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Aaron Broder from Gorilla Nation
Aaron Broder is the co-founder of Gorilla Nation. He's working with some sites which do considerable volume, and spends his time putting together branding deals. He has combined his expertise and family background in entertainment to create an online ad rep company for Web publishers. Aaron shares how Gorilla Nation started, how it found its niche with mid-tail sites, and how it plans to grow internationally. Many of us are direct response focused; it's about time we learned a little about the branding side of things; there's a lot higher CPM's in it.
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Hobbies and Interests: Skiing, Movies, College Football, Running, Scuba Diving.
Favourite Sports Teams: LA Lakers, Wisconsin Badgers.
The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
Favourite Entrepreneurs: Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison
Company Website: http://www.gorillanation.com
Adrian Bye: I'm talking today with Aaron Broder, who is co-founder and CEO of Gorilla Nation, an online rep firm. Aaron, tell us about yourself and what your company does.
Aaron Broder: My grandfather was a movie producer in the 1940s and 1950s. My family has also had a career in entertainment. I have a CPA, JD, and an MBA. Early on, I realized I wasn't that interested in entertainment. Instead, I started my first Internet company built around creating an entertainment community site centered on young celebrities. In 1998, I started Celebrity Boulevard with my business partner Brian Fitzgerald.
We quickly realized that business was difficult. We were working with a company that was brokering our ads for our site, Celebrity Boulevard, and they were taking a good commission. We realized our skills were really in the business aspect and not necessarily building a site. We then become more of an ad rep company. That's how Gorilla Nation started.
Adrian Bye: You've been around the entertainment business for a long time. What you're doing with Gorilla Nation is taking that expertise and bringing it to web publishers?
Aaron Broder: That's correct. I spent several years around Hollywood agencies, which represent writers, directors, film producers, composers, and editors. Once we had the Celebrity Boulevard model and started talking to ad rep companies, we realized that a media rep was very similar to a Hollywood agency. We're an agency rep for web publishers.
Around 2001, we switched to repping. At that point, we felt there was a great opportunity to help movies studios connect with audiences online. We signed some of the leading independent movie information sites, such as Rotten Tomatoes which News Corp purchased, Box Office, Mojo, Jo Blo, Dark Horizons, and other sites.
Then we started signing other sites to reach that elusive film fan, such as leading comic sites, anime sites, and scary movie sites, where they can properly market a science fiction thriller across a grouping of science fiction sites and movie sites.
Right now, we're focused across 37 different verticals. We represent a number of marquee properties, which include Marvel.com, Starwars.com, and some of the aforementioned film sites. We represent a lot of the leading celebrity blog sites, such as TheSuperficial and PinkIsTheNewBlog. We also represent Millsberry, one of the largest children's sites.
We're really still entertainment and lifestyle focused, but we do represent a variety of sites in different categories, such as anime comic book, science fiction, and hunting and fishing enthusiasts. We also represent sites in broader categories, such as leading film sites, leading video games sites, news and information sites, leading music sites, and celebrity gossip sites. In addition to those categories, we also represent leading women's sites, which include general female interest sites, style sites, fashion sites, and sites appealing to celebrity gossip.
Adrian Bye: What kind of annual volume of ad sales are you managing?
Aaron Broder: Our total company's revenues last year hovered around $47,000,000. Since 2002, we've experienced anywhere between 50 to 200 percent growth based on the year. We expect 2008 to continue that trend.
Adrian Bye: Let's say I have a site and come to you. What would happen?
Aaron Broder: We would discuss the site and agree to a representation contract where we would go out and act as the exclusive premium ad sales entity that would directly replace any internal sales team.
Our direct responsibility would be dealing with brand marketers relevant for the site. We target those marketers through a variety of integrative promotions as well as banner media. In addition to just selling the banners on the site, we sell different ad formats or custom units, such as creating custom advertorial, actually re-skinning the page, or creating very interesting programs that can engage with the reader through vehicles other than just a mere ad. We pitch those programs to marketing partners, and then we agree to rates, the specs, the duration, and the budget of the buy. We end up using our ad server to serve our ads.
Adrian Bye: Does re-brokering happen? Do you go to other agencies and get bigger rates that way?
Aaron Broder: No. We only work directly with our publishers. We could work with a group of people that own more than one site, but we do not work through other brokers. It's our belief that it's important to work directly with the publishers. If you're going to come up with custom programs, you need to work with that very specific person or owner in charge of the site.
Adrian Bye: Let's say you're a big publisher, and you've been running your inventory yourself. Then you have one of your friends start selling it. You get to a certain scale, and it suddenly starts to make sense to bring him in house again.
Aaron Broder: It really depends on the individual publisher. A lot of publishers, for example Marvel.com, are owned by parent companies that aren't advertising focused businesses, such as the revenue they're generating through their site in comparison to the revenue earning to Starwars.com. What they're looking to do is have a clean and efficient solution from an outside sales agency.
A lot of independent publishers also need to have their properties reach the brand equity levels or have the total amount of inventory where it makes sense to bring that in house. If you have a big enough site, you cannot simply service that site by having one sales person. You need to have sales planners, ad traffickers, and multiple sales people. It is difficult to find those people, especially confident people.
In addition, there's a lot of clutter and noise in the market. What we're seeing is that marketers prefer to work through rep firms for sites that are everything but the very large and very top in the sense that they just can't be bothered with buying five different celebrity blogs directly through celebrity blogs owners. They'd rather have a company that aggregated those five, was sophisticated enough to fill the media program that may transcend all five sites, and create something more powerful than anyone of the sites can do on their own. From those standpoints, there's a variety of reasons why certain publishers will always choose to work with a rep company.
Generally around 25 to 35 percent of the site's traffic is international. Since last year, Gorilla Nation is making really strong attempts to grow and fill that international sales force. We have a big team in Toronto, and we're looking to hire and establish components to our business in the United Kingdom and Australia during this year.
Adrian Bye: How do you monetize international?
Aaron Broder: In international markets, they're running more performance based advertising that are mostly remnant in nature because there aren't a lot of sophisticated sales of U.S.-based dot.coms or sites to media buyers and foreign markets. Based on our initial success in the Canadian market, we're very confident that we're going to be able to build an end-to-end ad rep company, which can effectively sell a dot.com ad inventory across the globe.
Once we're set up in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, we'll be able to gauge how to sell in Southeast Asia and Europe.
Adrian Bye: Are there not many companies that are doing well with what you guys do?
Aaron Broder: No, not in the US for a variety of reasons. It's a much tougher proposition. A lot of people are coming into the Internet space. They're primarily coming up with different tech plays that can be scalable whether it's a widget maker or an ad server. They're addressing those aspects of the model in the media services space. If they are addressing it they usually have underlying technologies. While we have a very robust ad platform and ad op system that we built for our publishers, it's still primarily a high touch point sale. If we're not selling high touch point ad campaigns, everything else is sort of irrelevant, and most people have decided not to enter in that space.
Adrian Bye: Could that be because there's not a lot of competition or is it not a fast-growing market?
Aaron Broder: It is fast growing. You have to build surrounding businesses around your core rep, you have to go in an international way, or you have to really think through some of the weaknesses of being a pure service provider or pure rep company. It's also very hard, and you have to get to scale. You have to rep enough sites that you're meaningful to advertisers. In order to sign those sites, you better have campaigns for them otherwise they're going to be dropping you pretty quickly.
Rather than focusing only on what we would call the fat end of the long tail, we've really defined the term mid-tail. We refer to mid-tail as sites that are really important niche affinity content sites with meaningful audiences and meaningful marketing opportunities. We try to represent as many of those sites as possible in our existing categories so marketers can create a scalable media campaign reaching millions of people by aggregating 8 to 10, or 8 to 20 really strong sites. Typical rep companies in the past have focused only on the very top sites. Those top sites are the most likely to potentially leave them, and then they're left with nothing. As a result, their businesses don't grow. By focusing on the mid-size and then going up, we've been much more successful than those companies that have focused on the top sites and gone down.
On the other hand, we are working with several very large sites. Millsberry, for example, is one of the top three or four kids' sites and is owned by General Mills. They just are not experts in ad selling. They still want to make sure they have safe, secure, and conservative ad placements. It really depends on the business objectives of the particular publisher. Based on that, sometimes you very well may represent very large sites.
Adrian Bye: Do you ever do deals around other stuff, for example Lead Generation. Do you ever do creative stuff like that or do you only just focus on CPM?
Aaron Broder: We only focus on CPM, but we will do creative stuff if it's surrounding a branding experience. We are not trying to position ourselves or sell ourselves as a a performance based company for purely performance campaigns. However, we do want to create engaging and measurable integrated media programs that benefit brand marketers.
Adrian Bye: What about behavioral?
Aaron Broder: Behavioral is very different than contextual. If you think about ourselves, we are a contextual ad sales company. We are repping premium content. Because of that, we personally believe that premium contents trusts behavioral. If you have a great auto site, you don't need to run a behavioral campaign to reach those users that are intending to purchase on automotive sites. Similarly, if you're on a great movie site, you don't need to run a campaign or reach people that are most likely to see movies. Behavioral is also an important media vehicle online, but it should be used as an additive factor to an online campaign, not as a substitute for running media on content sites. Behavioral really comes to play when you're having the premium inventory within a specific user always being sold out. When marketers just can't buy enough of that inventory, then they want to look toward behavioral solutions to reach users who are interested in that in an alternative manner.
Adrian Bye: How do you find the new client?
Aaron Broder: We have a very big business development department whose sole job is to go out and cover verticals and make sure we're above the leading new sites that are popping up as well as existing sites. We also get a lot of referrals from happy publishers or advertisers that believe the site would be a great addition to Gorilla Nation.
Adrian Bye: How many guys do you have?
Aaron Broder: Right now, we probably have at least ten people between going out and securing new publishers, re-signing new publishers, and then managing those relationships day to day. We have a business development team that self-sufficiently interacts with our legal department, and they go out and do their deals.
Adrian Bye: What actual day-to-day stuff are you involved with? Are you more focused on managing and running the business?
Aaron Broder: Mostly the business right now is reaching a scale where we have management running the business. We fill our company with bright people who are leaders in their own right, and we really leave it to those people to run their departments and manage their teams. However, they're always free to come in and speak with us, and we're always going to them if we have any great ideas of new sites of our own, or more approaches that we should be taking with a specific department. We really are trying to let our group leaders lead their individual units.
Adrian Bye: Is there anything else we should talk about?
Aaron Broder: We are constantly coming up with new solutions for our publishers aside from just representing their ad inventory. We're looking out for broad programs that we can offer the better program; basically where we add as the wholesaler in that respect. We're also trying to develop ad technology, such as our ad ops system to make managing publishers and getting information to publishers in a much more seamless experience. In addition, we're trying to develop ad technologies. One example is building a syndicated video player where sites will have access to host their own video or upload their videos that we're sure to make available to other Gorilla Nation sites. This will then create video advertising opportunities at their sites. We're really looking to become a broader business partner with their sites and make sure that we're helping a lot of sites that may not have the expertise, the time or know-how to build better platforms and create new modernization strategy.
We're always looking to build other areas that compliment our entertainment and lifestyle content sites. We're really excited about working with larger publishers in the international markets. Once we kind of get through the United Kingdom and Australia, I think we'll be looking to get into a couple of new verticals as well.
Interview Audio (48 min):
[audio:http://meetinnovators.com/2008/02/07/aaron-broder-from-gorilla-nation-docs/aaron_broder_full.mp3]
High Speed Audio Interview (35 min):
[audio:http://meetinnovators.com/2008/02/07/aaron-broder-from-gorilla-nation-docs/aaron_broder_fast.mp3]


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Digital Response
sales@ansacom.co.uk
Ansacom Managing Director named to IoD Kent committee
Ansacom's Managing Director Claire Burroughs has been invited to join the Kent Executive committee of the Institute of Directors (IoD). The IoD is one of the UK's longest-running business organisations and offers support to businesses and professional leaders across the country.
Representing the committee in her area of expertise, Claire will focus on the digital economy and technology innovation. This prestigious appointment for the MD of Ansacom shows exactly how renowned and respected the business has become. The IoD is now looking to promote and grow businesses in Kent and beyond.
The committee was entirely revamped by the new chair of the Kent committee, Jane Ollis. As reported in South East Business, Mrs Ollis said: "I am fortunate that a number of new members have joined the committee who are also well respected business leaders. They will now be known as IoD Kent Ambassadors and will represent the committee."
"I am also looking forward to some additional members joining to represent other sectors and we will announce them soon." As Ansacom goes from strength to strength, Claire will be using her knowledge and experience to help other companies and entrepreneurs succeed in the region.
With a number of additional members also joining the team, the IoD now reaches out to a huge range of industries. Ollis added: "It is both a challenging and exciting time for businesses following Brexit and we want to make sure businesses are given the support and opportunity they need to grow and be able to positively respond to the changing landscape."
Ansacom's Managing Director Claire Burroughs wins 'Entrepreneur of the Year' at The Times Business Awards 2019
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Our main phone numbers are permanently diverted to Ansacom. The team there are able to field calls and either make appointments or pass the caller directly through to Martyn or myself , wherever we are. We both travel a lot, in the UK and abroad, and yet to our clients we are easily accessible at all times. Feedback has been very complimentary: the service is excellent and they fully believe that they are speaking to employees of MSG.
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heat applied at the corners to blend the lapping material together,
then the appearance was that of a solid cover, durable, and pleasing
to the eye and touch. Hafely's specification is as follows:
"The object of my invention is to produce covers, corners, and like articles
for books, boxes, albums, and other uses, which shall have certain orna.
mental features, not heretofore accomplished, and which may be readily and
economically manufactured, may be somewhat elastic, and of shapes which
do not tend to injure surrounding objects. * * * I have * * * discov-
ered a new and useful manner of preparing such covers and corners from thin
sheet celluloid or other substance rendered plastic by heat, and the finished
article can thereby be made to possess features not heretofore possible by any
method I am aware of. The elasticity of the celluloid, together with its plas-
ticity when warm, renders it peculiarly adaptable to my invention; and, as
it may be made transparent, translucent, or tinted and grained, I am en-
abled by embossing, and by the use of suitable coloring, and suitable tinted
backings beneath it, to obtain a variety of beautiful effects. * * * In mak-
ing box covers according to my invention, I may employ a wooden frame, B,
which is shown in cross section in Fig. 3, and is provided with ornamental
moldings as shown. The celluloid sheet, cut to the proper size, and embossed
with ornamental figures, as will hereinafter be described, as plainly if pre-
ferred, is then laid upon the frame. A heated matrix corresponding in shape
to frame, B, is then brought down, and the celluloid, which is heated, and
rendered plastic, thereby is pressed into shape between the matrix and the
frame, the latter forming a patrix therefor, to which the celluloid conforms.
It is preferable to first coat the frame with celluloid cement, so that the
celluloid, when pressed into place by the heated die, may be firmly cemented
to the frame. After this operation, the edges of the celluloid sheet project
perpendicularly from the frame. They may then be heated and turned down,
as in figure 2, and a flat, heated iron applied to them. By a pressure from
or against the heated iron the overlapping corners are thoroughly blended and
united. * * * I form covers for books and albums in a similar manner.
Preferably, however, the cover is embossed, and its edges turned at right
angles, as shown in Fig. 7, by means of two heated dies, which render the
material plastic, and capable of taking up the curved outline required. A
pad made of wadding or other soft material is then substituted in the place
of the patrix die, as in Fig. 8, and the corners turned over, and secured at
the rear of the cover, as is shown in Fig. 6, in a manner substantially the
same as in the case of the box just described. * * * The construction may
be modified somewhat by substituting a permanent patrix in the process of
embossing and turning up the edges upon the back of such patrix to form a
cover for either boxes or albums. * * * In the forms heretofore described,
the finished article has contained a frame, of permanent padding, to which
the celluloid is secured. In figures 10, 11, and 12 is shown, on the other hand,
a cover adapted to be fitted over, and to be secured to, the finished cover of
a book or album. In forming this corner, the sheet of celluloid is first cut to
a suitable blank, as in figure 10. This blank has the side flaps which turn
over the edges of the book, and the flap or tongue to cover the corner where
the two flaps meet. The blank is first pressed between two suitable dies,
which are heated, and render the blank soft and plastic. By these dies the
central or exposed portion is embossed with ornamental designs, and given
the rounded form shown in figure 12 at E. The flaps, C, and the tongue are
turned up at right angles on the line, F, and present the appearance indicated
by dotted lines in figure 12. The flaps and tongue are then treated with suit-
able cement, and subjected to pressure between the flap back of the patrix
and a heated plate, and by this action of heat and pressure are secured to-
gether, and securely blended, as shown in figure 11. The corner is now com-
plete, and may be removed from the die, and the patrix slipped out of it. A
full celluloid side or cover of a book may be made in a manner similar to the
corner just described, it being only necessary to use a blank, dies, etc., pro-
vided with two instead of one corner."
The claims are: "(1) The method of making covers, corners, and like parts of books, boxes, and other uses of sheet celluloid or kindred material, rendered plastic by heat, which consists of forming up its border by suitable dies, first at right angles, and then parallel to the cover or corner, and uniting them by the application of heat and pressure, substantially as set forth. (2) The method of making covers, corners, and like parts of books, boxes, and other uses, of sheet or kindred material, rendered plastic by heat, which consists of forming up its border of suitable dies, first at right angles, and parallel to the cover or corner, uniting and blending them by the application of heat and pressure, and padding or filling the interior so formed, substantially as set forth. (3) The method of making corners, covers, and like parts for books, boxes, and other uses, of celluloid or other material that may be rendered plastic by heat, which consists in applying heat and pressure by suitable dies, folding over the borders, and cementing or otherwise securing them together, substantially as set forth. (4) A cover or corner for books, boxes, and like uses, consisting of sheet celluloid or kindred materials, and provided with round corners, the borders of the said cover or corner being folded over upon its back, and a tongue or flap at meeting edges of said borders, cemented or otherwise secured thereto, substantially as and for purposes set forth."
It is quite true, as urged by the defendants, that the use of heated dies in embossing figures upon sheet celluloid was well known at the date of Hafely's patent, and, indeed, the sheets used for his purposes are often furnished to the trade by manufacturers, already embossed with a central figure, but it is very remarkable that, if Hafely's method of forming album covers of celluloid required no invention, it was not practiced before he disclosed it in 1890 or 1891. Sheet celluloid was to be had ever since Hyatt invented the process of making it in 1878. The beauty, usefulness, and commercial success of the articles made after Hafely's method are not questioned, and yet it does not appear that any one, before his invention, was ever able to apply sheet celluloid successfully, as he has applied it. It appears to me by no means obvious that the result sought for was to be obtained by having a heated die just the size and shape of the box cover or album side, which would form up the round corners, and turn up the sides at the edges by turning over the edges with a heated tool. The experiments of Lefferts, a witness for defendants, who for 15 years had been a manufacturer of sheet celluloid, in making a round corner of celluloid suitable for pocket books, as a substi
a tute for metal corners, and his failure, show the difficulty, and show that Hafely's method was not one which even an experienced workman in celluloid would hit upon. It seems to me that both the novelty and the patentability of Hafely's method are fully sustained.
With regard to the defense of public, authorized use for more than two years before the application for a patent, I do not think the evidence in support of this defense is convincing. It is true that the substance of Hafely's invention was contained in a prior application, which he made on September 25, 1889, and subsequently abandoned. This was two years and seven months prior to the application on which his patent was granted. Hafely testifies that album covers made by this process were not put upon the market until 1891, or the latter part of 1890, which was within two years of his second application.
It is contended that there is no evidence of infringement, and that the specimens of defendants' manufacture were purchased before the assignment of the patent to the complainant company; but in the testimony of defendant William Bergner he speaks of having begun the manufacture of albums, such as the one offered in evidence by the complainant as an infringement, in 1892, and as having continued to manufacture them, and describes the process now practiced by the defendant. His testimony is a practical admission of the continued manufacture. He describes the process which the defendants now use, and claims that they do not use the heated die to turn up the sides, but, after placing the sheet of celluloid between two heated dies to emboss it, they use a heated brake to turn up the sides, and bend them over onto the cover, and then use a heated tool to flatten them down on the inside of the cover. The specimen produced by Bergner to illustrate his process clearly shows that what he calls the embossing die is the exact size and shape of the cover; that it has the exact shape of the beveled edge, and rounded, cupshaped corners; and that the sheet of celluloid, upon being forced into this heated die, is permanently molded into the exact shape of the edges and corners of the cover. It may be true that the sides are not turned up exactly at right angles to the plane of the cover; but they are turned up sufficiently to permanently take the shape of the edges and corners, and the heated brake used merely completes the turning over. The specimens clearly show that the defendants used, and continued to use up to the taking of the testimony, all the essentials of complainant's patented process.
Another defense is that the complainant's articles were not marked "Patented," as provided by section 4900, Rev. St., and that no notice was given to the defendants. Whatever doubt there may be, under the proofs, as to marking the complainant's articles "Patented," I think the actual written notice is sufficiently proved; but, at the most, the want of notice or marking would only affect the question of damages, but not the right to an injunction. The complainant is entitled to the usual decree for an injunction and an accounting.
UNITED STATES v. TINSLEY.
(Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. May 28, 1895.)
PRACTICE-FINDINGS-SUIT AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.
Where, in an action brought against the United States, pursuant to the act of March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. 505), the facts are undisputed, no answer being interposed on behalf of the government, but questions of law only being argued on the plaintiff's pleadings, an opinion in writing, by the court, which expressly or impliedly finds all the necessary facts, and gives judgment for the amount allowed, though it does not state separately findings of fact and conclusions of law, is a sufficient compliance with the requirements of the statute as to the decision of the court, although it is the better practice to make such separate findings and conclusions.
In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Virginia.
This was an action brought by William B. Tinsley, chief supervisor of elections for the Western district of Virginia, against the United States, pursuant to the act of March 3, 1887, to recover fees as such supervisor. The circuit court gave judgment for the plaintiff. Defendant brings error. Affirmed.
A. J. Montague, U. S. Atty.
William B. Tinsley, pro se.
Before GOFF and SIMONTON, Circuit Judges, and SEYMOUR, District Judge.
SIMONTON, Circuit Judge. This case comes up on a writ of error to the circuit court of the United States for the Western district of Virginia. The action was brought in the circuit court under the provisions of the act of congress entitled "An act to provide for the bringing of suits against the United States," approved March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. 505).
The plaintiff below (defendant in error here) in September, 1891, filed his petition against the United States, claiming payments for certain items in his account against the government as chief supervisor of elections, which had been presented to and disallowed by the first comptroller of the treasury. The disallowed items are as follows:
Date of Treas.
Adjustment. Rept.
Charge or Item Disallowed.
Feb. 21, 1887. 100,901. Blank oaths, etc., furnished supervisors.. $14 00
April 9, 1889. 113,833. Blank oaths, etc., furnished supervisors.. 14 00 $ 28 00
Feb. 21, 1887. 100,901. Indx. 810. Comrs. of Sup'rs, 810 fol....... 121 50
Nov. 10, 1890. 124,515. Indx. 65. 65 fols., at 15 cents...
9 75 131 25 Feb. 21, 1887. 100,901. Admrs. 10 oaths of office to Sup'rs.
2 50 April 9, 1889. 133,833. Recording and Indx. names, returns, Rpts., etc., of Sup'rs, 5,035 fols., at 15 cents..
755 25 Nov. 10, 1890. 124,515. Filg. 65 recommendations of Sup'rs..
6 50 Nov. 10, 1890. 124,515. Copies of Sup'rs' Rpts. furnished in criminal cases, is of elec. laws
129 15 Total......
$1,052 65 v.68F.no.4-28
With the petition, as an exhibit, he filed a full statement of the disallowances on his whole account by the first comptroller, with the reasons for such disallowances. These reasons are not for nonperformance of the services rendered, but for illegality of the charges.
No answer or other pleading was interposed. But both sides filed briefs of argument. After hearing, the court rendered its opinion on each item of the claim nominatim, and allowed every item but the one for $6.50, stating the amount allowed, and the reasons for the allowance. On the same day the judge filed his judgment, reciting the proceeding; that it is a claim for fees disallowed in plaintiff's account for services as chief supervisor of elections for the Western district of Virginia, properly made out and duly approved by the court, and presented to the proper accounting officers; that the petition was duly filed and served, and evidence in support of the same heard. Then follows the order that the plaintiff recover of the United States the sum of $1,046.15, with interest at 4 per cent. per annum. From this judgment, after motion for new trial made, refused, and exception taken, a writ of error was sued out from this court.
There are seven assignments of error. The seventh will be first considered, as it goes to the whole case. It is in these words:
"In failing to make specific findings of the facts in the case, as required by section 7 of the act of March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. 505)."
The section provides that: "It shall be the duty of the court to cause a written opinion to be filed in the cause setting forth the specific findings by the court of the facts therein and the conclusions of the court upon all questions of law involved in the case and to render judgment thereon."
The court in this case filed an opinion, but did not file a separate finding of facts, followed by conclusions of law. The supreme court of the United States, in O'Reilly v. Campbell, 116 U. S., at page 421, 6 Sup. Ct. 421, discussing a case very similar to this says:
"Findings are not to be construed with the strictness of special pleadings. It is sufficient if from them all, taken together with the pleadings, we can see enough upon a fair construction to justify the judgment of the court, notwithstanding their want of precision and the occasional intermixture of matters of fact and conclusions of law. Defects of form should be called to the attention of the trial court by the objecting party, and the requisite correction of the findings would seldom be denied."
It may be remarked in passing that the plaintiff in error had an opportunity of doing this when he made his motion for a new trial, and did not avail himself of it. The pleadings in this case set out in full the items of the account claimed, accompanied by the full text of allowances and disallowances by the department. These showed that no facts were disputed, and that the questions were all questions of law. The course pursued by the district attorney, interposing no formal denial, and proceeding to an argument on the pleadings of the petitioner, leads to the conclusion that the fact of service was not disputed, and that his objections were as to the legality of the charges. From these enough can be seen to enable an examination into the judgment of the court. There were four


These are pictures of my finished arcade cabinet in the Allegheny College art gallery. The red line behind the cabinet was part of another student's work but ironically it set off the red present on the cabinet's buttons and title panel.
Introduction - What is a Senior Comp?
A senior comprehensive project is a requirement for any degree awarded by Allegheny College. Students usually refer to this in its shortened form "comp". A close equivalent of a comp at other places would be a senior thesis.
A comp is a way for a student to do their own self guided research into an area of their current discipline. In the studio art discipline the comp takes on the form of a body of art work and a written report of the techniques, artist research, and documentation of the project. This project is chosen entirely by the student but must be accepted by a panel of professors chosen by the student. These professors serve as advisors and ultimately judge the project to determine the grade on your comp.
The comp is the student's chance to take all of their accumulated knowledge in a discipline and apply it to an original project. The pace of the project and the motivation is solely up to the student, although a schedule and timeline are required by the panel. A midsemester review is also held to provide the student with feedback on how well the project is progressing and also actively critique the current state of the project. The outcome is quite simple; you must successfully finish your comp to earn your degree.
For my senior comp I chose to reverse engineer video games.
Video Games as a Senior Thesis Focus?
When I had to think of an idea for a comp, I already knew that I wanted to do something game related. This common thread of games seemed to reappear in most of my major works at Allegheny. My other works had been board games and I decided I wanted to reverse engineer video games into an educational form addressing a social niche.
At the beginning of the comp I had the thought to continue on the theme of racism, but this focus became narrowed into addressing a single social niche of the stereotyped modern day terrorist image. I discovered that since the September 11th attacks most people are trained to think that Middle Eastern people are exclusively terrorists. The media seems to propagate this message and continue to sell it to the American people. This really didn't hit home until I discovered all of the anti-terrorist games in arcades and on the net contained about the same theme. The hero is always the white all American stereotype and the villains are always another culture, or race.
I had reasoned that if games were being used to condition people's thinking then perhaps I could create games which have the opposite effect.
I downloaded ROM copies of the games and an emulator to run them on because of the availability of free ROMs on the internet. I began searching for ROM games that had a simple story line or had a plot that already had a subliminal twist to it. I found three games that had the criteria that I was searching for and then began to alter those games to educate people and show them that they are in fact being conditioned to think certain ways.
For the comp itself I took three games and hacked them using various programs. This process is highlighted in full detail in my written comp. These games were fully interactive and hosted on my computer. I placed my computer in an arcade cabinet that I designed and built for this project.
I wired the arcade cabinet's buttons to an I-PAC circuit board which converted the signals from the switches into USB, basically letting the computer think the audience member was using a keyboard instead of buttons. The keys were then mapped to the controls of the emulator program.
I installed and configured a front end to make the game selection easier for the viewer and to secure the desktop from intrusion. I did not include the exit key for the front end on the player controls for added security. I did however map a couple keys that would allow the user to reset and exit a game.
I had on screen instruction booklets for the George W's Crazy Crusade, Legend of the Mujahidden, and Terror Alley games that would come up with the operating system's screensaver. I simply put the images of the books in a folder and set the screensaver to a slide show with a two minute delay. The screen saver would then display the images on the screen as an idle function when people were not playing the games.
In the next section I explain the changes briefly for each game and the ideas I wanted to convey through the work. For a more thorough discussion about the technical details of the project, I refer the interested reader to the technique section in my written comp. Finally I have the games and visual documentation which can be downloaded and played.
The Senior Show at the Art Gallery and Final Outcome?
The final works were displayed in the gallery in a completed arcade cabinet. The show was a big hit and I was awarded the outstanding senior comp award for my efforts. I had to defend my work before my panel where they discussed my work with me. Ironically the discussion was centered on the legal issues involved with this type of work and what this meant to the artist.
I have provided a condensed version but if you are interested I do have a copy of the written portion of my comp. In my written version you will find a concise report chronicling the progress with my comp, a complete listing of all the relevant artist research involved in the project, and an explanation of the techniques used to hack the games. I also have the visual documentation files of the senior comprehensive project.
Please feel free to download any of the hacked game titles.
You will notice that the spaces in the file names are replaced by underscores. This is because my front end, which was used in my senior comp to house the games and emulators, did not like spaces in titles. I have chosen to keep those files named as such just for convenience, you can rename them anything you wish as long as you retain the proper extension.
These games can be played on any emulator which supports the .nes file extension. The emulator of personal choice has been the fceu.exe emulator from www.emulator-zone.com. This emulator is really easy to use, easy to configure, and is free.
I have altered the games in accordance with fair and free use rights as an artist. I have openly distributed copies of my own work for others to enjoy and alter as they see fit for the sake of creativity. However, any duplication or alteration for the sole purpose of selling the game for a profit is still very illegal. I ask that you respect the copyright rules that come with the games and not alter them for a capitalist venture. By downloading the games you have agreed to the contract set forth by the artist (me) and the original creators of the game. Other than that I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.


The new EU Consumer Rights Directive has been formally adopted today by Member States in the EU's Council of Ministers. The new legislation will strengthen consumers' rights in all 27 EU countries, particularly when shopping online. After publication in the EU's Official Journal, governments will have two years to implement the rules at national level. Today's approval follows an overwhelming vote to back the rules by the European Parliament on 23 June 2011 (MEMO/11/450). The European Commission put forward the proposal in October 2008 (IP/08/1474). The final agreement between Parliament and Council on the Consumer Rights Directive was brokered by EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding in June this year.
The period under which consumers can withdraw from a sales contract is extended to 14 calendar days (compared to seven days legally prescribed by EU law today). This means that consumers can return the goods for whatever reason if they change their minds.


Welcome to the CT Adult Virtual High School!
The Connecticut Adult Virtual High School (CT AVHS), funded by the State's Bureau of Health, Nutrition and Adult Education, provides students enrolled in Connecticut's Adult Credit Diploma Programs the option of earning credits online. The CT AVHS courses are divided into half credit segments and have a seat limit of 24. Students enrolled in a course will have students from any of the other participating adult education centers in their class with the teacher at a remote location. All teachers are CT certified. Course work is just as demanding as face to face classes. Some students find the course work to be a little more demanding of their time and effort. The online courses are designed specifically for the adult education student. All of the courses are designed to include class discussions, assignments, and one-on-one teacher interaction with students. Teachers have been trained to teach the online course asynchronously, (with the understanding that students will be logged on at different times of the day, and on different days of the week than their classmates, or the teacher). Each course contains six weeks worth of course material and is delivered in a schedule over an eight week period of time. Students needing to meet a full credit requirement can be enrolled in both half credit segments of a course. The second segment of each course will begin the week after the first segment ends.
Adult Credit Diploma Programs in Connecticut do not have the same resources, community reach, or success. Web-based distance learning provides Connecticut with the benefit of a system with shared resources that is available to students across the state, regardless of where they are located, or their ability to commute to a traditional classroom setting. The professional development components of this Project increase local expertise and standardize educational resources. The central delivery of student registration, course development, staff development, and program management represent a statewide improvement in learning outcomes, cost efficiencies and program equity.
The Program began in 2002-03 with a charter to create a scalable model for an online program to serve the CT Adult Credit Diploma community. Four centers (Hartford, Vernon, New London and Middletown) participated in a pilot year, from which four online courses and an Orientation to Online Learning course were produced. In September 2006, the CT AVHS became a statewide program.
The CT Adult Virtual High Schools program currently offers 26 half credit courses for adult credit diploma credits, an online GED Preparatory and Diagnostic course, and Student Success orientation course.
Each participating adult education center must have a trained Online Learning Coordinator to administer the program and must assign a trained Mentor to each student enrolled in an online course. The CTDLC provides this training.
This document below is written with the intent of outlining the processes for successful resource sharing in the development of a statewide Virtual High School.