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Buy A Lesson In Diplomacy
A Lesson In Diplomacy DVD
Baseball! The great American past time. That's the myth. But America must include Cuba in her claims of dominating the world in baseball, a la the Major League's "World Series", because in the middle 19th century baseball was imported by Cuba and its storied history of the game parallels that of the US. It is unfortunate that misunderstandings over 50 years ago between the US and Cuba interrupted the shared love for their past times.
However, time, people, and circumstances have changed. So it seemed natural that the two nations could meet again on the baseball field. Here is a story of a North American University baseball team who traveled to Cuba to test their skills against a team of Cuban all-stars in a three-game baseball series.
Grand Valley State University was the first Division II baseball team in US history to play in Cuba. This film documents first-hand accounts of the obstacles that GVSU faced anticipating the trip, the trajectories of planning that ultimately led to its success, and the people behind the effort.
The story of the six-day visit to Havana, as told by players, coaches, and administrators, is about a baseball team, recognition of its placement in US history, and its losses and "triumphs". Included also is a glimpse of First Hand Aid's work and how it was shared with the Lakers. This story depicts an encounter with a people and culture "lost in time" and boys playing a game they love and learning lessons in diplomacy.
Thank you for your interest in our film! This is a PRE-ORDER. When the movie is ready, you may receive an email or phone call informing you of availability and shipment.
Please also note that those who went on the Grand Valley State Baseball in Cuba trip in January 2012 will all be receiving a copy of the DVD for free when they are available. For those free copies, there is no need to fill out this form. Please only fill this out for orders in addition to what you will be receiving free, if you wish to receive multiple copies. For example, if you are a baseball player here, and you are wanting 4 copies total for yourself, and for your friends/family, please purchase three (3) here. One for you is already reserved.
ALL PROFITS FROM THE SALE OF THESE DVDs WILL BE DONATED TO FIRST HAND AID! To learn more about First Hand Aid, please visit http://firsthandaid.org
Once again thank you for your support, and we hope you enjoy the film!
We accept check over the mail, or credit card online right here.
Category: Movie Tags: baseball, cuba, gvsu
A Lesson In Diplomacy
We had many preconceived notions about Cuba, its socio-economic-political system, and its people and culture. We had seen the iconic pictures of old cars, Old Havana, Fidel, and Che. Official, and sometimes different, stories about the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, and repression of dissidents under communism had been described across five decades of misunderstandings between Cuba and the US.
Marc Bohland, executive director of First Hand Aid, gave us more information about Cuba based on his decade of experience traversing US and Cuban bureaucratic rules. He told us what we might expect to see and how to act. We were intimidated by his words of advice.
So, we still wondered, what was it really going to be like in Cuba?
Cuban government and baseball officials wanted this project to go well. We were only going to play baseball games but, from the beginning, Fidel always politicized games, particularly baseball games. The games were competitive, media coverage was extensive, and fans were rewarded with good baseball.
But the week in Havana was more than about baseball. We had a Cuban's view of its history, saw the old and new of Havana, and interacted with Cubans of all ages on Havana streets and in baseball stadiums. As Americans who played baseball we were conversation pieces and warmly welcomed. But contradictions were everywhere, some noticed, most not.
What we see in this image is what we will remember: Sunshine, smiles, mothers, fathers, children, ball gloves and baseballs. Human beings trying to connect. Human beings that can transcend language, cultural, and political barriers, knowing that we are seeking a secure and happy place to live, freedom, fun, and sense of belonging. We and the Cuban people were not all that different!
Reflections by:
Gordon Alderink
Former GVSU Pitching Coach
Film Co-Producer


Police bag evidence in the alley near 21st Street and California Avenue in Little Village on Monday after a woman was shot.
One person is in custody after a teen was shot near an elementary school in the Little Village neighborhood this morning, police said.
The shooting happened at about 8:35 a.m. in the 2100 block of South California Avenue, according to Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.
The victim, believed to be a female around 18, was shot in the upper thigh and hip area and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where her condition was stabilized, Mirabelli said.
After the shooting, three people were seen running east in an alley, Mirabelli said. One person of interest was taken into custody and was being questioned.
The shooting happened near the Hammond Elementary School, 2819 W. 21st Place. It is also several blocks from another elementary school, the Saucedo Scholastic Academy, 2850 W. 24th Blvd.


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The customer, a Spanish media group that specializes in business, economy and technology news websites, counts 4.4 million unique users and 100 million impressions per month, respectively
The group was off to a strong start with 5x programmatic revenue year over year. To further grow their profit margin, in Q1 of 2018, they challenged Smart to diversify their inventory while keeping control over demand sources. Their goal: increase programmatic revenue without sacrificing user experience of their valued audience.
+ Smart Native Ads
Smart provides a non-intrusive, customizable and responsive native ads solution that offers elevated lift for brand affinity and purchase intent responses. As native ads slip seamlessly into content, users are more receptive to them. CPMs are higher than for both standard banner and Rich Media ads.
+ Easy Native Ads Setup on Existing Placements
Smart makes native ads inventory implementation easy for Spanish Media Group. By setting up inventory on existing banner placements with a native ads template, the need for an additional technical setup is completely eliminated. The customer simply uses Smart's Native Ad Studio to generate the necessary code.
+ Full stack solution with programmatic monetization on desktop and mobile web
Smart's full stack solution provides the media group with an integrated platform on which to run their entire ad serving business — including direct and programmatic, across all digital formats and screens. It allows publishers to deliver advertisements on the right device, in the right format, at the right time. Spanish Media Group is running Smart RTB+ on both desktop and mobile web. To maximize revenue, they are selling inventory using a variety of programmatic buying methods, including Open Auction, deals, and Deal +, Smart's curated deals solution.
+ New demand sources placed in holistic competition
Smart's full stack has a complete view of all inventory as well as each buyer-seller commitment, which allows for holistic campaign management. New native ads demand sources are placed in holistic competition against standard banners, parallax, and Video-Read formats. Native ads are placed at same level in the waterfall as the other formats, but at a different floor price.
Programmatic stake in revenues jumped from 4.2% to 14.8% in two years' time.
Words from the client and partner
"By integrating a cross-screen open ad server, Smart AdServer made it easy for us to get into the game and move ahead, as we began quickly and inexpensively to run lucrative rich-media ads from brands that would have been out of reach for our direct-sales team… It makes no economic sense for us to put a salesperson in Los Angeles. The rise of programmatic, though, has made it possible for us to run ads from great companies based in L.A. and all over the world — offering impressions, booking the sale, and running the ads in less than a second."
– Chief Digital Officer Daniel Rojas Rincon
"Buying quality inventory at scale is always important. We're very happy to be able to access the great content and audience of El Tiempo programmatically, and to easily run rich-media and video ads there."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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More Rumblings From the 30th Street Rail Yards: Will Philly Finally Get Its Futuristic City in the Sky?
By Molly Webb Oct 9, 2013, 2:23pm EDT
Yesterday, Amtrak announced that they're looking for a master planner who can help them connect 30th Street Station to surrounding neighborhoods. Does this mean that they're one step closer to developing over the railyards?
Last June, Amtrak and Drexel teamed up to do a feasibility study on the possibility of developing a cap over the railyards, and building on it. Though Drexel's president suspected (at the time) that the study would prove development would be possible but prohibitively expensive, this most recent press release from Amtrak might be a sign that railyard development is inching closer to becoming a reality.
The press release isn't even a little coy: it specifically says that the master planning process will include "the potential development of air rights above the rail yards." Potential doesn't mean definite, but since Amtrak was in on Drexel's study, and Drexel will be included in Amtrak's planning process, the inclusion of solid language around railyard development seems to be a sign of some kind of progress.
Amtrak also says they're looking to connect 30th Street to surrounding neighborhoods, and it's easy to see why: the station's location between a river and a tangle of highways does isolate it pretty effectively. Perhaps the railyard cap (and the development on the railyard cap) will be just the draw that the 30th Street area needs.
· Would Anyone Live Over a Railyard? Drexel Wants to Find Out [Curbed Philly]
· Making Plans For 30th Street Station [The Inquirer]
· Drexel, Amtrak to study expanding university and other development over rail yard airspace [Plan Philly]
30th Street Station
2955 Market Street, , PA 19104 Visit Website


Just over one month ago, I boarded an airplane in Boston with 50 other students from all over the country, all of whom were probably just about as freaked out as I was. As the plane was taking off, I leaned against the window listening to my dramatic music, on the verge of tears. What had I gotten myself into? I was sitting on a plane going to Rennes, France, 5,541 miles from my house -- which I would not return to for nine months. In 12 hours I would meet my host family, with whom I had only exchanged a few emails, and see the city that would become my home for the next 9 months. The plane took off, and I waved goodbye to America, my family, and friends for the year.
To be completely honest, deciding to do School Year Abroad was, in a way, a very well thought out impulse decision. That probably doesn't make sense, but let me explain what I mean. Of course, when deciding whether to go, I made a detailed list of pros and cons, talked to all of my mentors for advice, and agonized over what to do for weeks after I learned I had been accepted into the program. I loved all my friends, was going to be the varsity coxswain for my rowing team and had all my classes planned out for the next two years at Marlborough. On the other hand, I had the opportunity to live in France! I was completely torn between the two. But with two days left before I had to decide if I was going to leave or stay, my impulse kicked in, and I said why not go to France! I had remembered a girl who did the program a few years ago telling me that her year abroad taught her more about the world and herself than her 15 years of being alive had combined. I remembered her saying that ages 15 to 22 are your "sweet spot" in life, and you must take full advantage of these prime years. With that, the decision was made.
Let me tell you, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It sounds silly, but it did not even hit me that everything would be in FRENCH until the day I arrived. Talking to my host family somewhat resembled charades, and my first week of classes (all taught in French except math and English) was, as you can imagine, catastrophic for my poor, confused brain. It did not even truly hit me that I was actually sleeping in a bed in a house full of complete strangers who barely spoke English until one night at 1 a.m., about a week after arriving.
Maya with her host brother at Mont St. Michel.
As I have been here for a month now, I have already noticed some significant changes in my life. I can now understand probably about half of the things that are going on around me, and already I speak French with much more ease. I absolutely adore my host family, which has one boy my age and two 11-year-old twin boys. I love our Sunday night movies together, and the twins always keep me entertained with their obsessions with American music, Fortnite, and of course, dessert.
Additionally, I have found that since I've been here, suddenly I am interested in doing things I never would have pursued at home. Having already made the leap to live abroad, I figured I might as well take advantage of all the myriad opportunities to make the most of this short year. To name a few, I plan to do rowing, badminton, yearbook, Model UN, and I'm looking forward to taking cooking classes and to participating in a local teen discussion group. I am already surrounded by amazing friends just as eager to seek out new experiences and adventures as I am.
Last weekend our program took a 3-day trip to tour around Brittany. On both mornings of the trip, my friends and I woke up 2 hours before we had to and walked along the dramatic cliffs of the Brittany coast in hopes of watching the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was cloudy that weekend so we didn't see any glimpse of the sun, but the quest itself was fun. All told, my first month in France has been an amazing experience, and I am eager to keep chasing sunrises in all my adventures in the year to come.
You can see more of Maya's first month in France on Youtube.


Domain Authority is a parametric instrument for measuring your success and ranking in search engines. This can be used as a competitive strategy to determine where you truly stand in terms of reputation as well as popularity. The range between 30 and 80 is the best you can dream of for your submissions.
Here lies the crux of the plan. Your online recognition and traffic will come from niche authority websites that have earned enough positive repute to boost your rankings.
We do everything in our power to make sure that your content is featured across the best network.
Panda and Penguin updates are Demi-Gods of the SEO world. Adhering to their regulations is the only way of achieving success with respect to Internet of Things. The content that we create and market strictly abide by these standards.
This is the primary aim of every SEO. Via Niche Listing, the goal becomes easily achievable.
Associating with niche sites will automatically enhance your web presence. This will in turn push your website to the top of search engine ranking charts and result pages.
Have a specific target in mind? Niche marketing and listing would be the best solution. That way, you address to a niche audience that seems appropriate for your product or promotion.
Increased online presence will lead to high traffic. A boost in web traffic will definitely result in higher lead conversions.
A primary purpose of any marketing or promotional implementation for a business is to receive high ROI. It is needless to mention that higher the leads converted, greater the ROI.
What types of websites will benefit from NDA Link Building?
A. All types of websites will benefit from our link building solution. It does not matter whether yours is a fashion related Website, Health website or a law website, NDA Link building caters to all niche. Your website will receive links only from the niche high authority domains.
A. Yes, this is a 100% Google friendly link building approach. We regularly update our NDA Link building strategies to match the latest Google algorithms.
Do I get links from websites with good domain authority?
A. Yes, we will get back links from websites with high domain authority. We obtain links from niche websites and web properties with domain authority score that ranges between 30 and 70+.
Do I need to provide you with the content required for my NDA link building plan?
A. No, you are not required to provide content for the plan. The price given includes creation of top-notch content for your NDA link building plan.
A. Yes, this is an organic link building strategy that will give your website excellent online visibility and increase organic traffic to your website.


If you are a business looking to set up your first website, here's some things you should consider. Design. It is vital that the website has a clear, effective design. On no account attempt to design your site yourself, unless you have a clear aptitude for design.
I have seen so many small businesses attempt to design and build their own website, and very few are able to do it well. The amount of customers you will lose with a poor design is huge. Make sure the design is not overcrowded - too many companies like to cram in every single piece of information about their company which just overloads the visitor. At the end of the day the function of the website is to get them to contact you. And remember a website is not for life - design tastes change, new functionalities are invented, and in general we see customers completely overhauling and redesigning their websites every three years or so. What do you want your website to do? To generate leads? It is more than likely, if you are in a service orientated business, that you may want your website to create leads ie get the visitors interested so they contact you direct which will then put you in a position to turn them into a client.
This could be done by offering free downloadable reports in PDF format in return for their details. Then you could follow up with a phone call or letter to them. Be an information resource for your customers? It could be that you want your website to be an informative source to your existing clients, including all relevant technical data, product reviews ,online catalogues etc. Be an online ordering site? You may want your customers to change to online ordering as this undoubtedly saves in personnel costs and other overheads.
There are numerous things that your website can do and you need to think it through carefully when in the planning stage instead of trying to be all things to all people. Do you want search engine traffic? If you want to generate new customers through search engines there are many factors you need to pay attention to. First you need to know which keywords your site will target and to do this you need to do your keyword research using sites such as www.wordtracker.com, www.
goodkeywords.com, and Google's Adwords interface. This will help you build up an idea of what people are searching for in your market and the search volumes, so that you can compile a short list.
On page optimisation: It will be necessary, using the information generated from the keyword research, to optimise the website for these phrases. A web designer will be more than capable of doing this. Incoming links: A further critical factor in getting good search engine ranking is the oncoming building of incoming links to your website. This should be an ongoing process and time should be made each month either by you, or instruct someone to make it their responsibility to obtain links to the website.
Website functionality. Your website should be functional in the following: Navigation: This must be clear, informative and easy to use. Each visitors should instinctively know how to quickly get to the various parts of your website. Browser compatibility: Your website must work efficiently in all popular browsers, which include Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox. Clear design and branding: The overall layout design of your site should be a clear, clean design and should promote your company's brand. Balance: Include in your website the right balance of text - break text up using pictures, as people dislike reading large blocks of text online.
Communicate clear benefits: Your website must communicate the benefits of using your company - your unique selling proposition. Too many businesses make the mistake of telling the visitor all about themselves when they really need to communicate to the visitor how they can help solve their problems. Testimonials and client lists: Far too often I see customers bury their gleaming testimonials and client lists away in a corner of their website. If you have good testimonials and impressive client lists then use them throughout your site. Testimonials should be scattered throughout the main pages as they tend to make an impression, yet no one particularly goes searching for the testimonials page on a website.
Do you have an interesting story to tell? If you have a story of interest to tell about your company - maybe how it was born, or interesting case studies where you have helped a client, then tell the story. People enjoy stories - they delight and captivate and can be used as successful examples as to how your business can help them. If you think through all the factors above, you'll have a more clearer idea of how your website is going to look and operate, and you can then pass this information on to your web designer and you will be more likely to get a finished website that you are happy with and that does what it should - increase your business and add to your bottom line.
Robin Porter is CEO of kent web designcompany Arpey Internet, which specialises in small business web site design and helping small businesses get more business online.


Researcher Christina Socias and her colleagues analyzed data for 2011. They found that work-related ladder falls caused 113 deaths, about 15,500 injuries that resulted in at least one day away from work, and some 34,000 injuries treated in hospital emergency departments. According to the findings, the workers at greatest risk were men, older employees, Hispanics, and those working in construction, extraction (including mining), installation, maintenance, and repair.
Find ways to complete most of the work needed on the ground, without use of ladders.
Provide workers with alternatives to ladders, such as aerial lifts or supported scaffolds.
Most sure ladders are thoroughly inspected, have appropriate safety accessories, and are well matched to a worker's weight, task, and location.
Provide on-the-job ladder safety training and information.
Maintain 3-point contact (two hands and a foot, or two feet and a hand) when climbing or descending a ladder.
Face the ladder when climbing up or descending.
Keep the body inside the side rails.
Use extra care when getting on or off the ladder at the top or bottom. Avoid tipping the ladder over sideways or causing the ladder base to slide out.
Carry tools in a tool belt or raise tools up using a hand line. Never carry tools in your hands while climbing up or down a ladder.
Extend the top of the ladder three feet above the landing.
Use an extension ladder horizontally like a platform.


SOLUTIONS THAT PUT YOUR TEAM FIRST.
Defined benefit plans, or pension plans, are one of today's most sought after retirement plans among employees. These plans provide employees with a benefit amount that is set in advance and typically disbursed in either a lump sum payment at the date of retirement or installments during retirement.
Our team will always put you first. Let's talk about how we can help you construct, implement and manage a defined benefits plan solution for your employees while ensuring you are properly apprised of your fiduciary and fiscal responsibilities.


Beautiful Professional Office Girls Stock Images, Royalty ... - Super!
Daisy Duke. Just love those Daisy Dukes. Hot girls in cut off jean shorts. Whoever thought of Daisy Dukes is a genius.
Download beautiful stock photos. Affordable and search from millions of royalty free images, photos and vectors. Thousands of images added daily.
100 Beautiful Baby Photos To Brighten Up Your Day. ... One of the most joyful experiences for a professional photographer is capturing the beauty of an innocent baby.


explore our favorite color trend du jour.
Nothing softens the industrial feel of so in-the-moment copper accents like the blushy, baby-soft lure of pink. These two hues are a match made in design heaven, and we've found 14 drool-worthy rooms to prove it.
Baby pink walls soften the industrial bones of this bedroom while injecting a playful punch of romance.
When set against a white monochromatic background, even small touches of copper and pink make a glam statement in this bright and cheery kitchen.
For a single punch of bold copper color opt for statement lighting, like these oversized copper pendants.
Since copper plays like a neutral, it can be combined with a multitude of color combinations, like this playful living space in bright candy-coated hues.
For a look that is antiqued and understated, seek pinks in dusty hues, and copper accents with a muted shine.
The copper-pink craze is also unbelievably chic in the bathroom. While it's not certain whether these tiles are pink, or simply exuding a pink hue by way of reflection, it is easy to see how baby pink tiles would mesh beautifully with copper pipes and hardware.
Copper accents need not always be committment pieces like lighting, hardware, or furniture. For a simpler way to introduce copper to a space, try accessories like vases, decorative trays, or photo frames. And if you're not keen on pink walls, try repainting a key piece of furniture like this dusty pink armoire.
Here copper and pink show off their versatility, pairing with a room that shares both vintage and modern vibes.
Both copper and pink pair extremely well with varying shades of gray. For a space that's bold and monochromatic with a twist, pair pink and copper with a mostly gray palette.
Copper pairs well with all shades of pink, including hot pink and even magenta. For the boldest pinks, keep other colors neutral, like these black, white, and wood hues.
Try pairing a copper pendant light with a copper-toned bedside table for a double dose of copper in the bedroom.
The office and guest room are two spaces where you can let a love of copper and pink run wild, with bold splashes of each in a variety of shades and textures. This room plays with pattern and fun accessories to create a space that's vibrant and stimulating.
Three is beautiful company when copper and pink pair with white marble. And just when you thought this was a look best suited for the kitchen, think again. There are plenty of chic marble accents for the living and bedroom, like accent tables, wall and floor tiles, lamps, and tabletop accessories.
For a room that's low key and minimal, opt for a single pop of pink and copper, like this understated copper sconce and soft pink accent pillow.


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Ken Eddy and Glenn Herring
We Sell Calgary!
Ken Eddy
Glenn Herring
Calgary Properties
Homes 500K-1M
Homes 1M+
Rank My Agent – Ken Eddy
Rank My Agent – Glenn Herring
At RE/MAX, we believe that serving the communities in which we live and work allows us to not only contribute to the well-being of our society, but to also be concerned about the outcome of that contribution. This dedication we call Premiere Community Citizenship. Our commitment as the exclusive real estate corporate sponsor for Children's Miracle Network allows us the opportunity to expand the universal cause of caring for sick children.
The RE/MAX – Children's Miracle Network affiliation began in 1986 when RE/MAX affiliates in Calgary, Alberta and the Quebec Region started raising funds for this worthy cause. In 1992, RE/MAX International adopted the Children's Miracle Network as its official corporate charity. Raising funds for hospitalized children, RE/MAX professionals to date have collectively contributed over $100 million to the cause.
In Canada, RE/MAX continues to be a strong corporate contributor to Children's Miracle Network – $3.5 million in 2009. With funds contributed by national sponsors like RE/MAX, affiliated hospitals are able to provide needed medical care and equipment for more than 2.6 million Canadian children each year.
RE/MAX of Western Canada affiliates raise funds through community involvement such as the annual Children's Miracle Network broadcast, pancake breakfasts, golf tournaments, ride-a-thons, walk-a-thons and a myriad of other events. But the cornerstone of our involvement is the Miracle Home® Program whereby the Sales Associate pledges a contribution derived from each transaction involving a RE/MAX Miracle Home®. 100% of their contribution helps sick and injured children from their community
RE/MAX chose the Children's Miracle Network as its international charity because…
The Mission Statement of Children's Miracle Network, an international non-profit organization, is to "Generate funds and awareness programs for the benefit of children served by its associated hospitals". An outstanding cause!
RE/MAX lists and sells homes with the very families whose children have been served, or may one day be served, by a Children's Miracle Network hospital. One in four Canadian children will be treated in a Children's Miracle Network hospital this year.
RE/MAX stands for quality service and for caring about the communities where its Associates live and work. RE/MAX makes the world a better place to live through Premiere Community Citizenship.
RE/MAX Real Estate (Central) — 206 2411 4 Street NW Calgary, Alberta T2M 2Z8 —
Avenue © Copyright 2020 Ken Eddy and Glenn Herring
Home / Children's Miracle Network


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Personal Loan Kurnool, 17 July 2019 from Punjab & Sind Bank
How does one get a Personal Loan in Kurnool?
As on 17 July 2019 You can get the personal loan in the Kurnool by going to mymoneykarma.
Kurnool, also known as the "Gateway of Rayalaseema," lies on the bank of River Thungabhadra in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The city had once been the capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh in the 1950s for three years. The Kurnool city serves as the headquarters of the Kurnool District. The rulers of various dynasties such as the Cholas, the Kakatiyas, the Nawabs and the Mughals have ruled over the city and given it a rich cultural heritage. The modern administration of the city is conducted by dividing it into 50 wards managed by elected representatives. The main economic activity in the city is fuelled by its industries such as mining and agriculture. The city is based has rich resources of various minerals like Iron, Ochre, Quartz, Dolomite, Limestone and Silica. Kurnool serves as an educational hub with institutions and universities like Rayalaseema University, Kurnool Medical College, G Pulla Reddy College of Engineering & Technology, Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Kurnool, Osmania College, etc. Kurnool draws a lot of tourists each year city and is well known for its excellent tourist destinations like the Belum Caves, Gandikota, Mantralayam, Yaganti Temple, Mahanandi Temple, Kurnool Fort, Kondareddy Burz, Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary, etc.
How to get personal Punjab & Sind Bank Personal Loan in Kurnool
As on 17 July 2019 You can get the personal loan from Punjab & Sind Bank in the Kurnool by going to mymoneykarma.
The Punjab and Sind Bank was established in the year 1908 with an idea to uplift the weaker section with the far-sighted vision of luminaries like Sir Sunder Singh Majitha, Bhai Vir Singh, and Sardar Tarlochan Singh. They enjoyed the highest respect from the people of Punjab. A Punjab & Sind Bank branch was established in London in the 1960s. In 1991, the Bank of Baroda acquired the Punjab & Sind Banks London branch on the request of the RBI based on the Punjab & Sinds involvement in the Sethia fraud. The Bank confirmed to have a network of 920 branches or extension counters and 63 ATMs spread across the country as of July 31, 2010. Notably, they have 49 specialized departments, out of the 920 offices. The Punjab & Sind Bank was established to support the weaker section of the society with the vision of social commitment in the course of economic endeavors for raising their standard of life. In particular, Punjab & Sind Bank reached among the six banks that where nationalized by the Government of India during the second wave of nationalizations on 15 April 1980. ICICI Bank has tied up with Punjab and Sind Bank for offering the state of art technology to the cardholders for competing with the other competitors in the banking industry.


Earlier today, I published a record breaking achievements post of Davido, as he became the Longest Nigerian Charting Song on the US Billboard.
The aim of Nigerian artiste to have a song on the Billboard chart cannot be overemphasized, as they go extra length to feature international act just to get there, but its still really not happening.
On the Davido's post, there was a lot of insightful comments on it, you can check them out HERE, but there is one that opens our eyes to a very debatable something.
The commenter went wild on the Starboy FC camp, and we want to throw it out to you all if you think Ayois making sense or spitting thrash.
Do You Think, If Not For Drake, Wizkid Won't Make It To The Billboard Chart?
Let's have your own thought too.
Drop them in the comment box..


A tasting session with a winemaker is always a memorable experience. The wide range of wines, grape varieties and regions presents a fascinating palette of colors, aromas, textures and finishes for the connoisseur. Each drop, with the characteristic features of its grape, vinery style and potential maturity, is expertly discussed. As an accompaniment, most winemakers offer their guests plain bread and high-quality mineral water, such as Selters.
The culinary pleasure of the many different aromatic and taste impressions would be indistinguishable without a cleansing sip of Selters water between every sample. Each wine's unique character comes from its subtle olfactory effects and the combination of sweet, sour, salty and bitter on the tongue and palate. If even a trace of the previous sample stays in the mouth, it has a detrimental effect on the next offerings. Selters' gourmet water is ideal for revitalizing our highly sensitive perception of taste and smell. No one knows this better than trained sommeliers, whose job it is to sample and critically appraise wines for laying down or for serving to guests. Their experience in the world of wine means that they can offer restaurateurs indispensable advice when it comes to choosing the right mineral water.


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Static website advertising a holiday home rental.
The site (www.holidayinhungary.co.uk) is no longer active.

## Installation

git clone https://github.com/StarkDevelopments/holidayinhungary.co.uk
Ideally suited to hosting as an s3 static website.

## Techologies
https://getbootstrap.com/

## Usage
Download and view!

## Contributing
Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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'Transparent' Obama Administration Facing Record Number Of Lawsuits Over Access To Public Information
By Andrew Perez @AndrewPerezDC
U.S. President Barack Obama waves as he leaves his end of the year news conference at the White House in Washington December 18, 2015. Reuters/Carlos Barria
President Barack Obama said in 2013 that he has led the "most transparent administration in history." But in the two years since, the federal government has received more complaints than ever for not fulfilling public record requests.
An analysis by Syracuse University found that individuals have filed record numbers of federal lawsuits in consecutive years against government agencies for failing to comply with requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The law is used by members of the media and the public to obtain records from federal agencies — including communications and contract details.
In January 2009, one day after assuming office, Obama issued a memorandum declaring that the "Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails."
Former Attorney General Eric Holder quickly moved to roll back policy set during the Bush administration, which leaned on the side of secrecy in answering FOIA requests. In March of that year, Holder directed the heads of federal departments and agencies to operate under a "Presumption of Openness."
"I would like to emphasize that responsibility for effective FOIA administration belongs to all of us — it is not merely a task assigned to an agency's FOIA staff," Holder wrote. "We all must do our part to ensure open government."
But Holder's own office appears to have been largely closed. Agencies under the umbrella of the Justice Department — which Holder led until April — have consistently been the most frequent subject of FOIA lawsuits, according to the Syracuse University study.
The university's analysis found that, in 2014 and 2015, there were 64 percent more FOIA complaints filed than during the last two years of the Bush administration. Overall, there has been a 25 percent increase in FOIA complaints filed each year on average against government agencies since Obama became president, according to an International Business Times review of the Syracuse data.
Perhaps the most public battle over FOIA compliance has been over access to Hillary Clinton's emails from her tenure as secretary of state. The Democratic presidential candidate conducted the majority of her business using a private email address and a server located in her home, rather than on a government email account.
The State Department did not produce Clinton's email records when they were initially requested by the media. Following a FOIA lawsuit from Vice's Jason Leopold, the State Department began producing, on a rolling basis, 55,000 pages of emails from Clinton's time leading the agency.
Barack obama Lawsuit Hillary Clinton
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We find many of these resources to be a valuable resource for business owners and PC technicians.
Always be cautious when using links to visit any external resource. If you are unsure of where the link will take you, all links on this page are available in plain text, in order to copy/paste the full URL (starting with the "http://" all the way to the end) into the "address" bar/box at the very top of your web browser. Copy/Paste commands are found when right-clicking on text that you highlight by clicking and dragging the mouse over the text with the mouse button held down. Also with highlighted text you may use the keyboard combination CTRL+C to copy, and CTRL+V to paste.
Always be cautious and scan any software downloads for malicious software, but also please see this link for more information on potential false-positives with your anti-virus or anti-malware software.
Be aware of what you're installing! Even reputable and virus-free software installers may contain potentially unwanted bundled software, usually installing ad/spyware or junk toolbars on your systems, and these can usually can be "unchecked" during installation of the main software to avoid these unwanted secondary installations. Most anything here requiring an installation should not include this junk, but things change (and companies sell out) all the time!
PC Repair Tracker – written by a repair tech for repair tech shops, it's tough to beat a developer that actually uses his own software!
Free Digital Signage – server/client software enabling the display of rotating/scrolling content on monitors in your show room.
Home of Virtual Audio Cable, which creates virtual audio devices for routing audio between different applications!
Home of Format Factory – a free multi-functional media converter supporting most any format!
Home of all of the favorite password recovery tools, there's a lot more portable apps on this site to be had in many categories!
Utilities so sweet that Microsoft had to buy them up (but didn't muck them up) and hire the author.
Home of Unstoppable Copier, there are tons of great apps on this site for techies.
we still recommend a supplemental protection such as our own CryptoPrevent Anti-Malware!
Home of Privatefirewall – a super light HIPS capable firewall with tons of other features!
* Usage on Windows 10 will require tweaking and may not be suitable for all users, see the bottom of this page for details.
Reviews a number of VPNs and puts them through the paces of average users providing a real look at the ease of use and performance of the various trials.
Please note we do not endorse any particular result from any software comparison site.
Large detailed list of available VPN software and some of the specifications they have.
If you install Anti-Virus software on a Windows server (or even some special purpose workstation configurations) you will probably need to set some scanning exclusions within your Anti-Virus software! This list from Microsoft covers everything you should need to know about setting Anti-Virus exclusions for Windows, server components, and other various Microsoft products.
"A forum for kernel-mode exploration." – Software development, debugging, reverse engineering are among the topics on these forums, and the Malware sub-forum is a great spot to obtain samples of the latest malware to practice your removal techniques.
Our page containing external links to submit "false positive" reports to various anti-virus/malware/security software vendors, so you can let them know when their software incorrectly flags other software as malicious.


Pure Shape Infographic Pack 6 includes 16 templates in futuristic paper style on grey background and 49 business icons pack in line style. Set contains cool symmetrical geometric shapes, paper shapes, pyramids, charts and global templates . Enjoy this stunning and stylish graphics. Vector. Can be used for web and mobile design, brochures, presentations, marketing, advertisement, games, apps, timelines and workflow layout.


text:
class AddUniqueIndexForPlaceName < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    add_index(:places, :name, :unique => true)
  end
end


Ora, organic cafe, is a top place to visit as a solo traveller. It is open for breakfast and lunch every day between 7am-4pm. The kitchen closes at 3pm but drinks and snacks are still available for the last hour. Ora is a favourite with tourists and locals alike. A fun, friendly, relaxed and informal restaurant with happy staff. The music is playing, the staff are busy but clearly take time to know their regulars. They seem to know many by name.
I came here for an early breakfast most mornings. Located on Whistler Street, away from the beachfront, it was less than a 10 minute walk from my hotel, The Sebel Manly Beach. As a solo traveller, it was a relaxed place to come. Each morning, there was a lovely local gentleman named Keith, 75 years young, who used to come in on his own as well. He was quite a character! Both charming and chatty! He proposed to me and I promised I would accept next time I visited!
My favourite breakfasts here were the bircher muesli. This consisted of coconut, pepitas, sunflower seeds and a mixture of nuts, soaked overnight in plant milk. It was served with hemp, mulberries, mint, granola and nut butter. It was gluten free, dairy free and suitable for vegans.
Another favourite of mine was the gluten free, sai bread, topped with avocado, sprouts, chopped nuts and parsley oil.
All the food here is fresh and organic. Prices range between $14-19. The portions were very big and whenever I ate my breakfast here, I was too full for lunch!
I don't like my coffee too strong, so I was advised to choose a weak, flat white. I was unable to take my usual soya milk as it is not on offer here. Apparently it is too processed, so I had the cashew milk instead. It was delicious and became my regular drink here, served with a smile!
The menu here is varied, healthy and tasty. There are plenty of hot and cold drink options as well as filtered water available to help yourself to. Hot drinks include naturopathic teas and coffee with unhomogenised full cream milk or a selection of nut milks. Cold drinks include those made with raw, living food or organic smoothies and juice.
Snacks are also available and delicious! I recommend trying the peanut butter brownie. I doubt you will have room for it after you have eaten there so best to get one to take away or pop in for a snack at 3pm before close!
Would I return as a solo traveller?
Most definitely! I loved everything about it here, the food, the staff, the vibe… a great place to come.


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In this episode of The Spot, Doug Davidoff, Juli Durante, Max Cohen and George B. Thomas break down their thoughts on the difference between reports, reporting, and analytics. They start the episode out by answering the age old question, how do you measure success.
What they come up with might just change the way you think about personal and professional success moving forward.
Let's buckle up and get into the good stuff.
5 Differences Between Reporting and Analysis
What is an Annual Sales Report: definition, metrics, and tips
How to create the best marketing report
Are you a HubSpot user looking to stay up to date with HubSpot, inbound and all the information that will make your job easier and help you and your company grow better? Each week the spot brings you the HubSpot, education, ideas and tools that you need to maximize your success. Make Work just a little bit easier. And of course, brighten your day along the way. Listen in as Julie tuck, Max and George share their authentic entertaining and valuable conversations with the people who really matter. That's right you, ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for your HubSpot journey. Heroes. Welcome to this week's episode of the spot. Ready, spot go. All right, we are back with another episode of the spot. And today I'm super excited as I am always excited. I'm figuring that out as I listen back to the episodes. George, you're just really an excitable dude, because you're always excited. But today we're talking about reporting, we're talking about metrics. And as if you're watching this episode, you can see Max's hat, we might be talking about some math as well, I imagine with the people on this podcast that we'll get there. But I want to start out today show a little bit differently. Because I'm super curious. When we're talking about reporting and the math and the stuff that we're going to get into just from a life standpoint, fundamental standpoint, curious, and we'll start maybe with Doug, maybe we'll go to Julie, then we'll go to max. So whoever was sweating and stop sweating and who wasn't sweating, can start sweating. Like how do you measure success? That's my question for you, Doug. How do you measure success? Doug?
personally? I don't know. We're talking personally, as opposed to, as opposed to maybe me? Because you know, if we're talking about like, is imagined successful? I mean, for me, it's are we making progress? Can I look back at what we did a year ago, whether it's me, is it? Am I almost embarrassed by what we did a year ago, versus what we're doing today? You know, maybe that's stretching after two years, we know, are we making progress? And you know, the big piece is, what was the expectation going into it? How do we do? It? There's actually two aspects, there's contribution success that I obsess about. And there's outcome success that I try not to. Because I because I think and I'm sure I'll bring this up, we have a tendency to result did did we do you know, based upon what we know, did we play our best game? Did we do what we could have done? And if it turned out that we lose, we don't hit an objective? Because we didn't know about something? Or, you know, then I don't I don't get down about that. I consider that successful. If I can look back and go, yeah, we knew better than that, or something like that. That's where I would be, you know, I would consider it to be not successful.
It's It's interesting, because I asked how do you measure success? didn't ask if you were successful or not, we'll get back to that. We'll get back to that. Julie, how would you measure success?
Um, well, based on your response to Doug, I actually don't know what answer you're looking for, for this question anymore.
I second that? No, I'm
not. Yeah. Now,
I am just looking for brain dumps. Like if it how do you measure success? It's it's that simple,
like word association,
as well. So from a from a business standpoint, from a marketing standpoint, from a, how does the marketing to sales to service continuum standpoint look like? Right? Um, I always like to contextualize everything into a business goal with the asterisk, right? That a lot of it's made up of how it sometimes feels in marketing, even in digital, which we say is like, this is great attribution, this and that, that you can get all of these things, right. There are so many times where, you know, it's the cumulative impact of what you put out into the world. I'm not just going to say marketing content, but everything that your business puts out into the world has some little piece of this attribution puzzle to some person. So don't try to like overemphasize, oh, this ebook, got us, this many customers, but I think it's important to know how that quote unquote funnel looks and works. And then I think there are other wins in that world where you can be successful. So you know, sometimes I might be working on a project with a client that's more operations based. And the success metric is in more customers, if we made this thing a lot easier, or we saved you a lot of money in transitioning from, you know, this crazy system you were using before, into HubSpot, or because we swapped out, you know, one document management system for another you got more features and are paying less. So those are also I think, success metrics. You know, I think the best way to measure success is to have a lot of touch points, right. There are some things that are fluctuating, there are some things that are not outcomes based, right. As Doug mentioned, you know, there are different ways to think about it. So depending on what question you're asking, there are a lot of different answers in that. Yeah,
yeah. I'm not gonna disagree with that Max, how? How do you my friend measure success.
So this is something I've always struggled with. I think in the past, I've always kind of thought that success in anything is either measured, as like, either a vibe or something I can observe or something, you know. And,
you know, I've
always had a real hard time, I think, defining it, something that I've been trying to do more, whether I'm measuring success with something I'm doing at work, or something I'm doing in my personal life, is to try as best I can to use that SMART goal. And I can't remember what it was SMART goal acronym. So specific, measurable, attainable. I think some people say, relative, or relatable, or relative to whatever it is, or something that you're doing relates to what you're doing, or realistic, apart. I've seen the are many different ways. And then time based, I want to accomplish x specific thing by x specific time, and it's something that's actually feasible. And that's always that's something that's super helpful for me, because, you know, I'm the type of person who can get into many different things as one at once and never finish anything. Right. So I think, trying to define what success looks like, and also just not overthinking like what good looks like, because I tend to just kind of over sync that with a number of different projects that I do, or directors that I get at work or anything like that. So yeah, a couple different ways. But like, that's something I've been trying to do recently to like, make it a little easier for me to understand and define what good or what successful looks like with anything that I'm doing.
I love that. I love that. Doug, I want to circle back around to you. Yeah. Because Doug, your original question to my question was personal or professional. Why is that where your mind immediately went? When I asked the question, how do you measure success? Why was there a divide in the conversation
that we're about to have, though? The way you teed it up? So I mean, I came on the call a minute came on the podcast, because we're, you know, it's a business focused podcast that we're going to talk about how to you know, so when success in business, so you you had said something? And you know, I am not my business? I am not my professional life? I'm, you know, I'm separate from that. And I've worked hard for that. I actually was gonna circle back and as I thought about it more and listen to everybody. I think I take issue with your question. I don't think you can measure success. I think that's I don't think you can measure progress. But I think success is different than than I mean, to me, what is success? Success is did you make progress? Ben Zander wrote a great book. The Art of possibility, I think is what it is. and success is however you frame it, right? How do you know, what angle Do you want to look at? To to, you know, to define that? So I think that I agree with what Max said, I think we built this culture that it's that is obsessed with this turn success, but it's really disguised as something else. So yeah, yeah,
I think that SMART goal framework actually, kind of hurts us sometimes from that perspective, right? Because you put this time bound goal in place. And a lot of times, you can hit all the other things, right? You can do all those other things that you want to do and make that progress. But maybe that date wasn't the best, or maybe something else happened that affected the date. So if you don't hit that date, but you still get that thing, are you successful? Well, if you're really into like, it's a SMART goal, or it's not, it's a SMART goal is not worth having, then losing the date means you didn't achieve anything. And that's really scary, right? Like one of the best lessons that I ever learned about goals and progress. And all this was, I once worked for a company that had a really aggressive growth goal one year, and we were all pretty obsessive about it. Right? It was all of the things that you can think of in terms of a SMART goal framework. The goal was either that year to be like a nine or $10 million company, right? And whichever it was, it was a huge year over year growth. And we missed it by like $100,000. So instead of having 50%, year over year growth, we had 47% year over year growth or whatever it was, and our CEO kind of came back from the holidays. And he was like, I was so distracted that we didn't hit this goal, and over indexed on the timeline, that I didn't even think about all of the things we achieved as a team, despite not hitting that number by that timeline. And by the way, by the end of q1, you know, we were kind of back where we needed to needed to be that's like a Really good lesson in perspective that I've been taking, like, sometimes you don't hit the number in the timeframe, but you can still do great things and it still matters. And you have to gut check yourself around that.
There. There are two things on that that I'll I'll piggyback on, which I think is the reason for the timeline is so that people can think and so you can release dopamine. Dopamine is what causes us to look forward to things and it's the most addictive substance on the planet. When there's no clear timeline, there's no dopamine, there's no anticipation. There's very little note, you know it so you don't motivate. But the goal, like the truth of a good SMART goal, isn't did you achieve the SMART goal? It's what did you achieve? Because you saw to achieve the SMART goal, right? And we get so telescoped into like, you actually went a different course I thought you were gonna say that the CEO came back and said, last year was a failure. We didn't so thankfully that I've seen too many people that do that. Here's the other thing that I was going to share for us. I'll give you a bad real business story. First time we did a major CRM migration implementation. This was probably about three years ago, we thought we knew what we were doing. And we did not there was so much that, that we didn't know that we didn't know and holy cow, did we? Am I allowed to cuss on this episode? We messed it up. We messed it up. Okay. And I mean, now we pulled it out for the client, and it was okay. They did not do more work with us. But it was okay. We lost money in it. Because I had the commitment. The team was down. Because it was just a shit show. And I look at them. And I'm like, why you guys down? Look at what we pulled off. I'm like, No, doggy. We like this one wrong. We lost one. I'm like, Yeah, but we didn't know any of that. Like, we can't get mad at ourselves that we screwed up because we didn't know. Right. And so we were like, this is what I still look at it is one of our most successful programs, because we did a we pulled it out, that enabled us to do the next thing. And that'll enable us to do the next thing. And now I'm, as a matter of fact, I the video that I was putting together, George was for an insanely complicated migration implementation where where I'm explaining to them, Look, here's four places that you guys don't realize there's massive unknowns, and you won't know them until we're there. So like, I can now predict that. And I would not have been able to do that we would not be able to do that if we hadn't done you know, if we hadn't had that mess. And the trouble is, if you have that experience, and you've defined it as a failure and this you assert you associate negativity to it, you're it's it's bad. Stay away from it, stay away from it. And you know, and then we go I don't understand why are people aren't motivated. So So again, like we had this SMART goal that we whiffed on, I mean, like we didn't miss it by 100,000. We missed it by like, like we didn't miss it by like, 10%. We missed it by like 150%. And it was so so again, that's where I say you really got to look at the input. Did you have a good at bat? Did you play a good hand? Not Did you win the hand because all kinds of things happen outside.
So there's this great episode of a podcast that I listened to you once. The podcast is really like a health fitness wellness podcast. It's the the wag podcast, which is I working against gravity, which is a nutrition coaching company, I have in the past been a client of theirs. And part of their process for nutrition coaching is a weekly check in your weekly check in you fill out a survey with like 20 different questions. But the name of this podcast episode is the 15 measures of progress. And it's their approach to like fitness, nutrition, weight loss, etc, is that you can't have one marker of progress, you can have one number, because if anyone here has ever tried to lose weight in the world, which I think is like almost everyone I've ever met in my whole life. Sometimes you have this Yeah, big one for me. It's not a linear journey, right? It's not, you know, I'm gonna lose this many ounces every day for this amount of time. And then all of a sudden, I've reached this goal. It's you know, some weeks you a more some days, you had Chinese food for dinner, right? We have all of these different things. So they look at literally 15 different metrics week by week. And their system, like charts them out for you and gives you all of this data, but it's about thinking about progress and success in different ways. Right? So if you're on a wellness journey, maybe one week you gained weight, but it turns out you've been in the gym a lot and your body is retaining fluids because you're trying to rebuild your muscles and by the way, you took that progress photo and week to week, there's this visible difference in how you look. And you also rate how you feel how stressed you are, right. So they're all of these different indicators. And I like to pull in that approach, especially when I'm looking at my team performance from a management standpoint is like, we can't just look at one thing and hyper focus there, because there's all this other stuff that you need to think about.
Alright, so by the way, I asked one question, I just want everybody who's listening this to realize, I asked one question, and we've gone for 10, maybe 15 minutes, I asked, How do you measure success? And, and by the way, before I get into kind of why I asked that I've been, I've been, you know, fighting against gravity my entire life. So I give a hands up to that whole weight loss thing as well. And actually, this is where my mind went was the journey that I'm on, which is a personal journey of weight loss of lost 70 pounds, I'm on my way to trying to get 183. And it's like, how do I measure success? And I wanted to ask this question, because we could quickly get into, this is a business podcast, we're going to talk about analytics, we're going to talk about analysis, we're going to talk about all the things that you should have in place. And what I historically have talked about the reporting inside of HubSpot, I've said you can measure your success or your failure, on or off, good or bad. And here's the thing, what I wanted to kind of dig into and what we have mentioned in the last 10 or 15 minutes is are we really trying to measure the success or failure of a business? Or are we trying to measure the progress over time, right? And a lot of the articles because by the way, we put three articles in here, they talk about weekly reporting, monthly reporting, yearly reporting, and that reporting is actually the progress that happens over time. So how are we positioning ourselves? And this is my kind of second question here. How are we positioning our reporting? And our analyzing to our potential clients isn't as Hey, we're going to show you every month success or failure of what we've done for you? Or are we positioning our reporting and analysis as Hey, we're going to show you the progress or the setbacks that we've faced over the last 30 days, there's a huge difference. I'm going to be quiet and let you guys wax poetic on your thoughts with that,
can I give one little tiny thing is because I want to hear what you guys have to say about like, you know, talking to your clients about this stuff. But let me let me put a disclaimer on this. reporting and analytics within HubSpot is 100%. My biggest weak spot like I'm not a numbers guy, despite my hat, right. But the the one piece of advice, I always give customers or anyone using HubSpot, using any of their reporting or analytics tools, especially when you're building a dashboard, or you're creating a custom report or whatever it may be. It's hard for me to compare HubSpot reporting tools to other tools out there because I've very, very limited like experience with, you know, the stuff that's outside of it. But you know, it can be easy to build some things in HubSpot, it can be very, very tough to build certain reports in HubSpot, just as I imagine it would be in any other program. And that can take a lot of mental calories, it can take a lot of time, it can build a lot of frustration. The biggest thing I always tell people is like if you're going to take the time to build some sort of custom report in HubSpot or collect some sort of data made sure like you understand the story, it's going to tell you and you you can answer the question of why I'm I'm building this number, why I'm building this report why I'm building this dashboard. Because you don't want to spend a lot of times on reports that aren't really going to give you a whole ton in return. Because that time can be better spent, you know elsewhere either on other reports that are more useful for you or something else like writing a blog post or an email, whatever it may be. Students always like to start with why when it comes to like building any sort of customer reports in HubSpot, so like you know, that time is well spent. That's the one thing I'll say no,
I think that's great, Matt. I just had a team member who is doing her first like big annual client report. She was working through it. And she like I think I've spent 15 hours on this. And I said, Good, right, this shouldn't take you two hours, you're asking a lot of questions. And that kind of why piece of the puzzle, I think is the most important part of analysis in general. I've seen a lot of bad marketing reports. I've seen so many bad marketing reports. I've seen so many, you know, dashboards that are supposed to serve as analysis like Well, here's the numbers. The numbers are great. What do they mean and why do I care about them? And why are we sharing them with a client? And what are we using that data to do in the future? I very seldom focus a report or an analysis project on the current state. The point of looking at where things are, where things have been, is to help define where things need to go. And I do work that around some type of business success metric, or set of metrics or whatever they are, I think they're their guidelines. And they should be a guiding light, right? If I have a company who says, Well, we need to grow X percent over the next year. And then my analysis is, well, where are you now? And what are the levers we can pull to help you get there? And how will these things potentially work together? And where might there be holes in the current strategy, past strategy, or where might we need to build things for the future, but it should take a long time, it should be challenging, because the whole idea of reporting and analysis should be easy. And you should just know it should be work. It should be real work real, as you said, Max mental calories. And HubSpot is great. There are some you know, great new reporting functionality. There's some beta reporting functionality and things like that, I almost always have to pull data out of at least one system. And always use more than one platform and a deep analysis project. So like, I have to be able to get it into Excel, there are going to be pivot tables, I will need to cross reference and look at things and how they're going in Google Analytics versus HubSpot, versus this school versus that tool. I've played the data box game and put things into dashboards to bring the data together at some point, you do have to kind of separately dig in. And I usually say to my team, start with the big picture and the story of what you've seen happening, and then ask why like 57 times, and then when you have 57 reasons why things are happening, you should have 57 strategies moving forward.
Yeah, yeah, there's so much that I love about that. And it even ties into what Max said, Because Julie, and in your original story, by the way, when I asked the question about success, it was like you're gleaning into this multiple multiple metrics, right? There's multiple metrics that you're measuring by. And there's really multiple views that you're allowing yourself to look at those metrics at. Right? And, and I might even just throw in here, I'm gonna throw a little wrench into the system. That I would say, reporting, actually, is probably easy, because a lot of reporting is automated, the analysis part of it, right? So the analytics is easy. The analysis is difficult part. And I want to actually pull out a piece of one of the articles because by the way, the links are in the show notes, we want you to go check out these articles. But I want to pull out a piece that's in one of those articles that for me, by the way, Doug, not that I have an infatuation with you. But when I read this part, I was like, damn it, dog. Right. So I love you. Here's the thing. I love you, brother. All right. But here's the thing out of the article, the first core component of web analytics reporting is merely organizing data into summaries. On the other hand analysis is the process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming and modeling these summaries reports with the goal of the highlighting useful information. Simply put, reporting translates data into information while analysis turns information into insights. And if you listened last episode, you realize we talked about insights. And so this is where I go, I'm like, dang, gonna, we talked about building insights, knowing your core insights, your reporting, should actually lean into what some of those insights are. Anyway, this becomes a ball of wax where we think about or some may think about just reporting as reporting. And Julie, while you do really great at this, like, you're the analysis side, like frickin ninja. I have trained people where I showed them the data. And I know at gut level right now, they should be freaking out. And they look at the numbers and have no clue the analysis part that is tied to the numbers that they're seeing.
I want to caution. I want to caution a couple of things. This whole this whole insane obsession with data driven, is candidly making us dumber, right? What is the data tell us? Do you know what the real answer is? What would you like the data to tell us? data and statistics are far more like a lamppost for a drunk, used for support, not elimination. So we're also mixing three things together, we're talking to them like they're like they're even in the same family when they're not They might be in the same genome, but they're not the same family. And that is, we're talking about reports, we're talking about reporting. And we're talking about analysis. There are three distinct things with three distinctly different jobs
that we do from so I run a whole number of reports when I'm managing a sales team, that are versions of flash reports, which basically says, You know, I operate it like pilot flies a plane, you've got in Norman out of norm, and in a sales or marketing situation out of norm can be out of norm high, or out of norm low. By the way I did this when I was a financial adviser. One of the reasons that people lose a whole lot of money, and they're going to lose a whole lot of money coming up soon is because all the money that's been made in very few stocks in the last year, you know, all the people who have been really stupid to put all their money in one place have shot up, if you go back to 1999, the munder net net fun, which was like 30 of all internet funds was up 150%. In three years, it was up like 1,000%. In 2000, it lost 90% of its value. When do you think 90% of the money went into the monitor net net fun, the three months before it lost 90% of its value, right? Because no one looked and said, Well, I'm investing in the thunder net net fund, because I think it's going to be up 15% and then it was up 55%. And no one said, holy cow, guys, we're wrong here. We were wrong. We thought it was going to be up 15 it turned out to be 55. Here's what most people do they go, yes, we were up 55%. So we got a target of 50% growth this year. We grew 35%. Everyone's like celebration. We beat it. I'm like, No, why are we celebrating? We were wrong, we were massively wrong. Why were we wrong? We have this assumption that when we're wrong on the upside, it's because of us. But then when we're wrong on the downside, well, it's the environment. So So the way I run a sales team, and the way I run a day to day is that we have in norm out of norm. What I want to do is I'm gonna be able to look at a report and go, yep, all right, each rep is working the right number of contacts, each rep is working the right number here, oh, here, like, so I want to look at a report and my takeaway is nothing, nothing to take away. That's what I get 90% of what happened here. What happened here, what's Is that something I need to pay attention to. So that's, that's kind of where reports leads to reporting. And if you want to get to analysis, you can't train somebody to do analysis by focusing on reporting, because there's a there's a prerequisite to analysis, you need to have some experience. And, and, and, and a mind for it, because it's a different, it is a different talent. It's not a skill, it's a talent. A lot of it can be learned, but it's a town. But here's the other thing that is the absolute, you cannot do analysis, that means anything, don't get me wrong, you can do analysis, cheaper than phase, if you don't have a hypothesis going into it. Right? What's the hypothesis? See, if you didn't have a clear expectation of what was gonna happen and why you were doing it, then when you look at the data, and it can tell you whatever you want it to tell you and nine times out of 10. Guys, reversion to the mean is the number one predictor of of the future. So if you're doing great on the upside, I got news for you, the chances of you underperforming. I was talking to a sales rep his forecast. He's like up 100% in his monthly forecast, but then he's off 70%. And he's getting killed by his manager, because his forecasting is off. And I said, Well, when you were up 100%, did you change the forecast for the next month? No, I actually increased it. Well, that was foolish. reversion to the means. Number one, lock guys, luck has let's half the game. Right? The outcome of your life is decision quality. And look, we can't control luck, we can control decision quality. Why do we do analysis to be able to make better decisions, great poker players, they're going to lose to inferior players. This is why I say people say business is chess. Business is not chess. Chess is a game of perfect information. The better player wins every time unless the better player makes a big mistake. Poker is a game of lack of information. Poker is a game of probabilities. So you said George, it's zero or one. Its success or failure. I've got news for everybody life is between zero and one. Do you know how big the difference is between zero and one infinity exists between zero and one. That's where we live. Which is why I goes back to my success definition. Right? So if you want to have analysis, that means something. You got to know why you did it. And I'll finish this with with the final story. If anybody remembers the Super Bowl between this, the Seahawks and the Patriots. Pete Carroll got lambasted for for throwing Pass on third down from the one yard line. Because the Patriots intercepted, and they won the game.
That was actually the right call. He was unequivocally the right decision that had a bad outcome. By the way, when he was on the Today Show, and they asked him, How could you make that call? Carol explained why he made that call. And everyone was like, Can you believe this arrogant piece of whatever, he can't even admit that he was wrong? Right, except when you look at you, when you look at the percent of the scenarios that happen, what's going on all those other things, you realize, wait, that was a good call. And you know what, you know why Pete Carroll in the Seattle Seahawks are still at the top and are, you know, one of the top contenders to be in the Super Bowl, because he didn't let the outcome he didn't let the luck part of the equation, impact his ability to make decisions. And I'm going to tell you, most people are going to look at what happened and go Okay, well, don't ever do that again. Because it was bad. I remember I'm talking to when when my son was playing youth baseball. All of a sudden, the picture, my son was a catcher, the pitcher wasn't throwing the pitches that we were calling, he wouldn't throw the changeup. And so I go out. And I said, so will I understand, you don't want to throw the changeup. He's like, no, cuz I don't wanna throw a changeup. I'm like, Why? Because the last change up, I threw, they hit it really hard. You know, he hit a double, I'm like, what was the last pitch, he threw a fastball? Well, he just hit a triple, right? So they're hitting like, they're gonna hit your pitches, okay? And, and again, that's that resulting aspect. So you have to have that hypothesis, that lead which go into Max's point that drives reporting and then to, and I'm sure, Julie, what you're doing is you're looking at and you're like, Okay, here's what we thought was gonna happen. Here's this what's Okay, what could this mean? Hey, let's test that out. I'm also going to bet that you don't go. Okay. So we thought this and we were wrong. It's we thought this, we saw that we're now going to test this, right. And so the best best best performers in business in life, they don't live in right or wrong. Right? It's, it's okay. It's all about progress and journey. And and, and by the way, this is the last thing because I wanted to say something earlier. There's a rhythm to to measuring, right. And so one of the things that happens, and I see this all the time we do weekly reporting, we review the sales team on a weekly basis. Well guess what your sales cycle doesn't operate on a weekly cadence. Right? So now you're now you're creating this stress. And the trouble with humans is if you put data in front of them, and they're their decision, they're they're motivated to do something, I see something, I've got to do something, I've got to do something. Hardest lesson I learned as a financial advisor, it made my clients a lot of money, I was nine times out of 10, the best decision I could make was do nothing. Mm hmm. Despite everything that I'm seeing, that's going Oh, no, she like so I stayed out of the internet at fun. I stayed out of this, I stayed out of this, right. And if you take a look at what happened over the course of the life of my client, they did Far, far better than that, then through other options, because you're looking to manage decision quality. That's the only reason to report that's the only reason to do analysis is to be able to improve the decisions that you're making.
There's I have so I have so little time and so many questions. That's that's the problem that I'm I'm faced with right now. Because we're literally at like the time of our podcast. But here's the thing, there are three great articles that I want people to dive into, after thinking about it, because I knew that this was gonna go in a different direction I and I hope people pick out like words that are important, right? Multiple metrics having hypothesis in the pursuit of right, it's the journey, like we've talked about that. So much good stuff came out of heading in a different direction for this, that we haven't even talked about, other than me pulling one little piece of the article. So I'm gonna close up this way. And I'm just gonna ask, was there anything in the articles? Julie, we'll start with you, Max, we'll go to you, Doug, we'll finish with you. Anything in the article that or articles that you want to point out that people should head into listen to pay attention to as they kind of move forward out of this episode.
I think if people read the articles and over index on any one thing from them, it would be that reporting and analysis are not the same. Fight that fight every day.
I liked how that first article talked about, you know, reporting leads to value, like everything you should be doing with your reporting should lead to some sort of valuable outcome that helps you in one way, shape or form, do better at what you're trying to do better at right. Just always make sure you're not just measuring something for the sake of measuring it, do it with a purpose.
My takeaways kind of a little bit more meta than that. We had three articles that looked at the topic from three distinctly different places, and together they fail to make a dent on the hair of the bubble that we call Reporting analytics analysis etc. Which is to say like, don't get lost in this, you know, it's progress. It's not perfection. It's, you know, stop trying to do it all just get better just be a little bit better. You know what, here's something I'll give you an even easier just be a little less bad at it. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series on Joe Maddon saying, the last thing he said is, Hey, guys, try not to suck today. The seals operate on the mantra suck less, right? Just every day, little bits of improving your decision quality that comes together. So yeah, there's good stuff in all those pieces. Pick one thing to focus on and do that then worry about the other stuff. That's my favorite.
Yeah. One decision were things better. Yeah, exactly. One step one decision. I love it. I love it. You know, it's funny, because when people I talked to him, I'm like, Look, you don't get out of bed in the morning and just appear in the bathroom. You got to get there one step at a time. And that's anything in life. It's one, one better thing. One less as Doug said it one less suckier thing. Hey, remember to go ahead and use the hashtags hashtag the spot, or the spot podcast hashtag sprocket talk, make sure that you hit us up at real Julie D at Doug Davidoff at max Jacob Cohen. And of course, I'm your friend, your buddy, your co at George B Thomas. And hey, listen to this again, because there's about 27 rewind, double moments, go check out those articles and we'll see you in the next episode.


The League of Gentlemen Live Again!
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The evening before Election Day, I told my wife, Marian, that no matter what the outcome I had won. This feeling came from the support I have received from so many people in the four towns of Addison-4.
When you run for office, especially in a hotly contested race, you have to put yourself out there, and at times, you are a bit vulnerable. Having people write letters of support, donate their hard-earned cash and assist in your door-to-door efforts is huge and humbling.
There is a saying that you can't judge a book by its cover. That's often the case for an act and its title in the Vermont Legislature. So it is with Act No. 31 (H.99), an act relating to equal pay. Equal pay has been a Vermont law since 2002 (and federal law before that) and I support equal pay for equal work. Act 31, however, is primarily about imposing various other mandates on employers and contractors in Vermont. This is the reason that I voted against it.
When voters go to the polls next Tuesday, Nov. 4, the role they should assume is that of the boss making new hires. The voters' job is to sort through the various applications, review their records and accomplishments, and hire the best candidates for their respective positions. This is not a popularity contest, but rather a nuts-and-bolts analysis of which candidate will best serve in the elected position.
I want to apologize to Valerie Mullin and to the voters of Addison County. I wrongly said that Valerie did not demonstrate Vermont values by having her personal political lawn signs at the most recent youth soccer event at Mount Abe. I've been informed that her level of donation to the youth sports program allowed her to put up her signs at the event. I did not check the facts before writing my letter and for that I apologize to all.
In weighing many factors I believe Fred Baser is the most outstanding candidate for a House seat in my district. Fred is certainly someone people can trust to work hard. His character is top notch and his public service experience is extensive.
As Nov. 4 fast approaches, I personally am going to be supporting Calvin McEathron.
Betty Nuovo has done admirable things for Middlebury in the past, but I am basing my vote on the future two years. Throughout his campaign, Calvin has consistently presented creative solutions to solve many of the tough problems facing our great town and state.
I have known and worked closely with Mike Fisher for a number of years. He has my vote because he is hardworking, trustworthy and has the best Vermont values.
There are candidates out there who believe that the way to get elected is to promote fear and attack the integrity of their opponents. This is not the Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton or Starksboro way of gaining support.


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The UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths held talks with Houthi leaders in Sanaa on Tuesday in efforts to salvage the country's faltering peace deal and to push the rebels towards disengagement after four years of war.
Mr Griffiths hosted peace talks in Stockholm in December between Yemen's internationally recognised government and Iran-backed rebels that resulted in agreements on a ceasefire in the port of Hodeidah and a prisoner exchange.
But they are yet to be implemented after a series of reported Houthi violations. Fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters has continued outside the ceasefire area.
"Mr Griffiths met with various Houthi leaders and the negotiations are ongoing," a UN source told The National.
The meeting discussed the obstacles facing the implementation of the withdrawal of forces from Hodeidah as well as the prisoner exchange deal and ways to alleviate the humanitarian suffering of Yemenis.
"There has been some progress made on the deal, but we still need to implement the first phase of the agreement before going forward," said the source.
The Red port sea city of Hodeidah is the entry point for most of Yemen's commercial and humanitarian goods.
Mr Griffiths has been shuttling for months between the rebels in Sanaa and the Yemeni government in exile in bid to end the devastating war.
The development comes as the ambassadors of the G19+ countries, a grouping made up of the world largest economies, reiterated their support to Mr Griffiths and the Yemeni government's efforts to end the war.
They highlighted the urgency in allowing the "continued and unhindered flow of humanitarian and commercial supplies, including fuel and food," through Hodeidah and Saleef.
"We underscore the need for the international community to support the Yemeni government's focus on providing services to the entire population in Yemen, pay salaries, alleviate humanitarian suffering, and reinforce the economic recovery and reconstruction," said the statement.
"We welcome the Yemeni government's efforts to improve security, public services, and livelihoods, and in particular note recent progress on salary payments and agreeing a budget for 2019," said the statement.


It NEVER CEASES to AMAZE me the Lunacy of the LEFT!!!
This entry was posted in 2nd Amendment, Acts of Violence, Anti-Gun, Crime Statistics, Gun Control, In the News, State laws and tagged 2A, 2nd Amendment, acts of violence, Anti-Gun, Castle Doctrine, CCW, Chicago Gun Violence, Chicago Killings, concealed carry, Concealed carry in the United States, Crime and Justice, Crime Statistics, Gun Control, Gun politics, Gun violence, Pro-Gun Rights, Right to carry, Right to keep and bear arms, Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Bookmark the permalink.


Yesterday I had a facebook. Today, I have a blog.
Last light, 2:16 am, my screen illuminates my fingers — dark rods, alien in the blue-black glow. "You can contact me by e-mail or phone." I'm sick. I'm done with the voyeurism, the illusory self, the politics.
Though I must confess, I love facebook, which is precisely why I had to leave.
It's strange how quickly love can turn to repulsion. I found myself, with each login, growing more furious. I despised the social network for turning my friends into people I hate. But I don't hate my friends; I hate their online simulacras. Jennifer X > Michelle X: "Yeah, let's meet up for drinks Thirstday." This, for me, was the catalyst. At what point do we share personal messages between two people with hundreds?–when we want an ostentatious social life that reflects the celebrity culture that our western world has become. People's facebook walls are now forums to flex their social muscles to the world – err, to their friends. Put simply, I do not need to, nor do I wish to, read about issues that concern no more than two people in my "news feed." I am aware that I can block posts by certain people, yet, most all posts are moving in this brash direction.
It's not just 'them' that is the problem – it's me. I connected with people on facebook, but my connections were self-serving. To be sure, my close friends will always remain close, regardless of a wall or a tag. But the people who I needed to be connecting with had simply become objects of my voyeurism. When I wanted to connect with someone I would peer into their life: browse their albums, read their wall, check out their info, and, very seldom, communicate. In this sense, the gaps created from lost connections are filled with a façade that was prompted both by me and for me – not a mutual desire to share our lives. After spending hours with my girlfriend exploring our pasts through photos, we laughed over the stories that accompanied the photos, we learned from one another, and, simply, grew closer together. I saw what I had been missing. I want to sit down and connect with people. I want to hear the stories that accompany the photographs in their albums. I don't want to seek; I want to be shown.
I've been without facebook for a day and, already, my life is better. I'm genuinely excited to learn about peoples' lives and stories from the people, and not a wall or feed. I had more than enough time to tend to my beer and winemaking. My homework is, well, I've done more homework than I otherwise would have, and I've written a blog entry. I didn't do these things solely because I left facebook, but, moreover, because I feel good about leaving facebook.
Feel free to share your thoughts on facebook. How does it improve or limit your life?
This entry was posted in Technology and tagged blogging, culture, delete, exodus, facebook, life, quit, social media, social network, technology by nosemusic. Bookmark the permalink.
I much prefer blogging and reading other individual's blogs. Blogging, to me, allows for more personal and intimate interaction (if one chooses to engage). I don't blog often either, as too much time plugged-in leaves me feeling drained eventually regardless of the stimulus.
Spam was a big problem for me as well. I was getting invitations from people who I didn't know, but were in my extended network, and I had no idea how to make this stop. I found the friend suggestions particularly intrusive and creepy. Often, after meeting someone, they would appear in the friend suggestion page. Sure, I can chalk it up to mere coincidence, but I'm inclined to think they were looking at my profile and facebook put two and two together.
Not once had I signed out of facebook and thought, "well, I really enjoyed the time I just spent on facebook." Yet, the locus of my online ritual was facebook, which was followed by e-mail, returning to facebook, news, returning to facebook, returning to facebook, returning to facebook. I didn't enjoy facebook, yet: return, return, return. I'm still trying to figure out why I spent so much time with something that gave me so little pleasure, while, at the same time, resenting the fact that I didn't have—or rather, make—time to do the things I love.
Writing, one of the things I love but often neglect, seems to have found the happy medium of blogging. It is much more personal and engaging than facebook will ever be: facebook is a distorted surface, whereas blogging, from what I have gathered, is geared towards substance.
That was my experience with facebook as well. Once I come to the realization that I'm not enjoying something that I'm not required to do, I generally stop. I think part of the propagation of addictive cycles with online social networks has to do with immediate gratification and the superficial feelings of connection, like you mentioned in your post. Also, time online is accelerated. Once you get roped into an online community, missing a day is like missing a week in meatspace. If one doesn't check often, then there is an overwhelming mountain of "catching up" to do later (and most of it is nonsense anyway).
You're in good company in the facebook-free world. 😀 Welcome!
lol great !!! i had a facebook in like 2008 ..ran it for a year…quit that…in 2010 started my blog…and …i dont think ill ever quit lol…welcome…nice blog!!