you have anything to show for your ministries or are you settling for mediocre? Are you boldly stepping outside the church to meet people where they love, work and play, or are you hunkering down in your building, waiting for the world to come to you? Do you continually evaluate your ministries and let go of what is no longer working, or do you keep trying the same old thing, vainly expecting different results? Are any of your ministries displaying fruitfulness?
In the same way, we are all part owners of the greatest asset of the Christian faith, the privilege of bearing fruit for the sake of building the kingdom of God. When we place the unique gifts of each person before ideas and before the "organization" of the church, the Holy Spirit releases our creativity through excellence to bear fruit for the kingdom.
Incidentally, Toy Story 2 (1999) grossed $485 million worldwide and Toy Story 3 (2010) grossed $1,063,171,911 worldwide. That's a lot of fruit for a toy cowboy.
If you give a great idea to a mediocre team, they will mess it up. But if you give a mediocre idea to great team, they will either make it great or toss it out and come up with something even better.
Exactly why Netflix changed to an unrestricted vacation policy and medical absence policy. Too bad most of the major corporations believe that productivity comes from less vacation and medical leaves.


Business energy supplier BES Utilities has announced it is cutting electricity bills for its customers due to a fall in wholesale costs.
BES, which has 40,000 customers and is based in Fleetwood, Lancashire says it is cutting the cost of electricity by an average of 10.28 per cent for customers signed up to its electricity market tracker tariff.
In some cases, the company adds, depending on the customer's location and meter type, the reduction is by 11.91 per cent.
BES reviews costs for its customers on the electricity market tracker product twice a year meaning the price customers pay will either remain the same, rise or fall, depending on what is happening in the wider energy market.
Andy Pilley, BES Utilities chair, said: "We are delighted we are able to pass on a reduction to our customers at a time when energy prices across the industry are generally on the increase.
"The majority of our customers are on our market tracker product and so thousands of businesses across the UK will see real reductions in the price they pay for their electricity.
In the domestic market falling wholesale costs will lead to the decrease of Ofgem's energy price cap when it is reviewed later in the year, some industry experts have predicted.
According to the ICIS Power Index (IPI) wholesale costs have seen a "substantial reduction".
A mild winter decreased consumer demand for electricity and gas, ICIS saID. That, coupled with a healthy gas supply meant prices collapsed from the start of the winter.
Similarly experts from the consultancy firm Cornwall Insight predicted that with wholesale costs beginning to decrease, the price cap is likely to fall by around £50 in the next readjustment.
Furthermore suppliers such as Bulb, Igloo Energy and Octopus have all recently announced they will be cutting prices for their domestic customers due to a fall in wholesale costs.


text:
Garza History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
The mountainous borders of Spain contain the origins of the prestigious surname Garza. The earliest forms of hereditary surnames in Spain were the patronymic surnames, which are derived from the father's given name, and metronymic surnames, which are derived from the mother's given name. Spanish patronymic names emerged as early as the mid-9th century and the most common patronymic suffix is "ez." The patronyms were derived from a variety of given names that were of many different origins.
Early Origins of the Garza family
The surname Garza was first found in Galicia, an important Christian kingdom of medieval Spain.
Early History of the Garza family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Garza research. Another 335 words (24 lines of text) covering the years 1037, 1139, and 1162 are included under the topic Early Garza History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Garza Spelling Variations
Spelling variations of this family name include: Garza, de Garza, de la Garza, Garzo, Garzón and many more.
Early Notables of the Garza family (pre 1700)
More information is included under the topic Early Garza Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Garza Ranking
In the United States, the name Garza is the 224th most popular surname with an estimated 116,889 people with that name. [1]
Garza migration to the United States +
Garza Settlers in United States in the 16th Century
Juan de la Garza, who sailed to America in 1514
Alonso Garza, who sailed to New Spain in 1537
Jose Garza, who landed in Texas in 1850 [2]
Camilo Garza, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1868 [2]
Marceline Garza, aged 52, who landed in America, in 1895
Oscar Garza, aged 19, who landed in America, in 1895
Zusanna Garza, aged 32, who settled in America, in 1895
Sedrenio Garza, who arrived in Texas in 1911 [2]
Daniel Garza, aged 21, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico City, Mexico, in 1912
Macedonio Garza, aged 30, who immigrated to America from Mexico City, Mexico, in 1913
Cifrano Garza, aged 27, who landed in America from Monterey, Mexico, in 1913
Miguel Garza, aged 32, who immigrated to the United States from Paris, France, in 1915
Contemporary Notables of the name Garza (post 1700) +
Samuel Mayorga Garza Jr. (b. 1965), American former NFL and CFL professional quarterback
Nicole Garza (b. 1982), American actress
Alana de la Garza (b. 1976), American actress, best known for her role on Law and Order
Roberto Garza (b. 1979), American NFL football guard
Loreto Garza (b. 1962), American three-time Golden Glove boxer
Antonio Oscar "Tony" Garza Jr. (b. 1959), American lawyer and former county judge
Matthew Scott "Matt" Garza (b. 1983), American Major League Baseball pitcher
Captian Blas María de la Garza Falcón (1712-1767), Spanish settler of Tamaulipas and South Texas
Rodrigo Garza (b. 1979), Spanish Olympic field hockey player
Jaime Francisco Garza Alardín (1954-2021), known professionally as Jaime Garza, a Mexican actor
... (Another 3 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Hereditary surnames
Patronymic
Suggested Readings for the name Garza +
Origin of the Surnames Garza and Trevino in Nuevo Leon by Tomas Mendirichaga Cueva.
Stolen Heritage: A Mexican-American's Rediscovery of His Family's Lost Land Grant by Abel G. Rubio.
^ https://namecensus.com/most_common_surnames.htm
Garza (Spanish)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Exclusive, premium quality, raw virgin hair imported from the beautiful country of Indonesia. Our Indonesian Collection is fast becoming one of our more popular virgin hair collections, especially among our more elite clientele.
Catch summer vibes all year round with these big bouncy curls.


Hannah and Rachel are fraternal twins approaching their sixteenth birthday—a time when they will be allowed to spread their wings and enjoy their rumschpringe. The sisters couldn't be more different: Hannah is outgoing and beautiful, while Rachel is shy and withdrawn. And when newcomer Abraham Stoltzfus arrives in Lancaster County, both women fall head over heels for him, each fighting for his affections in their own ways and driving the sisters to turn on each other. Who will Abraham choose? And will Hannah and Rachel reunite after a devastating heartbreak?


text:
#The Rolling Stones#Studio Albums#Music Industry#Rock Band#Rolling Stones
Rolling Stones' Best Selling Albums Ever
By Samuel Berg
nashvillegab.com
You may not believe it, but the legendary Rolling Stones are back on tour, once again. Many people would say even for the millionth time since the start of their career. The Stones are an amazing rock and roll band that has one of the most authentic rock band...
wvli927.com
Rolling Stones Update
The Rolling Stones' 60th anniversary will be commemorated on January 20th with a set of eight new UK postage stamps from The Royal Mail. Forbes reported the stamps cover the band across the decades — starting with the Stones' landmark show at London's Hyde Park up through their 2019 concert at East Rutherford, New Jersey's MetLife Stadium.
MUSIC・ 5 DAYS AGO
The Rolling Stones, Hell's Angels and Altamont: A New View
Here at the Library, we're dedicated to the acquisition, description, preservation and accessibility of our film, video, and sound recording collections regardless of perceived "worth." We really do want to make it all available for future generations ̶ so we don't necessarily prioritize beloved classics over a refrigerator ad or the song "Fido is a Hot Dog Now."
Cat Power Captivates With 'Covers,' Barely Recognizable Songs by Frank Ocean, Bob Seger, Billie Holiday, More: Album Review
Indie icon Cat Power — a.k.a. Chan Marshall — has been releasing fine albums of original material for more than 25 years, but imaginative covers have always been a big part of her sound: Her sparse debut LP, "Dear Sir," which featured a song written by Tom Waits and one by This Kind of Punishment, set the mold for a carefully curated mixture of classic and contemporary tracks written by others. "Covers" is actually Marshall's third all-covers album. She released "The Covers Album" in and "Jukebox" in 2008, the latter arriving in the wake of "The Greatest," the most commercially successful...
Sea Coast Echo
The Rolling Stones honoured with stamp collection
The Rolling Stones are being immortalised in stamp form. Royal Mail has announced a set of 12 stamps in tribute to the iconic rock 'n' roll band to mark their 60th anniversary. A number of the stamps will feature some of the 'Gimme Shelter' rockers' most iconic performances, including 1969's...
Lick Jagger: Rolling Stones Stamps Are Coming to the U.K.
We all know The Rolling Stones can fill stadiums, but did you know they can also philately?. To commemorate the long-running British rock group's 60th anniversary, Royal Mail teamed up with the band and its management to create a series of 12 stamps, eight of which capture the influential rock n' rollers at various concert stages around the world, from Tokyo to New York City to London, from 1969-2019. One of those images spotlights the late Charlie Watts, the reliable backbeat of the Stones who died at age 80 last year.
See Previously Unreleased Footage of Rolling Stones at Altamont
Previously unreleased footage from the 1969 Altamont Speedway Free Festival has been released by the Library of Congress. The concert holds a notorious place in history. More than 300,000 people turned out to see a lineup that initially included Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Grateful Dead and headliners, the Rolling Stones.
kdhx.org
Top 10 Albums of 2021: Rolling Thunder
'68 - Give One, Take One (Cooking Vinyl) - An infectious blend of post-hardcore and noise rock. If you ever get a chance to catch them live, you need to do so, they put on one hell of a show. Between the Buried and Me - Colors II (Sumerian Records)...
officialcharts.com
The Official Top 40 best-selling vinyl albums and singles of 2021
Vinyl sales in the UK were the highest for three decades in 2021, the Official Charts Company can confirm. Despite challenges to both supply and production demand during the pandemic, vinyl sales have jumped up by 11%, to 5.3 million copies purchased last year. This is also the 14th consecutive year of growth for vinyl records.
antiMUSIC
Unseen Rolling Stones Altamont Concert Footage Discovered
(hennemusic) Unseen footage of performances from The Rolling Stones infamous 1969 Altamont Free Concert has been discovered amongst material collected by the US Library Of Congress. The research library is streaming a 30-minute video - without companion audio - that features live images of all five acts who performed, including...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA・ 3 DAYS AGO
Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time: The Arty-Facts
Rolling Stone Australia counted down their list of the 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time last month, but what about the artwork that adorns these beloved records?. When Rolling Stone Australia announced our list of the 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time in early December, it stirred great debate about the records that made their way into the list. Countless questions about whether one album deserved to be placed above another ensured, while just as many questions were matched with memories of hearing these records for the first time.
Lost footage of Rolling Stones at notorious Altamont festival uncovered
Twenty-six minutes of unseen footage of the vast and notoriously violent Altamont music festival held in northern California in 1969 have been unexpectedly uncovered. The home-movie footage – which is vividly shot on 8mm film, but frustratingly silent – has been published by the Library of Congress on its website.
caribbeannationalweekly.com
Bob Marley and The Wailers Album "Legend" Best-Selling Reggae Album Of All Time
Bob Marley might be dead, but his music is very much alive, so alive that his album "Legend" has outsold in immeasurable margins, all the other best-selling reggae albums of 2021, and big change left over. Talk about legendary!. The greatest hits collection was first released in May...
TXT, NCT 127, And BTS Claim 4 Out Of 10 Spots On U.S.'s List Of Best-Selling Albums Of 2021
K-pop artists played a significant role in boosting CD album sales in the United States last year!. According to MRC Data (formerly Nielsen Music), in 2021, the United States saw CD album sales increase for the first time in 17 years. 40.59 million CD albums were sold in the United States in 2021, marking a 1.1 percent increase from 2020 and reversing what had previously seemed like an unstoppable downward trend in CD sales.
Classic rock albums turning 50
There must have been something in the water in 1972 -- there almost certainly was for these guys. It was a year that spawned several instant Americana classics -- and one that was seemingly beamed down from outer space -- that came to define rock music and set the template for the sexy, seedy decade to come. For guitarist Keith Richards, it was the definitive Stones record.
ROCK MUSIC・ 2 DAYS AGO
23 of the funniest misheard song lyrics, from Adele to Foo Fighters
We all have that friend who belts out the wrong lyrics to songs when they play on the car radio or on a night out.If this doesn't sound familiar to you, then sorry but you probably are that friend.Don't worry, from mixing up romantic sentiments with items of food to mistaking meaningful declarations for sexual innuendos, mishearing song lyrics is just part of what it is to be human.Of all the lyrics in our round-up, it was songs by Ariana Grande, Elton John, Taylor Swift and Jimi Hendrix that people most often got mixed up. Check out the funniest examples...
MUSIC・ 6 HOURS AGO
The Beatles albums ranked in order of greatness
On 26 September 1969, the last album recorded by The Beatles was released. More than five decades after the Fab Four split, the world is still fascinated by the music of the greatest pop group ever. During their lifetime, The Beatles released a dozen studio albums – I don't include 1967's Magical Mystery Tour as it was originally only released as a double EP in the UK, and was only bulked up for subsequent re-releases with various singles and non-album tracks much later. Almost all Beatles albums are great in their own way and I'm sure we all have our...
"2021 Winter SMTOWN : SMCU EXPRESS" Becomes Best-Selling SMTOWN Album In History
SM Entertainment's latest agency-wide album is officially a hit!. Last week, for the first time in 10 years, SM Entertainment released a special agency-wide album entitled "2021 Winter SMTOWN : SMCU EXPRESS." In keeping with SMTOWN tradition, the album featured new songs by various SM artists including H.O.T.'s Kangta, BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation – Oh!GG, SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT, and aespa, as well as special collaborations by members of different groups.
kpopstarz.com
BTS, TXT and NCT 127 Enter the Top 10 Best-Selling Albums of 2021 in the United States
BTS, NCT 127 and TXT secured four spots in the top 10 best-selling albums in the United States in 2021, and they played a significant role in the overall sales in the country. Keep on reading to know which K-pop albums made the list and how big their sales are.
Left out of most obituaries about renowned country music talk-show host Ralph Emery, who died Saturday, was his infamy among many rock fans for having gotten into a tiff in the late 1960s with the Byrds. Their beef even resulted in Emery being dismissed, by name, in a Byrds track — "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man," which had Gram Parsons and Roger McGuinn attempting to get the last laugh in song. But, lest Emery be remembered forever by Byrds buffs as a villain in the story, Emery invited McGuinn onto his highly rated cable series "Nashville Now" 17 years later for...
MUSIC・ 21 HOURS AGO


I'm not a stranger to poor jokes coming out of the Conservative government. When George Osborne was awarded the GQ Politician of the Year award after a comment that the pages he featured on 'were the only ones not glued together,' back when he won the accolade in 2011, I struggled to see how anyone would be laughing. A matter of days later, Cameron has taken the pew — with the people of Yorkshire as the punchline.
According to the video content released by The Guardian, it appears that only one person in the crowd was laughing.
Although there are 5.7 million people in Yorkshire, it seems that not one, but two idiotic stereotypes make it worthwhile for Cameron.
Seeing the county as a relegated trope ideal for a jibe not only illustrates the Prime Minister's ignorance concerning the intelligence, creativity and potential of the county, but shows a seething lack of recognition that the county is so bitter because of the government's grim will to pit communities against each other.
Holding the second-highest area unemployment rate and child poverty rates of one in four below the national average, resulting in almost half of 11-year-olds from deprived backgrounds in Yorkshire do not get to the standard of reading, writing and maths expected of the age group, according to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.
In spite of this, Cameron's government insist that 'poor parenting' is behind the heart of the report.
London receives twenty-four times more spending on infrastructure than the entirety of Yorkshire, Londoners receive £5,203 more per head on capital investment than people in the north-east. Arts Council England spend £41.03 per head for people in London – compared with £13.74 for the people of Yorkshire.
It's not the age-old rivalry between Hull and Grimsby that is to blame. As further rhetoric regarding 'benefit cheats' and 'swarms' permeates the national consciousness in cheap television shows and tacky tabloid headlines, Yorkshire has been puppeteered into poverty with straw men to blame.
As the 'Northern powerhouse' seeks to tar the county as 'one agenda, one economy, one North,' it shamefacedly fails to recognise the nuances of the cities, the rural communities and the seaside towns that all contribute towards making Yorkshire Yorkshire. Each constituent has its own way to make money and it does not rely on a cheap plan that starves half of the country whilst its leaders focus on pumping more cash into its London-centric spreadsheet.
To term the north as a 'powerhouse' only further indicates that the Tory party see Yorkshire in its past glory without any recognition of its party's destruction. In Hull, my hometown, the powerhouse was destroyed when our maritime port was destroyed in the seventies. In Sheffield, it was destroyed when the steel works shut down. Barnsley and Wakefield are just a few of the communities that took the hit of the mine closures, and have been struggling on a road to recovery ever since.
In short, Mr Cameron, I don't believe that the Yorkshire community hates each other as much as you would like to think. Perhaps it hates you for you and your party's lack of deference and understanding of its 5.7 million people.


P.Muthu Chidambara Nathan, N.Kalyanasundaram and D.Ravikumar, "Optical Solitons for Ultra-High Speed Communications" has been accepted for publication in the WSEAS Transactions on WSEAS Transactions on Communications.
P.Muthu Chidambara Nathan, N.Kalyanasundaram and D.Ravikumar, "Soliton Propagation in Birefringent Fibers" has been accepted for publication in Fiber and Integrated Optics, Taylor & Francis.
Dr.S.Raghavan et al, "CPW Fed Slot Antenna for Wideband Applications"- IJAP-(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION-ONLINE JOURNAL-HINDAWI PUBLICATIONS-WWW.HINDAWI.COM- IN THE PROCESS FOR SECOND REVIEW.
E.S.Gopi et al,Digital image forgery detection using artificial neural network and independent component analysis,Applied Mathematics and Computation, Volume 194, Issue 2, 15 December 2007, Pages 540-543.
S.Ramasamy, B.Venkataramani, K.Anbugeetha, "VLSI Implementation of a Digitally Tunable Gm-C Filter with Double CMOS Pair", IEEE international conference on VLSI Design, 2008, Hyderabad,Jan 2008.
P.Palanisamy, R.Thilagavathy, M.Ratheesh Kumar and A.Srihari, "Efficient Realisation of CORDIC based LDPC Decoder for WiMax System", IEEE- International Conference on Signal Processing, Communications and Networking, MIT, Chennai, Jan 4-6, 2008.
G.Seetharaman, B.Venkataramani, "SOC implementation of wave-pipelined circuits", IEEE international conference on Field Programmable Technology 2007, Kitakyushu, Japan, Dec 2007. SOC implementation of wave-pipelined circuits , G.Seetharaman, B.Venkataramani, IEEE international conference on Field Programmable Technology 2007, Kitakyushu, Japan , Dec 2007.
T.N. Prabakar, Dr. G. Lakshminarayanan and Dr. K.K. Anilkumar, "SOPC based Asynchronous Pipelined DCT with self testing capability", accepted for presentation in the IEEE International Conference on Microelectronics - IEEE ICM-07, Cairo, Egypt, December 29 – 31, 2007.
Dr. S.Raghvan et al, "A CAD Neural Model for Shielded and Conductor Backed CPW" presented in IEEE AEMC 2007 International Conference held at Kolkata, 19-20 December 2007.
Dr.S.Raghavan et al, "Comparison of Numerical Techniques for Microstrip Patch Antenna", IEEE International Conference on Applied Electromagnetics 2007 (AEMC 2007), December 19-20, 2007, Kolkata, India, (Published by IEEE), ISBN : 978-1-4244-1864-0.
P.Muthu Chidambara Nathan, N.Kalyanasundaram and D.Ravikumar, 'Transmission Control and Stability of Soliton Propagation in Birefringent fibers' was presented in the fourth IEEE and IFIP international conference on Wireless and Optical Communication Networks (WOCN 2007) Singapore during 2-4 July 2007 (1-4244-1005-3/07/$25.00 ©2007 IEEE).
P.Palanisamy and N.Kalyanasundaram, "A New fast Convergence Adaptive Algorithm", Proc. of IEEE international conference on Signal Processing, Communications and Networking (ICSCN 2007), pp. 145-148, 22- 24 Feb. 2007, Chennai.
G. Lakshminarayanan and T.N. Prabakar, "On-Board Verification of FPGA Based Digital Systems Using NIOS Processor (A methodology without Hook-Ups and I/O Cards)", IEEE International Conference on Signal Processing, Communications and Networking, Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Madras, Feb. 22 to 24, 2007.
Dr.S.Raghavan et al, "Milestones of Planar Transmission line",Golden Jubilee Symposium on Radio Science (INCURSI-2007),NPL, Delhi, Feb.21-24, 2007.
G. Lakshminarayanan and T.N. Prabakar, "Design and Implementation of SOPC Based Asynchronous Pipelined DCT", International Conference on Nanomaterials, Communication and Broadcasting Systems, SASTRA University, Thanjavur, TamilNadu, Feb. 9 & 10, 2007.
G. Lakshminarayanan and T.N. Prabakar, "Design and Implementation of Asynchronous Systems on Altera SOPC Environment", International Conference on Advanced Computing and Communication, Sethu Institute of Technology, Kariapatti, TamilNadu, Feb. 9 & 10, 2007.
V.Amudha, B.Venkataramani,R.Vinoth kumar and S. Ravishankar, "SOC implementation of HMM based speaker independent isolated digit recognition", VLSI design 2007, Bangalore, Jan 2007.
G.Sravankumar and P.Palanisamy, "Tracking of Time Varying Parameters using Variable Step Size WLMS Algorithm", Proc. of international conference on Advanced Communication Systems (ICACS 2007), pp.91-96, 10-12 Jan.2007, Coimbatore.
Dr. S.Raghavan et al, "Coplanar Waveguide for NANO" – Bangalore NANO, Bangalore , Dec2007.
Dr. S.Raghavan et al, "BioMEMS-Fusion of technology", November 2007 IAMI, Cochin.
Design and implementation of 1 14 bit 200Msps current steering DAC using Gm/Id method. , S. Ramasamy, B.Venkataramani,N. Sreekanth Babu , Proc. Of VLSI design and test symposium VDAT 2007, Calcutta , pp.105 -113 ,Aug 2007.
"Design of high performance current steering DAC using pattern search algorithm" , N. Sreekanth Babu , S. Ramasamy, B.Venkataramani , Proc. Of VLSI design and test symposium VDAT 2007, Calcutta , pp. 120-129, Aug 2007.
P.Muthu Chidambara Nathan, N.Kalyanasundaram and D.Ravikumar, 'High Speed Optical Communication Techniques' was selected for presentation in the third national conference on Signals, Systems and Communication (NCSSC-2007) at the College of University Guindy, Anna University during 1-2 June 2007.
B.Malarkodi, P.Muthu Chidambara Nathan and V.V.Chakravarthy, 'Dynamic Power & Sub-channel allocation in Multi user OFDM systems' was selected for presentation in the NCETET-2007 at Kottayam during April 2007.
C. Vennila, G. Lakshminarayanan and Padma Bhargavi, "Design and FPGA Implementation of High Speed Filters Using Wave Steering Technique" National Conference, Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering, Karaikudi, March 29 & 30, 2007.
A Technical paper on INTERNET TELEPHONY IN INDIA, D.Sriram Kumar, G.Manikandan, All India seminar on Advanced Communication Techniques and Networking : Exploring Challenges Organized by the Institution of Engineers(India), Bhilai Local centre, Bhilai,Chhattisgarh during 6th and 7th Jan 2007, (proc. pp 75 -79).
A Technical paper on ROAD MAP FOR WiMAX IN INDIA , D.Sriram Kumar, R.Krishna Bharath, in All India seminar on Advanced Communication Techniques and Networking : Exploring Challenges Organized by the Institution of Engineers(India), Bhilai Local centre, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh during 6th and 7th Jan 2007 (proc. pp 87-91).
A Technical paper on EVOLUTION OF WiMAX , D.Sriram Kumar, K.T.Prathish Kumar in All India seminar on Advanced Communication Techniques and Networking : Exploring Challenges Organized by the Institution of Engineers(India), Bhilai Local centre, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh during 6th and 7th Jan 2007 (proc. pp 156 - 160).
A Technical paper on "THz PHOTONICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS", D.Sriram Kumar,R.K.Jeyachitra, R.Krishna Bharath, in All India seminar on Advanced Communication Techniques and Networking : Exploring Challenges Organized by the Institution of Engineers(India), Bhilai Local centre, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh during 6th and 7th Jan 2007. (proc. pp 200 – 205).


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Future of Research - How Can We Improve Career Awareness and Preparedness? A workshop at the NatureJobs Career Expo Boston 2015
Patricia R. Goodwin 1
Kearney T. W. Gunsalus 2
Erica M. Walsh 3
Gary S. McDowell 4
1. Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, 02453, USA
2. Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University, Boston, MA, 02111, USA
3. Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
4. Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155, USA
Current issues surrounding research and funding, in particular questions about training and workforce stability, affect career development amongst graduate students and postdocs. The Future of Research Symposium, held in Boston, USA, in October 2014, was organized by early career researchers to facilitate discussions about the scientific enterprise and central to these discussions were a series of postdoc-led workshops aimed at discussing problems, and identifying solutions. On May 20th at the NatureJobs Career Expo 2015 in Boston, USA, postdocs from the Future of Research organization led a workshop using a similar format, inviting participants to identify barriers to career awareness and preparedness for early career researchers, and possible solutions to these problems. Here we present the data from this workshop and summarize the main points raised, for the use of the early career research community.
Most biomedical research trainees are well acquainted with the axiom, "There are many non-academic career paths available for science PhDs." It is a common refrain at career panels and discussions about the growing size of the biomedical research workforce. Now that as few as 10% of trainees will go on to have a faculty position (Table 3–18 in (National Science Foundation, 2014)), a multiplicity of non-academic career options is essential to justify the number of graduate students currently in the system. Yet, at the same time, choosing an academic postdoc after completing a PhD is often described as "the path of least resistance." Thus, the easiest path to follow in science may also be the path least likely to result in long term employment.
To address this disconnect, the Future of Research organization invited job-seeking researchers to a workshop at the NatureJobs Career Expo on May 20th in Boston. The Future of Research symposium (FoR), held to give voice to graduate students and postdocs in the ongoing dialog about policies that shape the scientific establishment, included four postdoc-moderated workshops focused on training, workforce stability, funding structure, and the metrics and incentives in place in the research system. The recommendations from this meeting were reported in a white paper (G. S. McDowell et al., 2014) and focused on greater stability in science funding, greater connectivity amongst researchers at all levels, and increased transparency in tracking data on career outcomes (as discussed further in (Polka, Krukenberg, & McDowell, 2015)).
At the NatureJobs Career Expo in Boston, USA, moderators from FoR adapted the methods used in the original workshops to the question, "How Can We Improve Career Awareness and Preparedness?" Problems and solutions were discussed in particular to identify actionable steps for individual postdocs, PDAs, postdoctoral offices (PDOs), other administrators, and professional societies to take in enacting these and other solutions with participation from stakeholders at all levels. The Naturejobs workshop aimed to better characterize the barriers that steer trainees towards academic science career paths and away from "alternative" careers. We solicited the job-seekers' help in describing the "resistance" that makes a postdoc "the path of least resistance." Here we outline the key themes that emerged from the discussions and provide the raw data in the Supplemental Materials.
The workshop was carried out as described previously (Mazzilli et al., 2014; G. S. McDowell et al., 2014) with the following modifications. Briefly, the workshop was a 50-minute session with all participants discussing the same question, "How Can We Improve Career Awareness and Preparedness?" After a 5-minute introduction, participants were separated into four groups. The number of participants per group was around 30. In the first 20 minutes, individual participants were asked to write down the perceived problems on sticky notes and to post them on the wall (selected quotes from these notes appear below in italics). Working as a group, participants categorized these individual responses and identified major themes. In the next 20 minutes, participants were then asked to individually write down possible solutions to the identified problems in a similar manner. Solutions were categorized according to the level of implementation, ranging from actions that can be accomplished by individual graduate students and postdocs to those requiring action from society as a whole. For the final 5 minutes, all groups came back together and a volunteer participant from each group summarized the group's discussion to all participants.
The workshops identified a large number of problems and potential solutions. In the following sections, we summarize the identified problems and proposed solutions. We also present all identified problems and proposed solutions as raw data (see Supplementary Materials).
Problems: What are the obstacles preventing young scientists from exploring potential careers?
To illustrate the types of obstacles identified by participants, let's imagine a cohort of typical scientific trainees (graduate students or postdocs) who are contemplating career paths outside of academia and follow them through the hypothetical job search. When and where along their path will they encounter difficulties? What are the internal and external barriers that inhibit the trainees' progress towards jobs outside academia?
Cultural barriers in academia
The first barrier trainees might encounter in a non-academic job search is disapproval from the faculty within academia. Although a wide variety of non-academic career paths may be viewed favourably in general by faculty for trainees, when it comes to a Principal Investigator's (PI's) own trainees leaving academia, the PI may be less than encouraging. Workshop participants' responses included:
"Academic stigma of leaving academia"
"Academic culture shames leaving it."
"PI wants [you to follow] an academic career,"
"PI wants you to follow their career path."
Because industry research is profit-driven, while academic research is perceived as being more curiosity-driven, industry careers may be viewed by academics as less noble or worthy than academic careers. Faculty who are passionate about and proud of their research may view leaving academia as giving up. Crucially, it is in a PI's best interests to keep trainees on an academic career path, because this will keep them motivated to publish, which directly benefits the PI. Under our current system, the relationship of mutual benefit between PI and trainee is strongest when the trainee remains on an academic career path. The perceived stigma against leaving academia was so strong amongst some workshop participants that they expressed the need to keep their non-academic job search a secret from their PI. Thus, attitudes in academia towards industry careers can prevent trainees from even considering a non-academic career.
Lack of knowledge among job seekers and their mentors
Supposing trainees ignore the pressures to stay in academia and resolve to pursue alternative careers; where should they begin looking for alternative careers? What jobs might they enjoy? What are they qualified to do? Many of the participants in our workshop described themselves as under-informed about non-academic career options:
"Don't know much about what's available outside of academia nor how to get a foot in the door"
"Not enough exposure to people with alternative careers"
"Don't know where to look for jobs"
"Lack of knowledge about alternative careers"
"Lack of awareness of non-bench science careers"
Though many graduate programs are beginning to take steps towards informing their students about non-academic career paths (such as hosting career panels), students still feel uninformed about their options. They have a vague awareness that options exist, but little clarity about how to determine which options are most suitable for them.
Lack of experience and mentors outside academia
Let's imagine that some self-motivated trainees have identified alternative career paths that they find appealing. Whom can they ask for advice about how to transition into their chosen industry? The responses from our workshop's participants suggest that connecting with helpful mentors is a significant challenge.
"Mentors [PI's] don't know about alternative careers"
"Lack of mentors"
"No clear path to next career move"
Even the most supportive of PIs will likely have limited knowledge about what is required to find jobs outside of academia. Job-seekers must therefore be able to connect with mentors in other fields. However, a trainee who has only worked in academic research labs may not know anyone in pharmaceutical companies, science publishing, the biotech industry, or in science policy. Job-seekers in our workshop reported that although they are well-aware that they ought to be "networking" with someone somewhere, they are unsure about how to establish these connections in the first place.
Difficulty recognizing or obtaining skills sought by industry
If trainees finally find mentors to advise them on their chosen career paths, conversations with those mentors could lead them to discover that their academic research experiences have inadequately prepared them for their dream jobs.
"Lack of experiences industry requires in qualifications."
"No relevant experience for alternative careers."
"Limited skill sets and opportunities to increase them."
"Entry restricted by industry experience."
"Industry values industry experience but not academic experience."
Although completing a PhD teaches essential skills such as critical thinking, project planning, and data analysis, industry job postings may require more than just these qualifications. Communication, people-management, and budgeting were all listed by workshop participants as useful and marketable skills that are rarely emphasized in academic training. In addition to these specific skills, industry job postings may specify previous industry experience as a necessary job qualification. To acquire this experience, trainees would need volunteer or internship opportunities and the flexibility within their work schedules to pursue those opportunities.
Little time to spare for job search or acquiring desirable experience
Once trainees understand which skills they need to add to their arsenals in order to land a job, they must then carve out time from their busy schedules to acquire those skills. When trainees begin searching for jobs in earnest, they must devote time to networking, informational interviewing, researching companies, writing resumes and cover-letters, and interviewing for jobs. Typically, they must do all of this while continuing to work full-time in the lab, which for many scientists means working well beyond the 9:00 to 5:00 workday.
"Not enough time in the day"
"Overwhelming workload as a postdoc -> less time to explore options"
"No time left to focus on our own careers"
"No time to explore options"
"Burnt-out!"
Too few jobs
Suppose that our trainees have overcome all of the barriers mentioned above. They have built strong resumes that make them competitive applicants, and they have identified openings for jobs for which they feel they are well suited. They will still face stiff competition with other scientists to land that job.
"Saturated job market"
"Limited job openings"
"Too much supply, not enough demand"
"Trouble finding jobs especially in remote cities with few industries"
Visa issues for non-US citizen job seekers
For non-US citizens, visa issues create an extra barrier to finding a job outside of academia. Because student visas expire when a student graduates, non-US job seekers cannot have a time-lapse between the end of their graduate school training periods and the beginning of their subsequent jobs. Furthermore, companies may look more favorably on hiring US citizens as opposed to foreign candidates because US citizens do not require the company's support through the work visa application process and the number of non-academic work visas, such as H-visas, is limited.
"Immigration constraints"
"Unable to enter industry because of J visa"
"Entry level positions restricted by visa type"
Personal insecurities of job seekers
Given the long list and wide range of challenges that face non-academic job seekers, it's not surprising that many trainees at the workshop expressed a lack of confidence about leaving the academic career path.
"Will I survive outside academia?"
"Fear of the unknown"
"Lack of confidence"
"Where do I fit in industry?"
It's natural to postpone or avoid any undertaking that one fears could result in failure. A lack of confidence can paralyze potential job-seekers from taking the first steps towards changing their careers. The alternative - pursuing a postdoc - may be riskier or wasteful in the long-term, but in the short term, it is the safer, easier option.
Solutions: What action could be taken to overcome these barriers?
Though many barriers to finding a career outside of academia exist, these barriers are by no means insurmountable. The large numbers of individuals with science PhDs who are currently working outside of academia are proof that it is possible. Success will primarily depend on the initiative and effort of the job seeker, but there are things that PIs, graduate programs, and industry employers can do to facilitate the process.
Change mindset to be more deliberate about job search
The first step trainees must take towards non-academic careers is to positively decide that there are science careers outside of academia which interest and excite them. This step may require a significant change in how young scientists see themselves and envision their futures. It requires the scientists to reflect upon their own strengths and weaknesses, to decide what they want from their careers, and evaluate what constitutes a worthy use of their scientific training use of their PhDs.
"Start thinking about your career EARLY"
"Diversify interests"
Once graduate students or postdocs have decided to leave the academic career path, they need to adopt a different mindset towards the remainder of their training. Many participants' suggested solutions were self-directed. These suggested solutions point out that trainees must be proactive about their job searches, and that they need to be methodical and deliberate about researching alternative careers.
"Be proactive."
"Assign time to research job options"
"Budget time/have a game plan"
"[View] rejection as a learning process"
Redefine the PI:trainee mentoring relationship
Strong mentoring relationships, like all relationships, are based on frequent, open, and honest communication. Perceived (or actual) stigmas against leaving academia can prevent trainees from being honest with their PIs about their future plans, which makes effective mentoring impossible. In order to create an environment where trainees can be honest about their career goals, the scientific community must discover a way to make mentoring relationships between academic PIs and non-academically-inclined trainees mutually beneficial. Respondents recognized the need for frequent communication between PIs and trainees about career goals and progress, and the need to legitimize non-academic career paths among academic mentors.
"Institutions need to change PI:postdoc relationship guidelines"
"Check points/IDP [Individualized Development Plan]"
"Data [to show]: postdocs who spend time on career development just as productive"
"Students [should] communicate goals to PI"
Once trainees have communicated to their mentors which career paths they wish to pursue, and if their PIs are supportive of their choices, they can begin working on plans to identify the skills, experiences, and contacts that they will need to acquire.
Enhance career preparation in graduate school and postdoctoral programs
To realign graduate school curricula with the new reality of the scientific workforce, higher priority needs to be placed on skills that are considered valuable in the non-academic workforce, including writing, oral presentation, people management, and budgeting skills. Respondents described their training in these transferable skills as "spotty." Some students learned these skills incidentally, and some fortunate students received individual instruction from their PIs, but few had formalized or required training. Classes teaching "soft" skills would be of use to students and postdocs whether they set their sights on academia or industry. Explicit training in how to approach a job search was also recommended as a way to ease the transition out of academia and into other industries.
"Career development program, starting from grad school"
"Transferable skills education"
"Extra programs in universities on start-ups, finance, tech"
"Training in networking skills"
Find mentors outside of PI
It is unreasonable to expect PIs to be experts about all the potential career paths available to trainees; therefore mentors who can provide information about these careers must be sought elsewhere. Workshop participants identified many ways to make connections with scientists outside of a academia in order to gain more knowledge about other career paths, including informational interviewing, mentoring programs, and seminars. They also suggested support groups as a way to share resources amongst job seekers. Support groups would also provide emotional support and accountability for goal setting during the job search process.
"Mentor/Mentee program (outside institution)"
"Get a non-academic mentor"
"Informational interviews"
"Create support groups"
"Invite business people to share expectations of skills and values"
Improve career counseling and alumni access for graduate students and postdocs
Workshop participants, particularly postdocs, expressed a desire to have their schools provide more career resources, including career counselors and better access to alumni networks. Access to career counseling would provide valuable feedback about resume preparation, interviews, and how to network. Increased access to alumni would enable job seekers to make useful connections with potential mentors in a wide variety of industries and positions.
"Formal career counseling at graduate school"
"Postdocs cut-off from Alumni connections and Resources - increase access"
"Access to alumni"
Create ways to bridge the Academia-Industry gap
Another substantial issue identified by workshop participants is the disconnect between trainees in academia and professionals in industry. Participants were eager to have more contact with industry, either through one-day events, mentoring partnerships, or internships.
"Industry open house"
"industry outreach!"
"Shadow someone in industry"
"Non-academic collaborations"
"Create work-study positions for PhDs outside of academia"
Use web tools to share information
Lack of information - whether about career paths, the skills required for these careers, job search strategies, or job opportunities - was identified as one of the main barriers preventing trainees from pursuing non-academic careers. Nothing can disseminate information faster or more widely than the internet, so it is not surprising that respondents suggested many web-based solutions to share information.
"Webinars/meetings [with] broad panel discussions"
"Reach out to industry via social media"
"LinkedIn-like service for mentoring,"
"Create a website for discussion"
"website that spells out all of the opportunities available"
Limitations of the data
It's important to remember that all of the issues listed above are the perceived difficulties of job seekers. Any PhDs who had little difficulty finding a job would not be likely to attend the NatureJobs Career Expo, or a workshop about the barriers to finding jobs. Our participants concluded that there are too few jobs for scientists based on their personal experiences in the job market, as opposed to reported numbers about job openings. Given that they report being under-informed about job opportunities, they may be failing to connect with employers who are seeking to hire someone with their exact qualifications. Likewise, respondents' reports that there is a stigma in academia against non-academic careers is based on perceived attitudes and individual experiences.
It was beyond the scope of our workshop to evaluate the accuracy of these perceptions. However, should either of these perceptions prove to be incorrect or exaggerated, the problems raised by workshop respondents should still not be ignored. Even in this best-case scenario, where fewer barriers to finding a job exist than trainees believe, there is still a significant communication problem between industry employers and their potential employees, or a disturbing lack of trust between academic PIs and their mentees.
Furthermore, these barriers still need to be openly addressed. Students' and postdocs' belief in these barriers is enough to discourage them from seeking out non-academic careers and to keep them on the academic "path of least resistance." To ensure that students and postdocs are choosing career paths that reflect the new reality of the scientific workforce, changes need to be made to improve trainees' awareness of and preparedness for non-academic careers.
The problems and suggested solutions that were identified by workshop participants can be summarized in three main themes that must be addressed to reduce the barriers between academia and other scientific industries:
1. Change the mentor:mentee relationship so that non-academic career planning is cooperative and proactive. Through early and regular meetings to discuss students' and postdocs' career trajectories, and the use of Individualized Development Plans (IDPs), mentors and mentees can create an effective plan for the mentee's career advancement. The success of these plans will require both the acceptance of non-academic career pathways from PIs, and self-reflection and effort on the part of trainees.
2. Increase trainees' exposure to the non-academic communities in science. More interactions with scientists working outside academia will allow trainees to discover more about which careers would suit them and how to break into those careers. This could take the form of more seminars, more mentoring relationships or shadowing, or more internship programs. Increased contact between academia and other industries has the potential to benefit those industries as well, by allowing them to get to know their potential hires more closely than they could in an interview.
3. Increase emphasis on transferable skills in grad school curricula and increase career resources for graduate students and postdocs. To improve early career researchers' employability, graduate schools could begin providing formal training in experimental design, scientific writing, and oral presentation. To give graduate students and postdocs a leg up in the job search, schools could provide access to career counseling advice and alumni networks.
The academic science community is currently at a crossroads. It is coming to grips with the fact that the majority of graduate school and postdoctoral training focuses on preparation for academic career paths, which only a minority of trainees will follow. For graduate studies and postdoctoral positions to genuinely be periods of training, curricula and mentoring approaches should reflect the career paths that trainees are likely to follow today, and not be based on typical career trajectories from decades past.
Resources and Further Reading
There are many resources that early career researchers can use to raise their own career awareness and prepare themselves, which we list below.
NatureJobs: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/
NatureJobs Career Community: https://careerscommunity.nature.com/
ScienceCareers: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/
MyIDP: http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/
Graduate Career Consortium: http://gradcareerconsortium.org/
Utilizing the NatureJobs Career Expo to Explore Career Options (G. McDowell, 2015);
A call for transparency in tracking student and postdoc career outcomes (Polka et al., 2015);
Get Over the Guilt (Matrone, 2015);
Education: The PhD Factory (Cyranoski, Gilbert, Ledford, Nayar, & Yahia, 2011);
What Do I Want to Be with My PhD? The Roles of Personal Values and Structural Dynamics in Shaping the Career Interests of Recent Biomedical Science PhD Graduates (Gibbs & Griffin, 2013).
Input from participants was collated into the attached document by group, with categories determined by the participants of the individual groups.
We would like to thank other members of the Future of Research organization for helpful comments and discussions. We are very grateful to Julie Gould and everyone at NatureJobs for the opportunity to present a very successful and well-attended workshop at the NatureJobs Career Expo 2015 in Boston. We would like to thank all participants of the workshop for their ideas and the vibrant discussion.
Cyranoski, D., Gilbert, N., Ledford, H., Nayar, A., & Yahia, M. (2011). Education: The PhD factory. Nature, 472(7343), 276–279. doi:10.1038/472276a
Gibbs, K. D., & Griffin, K. A. (2013). What do I want to be with my PhD? The roles of personal values and structural dynamics in shaping the career interests of recent biomedical science PhD graduates. CBE Life Sci Educ, 12(4), 711–723. doi:10.1187/cbe.13-02-0021
Matrone, M. (2015, March 9). Essay on how grad students and postdocs should prepare for career help | InsideHigherE\nd. Retrieved July 5, 2015
Mazzilli, S. A., Gunsalus, K. T. W., … McDowell, G. S. (2014). Logistics of Organizing the FOR Symposium. doi:10.15200/winn.141697.77958
McDowell, G. (2015). Utilizing the NatureJobs Career Expo to Explore Career Options.
McDowell, G. S., Gunsalus, K. T. W., MacKellar, D. C., Mazzilli, S. A., Pai, V. P., Goodwin, P. R., … Polka, J. K. (2014). Shaping the Future of Research: a perspective from junior scientists. [v2; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/4yc]. doi:10.12688/f1000research.5878.2
National Science Foundation. (2014). Science & Engineering Indicators.
Polka, J. K., Krukenberg, K. A., & McDowell, G. S. (2015). A call for transparency in tracking student and postdoc career outcomes. doi:10.1091/mbc.E14-10-1432
SupplementaryMaterialsGoodwinNatureJobsFoR.xlsx 18.6 KB
This article and its reviews are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and redistribution in any medium, provided that the original author and source are credited.
Patricia R. Goodwin, Kearney T. W. Gunsalus, Erica M. Walsh, Gary S. McDowell, Future of Research - How Can We Improve Career Awareness and Preparedness? A workshop at the NatureJobs Career Expo Boston 2015, The Winnower 7:e143664.41987 (2015). DOI: 10.15200/winn.143664.41987
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future of research careers postdoctoral research graduate school workshop
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The Social Winnower


Our Global Executive Doctor of Education (EdD) program can be completed in approximately 25 months and allows students to remain fully employed while pursuing their doctorate.
The program combines online classes with nine 1-2 week on-campus residential sessions over a two-year (25 month) period. Participants will travel for nine intensive class sessions in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Helsinki, and São Paulo.
Students should expect to spend at least 12-15 hours per week on homework and online activities during the online portions of the program. Also, additional time requirements can be expected during the latter half of the program when completing the Dissertation of Practice. These demands will vary depending on the topic, project methodology, and geographic location of each student's dissertation.
The residential sessions will be intensive and will require all-day attendance and availability. We strongly discourage students from bringing their families. The time commitment will be very rigorous and leave little or no time for family. Accommodations are allocated for individuals only, and any accompanying family members would need to make separate housing and dining arrangements.
Detailed schedules and information about each session will be provided in advance of the program's start date. Week-long sessions will generally involve 6 days of scheduled activities (Monday through Saturday). Two-week sessions will involve 12 days of scheduled activities (Monday through Saturday of each week with Sunday off). Activities will include in-class discussions, lectures and learning activities, student work groups, field trips, readings, and co-curricular events.
Introduces fundamental skills related to problem solving and communication.
Provides an overview of the creativity sequence, and explores the genesis of creative ideas – within an individual and within an organization.
This two-course sequence explores the impact of global transformations on educational systems' governance and finance.
Provides foundation and structure for writing literature reviews.
Provides a framework for understanding, interpreting and applying education research. Specific topics include: publication venues; basic research designs (experiments, modeling); reading research studies critically; understanding validity, reliability and other related constructs, and an introduction to evaluation research.
Focuses attention on developing and implementing strategies for locating, solving and evaluating the solutions to performance problems in educational organizations.
Provides an overview of contemporary perspectives on learning and motivation. This foundation will be used to provide an extension of the problem-solving model called gap analysis.
Addresses the often-overlooked step in creating educational reform: evaluating impact. It introduces basic assessment concepts and strategies, and instructs students in the planning, design, implementation and application of an evaluation approach for a "real time" initiative.
During this course, students will become a member of a dissertation team, which will be guided by a faculty member. Each student will study an education-related problem and its organizational and historical context. The problem may be one the student brings from his or her region, or may be one provided by one of the program's partner organizations. The determination of the suitability of a problem and the assignment of the student to a dissertation team is done at the discretion of the Program.
Students identify a policy problem and explore its context. Using that information as a base, students define a policy objective(s) and develop ideas for policy alternatives. This course also includes the first case study in which students work through an education policy challenge at the institutional level.
Building on the policy objective defined in the previous course, students choose the policy alternative most likely to attain their specified goals. Students explore models of decision-making including cost-benefit analysis, risk-benefit analysis, and decision analysis, as well as the impact of political environment. Students will choose a policy to address their selected policy challenge, assess the soundness of the decision, and communicate their choice to an identified group of stakeholders. This course will also introduce the second case study in which students will work through an education policy challenge at the system level.
Examines a range of emerging markets in education, and efforts of institutions around the world to access new markets through collaborations and offshore endeavors. New ways of thinking about education will also be addressed, such as conceptualizing education as a global trade issue.
Students will diagnose, research potential solutions, and develop recommendations to a field-based educational problem. Each student is responsible for generating an individual dissertation, but they do this within a group working on closely related topics. The dissertation must be original and demonstrate the student's ability to gather and analyze evidence for use in prescribing solutions to the problems and interventions identified.
Using the policy alternative developed in the previous course, students examine the implementation stage of the policy process, focusing on the effort, knowledge, and resources devoted to translating a policy decision into action. This course will also introduce the third case study in which students will work through an education policy challenge at the national level.
The course spans over two terms—Terms 7 and 8. The course will equip students with the skills needed to generate chapter 4 on "findings" and the first part of chapter 5 on "solutions." The course sequence will correspond to these two chapters beginning with Chapter 4, including the practical work of handling and analyzing data, determining findings, reporting them in narrative form and figuring out the most effective way to visually display key findings. The course will also address Chapter 5 and the task of developing a rationale for which findings are intended to address, identifying solutions and organizing them into a coherent set or approach.
Examines the assessment stage of the policy process, which explores how a policy has fared in action, including both its intended and unintended consequences. Assessment provides an important evaluative function that can inform whether a policy or policy dimensions should be continued, expanded, cut back, changed, or abandoned. This course will also introduce the final case study in which students will work through an education policy challenge at the multi-national level.
Problem Solving: Equipping leaders to use theory and evidence to ask the right questions, identify underlying causes and solve systemic problems.


One of the interesting things about United Airlines' ongoing Bumpgate debacle is how many lessons you can learn from them. It's a masterclass in how to avoid poor PR and how to better serve your customers. Here are three additional lessons that I've seen from how United has handled this and the reaction from each step along the way.
Lesson 1: Apologize. It seems like a simple thing, but too often people are told that it's their fault that something happened to them. Too often that is the case - we constantly make mistakes. At the same time, it doesn't make your customers feel great if you're telling them it's their fault. Acknowledge their needs, say you're sorry and build a connection with them. It goes a lot further than a mealy-mouthed word salad that doesn't seem to do anything other than cover your corporate behind.
Lesson 2: When you put great people in poor systems, the systems win. CEO Oscar Munoz tacitly acknowledged this in an interview with ABC News by saying that employees and supervisors don't have the autonomy to use their common sense. It was even visible with the initial statements from Mr. Munoz, as they sounded like they'd gone through several layers of review that took out any humanity from the statement. They certainly didn't sound like the words of a man who has won awards for his communication skills. Thus, even the CEO can get trapped by poor systems.
Lesson 3: Speed counts. In our day and age, information can travel around the world at an incredible rate. I remember when I was on a flight that got caught in bad weather and had an emergency landing in Denver. We landed at 9 pm Mountain time, I tweeted out an image of my aircraft. By the time we landed in Salt Lake at 3 am Mountain time, it had over 100,000 impressions and I had calls and messages from Good Morning America, the Weather Channel, and CNN. If information moves that fast overnight, it goes twice as fast during business hours. As you respond quickly and effectively to customer service issues, your customers will acknowledge and appreciate those efforts and become more loyal to you.
Ultimately your customers know that you can't do everything right all of the time. What they want is for you to empathize with them when you mess up, quickly solve their problem to the best of your ability, and leave them feeling great.


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text:
Deconstructing Gender (May 31, 2009)
By the time a child is ready for kindergarten, it knows some basic things. It usually knows colors and shapes, it knows how to use a bathroom and put on a jacket. It knows the days of the week and the seasons. And it knows gender. It knows from a visit to any children's clothing store, that there are girls, who like pink and purple and flowers and sparkly things, and there are boys, who like blue and red and trucks. I didn't understand how well we were teaching this lesson until my son wore his brand new Dora the Explorer shoes to church. For those of you who have not had preschoolers in your home for the past few years, Dora is a cartoon about a little Latina girl who goes on adventures with her backpack and her monkey friend Boots, teaching children Spanish words and sequencing. Dora is not a particularly effeminate character, being an explorer and all, but whoever is in charge of her licensing has decided to put her image on only the most frilly, flowery, pink and purple sparkly clothing, for sale only in the "little girls" department. And this first time my 2 year old son wore his brand new Dora sneakers to church, a UU church mind you, one of the preschool girls raised by very progressive parents announced in a shocked voice "those are girl shoes!"
It makes you wonder. Why do we even have segregated clothing departments for boys and girls? At that age the sizes and shapes of the kids are pretty much the same. We as a society have invested a lot in our gender sorting system. I think of all the time toddlers spend trying to fit the circle and square and triangle blocks into their sorting toys, and realize that gender feels a lot like that. Government forms ask us to check "male or female." Public restrooms ask us to sort ourselves "girls and boys" We need to know which of those 2 holes each of us fits into, and which hole everyone around us fits into. And what happens when you run into a star, or a hexagon? In western society, violence happens. People who cross gender lines tell stories of being hit by a parent, beat-up on the playground, beaten by police in a raid. There is something about this binary gender-sorting system of ours that is so basic, so deeply held, taught so early and reinforced all our lives, that deconstructing gender feels as scary to some folks as asking "what if there is no God?"
In our culture- women have fought to enlarge their the size of the slot they were sorted into. They had to fight for such basic rights as the right to own property and to vote, the right to be free from violence in their own home. The generations of women today have fought to have access to many things which had previously been rigidly held in the male sphere- the right to study and challenge the intellect, to pursue careers in science, math, ministry, finance. They fought for the right to play football and run the marathon in the Olympics. And in entering the traditionally male spheres, they gained the right to wear clothes that did not encumber climbing a mountain, or serving in the armed forces, or running for president. Whereas a generation ago, woman could be arrested for "impersonating a man" if not wearing at least 3 pieces of woman's clothing, the lines have blurred significantly. If I put on a pair of trousers or work boots today, no one is going to blink an eye.
But folks whom the doctor called "boy" filling out the birth certificate seem to have a more restricted realm of self expression. When a man puts on a skirt, or a little boy wears Dora Sneakers, is still a dangerous moment in our culture. It seems to be socially normative even in young hip shows like "Heros" to make fun of a male character for being nurse, or for staying at home as a full-time parent. And women's role is still constricted as well- we know what challenges face a woman who decides to run for president.
So I'm guessing just about everyone in this room has bumped up against the rules of their "gender" at one time or another in their life. I preached a service about gender several years ago, and lead off with the theme song from the progressive 70s musical "Free to be you and me" which reminds us that
"There's a land that I see
Where the Children are free.
And I say it ain't far
To this land, from where we are.
Every boy in this land
Grows to be his own man.
In this land, every girl
Grows to be her own woman."
And my heart sank as my dear colleage got up speak, and told her story about how as a little boy he didn't want to grow up to be his own man, and how he grew up to be her own woman. I had thought my vision of gender roles was quite progressive, but it left a dear friend out in the cold. As much as I chafe at the restrictions of the gender I express, Leslie Feinberg writes: "Those of us who cross the cultural boundaries of sex and gender are paying a terrible price. We face discrimination and physical violence. We are denied the right to live and work with dignity and respect. It takes so much courage to live our lives that sometimes just leaving our homes in the morning and facing the world as who we really are is in itself an act of resistance." (This is from her landmark book Transgender Warriors, which I am proud to say is published by our own Beacon Press.)
Feinberg was the author of one of the readings we heard today- talking about how she could not pass as either male or female as she tried to get a job. Gender expression is more than whether your shoes came from the boys department or the girls department, it is more than which box the doctor checked off on your birth certificate. For those of us who have the privilege of having a gender that's easily read, a gender that agrees with the one on our birth certificate, we don't question the doctor's authority to make that call. All you need to do is check under your diaper, or check your chromosomes. But while biology tells us something- it doesn't tell us everything. Did you know that some folks are born with xxx or xxy or xo chromosomes? Folks are born with ambiguous bodies. The doctor makes a choice, and sometimes even changes the body of a newborn to make sure it fits through one of the sorting holes. And sometimes, for example, a baby with male chromosomes will not produce or process the testosterone necessary to change a fetus (we all start out female) into the shape of a male baby. And sometimes the testosterone will kick in during adolescence, creating an apparent gender shift as the adolescent body develops.
So some aspect of this sorting process is not biologically determined but culturally determined. And not every culture has the same gender system as we do. I read recently that one indigenous culture recognizes 49 genders. While that seems pretty rare, many communal cultures recognize the "two-spirit", one who holds in some way the spirit of the female and the male. This expression sacred in many tribes, a position of honor and power. Theologically this makes perfect sense to me, because a "two-spirit" overcomes the duality of the world, representing the one-ness of all things. It is also true that magic and power can be found at the crossroads- at the intersection of things, at the edge of thought and belief. Says Holger Kalweit (quoted in Gender Outlaw) "Holiness means feeling many –all – spheres of existence within oneself." How much richer would our society be if we could embrace the unique wisdom and experience of those who inhabit gender in different ways. You will not be surprised to hear that the Two-spirits were singled out for colonial violence when European settlers came to these shores.
So how can we turn the tide away from violence and discrimination towards a wider embrace that acknowledges one another's experience and wisdom? With what images can we use to engage gender beyond the preschool sorting boxes? Call to mind the yin-yang symbol, the black and white representing the male and female principles, and the yin holds the yang within itself, and the yang holds the yin within itself. But still we are stuck in dualism- good and evil, black and white, male and female.
One could also imagine a continuum from male to female, with each person their own unique shade of grey. But we are still stuck in a binary system. Male on one end and female on the other. You know, when I print the front of this order of service, I can choose to print it in greyscale, like our black and white continuum, or I can choose to print in full color. You can't tell from looking at the shades of grey which pane of glass is red or yellow, because Red is not a shade of grey, it's red. I wonder if we could ever allow ourselves that fullness of gender expression in this culture.
When we listen to one another we hear about the toll it takes on some souls to fit into the binary shape sorter. We hear the voices of folks who feel like circles even when the world tells them they are squares, and we heard from folks that just don't get why they have to choose one or the other, when their lived experience is something radically different- a star perhaps.
Now Unitarian Universalists have a long history of listening to the voices of folks who feel oppressed by societal structures. And we are not just talking here about the right to freedom of expression, which I'm pretty sure is given to us under the constitution. But we are talking about the right to employment and housing without discrimination. We are talking about the right to fair treatment under the law and a right to a life free of violence. Both Pennsylvania and New York legislatures are currently looking at Bills that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression in employment, housing, credit and public accommodations. The New York State Assembly passed a bill (A. 5710) on May 14. HB300 is a Pennsylvania bill in process with a similar intent, but it remains to be seen whether either will become law.
This is another chance for UUs to be on the leading edge of thought and leaders as a religious movement. But to do that, we each need to do our own work first. Each of us needs to ask ourselves: what makes me think I know my own gender? What makes me think I know the gender of my friends, of the people I pass on the street? How do I feel when I don't know someone's gender? Why? Is there any part of my own expression that I limit because I am afraid of what will happen if I transgress a boundary? Why does anyone even care if a little boy wears Dora the Explorer shoes? Folks who self-identify as "trans gendered," that is, crossing through the boxes and lines that make boundaries around gender, challenge us to think in a new way about these structures in our society who oppress us all. Says author and performance artist Kate Bornstein:
"Like other border outlaws, transgenderd people are here to open some doorway that's been closed off for a long long time. We're gatekeepers, nothing more."
Because of these gatekeepers, we don't have to figure this out on our own- there are wonderful writers and thinkers and artists expanding the field of gender theory, and we have our friends and family, each of who has their own way of inhabiting and expressing their gender, each of whom has a story to tell.
May ours be a faith that continues to question the assumptions of our culture, especially when those assumptions result in violence or discrimination. And may we raise our children to know, that we will love them and watch over them, whether their role model is Dora the Explorer or Bob the Builder, or a hero in a new shape and color that opens a new door for us all.
Primary Sources:
Kate Bornstein. Gender Outlaw. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Leslie Feinberg. Transgender Warriors. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.
Joan Nestle, Claree Howell, Riki Wilchins eds. GenderQueer. New York: Alyson Books, 2002.
Service Readings taken from:
Marlo Thomas & Friends. Free to be you and me, Philadelphia: Running Press, 1997.
Peggy Orenstein. "The Hillary Lesson: What Her Candidacy Has Taught Our Daughters" The New York Times Magazine May 18, 2008
Tom Chiarella "What Is a Man?" Esquire April 6, 2009.
Andrea U'Ren. Pugdog, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001.


text:
Q: With React Native's MapView, how can I determine when I've reached my final drag destination? I have a Map with a pin that sits in the centre of the map. When I drag the map, the coordinates update, but the problem is that this triggers at every step of the moving process.
Instead, I'd like it to detect when the map movement has stopped and then return the address.
I've been trying to use onDragStart / onDragEnd but it hasn't worked so far.
<MapView
    style={{ alignSelf: 'stretch', height: 250 }}
    region={this.state.mapRegion}
    onRegionChange={this._handleMapRegionChange}
    draggable
    onSelect={() => console.log('onSelect', arguments)}
    onDrag={() => console.log('onDrag', arguments)}
    onDragStart={() => console.log('onDragStart', arguments)}

>
    <MapView.Marker
        coordinate={
            this.state.mapRegion
        }
    />

</MapView>

I've tried placing the drag actions on the MapView.Marker component but the console log doesn't trigger either way.
Is there a 'best practice' way to do this? I'm making a google maps API call to geocode the address and I don't want it to trigger each step of the position change.

A: You can use the callback prop onRegionChangeComplete from the doc MapView events


Previous post: Support for Anna?
The India Against Corruption movement was a much needed movement, because as Team Anna said for 62 years nothing has happened because the government does not want to fix it. Anan Hazare enters 10 day of his ANSHAN, and the youth of India rises with every minute that the parliament decided not to implement the bill.
On the flip side of this coin, this movement will create a legacy that this will be the way we are going to get justice from our Government. Will this movement bring another revolution in the youth of India who have been accepting the current nature of our government and culture to be a bare truth that can not be fixed.


New Price! Certified. White 2017 Toyota RAV4 SE AWD 6-Speed Automatic 2.5L 4-Cylinder DOHC Dual VVT-i RAV4 SE, 2.5L 4-Cylinder DOHC Dual VVT-i, AWD, White, Automatic temperature control, CD player, Heated front seats, Heated Front Sport Seats, Power moonroof, Power steering, Power windows, Radio data system, Wheels: 18"" 5-Spoke Sport Alloy.


Money Manager EX allows to create recurring transactions to track financial activities that occurs at regular intervals, such as the payment of a bill or a monthly mortgage.
When one or more schedules are enabled, transactions will be created in your account as by schedules. They are also needed to create cash flow reports with amount of funds available, based on future commitments.