My grandmother Esther, who lived through the Great Depression, was like a mom to me and very special. And while she passed away in 2003, I think about her every day. She was such an inspiration to me! In the past few weeks, I've been thinking about the lessons of frugality that she taught me.
While it may not seem cool in this society to go without, my grandmother made do. She lived in the country with my grandfather and made almost all her meals from scratch, using food from their garden. My grandfather hunted and brought home wild turkey and deer. She reused scraps of paper to write lists and notes, and conserved water and electricity. She didn't shop for fun or accumulate knick-knacks and frivolous items. She wore her clothes until they wore out!
My grandmother was an expert seamstress, which was how she paid for her college tuition in the 1940s. She made many clothes for her children and grandchildren, knitted blankets, pieced together patchwork quilts, decorated her home and cooked meals everyday for years.
Some hobbies, like renting movies or shopping, can really add up. Others, like stamp collecting, don't cost nearly as much. My grandmother loved reading books and magazines she got from the library, taking walks outside, visiting family and friends, and listening to music. She rarely watched TV.
It can be hard to want what you have without wanting more, but my grandmother never seemed to want more than she had. She was content with her home, her belongings, and her family. She had mastered the art of contentment.
My grandmother's generation didn't believe in debt, and therefore, she never got in debt or even had her own credit card. For whatever she needed, she paid cash. She saved her change and dollar bills and only bought things when she had the money. She saved up for what was important to her.
Whenever a problem came up, she always had the solution. She was very practical about how to solve problems, without resorting to spending money. For example, when I was moving into my first apartment, she helped me come up with a list of stuff I'd need and meals I could make that wouldn't cost a lot.
One snowy night, my grandmother died peacefully in her sleep. The most important lesson she taught me was to focus on living a good life, loving your family and not focus on money or things.
With these lessons, she lived a wonderful life. I hope her lessons inspire you, too!
Thanks for sharing. Great advice! Sounds like a really neat lady. Glad you have those great memories of her.
wow I can tell she was a good person, you were so lucky to have her in your lifetime, to teach you what is important in life.
That's great advice we should all aspire to in this disposable life style we are currently living.


B brought the Tony Tellado interview with Mark Pellegrino to my intention and I just had to do a transcript about the part where he talked about Jared.
Totally agree!!! Mark is awesome!!
I was one of those who thought of Jared as just a pretty face, but that changed when I started watching SPN! He's amazing!
Glad to hear that you discovered Jared's true talent and that he is more than just a pretty face in the crowd ;)More ppl need to realize that.
It's great that other actors acknowledge his talent!
jared is pro and in same time a joker. I think that lot love him for that. It's the last interview of mark that i posted? i missed that or a new?
how are you babe today? your pains?
Hmm I don't know if it is the one you've posted. I haven't seen it. I was just linked to this one by my friend.
I am still not feeling so good. The pain killers are not really working. Ergo, I don't sleep much and feel just BLAH all the time.
We already knew that but well it's definitely great to hear that and I hope that others read that too.
Jared is Awesome in every way!
Yes. Def. MORE ppl have to read/hear/see that. It's usually all just Jensen, Jensen, Jensen... ALL THE TIME!! So, it feels really good finally see something like this!!!
And it especially makes me happy that it came from Mark. He knows his way around acting. He is an actor, writer and director. So he knows real talent when he sees it. Ergo, it is a HUGE compliment coming from him!!! Wooh.


If there was a way that you could stop worrying and truly move forward in your life, wouldn't you want to know about it? In this dynamic session, Worry Management Expert Denise Marek reveals her simple yet powerful formula to help you eliminate worry and develop greater inner peace. You'll discover strategies to immediately reduce anxiety and put an end to "what if" thinking. By the end of this session, no matter who you are, where you've been, or what you're going through, Denise's practical steps will transform your worry into inner calm.
During this interactive presentation, you will create an action plan that prepares you for the unexpected, so you can focus on the things you are truly passionate about. Jackie will dispel the myths that those on a variable income cannot commit to a regular savings plan and that the self-employed do not qualify for the same income and healthcare protection as traditional employees. Most importantly, Jackie will arm you with knowledge that will allow them to move confidently forward, continuing to build successful businesses and communities.
This session will cover the fundamental topics relating to taking in shareholders, investors or other strategic stake-holders, to formulate strategic relationships for your business structure; how to legally establish a strong connection and how to break one, when it is no longer effective. Practical and real-life scenarios will be discussed to ensure you leave with specific information and useful guidance for your own business situation.
The dynamic duo of Anna Cook and Stephanie Hickman will intertwine their extensive corporate and commercial legal experience, their practical knowledge of small businesses and startups, and their backgrounds working with women entrepreneurs, into an engaging and informative presentation. Take the tools and concepts you learn in this session back to your business, and with new found knowledge, prepare to pursue beneficial opportunities and conquer challenges.
Newfoundland and Labrador businesses are world-class, and in recent years, many are gaining the attention they deserve from national and international stakeholders. In order to take advantage of the spotlight, or create it for themselves, our entrepreneurs must stay sharp in media relations and business communications.
Join AnnMarie, Amanda, and Kate of NATIONAL Public relations for a session focussed on understanding how to turn reporters' inquiries into communication opportunities. This session is not targeted at any specific business size or industry; instead, it explores foundational skills that are key to succeeding in today's competitive marketplace.
1. THEORY: Foundational knowledge and our best practice advice on how to collaborate with media.
2. PREPARATION: The dos and don'ts of media relations, focusing on the tools you need to effectively tell your story.
3. EXECUTION: A Media Messaging Worksheet will be provided, which will help you focus in on an issue or key message in preparation for your next media moment. Our team will be on hand to help you work through the steps, but also to show you how this tool can be used time and time again, whenever a media opportunity arises.
First: Be proactive, she says, and create your own opportunities. Launch something new or go after the job you want—tenacity and grit go a long way. Second: Follow your passion, because when you work on what you care about you find maximum success. Third: Treat people well—not only is it ethically important, what goes around comes around.
The world is small and you will never rise above your reputation. These three themes have guided Janet's professional and personal life. In engaging, relatable talks, she teaches audiences how to immediately implement these same philosophies.
Brand Strategy 101: Elevate Your Brand. Elevate Your Business Results.
Strong brands understand the positioning they wish to occupy in the minds of people. However, landing on a clear position and consistently representing it can be easier said than done, and many companies struggle to define their brand.
This session will provide a practical and easy-to-understand approach and toolkit that any size organization can employ to build or evolve its brand and bring it to life. We'll look at how you can use your brand identity to provide organizational direction and purpose, enhance the standing of services and products, aid in recruitment and retention, and help protect your business in times of crisis.
We'll also explore the building process and key questions that must be examined to determine internal and external brand elements such as brand promise, expression, positioning and value proposition.
You don't need to overhaul your life to improve your health. During this real talk session, June, will discuss the unique health risks that women entrepreneurs face, and how potential poor health outcomes, could impact your business.
Not your standard self-care presentation, June will provide tangible strategies you can immediately implement in your daily life to improve productivity and business. Oh, and your health!
Social media use by employees, both on-duty and off-duty, is here to stay. As technology evolves, the blurry line between employees' personal and public lives will only get blurrier. It's critical that employers accept – and not avoid - this reality. Join Stephanie, as she shares how employers can manage employee social media use, including the key elements of an effective workplace Social Media policy, how to management employee social media use in the workplace, and when and how to manage employee off-duty social media use.
Of course, you don't gotta laugh, it's just that you can – it's always an option – that's the freedom of choice we were born with – we are always free to choose how we want to respond to our circumstances. In this entertaining hour, Susan will remind your group how important it is to not take things too seriously and share some ways to see the lighter side of life.
Passport for Growth: Exporting - Designing the Plan.


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DAVID MARTIN & SHIMANO STEPS
David's magazine has sent him south to write about his new home. Riding around on his e-bike has been a revelation. There's no better way of taking in the sounds, smells and buzz of a place.
I find inspiration riding through the city on my e-bike
In my line of work, you're always on the lookout for new ideas. Riding the e-bike takes me to corners of the city I'd otherwise never see. The other day I went for a ride at daybreak and stopped at a café I had heard of. It was closed, but the owner was sweeping the terrace and invited me in anyway. He gave me a coffee and a pastry and refused to let me pay for it. It's these kinds of moments that inspire me.
In my line of work, you're always on the lookout for new ideas. Riding the e-bike takes me to corners of the city I'd otherwise never see.
The e-bike is the smart way to commute
It makes no sense not to use my e-bike to get to work. The traffic here is crazy during rush hour, congestion everywhere. But it's a piece of cake on the e-bike. It's quick and it's healthy on top of it. And if you think how much it costs to have a car, you're probably saving a small fortune using an e-bike. It really is a no-brainer in my opinion.
It's like a companion
I think of my e-bike as a kind of companion. It basically goes wherever I go. Or vice versa. I use it in the morning to get to work. It takes me to people I have to interview and to the restaurant for lunch. If I'm pressed for time it's perfect for doing some quick errands during my break. Try that with a car. You'll need a ten-hour lunch break.
For more information on SHIMANO STEPS e-bikes, click here.
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Fight continues over 9th District seat.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The 116th Congress begins Thursday with one notable absence: a Congressman representing North Carolina's 9th Congressional District.
Mark Harris, the Republican candidate who currently leads Democrat Dan McCready by about 900 votes, filed a motion in Wake County Superior Court on Thursday demanding the certification of the election.
Republican Mark Harris speaks about his desire to have the 9th District election certified amid election fraud accusations.
"The fact remains that a critical election hangs in the balance," Harris' attorneys write in their 57-page briefing. "The voters of the Ninth Congressional District are entitled to have their elected representative in place by the time Congress convenes."
Instead of being in Washington, Harris was in Raleigh on Thursday, meeting with state officials about allegations of voter fraud that may have tainted the race.
"We came here today to be cooperative, we came here today to be helpful, we came here today to answer questions to help them discover whatever it is they need to discover," Harris told ABC11 after the meeting. "We think there should be no reason to doubt the legitimacy of the outcome. I don't have anything that's more valuable than my good name and I intend to stand on that good name and reputation that I've built over 30 years as a senior pastor in the State of North Carolina, the leadership I've been able to bring. I will continue to stand on that reputation and stand on who I am as a man."
Harris' visit to Raleigh follows a subpoena issued on December 6th by the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement. A day later, Harris posted a video saying he'd "wholeheartedly support" a new election *if* the investigation finds fraud could've affected the outcome of the election.
Democrat Dan McCready last weekend requested subpoenas for dozens of people - including Harris, North Carolina GOP Chairman Hayes, Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse, and McRae Dowless, the political operative who is at the center of the allegations of harvesting absentee ballots.
Asked specifically about the allegations against Dowless, Harris said he hasn't seen "any reason at this point" to say he wouldn't hire Dowless again.
Harris, meanwhile, tried petitioning for immediate certification in December so he can sworn-in with the rest of the 116th Congress in Washington on Jan. 3.
Harris' motion on Thursday follows another petition for immediate certification that he submitted last month. That petition, however, was relevant for only a few hours, as the nine-member State Board dissolved at noon on Dec. 28.
The uncertainty surrounding its replacement, moreover, is another core controversy which also has an impact on McCready's request for subpoenas: who right now can be the legal entity to investigate the allegations, oversee the hearing, judge the evidence and rule either on certification or a new election?
Per court order -- and new state law -- North Carolina elections will soon be managed and safeguarded by a five-member Board of Elections and a separate Board of Ethics, with all members nominated by Governor Roy Cooper. That law, however, doesn't take effect until Jan. 31.


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Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, National Security Affairs; Foreign Economic Policy, Volume I
The late S. Everett Gleason supervised the initial planning and compilation of this volume. Fredrick Aandahl succeeded him as editor in 1972 and directed the process of review, declassification, and final editing. Ralph R. Goodwin provided assistance in planning and direction.
Neal H. Petersen compiled and edited the sections on regulation of armaments, national security policy, and atomic energy. John P. Glennon prepared the 1949 portion and David W. Mabon the 1950 portion of the documentation on defense of the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Goodwin compiled and edited the sections on treaties of friendship, commerce, and navigation; double taxation; the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; foreign financial policy; balance of payments; Point IV; the delimitation of the territorial sea; and the Internal Security Act of 1950. William Z. Slany prepared the section on the Antarctic. The technical editing of the volume was done by the Publishing and Reproduction Division (Willard M. McLaughlin, Chief), and Francis C. Prescott prepared the index.
The editors acknowledge with appreciation the assistance provided them by the historians of the Department of Defense, including those of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and by the historians of the Energy Research and Development Administration. They are also grateful for the cooperation of the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Energy Research and Development Administration, all of which facilitated declassification of papers for release in this volume.
David F. Trask
The principles which guide the compilation and editing of Foreign Relations are stated in Department of State Regulation 2 FAM 1350 of June 15, 1961, a revision of the order approved on March 26, 1925, [Page IV] by Mr. Frank B. Kellogg, then Secretary of State. The text of the regulation, as further amended, is printed below:
The publication Foreign Relations of the United States constitutes the official record of the foreign policy of the United States. These volumes include, subject to necessary security considerations, all documents needed to give a comprehensive record of the major foreign policy decisions within the range of the Department of State's responsibilities, together with appropriate materials concerning the facts which contributed to the formulation of policies. When further material is needed to supplement the documentation in the Department's files for a proper understanding of the relevant policies of the United States, such papers should be obtained from other Government agencies.
To eliminate personal opinions presented in despatches and not acted upon by the Department. To this consideration there is one qualification—in connection with major decisions it is desirable, where possible, to show the alternatives presented to the Department before the decision was made.
National Security Affairs; Foreign Economic Policy
Introductory note
United States policy at the United Nations with respect to the regulation of armaments and collective security: the international control of atomic energy; regulation of conventional armaments; efforts to implement article 43 of the United Nations charter by placing armed forces at the disposal of the Security Council (Documents 1-50)
United States national security policy: estimates of threats to the national security; the extension of military assistance to foreign nations; the preparation of NSC 68, "United States Objectives and Programs for National Security" (Documents 51-156)
Foreign policy aspects of United States development of atomic energy (Documents 157-201)
United States policy regarding hemisphere defense, 1949–1950; provision of armaments and military assistance to the american republics, and their participation in the Korean conflict (Documents 202-230)
Progress of the program for the modernization of the treaties of friendship, commerce, and navigation (Documents 231-233)
Progress of the program for the negotiation of conventions for the avoidance of double taxation (Documents 234-236)
Matters relating to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (Documents 237-290)
Papers relating to aspects of the foreign financial policy of the United States (Documents 291-297)
Efforts to develop a United States policy regarding the balance-of-payments problem ("the dollar gap"); the Gordon Gray report to the President on foreign economic policies (Documents 298-303)
The Point Four program (Documents 304-317)
United States policy regarding questions pertaining to the delimitation of the territorial sea, and related matters (Documents 318-325)
Impact of the internal security act of 1950 (the McCarran act) upon the conduct of United States foreign relations (Document 326)
United States policy with regard to the Antarctic (Documents 327-336)


The wrestlers were returning after a participating in a competition in Satara.
Five wrestlers were killed in a major accident in Maharashtra's Sangli district on Saturday, according to police. The wrestlers were returning after a participating in a competition in Satara. The accident took place around 1 am when an SUV carrying the grapplers rammed into a tractor carrying sugarcane, according to reports.
The wrestlers belonged to Kranti Kushti Sankul institution.
"The mishap occurred on the Kadegaon-Sangli road, when the wrestlers were returning from Aundh village after participating in the wrestling competition there. They were heading to Kundal in Sangli, a senior police official was quoted as saying by PTI.
A speeding tractor, which was coming from the opposite direction, rammed into their SUV, killing six persons including five wrestlers, he said.
A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act was registered at the Chinchni-Vangi police station, he said, adding efforts were on to nab the tractor driver who fled from the accident spot.
"It is very sad and shocking, for us," said Sharad Lad, the institution's secretary was quoted as saying by IANS.


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Apartment Complex "Cornelia" is situated in a picturesque area at the foot of the Pirin with a unique view to the Ian Woosnam Golf Course in Razlog. It is 3 km away. from the center of the town of Razlog and 6 km. from the town of Bansko and the ski slopes. It consists of 2 parts - Cornelia Boutique Hotel & SPA and Cornelia Deluxe Residence, each with two buildings.
Address: area Betolovoto, Bansko 2770, Bansko
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In this Quarterly archive article, Tom Peters examines the flaws of the matrix-organization design and explores several more effective approaches to implement no more than one or two essential corporate thrusts at a time.
Insoluble conflict? The chief executive of a consumer-goods company decided a few years ago that he saw a way to resolve such differences between managers. He had just read about matrix organizations and concluded that a matrix structure would, in effect, leave managers no option but to interact effectively with each other—not only "vertically" with their line superiors and subordinates, but also "horizontally" with their peers along major financial, geographic, product and/or segment dimensions. Everyone would have to talk to everyone else. The ideal solution, he decided, after much thought. So he took the plunge.
Three years later, however, the company was losing momentum faster than before. Major issues were taking longer to resolve, and the CEO was constantly called in to referee disputes between product-line, geographic, and functional chiefs. Too often, what tardily emerged from the decision process was a lowest-common-denominator political compromise. Top managers were spending more time than ever before in meetings or in airplanes taking them to and from meetings. Gamesmanship and political jockeying were widespread. The volume of detailed analysis, by the CEO's own careful assessment, had nearly doubled; much of it seemed to be aimed at "nailing" the other guy on trivial points. Buck-passing had become a fine art; the product managers blamed the production people, and vice versa. It was tougher than ever to get products to market; new product opportunities were slipping by time and again because engineering would never let go.
In short, the CEO had never been so frustrated, so aware of managing a bureaucracy. He could no longer pin responsibility for results on anyone, and nobody but him seemed to be worrying about the big picture.
Much the same story has been enacted in many large corporations in the past few years. Up through the early 1950s, most companies were functionally organized. The postwar boom and subsequent economic growth led to mushrooming product lines and organizational complexity. During the late 1950s and 1960s, many companies sought to regain control and achieve "product-line rationality" by shedding their traditional functional organizations for a divisional structure based on the model initiated by General Motors and DuPont in the 1920s. For most the move proved successful; strategies became more coherent and divisional managers could be held broadly accountable for their operations.
In the mid-1960s, however, longer-range, more elaborate capital-investment projects called for a partial recentralization of corporate decision making. As a result, neither staff (planning) nor line (division management) could be held clearly responsible for medium- or longer-term performance.
New threats to divisional autonomy had appeared in the 1970s, as requirements imposed by foreign governments hampered businessmen's efforts to maintain the integrity of their product lines worldwide. At home, proliferating regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other governmental agencies demanded centralized corporate response. Problems arising from product-line growth and attendant shorter life cycles called for more attention by headquarters to various engineering and manufacturing issues.
Typically, business's response went through three phases. In Phase 1, inspired perhaps by the spectacular success of project management in the Polaris missile program and the even greater triumph of NASA's moon-shot project, companies first set up "project teams" as a means of securing a coordinated functional, geographic, and divisional response to various current threats. Teams and task forces multiplied, often doubling or tripling in number in the space of a few years. As the teams proliferated, the sense of urgency that had attended their creation began to evaporate, established channels of responsibility and authority began to be blocked or bypassed, and teams began to get in each other's way. Clearly, something had to be done to regularize matters again.
In Phase 2, matrix was embraced by an influential minority of large and sophisticated companies as the only organizational answer. For some, however, the honeymoon promised by matrix never materialized, as the examples in the exhibit indicate. For others, the honeymoon was quickly succeeded by the disillusionment of Phase 3, the situation described at the beginning of this article. Some CEOs reacted to Phase 3 by calling in behavioral scientists. "Team building" and "conflict management" became the order of the day. But the objectives of these efforts were unclear, and the headaches only got worse. In other companies—mostly giant corporations boasting "advanced" matrix organizations—open conflict was replaced by a silent battle of memos and "economic models." Organizational Maginot Lines were built. Bureaucracy burgeoned and corporate performance continued to deteriorate.
One vivid instance of the matrix malaise is reported in a recent article by Cheryll Barron in the British journal Management Today. A product manager of the giant Dutch-based Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken NV is quoted as reporting: "We feel the disadvantages of the matrix acutely here in Groningen. For one thing, we definitely feel it is a disadvantage not to be responsible for sales—we have people who don't feel the need to sell the product tomorrow, and yet have part of the responsibility for profits. The matrix is too slow—we are in a very turbulent market with great potential, and we have far too many low-cost competitors. We need very short communication lines, quick decisions, alertness—we've got to be able to adapt fast." Barron comments: "At the moment, the Philips organization appears to suffer from all the obvious inefficiencies of the Japanese system with which the matrix has so much in common—endless time spent in meetings and in building personal relationships, and in communication—without enough of the Japanese strengths."1 1.Cheryll Barron, "Format fears at Philips," Management Today, August 1978, p. 75.
In short, the matrix "solution" had brought with it problems at least as knotty as those it was supposed to cure. But no fresh alternative was in sight. Indeed, a look at the postwar evolution of corporate structures—from functional to divisional to matrix—suggests that the end of the line has been reached. The first dominant form featured functional autonomy; the second, product autonomy. The third, promising to combine the advantages of both, often bogs down hopelessly in practice. Given the cloudy record of matrix, where can a company go?
Surprisingly, perhaps, we found no basic differences between our two sets of respondents with respect to one central issue: Organizational restructuring is no longer the answer—if it ever was—to the most difficult problems of shifting organizational focus. Indeed, the shape of the organization chart is less and less relevant to their solution.
Researchers today see structural tools as inherently inflexible, and therefore as inappropriate to an unstable business environment marked by rapid change and shifting environmental threats from all directions—competitors, governments, and unions at home and overseas. They have accordingly focused on learning how organizations can build capabilities for rapid and flexible response. They have concluded that successful organizations choose a temporary focus, facing perhaps one major threat this year, another two or three years on. Paradoxically, however, the flexible organization must be underpinned by a unified value system geared to long-term continuity in order to secure the commitment of its members in this turbulent environment. The task of the executive becomes that of managing the tension between fast-paced external shifts and the requirements of internal stability.
Industry leaders' experience supports these findings. By and large, leading companies are learning to cope with the design paradox to which the researchers point. In their rapidly changing environments, companies such as IBM, Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, GM, DuPont, and P&G pay obsessive attention to maintaining a stable culture. At the same time, these giants are more responsive than their competitors. They do not seek to achieve responsiveness through major structural shifts. Instead, they have typically relied on a series of temporary devices to focus the attention of the entire organization for a limited time on a single top-priority goal or environmental threat.
To most top executives, however, structural solutions have a powerful appeal stemming from two properties—the first real, the second largely fictional. Realistically, structure in the organization-chart sense is one rational way of dividing up the organization's tasks for optimum productive efficiency. Indeed, it has traditionally been useful in matching up authority with responsibility and in imposing a business focus along a desired dimension—product or segment, for example, in the case of a divisional organization. The second reason why so many senior managers are irresistibly attracted to structural "solutions" is that they look so deceptively easy. Management-information systems, management styles, and informal communications networks cannot be tinkered with on the back of an envelope. Structure can. Massive shakeups can be engineered on the same envelope by replacing solid lines, symbolizing authority and responsibility, with dotted ones, signifying merely the right to advise and consult.
Regrettably, managers are prone to forget that this is purely an imaginary exercise of power. The reorganization may be duly announced, the new organization chart and revised position descriptions promulgated. But unless the management of implementation becomes the dominant preoccupation of senior management, little changes. Given a realistic commitment to implementation, structural reorganization along functional or divisional lines has worked out successfully in many companies. This is to be expected, since the concepts of functional dominance and product-line autonomy are fair approximations of what actually goes on in functional and divisional organizations respectively. Indeed, in the latter case the structure often fits the basic strategy like a glove; hence its continuing success.
In contrast, matrix rests on an overly optimistic model of how people in organizations actually behave. Its central concept—that simultaneous decisions can routinely be made along multiple dimensions with fragmented accountability—overestimates the information-processing capacity of most human brains and the problem-solving capability of most social systems. Multiplying the signals to which managers are expected to respond eventually overloads the circuits.
The last point provides an important clue to alternative strategies. Although many forces have chipped away at decentralized product-group autonomy, the divisional structure in some form (GE's new "sector" organization, for example) remains a reasonably effective vehicle for many organizations because of its underlying efficiencies of information flow. Alfred Sloan decentralized General Motors because he could not coordinate the detailed strategies of an agglomeration of car companies, each of which he hoped would eventually dominate its own markets. Rather, he exerted careful control over a few key processes, especially financial ones.
Organization researcher Charles Perrow calls this "third order control." He argues that top managers' influence typically is greater than they think and is directly related to what he calls the fundamental "premises of decision making." For example, Sloan taught his financial philosophy to GM managers for ten years and then decentralized fully, confident that his senior managers would act as he would in similar contexts. GM still works hard at instilling in its top people a common philosophy. There can be little doubt of the success of this approach; in a recent comprehensive survey, a majority of the chief executives polled ranked GM first among US companies on two counts: having a "coherent management philosophy" and a "high caliber of top and middle management." These are among the few elements that can still be centrally controlled in the vast empire that is now GM.
Another crucial aspect of the Sloan approach, according to British researcher Derek Pugh and others, is that Sloan never left decentralization alone. He would centralize some dimension for a while and then turn to another. The dynamic restlessness survives in GM today. In the latest of a long line of management coups, GM beat its competitors by years in downsizing its product line. This success was achieved, by and large, through "temporary recentralization," in the form of something called a project center.
This, says Fortune, "was probably GM's single most important managerial tool in carrying out that bold decision. It has eliminated a great deal of redundant effort, and has speeded numerous new technologies into production. Its success rests on the same delicate balance between the powers of persuasion and coercion that underline GM's basic system."2 2.Charles G. Burck, "How GM turned itself around," Fortune, January 16, l978, p. 86.
Sloan was the first to identify the conscious management of that shifting balance as the CEO's key task. His determination to "keep it simple," his incessant preaching of a coherent philosophy, and his consuming preoccupation with the critical issue of the moment all stood in stark contrast to the premises of the matrix.
One of today's most renowned students of organization, Nobel laureate Herbert Simon, provides a compelling theoretical framework supporting a similar point of view. Simon and his successors have developed intricate models which describe the simple-minded, usually chaotic way in which huge organizations respond to shifts in their market or regulatory environment. These researchers warn managers to beware of one-variable (eg, structural) solutions that aim at making big organizations behave rationally.
Given the success of Sloan and his successors and the results of Simon and others, why have so many companies chosen matrix structures? And doesn't matrix occasionally work?
The answer to the first question is easy. Given the numerous conflicting pressures on business, attempts at matrix-like (ie, multidimensional) solutions are inevitable. Answering the second question is more difficult. There is little systematic empirical evidence that matrix does or does not work. Recent research by Stephen Allen of IMEDE suggests that the divisional and matrix models are largely straw men. In a survey of 70 companies with average Fortune 500 characteristics, he found no fewer than 18 kinds of divisional organizations, some of which were far more of a hodgepodge of central and devolved authority than the typical matrix. Moreover, even the matrix's strongest advocates warn of various obstacles to implementation.3 3. Stephen A. Allen, "Organizational choices and general management influence networks in divisionalized companies," Academy of Management Journal, 1978, Volume 21, Number 3, pp. 341–65. "Power struggles," "groupitis," and "navel-gazing" are among the matrix-related pathologies identified by Stanley Davis and Paul Lawrence.4 4.Stanley M. Davis and Paul R. Lawrence, "Problems of matrix organizations," Harvard Business Review, May–June 1978, p. 131.
Lawrence suggests that formal matrix structures seem to work best when the company was informally practicing something like matrix management before the structural change was introduced. In other words, matrix works best after the organization has already learned to cope with multiple, simultaneous major stresses. But that begs the question of how they learned to cope.
There are, it seems, approaches other than matrix which companies as successful as GM are using to achieve flexible, focused coordination. It is those we shall now explore.
In spite of the emphasis on temporary systems, neither the business-school researchers we interviewed nor the senior executives of leading companies that have steered clear of the matrix solution suggested that the organization chart should be discarded or that the concepts of hierarchy, authority, and accountability are obsolete. However, the more sophisticated organizations are no longer (if they ever were) pursuing the one right structure. Reorganization, as they see it, is no more than a means of enhancing organizational effectiveness over the short-to-medium term in response to changing internal and external pressures.
The new approach to organizing recognizes the same array of competing demands that has led some to matrix, but it refuses to pursue optimization beyond the limits of the achievable. It escapes the trap of complexity by cutting down top management's agenda to the implementation of one or two essential thrusts. Temporary structural, procedural, or other energy-channeling devices are employed to muster resources and enhance important capabilities in whatever way proves empirically most effective.
In our respondents' view, the complexity of today's business environment and the consequent high level of uncertainty is the most compelling reason to concentrate corporate energies on just one or two key thrusts. Large organizations are obliged by their very nature to cope with a welter of pressures. Because no structural device will cope with them automatically, top management's most significant leverage lies in directing attention at the margin to one or two significantly enhanced capabilities.
The emerging approach to organization can, at the risk of some oversimplification, be formulated in four practical principles: (1) manage the routine, not the exceptions; (2) learn to circumvent the snares of systems management; (3) be aware of the limits imposed by the organization's past; and (4) never stop reorganizing.
Under the time-honored principle of management by exception, the organization runs itself until divergence from plan triggers off a warning signal. However, in today's complex organizations, equipped with overly elaborate planning and control systems, warning signals are constantly being triggered. Giving the attention of top management to each (the implicit consequence of matrix structure) means dissipating the company's sense of direction.
The first principle implies that senior management's task is to select from the organization's possible agenda no more than one or two plausible, important thrusts; develop effective commitment for the choice; and then focus the organization's energy and attention, within reasonable limits, on testing and implementing the implications of the chosen direction. Effectively limiting the agenda, then, multiplies the chances of effective implementation by mustering energies behind a clear and sensible thrust. Selecting the thrust demands no certain prescience. What it does require is a willingness to set temporary priorities and tolerate internal ambiguity while the thrust is being tried out.
Internal achievability. Can a "cost-oriented" company begin to turn itself into a "product-innovation" leader in three to five years?
Political feasibility. Can the top team be persuaded to support the thrust?
Soundness in competitive or regulatory terms. Is a marketing thrust a good choice for a high-cost producer in a shrinking market?
Freshness. Will it be perceived as a new direction?
Early wins. Will it be possible to show some results in the first few months, even though full-scale implementation may take years?
Excitement. Can most people from middle management on up eventually become enthusiastic about it?
Once the thrust has been selected, it must be identified and announced. Political scientist Edward Banfield describes one approach: picking out, at the appropriate moment, the best of what is going on in the institution and labeling it as the cornerstone of the chief executive's program. This may sound like a cheap shot, but frequently the top team can give a theme life and credibility merely by touching on it. Pointing out and praising some aspect of an inconspicuous but significant program is frequently a wise opening move. A study of senior executives by John Kotter and Paul Lawrence unearthed a similar routine: Successful new executives spent a year or so sorting out programs, building constituencies, and seeding new actions; only at the end of that time did they act to "label" their own thrust. Less successful men latched on to the first program they ran into, publicly touted it as their bellwether, and then lost credibility if it failed.
"Managing the routine" means the active, insistent, detailed intervention of top management to develop, over time, top-to-bottom enthusiasm and action consistent with the proposed predominant thrust, and the generation and reinforcement of appropriate signals to the rest of the organization to sustain that support. Refocusing a large organization's attention on a new theme is no simple task. It requires, among other things, political skills and a shrewd sense of timing.
This hands-on approach to shifting corporate focus is no substitute for activities such as strategic planning; formal systems will necessarily continue to exert great influence on behavior within the organization. But hands-on management of the major thrust can be much more than a supplement to formal systems; it can become the primary shaping and guiding force of the enterprise.
Examples of CEOs and top teams who devoted their entire tenures to achieve a single thrust are legion. Paul Sticht, Business Week reports, has turned R. J. Reynolds from a decentralized holding company into a centrally-run marketing company in five years.
Bank of America's A. W. Clausen recently described to Forbes his ten-year effort to move loan officers from the traditional industry concerns with building loan volume to the pursuit of profit. Walter Spencer of Sherwin Williams has said that it took him five years to instill an irreversible marketing thrust into an organization steeped in a century-old manufacturing culture. Perhaps most ambitious of all is ATT chairman John deButts's six-year effort to start moving the million-person Bell System from a service orientation to a market orientation.
The cases examined in the course of our study attested again and again to the importance of insistent senior-management concern with detail. One of the companies we investigated, for example, has a broad slate of commodity-like products. About two years ago, the chief executive unveiled an up-and-down-the-line "program of manufacturing excellence." Since similar programs in the past had had little lasting impact, the CEO, his chief responsible staff officer, and two operating company presidents are spending about 25 percent of their time on the road helping to take the message to the field. Even the most trivial of efforts demonstrating commitment to the new program are being rewarded; a well-kept control room led to an on-the-spot $1,000 bonus for the plant manager and a promise of an unrequested $50,000 for maintenance.
Systems, especially planning systems, readily become the focus of organizational gamesmanship. Forecasts are carefully shaped to depict a rosy world to managers within the organization competing for scarce investment resources, as well as to outsiders such as institutional analysts deciding how much stock to hold. Matrix organizations, not surprisingly, have been especially beset by these woes. The drive for results is dissipated in endless debate over planning assumptions which support the product view or the engineering view. Analysts build models while Rome burns. For the bureaucratic behemoth of the 1970s, institutionalized planning—the management hope of the 1950s—has turned into a nightmare of red tape. In the words of Harvard's Theodore Levitt: "Model builders seek to simulate everything from cash flows to balance sheets twenty years hence to next year's labor negotiations. They build intricate decision trees whose pretension to utility is exceeded only by the awe in which high-level line managers hold the technocrats who construct them."5 5.Theodore Levitt, "A heretical view of management 'science,'" Fortune, December 18, 1978, p. 50.
Systems snare management at many levels; senior executives, for example, too often take what is put before them at face value, without asking what hidden assumptions—assumptions made, perhaps, by a blinkered staff analyst four layers down—underlie those plausible projections.
Breaking the hold of everyday systems execution is not easy. Roy Ash's multiple tactics for redirecting attention at Addressograph-Multigraph are instructive. Instead of immediately revamping the company he had just joined, Ash spent his first several months visiting its widely scattered operations and politely asking a great number of searching questions. His predecessors had always summoned support from the headquarters building which had long lived up to its official name, The Tower. Ash left his office door open, placed his own intercom calls to arrange meetings, and always questioned people in person, not in writing. He removed some of the company's copying machines "to stop breeding paperwork." Spotting a well-written complaint from an important customer in Minneapolis, Ash hopped a plane and flew off to visit him. As he now explains: "I wanted the word to get around our organization that I'm aware of what's going on." Ash's next dramatic step toward reshaping the company's attitudes will be to move its headquarters to Los Angeles. He justifies the move primarily on psychological grounds: "We must place ourselves in a setting where—partly through osmosis—we get a different idea of our future." For much the same reason, he wants to change the corporation's name.
Using language. What is on a company's mind usually shows up clearly in how it "talks" internally. For instance, an historically finance-oriented company's presentations are largely vast arrays of numbers. The new CEO contrasted it with presentations from two renowned marketing-oriented companies whose communications focus on customers, products, and the competition.
Follow-up and the adroit use of written or oral history can focus and reinforce the initiatives which emerge in the course of daily activity and which might not otherwise be singled out for attention. When an action system gets overtaxed with nonessentials, for instance, building a system on top of a system is often effective. The operational "real" action agenda in the US Navy Department in the early 1970s were the "Z-grams"—action memoranda from Admiral Zumwalt, the chief of naval operations. These became priority items for the Navy's top management. The chronicler of events, as many commentators have noted, also has the opportunity to single out and call attention to his own themes. Taking advantage of this opportunity, one president sends out three or four notes after each meeting, with a circulation of 10 to 15, on things that he liked in presentations and discussions—at least half to junior participants. In the course of a year, he may send thousands of such personal signals to various parts of the organization.
Using time. The priorities and concerns of the organization are largely shaped by the allocation of executive time as mirrored in calendars and agendas of meetings, formal and informal. Economist Kenneth Arrow observes: "There is a real value to putting an item on the agenda. The Employment Act of 1946 amounted to nothing more than a statement that full employment was at last on the Federal agenda. And many felt that this was a hollow victory indeed. But those that opposed it so violently were not deceived; in the long run, this recognition was decisive. Once the item has arrived on the agenda, it is difficult not to treat it in a somewhat rational manner."6 6.Kenneth J. Arrow, The Limits of Organization, New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1974, p. 47.
Executives' time can be spent most effectively on activities characterized by a succession of small, discrete events, occurring rapidly enough to demonstrate movement and provide opportunities for visible feedback. They should be unobtrusive, yet ultimately pervasive in their impact.
These tactics, bundled together and used self-consciously, form what my colleagues and I have come to call "mundane tools." They are detailed; their use requires time and attention. Yet in practice this seems to be the best, if not the only, way to break the back of constraining systems and to redirect overall institutional attention.
The organizational culture is at once the CEO's chief resource and the chief constraint on his ability to pursue even a modest change of agenda. It can provide the momentum to bring about significant change, but at the same time it constrains the chief executive's ability to send out signals that will be believed and heeded. His effectiveness as a direction-setter and the credibility of his messages will be determined in large part by people's perceptions of what is possible and likely in the light of his and the organization's known history.
When these questions are not asked, a company can find itself unprepared to execute the changes it hopes to bring about. For example, a consumer-goods company designed a strategy to expand its product line as competition closed in on its historically successful bread-and-butter item. Unfortunately, it was a strategy that only a Procter & Gamble could have executed. It required a more flexible approach to the market than the top team was prepared to take. All seven senior executives had come from manufacturing (for over 40 years the company had been the lowest-cost producer in the industry). Moreover, the salesmen had only learned how to sell what manufacturing said could be delivered. In short, the players weren't ready.
So the company wisely decided to slow down and, more important, to build from its strengths. It changed its short-term strategy to one of expanding into a related line where its low-cost tradition would pay off. At the same time, it began to prepare for a different future through selective outside hiring (without attendant firing) and development of up-and-down-the-line training. Four of the seven top team members, including the CEO, went off to marketing courses lasting a month or more at leading business schools; the senior vice president for sales took a year off for a degree program in business. In their environment, these were radical, untraditional moves.
At times, cultural constraints can be so binding that only radical surgery—a change of CEOs and a massive dose of new blood—will suffice. In most such cases, however, there is a time, before the calcification of the culture has gone too far, when less drastic action can save the day.
Monsanto "reorganizes" like clockwork each year. It's part of the new CEO's plan to keep things moving and to kill the fear of change.
At IBM, partial reorganizations regularly shift attention temporarily to one new thing or another.
GM, some say, looks almost like a functional organization again. Marketing and purchasing, for instance, have been substantially centralized.
Koppers Corporation just reorganized for the purpose, the CEO states, of providing opportunities for the "young Turks" in their forties. The number of SBUs was increased sixfold, not because of market pressure but in order to raise the level of excitement again for another five years.
"The most successful companies," notes Economist editor Norman McRae, "have been those restless enough to be unsure what their management styles should be. Successful big US corporations today will often centralize their policy making, and get a significant initial gain in effectiveness; but then, as time passes, will find that this does not work because the central planners do not know what is really going on out in the field. So these corporations will then decentralize, and get a significant initial gain in effectiveness. This constant reorganization is in fact very sensible, and is a main reason why I judge that big American corporations are still the most efficient day-to-day business operators in the world."7 7.Norman McRae, "The coming entrepreneurial revolution: A survey," the Economist, December 25, 1976, p. 43.
The Hawthorne experiments of 40 years ago demonstrated that, no matter what management did—factory lights up, factory lights down—productivity improved. That was the consequence of focusing management attention on a previously undernourished group and providing regular doses of change. Any successful program—strategic planning, manufacturing productivity—has a "cycle of productive excitement" which can vary from three or four years to as much as a decade, depending on the scale of the enterprise, the pace of change in the environment, and the like. When the excitement begins to fade, it's time for a fresh thrust.
In a business context, there is always tension between the task of managing my plant and that of being a good corporate team player. Division presidents will always protect their direct reports from central-staff pressures. Central staffs will always seek to grow and assert control over a division. The newly-appointed line-of-business boss will try to run rough-shod over the regional man. The regional man will try to torpedo him. And so on.
This inherent tension, at or below the surface, cannot be "settled" by a structural solution. The focus can be shifted; the stage set can be arranged. But the same drama will continue to be played out. At bottom, Koestler and McRae are talking about the same phenomenon, and it was Sloan's preoccupation as well, though he never articulated it in terms like theirs.
Structure is crucial, but unchanging structure is a snare and a delusion.
The way to use structure successfully is to achieve temporary, dynamic imbalance. No structural solutions—least of all overdetermined structures like matrix—can ever resolve the healthy, coherent tension between centralization and decentralization. That resolution must be actively managed over time.
Structure is only one of several levers available to the senior executive who seeks to rechannel (and thereby enhance) the energies of a ponderous organization. Others are detailed persistent intervention in the daily routine, and the calculated use of signals that will be credible in the light of the organization's history and culture.
It would be wrong to read the message of our study, with its emphasis on inherent, purposeful instability, as an endorsement of haphazard change for change's sake. An organization can certainly overdo the rate of even partial reorganizations. This, in fact, is one weakness of the matrix structure: since everything is tightly wired up, all issues on the agenda are in a sense perpetually "up for grabs." The key to success in the purposeful management of change is probably timing. Effecting temporary (three- to ten-year) cycles of attention shift (from slight to substantial) in order to build even a single new capability into a company's repertoire requires high expenditures of energy, emotion, and detailed day-to-day involvement by senior management.
What is called for is, in fact, the antithesis of undirected restlessness. It is the painstaking infusion of tension to bring about the kind of dynamic imbalance that has always been the hallmark of the successful, growing organization.
Tom Peters was a principal in McKinsey's San Francisco office, who served at the firm from 1974 to 1981. He is the author of numerous books on business management, including his seminal work, coauthored with Robert H. Waterman Jr., In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies (Harper & Row, 1982).


The Temple of Zeus at Olympia was an ancient Greek temple in Olympia, Greece, dedicated to the god Zeus. The temple, built between 472 and 456 BCE, was the very model of the fully developed classical Greek temple of the Doric order.
The temple was probably established towards the end of the Mycenaean period. The Altis, the enclosure with its sacred grove, open-air altars and the tumulus of Pelops, was first formed during the tenth and ninth centuries BCE Greece's "Dark Age", when the followers of Zeus had joined with the followers of Hera.
The temple housed the renowned statue of Zeus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue was approximately 13 m (43 ft) high, and was made by the sculptor Phidias in his workshop on the site at Olympia. The statue's completion took around 12 years. On the head was a sculpted wreath of olive sprays. In the right hand, Zeus held a figure of Nike (the goddess of victory), also made from ivory and gold - and held in the left hand a scepter made with many kinds of metal, with an eagle perched on the top. Zeus' robe and sandals were made of gold. His garments were carved with animals and with lilies. The throne was decorated with gold, precious stones, ebony, and ivory. The statue was Greece's most revered artistic work.
The temple was constructed by the architect Libon, with carved metopes and triglyph friezes, topped by pediments filled with sculptures in the Severe Style, now attributed to the "Olympia Master" and his studio.
The Roman general Mummius dedicated twenty-one gilded shields after he sacked Corinth in 146 BCE; they were fixed at the metopes of the eastern front side and the eastern half of the south side. In 426 CE, Theodosius II ordered the destruction of the sanctuary, and earthquakes in 522 and 551 devastated the ruins and left the Temple of Zeus partially buried.
The 1997 Disney animated film Hercules depicts the Temple of Zeus as the only communication Hercules has with his father while he is a mortal. Zeus communicates by possessing the statue within the temple. In an episode of the animated series, Zeus further uses this ability to address an issue on Earth by using the statue to visit other cities near Athens.
This page was last modified on 12 November 2015, at 05:22.


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G. G. Moe Prize in Agronomy
It is awarded to the fourth year student in Plant Science or Soil Science with special interests in the field of Agronomy with the highest aggregate standing in the subjects of the third and fourth years, including graduating thesis.
BCIT Pulp and Paper Entrance Awards
For applicants entering the Chemical Sciences program who will enroll in the second year Pulp and Paper option.Selection is based on academic standing in...
Malaspina University-College Entrance Award for Students with Disabilities
1 award, $500; for academic achievement, available to first year students with a disability, enrolled in a full-time course load. Financial need will also be considered. Apply...
M.C. Sutherland Memorial Award
1 award, $100; for students who have completed two years in the Recreation diploma or Tourism & Recreation Management degree program and who are continuing in an accredited...
William Stewart Rugh Scholarships
A research and teaching postgraduate award of $6,000 or three undergraduate awards of $3,000 each in the Department of Mining, Metals and Materials Engineering. Endowed by the...
John and Nancy Woodworth Entrance Award
John and Nancy Woodworth have established two annual awards of $1,000 each for students entering the first year of full-time study in a university transfer or degree program at...
ASE Integrated Program Award
A $100 award for a graduating ASE student who plans to enter an integrated program at Northwest Community College. The recipient will be selected by the ASE faculty and staff on...
Dr. Earl B. Gillanders Memorial Scholarship
The award is made to a student entering the final year in Geology, and planning to go into the mining industry upon graduation or alternatively, to continue post-graduate...
Hon. Thomas A. Dohm, Q.C., Bursary in Medicine
Bursaries totalling $3,300 have been endowed by Hon. Thomas Dohm and the University of British Columbia for students in the M.D. program.
Joseph David Stringer Memorial Scholarship
A scholarship of $200 is awarded to a student in the Faculty of Medicine. The scholarship is awarded to a student who has a good academic record and shows ability and promise...
David Thom Scholarship
From the funds of the David Thom estate, scholarships of $450 each are available as follows: (a) for the student who has passed Grade 12 with the highest standing and who is...
H. R. MacMillan Prize in Forestry
A $550 prize has been endowed for the student standing at the head of the graduating class in the Faculty of Forestry. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty.
Janie and Hector Wright Memorial Scholarship
The award is offered to an undergraduate student in Human Kinetics and is made on the recommendation of the School.
GLS-6 Chemical and Biological Engineering Prize
A $300 prize has been endowed by GLS-6 (The Sixth International Conference on Gas-Liquid and Gas-Liquid-Solid Reactor Engineering) for the graduate student who makes the most...
St. Leonard's Youth and Family Services Scholarship
The award is offered to an undergraduate student entering the final year of study in Social Work. The award is made on the recommendation of the School of Social Work and Family...
Meg Hickling Prize in Sexual Health Education and Development
The prize is offered to a student completing the fourth year of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing who has achieved high standing in at least three courses in community health and...
Hyacinth Taylor Owen Entrance Bursary
Eligibility: -Faculty of Arts applicants from secondary schools in the Jane-Finch corridor -Canadian citizen/permanent resident/protected person and Ontario resident...
Armoyan Family Bursary
This annual bursary of $2,000 has been established to assist a student in his/her first year of Upper Division of Engineering. The recipient will have demonstrated financial...
Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. Pharmacy Bursary
This bursary of $500 is awarded to a pharmacy student entering third- or fourth- year classes who demonstrates financial need. Apply to the College of Pharmacy.
BASF Refinisher
Criteria: -Second semester marks -High achievement in overall theory and shop
Scholarship Application: G. G. Moe Prize in Agronomy - Scholarships


This AIPMM certification exam preparation course provides participants the opportunity to pursue continuing education, increase industry involvement and industry-wide recognition. It provides a thorough review of key concepts and terminology to help participants prepare to take the exam to earn the Association of International Product Marketing & Management (AIPMM) prestigious Certified Product Manager (CPMM®) credential. It covers the strategy for answering the exam questions and a Q&A for anything else participants want to review. It fully prepares participants to take the Certified Product Marketing Manager (CPMM®) certification exam.


Write what you know. My professors tried to drill that dictum into my head, and while I haven't always abided by it, here at Bible Design Blog I try. Ordinarily I don't write about editions I haven't seen for myself. I've learned from hard experience not to hype things before they're printed, because they don't always measure up. And I've learned not to praise an edition based on the photos alone. If I can't get a review copy and I'm not willing to spring for it myself, I try to keep my mouth shut.
More or less. There are exceptions to every rule, and I'm about to make one. I recently enrolled in a class on letterpress printing, and in honor of that anachronistic fact, let's talk about what has to be one of the most magnificently quixotic Bibles in existence, the Arion Press Lectern Folio Bible.
As the self-described "King James man" in the video says, this will probably be the last Bible ever printed from lead type, a book-end at one end of a period in history that began with Gutenburg in the fifteenth century. For those of you who dislike the tiny font in most Bibles, this one is set in 16 pt. Romulus type. (Even the notes are large print by Bible standards at 11 pt.) Worried about ghosting? Don't be. This book is printed on "Somerset, a mouldmade paper of 100% cotton fiber."
Letterpress is to today's digital printing what vinyl is to digital music. Some people will never notice the difference, and for them the laborious process of creation and the resulting expense make no sense at all. But if you can see the difference, it's hard not to be in awe of what Arion Press has done. This is printing as art -- an "exacting and repetitious" art. The remarkable thing is to realize that until quite recently, this is how books were made.
"The slow business of building up words and lines and pages can become tiresome but on the other hand the very fact of knowing exactly where you are going and that the going is steady and long-lasting may very well appeal. Here is something absorbing, creative, perhaps soothing, that will occupy hand and mind for a long time. Growth of the work will be slow but the finished product, provided that a text worthy of the labour has been chosen, may well be rewarding."
Only 400 copies of the Lectern Folio Bible have been printed, and after ten years there are still some available. Depending on the options you choose, the price runs anywhere from $7,000-$11,000. I've always wanted a proper lectern Bible for my office (and a lectern to put it on), but if I were to splash out for one of this quality, the odds of my living to enjoy it would be slim. Even so, the thought that there are people who would undertake such a task and that there are others who will enjoy it makes me very happy indeed. If any of you have seen one of these in person, I would love to hear about it.


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KATHLEEN WINSOR FOREVER AMBER PDF
Kathleen Winsor's Forever Amber, the naughtiest novel of , has just been reprinted. Lock up your servants. Forever Amber (Rediscovered Classics) [Kathleen Winsor, Barbara Taylor Bradford] on *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Abandoned. Editorial Reviews. Review. "A lusty historical novel." — Seattle Post-Intelligencer " A prototype for Forever Amber (Rediscovered Classics) – Kindle edition by Kathleen Winsor, Barbara Taylor Bradford. Download it once and read it on your .
Author: Gajora Kagak
Genre: Literature
Uploader: Meztishura
View all 19 comments. She meets a band of Royalists passing through town who inform her that Charles II of England is returning.
I was awed by Amber's courage, daring and strength. This book was written for entertainment not to be taken so seriously by some of you. I think the people who don't like to read this book see too much of themselves in Amber or they're too akthleen on the sexuality of the book and can't delve deeper into why she took such actions in the first place.
It caused a stir for all the sex which is not graphic at all and for the sexual manoeuvring of the main character, Amber St. It's positively G rated by today's standards!
Zmber pregnant and penniless on the teeming streets of London, year-old Amber St. The initial reviewer sounds to me like a puritanical religious fanatic Frequently compared to Gone with the Wind, Forever Amber is the other great abmer romance, outselling every other American novel of the s—despite being banned in Boston for its sheer sexiness.
He requires her cash; she requires the word 'countess' in front of her name. Not to mention that the ending was very unexpected- a rarity in these type of novels. In America they were not. Then, her son having been farmed out to a countrywoman, she escapes his clutches by becoming an actress the beauty of this career move is torever she cannot be arrested for the robberies she and Black Jack have committed – actors are the king's servants and, as such, above the law.
GRANICA ZOFIA NAKOWSKA PDF
Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. Claire, a seemingly yeoman farmer's daughter happens across cavaliers one day and begs to be taken away from the country and travel with them into London.
It is the very opposite of dusty or coy. See and discover other items: It is a long read, but it has a fast pace and Amber holds your interest navigating between her husbands and her lover.
Winsor had used Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year as a major source, and made the centrepiece of her book Amber's graphic and metaphoric encounter with the epidemic. I thought I'd never finish this book. I regret doing so now, but I need to explain something. For five years while he was serving in the army she read books on the period and wrote numerous drafts of what would become Forever Amber.
Vintage Novels: Bad Novels: Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor
Adds a sneaky touch of incestuous necrophilia. It is the end of Juneand the largest and last epidemic of the plague has hit London. This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. I was reminded of some other novels that I enjoyed in the past, namely the Angelique series by Anne Golon under the pseudonym Sergeanne Golon in the s.
I think people are being way too harsh on Amber though. Angry and bored, she begins an affair with her step-son.
I saw your photo and the other pages and am not impressed. I found this book somewhere in the early s while in my 20s and fell in love with it!
KNOTENKUNDE SEEFAHRT PDF
Unless Winsor's ability to create rounded characters had improved, I have a feeling that "Amber In America" would have been a second verse, same as the first. Carlton is an adventurer, disguised as a privateer for the Crown, Bruce refuses to crawl on his belly in Court to regain what was once his or clamor and scheme for power. It was difficult to find an affinity with many kxthleen the characters. Jun 07, Chrissie rated it did not like kayhleen Shelves: Without giving away too much, I will say that this book is exciting with nonstop drama and action, from beginning to end!
She's demoniacally deceptive, lying to everyone about everything. However, I preferred the Charles-centric chapters best. Sex is fade to black by the way. View all 8 comments. The random nature of plague would ring true for those who had lived with the constant fear of buzzbombs and V2 rockets. I should have known. Her mother dies in birth, and I suppose the father never heard of her or claimed her so she's brought up by her mother's midwife. Despite its banning, Forever Amber was the best-selling US novel of the s.
Amber is pretty, wilful, and totally uninhibited, so she begs Carlton to take her with him to London. Organisations such as the British Housewives' League suggested a new militancy about the housewife's role, and Forever Amber offered an alternative to Mrs Miniver, dressed in a tight bodice and a lacy shift.
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Penn Championship Extra-Duty, Yellow Tennis Balls. 24 cans to the case. 72 tennis balls.
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The brief was to ensure that the existing branding for Where2|Travel and Where2|Cruise were dominant in the space, and that the overall feel was inviting for customers. Playing on the 'Where To' concept, the notion of an arrow indicating direction was developed as a strong theme throughout the design. Custom workstations reflect the symbol above and below, delineating each client's experience with their agent. The wooden slats on the facade playfully follow tact, too. Use of warm timber and soft carpet create an alluring destination for customers and a focus on details, right down to the custom world map entry door handles, ensure the journey is an enjoyable one from the moment they enter the space!


text:
Read Next:	Major Expansion Planned at Belfast Harbour Studios, Home of 'Krypton' (EXCLUSIVE)
January 18, 2018 7:48AM PT
EuropaCorp Being Circled by Potential Buyers, Investors (EXCLUSIVE)
By Elsa Keslassy
Elsa Keslassy
International Correspondent @elsakeslassy	FOLLOW
Elsa's Most Recent Stories
Netflix Boards BBC's 'The Serpent,' Starring Tahar Rahim as Serial Killer (EXCLUSIVE)
Luc Besson's EuropaCorp to Be Taken Over by Vine Alternative Investments
France's National Film Board Faces Presidency Crisis
CREDIT: Courtesy of STX Entertainment
Luc Besson's EuropaCorp is being circled by potential buyers and investors as it struggles to climb out from under a mountain of debt. Among the suitors, sources say, is business tycoon Tarak Ben Ammar, a shareholder in The Weinstein Co. and a board member of Vivendi.
Hit by the disappointing performance of last year's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets," EuropaCorp has directed its primary lender, JP Morgan, to find someone who can inject equity capital into the company as well as restructure and pay a portion of its debt. Several well-informed sources tell Variety that the company urgently needs to find a solid partner by March 30, which marks the end of its financial year. The company's market capitalization fell to €57.4 million ($70.2 million) as of Thursday, while losses reached €119.9 million ($146.8 million) and its net debt skyrocketed to €230 million ($281.6 million) as of September.
JP Morgan currently holds EuropaCorp's assets, including its valuable library, in escrow, meaning the assets are frozen until a deal is made, said a French financier close to EuropaCorp. The company has already sold off its French TV production unit for €11 million. In a cost-cutting move announced earlier this week, EuropaCorp signaled its intention to lay off 22 employees.
The Paris-based outfit will host a management presentation next week to outline the company's strategy and discuss its assets with prospective buyers, a source close to the situation said. Those assets are considerable, including a library worth about €150 million ($184 million), strong franchises like "Taken" and "Transporter," and Besson himself, who remains a popular and well-connected filmmaker.
Among the potential buyers and investors is Ben Ammar, according to three independent sources. Ben Ammar already owns a 25% stake in Besson's Cite du Cinema, a mega-studio located on the outskirts of Paris, through his company Quinta Communication. Ben Ammar is interested in acquiring a significant stake in EuropaCorp, though not necessarily a majority share, via his banner Eagle Pictures, Italy's largest independent distributor, according to a source close to the businessman.
Also said to be interested in buying up or into EuropaCorp is Lionsgate, which is currently working with Besson as a co-producer and distributor for his upcoming thriller "Anna," starring Helen Mirren. Lionsgate has not responded to requests from Variety for comment.
Meanwhile, France's TF1 is possibly eyeing some of EuropaCorp's catalog, according to two French industry sources.
EuropaCorp would prefer to find a shareholder who could plow in at least €100 million, rather than have its assets sold off piecemeal, sources say. Currently, the company's two biggest shareholders are Besson, with a 31.6% stake, followed by China's Fundamental Films, which took a 27.9% stake in the company in September 2016 after investing €60 million.
One potential stumbling block for buyers is the small portion of EuropaCorp's debt held by Vine Alternative Investments at a high interest rate in the range of 15%.
In light of its financial difficulties, EuropaCorp has taken steps to scale back its ambitions and slash its overhead. The banner has vowed to reduce its slate to two to three English-language films and about two French movies a year following the underwhelming performance of "Valerian" and such English-language films as "Shut In," "The Circle," and "Miss Sloane," which failed at the U.S. box office.
The layoff plan announced earlier this week would eliminate 22 of the company's 79 jobs in France. Former CEO Marc Shmuger exited the company in December, three months after deputy CEO Edouard de Vesinne was ousted. Besson is officially serving as CEO of the company.
Tarak Ben Ammar


Damon, nope the SF isn't for everyone, it aint supposed to be. But for those of us who love the ocean experience and a diversion from YB and the airlines, it shines as the best functional thrillride in the islands. Cheap and roomy!
Topped off with mil spec engineering, it's a wonderful asset for our tourist trade and residents alike. I suspect there had been warnings of a potential rough ride, and if not there should be. I think the pax should be allowed to vote for a cancellation if possible, Put the pukers out on the stern!


Developed at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in the incredibly desirable and convenient Enclave at Riverview on 2.08 lush and private tree framed, level acres, the magic of 3584 Reflecting Drive begins. The home and grounds admired from its origins of thoughtful planning to its architectural draw through its construction by master craftsman and custom home builder, William Baker. With a keen focus marked only by his passion as one of Atlanta's master craftsman of the high end custom market, every detail is sheer perfection, both inside and out. As beautiful as it is warm with heart of pine floors throughout, the artistically designed floating curved staircase welcomes guests from the foyer with the defining casual elegance of a grand comfort of home. Flanked by the gentlemen's study private flawlessly tucked away in the master wing with stone wood burning full masonry fireplace with gas logs - one of three, this inviting room becomes the perfect home office or individual get away. The greeting hall off entry foyer is filled with natural light from floor to ceiling windows where coat closets and the powder room are so strategically placed with genius consideration for their location when entertaining. The formal dining room is most approachable welcoming friends and family for casual meals as well as formal dining while opening to the morning room room overlooking its spectacular grounds of expansive flagstone patios, pool and outdoor living cabana and kitchen. Backing to over 160 green acres of some of Chattanooga's richest riverfront property of Carter Farms, your escape becomes your daily state of mind when home. Flagstone patios, covered and uncovered surround the gunite, pebble tech salt water pool with spa in a resort quality privately encircled by its natural environment of its backyard. Morning room with washed knotty pine ship lap ceiling reflecting an abundance of light from its full wall of windows and doors to the kitchen and family room. Oversized space designed and decorated with the feel of a very cozy, intimate space surrounded by windows overlooking a sea of green privacy provided by its grounds. Stone fireplace warms the spacious family room that will easily accommodate all of the extended family members and more while crowned by its two story ceiling wrapped in washed knotty pine ship lap detail. The kitchen offers the best in dinner prep and cooking with Viking and SubZero and custom, funiture quality Woodmode cabinets that can also be found throughout all baths and the Butler's pantry. Master retreat is in a world of its own located on opposite wing of the main living area with entry hall opening to extraordinary outdoor living areas for rest, and recreation. All guest bedrooms are full suites with private baths and walk-in closets surrounding the second level sitting/game area. Offering media area filled with built-ins that easily doubles as the library with window seating for total relaxation of entertainment with a half bath. Third level was designed for complete play as the bonus area with window seats flanked by walk-in storage on each end. Fully encapsulated walk-in crawlspace is accessible from interior providing the perfect storm shelter, wine cellar or storage. The garage is every car lover's dream with three oversized individual bays. Full walk-up, unfinished room with windows over garage is perfect for expansion of an apartment or for everyday storage. Dreams do come true when your path leads you to 3584 Reflecting Drive.


text:
Q: Why does time.sleep not complain when passed True? So I just tracked down a strange bug in my Python program which was caused by that fact that I mixed up arguments to a function and mistakenly passed True to time.sleep().  Python seems to silently convert True to 1
The docs say:

Suspend execution for the given number of seconds. The argument may be
  a floating point number ...

In general, Python is happy to throw exceptions when input does not match the expected type or range.  Why does sleep  silently convert True to a number?

A: In python, Bool is a subclass of int
>>> issubclass(bool, int)
True

Here's the source from svn: http://svn.python.org/projects/python/trunk/Modules/timemodule.c
PyArg_ParseTuple converts the arg to a float with the d: specifier
static PyObject *
time_sleep(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
{
    double secs;
    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "d:sleep", &secs))
        return NULL;
    if (floatsleep(secs) != 0)
        return NULL;
    Py_INCREF(Py_None);
    return Py_None;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation
MPEG doc#: N8083
The last decade has brought an enormous growth of digital multimedia content. This has also led to a vast diversity of media formats but also came with an increased richness of audiovisual content and services that now include carefully composed sets of scene representation, audio and speech, video and graphics data.
At the same time, the multitude of devices for accessing and interacting with multimedia content has grown significantly. The spectrum ranges from Personal Computers (PCs) and Set-Top Boxes (STBs) to portable devices like Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones. Each device may be constrained in a different way, such as in terms of display size, color capabilities, input options, processing power, memory resources and power supply.
Finally, a wide spectrum of networks for the transmission of multimedia content has emerged. In particular, wireless networks and broadband access technologies have proliferated in recent years, enabling users to access the Web and multimedia content from different locations, in different contexts, and with varying connectivity characteristics.
These continuing trends as well as additional factors, like specific preferences or impairments of the users, represent major barriers towards the successful deployment of compelling multimedia services, such as:
the content and service providers are burdened with high costs for creating, managing and offering a multitude of versions of the same content in order to match the most relevant usage conditions
the network providers are burdened with high costs for transcoders and transraters in their gateways
the users will not experience the best possible service since an optimum match to the usage condition will not be achieved
MPEG-21 DIA (Digital Item Adaptation) provides the tools to enable optimum quality multimedia services at minimum cost.
2 DIA overview
In emerging multimedia services, content is more and more exchanged bundled with associated metadata, such as Digital Rights Management related information. To cope with this new type of content, the MPEG-21 framework introduces the concept of Digital Item, which encompasses the multimedia resource and associated metadata. MPEG-21 DIA was designed as part of the overall MPEG-21 framework, by providing tools that interface consistently with this MPEG-21's Digital Item concept. Furthermore, MPEG-21 DIA was built in a modular way such that its various tools may be used independently from each other and for usage scenarios beyond MPEG-21.
MPEG-21 DIA specifies a comprehensive set of description tools that can be exchanged and used for enabling the optimized adaptation of multimedia content. DIA descriptions are specified in the widely used XML language facilitating the development of applications creating, aggregating, exchanging and consuming the descriptions. Whenever bandwidth is constrained, an efficient XML encoding technique is provided by the MPEG-B standard [5].
Describing the usage context is required for determining what version of the content optimally fits this context. For this purpose, DIA provides a set of metadata describing the context in terms of networks and devices characteristics, user preferences as well as natural environment characteristics. These metadata are gathered under the term Usage Environment Descriptions.
Additionally, DIA specifies content centric metadata facilitating the content adaptation process itself. Firstly, DIA provides a way to express the correspondence between usage context and content characteristics, resulting in possible adaptation operations required for obtaining the optimized version. Secondly, it provides the means to perform content adaptation in an efficient and coding format independent way. In particular, MPEG-21 DIA leverages the use of scalable content such as MPEG-4 Scalable Video Coding (SVC) REF _Ref128471928 \r \h [6] by specifying a generic tool for describing the high level bitstream syntax and using this description in order to obtain a new adapted version.
3 Benefits of Digital Item Adaptation
Service and Content Providers, Network Operators, Device Manufacturers and End Users benefit from MPEG-21 DIA. This standard has been designed in a protocol and application independent way, and therefore can be used in any application domain.
In particular, Service and Content Providers are facing the question: how can the same content be brought to the largest possible audience? By allowing the content to be adapted to the diverse usage environments, MPEG-21 DIA tools allow Content Providers to avoid creating, re-encoding and managing multiple versions of the same content, and hence to reduce their content management cost. For Service Providers, MPEG-21 DIA lowers the entrance barriers for new delivery channels, enabling more ways to reach consumers.
In particular, MPEG-21 DIA leverages the use of emerging scalable multimedia formats, such as MPEG-4 SVC and save the cost of transcoding the content. Additionally, being media format independent, it is a future-proof solution.
Network Operators can for themselves significantly reduce their equipment and operation costs of content adaptation by using the generic approach of MPEG-21. For example, a single MPEG-21 codec-agnostic adaptation engine needs to be deployed once and can be used for multiple existing and future coding formats.
For Device Manufacturers, MPEG-21 DIA provides a rich and extensible vocabulary for describing the capabilities of their devices enabling interoperability with Network Operators, Service and Content Providers.
Lastly, Consumers using MPEG-21 DIA-enabled devices and services will enjoy an improved experience anywhere, anytime, and with any device.
The MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation standard (ISO/IEC 21000-7 [1]) has been finalized in 2003 and can be obtained from the International Standardization Organization (ISO). A first amendment called Conversions and Permissions [2] has been finalized in 2005. It provides new tools declaring adaptation operations such as summarizing a video into a sequence of images. A second amendment [3] is in progress to extend the DIA tools for Dynamic and Distributed Adaptation.
A Java reference software described in ISO/IEC 21000-8 [4] and demonstrating the creation and use of DIA descriptions is also available from ISO.
Lastly, a number of scientific publications provide more detailed insight on MPEG-21 DIA. In particular, the MPEG-21 Book [7] covers the different parts of the MPEG-21 framework, including DIA. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia has published a special issue on MPEG-21 (see [8] for an overview of DIA). Additional resources may be found on the following web sites [9] and [10].
[1] ISO/IEC 21000-7:2004 - Part 7: Digital Item Adaptation
[2] ISO/IEC 21000-7:2004/Amd.1: DIA Conversions and Permissions
[3] ISO/IEC 21000-7:2004/Amd.2 (work in progress): Dynamic and Distributed Adaptation
[4] ISO/IEC 21000-8:2004 - Part 8: Reference Software
[5] ISO/IEC 23001-1 Part 1: Binary MPEG format for XML
[6] ISO/IEC 14496-10:200X/Amd.3 Part 10: Advanced Video Coding - AMENDMENT 3: Scalable Video Coding
[7] The MPEG-21 Book, Ian S. Burnett, Fernando Pereira, Rik Van de Walle, Rob Koenen (Editors), Wiley and sons
[8] Digital item adaptation: overview of standardization and research activities, A. Vetro, C. Timmerer, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, special issue on MPEG-21, Volume 7, Issue 3, June 2005 Page(s):418 - 426.
[9] DANAE project web page: http://danae.rd.francetelecom.com/
[10] Klagenfurt University MPEG-21 page: http://mpeg-21.itec.uni-klu.ac.at/cocoon/mpeg21/