Implementing content marketing tactics (or social media tactics, or any communication practice, for that matter) without first preparing a strategic marketing plan is like building a house with no blueprint. Adding rooms (marketing tactics) on a whim without an understanding of how each room supports the overall structure (business goals), the purpose of each room (objectives), and how you will decide if the room is successful (measurement) is a recipe for disaster at worst, and for sub-par performance even in the best-case scenario.
We, as professional marketers, are all excited about content marketing. We are itching to create great content we know will launch our business into the next great growth trajectory. This momentum and the enthusiasm are great. However, before you get started with creating content or launching any type of marketing activity, it is critically important to have completed your strategic marketing plan.
Why, you may ask, must I take precious time and utilize my already stretched resources to write down marketing plans? Isn't that a bit old fashioned?
True, it may be old fashioned; but at the same time, it's more important than ever in this modern marketing age. Marketing plans, 4 Ps, positioning, etc., have likely been around for thousands of years in one form or another. The reason these concepts have endured is because they fundamentally support an exchange.
In spite of our modern marketing technology, the basics of business have not changed since the dawn of the first civilization in Mesopotamia. We are still exchanging products or services for some type of consideration. Whether we were a merchant pedaling our wares in the Middle Ages or we are selling access to software as a service (SaaS) today, there is little difference in how the exchange process works on a fundamental level. Success has always depended on awareness of the offering and establishment of value in the minds of prospective buyers. In other words, it depends on marketing (assuming the sales function is a subset of a broad definition of marketing).
Consider the four major parts of a good marketing plan, as discussed below. This discussion is not meant to be comprehensive education about how to create a marketing plan; it is a starter discussion to show how important it is to have a properly documented marketing plan in place, and a simple framework of the components you need to make it successful.
According to The Marketing Plan Handbook, by Marian Burk Wood (which I highly recommend you read), marketing plans are comprehensive documents that summarize marketplace knowledge and the strategies and steps to be taken in achieving the objectives set by marketing managers for a particular period.
Determine what resources you have available.
Analyze and summarize your market space(s).
Analyze your company's internal strengths and weaknesses.
Analyze external opportunities and threats.
Assess the competition and competitive environment.
Assess the macro environment in terms of social, economic, political, and technological opportunities and challenges.
Identify critical issues to be addressed in your marketing activities.
It is interesting to note that content marketing could fall under No. 3, as a means of promotion, though it may also (and probably should) fall under No. 2 as the foundation to the overall marketing strategy.
Many marketers and firms will claim they have the marketing plans in their head, or within the tribal knowledge of the organization. This is simply not good enough. Many firms will have several disparate pieces of a marketing plan spread throughout the organization (i.e., with the sales department, product managers, marketing department, executive leadership team, strategic business planners, etc.). But in order for marketing to be successful, your organization must create and own a proper marketing plan, first and foremost.
One of the tangible benefits of documenting a strategic marketing plan is that it drives collaboration among all stakeholders, which helps align the various functions. In addition, the process of writing the plan helps position the marketing department (and its personnel) as legitimate business partners — as opposed to being perceived as a service center that simply reacts to one request after another.
It may be the case where a firm requires multiple marketing plans for multiple units, such as business units, geographic regions, product groups, or other classifications depending on your firm's business plan.
One last point: Creating marketing plans is not just an exercise to be done once and then put on the virtual shelf. These are living, dynamic documents that should be referred to on a regular basis and updated as conditions or situations change.
I leave you with a challenge: See if you can find a written marketing plan at your organization. If you find one that is current, dynamic, and is being used as a daily reference upon which to base marketing decisions, bravo! But if you can't find it, or if you hear people tell you it is all in their head, step back and begin to craft a strategic plan before you do anything else.
To learn more about the fundamentals of developing your marketing plan to support content, or any other initiative, read CMI's how-to guide on planning.


It was great to spend the day with so many talented chefs from the North Fork, drink some amazing beers and meet so many chili fans! What a way to spend a rainy Sunday!
We are already looking forward to 2019!
This recipe is free, of course, and please let us know if you try it and how you make it better!


text:
The Coral return with a brand new single
NME Jun 4, 2007 10:00 am BST
New album release will shortly follow
The Coral have officially announced their return with the confirmation of their new single 'Who's Gonna Find Me'.
The single will be released on July 30, and will be followed by new album 'Roots And Echoes' on August 6.
Both the album and the single were recorded at Oasis-owned Wheeler End Studios, and was mixed in London throughout April.
Meanwhile, the band will play a string of UK dates this summer, kicking off in Preston in June, and culminating in two slots at V Festival from August 18-19.
To check ticket availability and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/GIGS now.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
The blur surrounding the Tokyo Games persists
Photo: Fabrice Coffrini Agence France-Presse
Ninth IOC president, Thomas Bach had been olympic champion in team foil at the Games of Montreal (Canada) in 1976.
The president of the international olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, is focused on Friday, candidate for re-election in 2021, assuming that there was currently no "solution" clear for the olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, given that the olympic movement is hit by the coronavirus.
At the opening of the 136th session of the IOC, held a video-conference, the German Thomas Bach (66 years), elected in 2013 for eight years, has indicated his desire to continue at the head of olympism by presenting themselves the next year for a second term half (presidents are elected for a term of eight years renewable once for four years).
"If you, members of the IOC, you want to, I'm ready for a second mandate as president of the IOC to continue to serve you and the olympic movement that we love so much four more years," said Thomas Bach to the members of the powerful institution.
His re-election in the spring of 2021 (a second session of the IOC will take place during the Games) should not suffer from contesting, despite a few criticisms in-house on its mode of management is sometimes considered authoritarian.
The Canadian Dick Pound, a relatively forlorn, is one of the only official opposition, and the German benefits from the system of co-optation of members of the IOC : approximately half (55) of the voters of the future president, joined the IOC since 2014, that may feel grateful to their president.
Ninth IOC president, Thomas Bach had been olympic champion in team foil at the Games of Montreal (Canada) in 1976. He had started his engagement in sports policy by becoming a spokesperson for the athletes from West Germany to be able to play the Games of Moscow in 1980, eventually boycotted by the country to protest against the military intervention of the USSR in Afghanistan, in December 1979.
"An important step "
The term of Thomas Bach, the balance sheet, for the moment, little contested, is turned upside-down for several months, as well as the whole of international sport, by the pandemic of novel coronavirus.
The health crisis has already forced the IOC to the report of the Tokyo Games of summer 2020 summer 2021, a first in peace time. The pandemic failed not (at least 590, 000 deaths and 13.8 million cases, according to the account of the AFP on Friday to 12 h 00 GMT), it is now threatening the great mass of the sports in the world even in 2021.
"Nobody knows what it will look like the world in July and August. It is for this reason that we need to prepare for several scenarios […] the priority remains the health of all the participants ", said Thomas Bach.
"There is no solution today ", he then admitted in a press conference compared to the softness that prevails on the global health situation.
Asked about a scenario of OJ without spectators, Thomas Bach responded that it was " one of the scenarios that we have to imagine […], but this is not what we want. We want the stadiums full of enthusiastic fans. "
"These olympic Games could be an important step for the whole world ", he added.
The organizing committee of japanese has benefited from the IOC session to make a point about his preparations, and announced that the plan "measures, anti-COVID" will begin in the fall, with a focus on the conditions of entry on the territory, the transport and the housing of thousands of participants and followers of the Games.
The organisers have also indicated that they have been able to book all of the sites originally planned for the summer of 2021, including the olympic village, and that the sports program would remain unchanged.
Coe a new member of the IOC
The IOC also approved on Friday the nomination of the British Sebastian Coe, chairman of the international athletics Federation, after the latter has been hampered by a potential conflict of interest as head of a consulting company specialized in the field of sport, MSC.
The double olympic champion in the 1500 m has changed his / her status within the company, officer, operational to non-operational, and its application has been widely approved (77 votes in favour, 8 against, 6 abstentions).
The other four new IOC members were greeted Friday : princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud of saudi Arabia, Cuban Maria Caridad Colon Ruenes, olympic champion in the javelin in 1980, the Croatian Kolinda would grabar-Kitarovic, president of the Republic of Croatia from 2015 to 2020, and the Mongolian Battushig Batbold.
Nadal beat the crossing with Schwartzman with a particular phrase
The Spanish tennis player analyzed his pass to the Roland Garros semifinals and highlighted the level of the Argentine tennis...
Crisis in Barcelona: there will be a motion of censure against Bartomeu
They announced that the necessary signatures had been reached to carry out the referendum to decide the future of the...
Dybala and Cristiano, in trouble for breaking Juventus' isolation
The Argentine player and the Portuguese player were denounced by health authorities for having abandoned the isolation of their team....
The enormous gesture of Mohamed Salah that moves the world
The Liverpool forward came to the defense of a homeless person who was harassed by a group of young people....


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text:
Redesigning Real Estate
By Maria Patterson
(Above) Ryan Schneider, President & CEO, Realogy (Photo by Joseph Jerman)
How Ryan Schneider Is Transforming America's Largest Residential Real Estate Company
Editor's Note: This is the cover story in the December issue of RISMedia's Real Estate magazine. Subscribe today.
With change happening too fast to keep up with, trying to hold onto the real estate business as we know it could be a short road to demise.
That's why, with six franchise residential real estate brands—Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Corcoran Group®, ERA® and Sotheby's International Realty®—and more than 300,000 affiliated agents within his purview, Realogy President and CEO Ryan Schneider is fast-tracking transformation at the country's largest provider of residential real estate services.
Although he stepped into the CEO role less than two years ago, Schneider is no stranger to steering corporate giants through consumer-driven change, thanks to his years at Capital One. Perhaps it's this outsider's perspective that has helped him to clearly see just how and why the real estate industry has evolved to where it stands today.
"Consumers are increasingly raising the bar in our industry and others by wanting more, faster, better in whatever experience they're having, including the home-buying experience," says Schneider. "The real estate experience needs to be better for the consumer, because that will make agents better."
And according to Schneider, no one is better positioned than Realogy to help agents deliver the experiences consumers are now demanding.
"First, we have the scale," he explains. "We have a very large presence nationally that allows us to partner with people who also want to be national. We also have the diversity of brands to try different things to appeal to agents and consumers. We also have an incredibly strong financial position that gives us the ability to invest in and support technology. We have all the pieces to make agents more successful."
MORE: The Making Of: Realogy's Real Estate Magazine Cover
Redesigning Real Estate for Consumers
Realogy's intent is not change for the sake of change. On the contrary, Schneider is leading the transformation of the company based on three critical factors that are converging to drive change. Not surprisingly, they all lead back to the consumer.
"First, despite all the predictions about the demise of the agent, consumers are using agents at higher rates than ever because of the complexity, rarity and financial size of the house transaction," explains Schneider. "Consumers are placing more value than ever on the agent who can shepherd them through this rare transaction."
The second factor involves technology…or the lack thereof.
"Bluntly, real estate is behind so many industries," says Schneider. "We should be using technology to support the agent and the consumer and create a better, easier and faster transaction. We need to deliver products and innovations that help both consumers and agents have a better experience."
The lag in technology, in fact, has fueled much of the disruption the industry currently contends with; but Schneider sees that as a good thing. "This industry has a lot more opportunity to provide great products and help agents do things faster and more efficiently. We want to be the leader in that kind of disruption."
On the other hand, financial disruption from big-capital investors is bad for the industry and bad for the consumer, says Schneider. "It's had a negative outcome for the consumer in the form of higher fees and lower bids on houses. Half of the six biggest real estate companies operate at a loss, and, over time, that can't be good for agents and consumers. You can't be sustainable if you're not profitable."
Ryan Gorman, President & CEO, NRT; incoming CEO, Coldwell Banker
And this will lead to the third factor heavily influencing industry change: inevitable consolidation.
"The top five brokerage firms have less than 15 percent marketshare. If you look at the top five of anything in any industry, there is usually much more consolidation. I believe there will be more consolidation in the residential real estate industry, as well."
With the landscape thus laid out, Schneider is ready.
"We're excited to compete," he says. "We believe the things we're doing on the product side and the technology side combined with our strength as a company financially will create a winning formula as the industry goes through consolidation and growth."
Jumpstarting Change With Revolutionary Partnerships
To help fast-track transformation, Realogy has introduced a quick succession of high-level partnerships—many with big-name consumer brands—over the last several months. According to Schneider, these unique alliances are designed to create higher quality lead generation and give agents the ability to deliver a better experience for consumers.
"In the industry to-date, companies have focused on either consumers or agents," says NRT President and CEO, and incoming Coldwell Banker CEO, Ryan Gorman. "We know we serve agents, but because of our size and scale and technology prowess, we're able to deliver incredible value for the agent to give to the consumer."
John Peyton, President & CEO, Realogy Franchise Group
Realogy's collaboration with Amazon to create the TurnKey program is a perfect example of delivering value to the consumer via the agent. TurnKey matches up potential homebuyers with a select Realogy brand agent. If the consumer purchases a home with that agent, they receive up to $5,000 worth of Amazon Home Services (gift card) and smart home products (delivered directly to their new property and installed).
"You have to leverage what is uniquely you…what no one else can replicate," explains Realogy Franchise Group President and CEO John Peyton. "And what's unique about Realogy is its size and scale. Companies like Amazon want to do business with us, and that opens up new channels to consumers."
TurnKey is also Realogy's way of bringing lead generation to the next level.
"Leads that come from portals like Zillow are low quality, typically converting at 1 percent," says Peyton. "The new phase of lead generation involves partnering with firms where technology not only helps us identify the lead, but helps us nurture them so that when they're assigned to the agent, they're higher converting."
In 2020, Realogy will also begin rolling out its recently announced affinity partnership with AARP, incentivizing the organization's 38 million members with a cash-back reward (or commission discount or gift card) for working with a Realogy brand agent when they buy or sell a home.
Again, Realogy's size and scale comes into play as a distinct advantage. As Schneider says, "The benefit of being large around brand, technology and data, and being able to deliver products or benefits, is important because people like Amazon or AARP are going to want to partner with only those companies that can reach members."
Simon Chen, Head of Realogy Product and Innovation Group
"These programs give our agents something brand new to talk about and bring to the listing presentation," adds Peyton. "They're designed to generate new, higher-converting leads. With TurnKey, for example, we're pleased to see that the conversion rate is already significantly higher than 1 percent."
According to Head of Realogy Product and Innovation Group Simon Chen, Realogy's partnerships are also designed to build relationships between agents and consumers—and according to the statistics, that's urgently needed.
"In 2011, about $30 million was invested in what is now known as proptech," says Chen. "In 2018, that number jumped to $12 billion."
But the more compelling statistic for broker/owners should be the one that comes from the National Association of REALTORS®, says Chen: 90 percent of consumers say they would use the same real estate agent again, but only 12 percent do.
"We want to build solutions to help agents stay connected more meaningfully over the tenure of the homeownership cycle," Chen explains. "Technology that helps them create a higher level of engagement."
Technology programs like these are not just designed to offer a unique service to consumers, but to position agents as a resource outside of the transaction.
"We have to transform the agent's website to something much more immersive," says Chen. "The agent's website must become the persistent online homeownership resource as opposed to a transaction-based experience. There are a lot of relationships that can be teed up for the consumer that can be literally anything related to homeownership. That way we expand the real estate agent's role and theater of operation across the homeownership lifecycle."
Transforming the iBuyer Experience
While the industry debated the intent and ramifications of iBuyer programs, Realogy went to work on creating a solution it felt served the needs of all parties involved: consumers, agents and brokers.
"For some relatively small, but important segment of consumers, there is an extreme need and willingness to pay for a different experience when selling a property," explains Gorman. "We entered the iBuying space and began to learn more about consumers' needs. What we learned was that a vast majority of home sellers have a high desire for the peace of mind that comes with a cash offer, but they are best served by a traditional real estate agent."
To create this best-of-both worlds scenario, Realogy teamed up with Home Partners of America to launch RealSure this past October. With two components aimed at both the home-selling and home-buying consumer—RealSure Sell and RealSure Mortgage—Gorman says the program is a "natural evolution of the iBuyer experiment."
RealSure Sell aims to safeguard the consumer in the iBuyer situation by providing a cash offer while still allowing agents to list the home during a 45-day timeframe to gauge the best value. If the home does not receive a higher offer while on the market during this timeframe, sellers can either accept the cash offer or reject it and continue with the traditional listing methods. On the other side of the transaction, RealSure Mortgage allows consumers to leverage their RealSure Sell cash offer to make an offer on their next home even before their existing property is sold.
Gorman also points to RealVitalize as another innovative, seller-focused program that agents can add to their quiver to build relationships and win listings.
"Listing agents are excellent advisors on how to position a home at the right price to sell it in the shortest time," he explains. "Sometimes homeowners are reluctant to invest in ways that will maximize income from the transaction. In those instances, RealVitalize allows the agent to step in and leverage Realogy's relationship with HomeAdvisor to help make the property ready to sell, and save the home seller from the financial burden until liquidity."
Through RealVitalize, a homeowner who lists their home for sale with a participating brokerage company will have the option to make non-structural home improvements and repairs using a service professional from the HomeAdvisor network. The brokerage will cover the upfront costs of the repairs, which will be repaid by the seller when the property sale closes, or the listing expires.
Programs like RealSure and RealVitalize, while providing very specific benefits for consumers, provide Realogy affiliated real estate professionals with important competitive differentiation.
As Gorman says, "An agent's best advantage is themselves—their experience in the market. Programs like these allow them to bring value to consumers in ways that are surprising and delighting."
Redesigning the Tech Engine
Behind Realogy's programs and product launches is a revamped technology engine designed to enhance—not compete with—the agent's relationship with consumers.
"Technology doesn't replace high-value, complex things like real estate agents shepherding people through a transaction that happens only once every 5-10 years," explains Schneider. "A lot of technology actually makes people into superheroes."
In order to create an environment in which the best technology solutions can be created and thrive, Realogy has embraced an open architecture platform. The goal is simple: provide the necessary flexibility for brokers and agents to personalize technology for their individual needs.
"At our size, you can't build something that will work for 100 percent of the people," says Chen. "We are building an open framework API so other offerings will work with the Realogy platform. This will give our brands a lot of flexibility. We're enabling brokers and agents so they can grow their business their way. That's our role as an operator—to provide the tools to help them succeed."
Fueling the effectiveness of Realogy's technology offerings is the depth and breadth of its data. "We've learned that no matter how magical or dynamic your product is, if it's garbage in, it's garbage out from a data perspective," says Chen. "That's why organizations like Upstream and RESO are trying to create consistent data. But from our perspective, because of our scale and reach, we're able to leverage the most accurate, timely data in the industry so that our brokers and agents won't have the issue of garbage in, garbage out. In effect, we have our own version of Upstream."
The End Game: Transforming the Experience for Agents and Consumers
At the end of the day, Realogy's partnerships, programs and technology strategies are aimed at one thing: giving franchisees and agents what they need to create a relevant value proposition and enhanced experience for today's consumer.
"Realogy has deep roots in serving agents and owners with tools, technology and marketing to make agents more productive and profitable," says Peyton. "Whether it's AARP or Amazon or Home Partners of America, these large national partners offer agents a way to get closer to the consumer in a way that I think only Realogy can."
"A lot of what we rolled out surprised agents and franchisees," says Gorman. "They are surprised that we are innovating so rapidly and taking risks, and moving the industry forward as quickly as we are. They view the company as helping them differentiate themselves and serve the consumer in ways no one else has been able to."
"Our agents are fighting for consumers every day," says Schneider. "We are creating more tools to help them fight, to help them stand out."
For more information, please visit www.realogy.com.
Maria Patterson is RISMedia's executive editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at maria@rismedia.com.
Tags: Real Estate Industry NewsReal Estate MagazineRealogyRyan Schneider
Maria Patterson
Maria Patterson is RISMedia's executive editor.
Ed Wentz says:
As an ERA agent I find it incredible to read about all these programs that I've never heard on word about in our brokerage. Not one word.
Brad Bowman says:
Transforming it into what? I notice there was no discussion of the massive revenue loss, and our decline of market share.
The most telling part of the article is this…
Consolidation where? Into NRT?
Ryan J Servatius says:
Ummm, it's 7 brands when you include CLIMB and not CB Commercial from CB residential. 🙂
Just saying, but also great to see Agent X on there.
Jeanne Rutigliano says:
I manage a Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage office in Essex, CT. The tools are real, my agents are using them (most enthusiastically) and they are accomplishing all they are designed to do… make the consumer's experience efficient, faster, pleasant and happy due to well-informed, well-trained agents and the amazing tools they have. I've seen nothing like what Realogy/NRT offers agents to help set them aside from the competition and this has been my business for 32 years. Tremendous strides have been made with comprehensive marketing virtually done for the agents, connecting them to social media without lifting a finger, and more. I am impressed by the management/leadership team noted above, especially since all our high-level execs are previously from diverse areas in the business world; none is a former Realtor. I have great confidence in the planning and implementing done in 2019; we are leaders in the profession and will remain leaders, and not just because of our size. Kudos.
Jason Opland says:
Fantastic idea Realogy, grant Amazon a foothold into our industry in an effort to differentiate your outdated dying business model! And then duplicate business models offered by Zillow and other groups. Congratulations Realogy agents, this kind of innovative thinking is where your commission dollars are going!
Watch for large brokerage firms moving to fee-based models with basic charges for listing properties and a host of services available at incremental, lower costs; similar to how financial advisors use Charles Schwab to exchange securities while charging fees to manage and direct the sale.
The Realogy "Open Architecture" and allowing flexibility in regards to the products agents use is the result of not having the resources to build the best of breed platforms and solutions. This type of Open Architecture will have negative long term privacy and regulatory implications as the regulatory landscape for protecting consumer data evolves (e.g. CCPA and upcoming federal regulations).
Trevor W. says:
When you start offering discounts/incentives to use your companies, you will essentially attract the agents that are willing to work for less because that money has to come from some place. These will be part-time agents and agents without a lot of experience. You'll slowly be building a network of hourly employees. Good for you! Look how well that has worked out for the larger banks who are slowly loosing market share to the more service oriented, locally owned and operated, commission based mortgage companies.
Bruno Friia says:
In the 12 years we have been associated with ERA they have always under promised and over performed. There is no reason for us not to believe this will continue for the next 12 years.
Bruno Friia, CEO ERA Lambros Real Estate.


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Title: My Solution for Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds
Author: Abdullah Öcalan
Topics: capitalism, kurds, modernity, Syria, turkey
Source: Retrieved on 2020-08-07 from https://jacobinmag.com/2020/08/ocalan-turkey-syria-kurds-op-ed
My Solution for Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds
Fighting for the Future
On the Author
Capitalist modernity is history's deadliest and most continuous crisis of civilization. In particular, the general destruction of the last two hundred years has disrupted thousands of evolutionary links in the natural environment. We are probably not yet fully aware of the devastation this has caused the plant and animal worlds. It is, however, clear that, like the atmosphere, both these worlds are steadily emitting SOS signals.
How long can humanity go on enduring this modernity, which has inflicted far-reaching environmental devastation and caused the disintegration of society? How will humanity soothe the pain and agony of war, unemployment, hunger, and poverty?
The claim that the nation-state protects society is a vast illusion. On the contrary, society has been increasingly militarized by the nation-state and fully submerged in a kind of war. I call this war a societycide, imposed in two ways.
First, power and the state apparatus control, oppress, and surveil society.
Second, the information technology (the media monopolies) of the past fifty years has replaced real society with a virtual one. Up against the canons of nationalism, religionism, sexism, scientism, the arts, and the entertainment industry (including sports, soap operas, etc.), with which society is being battered 24/7 by the media, how can society be defended?
It's become quite clear that nation-statism in the Middle East is, in fact, one of capitalist modernity's tools of domination. What the Treaty of Versailles was to Europe, the Sykes-Picot Agreement drawn up between the British and the French in 1916 is to the Middle East: "A Peace to End All Peace."
Today's nation-states have the same meaning in the region as the Roman Empire's governors once had, but they are even more collaborationist with capitalist modernity — and stand even further from the region's cultural traditions. They are at war with their own peoples internally, and with one another externally. The liquidation of traditional society means war against peoples — and maps drawn with a ruler are an invitation for wars between states. None of them are adequate to overcoming the deepening crisis; in fact, their existence further deepens this crisis.
In my view, a third world war is taking place globally, with the Middle East as its center of gravity. In terms of scope and duration, this war is both deeper and longer than the first two world wars. The result is decay and disintegration. And it can end only with the formation of a new regional or global equilibrium. I contend that the fate of capitalist modernity's third world war will be determined by the developments in Kurdistan. This is manifest in what is happening in Iraq and Syria.
The existence of nation-states is an anomaly in Middle Eastern history — and the insistence on them leads to disasters. The Turkish nation-state believes that with a final genocide of the Kurds, it will make itself eternal — a nation-state now integrated with its own country and nation. Clearly, unless Turkey abandons this paradigm, it will be a mere gravedigger for the region's peoples and social cultures — including the Turkish people itself. Iran's future situation, similarly, remains uncertain both for itself and for the region.
But the situation of the Kurds — chopped up into pieces by nation-statism in the Middle East, imposing different forms of annihilation and assimilation upon each of these parts — is a complete catastrophe. Kurds are, as it were, condemned to a long-term, deadly agony.
However, the conditions have now matured — and the Kurds, through their struggle, can make their way out of the pincer movement of genocide. This is only possible through the project of a democratic nation — one based on free and equal citizens, existing together in solidarity, encompassing all cultural and religious realities. This is, then, a project designed to be forged together with the other peoples in the region. The methodology for achieving that goal is now developing, step-by-step.
Rojava and all of Northern and Eastern Syria — run by an autonomous multiethnic, multi-religion self-administration, based on the freedom of women — is rising like a beacon of freedom. This presents a model solution for both the peoples of the Middle East and the nation-states. The model proposes not the denial of nation-states, but proposes that they be bound to a democratic, constitutional solution. This will ensure the existence and autonomy of both the "state nation" — the nation constructed by the state — and the democratic nation.
The rich heritage of ethnic, religious, and denominational entities and their cultures, in this region can only be held together through this democratic nation mindset — one that fosters peace, equality, freedom, and democracy. Each culture, on the one hand, builds itself as a democratic national group. Then, they can live in a higher level of democratic national union with other cultures that they already live together with.
The democratic nation solution proposed by the Kurds has enabled them to eliminate ISIS — the result of religious monism — on behalf of all humanity. This is no doubt the result of our paradigm based on women's freedom, making it a role model all over the world.
At present, the developments in Northern and Eastern Syria have reached an important point. The recognition of the Administration of North and East Syria and the local democracy it represents for the Arab, Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian, and other peoples will be a very important development both for Syria and the wider Middle East. Our call for people to return from Europe, Turkey, and elsewhere will be possible once a Democratic Constitution of Syria is declared.
Our view on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict that has gone on for nearly a century is clear. We've been developing a democratic solution of the Kurdish question since 1993. Our stance — as seen in the 2013 talks with the Turkish nation-state, held in İmralı — expressed in the Newroz Declaration, as we entered the dialogue process, is today more important than ever. We reinforced this stance in the seven-point declaration we put forth in 2019. We insist on the need for social reconciliation and a democratic negotiation, to replace the culture of polarization and conflict.
Nowadays, problems can be solved not with physical tools of violence but with soft power. Under favorable conditions, I could set up the moves to eliminate the conflict within a week. As for the Turkish state, it is at a crossroads. It can either continue on its path toward unravelling like other nation-states in the region, or enter into a dignified peace and a meaningful democratic solution.
Ultimately, everything will be determined by the struggle between the parties. The success of the struggle waged by the Kurds through the politics of peace and democratic politics shall determine the end result. And freedom shall prevail.
Abdullah Öcalan is founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), regarded as one of the Kurds' most important political representatives and a leading strategist. Ever since his abduction from Kenya in 1999 and subsequent trial and death sentence — commuted to life imprisonment without possibility of parole — he has been held in total isolation on İmralı island. For almost eleven years, he was the sole prisoner there.
Öcalan has written extensively on history, philosophy, and politics, and is regarded as a key figure for a political solution of the Kurdish issue. Since the author has been held totally incommunicado and not been able to consult his lawyers or receive regular visits for many years, this op-ed has been edited from his prison writings and recent statements. His recent works include The Sociology of Freedom (2020) and The Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan (2017)


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With the addition of the fully rated 200 amp service switch, the meter is capable of pre-payment metering without the costs associated with card readers or other legacy pre-payment technologies. Load limiting and emergency conservation modes are added features when this meter is working in conjunction with a demand response program. The meter has the capacity for to be remotely configured, and is firmware upgradeable.
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Power Minister R.K. Singh reviews the Power Sector Development in Jammu & Kashmir
The Minister of State (I/C) for Power and New and Renewable Energy, Shri Raj Kumar Singh taking a review of Power Projects in Jammu and Kashmir, in Srinagar on October 10, 2017. The Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Nirmal Kumar Singh is also seen.
Srinagar: Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shri R.K. Singh reviewed power sector development in the State of Jammu & Kashmir in Srinagar today. The senior functionaries from Ministry of Power, Government of India, Central Power Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and key officials of Government of Jammu & Kashmir were also present during the review meeting.
During the review, Shri Singh reiterated the commitment of Government of India to provide uninterrupted reliable power supply to all the citizens of the country including Jammu & Kashmir and advised all concerned to ensure electrification of remaining 100 census villages by December 2017. These villages exist in remote areas with difficult hilly terrain in the districts of Kishtwar, Kupwara, Reasi, Bandipore, Leh, Kargil & Rajauri. Electrification of these villages would ensure electricity access to 100% census villages of the State and catalyse desired improvement in the quality of life of people of the State and also create new opportunities for economic activities and jobs for the youth. The CPSUs of Government of India are providing requisite support to Government of J&K for implementation of these projects.
During the visit, Shri Singh emphasized on expeditious implementation of projects sanctioned by Government of India under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) and Pradhan Mantri Development Plan (PMDP) for strengthening of transmission, sub-transmission and distribution system of the State. Apart from transmission & distribution, the status of generation and availability of power supply was also reviewed. Effective implementation of these projects would ensure availability of a robust electricity infrastructure in the State to realise the goal of '24×7 Power for All' at affordable prices, Shri Singh said.
Shri Singh also emphasized upon desired improvement in operational efficiency in distribution sector including billing & collection efficiency to ensure financial sustainability. Further, the officials of Government of J&K were also advised to initiate preparatory activities for implementation of new scheme 'Saubhagya', recently launched by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi for providing last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining households in the country and assured all kind of support from Government of India.
During the day, the Minister also met the Governor, Shri N. N. Vohra and Chief Minister of the State, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti and discussed about faster implementation of power projects in the State so that the people of J&K get 24×7 Quality Power at affordable prices.
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The heart of an enchanted village, sunny courtyard garden herbs - facing the breathtaking views of Ein Kerem - Church Moskobiia Spring Valley, sits the new Zimmer - sound of the bell. Zimmer is suitable for up to a couple + 2 is within walking distance from the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital and 5 minutes from downtown.
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Michael A. Rollin is a trial and appellate lawyer who litigates high-stakes business, bankruptcy and investment-related disputes, including multimillion and multibillion-dollar cases arising out of the 2008 financial crisis. He is a careful and thorough investigator, whether for litigation or in response to internal or government inquiries.
Mike has served as lead counsel to the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy estate for mortgage-backed securities and secondary market litigation and co-chairs the firm's Investments & Asset Management Litigation Group. Mike has also been lead national counsel for AIG and its financial services subsidiaries in non-compete, trade secrets and unfair competition matters.
He has extensive experience prosecuting and defending injunctions, and litigating a wide array of complex commercial matters in state and federal trial courts, bankruptcy courts, appellate courts, and FINRA and AAA arbitration.


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BY Art Thiel 06:00AM 04/03/2020
Thiel: College sports in for overdue haircut
A survey of NCAA athletics directors says they fear losing up to 20 percent of revenues because of COVID-19. How about using this downtime to re-think the enterprise?
Boy, did Chris Petersen know when to fold 'em, or what? / Art Thiel, Sporspress Northwest
Only 42, new University of Washington football coach Jimmy Lake doesn't have a lot of room to talk about "back in the old days."
Nevertheless, during an update teleconference call this week with area reporters, he did. And said something perhaps unintentionally prophetic.
"I think back to the old days when football wasn't 12 months a year," he said. "People used to show up to training camp and you used to get in shape in the first two weeks, and then the next two weeks you were kind of getting dialed in on the scheme, and then the season began. That's how it used to be."
That's likely how it shall be again, at least this season, in pro as well as college football. And done once, at considerable savings in expenses, why not do it again, and year after year?
From 2020, things won't be the same.
Surrounding the tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic is the immense impact of the economic shutdown. Few industries will escape major consequences, none with a higher public profile than the sports-industrial complex.
As we await solemnly the achievement of the peak of the graph that is suddenly ubiquitous in our lives, a glimpse of the post-virus financial future for college sports was published Thursday via The Associated Press.
A survey of more than 100 FBS athletics directors, done by LEAD1 and Teamworks, a company that created an app to keep teams and athletics directors connected, revealed that 63 percent of ADs agreed that a worst-case scenario is likely in which their revenues would decrease by up to 20 percent in the 2020-21 school year.
To a Seattle restaurant owner who has already seen a 100 percent cut in revenues, a 20 percent drop is a screamin' deal. But to members of an increasingly desperate, creaky association whose vast majority has been operating in the red for years, the 20 percent forecast should be cause for alarm, maybe panic.
At most big schools, football revenues and the men's basketball tournament cover nearly all the annual expenses for every non-revenue sport, including most coaching salaries. But a national public health crisis forced the NCAA March 12 to shut down all winter and spring sports so abruptly that one men's hoops game was stopped at halftime.
The survey didn't ask about how the shortfall might be managed, but it's reasonable to anticipate entire sports being eliminated, services cut and salaries reduced. Iowa State is already cutting coaching pay to make up for the absence of hoops tourney money.
Much can change regarding the pandemic between now and late August that could forestall the worst-case financial scenario in college sports of canceled football games. But even if the federal government regains its wits to help mitigate the most catastrophic outcomes of COVID-19, the NCAA and all its competing constituencies are unlikely to respond coherently when the re-start is signaled.
Nevertheless, amid the darkness, there is a flicker. It's possible to see an outcome, albeit very messy, that offers long-term hope: A collapse of the NCAA arms race.
Underway for years, the arms race among football and men's basketball schools has separated the haves (about 10 percent) from the have-nots, creating several professional leagues with world-class salaries, world-class facilities, world-class debt and no hope of sport-wide balance, financial sustainability or meaningful self-regulation.
The NCAA, a trade association lacking the basic rules of corporate governance but with a mandate to preserve an archaic economic concept, amateurism, which has no place in a capitalist society, cannot help itself. It is a wafer-thin mint away from becoming late-stage Mr. Creosote.
The pandemic was a black-swan event for many individuals and businesses. But with problems come opportunities. Serious-minded people around college sports should look at this down time as a chance to re-imagine the entire enterprise.
I have, and have made, a thousand suggestions over many years. But I'd like to take the moment to offer a single absurdity and use it as a question worthy of pursuit of a solution:
Since a football coach or a men's basketball coach is the highest-paid public employee in 39 of the 50 states, how do we reform the industry to restore balance and a sliver of integrity?
College sports poohbahs will say they've heard these lamentations before. But they've never had the FBI arrest hoops coaches on corruption charges. They've never had a state legislature create a law specifically to allow NCAA players to receive income. They've never before been dead-stopped for a national crisis that threatens to devastate their people and their money.
The ask for a re-imagining follows a basic premise of sports: Get ahead, not behind.
Follow Art Thiel on Twitter at @Art_Thiel
Alan Harrison
I've seen this in the arts world as well, a world where, similarly, a tiny few get paid a lot of money. Large arts organizations are like the "haves" in the NCAA – and they have tended to fail in the last few years due to the lack of flexibility. Sadly, their response has been akin to "If we just do it harder, it'll work," rather than "If we change the way we do it, it might work better." Football, especially because there is no Title IX equivalent sport for women, is the greatest culprit of NCAA inflexibility. Of course, I appreciate that so many students are getting a full scholarship in so many schools. Given that, and the truest aims of the sport, perhaps it's time to reward high graduation rates with a relegation system. With structure, perhaps we can head off the worst offending schools (I'm looking at the SEC, except for Vandy) using grade inflation to keep their standing. Just spitballing…I'm sure they would have a million responses as to why something like this is impossible, which is sad. Maybe if they just do what they're doing, but harder, it will work.
Kevin Lynch
Amen, brother…(full disclosure: Alan and I worked together at a prominent Seattle arts organization). I just love the line about the wafer-thin mint meeting Mr. Creosote.
Hey, wait a minute. Are you guys pals, sneaking around together? I insist you keep at least six comments between you on this site. I don't want your thoughts to become infected.
Too late for both of us.
So it is too late to wrap my face in a scarf. Sad.
How about we eliminate college sports and turn the schools into institutions of higher learning and hopefully take ESPN & FOX SPORTS with it!
Thanks for the arts-org perspective. The one big difference I see is that the NCAA is dependent on the preservation of an outmoded economic system, amateurism, which sustains Nick Saban's $8M annual stipend. An outside entity, the Cali legislature, is forcing amateurism's death, and the NCAA is fighting it to the point of self-destruction.
ReebHerb
High school sports could use some scrutiny also including the parents. The requirements to attend high priced summer camps seems a little overboard. I enjoyed small school varsity basketball but summer time was for work and my family could never afford this new expense to participate. A young friend of mine was on the state basketball championship team. She made a stop at her grandparents house each evening to sort of meet the school district's residency requirements. Mercer Island and Bellevue have this down to a science.
…and Federal Way.
If athletes are talented enough, summer camp money will find them, usually from shoe-company shills. As far as eligibility, WIAA long ago lost control of high school eligibility rules and requirements. It's been a low-boil scandal for years, but no authority above WIAA wants to demand enforcement, because it isn't a priority and there's no money to force compliance. Bellevue High School was busted, but it took the Seattle Times to blow the whistle.
When this crisis is over, there will be a new normal for just about everything, including big time sports. None of us will be the same. Like the post WW2 generation, we shall mourn the dead, and have an opportunity to make things different and better.
Jimmy Lake longs for a hair cut.
True that nothing will be the same. Whether anything becomes better in the U.S. is dependent largely on whether we stay as divided as we've been.
Thanks as always, Art! It's a timely take. Change for the better may have to be forced by no other choices, unless those that are making the decisions aren't direct financial benefactors.
To shake up the system, it would take a program of some profile to close its doors, and even then, admins would dismiss it as a one-off due to bad management.
Everyone at the NCAA top benefits from the current system, so even of it is obviously doomed to fail, no one has the guts to say the trestle up ahead is out.
Hockeypuck
All well and good. So how is this going to happen, which school becomes the first to unilaterally disarm? No AD in their right mind would do this, it would be career suicide. Are we asking the NCAA to do this for us? Yeah you're right Nicolae Ceaușescu was a great guy once you got to know him….
Would you trust Congress to come up with a solution? Really? And what would that look like? I'm guessing a salary cap of some sort – which would be in place for as long it took the lawyers to limo down to federal court.
This is all driven by money of course, which means it is drive by TV which means it is driven by us. If you don't like the system, don't support the system. We're not innocent bystanders here. And BTW Art, mid-life career changes are a real b%@@#!.
You're tracking well, puck. I will elaborate in a future column, but as I've written in the past, the answer is to completely professionalize the two revenue sports. Eliminate amateurism, pay the players working class wages, rent from the university its facilities, logos and season-ticket lists, and cut coaching salaries and staffing by more than 50 percent, then charge the TV/streaming nets and in-house fans what the market will bear.
The solution comes comes from within the industry, not imposed by outside agencies. The fat cats have to realize they are all Creosotes.
Indeed, you and I are not innocent bystanders. We are perps. There's my solution. What's yours?
Would you proposal include women's basketball….or softball?
To respond briefly to both of you, my proposal has always made class attendance optional. Athletes disciplined enough to do so should get a free education, those who can't manage it can still play. That ends the current "student-athlete" hypocrisy.
Regarding all the non-rev sports, I believe there are enough revs generated by FB and MBB to subsidize all big-university sports programs. But not when you're paying Saban and Ol' Roy close to $10M each, and big salaries to Emmert/staff, funding a compliance operation that has the budget of a European principality and creating facilities as expansive as the debt incurred to build them.
Art – I appreciate that you have raised this issue. And your challenge is a fair one – the easiest thing in the world is to be a naysayer without a constructive solution. So I will think about this and come up with something of a answer – trying not to borrow shamelessly from the points you've already made above.
Question though – by way of professionalizing the athletes, would they actually be required to have an association with university academics at all? If not, it kind of looks like the major-junior hockey model – players get a living stipend, professional exposure and off they go..
If you wish to defer your answer until you unveil your comprehensive solution in a future column that I'll wait until that time…
What college athletics needs is a tireless visionary leader with courage, integrity and selflessness who will fearlessly challenge the corrupt network of corporate and media interests, opportunistic politicians, academic lackeys and snake oil hucksters who have captured a secondary recreational activity and converted it into a ruthless money machine that has come to dominate and control the entire university culture.
This looks like job for Mark Emmert.
Wow, woofer. Irony marbled with satire. Well done.
Thanks for the kind words, Art. But all glory goes to Mark. He is the inspiration behind whatever small success I've managed to achieve over the course of my career. Through all the ups and downs, the highs and lows, Mark has always been there for me.
Good to know. Actually, I enjoyed numerous conversations with Emmert when he ran the Montlake shop. I just don't know why he wanted to run the sports equivalent of Enron.
Yes, Mark Emmert is a world class schmoozer. No one ever questioned that. Pete von Reichbauer thought Emmert walked on water. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why I find him so intolerable. He left town long before he could do any permanent damage here. But there just something about the guy that makes my skin crawl.
Seattle Lifer
What will become interesting is when the projected "boomerang" of Covid 19 comes through in the fall with no immunization in sight, Schools will learn what it is like to do without big money. (As will most of us learning to do without much if any money.) I would be curious what will happen to not just empty stadiums, but networks. Who will be able to afford PAC 12 TV Network or any of the specialized sports networks? Sports in general are a disposable income event, (sorry Art,) if there is no disposable income, where will they end up?
Public health records over decades verify that pandemics usually have waves. The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918-19 had three, the last of which hit Seattle hard, stopping the Metropolitans in the Stanley Cup.
Since we're a recession now, discretionary spending on things like sports, arts, restaurant dining will plunge. The unique and powerful economic damage in this crisis is that we will have dedicated $2 trillion to relief, not a stimulus. My media colleagues who keep calling it a stimulus are confusing their audiences.
I'd very much like it if you were to donate part of your $1,200 relief check to SPNW, but I get why you won't. I think most sports leaders understand that, too.
We'll have to make do, or do something else.
Quackhead
" . . .how do we reform the industry . . ."
Since you mention the absurd coaching salaries, why not start there.
Fund the coaches with a dollar for dollar match of coach salaries with dollars put into a players fund to be split among the "amateur" talent in question. Just a thought, but it would be a start in the right direction.
Coaches salaries reflect the marketplace. Would you favor your salary being reduced? People often want the salaries of OTHERS (politicians, movie stars, athletes, etc) reduced…but never their own.
Agree that salaries reflect the marketplace. But the marketplace is about to undergo massive changes going forward; the scales will tilt toward the players.
Regarding the issue of marketplace, big-time college sports is an outlier in the capitalist system. High salaries result from a free labor pool that exists nowhere else in the legal world (scholarships are not the same as compensation for labor; they are simply permissions to sit in classes), and revenues produced by the big sports subsidize unrelated activities (the non-rev sports), which is socialism.
This system is archaic, anachronistic and wrong.
jafabian
The best thing to create revenue for any athletic program is winning. All coaches now have the time to plan on how to approach that goal. The key is to be ahead of what their opponents are planning because they're doing the same thing. I remember when MLB realigned Lou Pinella did exactly that where his contemporaries did not. Consequently the Mariners gave us a near memorable season. ( Sadly the necessary changes needed for a playoff run or to grow as a team never happened.) IMO the earliest sporting events could kick off is September. And that's being wishful. We really don't know.
In college sports, even winning programs run deficits. There's no comparing it to pro sports.
And as far as integrity in college sports, there are good people doing good things, but the the system is set up to reward cheating with little consequences. Even the sainted John Wooden cheated, via booster Sam Gilbert.
Tim Sullivan
Great article. Do we really need $500K a year tight end coaches? Do we really need football staffs of 30 to 50 people (see Alabama), Taj Mahal facilities? College sports doesn't adhere to the rules of basic economics. If they opened up the tight end coaching position at Washington for $85K a year, they'd get 2,000 applicants, and they'd all be as good as the guy making $500K a year. "Hey Joe, block this guy, run this pattern" … for $500K a year? Big time collegiate sports isn't very self-aware, however, and I expect just more spending to occur. Personally I think Clemson and 'Bama should just play for their national title every year and every other D-1 school should pull out of the arms race. It's insane.


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Zsigmondy's parents were Hungarians: Adolf Zsigmondy, born in Pozsony, and Irma von Szakmáry, born in Mártonvásár. Zsigmondy was an excellent alpinist, known for the risky nature of many of his climbs. He began mountaineering as a…
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Zorea was born in Chişinău, Bessarabia (then part of the Kingdom of Romania, now in Moldova) in 1923, and moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1925. He was a teenager at the outbreak of World War II, but in 1942 joined the 20th company of the…
Zoppetti came through the ranks of Cremonese as a teenager, where he was snapped up by Reggina. He failed to establish himself with the amaranto and was subsequently sent out on loan to several Serie B clubs.
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Ziebold, who was born in Iowa, began working in restaurants as a teenager after school at Café Maude with mentor chef Matt Nichols. Ziebold spent more time in the restaurant than in class while attending college at the University of…
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JackGlass wrote: wow! They're slowly but surely turning Great America into the Magic Mountain of the Midwest! Can't wait until this opens!
Way more than a long shot. CP is a destination. With the hotels, the lake, jetskis, parasailing....not to mention the roller coasters, or the fact that they have more rides than anyone. CP main competition is Kings Island, but really destinations not named disney....like Busch Gardens.
This is from Friday 2/8/2019 @ 11 AM and as you can see...track is on the structure now!
The structure for the end of the ride and some of the track are already in place. I do not believe that they were working today (very cold 4 degrees out) which is understandable.
Posted full resolution, so keep clicking on the green both top left to see it full size.
This ride will totally intimidate anyone walking up to the front entrance!
^ Absolutely! I hope it has a good "roar" to it.
Also, I didn't realize how far it goes into Hurricane Harbor.
It really is beautiful watching a new coaster be constructed. Maxx Force will be such a dynamic addition to the skyline.
https://youtu.be/YDsDEQJ7l38 This video has some nice footage of the progress made. Also a press conference with Tess!
Tess mentioned an element where the ride goes under the service road. Doesn't it only go under the train?
I'm estimating the dive loop at around 120' tall. Does that sound reasonable?
SaveTheWAVE wrote: I'm estimating the dive loop at around 120' tall. Does that sound reasonable?
Yes, that sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Amusement Insiders posted a video with some cool construction shots and announcing there will be an exclusive construction tour in a few weeks. They said to ask questions in the comments that anyone has for the park so I thought I'd share the video here It looks like this ride will go up very soon!!
Marcus Leshock posted this construction update on his YouTube channel today. The most interesting thing is that Hank Salemi said that Maxx Force should open in "the early part of [their] operating season", so hopefully that means by Memorial Day Weekend.
^ I don't see them opening this ride any sooner than Memorial Day Weekend, even if it was done and ready to go.
I think He's saying construction will be done in the earlier part of the year/season, not that it'll open. I'm always waiting, with each new ride, that it'll actually open opening day but it never happens.
gottastrata33 wrote: I think He's saying construction will be done in the earlier part of the year/season, not that it'll open. I'm always waiting, with each new ride, that it'll actually open opening day but it never happens.
Fingers crossed they recruit members of the public for the commercial shoot. I was in the one for Goliath and it was a blast!
I might be able to get photos of Maxx Force tommorow... so fingers crossed!
I follow the Maxx Force hashtag and found this picture. Kinda shows the size of the last element. Looks like they finally secured and finished off the support structure!
Double post, in the interview Marcus Leshock did with Hank Salemi, Hank says the ride is about 70 seconds. I tried listening close to hear if he said 7 second (which seems like the obvious choice) or 70 seconds. I know the ride isn't that long, but maybe on the launch there will be some prelaunch audio which could add to the experience.
SFGAM_Hog wrote: Double post, in the interview Marcus Leshock did with Hank Salemi, Hank says the ride is about 70 seconds. I tried listening close to hear if he said 7 second (which seems like the obvious choice) or 70 seconds. I know the ride isn't that long, but maybe on the launch there will be some prelaunch audio which could add to the experience.
It's possible, but knowing Six Flags they probably won't keep it running for long.
It definitely sounded like he said 70 seconds. That's probably the time between launches. I actually wouldn't want it to do some sort of prelaunch audio or other time consuming effect that would only lower capacity. Realistically, the ride is probably about 20-25 seconds, well short of 70 seconds but at least longer than 7 seconds which would be terrible no matter how exciting that 7 seconds was.
Does anyone know what the height restriction for Maxx Force will be ? Has it been announced ?
hoju74 wrote: Does anyone know what the height restriction for Maxx Force will be ? Has it been announced ?


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Jimi Hendrix's 1960s Fender Stratocaster (Tortoiseshell)
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This, for the time – unusual, Strat was used around late 1967. It was first seen at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on August 18, 1967. Less than ten days later, the guitar was seen once again at the Saville Theater in London.
From then on it was played on a few more occasions, but not nearly as much as Jimi's main white Strat with white pickguard. This guitar seemed to have been something Jimi would use mainly at the end of the set, for his usual routine of smashing it against a Marshall stack. An example of this can be seen at the Blackpool Opera House on November 25, 1967 – which is also likely the last time this guitar appeared on stage.
The Unusual Specs
What's unusual about the guitar is the combination of the specs. While there have been a good number of white Strats in the early 60s, there were very few shipped with tortoise shell pickguard. Nowadays, these guitars are an extreme rarity. Even disregarding the unique pickguard, the year 1964, which is probably when Jimi's guitar was made, is the year that many consider to have produced the best Stratocasters. According to Reverb's price guide, a regular Olympic white 1964 Stratocaster is valued between $14,000 — $19,000. Of course, Jimi paid a fraction of that when he bought the guitar, presumably in 1967.
So, if the guitar was stock and the pickguard was not installed after the fact, it was an extremely rare piece, which probably wouldn't be that hard to track down if it ever resurfaced.
Jimi Hendrix at the Saville Theater on August 27, 1967. He is seen playing his usual white Strat, while the odd one with the dark pickguard is sitting in the back. Photo credit: Miki Slingsby. Available for print at: hagsphotography.com
Please note that the photo above was likely taken on August 27, 1967, and not on October 8, 1967 as it reads on the website. Hendrix played at the Saville Theater on both dates, and Miki Slingsby took photos at both of them, but comparing clothes and stage setup, the photos were likely not taken on the same date. You can compare the differences yourself by going through each of the galleries available at hagsphotography.com.
Hendrix Tortoise Shell Strat on Auction?
A guitar identical in appearance to this one appeared on auction in 2011. The official auction page on Christie's website states that the guitar was actually owned by Gary Boyle of the Brian Auger Trinity, and borrowed to Hendrix on few occasions between 1966-1967. Jimi allegedly used it on some very early London gigs at The Scotch of St James, The Bag O' Nails Club, and Speakeasy.
It's seems impossible to confirm that Jimi used a white Stratocaster with a tortoiseshell pickguard that early on, at least based on the visual clues. On all of the photos available from around late 1966, he is seen playing a white Stratocaster with a white pickguard, which as is explained on this page is most likely the same guitar he carried with him from the US. What seems most logical is that Jimi used Gary Boyle's guitar on the few occasions on which he didn't happen to carry his own guitar (sit-ins with other bands), so that guitar wasn't really something that Jimi used on a regular basis.
Nonetheless, anything that went through Jimi's hands is bound to be sold on an auction at an increased price. This guitar was sold for $14,126 – which is actually what you'd expect from any 1964 Strat (perhaps not one with a replacement neck, which this one was – according to Christie's listing). It ended up being sold to the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver, where it can now be seen on display.
From all this information it can be somewhat safe to conclude that these are two completely different guitars. One belonged to Gary Boyle and was borrowed to Hendrix on a few occasions in late 1966/early 1967. The other one belonged to Jimi himself and was used on tour in late 1967.
This, however, didn't stop whoever put Gary's guitar on display to also add a photo of the second Strat right next to it, perhaps assuming that the guitar on the photo is the exact same one on the display. The photo seen in the display box shows Hendrix backstage at the Hollywood Bowl, in August 1967, therefore it couldn't be Gary's guitar. Hendrix was back in the US, and at that point had more than enough money to buy a guitar of his own. It's just a very strange coincidence which hopefully makes more sense now.
Jimi Hendrix Equipment
1957 Supro Ozark 1560s 1960s Danelectro Bronze Standard Ibanez Jet King 2 1961 Epiphone Wilshire 1960s Fender Duo-Sonic 1959-1964 Fender Jazzmaster 1950s/60s Fender Duo-Sonic (Sunburst) 1960s Fender Jazzmaster 1960s Fender Stratocaster (Carol) 1964 Fender Stratocaster (Linda) 1960s Fender Stratocaster (black, Darlington) 1960s Fender Stratocaster 1963 Fender Stratocaster (Sunburst) 1965 Fender Stratocaster (Astoria Strat) 196? Fender Stratocaster (Zappa) 1963/64 Fender Stratocaster (Monterey Pop) 1960s Fender Stratocaster (Saville Theater / Sgt. Pepper's Strat) 1965 Fender Jaguar (Black) 1965/66 Fender Stratocaster (Black, Monterey) 1960s Fender Stratocaster (Sunburst, Monterey) 1967 Fender Stratocaster (White) 1967 Gibson Flying V (Hand-painted) 1960s Fender Stratocaster (Tortoiseshell) 1960s Fender Jaguar (Blue) Mosrite Joe Maphis 12/6 Doubleneck 1960s Fender Stratocaster (Modified) 1967 Fender Stratocaster (White) 1965 Fender Jazzmaster (Sunburst) 1956 Gibson Les Paul Custom (Fillmore West, Miami Pop) 1967 Guild Starfire V 1950s Gibson Les Paul TV Special 1967/68 Fender Stratocaster (Blue) 1968 Fender Stratocaster "Black Beauty" 1968 Fender Stratocaster (Woodstock) 1967 Gibson SG Custom 1969 Gibson Flying V (Tobacco burst) 1960s Fender Stratocaster (Telecaster neck, Newport) 1955 Gibson Les Paul Custom 1960s Gibson SG Custom (Red) 1968/69 Fender Stratocaster (White) 1970 Gibson Flying V (Left-handed, Black) 1970 Fender Stratocaster (sunburst, maple)
1951 Epiphone FT79 1960s Zemaitis 12-string Thornward Parlor Guitar 1968 Martin D-45 Martin D-45 #2
Silvertone Twin Twelve Fender Twin Reverb Supro S6420 Thunderbolt Marshall Super 100 JTM45/100 Guild Thunderbass Quantum Amp Sound City One Hundred Vox AC30 Fender Dual Showman Sunn 100s Sunn 2000s
Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone Marshall Supa Fuzz Roger Mayer Octavia Shin-ei/Univox Uni-Vibe Vox V846 Wah Pedal (Woodstock)
Fender Rock N' Roll 150 Strings
Ace (Woodstock) Guitar Strap Fender Medium Celluloid Guitar Pick Ace (Stained Glass) Guitar Strap Manny's Music Medium Guitar Pick Ace (Floral) Guitar Strap


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How To Use – New Hacks On Mocha App On Android That Will Blow Your Mind | Unlock It.
פורסם:אפריל 29, 2021
קטגוריה:Download APK Android Apps
Exit to the Homebrew Launcher and select the CHBC app and run it. Select "YES" the redNAND option will format the SD Card and create a new redNAND partition on your SD Card. emocha makes Directly Observed Therapy scalable with asynchronous video DOT.
Customer service got worse – You used to be able to talk to a human pretty easily in the Moka app. It can be helpful at times, but most of the time I want to talk to a real person, not a bot. Fees are huge for small accounts – As mentioned above, if you don't have a ton of money in your Moka account, the $3/month fee will be eating into your returns massively.
# Root Hooks Are Not Global
Each hook basically takes a callback function as an argument. The callback function contains logic to be executed when the hook is triggered. The logic can be either synchronous or asynchronous just as it is with regular test cases. For environments that support the more recent async/await syntax, Mocha.js also supports passing async functions as the second argument to it(). Whenever you return a promise from the function passed to it(), Mocha knows that the functionality to be tested is asynchronous, so it waits for the promise to be fulfilled before proceeding to the next test. Before you proceed, here is a simple module that exports an asynchronous md5() function for computing the MD5 hash of a string.
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Moka Akashiya (outer)
I personally always rinse the pot with hot water straight after I pour out the coffee. This gets rid of the 'worst' of the residue without preventing the Download Mocha APK for Android oils to build up over time. Whether this effect can be quantified by a perceptible difference in taste, I see no reason to part with tradition; it is a badge of honor and the sign of a well-used pot. At the very least, you are saving yourself a lot of trouble in having to clean it out each time.
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The number Special Assessment Districts (SAD's) for road improvements continue to increase each year, as property owners in subdivisions are educated on how very little of their tax dollars are collected for local subdivision roads ($1,500/yr/mile rural and $3,000/yr/mile urban). The Road Commission encourages initial informational meetings with property owners so they can make an informed decision if they are willing to pay for a Special Assessment to improve the subdivision roads within their community.
This year, Road Commission staff has met with property owners in Scio, Dexter, Lodi and Northfield townships about potential SAD's. The Road Commission and Scio Township will be partnering on four SAD's for 2013. In addition, Scio Township is considering a Township wide Special Assessment District to fund road improvements on their local collector gravel roads and to fund the preventive maintenance of the subdivisions that were already reconstructed through a SAD process. As we have experienced, most citizens of Washtenaw County, and probably every other County in Michigan, do not have a thorough understanding of how roads are funded and how very little money is available to maintain their subdivision roads. The SAD process allows the property owner to decide if they are willing to pay for road improvements in their neighborhood.