text:
Quartet For the End of Time at St. Philip's Anglican
Angelique Po, Domagoj Ivanovic, Liam Hockley & Laine Longton at St Philip's February 15 2017
My friends Ian Bateson, Graham Walker and I attended an extraordinary concert today Sunday, January 15th, 2017 at St. Philip's Anglican Church in the Dunbar, King Edward neighbourhood.
Thanks to organist and Musical Director Michael Murray, this venue has been a scene of concerts in the last few years that compete with the best anywhere else in our city. Kudos to the man, and especially for selecting programs that could be considered difficult by your average concert goer.
Our city became less of a pariah backwater in 1986 when liquor rules had to be brought up to 20th century standards. I no longer had to mess around all afternoon with a salad at La Bodega in order to order the drink (and drinks of my choice).
But in many other respects here in Vancouver we like to play it safe and musically bring in the chestnuts that we know will warm up seats at big venues. Vivaldi's Four Seasons as fantastic as they are could have a rest. And while I would never criticize the immortality and divine attribute of J.S. Bach I believe I have heard enough of his Concerto for 2 Violins in D minor, BWV 1043.
The program at St Philips featuring four performers I had never heard of:
Domagoj Ivanovic – violin
Laine Longton – cello
Liam Hockley – clarinet
Angelique Po – piano
And one composer besides OlivierMessiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, I had never heard of, Russian Galina Ustvolskaya (1919- 2006) combined for a program that was startling, difficult at times, lyrical at others and simply wonderful by the end when Angelique Po slammed a key on the last bass note of her piano that reminded me of my fave Vancouver pianist (Turning PointEnsemble) Jane Hays.
Galina Ustvolskaya
Many who used to go to Johnny Thunders concerts went to see if the man would die on stage with an OD. I always went to see how if only in brief moments of lucidity he played with a passion that was second to none. I go to concerts with Jane Hays to see if she will demolish the piano this time. I have to mention here that she now has competition from Angelique Po. When I talked to Po back stage after the concert and cited Hays she said, "How I wish I had her hair!" All I can say to correct all that is that Po in her lovely (and tight) little black hair and black pumps does not have to feel left behind in any way.
Ustvolskaya's Grand Duet, 1959 played by Po and Longton had at least three movents (from five) that featured a pianissimo touch on the keys and then the sort of banging that proves that Russians like to tell us that the piano is indeed a percussion instrument. Technology seems to have added an extra pedal to the piano. Po uses a tablet in lieu of sheet music. With her left foot she presses on a device (it is black) on the floor to advance the music. Longton had more of a problem with her music (she might need to update!) but offered us some soft almost inaudible moments with her cello. The piece brought to mind a memory I had from years ago when driving on a back alley in East Vancouver I saw a gull on its death throw. I felt powerless in spite of my empathy for the creature. It would flap its wings with force and then would not and appear dead and then it would be wild again until it all ended. The Grand Duet was that for me and luckily we were given an interval to digest music that in spite of having been composed in the middle of the last century felt like new music. This is the sort of music you have to witness live. Forget YouTube and smart phones.
The second work is famous and even more famous for the fact that it is rarely played, at least in Vancouver where I heard it once before. I wrote about it here.
I could not in any way get close to explaining how extraordinary it is so I will put here a lovely tribute here to this work written by a Frenchman in a prisoner-of-war-camp. It is not that normal quartet, a string quartet or a reed quartet or even a wind quartet. It features the only instruments Olivier Messiaen could find in the camp, a piano (an upright of questionable tuning) a clarinet, a cello and a violin.
I have to state here that in this 7-part work every one of the performers has his/her time to shine in the sun.
But as far as I am concerned it really is a vehicle for the clarinetist. I place the clarinet in a very special place because I tried to play it once in my school band where I played the alto saxophone. I could not get two nice notes out of it. My 14 year old granddaughter Lauren plays the clarinet for her school band. We were both friends of Dal Richards who learned to play the clarinet before his saxophone.
Our clarinettist, Liam Hockley a former student of that other clarinettist who played in that other Quartet for the End of Time has kindly provided me with his take (below) on what it feels like to play that third movement : III Abîme des oiseaux (Abyss of birds) which is a clarinet solo in its entirety.
Yes Hockley was taught well by François Houle. Hockley was terrific.
But he had some supernatural help from the cross-shaped church he performed in. My friends Ian, Graham an I were sitting up front and a bit stage right. This spot was under the higher cupola of the church. Every time Hockley played sustained lower or middle notes the sounds were no longer directional. They seemed to swirl around my head and seem to go into one ear and out the other. There were moments when the sound was so faint that it was exquisite. When the sound was swirling Hockley was moving his clarinet (clockwise?). I asked him and he simply explained it as going with the flow as he played.
We left the church realizing we had witnessed a one-of-a-kind performance and we only hope to see these four many times again.
Here are a few off-the-cuff remarks about the third movement of the Quartet for the End of Time; I hope you find them satisfactory. Please feel free to use as much or as little as you like. It's difficult to encapsulate exactly what is so special about this movement!
Messiaen writes about Abîme des oiseaux (Abyss of the Birds): "The abyss is Time with its sadness, its weariness. The birds are the opposite to Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs."
As his description suggests, the movement inhabits two distinct temporal, spatial, and emotional planes: the opening theme of the movement (marked "slow, expressive, sad, and desolate") rotates wearily around a central E-natural, never seeming to gain enough momentum to stray from its pull. The second theme (marked "almost fast, alert, capricious, sunny, like a bird, free") is pure birdsong, shining a light into the dark abyss.
An oddly stark and minimalist gesture appears three times in the movement: a single pitch—the E-natural from the first theme transposed one octave higher—that moves from extreme pianissimo to extreme fortissimo over a long duration. How do we interpret it? To me, it is an all-encompassing gesture embodying the broad spectrum between the extremes of dark and light as they are manifested in our traditions and experiences. As it emerges from the abyss and swirls around the room expanding radiantly outwards it becomes Messiaen's light, stars, and rainbows in pure sonic form.
Liam Hockley
The the first performance of the Quartet for the End of Time happened on the same date, January 15 but back in 1941 in a prisoner-of-war-camp.
Link to: Quartet For the End of Time at St. Philip's Anglican
Rodney Sharman - New Music For Old Instruments
Rebecca Wenham Revisited
Linda Lost & Found
Finality
Elizabeth Aird & Her Fishnets Revisited
The Liquifaction of Her Clothes - Robert Herrick
Tu Más Profunda Piel - Julio Cortázar
How Orange is Trump?
Buenaventura Gálvez Puig
Bring Back, Oh! Bring Back That Ektachrome To Me!


text:
from ..utils import cached_property

class FormMedia(object):
    '''
    Instance encapsulating media items assigned to instances of
    :class:`Form <iktomi.forms.form.Form>`,
    :class:`Field <iktomi.forms.fields.Field>` and
    :class:`Widget <iktomi.forms.widgets.Widget>`
    '''

    def __init__(self, items=None, env=None):
        self.env = env
        self._media = []
        map(self._append, items or [])

    def _append(self, item):
        if item not in self._media:
            self._media.append(item(holder=self))

    def __iadd__(self, other):
        # `other` is iterable (including FormMedia)
        map(self._append, other)
        return self

    def __add__(self, other):
        media = FormMedia(self)
        media += other
        return media

    def __radd__(self, other):
        return self.__add__(other)

    def __iter__(self):
        return iter(self._media)

    def __nonzero__(self):
        return bool(self._media)

    def __eq__(self, other):
        return self._media == other._media

    def __repr__(self):
        return '{}(items={!r})'.format(self.__class__.__name__, self._media)

class FormMediaAtom(object):
    '''
    Media item representing JS, CSS or some other media stuff linked to
    :class:`Form <iktomi.forms.form.Form>` or it's parts.
    '''

    macro = None # Must be overwritten

    def __init__(self, data, holder=None):
        self.data = data
        self.holder = holder

    def __call__(self, holder):
        return type(self)(self.data, holder=holder)

    def __eq__(self, other):
        return type(self)==type(other) and self.data==other.data

    def __iter__(self):
        yield self

    def __add__(self, other):
        media = FormMedia(self)
        media += other
        return media

    def __repr__(self):
        return '{}({!r})'.format(self.__class__.__name__, self.data)

    def render(self):
        '''Renders media item to HTML'''
        return self.holder.env.template.render(
                                        'media/{}.html'.format(self.macro),
                                        data=self.data, env=self.holder.env)

class FormCSSRef(FormMediaAtom):

    macro = 'css_ref'

class FormCSSInline(FormMediaAtom):

    macro = 'css_inline'

class FormJSRef(FormMediaAtom):

    macro = 'js_ref'

class FormJSInline(FormMediaAtom):

    macro = 'js_inline'

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
namespace Nethereum.Util
{
    public static class AddressExtensions
    {
        public static string ConvertToEthereumChecksumAddress(this string address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.ConvertToChecksumAddress(address);
        }

        public static string ConvertToEthereumChecksumAddress(this byte[] address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.ConvertToChecksumAddress(address);
        }

        public static bool IsEthereumChecksumAddress(this string address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.IsChecksumAddress(address);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Validates if the hex string is 40 alphanumeric characters
        /// </summary>
        public static bool IsValidEthereumAddressHexFormat(this string address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.IsValidEthereumAddressHexFormat(address);
        }

        public static bool IsValidEthereumAddressLength(this string address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.IsValidAddressLength(address);
        }

        public static bool IsTheSameAddress(this string address, string otherAddress)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.AreAddressesTheSame(address, otherAddress);
        }

        public static bool IsAnEmptyAddress(this string address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.IsAnEmptyAddress(address);
        }

        public static bool IsNotAnEmptyAddress(this string address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.IsNotAnEmptyAddress(address);
        }

        public static string AddressValueOrEmpty(this string address)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.AddressValueOrEmpty(address);
        }

        public static bool IsEmptyOrEqualsAddress(this string address1, string candidate)
        {
            return AddressUtil.Current.IsEmptyOrEqualsAddress(address1, candidate);
        }
    }
}


text:
Home / Blog / CRA discusses Third-Party Civil Penalties in letter to Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
CRA discusses Third-Party Civil Penalties in letter to Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
Published June 17, 2010 by Mark Blumberg
CRA in a letter discusses certain issues that were posed at the 2008 STEP National Conference. Question 12 dealt with Third-Party Civil Penalties and it noted that as of April 21, 2008 12 such cases existed of which "2 relate to an offensive donation arrangement". Since then there have been other Third-Party Civil Penalties against those involved with abusive charity donation schemes.
The CRA letter provides:
"Question 12 – Third-Party Civil Penalties
Can you provide an update on whether any assessments have been issued under section 163.2 for third-party civil penalties?
As of April 21, 2008, the CRA has assessed third party penalties in respect of 12 cases. While six of these have filed notice of objections in respect of the penalty, none of these cases has proceeded to the Tax Court of Canada as of yet. Of the 12 cases, two penalties were imposed for misrepresentation in tax planning arrangements and ten were imposed for participating in a misrepresentation. Also, of the 12 cases, 2 relate to an offensive donation arrangement, 6 relate to unsupported or fictitious expenses, 3 relate to deceptive or fictitious journal entries and 1 relates to offensive tax planning.
We are aware that tax professionals are concerned that the CRA might apply the penalties to honest mistakes, oversights or differences of interpretations where there is bona fide uncertainty as to the status of the law. Information Circular 01-1, Third-Party Civil Penalties, outlines the CRA's guidelines and processes for applying the third-party civil penalties and includes examples of situations where the CRA believes the penalty should not be applied as well examples of where the penalties should be applied. The auditor must complete a penalty report in every case where the penalty is proposed. The report sets out the criteria being considered in each case recommending a penalty, including any information or explanations from the third party that may mitigate or counter imposition of the penalty. The penalty report will be available on request at the objection stage.
The CRA strictly controls the application of the penalties. To this end, the CRA established the Third-Party Penalty Review Committee. The Committee is comprised of senior representatives from the CRA and from the departments of Finance and Justice."
As an aside, and not relating to charities, CRA also dealt with RRSP related fraud and imposing Third-Party Penalties on "promoters and accommodators (lawyers, accountants, valuators)":
"2008 STEP National Conference
Question 13 – RRSP Frauds and Strips
Can you provide an update on CRA's assessment policy on RRSP frauds and strips? What relief is available for individuals who have lost their RRSPs to fraudulent promoters but who are still being assessed under subsection 146? Is it appropriate for such individuals to be penalized twice – once on the loss of their savings, and subsequently on a cash tax bill on phantom value?
Our reassessment policy has always been to reassess the annuitants who partake in these schemes. Where a non-qualified investment has been acquired by a trust, the fair market value of the non-qualified investment at the time it was acquired shall be included in the annuitant's income pursuant to subsection 146(10). In situations where a trust governed by an RRSP acquires property for consideration that is greater than the fair market value of the property at time of acquisition, the difference between the fair market value and the consideration is included in the annuitant's income under subsection 146(9).
Furthermore, CRA is now taking an aggressive stance against the promoters and accommodators (lawyers, accountants, valuators) whose actions and documents give legitimacy to the schemes in the eyes of the taxpayers. We are now considering applying third party civil penalties, as defined in section 163.2 against these parties who facilitate the RRSP Strip schemes.
Relief Available
If the RRSP subsequently disposes of a property that was a non-qualified investment when it was acquired, subsection 146(6) allows as a deduction in computing the income of the annuitant for the year of disposition an amount equal to the lesser of the amount previously included in income at the time the property was acquired pursuant to subsection 146(10), and the proceeds of its disposition.
To the extent there is a loss on the disposition of the property by the trust, such loss is a loss of the RRSP trust and not the annuitant.
CRA has been proactive in exposing the potential downfalls of these schemes to the general public. Tax alerts have been prepared warning taxpayers of the consequences they face by participating in these schemes, including the loss of retirement savings and the reassessment action by the CRA. The CRA has also met with Trustees to have them increase their diligence and adopt policies that will guard against these RRSP strip arrangements."
Avoiding 'Charity' Scams Canadian Charity Law News
Corporations Canada Changes to Fees + Service Standard Times and improves transparency
Here is our article Corporations Canada Launches Changes to Fees and Service Standard Times and New Express Services Today. There is some very…
Upcoming Webinars for the Canadian Charity Law Association
The Canadian Charity Law Association is delivering some upcoming webinars. Registration is free but space is limited. Topics are subject to change.…
Ontario government update re: ONCA transition -there will be an update
On December 31, 2019 the Ontario government apparently updated their webpage on ONCA. I know this because the page says "Updated: December 31,…
CRA letter on whether provincial non-profit corporation necessarily tax exempt under ITA
Air India Flight 182 Report - discusses terrorist financing and Canadian charities

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Good morning and happy Monday!!! I hope you all had a great weekend! I am so excited to be guest blogging today over at Stafford Stories! Melissa is hosting a Working Moms Guest Blogging Series which promises to be amazing. I enjoyed reading all of your Stay At Home Mom posts and can't wait to read about the busy lives of working Moms. Please head on over to Melissa's Blog to read my post and be sure to head back all week to catch all of the Working Mom posts!
Loved your guest blogging. I am in your same situation right now. I work 3 days a week. And feel the same way about it that you do. Unfortunately for me my husbands job right now does not allow him to help out much and it is HARD. I can't imagine having to work 5 days like I did when my first was an infant. Looking forward to checking out your blog on a regular basis!
I loved reading your post. Mine is scheduled for later this week! I think because I knew because staying home for me wasn't even an option, I feel less guilty. It was something that I would always know that I would do. I have a fabulous sitter, who is like my kids second mom! We love her! You are doing a great job!
I loved your post....mine is scheduled for later this week. I have a close friend who is doing the part time longer days type of schedule and she feels like you do, so you are not alone!
I am also an accountant so I know that type of work and the demands of public accounting. I left it six years ago to work for my current employer and have not looked back.
I also have family in Ohio. My Dad was born and raised in Lancaster and my Grandma along with other family still live there and in Columbus!


Originally from Montreal, Bob graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a BA in business and public administration. His time at The Wharton School of Business was interrupted by a one-and-a-half-year call to active duty in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean conflict.
Bob's a serial entrepreneur. At 30, he founded a helicopter operating company, with a fleet of 10 helicopters operating on missile base construction, forestry, offshore oil logistics and motion picture production. Later, they flew freight during port stoppages in Saigon for the U.S. military in Vietnam. In a subsequent venture, Bob and his investment partners drilled 67 producing gas wells in western Colorado and eastern Utah before selling all their interests to a publicly-traded Canadian oil-and-gas company.
In 1990, Bob co-founded Westmount with his son Jim, and helped build the firm to its current stature and capabilities.


text:
Joe Biden Does U-Turn on Federal Funding for Abortions
'Folks, times have changed'
Posted Jun 7, 2019 1:56 AM CDT
Joe Biden speaks during the I Will Vote Fundraising Gala Thursday, June 6, 2019, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
(Newser) – Joe Biden is no longer out of step with his Democratic rivals on the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for most abortions. Biden—whose campaign said as recently as Wednesday that he still supports the measure—announced Thursday that he now wants to end the amendment that he defended for decades, CNN reports. At a Democratic National Committee event in Atlanta Thursday night, Biden said he has had a change of heart because of the "extreme laws" Republicans in states like Georgia have brought in to limit women's access to abortions. "If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone's ZIP code," he said.
"Folks, times have changed," Biden said, per the New York Times. "I don't think these guys are going to let up." He said he had been "working through the finer details" of his health care plan, and was" struggling with the problems that Hyde now presents." When it was introduced in 1976, the amendment's only exception was when the woman's life was in danger. Bill Clinton broadened it in 1994 to includes cases of rape or incest. Rivals including Elizabeth Warren and Beto O'Rourke criticized Biden Wednesday over his support of the amendment. After he reversed his position, Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen tweeted: "Happy to see Joe Biden embrace what we have long known to be true: Hyde blocks people—particularly women of color and women with low incomes—from accessing safe, legal abortion care." (Read more Joe Biden stories.)


On this part of the website you will find some excerpts of our work.
Mahmeşa – Vızêr ra Ewro Istanıkê Zazayan; Zaza Folktales – Then and Now (Narrator: Rosan Hayıg; Redaktion: E. ve B. Werner), 2007. Tij: Istanbul.
A Grammar of Dimili, also known as Zaza (Terry L. Todd), 2008 (electronic version).
Terry Todd's research of the Zaza language resulted in a doctoral thesis at the University of Michigan in 1985. The grammar consists of three parts: Phonology, Morphology and Syntax.
Rivers and Mountains (Eberhard Werner), A Historical, Applied Anthropological and Linguistical Study of the Zaza People of Turkey including an Introduction to applied Cultural Anthropology.
Zaza – Turkish Lexicon: Turkish – Zaza Wordlist (Rosan Hayıg & Brigitte Werner),Estemol: Tij Publishing House.


The iPhone 7 and 7 Pro will go official in September with pre-orders allegedly starting on the 9th. Actual shipments will begin a week later, most likely on September 16 (a Friday). The exact date of the Apple event hasn't been confirmed yet.
Last year, the iPhone 6s was unveiled on September 9th, pre-orders started on the 12th, but sales started two weeks later on September 25 (a Friday again).
While we're at it, here are some more photos of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Pro. Note that the unit with the 3.5mm headphone jack is the iPhone 6s Plus, hope you didn't get excited over nothing.


text:
Category Archives: UK
World Music Mix: Hakim Jamal(UK)-Album: When You Are Who You Are
Hakim Jamal(UK)
At Last I Am Free/Think I'll Call It A Day/We Are Who We Are
Album: When You Are Who You Are
Composer: Paul Ashley Wheatcroft
Label: TakingHead TV Recordings (2022)
When You Are What You Are' is the new studio album by Hakim Jamal, slated for release in Spring 2022. The album is a return to Hakim's jazz roots, and of course nods towards the ever-present influence of black songwriters and the black power movement.
Streaming CD Store Website
Posted in News, UK, World Music Mix | Tagged funk, New CD 2022, soul
World Music Mix: Tom Rodwell – Album: Wood & Waste (2021)
TOM RODWELL TO RELEASE WOOD & WASTE (Fireplace Recordings / October 22, 2021)
Writerly Taste And Crossover Vision Forms Decadent LP By UK Blues/Spirituals Guitarist
Tracked on tape At Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios, New Zealand, via The Who's old Neve Console, Wood & Waste is an entirely analog production with no digital conversion at any stage. Mastering and lacquer cut from 1/2" mixdown tapes. First run of 500 x 180gram LP's by Pallas, Germany.
Auckland, New Zealand August 2021—Novelists famously use their day jobs for material—guitarist Tom Rodwell mines his crossover blues career with a writerly taste for the surreal on Wood & Waste, a decadent and charmingly outré collection, released on October 22 2021.
An English artist presently moored in New Zealand, Rodwell's revival of blues music as a vehicle for dance has been supple enough to embrace rhythms from spirituals and calypso, and seen him support acts like Otis Taylor, C.W. Stoneking and Leon Russell. ("Beautiful tunes, beautiful groove—you don't hear that anymore," said Derek Trucks). A parallel career as a session player has seen him moonlight live and on record for artists as diverse as Lonnie Holley, Robert Lamm and Don McGlashan, and delve into a host of avant-jazz projects.
In his own songs, Rodwell's secret weapon is feel. "All the clues to a song are contained in the first bars of a primitive rhythm guitar part, it's my job to inhabit that space and gradually tease the rest out," he says. "You just have to pay attention when a song makes a left hand turn."
Consequently his songs resemble ragged short stories, cobbled-together genres from an alternate history. "The aim is to locate each song in a very specific room of its own, with contrasting feels like layers of paint or old wallpaper. That can result in a take that's seductive and seasick all at once."
Lyrically, the slip of the tongue is right at home on Wood & Waste – many of the numbers speak in a late-night jumble of double entendres and stream of consciousness. "I want to give the subconscious some legroom," Rodwell says. "And to me a song is successful when the exact tone is hard to name, like the feeling of a strange dream you only half recall."
The record opens with a slow-mo slab of 'misanthropic gospel'—"Don't Be a Fugitive All Your Life" finds a Randy Newmanesque unreliable narrator admonishing his buddies from beneath a hangover of overcooked reverb, slippery slide guitar, and ramshackle percussion.
The percussion is from Chris O'Connor and Jeff Henderson, notorious New Zealand free jazz multi-instrumentalists. They turn it loose on the absurdist one-chord freak-out "Touch Me Like a Teddybear", with booming marching drum and splashing hi-hat pitted against Rodwell's unhinged guitar. "It's perversely satisfying having these jazzmen churn out this meaningless bubblegum," Rodwell jokes. Meanwhile his own elaborate rig adds a shimmering polyphony—multiple amps and a revolving Leslie speaker creating the illusion of a bass player.
Improvisation is a key theme of Wood & Waste, where frequently a skeletal idea transforms into a fleshy dance rhythm. "Keep on Knockin'" subverts a determined Bo Diddley beat with dissonant Mellotron in praise of Edward Hopper and William Morris. "Plenty Time" is a species of prog rhumba set in Roman Britain, indebted to Nigerian giant King Sunny Ade. Elsewhere there's satirical funk on "Small Town", the Beach Boys-bossa of "Make Believe" and mythic doo-wop on "Carry On".
The album's centrepiece is "She Got Me Boiling", a juggernaut of psychedelic calypso welded to mindless riffs on cannibalism that would make the Mighty Sparrow blush. Driven by a bass-heavy guitar pulse and animated carnival drums, it's a fiendishly irresistible piece of music. Against that lusty fever-dream, a sickly waltz of slide and synth evokes the intergenerational nightmare of war—"Dead End Road" a reminder as the album closes that music is concerned with pain as much as pleasure.
Wood & Waste was tracked and mixed entirely on tape without click-track or edits at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios, an analog sanctuary built around The Who's old Neve console. The discipline in the studio sparked alchemy in the sessions. "Using tape means making decisions without a digital safety net, and living with the consequences," says Rodwell. He produced Wood & Waste alongside the safe hands and cool head of Raphael Mann (Frizz Records, Mr Hudson & The Library), with engineering by Jordan Stone and analog mastering and lacquer from LA legend Kevin Gray (Blue Note, The Beach Boys). The first run of the LP (care of Pallas, Germany) is the end product of an entirely analogue signal chain.
Rodwell's first full-length was 2012's Live Humble, an inward-looking set of spirituals, work songs and self-described "oddball improvisations". "Live Humble was a warping of tradition. The new record is liberated from it."
Wood & Waste is what used to be called a cult record – a set of warmly anarchic influences and timeworn qualities that is Tom Rodwell's trademark.
For more information: https://tomrodwell.com/
Press Contact: Kim Grant | KG Music Press | Kim@kgmusicpress.com | 626-755-9022
US Radio: David Avery Powderfinger | David@powderfingerpromo.com
Euro PR/Radio Peter Holmstedt, Hemifran | Peter.Holmstedt@telia.com
UK PR/Radio Joe Cushley, Balling the Jack | JoeCushley@yahoo.co.uk
Posted in New Albums, New Zealand, News, UK, World Music Mix | Tagged blues, free-jazz, fusion, improvisation


We specialise in standard and custom fabricated roofing system insulation in Greenmount for residential and commercial applications. Your option of roofing system insulation product depends on the roofing type.
Many commercial and industrial applications have metal deck or fibre cement roofing systems and require an insulation blanket. A lot of homes have tiled roofings and require the more traditional insulation batts.
Insulation roofing blanket is bonded to Sisalation reflective foil and are produced in basic lengths approximately 20m. However if you have the specific measurements needed, we will make your insulation blanket "cut to length". This will save you time, money and is much safer onsite with the decrease of having to cut whilst installing in the roof.
Roofing Sarking is also frequently described as 'Sisalation' which is a Fletcher Insulation branded product variety. Foil Sarking is a significant component for domestic and industrial thermal insulation in roofs, walls, under floors, a/c ducts or faced to glass wool blanket. It provides a waterproofing barrier, avoids dust and drafts and assists with energy performance.
The outcome will be a more comfy home in summertime and winter season, savings from increasing electricity charges and a healthy home environment with a reduction in wet areas.
Pink ® Floor Batts, made from light-weight, versatile and resistant glasswool and are specially developed for the thermal insulation of underfloor applications in domestic buildings. Produced in Australia for over 55 years, Pink Batts ® is the relied on option when it pertains to constructing new houses or retrofitting existing buildings for increased thermal performance or acoustic control.
Pink ® Floor Batts are a sound financial investment for homeowners, keeping residents cooler in summer, warmer in winter season and providing energy expense savings all year round.
The high density nature of Pink ® Floor Batts ensures the product will friction fit and will not droop during installation. A retention strapping system, provided with the product, is suggested for usage throughout setup. Pink ® Floor Batts are renowned for their firmness, making them easy to install in between standard stud spacing's -guaranteeing they stay in place for continuous thermal efficiency. Additionally, thanks to advances in formulation, Pink ® Flooring Batts are low itch – making them comfortable to deal with throughout installation.
There are 2 primary reasons for Acoustic insulation and they are to lower and control the transmission of sound through structures such as walls and floorings and secondly to dampen sound reverberation within a space.
Sound has the affect of raising tension levels, disrupting sleep and normally minimizing your lifestyle. Typical sound interruptions such as traffic noise, flight paths and powerful home entertainment systems have an influence on sound levels in your house. Acoustic insulation can assist in areas which are more susceptible to noise transference, consisting of;.
Underslab insulation is now a necessary requirement as part of Area J in the Building Code of Australia (BCA) meanings for many structures. This insulation is usually installed with the foil face down and mechanically fixed utilizing insulation fasteners and all signs up with are taped.
Electrical energy bills in will skyrocket by approximately an overall of 64 percent over the next 3 years as controlled electricity costs begin to increase due to different government efforts and lack of infrastructure.
One way to assist decrease your energy costs by an average of 30% each year is to have insulation installed in your home. Whilst obligatory for all new homes, numerous older homes, after the rebate, stay un-insulated and owners and renters alike will start to suffer not only from differing extremes in climate conditions however likewise from the crippling cost of their electricity expenses which are tipped to increase by figures someplace in the $400 – $700 per year range.
With the typical 3 bedroom family home costing very little more than this to insulate, the expense of getting us to install quality insulation in your home. And with there being little chance of energy expenses coming down in the future now is the time to obtain your house insulated prior to the expense of insulation services and products also increases.


Hedgehog 1/2 Pint Mug is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 22.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Hippo123 from My savior Years ago, while touring in Scotland, we were wandering around a small churchyard when the ground gave way beneath me. I was standing hip deep in a century old grave. Just as I was about to scream so loud it could be heard in London, a hedgehog appeared out of the hedge, tilted his head at me and watched as I was pulled up and out of the grave. He seemed to smile and turned back into hedge. That turned potentially one of my worst days into one of the best. And on your wonderful mug, I get to see four every day. The joy of the mug is enough - I have already won.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Emi12 from Love it! Great quality perfect finish! (And very cute!) Very happy!!
Rated 5 out of 5 by verbally from Hedgehog mug I purchased this hedgehog mug recently, I love it I dropped the previous one that I purchased, and was very sad. Although it is slightly different, hedgehogs are my absolute favourite, I would have a house full of the real thing but this is the next best option.


Your Savings May Not Be As Much…But Hey, Even Half of That is a Nice Vacation!
We can agree that saving money is a good thing. At the same time, it can be carried to extremes. As author Robert Kiyosaki notes, it is more important to grow our income than reduce expenses. We can only reduce expenses so far, but we can grow income to the moon, if we choose.
So, it is important to keep this in perspective. Nevertheless, hundreds of dollars a year saved for a small amount of time and effort can be worthwhile.
I live in British Columbia, Canada so the companies you deal with may have different names, but the same principles apply. It is a competitive world now in the "connected" world and we can take advantage of that by negotiating a better deal.
After one year of that, the bill went up again, so I phoned them and they explained that it was a one year special from the "Loyalty Department." Aah, says I, I do remember that now. Can I please have that special for another year? Oh no sir, that was just one year.
OK, so at this time the Shaw bill for cable and internet had crept up to $92 from somewhere around the $70 range. So I called them and politely asked if there was anything that could be done. Very nice young lady explained about the new world of cable and how I could buy a "digibox" and with just the very basic number of channels, it would come down to $67. I forget how much the digibox charge was to be as I ended up with a free one! Here's how.
Shaw lady upsells me on their phone service. Only $15 a month and if I get it, I will also get a free digibox. Great, says I, sign me up. I then phone Telus back and explain this offer. They quickly connect me to their "Loyalty Department" who are now more than willing to reduce my monthly bill to $17. Ok, that sounds fine. So I stay with Telus and cancel the Shaw phone.
Savings so far (All approximate and including taxes) $25 a month on cable and $10 a month on the phone. Plus the digibox is free. Maybe $50-70 one time saving.
You might be thinking: Yes, but you now have fewer TV channels. Au contraire, mes amis.
The old analog signals are still being pumped through but the digibox does not pick them up. So…I looked up in Used Victoria online and notice many folks just giving away 27inch TVs as they are upgrading to flat screen. So I picked one up. I now have the analog signal on one TV and the digital signal on another one. So no loss of channels. No big deal really. Most of my TV watching is from DVDs I loan out from the library for free…another saving by the way. If you can stand to wait for the movies, almost all the popular ones come to the library when they are released on DVD. Free. Depending on how many movies you watch, that can translate into over a $100 or more in a year.
Many folks call long distance these days. I call to Finland and the UK a lot and some US and Canada. Telus has long distance packages, but they are all more expensive than what is available elsewhere. My long distance carrier is Yak and their per minute charges are less across the board. But I hardly ever use them!
Skype to Skype calling is free. And Skype also has Skype to landline rates that are cheaper yet than Yak. The challenge is that calls to European cell phones are outrageous. Yak charges 35 cents a minute to Finland and 29 cents to the UK. Skype is a little better at 20.8 cents and 25.9 cents respectively.
BUT…Google voice is more realistic. You may know that a gmail account is free. When you have one, you can download a free app called Google Voice that then provides a dialpad inside gmail.
Google voice to European landlines is competitive, but their calls to cell phones are only 10 cents a minute instead of 20.8 to 35 cents.
Google voice calls to US and Canada are FREE.
Ok, so now you can throw away all those long distance plans and depending how many calls you make, save a few dollars a month to maybe as much as $20 -$30 a month.
There's a postcript of even more savings. I am loving this now.
My Telus bill comes in during the summer and it has increased from $17. So I phone them and they explain that all customers have had their bill raised during one of those periodic increases they have been granted by the authorities.
But, but but, I protest. I have a one year deal for a reduced rate. ….sputter, sputter. Let me put you through to the "Loyalty Department." Very nice young lady tells me that I have been a good customer for a very long time so she can restart a one year special deal for me again. The only hitch is they only can bill in $10 increments, so would it be alright if she made it $10 a month for me ($12 with taxes). I graciously accept.
I expect that at the end of that one year, I will once again spend a few minutes to renegotiate all this.
Hey listen. It's called capitalism. They are actually competing somewhat, so we are allowed to negotiate. Just takes a few moments.
$25 a month on the cable/internet.
Long distance savings are probably about $20 a month.
$60 a month is $720 a year. Over a decade, that is $7200 for very little time and effort expended.
If you ditch your cell phone too (you probably won't miss it), add another $3600 over a decade.


Working at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts is working with a passionate group of artists, professionals and theatre lovers to create unforgettable experiences for everyone in our local and national communities.
Our job openings include permanent and seasonal positions, internships and audition notices. We are a not-for-profit organization and an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Applications are accepted for current openings only. We do not accept unsolicited resumes. No phone calls please.
We create unforgettable shared experiences. We do it by engaging audiences through the art of theatre, empowering our passionate team, and sharing stories in landmark facilities.
The DCPA will be the most engaging theatre organization in the nation.
All open call auditions for the DCPA (including Equity, Non-Equity, and youth auditions) are posted on this page. If nothing is posted, then there are no current opportunities at this time.
The 2019 Auditions are now closed. The Theatre Company typically holds local General Auditions in April for the upcoming season. Please check back in March 2020 for information on next year's auditions. In addition to our local General Auditions, we hold national auditions to supplement roles each season.
Please refer back to this page for future audition opportunities.
We offer internships to students and graduates for specific positions across our organization. If there are no current listings posted here, please do not apply. We do not accept unsolicited resumes. Check back soon for future internship opportunities.
We accept unproduced original, full-length plays and musicals, which must be submitted by a literary agent. Playwrights residing in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico or Utah may send plays directly without an agent. We have a special interest in plays written by and for diverse voices, plays written by women playwrights and we are also interested in plays written for young audiences. Adaptations will be considered if you have secured underlying rights. Scripts may be sent by email or mail without prior synopsis or dialogue sample.
Due to the number of submissions, response time may take up to 6 months.
Building upon its 40-year commitment to new play development, the Denver Center Theatre Company has established The Playwrights' Group to foster the work of local playwrights. Read the announcement on our NewsCenter and return here for more details in May.


In a joint-study by Frost & Sullivan and NetSuite Inc, e-retail results for the Australian market have indicated that there is much room for expansion but also, that there are several factors which have contributed to the reduced momentum of online shopping in Australia with online at 7% of total retail sales, compared to 10% or more in the USA and the UK.
*Cost of living has risen in Australia and people cannot afford to splash out on a consistent basis when saving is a more responsible option.
*There is a need for more advanced integration between front-end systems (orders) and back-end systems (inventory management) in order to provide improved customer service, promotion and a nicer brand experience. It also costs more for e-retailers to run each channel separately.
*The growing mobile payment opportunities, which make shopping from anywhere, at any-time, a certain e-commerce stimulator.
*The expanding participation of consumers on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook: they will help to create a buzz around online shopping through peer recommendations, advertising etc, which provides many opportunities for retailers to market their goods for online purchase.


As enacted, exempts from licensure requirements person providing direct care services to no more than three people receiving services through consumer direction in a medicaid home- and community-based services program. - Amends TCA Section 33-2-402 and Section 33-2-403.
2019-04-04 Senate Signed by Governor.
2019-03-28 Senate Transmitted to Governor for action.
2019-03-14 House Subst. for comp. HB.
2019-03-04 House Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.


It has been down for days.
Is this getting fixed? Please say yes. I LOVE this script.
I would also very much like this to be corrected! I use TR every day and HAVE contributed!
Unless someone else has taken it over, I think that might be it for it, unfortunately.
I don't know if anyone around here has contact to him?
The sky is not the limit it is only the genesis of dreams.
Daughter of the primordial god, Nyx, the dark goddess of Night and Erebus whose province was the Underworld before the Olympian god Hades.
I have, twice now. Even did a donation trying to get his attention. Still hoping for the best.
He hasn't shown any activity for a long time except in the Origin unis. So he's not entirely gone from Earth.
I just went over to the Origin ogame board, and Vulca shows last activity there in March 18, 2018. So basically he has not been active for a year.
The post was edited 1 time, last by Uberman ( Mar 13th 2019, 1:36pm ).
Is there an alternative to topraider?
I'm also looking for alternative of topraider, if someone can share an idea.
Uni2 - Uni 12 - Andromeda - Retired.
Hey, I know letssled attacks you a lot with his rips.......and I want to crash those rips a lot!
Sad day, I just uninstalled it.
yes it was a great ap.....was we could at least get rid of designer.
I meant to say "wish we could at least get a hold of designer"...forgot to check auto correct. lol.
Actually though, Topraider was great and I hope someone makes an alternative. I'm half tempted to make one myself, tbh.


text:
keyboard_arrow_right Sales Podcast post
keyboard_arrow_right Business Podcast Post
keyboard_arrow_right Making Sales Calls with Jeremy Chen
Sales Podcast post
Making Sales Calls with Jeremy Chen
http://lifeblood.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeremy-Chen-FINAL.mp3
LifeBlood: We talked about making better sales calls, overcoming call reluctance, the reasons some sales people fail, and what to do about it, with Jeremy Chen, Sales Expert working to help companies increase net new business conversion rates.
Listen to learn what to do if your company doesn't have a defined sales process!
You can learn more about Jeremy at JeremyChenSales.com and LinkedIn.
Jeremy Chen
what's up? It's George G. And the time is right welcome today's guest strong and powerful. Jimmy Chen. Jeremy, are you ready to do this? I'm ready. All right, let's go. Jeremy has recognized sales expert helping b2b tech companies perfect their sales teams go to market strategy and increase net new business conversion rates by 15%. Jeremy, tell us a little about your personal lives more about your work, why you do what you do. My personal life well, my personal life is not that exciting. Unfortunately, here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, we're just starting winter. So
while I'd like to be somewhere warm, this is where I am for now. So I'll stick with it.
You know, my work is these days, a lot of mentorship to boards, individuals who
probably fell into sales through another career path somehow, some way.
And they know they can be successful, however, it's just not working out the way they would hope. And so
a lot of times, I get invited into companies that
have a team of all stars, and then you have sometimes a few people who aren't, you know, where they should be in their career. And I get tasked with helping those guys over achieve. So it's been great, it's been a great ride. Nice.
It's just not working out the way that they had hoped. And that's probably true for the person in the organization that hired them. And for the salesperson, it's probably impossible to say why that is definitively but what are some of the common reasons?
You know, a lot of times a salesperson gets hired,
they sort of get the book thrown at them. And that literally means, you know, here's a list contact information, go make some money to get,
you know, go after it. And the salesperson is like, great, and then sits down at the desk and goes,
what does that mean? Right? So you leave somebody like that,
unattended for weeks on end, and then it turns into months. And then all of a sudden you see their motivation drop, all of a sudden you see their focus dwindle. And then it turns into I'm not telling you this, but I'm going to apply for other jobs during my lunch break. Right. So it's very typical to see that while they have salespeople within the organization, and you know, other sales managers and that kind of stuff, the newer people to these companies, they just don't get the seat time that they need to be successful.
So seat time, that means they're not getting the support development. Oh, I think both. Especially nowadays, where everything is so automated. I mean, you can set up an email campaign with three clicks of a button, right? Who wants to pick up the phone and do the hard work and call people all day long? Right? So when you don't have that direct mentorship to say, Hey, George, I had a hard day today. And here's my activities. And let's Can we go through that?
It's it's difficult unless you really, really want to be there. You really want to be successful at this company with this product or service. It's hard to make it in that environment. It really is. Yeah.
how do you look at the state of of sales and marketing today? You mentioned we can, you know, create these wonderful automated programs and its ads, and it's very different than when I started a sales career 20 years ago? Yeah. You know,
I love the tools that people have built, you know, all of the ad campaigns and marketing and all of that stuff is a wonderful. In my mind, I think it's a passive activity. Because your audience can choose whether they want to deal with it or not. Meaning they can choose to open your email. They can choose to read your marketing material, they can make these choices and you have no control over
the phone is the oldest sales weapon.
And while it's a little bit more challenging, it's still the easiest way in my opinion, to get a hold of somebody. Right
I think that sometimes we forget that, you know, we have a lot of noise. And our job as salespeople is to cut through the noise in the most effective way.
In the sales, you know,
a lot of times in organizations that I get invited to, is done over the phone, despite having every tool known to man to avoid doing it on the phone. So I want people to recognize, I guess my message is, the phone is still effective as it's always been. Right? It's just that we're trying to wean off of it for some reason.
Yeah, that's interesting, right? It does seem like and that's, that's, I imagine a negative thing for the salesperson who maybe doesn't have great training. And they're in there. They're, they're not, uh, they're younger, in life, to then all of a sudden be told pick up the telephone and start calling people.
Well, it's interesting. I mean,
one of the things that often hits a nerve with people is sales, reluctance and call reluctance.
You I can't tell you how many times I get invited somewhere and they go, can you just talk to us about call reluctance? What is it why people don't want to pick up the phone? Right? And it all boils down to in at least in my opinion.
You know, this feeling of you're bothering somebody, you're not supposed to be there. You know, it's a, it's a dirty word to say that this is a sales call, and you're calling to solicit them potentially, right.
But if you think about it, the reverse way, you have no problem picking up the phone and calling in ordering a pizza, do you and you don't know that person either. And technically, you're disturbing what they were doing. Right? So it, it's just a it's a mindset thing. And all you have to do is put yourself in the right mindset to be able to achieve exactly what your goal is, which is pick up the phone, so.
So I think that that's a great reframe of it like, Yeah, have you ever pick up the telephone and order pizza? And the answer for a lot of people might be No, I just push button on the app. But of course, I'd be joking. But yeah, that's totally comfortable. It's no problem picking up the phone and calling your mom or whatever it might be. So.
So it's it's making sure that you do make that shift. But that's easier said than done. So how do you how do you walk people through that? Or how do you help make that shift?
You know, a couple things. I think the main one is, you cannot be tied to any sort of outcome.
Right? You can't have these preconceived expectations that
and I have it all the time where you know, somebody's making their rounds of calls, they call me, I pick up the phone, and they say something like, I'm glad to talk to a real human because I've been talking to nothing but voicemails.
So I think that, you know, going in and having the expectation that you're going to be successful is a good mindset to have, but also not being attached to whether or not somebody picks up the phone, or whether or not, they reject you, because there's they don't know you to reject you. They're simply rejecting whatever the offer is, even if you don't get past the first 30 seconds of your call, telling them that you're from XYZ company. And this is in fact, a solicitation call. Right? That, and that alone is the most difficult thing
to do.
And the key here is, once you because it's really a seven second thing once you get past it.
People can talk about their products and their services and their company all day long. They have no issues about that. It's the it's the seven seconds that says, you know, George, I'm calling and hoping you'd listen to me I got a better mousetrap, or they don't want to. They can't get through that part. So it's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And that's it's a very real thing, if you've never experienced call reluctance, or called strangers or mid sales calls like that. I know, I've certainly experienced that. And it's, you know, I think you'd be lying if you said if you wake up on a Monday morning after not having done it for a couple of days that the first call might still be an awkward thing, even if you've been doing it for a long time. So the more you can lean into that and embrace it and then overcome it. I feel like that's probably a smart thing.
You know, you make a great point, and resetting
After every call was huge, you know, I think that the quicker you can pick up the phone again is probably to your benefit, because I can tell you for sure that I used to stew over every single call, I mean, now it's just picking up the phone, if it doesn't work out, there's another number to call and, you know, a microsecond kind of thing.
And kind of circling back to
the opposite of of
the opposite of what probably ought to happen is you say, here's a list of contacts, go get them, you know, check back in three months, and they're left to their own devices feeling like they're on an island, and the activity dwindles down and probably dwindles down, and the motivation, the feelings and everything else get bigger and bigger, bigger.
How do you how do you think about role playing, and sort of practicing this?
I think that, you know, if I look at my company, as an example, right?
Every week, we take a random sample of calls from every single person that makes these sales calls for us. And we go through them line item by line item. And you can ask anybody on my team? Initially, there's some type of Oh, no, he's gonna put me in the hot seat. And, you know, I'm going to be in front of everybody, and I'm going to explain myself. Now, they look forward to it after some repetition. And the reason why is, you know, they've been to other organizations where you don't get the opportunity to literally take your sales call and break it down, line by line. And, and now they can tell me what's going on, which is the interesting thing, right? Whereas before, it was, oh, that call is no good. And they don't really get the opportunity to,
I guess, review and take that in and internalize it and actually get better the second time, or the third time or the fifth time, right. So you think that a lot of companies out there today?
They don't invest in their salespeople?
Like, you know, bigger companies, the Xerox of the 80s. I mean, gosh, the amount of investment they made in personal training was crazy back then. Right? You don't see that today. And I think that, you know, leads to attrition. Companies just don't keep salespeople like they used to, and salespeople will hop from boat to boat, from company to company, when they see a better and bigger fit. Right.
But that can be a trap as well. Yeah, yeah, there's no doubt I mean, whenever we leave where we're taking ourselves with us, so if we've never actually developed the skills to independently
be able to manage through this, then we're just going to take our inability to self manage to the next organization or the next organization.
And at some level, I imagine the goal is to create a self managing salesperson who doesn't need to sit on those calls, you know, I bet the best probably enjoy, just like Tom Brady loves probably to go through the game over and over again, after it's played to figure out how you can get better. Yep. Well, it's true. I mean, you know,
when I started out, it was recording everything with a external microphone, and listening to myself over and over and over. And I used to tell people, listen, they will go, you must be sick. I mean, who in the room, but do this kind of thing.
Now, with the phones, they have the software built right into them. So every time you pick up the phone, and here's what you say, and here's what the other side says. And it records the entire thing for you. And it even annotates it in some spots. You know, RingCentral not a free plug to them. But they they do this? That is what their software does. Right. So I think these are wonderful tools today that helps salespeople if they really want to get better to go out there. And, you know, use some of these software's for very cheap or free and use that to help their skill set. Just augment that much more.
Got it? Yeah. And why wouldn't an organization
Why wouldn't they create a process around that?
Why wouldn't they? I don't think it's why wouldn't they question I think that sometimes you have organizations just the other day, I got approached by a company that did nothing else, but sold like phone systems for offices. And what the owner told me was, they've just done things the same way for 20 years, and their biggest challenge now
I was with COVID. You can't just walk into an office building anymore, right? Because those gold plaques that say, no soliciting on the front doors actually mean something because they screened for COVID at the door. Right. So they kind of were forced to come up with a new sales process. Right.
And so,
back to your original question, why wouldn't they? I don't think it's it's a, you know, I think that if they realized the opportunity, they certainly wouldn't. A lot of them just had been doing stuff the same way for 40 plus years, and they don't know any better, which is fine. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting, I guess, it's doesn't necessarily matter why, why we're not doing something that's this is a huge opportunity. And if you could improve your, your new business conversion rates by 5% 10% 15%? I mean, for a large organ for any organization, that's a big deal. Yeah. Well, I mean, and part of it is just, you know, doing the activity.
You know, when I look at people who come into our program, now, half the battle is just getting them to pick up the phone, right?
We worry about the who's in the what's in the, you know, okay, this is what you do here in the technique, part of it, after the fact, way after the fact, it's sort of like going to the gym for the first time, your forms never going to be perfect the first time you try to squat. And I bet if you hire a trainer, they'll tell you the same thing. We're simply looking for the activity, and then we can train it from there. Same thing with our programs. I love it. So how do how do organizations? What does a typical engagement look like? How does that process work for you?
Typically, all engagement nowadays is a minimum of three months, we come in, we do a sales assessment, I'm really trying to get into the mind of the organization to understand what their sales process is, before we do anything, right. So you know, find out what the product is, who is sold to why they buy it, sort of the psychology behind that, then we go in and understand. Okay, how is it? Like? How is it being sold by what vehicle? Right? Are you using the telephone? Is it email? Is it inbound traffic? Are people walking by a sign and then ordering it online? Like what is it?
And then we understand the company's objectives to then work everything backwards. And then we put together a sales campaign, right? And then
nine times out of 10 sales campaign is driven by a salesperson or a team of them,
in which we're training, mentoring coaching them to stand up to those, what a sales manager would call KPIs key performance.
Indicators.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Need to figure out what's what's what's going on and come up with a diagnosis because I imagine that sometimes there's not even a sales process that's in place. So that's a whole different engagement than when there's an existing process. A lot of times, it's kind of, again, let's throw it at the wall, see what sticks, which is fine, right? But when you're trying to be scalable, repeatable,
you need some type of process there. And a lot of companies unfortunately, at least in the small, medium space,
they just don't have that today. So Yeah, makes sense. Well, Jeremy, thank you so much for coming on. Where can people engage with you? Where can they learn more about you? Absolutely. So you can find me at Jeremy at Jeremy Chen sales.com, or the website simply as Jeremy Chen sales.com. Go on there, drop me a note. Right now, you can actually invite us in to audit your sales process for absolutely free. So there's absolutely no obligation. Invite us in for a day, a week, a month. Let us understand what your process is, who your product is being sold to or your service, and why they're buying it. And we will give you a free roadmap to say here's what we think. Here's how you get there. And here's what's missing in between. So again, Jeremy at Jeremy Chen sales.com, or simply the website Jeremy Chen sales.com. Excellent. Well, if you enjoyed as much as I did, show Jeremy your appreciation and share today's show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas. If you're running a company as a sales function, which think that that's most companies or you're part of a company that needs a more defined sales process or needs things
up whatever it might be. Jeremy chin sales.com je r EMYCHEN sales.com. And then Jeremy at Jeremy Chen sales.com. Take advantage of that. Of that.
No cost audit. I almost said free audit is free of bad sales where Jeremy said I'd say that. It depends on who you talk to. I love free. Sign me up.
But thanks good, Jeremy. Thanks again. Thanks for having me. And until next time, remember, do your part by doing your best
Tax Planning with Mark Myers
http://lifeblood.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Mark-Myers-FINAL.mp3 Tax Planning with Mark Myers LifeBlood: We talked about tax planning, how to legally pay less money in taxes, how best to work with professional advisors to position yourself [...]


This was my first stop on my Spring 2010 "This Sure Beats Working Any Day" tour of northern Arizona. I took these photos in early April 2010. The Grand Falls are located about 30 miles from Flagstaff, AZ. I had not heard of these falls until recently (via Flickr) and decided to check them out.
The road to the falls is pretty rough and you should have a high clearance vehicle. Also, I understand the falls are very seasonal - full usually in March and April and eventually drying up later in the season - so I definitely lucked out.


Saw these tips in a knitting news letter that I get. Since we travel all year long I thought it might be helpful to know these tips ahead of time. I wasn't sure about number 4 so I looked it up and here's what I found… Airline passengers can also take small scissors, those with a 4-inch or shorter blade and tools that are 7 inches or shorter with them on the plane, although larger tools are prohibited.
Tip #1: Leave your metal needles at home, and bring only those made of plastic or bamboo. They are more flight friendly and they are not usually considered dangerous by the authorities.
Tip #2: For your convenience, make sure your yarn is well winded prior to embarking. This way, it will not get tangled and make a mess.
Tip #3: Place all your knitting supplies in a transparent bag, so they can easily be seen, without the security staff having to fiddle with them.
Tip #4: No thread cutters! These are strictly forbidden. However, for cutting the extra yarn, bring a pair of children scissors instead.
Tip #5: Since you cannot foretell for sure what kind of supplies may raise suspicions, leave your favorite needles at home. You will not cry over cheap supplies, so bring over just things you know you can part with, without any regrets.
Tip #6: Whenever you are asked about your needles, make sure to be clear and polite when offering the needed explanations. Security staff are just doing their job and they do not want to put you in an unpleasant situation. The quicker you make things clear, the better for everyone.
Tip #7: Always check the list of forbidden items on flights prior to embarking on a plane. Since different countries may have different rules when it comes to this, for international flights, make sure you are up to date with all their regulations.
← Another website for free patterns.


All the while, Duncan was looking for a cheetah — the world's fasted land animal — and, by magic as far as I could tell, he spotted one walking up a gentle slope, nearly hidden by tall grass.
The tall grasses of the Maasai Mara do an amazing job of camouflaging a cheetah.
He drove to a point above the animal and we waited for it to walk our way, and it did so, coming up under a tree near us. We could see the animal had a big gash in its left side. Duncan guessed a warthog might have hurt it, but the wound was healing.
This cheetah has a nasty gash on her left side, visible here.
Despite the wound, the cheetah walked as majestically as I would expect of a cat. We collected some nice additional photos before leaving the scene to others.
Wounded but regal, this cheetah strides across the Maasai Mara with seeming ease.
Typically, driver/guides advise others of a great find, and Duncan had done so in this case.
One final thought: I was amazed at how versatile our high-end (and open-sided) SUVs were. Duncan was able to drive our SUV up and down some quite steep slopes, often to drive through a relatively shallow stream or river. He would take us across these waterways through mud on one side or the other, or over rocks in the water as well as on the sides. I would just hang on!!


Example of eye-in-hand control law. We control here a real robot, the biclops robot (pan-tilt head provided by Traclabs). The velocity is computed in articular. The visual feature is the center of gravity of a point.


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Alonso and Ferrari: in it together
Fernando Alonso has been a triple world champion-in-waiting for too long. But the Spaniard has no alternative but to persevere at Ferrari, believes EDD STRAW
For a man who had just lost the world championship, Fernando Alonso seemed unusually happy after the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Then again, he knew his McLaren nightmare was over after a bizarre season of controversy, spy scandals and a catastrophic breakdown in the relationship between team and driver.


Violin museum shows off musical heritage of Stradivari's birthplace | LEARN TO PLAY THE VIOLIN FOR FREE!
For about 250 years, from the mid-16th century to the late 1700s, a little town on the banks of the river Po was a music-making capital. It was the birthplace not only of Antonio Stradivari, the still unsurpassed master luthier, but also, arguably, of the modern violin itself and of a series of craftsmen who made some of the most beautiful-sounding stringed instruments known to man.
To this day Cremona, a town of unassuming proportions and northern Italian elegance, remains a hub of musical excellence, with around 200 violin-makers crafting new instruments for some of the world's most exacting customers. Last year, their work was inscribed on Unesco's list of intangible cultural heritage. And now, after years of waiting, Cremona has a showcase worthy of its illustrious heritage. Next Saturday, in a formerly disused fascist-era arts centre, a new museum featuring some of the most exquisite violins ever made will throw open its doors.


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Global Citizen is a community of people like you
People who want to learn about and take action on the world's biggest challenges. Extreme poverty ends with you.
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ImpactWater & Sanitation
Sweden's New Global Deal Will Boost Employment and the SDGs
PM Löfven's Global Deal aims to secure decent work opportunities on a global level.
As the first self-described "feminist government," Sweden offers a solution to ensure decent work opportunities and better jobs, while improving the global economy at the same time.
On Sept. 21, the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Stefan Löfven launched the Global Deal initiative, along with support from the International Labour Organization and OECD, at the United Nations in New York.
Prime Minister Löfven's Global Deal aims to secure decent work opportunities and better jobs for people all around the world. He believes this is a necessary step to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the ultimate goal — eradicating extreme poverty.
In many countries around the world, workers are denied basic human rights. Women and children are forced to work in inhumane conditions and work-related illnesses and even deaths are far from uncommon. Inequality is still largely prevalent between employment opportunities and financial remuneration for men and women. These growing inequalities between gender, age, race, religion and more, fuels social unrest, and as a result can significantly impede economic growth.
The Global Deal initiative supports the idea that decent work opportunities and better jobs will promote equality and foster an inclusive economy - benefiting workers, companies and the society in which they live. As a result, an improvement in the global labour market and economical stability will ensue, lifting millions of people out of poverty.
Prime Minister Löfven's Global Deal initiative envisions job security and decent work opportunities for everyone. The initiative will highlight the positive effects of globalization, and the important role that social dialogue between governments, businesses, unions, employers and workers, on issues relating to economic and social policy plays in the fight against extreme poverty. The free exchange of information and ideas between employers workers and governments would improve employment prospects, inclusive growth and enhance economic stability simultaneously.
In the past Sweden has championed WASH. It's 2015 commitment, announced by the minister for International Development Cooperation Isabella Lovin, to provide 60 million people with sanitation by 2030 is remarkable. This year, following tens of thousands of Global Citizens calling on the Swedish government to stick to its word and deliver on its 2015 commitment, Sweden announced that it will increase its ambition to reach its target of providing 60 million people with improved sanitation by 2030. Additionally, Sweden will restore cuts to its aid program that were initially redirected towards asylum seeker costs.
Taking on an additional SDG doesn't mean Sweden is leaving WASH issues behind. Water and sanitation is intricately linked across the SDGs and will bolster Sweden's efforts to secure decent work opportunities and better jobs. For example, access to safe water in the workplace will reduce water-borne illnesses, increasing staff productivity and decreasing absentee days. Access to private and adequate sanitary facilities will provide women with a place to handle their menstruation in a dignified and sanitary manner. Therefore, in order to provide decent work opportunities and better jobs, adequate WASH in the workplace is a necessity.
With a view to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, take a look at the Global Deal to see how globalization can help end extreme poverty!
TopicsWASHSwedenWater and SanitationPrime Minister of SwedenNew Global DealStefan Löfven


People have preconceived notions of what having "it" looks like. People are convinced they can make decisions on an athlete's career just by looking at them, or, at most, after watching them play one game. "He doesn't throw hard," "he doesn't throw strikes," "he can't throw a breaking ball," or as simple as "he's not a pitcher." False. All of them are skills and skills can be developed. It may come quicker for some, but anyone can do it if they work to develop it.
Human tissue has no free will. Nikolai Bernstein was one of the founding fathers of motor learning. He said, "The body will organize itself in accordance with the overall goal of the activity." The body will respond to a stimulus, the key to developing skills is to be in an environment that forces the body to adapt. As an athlete progresses the environment needs to continue to progress to continue to force adaptation.
When Craig Kimbrel was a freshman in college he badly broke his left foot leaving him in a cast for several months. He learned to long toss from his knees, and, initially, he wasn't able to throw the ball very far. Within a few weeks, he could throw it 100 yards from his knees. He adapted. When he was back to full strength, his velocity had gone from 85 to 95. This offseason Trevor Bauer wanted to learn a slider. His curveball was already his best pitch, but he wanted more. So, with the help of immediate feedback, from a Rapsodo unit and some high-speed cameras he developed a slider.
We use a simple saying often in Healthy Heat, "I throw hard because I throw hard." David Price was quoted saying something similar in an article I read once and I've run with it. It doesn't have to be rocket surgery - if you want to throw the ball harder, try to throw it harder. As long as an athlete takes care of their body and gradually increases volume over time, they will throw harder. We use the same principle in our power-building circuits. There are specific planes of motion that are involved in pitching: moving side to side, rotating around a vertical axis, and doing it primarily on one leg. As athletes are able to do more reps in 10 seconds in each of these planes they are building power that they can use on the field.
The body has to respond, it doesn't get to choose. It just takes time. I probably had thirty at bats after my freshman year of high school...I'm a lifer P.O. Last summer, I decided I was going to see what would happen if I hit everyday for a month. I took 100 swings everyday, even when I was out of state coaching, I swung a fungo as hard as I could 100 times...once in my hotel room. At the end of the month, I hopped on the Hit Trax and my exit velocity was 4 mph higher. No coaching, no distractions, just one simple goal - swing harder and my body adapted.
All of this is the driving force behind everything we do at Bardo's and, even more specifically, in Healthy Heat. We want to create an environment that forces the body to respond. Pick a target, move fast, throw hard, tell us if it hurts. Once an athlete is within our safety parameters mechanically, we add as much variance and energy to the system as possible. Running throws have gotten grief from some gurus in the past since you can't crow hop off the mound, but it challenges the body. We have seen several guys who thrower slower off a double hop than they do off the mound, because they don't move well enough to time up a running throw. As their double hop numbers improve, their mound numbers quickly follow.
It breaks my heart when a parent asks me after a few lessons if their kid has a shot as a pitcher. "HE'S 10!" If they like to pitch, let them pitch. If they are willing to work at it, let them work at it. Just because they aren't the best pitcher on the team in youth baseball doesn't they never will be. Some people may be further along, but with the right plan and hard work they can one day be a dude on the mound!
Pitchers have been told for years that they need to be long, loose, and "whippy" with their arm. The belief is if the arm action is short and compact they'll push the ball or lose power. While pitchers do not NEED to be quick with their actions, efficiency should still be the ultimate goal. While throwing and the arm action associated with it is something that even toddlers do, it is the most over-coached part of baseball. The long and short of it is (that may have been a pun), whatever can be timed up most often is the right "length" of an arm action.
For simplicity's sake, let's break the arm action down into four phases: Arm swing, Final Connection, Launch, and Deceleration. Arm swing is referring to the time from hand break until the front foot hits the ground. Final connection refers to the position of the arm at front foot strike. Launch is essentially when the arm unwinds and releases the ball. The Deceleration phase is then from release until the arm comes to a complete stop. In every throw, each phase exists. However, the only one that we choose to directly isolate is deceleration. Everyone from eight-year-olds to our professional clients do deceleration drills every day. It is commonly overlooked, but, in our experience, a large majority of arm pain can be eliminated by cleaning up the deceleration phase.
Each phase will be affected by the phase before it and can affect the phase after it. While we do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, we do have certain parameters for each and they are evaluated based on how they all sync together.
If you are a coach evaluating arm action, I strongly encourage you to get slow-motion video from the open side to look at arm action and even compare it to a big leaguer's arm action. A large majority of video of pitchers is from the center-field camera, but this view is insufficient in evaluating mechanics because you can really only see side-to-side and one can lose reference of what is happening front to back.
The timing of the hand break is critical. If the hands break too early, there is time for inefficient movement, and if it is too late the hand may not be up in time. To put it into words, we want the body to move away from the arm as opposed to the arm being thrown away from the body. Often times we see athletes giving themselves too much time or really trying to reach back for extra velocity, as a result we will try to speed up the body moving toward the target to limit unnecessary arm movement. This phase is mainly a feel thing so eliminating time is highly effective because it forces the body to find it's most efficient path. Reaching back for a little extra is a common phrase, but actually reaching away from the body just makes being on time at foot strike more difficult. Being super short in this phase works well for some, but is not something that works for everyone. The inverted W (driving the elbows back and up) has become popular as a major contributor to Tommy John, while we now believe it is more of a timing issue we will not address this type of move unless there is shoulder or elbow pain and as long as it is not still present at front foot strike.
The position of the arm at foot strike is the real money-maker of a delivery. The hand needs to be "up" above the shoulder, even to or inside of 90 degrees, with the elbow just below the shoulder. For many years people taught that the fingers need to be on top of the ball and the ball pointing to second base, however this puts the forearm in a position where it will be forced to turn off the muscles that protect the UCL to throw. Let the hand be neutral or even pointed toward the thrower. This phase is critical because it will dictate how the arm unfolds and launches. The rotation of the shoulders creates centripetal force which will drive the hand away from the body. If at foot strike the hand is already way outside of 90 degrees this launch could way too early. Adjustments to final connection can be done using a conveniently named connection ball, which creates feel for connected positions. While in training this may look like shorting the arm action it is simply used to create feel for efficiency and provide feedback of if the athlete was connected through rotation.
As the shoulders rotate, the arm will lay back into external rotation and then begin to unfold. This unfolding is a result of the shoulder internally rotating and the hand continuing to drive away from he body. THIS WILL ALL TAKE PLACE AS A RESULT OF WHAT THE BODY IS DOING. If this happens independently of the body, power, health, and maximum effectiveness will be greatly lessened. Many have been taught to reach out toward the target, but this cannot happen independently. The throwing side hip and shoulder should be rotating past the glove side hip and shoulder driving the hand toward the target. Trevor Bauer recently referred to it on MLB Network as throwing a dart and I completely agree. The hand can make fine tuned adjustments right at the end, but it should not be the primary driver. While the launch phase is an easy one to diagnose and correct, a large majority of issues are a result of previous inefficiency, work backward first.
The ball is gone. If launch happened sequentially, the hand should be in front of the body with the throwing side rotated past the glove side. The first part of this phase is the forearm pronating (thumb down) immediately after ball release turning off the biceps. If the biceps stays active it will pull on what is above (shoulder) and below (elbow), turn it off. Many say that pronation is natural, but if a thrower only focuses on finishing with the fingers they may prevent pronation from occurring. Secondly, we want both shoulders to continue to rotate so that the throwing shoulder finishes on the target. This is not to be confused with rolling the throwing shoulder in which can look like shoulder rotation but is again one part acting independently. Lastly the arm should keep a slight bend throughout the entire phase. If the arm becomes completely extended, it will but stress on the back of the arm and bang the bones around the elbow together. If the bend happens too quickly, then the thrower is "cutting it off" at release and would be losing power. This is a delicate matter because it all happens so fast and it can be hard to tell the difference. Our general rule is if the ball goes straight and isn't dying off at the end they are extending enough.
Arm action is a delicate thing. It is often the first thing that instructors will look to clean up because it seems to be the biggest issue. However, most of the arm action is largely dependent on what the body is doing. Since January of last year, we have made major changes to how we teach throwing. Everyone that throws a baseball in Bardo's has received an individualized throwing protocol. In our protocol we try to identify the biggest issues limiting, velocity, health, and performance and clean them up with drills. After doing around 1,000 protocols I can say that 90% of the time, it is not the arm action. Arm actions will constantly change, as athletes move faster or slower arm action will change. As athletes grow and develop arm action will change. Many of our athletes have shortened their arm action and a month from now it may be longer. As long as targets are being hit, velocity is improving, it doesn't hurt, and guys are going back to the dugout long or short doesn't matter.
Pick a target, move fast, throw hard, and tell us if it hurts, the body will figure out the rest.
As a Baseball Coach, former Physical Educator and Strength Coach, these words could not be more definitive in terms of my personal philosophy. Sometimes in our quest for the skill-related components of our chosen sport, we skip over the development of foundational health-related components that ultimately benefit our kids two-fold. By moving them towards and keeping them in healthy age-appropriate zones in the areas of mobility, muscular strength and endurance, cardio vascular fitness and body composition, we allow players to train at progressively higher levels of intensity and continued physical development. Current information tells us that youth fitness levels are down and youth sports-related injuries are up! I think Coach Socrates had the answer a long time ago! We cannot skip the development of foundational health-components which lead young people into expertise in the area of physical training.
I love the art and science of hitting! I always have, and because I grew up without the internet, when I became a coach I bought books. It was my belief that only the smartest people in their given field wrote those books. Most of those books were written by former famous "artists" (players) who told us how they did it. Some of the information in the numerous hitting manuals that I studied went against my own educational beliefs in the areas of motor learning, exercise physiology and sports medicine. Being a scientist made me skeptical of some of the traditional "beliefs" that have been passed down about hitting a baseball well.
Enter Robert Kemp Adair in 1987, Sterling Professor of Physics, Yale University and Physicist to the National League. His book "The Physics of Baseball" This is my "go to" when it come to hitting theory because it takes most of the "theory" out. For instance, in his chapter on hitting he speaks of the perfect full swing and the real time events involved in the process. 100 milliseconds for the eye to see the ball and send a message to the brain. 75 milliseconds for the brain to process info. 25 milliseconds to make a decision to swing. 15 milliseconds for the legs to start the swing at a 3-inch spinning ball within 1/8-inch of its center and at precisely the right millisecond! Now we are talking real science!
With all the perpetrators of misinformation out there, we can always count on a true scientist (with letters behind his name) to help decipher WHY some guys hit and some guys miss!
Don't be afraid to ask "why" to the guy who works with your kid!
2. a relationship based on an affinity in interests, nature, or qualities.
3. a state of being joined or associated.
Having coached Division 1 baseball for 14 years and being a Colorado native, I've had a broad look at Colorado baseball for some time. The baseball culture has changed in Colorado since I heavily recruited this state as a Division 1 coach at Texas Tech, Kansas, Texas-Arlington and Dallas Baptist. The state has always been fertile with a population base that supports and produces fine athletes who want to further their baseball opportunities at higher levels. However, the onset of travel baseball teams and tournaments has changed the culture. Kids are playing more games and getting more opportunities to hone their game. While the volume of game play has increased, the commitment and reality of truthful development becomes a tricky conundrum. Game play is certainly an important part of development, but intentional training is of equal importance. I've often witnessed the sacrifice of one in leu of the other, and intentional training is often the choice left on the altar. This doesn't need to be the case and it shouldn't be so that every child will develop to their fullest potential.
One of our most successful programs has been our In House Youth Team Training. Our Bardo's teams have experienced great on-field success thanks to matching excellent development and intentional training with wonderful coaching, appropriate game play opportunities, and talented young players. This past summer, we began the process of branding our In House Teams with "TCA" - Team Colorado Alliance. The idea here is that we have built an alliance with many youth teams in a relationship where we come together for mutual benefit.
Because of the success of that program, we starting to expand this idea and contextualize it to the High School level as well. We started with four different instructional clubs this past fall (Healthy Heat, 3D Hitting, Catcher's Club, and Impact Infielders) and the results have been very encouraging. We're seeing players improve, but, more importantly, we're starting the process of working with the high school coaches so we can all experience the mutual benefit of development. We're choosing to build alliances with high school coaches for the good of the baseball community and build development opportunities for players of all ages. It is our desire to help and build up the culture of baseball in Colorado through these healthy alliances.
Over the summer, we've created a program called High School Summer Alliance Training. It gives players the opportunity to train their arm through our Healthy Heat program and their bat through our 3D Hitting program. The program also provides a 30-minute power-building workout. The program is designed for players playing in any program to come in and train for intentional development. Playing the game is an important step in the process, but every player needs to spend time developing their arm and bat during the season. Playing the game alone can't accomplish the goals, dreams, and expectations of developing players. We want baseball athletes to experience the freedom to play where they want, and train in a program like our High School Summer Alliance Training. Spend time on your arm and bat during the summer season, and be prepared for an incredible season of improvement.
The link to register for this program is below. There are five options open for training, and players can choose to come once or twice per week. The price comes out to less than $20 per hour for individualized training and protocols provided by both Healthy Heat and 3D Hitting. The program starts on Monday, June 4 and runs to the end of July. I want to encourage all high school players to join us this summer and develop through our High School Summer Alliance Training!


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US Postal Service Photographing 160 Billion Letters Annually
As Washington officials continue to grapple with the fallout from the NSA scandal, it has been revealed that the US Postal Service photographs the outside of every piece of mail it processes each year – around 160 billion pieces annually.
At the request of law enforcement agencies, postal workers take pictures of the letters and packages before they are delivered, the New York Times reported.
The information is then stored for an indefinite period of time in the event a law enforcement official requests it. Each year, tens of thousands of pieces of mail are subjected to further scrutiny.
Reading the contents of a letter requires a court-ordered warrant, but in the case of 'mail cover' requests, law enforcement agencies submit a letter to the Postal Service, which "rarely denies a request."
Although the 'mail covers' program has been around for nearly a century, its updated successor, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) program, was created in the aftermath of the anthrax attacks in late 2001 that killed five people, including two postal workers.
MICT requests are separated into two categories: those related to possible criminal activity and those that are meant to protect national security. Requests based on suspected criminal activity average 15,000 to 20,000 per year, unnamed law enforcement officials told the Times.
The number of requests for mail covers related to the fight against terrorism has not been made public.
Although law enforcement officials must have warrants to open private correspondence, former President George W. Bush signed off on a document in 2007 that gave the federal government the authority to open mail without warrants in "emergencies or in foreign intelligence cases."
The Federal Bureau of Investigations revealed the existence of MICT last month in the course of an investigation over ricin-laced letters mailed to President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
News of the US Postal Service's surveillance program comes as Washington is facing heated criticism over a formerly covert surveillance program that gave the National Security Agency (NSA), in cooperation with nine of the world's largest internet companies, sweeping powers to collect data on telephone calls and internet habits of billions of people both at home and abroad.
The information was made public after former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, blew the whistle on the activities.
Officials in the Obama administration, meanwhile, are attempting to justify the NSA's surveillance programs, saying the electronic monitoring amounts to the same thing as examining the outside of a letter. At the very least, the program shows that traditional mail is held up to the same kind of scrutiny that the NSA has given to phone calls, e-mail and internet services.
"It's a treasure trove of information," James J. Wedick, a former FBI agent told The New York Times."Looking at just the outside of letters and other mail, I can see who you bank with, who you communicate with — all kinds of useful information that gives investigators leads that they can then follow up on with a subpoena."
But, he added: "It can be easily abused because it's so easy to use and you don't have to go through a judge to get the information. You just fill out a form."
Bruce Schneier, a computer security expert and an author, called the program an invasion of privacy.
"Basically they are doing the same thing as the other programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail, the metadata, if you will, of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren't reading the contents,"he told the US newspaper.
The surveillance requests on mail covers are granted for about 30 days, and can be extended for up to 120 days.
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Eddie is the founder and owner of www.WorldTruth.TV. This website is dedicated to educating and informing people with articles on powerful and concealed information from around the globe. I have spent the last 38 years researching Bible, History, Alternative Health, Secret Societies, Symbolism and many other topics that are not reported by mainstream media.