text:
5 Ways to Appeal to Military Homebuyers
Home builders can show their support for military families by following these simple but important steps
By Brian McGinniss and Andrea Hidalgo July 17, 2021
When it comes to buying a home, military families come with a set of unique needs and experiences.
Military families are found in every ZIP code across the country, and Military One Source, an online support portal for those families, reports that almost half a million move each year.
"The transient nature of the military lifestyle and the additional stressors that come with frequent moves and deployments are taxing on military families. It never gets easier to uproot your life and start over somewhere else," said Kelcey Liverpool, executive director of Kids Rank, a nonprofit serving military youth. "That's why finding a suitable house and neighborhood you love is vital to making a new place feel like home."
With these families starting the search for their next duty station, here's how home builders can reach and appeal to military buyers.
Messaging That Matters Right Now in the Homebuying Process
Easier Living by Design? Builders Are Exploring New Approaches
Road Map for a Great Customer Journey
Swift and Seamless: Moving With Confidence
Active-duty service members usually receive their Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders three to six months ahead of time and often search, buy, and move into their new home very quickly. While the peak PCS season is May to September each year, orders can arrive unexpectedly and a move may happen "off season."
Builders can streamline the homebuying process by supplying potential military buyers with information up front and before the buyer's first virtual or in-person visit. The sales team should encourage prospects to research the product online, schedule a virtual appointment, and then, if possible, schedule a face-to-face tour and pricing appointment.
In our experience, military families are very process-oriented and are accustomed to frequent moves, so they come prepared with their questions, wish list, and budget ready to discuss from the start. They also tend to be great at making quick decisions, being flexible and answering questions, such as, 'What are the top five must-haves for your dream home?' which is helpful for sales agents because it allows them to quickly narrow down the floor plan designs that would best suit the family.
An additional way to speed up the homebuying process is to encourage prospective buyers to pre-qualify for a mortgage loan. Not only will pre-qualifying help them establish a budget, but it can also contribute to a shorter mortgage approval period and will demonstrate that they are a serious buyer, which may be an advantage in a resale bidding war.
Customization Is Key for Military Homebuyers
Military homebuyers prefer new homes because of the customization options. Families are often moving across the country to a completely new state, town, and school district, so creating comfort at home is key. New builds allow buyers to personalize design and layout options, from color choices, cabinetry and flooring, to adding a study, main-floor bedroom, or loft area.
New-home owners can also enjoy peace of mind without the worry of unexpected maintenance issues that come from resale homes. With new appliances, fixtures, and a solid home warranty, family members can rest easy, which is especially important when service members deploy.
Military homebuyers prefer new homes because of the customization options. Families are often moving across the country to a completely new state, town, and school district, so creating comfort at home is key.
We're also seeing more home builders offer technology packages. For example, Drees Homes, in Kentucky, includes energy efficiency and smart-home systems as part of its DreeSmart Innovations package, which is a big value-add to potential buyers. Features such as state-of-the-art wiring to eliminate Wi-Fi dead spots or smartphone apps to control lighting, doors, and temperature make homes even more appealing to potential buyers. Energy packages are another bonus, offering reduced monthly utility expenses.
Functional Space
Military buyers often crave more livable space, especially families that are transitioning from base housing, which is often smaller and outdated. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average house size in the U.S. is right around 2,500 square feet, so there's plenty of room for families to grow into.
And while square footage is important, the layout of the home is also a key consideration. While some families want extra storage or open floor plans, others care more about having an additional bedroom or updated appliances. Whatever the preference, new builds are often the best option to check most boxes on a military buyer's wish list.
Of course, it's not just about the interior. Outdoor space can also play an important role in a military homebuyer's decision. In our experience, most buyers enjoy a decently sized backyard. Families with kids and/or dogs usually prefer a larger backyard with plenty of space to play outside.
What Do Homebuyers Want? Builders Adopt a New Strategy
Developing the Future in Master Planned Communities
The Reinvention of the Master Planned Community
Creating a Sense of Community for Military Families
Military families come with a set of unique needs and experiences. PCS requires several transitions in changing schools, jobs, providers, and more. Military families often gravitate to close-knit communities where they can create support networks of friends and neighbors.
Master planned communities are a great option for military families. While it can be hard to transition to a new place, choosing to call a master planned community your home base comes with many added benefits. With numerous amenities such as pools and clubhouses, to trails, parks, and gardens, and plenty of community events, master planned communities provide a range of opportunities to form friendships with residents in the neighborhood.
Various parts of the country, such as Northern Virginia, house several military stations, thousands of government jobs, and a variety of off-base communities that provide opportunities to connect and interact with other military families.
Embrey Mill, in Stafford, Va., is a great example. The community offers amenities for the whole family and some residents call it the "Disney World of Neighborhoods." Community features include two pools, an on-site restaurant, two dog parks, 15-plus parks and playgrounds, a community garden, and 10 miles of trails. It also offers the convenience of nearby shops and restaurants. Publix, a Florida-based chain grocery store, is located on the edge of the community in a retail plaza.
"With space for kids to run around freely, neighbors who want to socialize on the weekends, and community events year-round, a master planned community offers a family away from family," says Fred Garnes, director of marketing, Embrey Mill . A master planned community is also known to add value to the resale value of a home because of the stability the community adds, which is great for when families PCS elsewhere.
Giving Back to Those Who Serve
Home builders would be remiss not to offer incentives for military service members, both active and retired. Builders can grant discounts on closing costs, extend extra design credits, or offer incentives. Bonuses go a long way with prospects and show commitment to helping those who serve.
Most builders work with preferred lenders who they trust to provide great service to prospective buyers. It goes without saying, but lenders should be reputable, trustworthy, and informative. Veteran's Administration loans can be difficult to get and vary state by state, so builders should partner with lenders that understand the nuances and can apply Basic Allowance for Housing toward a mortgage loan sought by a military family.
Brian McGinniss is the sales manager for Drees Homes' Washington, D.C., division.
Andrea Hidalgo is VP of sales-Mid-Atlantic for Richmond American Homes.
New-Home Marketing
Full-Year Home Sales on Track for Record High After October Increase
With a greater presence of investors and more job additions, realtors anticipate a record year for the 2021 housing market
Monthly Existing-Home Sales Increased in October
Sales are on the rise, but housing inventory can't keep up
Rising Home Prices Outpace National Household Incomes
High home prices and a drop in median household income are creating a less affordable market for buyers


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text:
Highway's Song
My Life and Times with Arlo Guthrie and Family
By Terry Roland, April 2018
Arlo and Jackie Guthrie, shortly before her death from ovarian cancer in 2012.
The Guthrie clan in 1998.
As Arlo, Sarah Lee, and Abe Guthrie return to the Belly Up with the Re: Generation Tour this month, I take a journey through my personal past and the impressions the family has left with me.
Let's let our hair down. It's time to break the fourth wall. This story is admittedly a bit indulgent on my part. However, it's not about me. I want to tell you a story of folksinger Arlo Guthrie and his family because it illustrates how music and its makers weave their way through our lives.
This story goes back decades. It is a tapestry with a back story, sub-references and tall-tales. So, if you picked up this article that the publisher and editor of San Diego Troubadour (Thanks, Liz!) has graciously allowed to go to print, find an easy chair, grab your self a joint, a beer, or a glass of wine, and join me for this parade of memories from this extraordinarily scatter-brained writer.
Now, let's return to yesteryear. It's 1969, nearly 50 years ago. I'm 14. I'm outside the L.A. Forum on August 15th after the Clapton-Winwood super group, Blind Faith's concert. I'm waiting for my parents to pick me up. I see Eric Burdon, formerly lead singer of the Animals, standing and talking to strangers about his upcoming book and his new band, War. I strike up a conversation with him. He asks me if I can give him a ride to Hollywood. "Uh, I don't think my mom would want to," I sheepishly answer. He glares at me and moves away.
As the conversation ends I see the parking lot is filled with golden flyers on every car. Many are scattered like trash on the ground. I pick one up and there I see an ad for a new movie, Alice's Restaurant, starring Arlo Guthrie, to be released on August 20th. I take my first look at Arlo sitting in front of that famous Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. He looks like a crazy smiling hippie. As I'll soon come to find, that's pretty much who he is.
Alice's Restaurant goes on to become a hit film and a cult favorite in the mold of Easy Rider. I catch up with the album and find it was released in 1967. Later, he shows up on PBS in a full concert with Joni Mitchell. I am converted to this new kind of folk music. I am forever changed by Arlo's humorous stories and songs.
A few weeks later in '69, thanks to Bob Dylan, I discover Woody Guthrie. At first, I don't make the connection between Arlo and Woody. As far as I'm concerned Woody was Dylan's father. I venture over to my favorite book store in Hermosa Beach–the Haight-Ashbury of the South Bay–and buy the book Bound for Glory, Woody Guthrie's autobiography, which was published in 1943. This leads to a trip to my favorite record store (remember them?) where I buy a three-LP box set of the Library of Congress interviews between Alan Lomax and Woody from 1940. I'm entranced and forever changed by the words, music, and voice of Woody Guthrie. I play the record loud and his voice booms through our beach bungalow.
Finally, after I read the liner notes on the album Alice's Restaurant, my friends and I persuade one of our parents to take us to the R-rated movie of the same name.
During the summer of 1970, I write to the Committee to Combat Huntington's Chorea and ask for more information on Woody and the disease that took his life. I receive a two-page typewritten letter from Woody's former wife and Arlo's mother, Marjorie Guthrie, along with a wealth of information. It is an act of grace and a personal touch from someone so close to Woody and Arlo.
Later, near the end of summer, I attend the Hollywood Bowl Tribute for Woody Guthrie. After three years of attending the best in hard rock shows, this is quite a departure. Peter Fonda and Will Geer read Woody's words, and Arlo, Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald, Odetta, Ry Cooder, Richie Havens, and Pete Seeger sing his songs. It is a warm summer night and I am alone. The music reminds me of the legacy of the nearly forgotten folksinger. I imagine Woody smiling and drifting above as he drifts toward the stars. Bound for Glory and Born to Win. As the concert comes to an end, Marjorie Guthrie stands off to the side of the stage waving and smiling.
The years roll by and Arlo keeps showing up on TV, in concert and on record. For the next 20 years I collect his albums and see his shows.
Then, online services happen. Enter computer modem-based communications technology. In 1993, a few loyal fans create a bulletin board and forum for Arlo on a service called Prodigy. Then, after a few weeks, Arlo shows up at the forum. His wife, Jackie, follows. We all begin exchanging messages.
Then, in November 1993, Thanksgiving weekend, I find myself front and center at the Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie show at Carnegie Hall. Invited by Jackie Guthrie, I couldn't refuse. When I arrive at the famous venue I introduce myself to Jackie. Her eyes light up and she gives me a hug and encourages me to keep writing. Later, she invites me backstage to meet Pete, Arlo, and family.
Backstage at Carnegie Hall is more of a reception place where fans, friends, and family are gathered. Pete is at one side of the room talking with people. Then, Arlo steps out of the elevator. "Oh No!" He cries out. "What are all these people doing here?! I hate people." Then, he proceeds to 'hate' people in his own special way as he patiently signs autographs and poses for photos with fans.
One of the questions I ask him is if he'll be appearing at the Woodstock 25th Anniversary festival. He replies, "I'll go anywhere that's free." He continues, "I was called by the promotors and they asked me to make an appearance. I told them if it's free, I'll go. I never heard back from them. That makes it real. You know, like Coca-Cola; they could call it the real thing," he laughs.
In August 1994, Arlo did appear at a free Woodstock concert at the Bethel, New York site of the original festival. It was an unadvertised, bootlegged show. The official show was held an hour's drive from Bethel. Later, a friend sent me a video and photos of Arlo playing as the night rain fell.
Two years later, in December 1995, I decide it is important that Arlo play at my favorite venue, McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. So, through work with McCabe's and Arlo's management–all I did was give out contacts and phone numbers–the folksinger appears at the famous venue for three nights on January 25th, 26th, and 27th. It is a taste of bliss after seeing Arlo and his son, Abe, in larger venues. After the show, Arlo's driver Dennis and I go to the bus to play Star Wars video games on Arlo's computer. On our way out, we walk past the great Beat-poet, Allen Ginsberg, who dropped by to pay his respects.
As Dennis and I are having our fun, Abe comes running in rummaging through a pile of books. "What's up?" Dennis asks. "Allen wants a copy of Arlo's book," Abe says frantically The book is for children, titled Mooses Come Walking," with illustrations by Alice Brock, former owner of that famous fictional restaurant. Here we are witnessing one of the great poets of the 20th century asking for a book of Arlo's simple poem for children. It occurs to me, this may be a moment of irony.
More years roll by and, in 2010, I'm writing about music on a regular basis. I pick up an assignment with Sing-Out! to write an article about Sarah Lee Guthrie. She has become a singer-songwriter in her own right. This happens when the Guthrie Family are coming to L.A to play UCLA's Royce Hall. I'm given backstage access. The first person I see is Jackie Guthrie and even though it's been years since we've spoken, she waves her hand for me to come over. A friendship is renewed as though not a day has gone by since the 1996 McCabe's show. She uses my shoulder to lean on as she has had a skiing accident injuring her ankle. The show is wonderful with generations of the Guthrie family performing that night. But it is Jackie's kindness that remains in my memory.
In 2011, courtesy of Barry McGuire–an old friend of Jackie and Arlo's–is looking for bookings in New England. As I did at McCabe's, I hand out contacts and phone numbers. McGuire and former Byrds member John York are booked at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is the church of Alice's Restaurant fame. It has been converted into a concert venue and charitable community center. The generosity of Barry and Mari McGuire allows me to go to the show. It is a quick turnaround trip that has me traveling from "California to the New York Island." The church feels strangely familiar. The movie was filmed there.
Unfortunately, Arlo and Jackie are on the road that night. As the concert is in progress, Jackie calls the Center. Soon afterward, I feel a tap on my shoulder and the office manager whispers in my ear, "Jackie said to tell you she loves you." Moved beyond words, I look forward to a future visit with Jackie and Arlo. But it was not to be. I have no idea how little time remains.
So, in October 2012, Jackie Guthrie quietly passed from this life after a battle with cancer. It was a shock. When I saw her in 2010, she was full of kindness, generosity, and good humor. With Arlo's approval, I wrote a tribute to her that was published in No Depression. Arlo sent his thanks.
Since I first discovered him, Woody Guthrie has reached iconic heights as one of America's finest balladeers and songwriters. Today his songs are considered a national treasure. He even has a festival named after him in his home town of Okemah, Oklahoma.
Arlo Guthrie's legacy continues to grow. He tours worldwide, playing to capacity audiences. From the first time I saw him on that golden flyer in 1969 to the last time in Bakersfield, California, he has brought laughter and tears through his stories and songs. His family has gifted me with the opportunity to connect with them through the written word. It's not anything I could have dreamed up.
But, more than anything, it seems that Jackie Guthrie still presides over the clan she nurtured and grew. And she, no doubt, has a little help from Woody and Marjorie Guthrie, as they soar across the heavens and live in the hearts of all who knew them.
Arlo Guthrie: The Re: Generation Tour with Arlo, Abe, and Sarah Lee Guthrie, Tuesday, April 3 at the Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros, Solana Beach, 8pm.
Terry Roland
Terry Roland was born in West Texas and raised in the South Bay of Southern California. HIs writing reflects his love for the music of the heartland places. Watch for the connection between dusty wind-blown tumbleweed and the warmth of summer sun and sandy beaches.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Step up your spin game with a pair of these leggings. The velvet accent is so fun for the fall/winter season!
How cozy does this UGG robe look?! So decadent and perfect for chilly mornings.
Loving the look of these high-waist skinny jeans from Madewell. Such a great wash!
Speaking of velvet, this sheath dress is fabulous! Love the deep-V neckline and slitted skirt.
This cable knit sweater is under $80 and looks incredibly comfy.
I swear, this is the last velvet item I'll mention, but this blazer looks so expensive!
The rabbit fur detail on these metallic sneakers is EVERYTHING.
Adore the voluminous blouson sleeves on this simple cardigan. So pretty!
Love that grey sweater! Sleeve goals.
Those Stella + Ruby are everything for the coming holidays. And I'm always down for anything leopard.
I like those jeans and NB sneakers!


The Obama Administration's new open government policy has begun to elicit a response from executive branch agencies. The Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and other agencies issued news releases yesterday outlining the initial steps they are taking to fulfill the December 8 White House Open Government Directive (pdf).
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy posted a request for public comment on how to enhance public access to federally-funded science and technology research. Beginning today, "The Administration is seeking public input on access to publicly-funded research results, such as those that appear in academic and scholarly journal articles. Currently, the National Institutes of Health require that research funded by its grants be made available to the public online at no charge within 12 months of publication. The Administration is seeking views as to whether this policy should be extended to other science agencies and, if so, how it should be implemented."
Most national security and intelligence agencies, however, met the new Open Government Directive with silence, as if it did not concern them.
But many such agencies maintain unclassified databases that are potentially of great public interest, and that ought to be broadly accessible. We have nominated two candidates in particular for disclosure under the new open government policy.
First, there is CREST (CIA Records Search Tool), the CIA's database of declassified historical records. It contains millions of pages of redacted records that have already been processed for public release. CREST is available at the National Archives in College Park, MD. Yet the CIA has refused to publish CREST online, or to release a copy to others so that they could. Now would be an opportune time to do so. (See "CREST Leaves Cavity in Public Domain," Secrecy News, April 6, 2009).
Another major record group that we believe ought to be public are the unclassified reports and analyses of the Director of National Intelligence's Open Source Center. This is a slightly more complicated case since many OSC products include copyrighted material that cannot readily be published without permission. But many other OSC products are purely discursive and analytical and could be published without difficulty if there were a will to do so. A selection of OSC products that were obtained by Secrecy News may be found here.
Writing on the White House blog yesterday, Special Counsel to the President Norm Eisen and Open Government Initiative Director Beth Noveck offered their view on "Why an Open Government Matters."


While the exact reason is elusive, the facts are pointing towards the collaborative efforts of a local healthcare group, Be There San Diego, which in 2011 began aggressive follow-up treatment for at-risk patients. Coincidentally, there was a startling, 22 percent decrease in local heart attack hospitalizations beginning that year and extending through 2016.
FDA has been far more supportive of smoking cessation and harm reduction than in the past. So it's right to crack down on retailers who the agency found illegally sold e-cigarette products to minors.
With Caesarian sections rising many people question physician decision making. It's always easier to see the correct path after the fact, when you bear no responsibility. A new study looks at some of the concerns being considered in the decision-making process. Spoiler Alert: it is not about the money.
What's the most cost-effective way to reduce drinking? As with other sins, taxes are best. And education? It doesn't even make the list.
For Heat-Stricken Athletes, Ice Baths Save Lives. So Coaches, Where Are They?
By and large high schools and colleges, and the organizations that govern them, haven't mandated that cooling tubs be readily available for athletes whose body temperatures climb dangerously high. Recent incidents have shown that teens who could have been saved by having access to ice baths instead die without them.
A dearth of truth in medical advertising is probably our greatest public health threat. With consumers bombarded by spurious claims, our agencies need to be proactive, not reactive in protecting the public.
One study tells us we can predict a three-fold risk of cancer at birth. Yet, another states that we frighten patients when the term "cancer" is used for low-risk situations. Discussing uncertainty can be a risky business.
Condom Re-Use is a Thing. It Shouldn't Be.
Due to the endlessly creative ways we inadvertently harm ourselves, health officials felt compelled to step in to reduce unintentional injury.
The Bay State passed a bill that raises the legal age from 18 to purchase tobacco products and cigarettes. When the law takes effect on Dec. 31, Massachusetts will become the sixth state in the U.S. to raise the age restriction to 21, and the first to prohibit the sale of tobacco products from pharmacies that offer health services.
Greater patient volumes result in more experience and better outcomes. But for rural and underserved areas, there may not be enough volume to maintain a clinically-safe practice. The trade-off of access and outcome is at the heart of a discussion of TAVR, or Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, a replacement for open surgery.
In the same way one "seasons" a cast iron frying pan, scientists have found a way to create a slippery coating, which can improve food safety while reducing bacterial contamination.


Holds the table schema. This property is only valid while its connection is open.
Releases all resources used by the current instance of the DbDataReader.
Each insert must be preceded by a call to ULTable.InsertBegin.
Prepares to perform a new lookup on the table. The value(s) for which to search are specified by calling the appropriate setType method(s) on the columns in the index with which the table was opened.
Prepares to update the current row in the table.


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February 8, 2017 by gozzter
Acknowledging the Mind's Eye
Sometimes, in the midst of a problem –in the midst of an era- the resolution derives not so much from the answer as from the acknowledgement that there is an issue to begin with. I find it interesting that Nature has given us an ability to adapt more efficiently -to ignore, I suppose- that which arises gradually than that which falls upon us as an event –interesting, because that allows us to discount something until it results in complications. Difficulties. It is the Janus view of evolution, I suppose.
An article in the BBC news alerted me to one novel approach to encourage acknowledgment of an issue that has plagued some societies for what seems to be millennia: sex selection –or perhaps, more honestly, destruction: www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37034444
It got me thinking… We tend to cherish and preserve what we value; we neglect, or abandon that which we don't. Denigrate it, even. Perhaps an occasional nudge in the ribs may cause us to look around and see where we have wandered –realize that there is really no need to stand so close to the edge.
But it does give one pause for thought –how do some of these things become imbedded in a culture? Surely they don't start out as intentionally malevolent. Or is that being revisionist and unduly naïve? I'd like to think that some of the customs, however egregious we find them now, were products of a different time when other priorities required precedence. Confusing times, perhaps, when we barely knew who we were in our overarching need to identify and fend off them. Troubling times beneath the roiling waters in which we are just beginning to be able, however slowly, to surface for air.
And the problem, as always for those of us less afflicted, is acknowledgement –recognition that there is more to do. There is always more to do…
Despite being a gynaecologist for more years than I can remember, I suppose I have always lived in a man's world. It's hard not to wear the clothes you were assigned. And yet, every so often, that usually-locked door is knocked ajar briefly, and the light from within is blinding. Unintentionally heuristic.
I was sitting in a busy coffee shop recently and managed to find a tiny unoccupied table against a windowless and shadowed wall in the corner. Perhaps it camouflaged me -made my presence less noticeable, my gender less obtrusive- but as I sat there staring silently at the busy room, fragments of conversation from the next table floated past like dust motes in the feeble light. Two women were catching up on their lives. I didn't mean to listen, but sometimes words are beacons: currents, vacuuming up the air between –meant to be heard, meant to inform. It's hard to ignore words when you sit in shadows.
"And so how is Janice doing now?" a grey-haired woman in pigtails wearing black track pants and a yellow sweat shirt asked between gulps of coffee and grabs for the oversized chocolate cookies she had balanced precariously on her plate. She clearly had little need of more calories, but the presence of her more sizeable friend likely justified the debauch in her mind. It works for all of us, I think.
Her friend just shrugged amicably. "You know what it's like, Dory," she said, and launched into her bagel as if she were packing a box. "Kids are kids…"
Dory munched softly on a cookie and considered the issue. "She's hardly a kid, now, Alice. She's, what, seventeen?"
Alice nodded her head equally thoughtfully and her long dark hair slid back and forth over her shoulders like a wash cloth. Although considerable larger than her friend, she carried her weight gracefully, and with the gravitas that suggested a person of authority. Dressed in what seemed in the dim light to be an expensive white silk blouse I could make out little ruffs on each wrist. I don't normally notice such things, but with each movement of her arms, they risked coating themselves with cream cheese from an impertinent bagel, now lying in fragments in front of her. "Eighteen…" She took a delicate sip from her coffee and sat back on her chair as if the subject required a little more thought.
"Still, she should know where she's headed by now…" Dory left the question of direction open, but her eyes betrayed her opinion. "I mean, who she is…" she added, italics begging for attention.
Alice sighed and leaned forward again to pack another item into her waiting mouth. "I think she's always known."
"And how about you?"
Alice smiled and nodded. "Some things a mother just knows, Dory."
Dory was obviously trying to understand, but her confusion was apparent, even to accidental eyes watching from the shade. She shook her head, disapproval hovering over her like a cloud. "Did you ever to speak to her about it, Alice?"
Alice's eyebrows both rose at the same time. "Whatever for, Dory?" she said, genuinely puzzled at the remark.
It caused Dory to sigh rather more loudly than necessary. "Well, I would have thought…"
Alice refurbished the smile she'd sacrificed to the bagel and leaned an elbow on the table. "Thought what?"
Dory straightened her back like a boxer ready to receive a blow. "Well… that…"
"That my daughter would think the same way as her mother? She learned the Theory of Mind when she was five, Dory." Her friend visibly winced at that. "The world is different for each of us, Dor," she said, reaching out and grasping Dory's hand. "And the question should not be why, but rather, how can I best negotiate it…?"
Dory tried to smile, but even from the shadows I could see her lips twitching with the effort. "Do you think if…" But she was clearly too embarrassed to finish her thought –and anyway, I could see Alice shaking her head and squeezing her hand affectionately.
"Somethings just are, Dory. And my main duty as a mother is to help her to accept them." She let go of Dory's hand and picked up her coffee for a sip. "And to help others to accept her…"
"But…" There was a hint of helplessness in that one word.
"But what's not to love, eh?" she said, glancing towards the door and standing up to wave at a smiling teenager gliding towards them like a boat about to dock. And then Janice waved back, just like anybody else…
This entry was tagged acceptance, BBC news, coffee shop, conversation, culture, difference, Gender, Janus, Societal norms, society, Theory of Mind.


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Agrihood – The Farm
Living in South Burlington
Single-Family Houses
Sheppard Custom Homes
Sterling Homes
Carol Audette
Sarah Harrington
Contact South Village
The Greater Burlington area is consistently recognized as one of the country's most desirable places to live.
Watch our video about South Burlington!
The area has excellent schools (South Burlington public schools rank in the top 1% nationally). The Great Schools website ranks South Burlington schools a 9 out of 10.
Orchard Elementary School | Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School | South Burlington High School
In addition to the high quality public schools available the community is also served by several private schools of note including Vermont Commons School and Rice Memorial High School.
Dining and Local Foods
The greater Burlington area has a flourishing foodie movement with many restaurants offering a variety of cuisine including: Italian, Nepali, Turkish, Thai, and traditional American favorites.
In addition, Vermont's specialty foods are widely known, with area farms and businesses producing maple syrup, cheeses, meats, wines and spirits, chocolates, coffee, ice cream and much more.
The South Village Community is located in South Burlington, Vermont, a quick ten-minute drive to Burlington International Airport. A modern and easy airport for transportation to major cities in the United States.
Plattsburgh New York is just an hour away and also boasts a modern and accessible airport with access to major US cities.
Across the border in Canada, Montreal's international airport provides flights to locations across the world. Montreal International Airport is an hour and a half drive from South Burlington, Vermont.
South Burlington has convenient access to world-class healthcare at the University of Vermont Medical Center. The University of Vermont Medical Center is part of a five-hospital network serving patients and their families in Vermont and northern New York.
You can view South Village homes and townhomes for sale or contact us here. For information on leasing, contact us here.
Keep informed about the latest news and events related to South Village.
Welcome to South Village, a neighborhood of single-family homes and townhomes in the heart of Vermont's beautiful Champlain Valley. South Village was designed from the ground up to bring together two of Vermont's most cherished traditions: open space and village living.
Carol Audette, Broker/Realtor
Lipkin Audette Team
Carol@LipkinAudette.com
Sarah Harrington, Realtor
Sarah@SarahHarringtonre.com
Robin Jeffers, Developer
Robin@sdireland.com
Copyright ©2020 South Village | All Rights Reserved


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GOVERNOR CUOMO SIGNS LEGISLATION TO BAN PLACEMENT AGENTS IN THE NYS COMMON RETIREMENT FUND
Ensures Continued Confidence in the Integrity of the Fund
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed legislation to prohibit the use of placement agents or intermediaries by the New York State Common Retirement Fund (Fund). This bill (A.3137/S.4761) codifies into law reforms following an investigation from then-Attorney General Cuomo into pay-to-play practices at the Fund under former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
"Placement agents raise the risk of pay-to-play practices which erode trust in the pension system and place the hard-earned dollars of its members at risk," Governor Cuomo said. "As Attorney General, I investigated and uncovered these abuses in the system under former Comptroller Hevesi in a wide-ranging investigation and instituted nation-leading reforms to ban placement agents and campaign contributions that were largely adopted by the SEC. As Governor, I am proud to codify the placement agent ban into law through this commonsense legislation that guards against pay-to-play schemes and protects the investments of hardworking New Yorkers."
This legislation is a program bill introduced by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli in 2011. In April 2009, DiNapoli banned placement agents from working with the Fund.
"When I became State Comptroller, I undertook a comprehensive review of the state pension fund's operations to restore its reputation after the previous administration's wrongdoing. It was clear to me that placement agents were corrosive and unnecessary," New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said. "In April 2009, I banned placement agents, paid intermediaries and registered lobbyists from involvement with investment decisions. New York was one of the first states in the nation to completely ban them. For years, I have pushed to have this prohibition against pay-to-play codified into law. I want to thank Governor Cuomo for his support and leadership and for permanently taking placement agents out of the equation."
Senator Martin J. Golden said, "This new law will protect the integrity of our retirement fund. Ensuring that this fund remains strong and growing for the retirees of today and tomorrow. The bill precludes potential conflicts of interest, and assists the State Comptroller in fulfilling his duties as a fiduciary to the Fund. By codifying existing policy, that prohibits the use of placement agents by managers doing business with the common retirement fund will ensure that the Fund will always be protected."
Assemblymember Peter J. Abbate Jr. said, "In the spirit of protecting the state pension fund's independence and integrity, this bill will ensure that the existing policy of banning the use of placement agents or investment managers that has been in practice for many years will continue. I am proud to have sponsored this legislation and grateful to have worked with Governor Cuomo and State Comptroller DiNapoli to make sure it was passed and signed into law."
Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo said, "DFS applauds Governor Cuomo for signing this important legislation, advanced by State Comptroller DiNapoli, which codifies a crucial provision in a DFS regulation that provides necessary standards for the management of the Common Retirement Fund. Banning the use of placement agents and intermediaries ensures the integrity of pension investment decisions and protects both taxpayers and members."
Specifically, this law:
prohibits the Fund from engaging, hiring, investing with or committing to an investment manager that is using the services of a placement agent or intermediary to assist such investment manager in obtaining investments by the CRF
prohibits the Fund from engaging, hiring, investing with or committing to an investment manager without obtaining from such investment manager a certification in the form and manner prescribed by the CRF stating that such investment manager has not used the services of a placement agent or other intermediary to assist such investment manager in obtaining investments by the CRF
In 2007, then-Attorney General Cuomo launched a sweeping investigation into abuses at the state pension system that resulted in convictions of Hevesi and seven other prominent figures in an elaborate scheme that traded influence and investment in the state pension system for campaign contributions and payments to intermediaries. After becoming State Comptroller in 2007, DiNapoli did a top-to-bottom review of the operations of the Fund and instituted changes that were lauded by independent auditors as industry-leading efforts that transformed how the Fund did business.
The use of placement agents figured prominently in Hevesi's scheme. More than $170 million in taxpayer money was recovered as a result of the probe.
As part of the investigation, then-Attorney General Cuomo created a nationwide Code of Conduct in settlements with investment managers and others, containing a placement agent ban. The other component of Cuomo's Code of Conduct, which banned obtaining a pension fund investment within two years of a campaign contribution, was incorporated into law nationwide by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2010, protecting trillions in pension fund investments across the country.
The Department of Financial Services and its predecessor agency banned the use of placement agents via a regulation since 2009. The SEC also banned unregistered brokers from public pension fund investments. The Code of Conduct and today's bill go farther by permanently banning all third party brokers, registered or unregistered.


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Security engineering: broken promises
For several decades, we have in essence completely failed to come up with even the most rudimentary, usable frameworks for understanding and assessing the security of modern software.
Written by Ryan Naraine, Contributor
Ryan Naraine Contributor
Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues. He is currently security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab, an anti-malware company with operations around the globe.
Posted in Zero Day on May 20, 2010 | Topic: Enterprise Software
Guest editorial by Michal Zalewski
On the face of it, the field of information security appears to be a mature, well-defined, and an accomplished branch of computer science. Resident experts eagerly assert the importance of their area of expertise by pointing to large sets of neatly cataloged security flaws, invariably attributed to security-illiterate developers; while their fellow theoreticians note how all these problems would have been prevented by adhering to this year's hottest security methodology. A commercial industry thrives in the vicinity, offering various non-binding security assurances to everyone, from casual computer users to giant international corporations.
Yet, for several decades, we have in essence completely failed to come up with even the most rudimentary, usable frameworks for understanding and assessing the security of modern software; and spare for several brilliant treatises and limited-scale experiments, we do not even have any real-world success stories to share. The focus is almost exclusively on reactive, secondary security measures: vulnerability management, malware and attack detection, sandboxing, and so forth; and perhaps on selectively pointing out flaws in somebody else's code. The frustrating, jealously guarded secret is that when it comes to actually enabling others to develop secure systems, we deliver far less value than could be expected.
So, let's have a look at some of the most alluring approaches to assuring information security - and try to figure out why they fail to make a difference to regular users and businesses alike.
Flirting with formal solutions
Perhaps the most obvious and clever tool for building secure programs would be simply to algorithmically prove they behave just the right way. This is a simple premise that intuitively, should be within the realm of possibility - so why haven't this approach netted us much? Well, let's start with the adjective "secure" itself: what is it supposed to convey, precisely? Security seems like a simple and intuitive concept, but in the world of computing, it escapes all attempts to usefully specify it. Sure, we can restate the problem in catchy, yet largely unhelpful ways – but you know we have a problem when one of the definitions most frequently cited by practitioners is:
"A system is secure if it behaves precisely in the manner intended – and does nothing more."
This definition (originally attributed to Ivan Arce) is neat, and vaguely outlines an abstract goal – but then tells very little on how to achieve it. It could be computer science - but in terms of specificity, it just as easily could be a passage in Victor Hugo's poem:
"Love is a portion of the soul itself, and it is of the same nature as the celestial breathing of the atmosphere of paradise."
Now, one could argue that practitioners are not the ones to be asked for nuanced definitions - but, ask the same question to a group of academics, and they will deliver roughly the same. The following common academic definition traces back to Bell-La Padula security model, published back in the sixties (one of about a dozen attempts to formalize the requirements for secure systems, in this particular case in terms of a finite state machine – and one of the most notable ones):
"A system is secure if and only if it starts in a secure state and cannot enter an insecure state."
Definitions along these lines are fundamentally true, of course, and may serve as a basis for dissertations, perhaps a couple of government grants; but in practice, any models built on top of them are bound to be nearly useless for generalized, real-world software engineering. There are at least three reasons for this:
There is no way to define desirable behavior of a sufficiently complex computer system: no single authority can spell out what the "intended manner" or "secure states" are supposed to be for an operating system or a web browser. The interests of users, system owners, data providers, business process owners, and software and hardware vendors, tend to differ quite significantly and shift rapidly – if all the stakeholders are capable and willing to clearly and honestly disclose them out to begin with. To add insult to injury, sociology and game theory suggest that computing a simple sum of these particular interests may not actually result in a satisfactory outcome; the dilemma, known as "the tragedy of the commons", is central to many disputes over the future of the Internet.
Wishful thinking does not automatically map to formal constraints: even if a perfect high-level agreement of how the system should behave can be reached in a subset of cases, it is nearly impossible to formalize many expectations as a set of permissible inputs, program states, and state transitions – a prerequisite for almost every type of formal analysis. Quite simply, intuitive concepts such as "I do not want my mail to be read by others" do not translate to mathematical models particularly well - and vice versa. Several exotic approaches that let such vague requirements to be at least partly formalized exist, but they put heavy constraints on software engineering processes, and often result in rulesets and models far more complicated than the validated algorithms themselves – in turn, likely needing their own correctness to be proven... yup, recursively.
Software behavior is very hard to conclusively analyze: static analysis of computer programs to prove they would always behave in accordance to a detailed specification is a task that nobody managed to believably demonstrate in complex real-world scenarios (although as usual, limited success in highly constrained settings or with very narrow goals is possible). Many cases are likely to be impossible to solve in practice (due to computational complexity) – or even may turn out to be completely undecidable due to the halting problem.
[ ALSO SEE: Postcards from the anti-virus world ]
Perhaps more frustrating than the vagueness and uselessness of these early definitions is that as decades fly by, little or no progress is made on coming up with something better; in fact, a fairly recent academic paper released in 2001 by the Naval Research Laboratory backtracks some of the earlier work, and arrives at a much more casual, enumerative definition of software security: one that explicitly disclaims it is imperfect and incomplete:
"A system is secure if it adequately protects information that it processes against unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized modification, and unauthorized withholding (also called denial of service). We say 'adequately' because no practical system can achieve these goals without qualification; security is inherently relative."
The paper also provides a retrospective assessment of earlier efforts, and the unacceptable sacrifices made to preserve the theoretical purity of said models:
"Experience has shown that, on one hand, the axioms of the Bell-La Padula model are overly restrictive: they disallow operations that users require in practical applications. On the other hand, trusted subjects, which are the mechanism provided to overcome some of these restrictions, are not restricted enough. [...] Consequently, developers have had to develop ad hoc specifications for the desired behavior of trusted processes in each individual system."
In the end, regardless of the number of elegant, competing models introduced, all attempts to understand and evaluate the security of real-world software using algorithmic foundations seem to be bound to fail. This leaves developers and security experts with no method to make authoritative statements about the quality of produced code. So, what are we left with?
In absence of formal assurances and provable metrics, and given the frightening prevalence of security flaws in key software relied upon by modern societies, businesses flock to another catchy concept: risk management. The idea, applied successfully to the insurance business (as of this writing, with perhaps a bit less to show for in the financial world), simply states that system owners should learn to live with vulnerabilities that would be not cost-effective to address, and divert resources to cases where the odds are less acceptable, as indicated by the following formula: risk = probability of an event * maximum loss
The doctrine says that if having some unimportant workstation compromised every year is not going to cost the company more than $1,000 in lost productivity, maybe they should just budget this much and move on – rather than spending $10,000 on additional security measures or contingency and monitoring plans. The money would be better allocated to isolating, securing, and monitoring that mission-critical mainframe that churns billing records for all customers instead.
Prioritization of security efforts is a prudent step, naturally. The problem is that when risk management is done strictly by the numbers, it does deceptively little to actually understand, contain, and manage real-world problems. Instead, it introduces a dangerous fallacy: that structured inadequacy is almost as good as adequacy, and that underfunded security efforts plus risk management are about as good as properly funded security work.
Guess what? No dice:
In interconnected systems, losses are not capped, and not tied to an asset: strict risk management depends on the ability to estimate typical and maximum cost associated with a compromise of a resource. Unfortunately, the only way to do it is to overlook the fact that many of the most spectacular security breaches in history started in relatively unimportant and neglected entry points, followed by complex access escalation paths, eventually resulting in near-complete compromise of critical infrastructure (regardless of any superficial compartmentalization in place). In by-the-numbers risk management, the initial entry point would realistically be assigned a lower weight as having low value compared to other nodes; and the internal escalation path to more sensitive resources would be likewise downplayed as having low probability of ever being abused.
Statistical forecasting does not tell you much about your individual risks: just because on average, people in the city are more likely to be hit by lightning than mauled by a bear, does not really mean you should bolt a lightning rod to your hat, but then bathe in honey. The likelihood of a compromise associated with a particular component is, on an individual scale, largely irrelevant: security incidents are nearly certain, but out of thousands exposed non-trivial resources, any resource could be used as an attack vector, and none of them is likely to see a volume of events that would make statistical analysis meaningful within the scope of the enterprise.
Security is not a sound insurance scheme: an insurance company can use statistical data to offset capped claims they might need to pay across a large populace with the premiums collected from every participant; and to estimate reserves needed to deal with random events, such as sudden, localized surges in the number of claims, up to a chosen level of event probability. In such a setting, formal risk management works pretty well. In contrast, in information security, there is nothing contributed by healthy assets to directly offset the impact of a compromise, and there is an insufficient number of events to model their distribution with any degree of certainty; plus, there is no way to reliably limit the maximum per-incident loss incurred.
Enlightenment through taxonomy
The two schools of thought discussed previously have something in common – both assume that it is possible to define security as a set of computable goals, and that the resulting unified theory of a secure system or a model of acceptable risk would then elegantly trickle down, resulting in an optimal set of low-level actions needed to achieve perfection in application design.There is also the opposite approach preached by some practitioners – owing less to philosophy, and more to natural sciences: that much like Charles Darwin back in the day, by gathering sufficient amounts of low-level, experimental data, we would be able to observe, reconstruct, and document increasingly more sophisticated laws, until some sort of an unified model of a secure computing is organically arrived at.
This latter world view brings us projects like the Department of Homeland Security-funded Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). In the organization's own words, the goal of CWE is to develop a unified "Vulnerability Theory"; to "improve the research, modeling, and classification of software flaws"; and "provide a common language of discourse for discussing, finding and dealing with the causes of software security vulnerabilities". A typical, delightfully baroque example of the resulting taxonomy may be:
Improper Enforcement of Message or Data Structure ? Failure to Sanitize Data into a Different Plane ? Improper Control of Resource Identifiers ? Insufficient Filtering of File and Other Resource Names for Executable Content.
Today, there are about 800 names in this dictionary; most of them as discourse-enabling as the one quoted here.
A slightly different school of naturalist thought is manifested in projects such as the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), a business-backed collaboration aiming to strictly quantify known security problems in terms of a set of basic, machine-readable parameters. A real-world example of the resulting vulnerability descriptor may be:
AV:LN / AC:L / Au:M / C:C / I:N / A:P / E:F / RL:T / RC:UR / CDP:MH / TD:H / CR:M / IR:L / AR:M
Given this 14-dimensional vector, organizations and researchers are expected to transform it in a carefully chosen, use-specific manner – and arrive at some sort of an objective, verifiable, objective conclusion about the significance of the underlying bug (say, "42"), precluding the need to more subjectively judge the nature of security flaws.
I may be poking gentle fun at their expense - but rest assured, I do not mean to belittle these CWE or CVSS: both projects serve notable goals, most notably giving a more formal dimension to risk management strategies implemented by large organizations (any general criticisms of certain approaches to risk management aside). Having said that, none of them yielded a grand theory of secure software yet - and I doubt such a framework is within sight.
* Michal Zalewski is a security researcher at Google. He has written and released many security tools, including ratproxy, skipfish and the browser security handbook. He can be found at the lcamtuf's blog and on Twitter.
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Koller 1.5 KW Inline Water Heater. An inline water heater keeps your bath water hot allowing you to enjoy a longer soak without having to top up with hot water.
The heater is built into the whirlpool system and as water passes through the coil it is heated. Please note the heater is not designed to heat the water from cold.
Keeps your bath water hotter for longer. This item will be delivered with your Whirlpool Bath. The item "1.5 KW Inline Water Heater for Whirlpool Spa and Jacuzzi Baths" is in sale since Tuesday, March 20, 2018. This item is in the category "Business, Office & Industrial\Electrical Equipment & Supplies\Circuit Breakers & Disconnectors\Other Circuit Breakers". The seller is "thewhirlpoolbathshop" and is located in Southampton.


BEHAVIORISM - behaviorism n. An approach to psychology focusing on observable behavior, denying any independent significance for mind.
BEHAVIORIST - behaviorist n. One who studies behavior of humans or animals.
BEHAVIOURAL - behavioural adj. (British spelling) Of or pertaining to behaviour.
HEREINABOVE - hereinabove adv. Above this, in this document.
hereinabove adv. Earth and heaven (here and above).
MISBEHAVIOR - misbehavior n. (US) Action or conduct that is inappropriate, improper, incorrect, or unexpected.
SHOVELBOARD - shovelboard n. Alternative form of shuffleboard.
VIBRAPHONES - vibraphones n. plural of vibraphone.


For those of you who enjoy online gaming of any sort, you'll know how frustrating it is when you come across an unexpected issue. This could range from a fault with a game, a misleading promotional offer, a withdrawal problem or any number of other troubles. Many people won't know how to tackle such a problem, especially if it becomes necessary to take it beyond the realms of speaking to a customer support agent. This is why we have therefore put together some information to give you all the necessary routes to take, some of which depend completely on the type of issue you have.
All problems should theoretically be able to be resolved by the platform's customer support team. That is, after all, what they're there for. Usually, online bingo sites will offer up various different means of being able to speak to an advisor, be that via live chat, telephone or email, so contacting them shouldn't pose any kind of problem in itself. It is their job to assist you to the best of their abilities and in as pleasant a way as possible, and most difficulties with bingo games or websites can be resolved by using this method.
However, there may be the odd occasion where you need to go beyond the support option and take it to the next level. As mentioned, there are certain companies whos whole job is to deal with these issues, but you'll need to be sure that you're speaking to the right people.
Should you find yourself in the midst of a dispute with the gambling operator, the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) can act as an impartial judge to resolve the issue. The company is a non-statutory organisation, which was set up in 1998 and charged with the delivery of authoritative adjudications to the betting industry. Their existence is due to the recognition of the betting industry of a need to provide better services to their customers, and with the commencement of the Gambling Commission in 2007 as regulator of the commercial gambling industry, the IBAS gained legal endorsement. The rules laid down by the Commission state that any complaint not resolved by the operator, if it relates to the outcome of the customer's gambling transaction, becomes a dispute. When it reaches this stage, the site must be able to offer the complainant the opportunity to refer a dispute to an independent party that they're registered with. Many of today's online bingo sites are registered with the IBAS.
The Gambling Commission is the United Kingdom's centre for all things relating to betting, including the online gaming market. Companies are able to apply for licences here, customers can check on a site's legal status, and in addition, complaints can be directed straight to them in order to resolve an issue. There are various different topics of dispute noted and detailed on the company website, such as disagreements on whether or not you have won, how much you have been paid out, bonus offers, closure of your account and many more. The Gambling Commission is the very last port of call for disputes though, and this is when court battles start becoming a real possibility. Most cases should be resolved before it gets this far. However, if it does, you'll need to send your complaint in writing, over the telephone or via email to the Gambling Commission who will then consider whether or not your complaint is valid.
This one is a very specific company as well, providing support for those clients who feel they have been misled by an online bingo promotion. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK's independent regulator of advertising across all media, and as such, if you feel that you have been mistreated thanks to misleading offers being scrawled across a bingo site, the ASA is the organisation to contact. All advertisements, be they bingo-related or not, need to fall in line with the UK Advertising Codes, so if you feel that these haven't been followed by a gaming site, contacting them is the best way forward, should the support team not work diligently enough to rectify the problem in the first instance.


Abu Dhabi Media has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs (ZHO) to identify bilateral cooperation and coordination frameworks. Efforts aim to strengthen specialized programs to support People of Determination and to facilitate their integration into the national media sector.
Signed at the Abu Dhabi Media headquarters, the signatures of the MoU include H.E. Dr. Ali bin Tamim, General Manager of Abu Dhabi Media, and Abdullah Abdul 'Alali Al Humaidan, Secretary General of the Zayed Higher Organization; in the presence of Sultan Al Hosani, Chief Operating Officer, and Abdulrahman Awadh Al Harthi, Acting Executive Director of Television, and executive officials from both parties.
The terms of the MoU mandate that both parties agree to cooperate in the implementation of the program that assists national People of Determination with finding jobs in various media, technical and administrative fields. The MoU further stipulates that both parties shall work to provide the necessary skills, competencies and institutional values compatible with the labor market's needs and the guidance of the United Arab Emirates.
The MoU includes bilateral cooperation in additional fields that include the exchange of data and research regarding the integration of People of Determination. Abu Dhabi Media also agrees to broadcast national and seasonal events, initiatives and development projects, as both parties work towards improving the quality of services for all.
The MoU serves to support the government's efforts in aiding and highlighting its contribution at various levels, with particular emphasis within the community.
"This memorandum also emphasizes the need to join efforts in helping People of Determination overcome the obstacles they may face while also working towards their empowerment and success through the provision of innovative initiatives," he continued.
On his behalf, Abdullah Abdul 'Alali Al Humaidan, expressed his gratitude for the signing of the MoU alongside the continued support and interest from the officials of Abu Dhabi Media to be involved with ZHO activities.
Al Humaidan also thanked them for their media coverage and highlights representative of the Foundation's care and rehabilitation of People of Determination. He acknowledged the nation's efforts to support, care, and demonstrate the capabilities of People of Determination in a myriad of international sporting events.
Al Humaidan also praised Abu Dhabi Media for the interest in ZHO members and for the provision of preparatory programs to support job seekers in the various fields of the media (media - technical - administrative - specialist). He acknowledged how such assistance has provided them with the necessary skills, competencies and institutional values compatible with the labor market; while also helping People with Determination to determine and chart their career paths.
Al Humaidan also recognized Abu Dhabi Media's significant role in all national events and coverage of activities related to People of Determination, especially those of ZHO. He noted that UAE media is characterized by the transparent and professional handling of events always in adherence to the orientations and guidelines that serve to benefit the country.
"ZHO, headed by H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman, and Their Excellency Members of the Board, deeply appreciates the role played by national departments, institutions and companies to serve People of Determination," he said.


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Pusher's Sandbox plan: building creative environments to support our users
Hey! I'm Gavin, the Marketing Assistant here at Pusher 👋
February will mark the anniversary of my first year at Pusher. Coming into the role as a rookie in tech with little-to-no developer industry experience, the last 12 months have been nothing short of a steep learning curve.
Some industry knowledge has taken a bit of time to stick. I can now tell you what a WebSocket is. I've wrapped my head around how Channels and Beams works, but the ever-changing world of realtime technology will always keep me on my toes. What's come a lot more naturally is understanding our community and what matters most to them. Initially, this felt like one of my biggest challenges. I can't write code or build fully-fledged apps. I felt it was going to be an uphill climb earning my seat at the table in conversations with the community.
Ideas & Environment
Over the past twelve months, I've spent a lot of time interacting directly with our users and those within the wider dev community. I've helped host multiple in-person Pusher Sessions meetups in our London office after an eighteen month, covid19-induced hiatus. I've had conversations with our users and learned how Pusher fits in their tech stack or their clever use case. I took part in my first ever hackathon. Getting to understand our community from the ground up, I quickly began to find some common ground: the importance of ideas and environment, and how the two intertwine.
Again. I regretfully can't build an app just yet. What I can build is an iPhone from spare parts if when I drop it down a flight of stairs. Before that, it was LEGO cities in my playroom, or sketchy DIY mods to our GoKart so all my brothers could fit in at the one time. I grew up in an environment where I could share ideas, build, break, and go again.
My builds might be of a different nature. I might not yet understand how a developer's idea works but the excitement around sharing ideas or what you've been building, breaking, strikes a mutual chord. It's why I find it so refreshing to speak with developers who are bursting to share what they've been working on. From hobbyists playing around and building things they love, to innovators trying to get their idea off the ground, and everyone in between. This got me thinking about our free Sandbox plan and how it resembles the perfect platform for harnessing our developers' creativity.
The sandbox plan is a free plan which gives you 200,000 messages and up to 100 concurrent connections per day to allow you to start off with a small-scale realtime build, prototype an idea or just have a bit of fun learning the platform!
Supporting creative minds
I've spent a lot of time speaking with colleagues who've been at Pusher since the early days, learning how the company's relationship with developers has shaped over the years. I feel Pusher has always held a strong sentiment towards those at the start of their developer journey. Pusher boasts a place in the stack of many multinational corporations – a list that continues to grow. But now, I see the people behind these companies through a different lens.
The senior developers, engineers, CTOs who are making these technical decisions – what journeys have they had up to now? I'm sure once upon a time, many were hobbyist developers, playing around with new technologies or building apps for the things they love. We've seen Channels power an IOT smart sprinkler system and a realtime altimeter. I've spoken to a user who used Pusher to build a long-desired feature for his golf app, initially just for him and his friends. Our users are constantly challenging the versatility of our products with compelling use cases.
I see the Sandbox plan as Pusher's commitment to supporting creativity, innovation or experimentation – ideas which become the next-gen of major products. A free, fully-featured platform to have fun, play around with our tech and nurture ideas; an environment for developers to build, break, and go again.
The floor is yours
The level of ingenuity from within the community continues to surprise me. I've learned so much from conversations with our users and the wider Pusher community. I want to help keep that momentum going into 2023. Bursting to share something cool you've been working on? Looking to showcase your demo to someone, or chat about your clever use case? I'm all ears.
Reach me on Pusher's Discord channel @Gavin from Pusher!
Pusher pricing Sandbox plan
Gavin O'Flaherty
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Pusher's Sandbox Plan and creative developer environments


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Eman Zabi
Is Your Outdoor Brand Making These Mistakes?
If I read "Not all those who wander are lost" one more time I'm going to gouge my eyes out.
I get it, I really do, being outdoors is a transformative experience, and Tolkien's quote is something that really taps into the spirit of nomadism, BUT with everyone and their grandmother now 'wandering', brands need to hire a damn copywriter and get a new script.
It's about time they create something that speaks to their audiences on a deeper level than just a wishy-washy aspirational scroll through Instagram.
And I get it, it's hard.
The primary demographic for most outdoor businesses has traditionally been the middle-aged white man who has the funds to invest in expensive gear.
But as we know, old white guys aren't the only ones scaling peaks, and breaking ground.
Here are a few ways the industry could step up their game if they want to get out of the kiddy pool and wade into the wide, wide sea.
INCLUDING THE NON(CIS)MALE
(Raha Moharrak)
And, I don't mean painting a rucksack pink and pushing it at women. That's not inclusive marketing, that's sexist BS from the 50s.
Granted there are packs with smaller frames and molded backs made for women, but how many organizations in the industry are tackling some of the unique issues that women in the outdoors face. Safety is a huge one, handling the hell that is menstruation is another. (If you're cringing at the mention of menstruation, then that's a whole new post)
How many outdoor brands address these issues? I'm not saying come out with a line of tampons (although biodegradable ones for easy disposal aren't a bad idea) but pretty much every business has a blog, and these are issues that need to be discussed if brand wants to widen their nets to include women.
The next issue is representation. While brands have gotten a LOT better about featuring women in their ad campaigns, it's still not nearly enough!
There are so many women doing incredible things: Raha Moharrak was the youngest Arab and the first Saudi woman to summit Everest, Premlata Agarwal, the 50-year-old Indian woman who scaled the Seven Summits, or even Sumiyo Tsuzuki the first Japanese woman to reach the South Pole.
We need to see more of them and less of a pretty blonde chick in a beanie staring off into the distance.
The LGBTQ+ community is even more underrepresented than cis-women. And, if pink rucksacks were bad, then rainbow rucksacks are even worse. The LGBTQ+ community deserves more than just token representation. That means incorporating them into marketing campaigns, speaking to their unique struggles, and to their specific pain points.
I touched on this earlier, but more and more millennials are embracing the outdoors, and we deserve marketing that goes beyond fluffy Instagram quotes or #vanlife.
Pretty pictures of tents pitched in impossible places is great and all, but the reason most people (millennials included) love the outdoors so much is because it's real.
It makes you feel alive. And, there's nothing more plastic than heavily curated photographs, captioned with other people's thoughts.
Your target audience is a group of people who literally throw themselves off cliffs to feel alive. Trite, cliché marketing campaigns do them a disservice.
That being said, in this humble millennial's opinion, the best way to tap into the millennial outdoorist community is to go where they go.
Geocaching is HUGE, thanks to Pokémon Go, and companies need to tap into that.
Come up with ways of using the technology that millennials are already using and welcome them into your tent.
Hot cocoa optional.
(Girl Trek)
If you're sneaky you'll notice that all the women, I mentioned earlier were POCs.
This should be a no-brainer, it's 2018 for crying out loud. Why aren't there more people of color in ad campaigns? Why aren't more mainstream organizations marketing to POCs?
Nike Middle East's 'What Will They Say About You?' was one of the most beautiful ads I've ever seen. It spoke to me on a deeper level, got me teary-eyed and simultaneously made me want to buy Nikes and run around the desert singing Eye of the Tiger. It also made me respect the brand fiercely for taking the time to get to know the struggles that women in South Asia and the Middle East face.
And that's not just me, that's pretty much every brown woman on the planet. And, last time I checked, there are a lot of us. (73,787 people are born every day in India alone, if you were wondering)
Apart from that ad, I can't remember the last time I saw someone who looked like me represented in outdoor ads.
POC are making their voices heard online, and businesses are missing out. One example is the success of Ambreen Tariq's @BrownPeopleCamping Instagram account.
In an interview with Outside magazine, she attributed the success of her account to the lack of representation in outdoor marketing and media.
"There are so many people who are shouting to be included and made to feel welcome in the outdoors. It's something that's truly frustrated me in the outdoors community—there's an aesthetic of the way outdoor retailers advertise. Thin, usually light-skinned. It's a very particular way of painting a community. It's hard to see yourself in the outdoor community if you don't physically see others like you, and you definitely aren't seeing it in advertising."
Representation is important, folks.
Repeat after me,
REPRESENTATION IS IMPORTANT
And it's not just to be politically correct, (although I'm all about the PC life #HoyaSaxa), failing to represent minorities is likely hurting your bottom-line. More inclusive ad campaigns will, for a fraction of the cost, not only increase the number of people who purchase from you, but will also make people respect, prefer, and even love your brand more.
How's that for brand loyalty?
HOW DO WE MOVE FORWARD?
The next time you're sitting around the table bouncing ideas for a new campaign, ask yourself this:
Who is missing? How can we include more diverse perspectives and voices?
Is our curated content authentic? Are we showing real people doing real things? How do we keep things real without having crappy quality?
Have we quoted Tolkien? (If you have, fire your copywriter, and hire me.)
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2 week Commodores Cruise from Cromarty via Caledonia Canal to Tobermory and return..
2 week bare-boat charter in from Reggio Calabria to Aeolian Islands on 36 ft Beneteau (Stromboli, Volcano, Salina, Lipari, Ustica), and Sicilly.
2 week Commodores Cruise from Cromarty to Whitehills via Lossiemouth and Buckie.
2 week bare-boat charter in Turkey (Bodrum, Datca and Gokova gulf). Engine failure.
Weekend sailing in Cromarty Firth.
2 week Commodores Cruise from Cromarty to Kirkwall via St Margarets Hope, Stromness and Pierowall.
Whole Day Sailing experience with Blue Box Sailing on Volvo Open 60 yacht around the Island (Isle of Wight).
Weekend cruise Gosport to Cherbourg, Beaulieu River, Cowes, return to Gosport on Mystery 35 (Aragorn).
2 week crewing on 37ft Prout Snowgoose Elite Catamaran from Rome to Corsica, Bonifacio, La Madelana, Lavezzia Island, return to Rome.
Weekend cruise from Cromarty to Lossiemouth, Helmsdale and return to Cromarty.
Purchased Red Ruth (December 2007).
2011 onwards - please see our pages on the main index to the left.
More pictures on photo gallery page.