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Pan•American :: Catching Up With Mark Nelson
Mark Nelson has been spinning out the subtlest webs of drone and atmosphere since the late 1990s first with the ground-breaking LaBradford (with Robert Donne and Carter Brown), whose slow moving ambient soundscapes influenced a generation of slo-core, post-rock and electro-acoustic experimenters. LaBradford's debut was the inaugural release for Kranky, which has since grown to define a cerebral sort of electronically enhanced drone music very much in line with the LaBradford aesthetic.
Nelson launched his solo Pan•American project in 1998, as a way to explore a life-long fascination with dub. His early albums plumbed the deep resonances of dub, while also playing with glitchy electronic sounds of house and techno. His music is minimalist but complex, quiet but engrossing, and it has evolved over the years to fit his interests.
Nelson's latest album as Pan•American, A Son, dives more directly into traditional melody and structure than any of his previous work, using guitar, hammered dulcimer and lap steel to distill sustained tones into liquid clarity. Though largely instrumental (two songs have vocals), the album wrestles with the concept of home, the influence of the past and the frightening shifts in American culture and discourse. Nelson spoke to Aquarium Drunkard about his new album, the music and events that shaped it and the challenges of removing clutter from already serene and uncrowded sounds. words / j kelly
A Son by Pan•American
Aquarium Drunkard: This album is called A Son, and it taps into traditional folk and blues more directly than you usually do. Were you looking towards older music traditions in this album?
Mark Nelson: Yes. I definitely was. I found myself listening to more of that type of thing and less concerned with keeping up with contemporary music. That's always been a thread. I started with older early rock and roll and country. It was the first stuff that really appealed to me.
AD: Starting with LaBradford, your work has really been focused on drone and atmosphere, and you can certainly hear that in this album, but there's also quite a bit of melody and structure to it. Can you talk a little bit about how this album is different from what you were doing before and also how it connects?
Mark Nelson: Yeah. I think both elements have been present throughout. I think in the past I was more willing and maybe more curious about obscuring melody and obscuring vocals and not necessarily hiding them but not foregrounding them. I liked the atmosphere that surrounds melody. Like when a song is ending or when it's beginning. If just that part could continue. And then it's sort of like the moment happens, the drums come in, the singer's there, and to some degree the spell can be broken.
In this case, for this record, though, I was thinking of clarity and how to remove clutter. Remove things that didn't feel necessary and to kind of revisit what I'm trying to do.
AD: What is clutter in music?
Mark Nelson: Clutter could be anything that isn't necessary to the emotion of the song. I think I've always been aspirational in what I was trying to do. I wanted to be reaching for something. I think maybe that sounds like I was always reaching beyond what I really was. Which is a good thing to do. But I think in this case, I was just trying to be more centered and these are the things that I can do, that I'm comfortable with and that I think I do well. Not trying to push into things. Not asking questions like, what if it's a nine minute song instead of the essence?
AD: Interesting. I saw your show in Chicago about a month ago, and it was great. It was really beautiful.
Mark Nelson: Oh, thank you. The one at Constellation? Thank you. Thanks so much for coming.
AD: But what I was going to say was that you were switching pretty seamlessly between electric guitar and hammered dulcimer and pedal steel, I think?
Mark Nelson: Lap steel.
AD: Lap steel. I was wondering if you could tell me about how you see and how you use each of those instruments, their different personalities, so to speak, and how that shapes the music that you make?
Mark Nelson: That show was trying some new things. I haven't played a lot in Chicago or really anywhere in the last years, so not doing that as a Pan•American show allowed me to just play around with some things that I've been doing more recently.
To answer your question, when I'm standing up with the guitar, that's kind of the most centered, stable part of what I do. Or like what I think of in terms of music. That's my most natural state, if you will.
The dulcimer, I got interested in a couple of years ago. Even going back to LaBradford, we had a friend in Richmond who played the hammered dulcimer on one of our records. It's an instrument that's always kind of intrigued me. It seems underrepresented in any tradition other than very folk. It's really the only place you see it. But it works for me, because it has a natural acoustic resonance and properties that are very similar to the way my electric guitar sounds. It has so much sustain. All those resonating strings create this atmosphere even just playing a very simple pattern of notes. In its own way, it's a very naked kind of thing. It's just the string that you hit. There are no pedals and no mystery to what's happening, and that appeals to me as well.
The steel guitar is something I've always loved and been drawn towards. It's relatively new to me to be trying to play more seriously.
AD: It's hard to play, isn't it?
Mark Nelson: It's hard to play with a band. I have some advantages, because I'm not playing with a band. It's hard to play it in tune. It's hard to get it intonated properly.
AD: Because there are no frets?
Mark Nelson: Exactly, you just have to feel it and hear it. So, if you're playing with a bass or another melodic instrument, you have to be in tune.
AD: But there's a really ghostly vibe to the sound.
Mark Nelson: Yeah, and I try to avoid too much sweeping around on it. The long slides. It has a really nice open sound when you kind of leave it alone. There's a temptation to go overboard with it. Because that's the effect.
AD: Can you tell me a little bit about how you recorded this? Am I right that it's all you?
Mark Nelson: Yeah, and I did it all here. I did one day with a friend of mine, Greg Norman who is an engineer in Chicago. We did some guitar stuff at his house. But it was all done kind of piece by piece here. Just on a laptop and a couple of microphones. It's the first time I've done it that way. And ultimately it did get done in a relatively concise period of time, maybe like six weeks. Although the songs had been developing longer than that. When I actually started focusing on it, it went pretty quickly.
AD: It seems very ruminative to me.
Mark Nelson: Oh, well, thank you. That sounds good.
AD: The first track is named after two mid-century blues musicians, Ivory Joe Hunter and Little Walter. What do they mean to you?
Mark Nelson: Yeah. Well, I'll tell you where that title comes from and it will ruin the mystique a little bit. I'm asking myself, should I tell her the real story? I have a weakness for that show, The Rockford Files. Do you know Jim Rockford's con man buddy Angel, do you know him?
AD: It's been a long time since I've seen that show.
Mark Nelson: Stuart Margolin. Well there's one episode where he was talking about getting his records stolen, and he's trying to tell Jim how bad his problems are, and he says, "Yeah, they took my records, Little Walter, Ivory Joe Hunter, I've got to get them back." That caught my ear.
AD: But you are into that kind of music, aren't you?
Mark Nelson: Oh definitely. When I was in Northern Virginia in high school, there was a DJ who would play blues on Saturday and Sunday morning out of Howard University. They had a public radio station. This guy sounded older, probably in his 60s in the late 1980s. He was playing his own records. And he would tell these stories about his neighborhood and the community stuff and his own life and talk to his friends and then play this ancient music that was obviously such a huge part of his life. I made tapes of those shows. And I carried them around for years and then eventually they just sort of disappeared.
I've tried to do some research to find out more about him. I would think that people in DC would know him. He must have been like a legend. The way he presented the music was so intimate, yet he had so much authority.
He did really weird things with the programming, too. He did one show where he played Jimmy Reed and Jimmy Witherspoon, back to back, one then the other, one then the other. And they were very different. They don't go together in some ways. Jimmy Witherspoon is a big band, big city blues shouter and Jimmy Reed is like a very low key, more of a John Lee Hooker, spooky singer.
AD: Did he explain why he was pairing them?
Mark Nelson: No, he never really talked about the music that much. He'd say who it was and maybe talk about an experience he had seeing something, but then he'd be talking to Fred the mailman, and we were wandering about, this and that. It was a very abstract way of presenting it, I guess. But it lent this atmosphere to his show that was really so special. And it was slow. He just took his time with everything. The music just kind of unfolded. I could be misremembering a lot of this. But it seemed like it was three or four hours on Saturday and Sunday. It was like a college radio station. There were no commercial breaks.
AD: Taping things off the radio is a lost art.
Mark Nelson: I know. I did a couple of those, like waiting up to midnight and they would play, maybe when The River, the Bruce Springsteen album came out, they were going to play the first song at midnight, and I stayed up to tape that.
AD: I remember staying up late to tape the King Biscuit Flower Hour.
So "Memphis Helena" is one of the songs where you sing. The lyric "I'm away from home," is about as bluesy as it can get, but you don't sing it in a blues style. Is this an homage to the blues?
Mark Nelson: That's a combination of two things. That title came from Nick Tosches' biography of Jerry Lee Lewis. Memphis Helena was the train line that went by this tiny little town, not even a town, but this shack where Jerry Lee Lewis grew up between Memphis and Helena, Arkansas. I was thinking about what how rural America used to be. Where people were living off the land. Hunting and chopping down trees and hoping to get through the winter having enough food. There'd be these revival meetings, and that was where he heard music for the first time. These crazy preachers would come and bring a weird combination of religious fervor and abandon.
The whole album is rooted in ideas about home. As for the lyrics themselves, I was thinking about the migrant caravans. It was one of those crazy fear tactics that get thrown up for five minutes and then they're gone. There were these bands of migrants that were coming to invade essentially, but then what must those people be? They're leaving everything they have with just what they can carry. What an emotional journey they must be on.
I don't know who I'm quoting here, because I've heard this from so many people. But you don't get on a boat with 100 other people hoping to make it to the coast of Italy unless you have to. The way that they're used to drum up fear and anger at some unfocused force that's not ours, you know, is just …it's kind of the worst of all of it.
AD: I don't know how you can look at those people and not think, well, that could be me. That could be my family. All you need is one flood or one explosion or one fire and there you are. You're right in the middle of it.
Mark Nelson: Yeah. The resources are there. I'm lucky enough to have resources of family and things like that around me, but it wouldn't…you don't have to try very hard to imagine what if you didn't?
AD: There's an empathy crisis in America right now. People just don't see themselves in other people. They can't imagine that happening to them.
Mark Nelson: And that kind of just like gleeful cruelty that the President…that's his secret weapon. People seem to love that.
AD: I know. I know. Anyway…back to the record. "Dark Birds, Empty Fields," I really like the way the bells work in that one. I was wondering if you could tell me about writing that song and when did you decide to put the bells in?
Mark Nelson: There's a drummer in Chicago named Hamid Drake.
AD: Oh yeah.
Mark Nelson: I saw him do a solo performance maybe three years ago, and he did this thing that I thought was really effective. He played for a little bit, and he had this string of bells. At one point, he stood up and he was flinging the bells and walked up to the microphone and just started talking. He introduced himself and talked a little bit, while gently his arm moved back and forth, swinging these bells. It was a cool way to bridge between playing and talking. He talks a lot. But he would stop and then it kind of alleviated some of that awkwardness that can happen when musicians talk and they forget …this happens to me all the time…kind of forget what you're trying to say, but you're trying to say some sort of thank you and I'm glad you're here.
AD: I don't think there was any banter in your show in Chicago.
Mark Nelson: No. There wasn't. But sometimes, I've tried to do that. When I was in Europe last year, I took a moment to do that. We never did it in LaBradford either, which is kind of a regret. We had this idea that we just wanted to start and finish, and it would be all one thing. Playing less and seeing more shows, I sort of see it in the last five years more from the audience perspective. Or just maybe a more generous perspective in general. I kind of like it when people do that, make that effort, even if it's awkward. I like to make that effort even if it's awkward myself.
But anyway, bells were in my head from that. And then, I ended up at some point playing a show, maybe a year ago, at this Korean Buddhist Temple in Chicago. This friend of mine puts on shows there every once in a while. We were trying to think what can we do to make the show interesting? Can we do something different given the venue? I bought a bunch of these little brass bells from India. I had maybe 100 of them, and we passed them out and people rang them all at the same time for an ending of the thing.
AD: Neat.
Mark Nelson: It didn't work perfectly, because we didn't explain it. Just all of the sudden there were these baskets of bells. One person put money in it.
AD: Score.
Mark Nelson: Yeah. Well, in retrospect, I should have explained it. But then I think people felt that they were all of the sudden, here are these bells, and they were like, what are we supposed to do with them? But by the end, it kind of worked.
So, I had all these bells. I was recording. And that song, it's very repetitive, and I was trying to think of a way to break it up and to introduce something different. The record itself is minimal, and it's got a lot of the same textures. I wanted something where there was just a single, more naturalistic sound, so I used the bells.
AD: I also wanted to ask you about "Shenandoah," which is so beautiful. I've always loved that song anyway and I like the way you do it. Can you tell me how you decided to do that song? What was it about it that interested you?
Mark Nelson: Yeah. I've always loved it, too, and there's a thread of guitar players who have played versions of it that I really like, starting with Johnny Smith, who is a jazz guitarist, plays a beautiful solo version of it. Just unaccompanied electric guitar version of it. I'd always loved it. I never really played it or played any kind of traditional music really. It's not something that entered into my practice for most of the time I've been playing. But I don't even know, frankly, it's a song without a clear history in some ways. No one really knows where it came from and there's a lot of different stories. I associate Shenandoah with the valley and the mountains in Virginia, and I have a lot of connection with Virginia, both old friends who are there, friends who have died who I associate with Virginia.
AD: The song is about leaving Virginia, though.
Mark Nelson: It's about leaving home. And then I did have another thought. Like most people, I was horrified by the White Nationalist riot in Charlottesville. I felt it as a Virginia person as well as just a human being. And then, there's a connection there. The desire to tie it to Heather Heyer's memory came afterward in the way that it had been in my head, that she mattered to me. I was reluctant in some ways to do it, because it's easy for me…It just seems like it could be misconstrued. I'm not sure that it's my place. Her memory and who she was belongs to her family and friends. So, it took a little bit of back and forth in my mind, but those pieces fit together, for me. I think she was in my mind when I was recording it and playing it, and I think it's worth talking about things like that. Even at the risk of overstepping what I have a right to talk about.
AD: I think you have a right to talk about what you want to talk about. Everybody's got the right to talk about things.
Mark Nelson: Yeah. Then maybe it's at the risk of somebody making fun of me for it. If that's all I'm hearing, I should speak.
AD: I wanted to back up and talk about your background and history. Where did you grow up?
Mark Nelson: My dad was a foreign service officer, so I was born in West Berlin and we lived in Europe, Switzerland and Germany and Belgium until I was in high school. I did come back and graduate from high school in Northern Virginia. So, I was there for a couple of years and that's probably where I started listening to music. So, I don't know. Maybe that's part of trying to make sense of being in the States.
AD: We did talk about you growing up and listening to R&B on the radio in Virginia. Did you go off to college? Is that where you got involved in LaBradford?
Mark Nelson: Yes, I went to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. And Richmond, it was and is still regionally like a pretty prominent arts school, and certainly in the context of Virginia, Richmond was the place where there were weirdos and artists and stuff. It had a really great atmosphere. It's different now, but I still really like it.
AD: How did you meet the other people from LaBradford?
Mark Nelson: You know, just like when you're in college. I guess, none of us were in school. I was graduated. Bobby Donne and Carter Brown, neither one of them graduated. We weren't actually in school, but in that sort of weightless post-college time and working at odd jobs. It seems so long ago that you could get away with this. Working four days a week at a bakery and paying $200 rent and the rest of the time was free. We had so much freedom. So, Bobby and Carter were friends of friends and part of the same community. There wasn't really any formal introduction. We just all the sudden knew each other. And I was playing with Carter first, you know, just the two of us. He was playing synthesizers, and I was playing guitar. It was kind of an unusual set up for the time. It was definitely a rock and roll town. But we had a little niche right away. There was never anything, I don't know, it was a very natural, organic coming together.
AD: Was it a band with a lot of rules about what you could and couldn't do?
Mark Nelson: Musically?
AD: Yeah.
Mark Nelson: No. It wasn't. We ended up doing something different with the confines of the sound. We always brought new things into it. We brought a couple of other musicians. String players and Pete Neff, who played hammered dulcimer. Bobby was probably the first one interested in digital sampling and sequencing, so that was a big part of what we did for a while. Carter was always looking for different synthesizers and he stayed pretty much in the pre-1982 world of technology. But no, there was nothing really. We even played with a drummer a couple of times. There was nothing strict about it. We were just looking for what felt organic.
AD: You started Pan•American while you were still doing that, right?
Mark Nelson: Yeah.
AD: I read that you were interested in exploring dub through Pan•American. Is that still a factor?
Mark Nelson: It's not something I listen to a lot. I listen to more vocal reggae, roots reggae groups. That's more where my listening is. I'm less drawn to the instrumental kind of thing recently. But that could change. An interest in that music led me into house and techno music and I was really caught up and obsessed with that for a decade or so. But that's all kind of fallen away. But again, it might come back.
AD: Are you still in the band Anjou?
Mark Nelson: Yeah, that's Bobby Donne from LaBradford and me, and that's an extension of our friendship. As I've gone more toward traditional instrumentation and sounds and a simpler approach, he's gone the opposite direction into more abstraction and modular synths. He's a real adventurous person. Someone who puts the future first. I'm more past oriented and he's more future oriented.
AD: Is there anything about you or your music that people misunderstand?
Mark Nelson: No, on a person to person basis, I'm happy with what people make of it. To do something that is quite subtle and wants to be subtle, I'm pretty happy it gets noticed.
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Posted on December 6, 2019 December 6, 2019 Mark Nelson Pan•American The AD Interview
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Swim lessons are an important step in keeping children safe around the water. Lessons will also help your child gain confidence, stay active and alleviate any fears of water they may have while also learning lifesaving skills. Below is a list of some places and swim schools that offer swim lessons to individuals and groups. As always, let us know of any other places we should add to the list. For summer fun at water parks, pools and spray parks see this list.


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Posts Tagged 'S'
LUNA shoots for the moon, S steady, SEMG sinks
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Luna Innovations Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNA) shares gained 46.4% to $2.65, on volume of 2.7 million shares, trouncing a daily average around 20,000, after the molecular-technology provider agreed to extend a development agreement with Intuitive Surgical Inc. (Nasdaq: ISRG).
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) dealt in 35.1 million shares, making headway on a daily average of 64.8 million. Prices hiked 1% to $4.61.
SemGroup Corp. (NYSE: SEMG) shares were off 12.5% to $28.40, on volume of 4.2 million shares, towering over its average of 311,583, after the petroleum pipeline and storage provider reported losing $4.9 million in the fourth quarter.
Tags: buzz stocks, Industrial Stocks, ISRG, LUNA, nasdaq, NYSE, S, SEMG, Technology Stocks
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IDSA in orbit, S vocal, CISG capsizes
Industrial Services of America Inc. (Nasdaq: IDSA) shares gained 16.6% to $11.72. Share volume was 263, 718, trumping an all-day average of less than 52,000, after the waste manager reported a higher fourth-quarter profit from the year-ago period.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) dealt in 43.9 million shares, catching up on its daily average of 62.2 million. Prices hiked 1.2% to $4.74, after the company spoke out against the acquisition of T-Mobile USA by rival AT&T.
CNinsure Inc. (Nasdaq: CISG) U.S.-listed shares were off 11.6% to $11.97. Share volume was 2.5 million, or more than four times its daily average, after the Chinese insurer and brokerage late Friday said it would sell Beijing Fanhau Datong Investment Management Co. Ltd. for nearly $64 million.
Tags: buzz stocks, china stocks, CISG, Financial Stocks, IDSA, Industrial Stocks, nasdaq, NYSE, S, Technology Stocks
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CRIS soars, C active, S slips
Monday, March 21st, 2011
Curis Inc. (Nasdaq: CRIS) shares climbed 14% to $3.34, on three million shares, or five times its daily average, after the drug developer and its partner Roche Group announced positive results from a midstage study of their skin-cancer treatment.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) traded in 263 million shares Monday, closing in on a daily average of 482 million. C announced Monday it will slash the number of common shares outstanding through a 1-for-10 reverse stock split, and reintroduce a dividend
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) shares declined 13.4% to $4.38, on volume of 134 million shares, better than double its daily average of 55 million, a trading day after rival AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said it would acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG in a $39-billion deal that would make AT&T the largest U.S. wireless carrier.
Tags: buzz stocks, C, CRIS, Financial Stocks, healthcare, nasdaq, NYSE, S, Technology Stocks
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BKD grows, S rings it up, ALAN slumps
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) shares gained 9% to $25.55, on share volume of 1.8 million, or twice its average, a day after the operator of assisted-living housing reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss. Earlier Thursday, the company announced an agreement for an expanded corporate line of credit.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (Nasdaq: S) traded Thursday in 56.8 million shares, surpassing its daily average of 52.3 million. Prices added 1.8% to $4.28, after taking the wraps off its HTC Arrive smart phone.
Alanco Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAN) subsided 13.3% to $1.04 Thursday, on share volume of 113,000, more than six times its daily average.
Tags: ALAN, BKD, buzz stocks, healthcare, nasdaq, NYSE, S, Technology Stocks
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HGR sprints, S hangs in there, PACR falls off pace
Hanger Orthopedic Group (NYSE: HGR) shares rocketed 20.5% to $27.43 Thursday, on volume of just more than a million shares, already five times its daily average, after announcing a 10% surge in sales, though profits were down.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) traded in 100.5 million shares Thursday, more than twice its daily average. Prices sprang up 3.9% to $4.52, amid higher subscription rates.
Pacer International Inc. (Nasdaq: PACR) shares plummeted 20.8% to $5.46. Volumes of two million shares quadrupled its daily average, after reporting Wednesday a surprise quarterly loss of $1.1 million, compared to a $9.3-million gain in the prior-year quarter.
Tags: buzz stocks, healthcare, HGR, nasdaq, NYSE, PACR, S, Technology Stocks

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Construction disputes can often be complicated, and it takes an expert to determine if a construction deficiency has occurred. In addition, unbiased documentation of the issues and facts is required. In the legal field, this can be called a forensic or construction investigation as part of our Litigation Support services.
When disputes arise on a construction project, it is up to you to produce proof of error. Först Consulting Group applies its expert opinion and advice to the issues to provide you with the evidence you need to resolve your dispute or win in court. Först Consulting Group cannot provide legal advice as we are not a construction attorney, however, we are often called upon to offer expert opinion and expert advice.
Först Consulting Group provides expert opinion and advice for the following; however, we can only represent one side of a dispute.
At times, construction disputes require the testimony of a construction expert witness who can provide an unbiased opinion, supported by facts, for litigation purposes. Först Consulting Group can provide expert testimony through affidavits, deposition, or courtroom testimony, explaining the facts so that even a non-expert will understand.
Först Consulting Group is available to provide credible construction expert witness testimony nationwide to homeowners, contractors, attorneys, insurance companies and construction companies in cases involving construction errors or disputes. We have demonstrated our special knowledge and proficiency in the field of construction and are experienced on the courtroom stand.
As a construction expert witness consultant, Först Consulting Group can help attorneys and insurance companies prepare for a case by reviewing documents and evidence, and providing feedback on areas of weakness. We can also assist with preparation for obtaining testimony by helping to formulate lines of questioning.
Attorneys and insurance companies require proof when disputing a case to prove contractor negligence or breach of contract. This is assistance Först Consulting Group provides through our litigation support services.
Först helps attorneys for both plaintiffs and defendants (only one side per dispute) build their case by inspecting construction problems in residential and commercial buildings to collect and document evidence of construction defects. Our findings are supported by detailed evidence reports including photographs and notes, along with recommendations for repair and cost estimates.
As a construction expert consultant, Först Consulting Group can also evaluate weaknesses a case might have, and assist with strengthening the defense. Our goal is to help prepare the strongest case possible whether it goes to trial or settles out of court.
Construction is a highly-hazardous industry that requires safety precautions to protect its workers and provides a safe and stable work environment. Even so, accidents can occur, with the most common being falls, becoming struck by an object, electrocution, crushing, mishandling of equipment, and poor on-site supervision.
Workplace accidents may come in the form of direct physical contact or be caused by negligence. Comparative negligence can also come into play, where both the worker and another party or company share responsibility for the accident.
As part of our expertise, Först is certified in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) training.
The construction industry is fraught with high potential for workplace injury. And when violations to safety conditions occur, injuries happen, and legal claims are sure to follow. Building and supporting a case requires an expert in construction safety, like Först Consulting Group.
Construction safety encompasses safety training, safety standards and risk assessment. As experienced workplace safety consultants, Först Consulting Group can assist in obtaining the proof necessary to support a legal claim and provide court-qualified forensic expert testimony should the case go to court. We work with cases nationwide to help attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants win their claims.


The State Government announced the 'universal electrification' of households namely "Sarba Griha Deep Prakalpa" (Sabar Ghare Alo) under Special BRGF scheme to achieve 100% household electrification in 11 backward districts of West Bengal namely Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, South 24-Parganas, Uttar Dinajpur, Purulia, Paschim Medinipur, Jalpaiguri, Purba Medinipur and Bankura. An amount of Rs. 837 Crores has been received for this purpose up to 31st March 2013. This project's execution started in July 2012 and was likely to be completed within two years. Under this project 28214 villages, 21 lakh BPL households and 17 lakh APL households are likely to be electrified.


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The 2017 Dutch Open was the 45th edition of the Dutch Open. Mark McGeeney won the men's tournament whilst Deta Hedman won the women's. Current BDO World Champion Glen Durrant did not compete in the tournament.

Prize money
Winner     €5,000 (men), €2,250 (women)
Runner-up €2,500 (men), €1,250 (women)
Semi-finalist €1,250 (men), €750 (women)
Quarter-finalist €500 (men), €250 (women)
Last 16 €200 (men), €100 (women)
Last 32 €100 (men)

Last 32 – Men's draw

Women's draw

Darts in the Netherlands
2017 in darts

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Mobile Technology News, January 19, 2014
VIDEO: The house with no energy bills
Inside Out goes inside what could be Britain's most energy efficient house in Birmingham and finds out why it has no fuel bills.
Why Silicon Valley Should Write Chile a Much Deserved Thank You Note
Three years ago, I sat on an entrepreneurship panel at Chile Day, an investment conference promoting Chile to international investors in New York. The questions from the audience, compromised largely of Chilean nationals or expatriates living in the United States, eventually settled on a nagging question: why did Chile, a stable country with a growing economy, trail other Latin American nations with respect to entrepreneurship? How could a country known for exporting everything from copper to fruit, foster innovation despite being tucked away on the western slopes of the Andes?
Now, just three years later, Chile is known the world over for its groundbreaking "Start-Up Chile" program, a globally recognized acceleration program created and sponsored by the Chilean government. The conceit of Start-Up Chile is simple. The program invites entrepreneurs from all over the world to apply to its 4-month acceleration program. The entrepreneurs who are selected — to date hundreds have entered the program — receive up to US$40,000 in grant funding as well as a one year visa to stay in Chile.
I recently returned from a week in Santiago, Chile, where I was invited by Start-Up Chile to serve as a judge at the latest DemoDay — essentially a pitch competition to choose the strongest of the start-ups. After a week working with entrepreneurs and companies in the program, I was impressed to learn that Start-Up Chile is attracting some interesting companies. As with any acceleration program, not every company or idea is a winner, and many companies will simply fail. That's the nature of startups and the nature of entrepreneurship. Yet based on the DemoDay, there are some good ideas coming out of Chile.
Interestingly, while teams hail from the world over, the Top 4 companies in the DemoDay were teams with ties to the United States. DemoDay winner, Material Mix of St. Louis, is an exchange for reusable industrial byproducts. Second place went to Totus Power of San Francisco, a company that uses electric vehicle technology to produce a low-cost battery-based power pack for use by rural schools in India. Third place finisher Click Medix is a global mobile diagnostics social enterprise aimed at the bottom of the pyramid. The company was founded by faculty and students from MIT, Harvard and Carnegie Mellon. Finally, BoxFox, founded in Indianapolis, is a marketplace that allows retailers to appraise and sell excess merchandise to authorized resellers.
So what brings a US-based entrepreneur down to Santiago, Chile? Sure, Latin America is a growing market for start-ups, but the Southern Cone is still a long flight from Silicon Valley. The answer depends on the stage of the company and the vision of the entrepreneur. For businesses with global ambitions, Chile serves as a low-costs laboratory where a team can test and refine its value proposition. If a company has ambitions in Latin America, Chile also represents a solid entry point to the rest of the region. For everyone else, the Start-Up Chile program provides financing and a venue in which to innovate without distraction from the demands of everyday life back home. Plus, entrepreneurs get to live in a country boasting a relatively low cost of living and abundant physical beauty. Also, there's the possibility to pick up a little Spanish in the process.
Even as it provides clear benefits to entrepreneurs, Chile itself is a major beneficiary of the initiative. In the space of just three years, the country has completely rebranded itself in the eyes of the rest of the world (some thanks also goes to those 33 intrepid miners who were rescued after the 2010 Copiapo mining accident). Specifically with respect to innovation, Chile has abandoned its old spot in the innovation wasteland and is now known as a growing global hub for entrepreneurship. Even as the Start-Up Chile story has gotten ample global press, other Latin American nations such as Peru and Brazil have clambered to launch similar initiatives. To me, that is an astounding result for a program that some worried would risk giving foreigners a year-long paid vacation in Chile. After all, Start-Up Chile takes no equity stakes in the companies that graduate from its program. Making money off the start-ups wasn't the point of the program at its creation. The point was to import entrepreneurs and use them as a base to build a homegrown ecosystem. And while only a few of the top companies at the DemoDay I judged were Chilean, last year's winner, Patricio del Sol of AdMetricks, won for the home team.
Perhaps the most surprising winner in this story, however, is Silicon Valley and the rest of the venture capital industry in the United States. The story of Start-Up Chile should not be alien to Silicon Valley. After all, the US venture capital industry was actively supported in its infancy by forward thinking government policy. Why then, shouldn't Chile follow suit with a program that is tailored to the 21st Century? Venture capital investors in the United States are notoriously provincial, but they'd be wise to get on a plane and see what's happening in Santiago. To find the next generation of exciting start-ups, they may need to look beyond Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley and check out what's happening in Santiago's Chilecon Valley.
Life On A Social Media Island–Where Digital Natives And Digital Immigrants Must Collaborate
Recently, my 18 year-old son asked me, "Are you the oldest woman in social media?" While most 53-year-old women do not relish being the "oldest woman" anywhere, I found the question to be more of a compliment than a criticism. My son was half-joking with his question but it stirred me to think about how he is a "digital native" while I am a "digital immigrant."
One obvious example of inherent generational differences between a digital native and digital immigrant lies in the way that I conducted my initial research on this topic. I went to Google and then Wikipedia as my "sources." Next, I went to the Urban Dictionary. Back when I was in high school, my tools and techniques for doing research were completely different. I went to the library, used the Encyclopedia Britannica, went to the card file system and used the Dewey Decimal system to locate print books on my topic. If the print books weren't available, you might have found me using microfiche.
Wikipedia defines the "digital native" as a person who was born during or after the general introduction of digital technologies and, due to interacting with them from an early age, has a greater understanding of digital media concepts. Conversely, a digital immigrant is an individual who was born before the existence of digital technology and adopted it later in life.
Yet, when I compare my digital comfort level and expertise to that of many of my similarly aged peers, these designations don't really hold up. Instead of the binary categories of digital native and digital immigrant, can there be a "mash-up" of an individual who gravitates to and understands the application of digital technology but is housed in a middle-aged body? Yes, that's me and many others like me; we can remember our first Compaq portable computers in the 1980s but that doesn't mean we are less savvy with Twitter or Facebook than younger generations.
I used Twitter before my kids, we probably began on Facebook together, and I've also migrated them to LinkedIn. Part instinct and part affinity, I firmly have established myself as a hybrid in this rapidly changing world. I know that social/digital media platforms are cool and useful and that Apple has created some truly innovative hardware, but I also know that these are just fads like the Wang Word Processor, IBM Selectric, and IBM PC. It's not hard for me to foresee i-Everything one day outdated by the next new technology.
Although my age excludes me from the Wikipedia definition of "digital native," digital technology is truly embedded in my life. For instance, I tweet happy birthday to my kids, who each run their own Twitter accounts and blogs. Professionally, I founded a financial services marketing firm that is well-known for helping clients to create their own digital/social media strategies. And while digital natives may understand the technology and how to operate it, it doesn't mean that they have the expertise to implement programs that require business-level understanding. So, it's still not a good idea to hire summer interns to run your social media campaigns. I have 20-plus years of solid marketing experience that I apply to digital technology; that is not at all about knowing which button to press.
Furthermore, having begun my career working for Kelly Services, the leading temporary help firm, I know that the skill sets required for today's workforce are also rapidly changing. I see evidence of this in my everyday work when I witness conflicts, lack of adoption, and general lack of awareness of how and why digital and other technologies can be used to increase productivity and efficacy in almost every sector and each office. As the mother of a 21-year-old and an 18-year-old, I can see the same generation gap playing out in workplace conflicts between digital immigrants – which are the managing directors, senior vice presidents and C-suite executives of most major corporations –and the younger, digital natives who they are trying to manage.
Surely, this is one reason why young entrepreneurs may leave the "traditional" workplace in search of creating their own native work-setting. How can digital natives be expected to understand why large, global firms move at a glacial pace or why certain rules that they perceive as arcane and outdated even exist? If you want something, can't you just get it or buy it? Why must a digital native "prove" the value of a digital technology platform to a digital immigrant? Is that even possible? Imagine two people speaking different languages to each other; it sounds frustrating at best. And who is leading the charge today in places like Wall Street? Digital immigrants. It sounds like a scenario that is frustrating, infuriating and probably inexplicable to the new college recruits each year. No one needs to teach them or convince them the value of something like Twitter; they've used it for many years. Yet, words like "tweet" and Twitter must seem like a foreign language to digital immigrants who are forced to use new technology. Adapt or die.
Each time I see a toddler mesmerized by an iPad, I wonder what the future digital native will look like and what skills they will possess. The environment and habitat in schools are also different. My kids went to a high school with smart boards and no books. Most of the teachers were, like myself, early adopters of digital technology or they were requested early retirement. The teacher looking for the chalkboard is a dinosaur, as is the corporation that considers digital/social media strategies less important than the print ad.
I hope that one day some young upstart asks my son if he is the oldest guy in his field.
The Art of Radiology
Click here to watch the TEDTalk that inspired this post.
Nick Veasey's passion for his work in "Exposing The Invisible" and his demonstration of what ionizing radiation and x-ray images can reveal is exciting. The expertise he manifests in creating his visual displays and his ability to manipulate the ionizing radiation equipment demonstrates even to the untrained eye the incredible level of detail that can be achieved with skill, talent, and passion for excellence. Veasey's selected range of objects from a delicate structure such as a feather to a tractor or bus filled with human skeletons confirms that his images are a result of thought combined with the need to challenge technology to achieve visual perfection. He produces art as he interprets it where art is an individual experience defined as an image or poem or writing that elicits an emotion.
This unique art form is of specific interest to me as a radiologist. The images are the result of selected subject matter that is expertly positioned and then exposed to ionizing radiation using precise technical factors that emphasizes some structures and deemphasizes others in order to have the ultimate creative effect. This is precisely what is involved in the "Art" of radiology. Radiology involves both producing and interpreting medical images for diagnosis of a patient's condition. The X-ray is in fact, a work of art.
All images are not created equal and to image creatively and with passion can be a thing of beauty. — Helene Pavlov
Image acquisition is the taking of the radiograph and is essential to the value and usefulness of the resultant X-ray. Since ionizing radiation can be dangerous, patient positioning and selected technique parameters are just two of many considerations that the trained radiology technologist and radiologist applies in acquiring each and every radiograph. Each of these factors is critical in order to get the "beautiful", hence, diagnostic medical image while being mindful of patient safety with regards to ionizing radiation.
Just as Veasey carefully positions his skeletons for artistic affect, positioning of the patient for a radiograph varies with the clinical suspicion. For instance, a painful knee might be due to a small focal area of abnormality which might not be evident if the X-ray is taken with the patient standing and the knee in extension, however, if the damaged area is posterior, it might be revealed on the X-ray obtained with the patient standing with the knee flexed. Acquiring an X-ray of value requires knowledge and passion for the ultimate product. In addition to obtaining an optimal X-ray, the image must be interpreted accurately, ideally, interpreted by a trained radiologist. The more skilled the image acquisition and the more skilled the interpreting radiologist, the more value the radiograph has to both the patient and the referring physician. This scenario results in less need for additional radiographs and in many instances eliminates the need for additional imaging such as US, CT, MR, etc and thereby contributes to a more cost efficient delivery of healthcare.
It is easy and accurate to refer to an X-ray as a plain film, plain radiograph conventional X-ray, routine X-ray etc, however, these terms, understate the skill and the value of that image and what the image can reveal. An X-ray examination is ordered to see inside of the body part; to see what makes it work; to see what is wrong; to see pathology. The faster and more accurately the pathology is identified, the faster treatment can be initialized. Ionizing radiation can be dangerous, however, in the right hands, used wisely and with expertise, it can be life saving or an instrument for the improvement of the quality of life.
I have blogged previously on optimizing the use of imaging including modalities such as MR, US and CT by those trained in the use of this equipment to maximize the resultant image for the suspected clinical concern. A radiologist spends four years in medical school training to become a physician, then four additional years of residency further learning how to acquire and protocol imaging and image interpretation. A radiologist learns to differentiate normal from abnormal shadows and shades of grey and to recognize the obscure. Despite all this education, most radiologists continue their training even further with sub specialization fellowship programs dedicated to a specific system or organ, such as the chest, GI, GU or the musculoskeletal system. This training facilitates their abilities to acquire "beautiful" and diagnostic images and then to "exquisitely and accurately" interpret those images.
As Nick Veasey demonstrates, all images are not created equal and to image creatively and with passion can be a thing of beauty. Veasey uses ionizing radiation and his expertise to create art. In healthcare, the radiology technologist and radiologist use ionizing radiation and their expertise and training to safely create the image that is the patients' personal 'work of art", i.e. the patient radiographic image. The radiologist can be the patients' best advocate for diagnostic accuracy and is essential in the delivery of healthcare. Radiology and imaging should not be taken for granted as they are technologically creative and integral to the "Art" of medicine.
Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TEDWeekends will highlight some of today's most intriguing ideas and allow them to develop in real time through your voice! Tweet #TEDWeekends to share your perspective or email tedweekends@huffingtonpost.com to learn about future weekend's ideas to contribute as a writer.
The Best Of Bill Murray's Surprise Reddit AMA, A.K.A. The Internet's Dream Come True
"OK, I'll TALK! I'll TALK!"
That's how the legendary Bill Murray began his surprise Reddit AMA on Friday evening in which he opened up to fans like never before.
You can thank his upcoming movie "Monuments Men" for prompting him to interact with Redditors and answer questions about everything from his body of work to his love of golf to legalizing marijuana and even the current cast of "Saturday Night Live."
Check out 15 of the most interesting things we learned from his candid online chat, including the hilarious reason he wound up doing the "Garfield" movies, below. Head over to Reddit to read the full thing.
Amazon Just Patented Shipping Items Before They're Even Ordered
Late last month, Amazon patented a process they've termed "anticipatory package shipping," in which products would be sent to fulfillment centers near the customers most likely to purchase them, before customers even order them.
In a bit of "Minority Report" meets Wal-Mart, the online retail giant could feasibly ship items before they're actually purchased, filling in the relevant details — like a buyer's address, for instance — at a later date.
"The patent's examples illustrate a speculative shipment system that deploys goods to specific geographical areas," Engadget explains. "If a customer in that area places an order that matches a nearby package, it would then be redirected to its final destination."
Which means the complete box-set of Monty Python's Flying Circus isn't going to arrive on your doorstep unannounced. It does mean, however, that Amazon may shuffle the product to a distribution center nearer you for faster fulfillment when you inevitably succumb to your love of British comedy and hit the "checkout" button.
Of course, Amazon wouldn't ship items ahead of time in the absence of clear demand for the product. To assess that demand, reports the Wall Street Journal, factors like a customer's previous orders, product searches, wish lists, returns and shopping cart data would all be taken into account. Shoppers who linger over an item with their mouse cursor may also attract Amazon's attention.
The anticipatory shipping is the latest development from Amazon that feels straight out of the future. In December, CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled Amazon Prime Air on "60 Minutes," a fleet of delivery drones that could be available within 4 to 5 years.
The 10 Most Innovative Companies In The World: 24/7 Wall Street
In 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted more than 270,000 patents, often to the same organizations. The USPTO awarded 76,850 patents to the top 50 companies alone.
IBM received 6,809 patents in 2013, the most of any company. This marks the 21st consecutive year in which the company has led the U.S. in patents awarded. Based on data from IFI CLAIMS Patent Service, a company that compiles global patent data, these are the 10 most innovative companies in the world.
Click here to see 24/7 Wall Street's most innovative companies in the world
Most of the top patent producers are technology companies active in a wide range of businesses. Companies such as IBM (NYSE: IBM), Canon, and Panasonic are involved in a variety of different businesses. Toshiba is active in sectors ranging from consumer electronics to nuclear power. According to Mike Baycroft, CEO of IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, these companies have a track record of developing intellectual property, "and they're there to stay."
Many of the companies granted the most U.S. patents are actually foreign-based. Only three of the 10 most innovative companies in 2013 were based in the U.S.: IBM, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). Four Japanese companies made the top 10, led by Canon with 3,825 patents. Two South Korean companies made the list as well.
While many of the top innovators consistently make the list, the shift to mobile devices could mean opportunities for new companies. This year Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), which produce the two most popular mobile operating systems, moved well up the list. In the process, IFI noted, they passed Intel and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) as Silicon Valley's patent leaders. Meanwhile, Samsung, which is the world's largest mobile phone maker, is already the second-largest recipient of U.S. patents.
Baycroft told 24/7 Wall St. he would not be surprised to see Apple and Google in the top 10 come 2014. "Even BlackBerry….had one of the strongest portfolios around, despite the fact that it is, by all other reports, stressed," he added.
In order to identify the 10 most innovative companies, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed top U.S. patent recipients in 2013, according to IFI CLAIMS Patent Services' annual report. We also examined how these companies compared within their industry and among the largest companies in the world based on the Forbes Global 2,000. All revenue figures are also from the 2012 Forbes Global 2,000.
These are the most innovative companies in the world.
Damon Lindelof And Marc Cherry Moved From Network To Cable And Never Looked Back
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Creators of two of the most indelible dramas on network television last decade, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," are making programs for cable networks now, and they speak with the zeal of the happily converted.
"Now that we're all here together, we can definitively agree that cable is far superior to network," said Damon Lindelof, who worked on ABC's "Lost" and is making a similarly complex new program for HBO, "The Leftovers." The changing balance of power — and how proud broadcasters are fighting back — is the subtext to meetings with television industry leaders and reporters in Pasadena this month. Nowhere is that more clear than in the field of dramas.
Once often content to air reruns, cable networks are busy establishing themselves as creators. There are 180 scripted original series on cable this year, up from 22 in 2002, said John Landgraf, FX network chief. Services like Netflix are jumping in, too.
More important than numbers is the perception that cable is the place to turn for quality. It started with "The Sopranos," and continues with awards and critical attention showered on the likes of "Mad Men," "Homeland" and "Breaking Bad." The idea is reinforced when many of television's key creative minds argue that cable is the place to be.
Marc Cherry, creator of "Desperate Housewives," said that making the soap "Devious Maids" for Lifetime "has been just a joyous creative experience." To be fair, Cherry took "Devious Maids" to ABC first and was rejected. Now he revels in the creative freedom, saying he gets less second-guessing.
Cherry said he has more time to work on the writing, and can include more intricate details. After acknowledging now that he went into the critically drubbed second season of "Desperate Housewives" with no plan, he learned he needs to have an idea of what will happen in a second season before beginning the first.
Cable offers a measure of security that broadcasters, with more intense commercial pressures, can't match. A cable series is rarely canceled in the middle of a season.
The grind of a typical broadcast schedule, requiring some 22 episodes a year, also wears on creators — particularly now that they see an alternative. Most cable "seasons" are half that, or less. That improves quality, Lindelof said.
"You're not needing to fill weeks of story that are non-essential," he said. "So, hopefully, every episode of 'The Leftovers' will feel like it needs to exist versus it's just this very kind of fibrous bridge that exists between two essential episodes which all of us as TV fans, you know, really find incredibly frustrating to watch."
Before one conference last week, producers of several CBS dramas admitted grumbling backstage about their workload.
"That's an insatiable appetite," said Jonathan Nolan, "Person of Interest" executive producer, "which is a great thing that the audience wants more of what you're making, but it is very difficult. I feel like that number is probably calibrated … not to the length of the season or production schedules, but to the exact point at which a showrunner (producer) will have a nervous breakdown."
What Nolan finds exciting about being on CBS is the immediacy, writing a scene and seeing it on the air a few weeks later.
It's not like broadcasters are bereft. CBS' "The Good Wife," NBC's "The Blacklist" and ABC's "Scandal" are popular and creatively strong. Broadcasters still have a reach that cable networks can't match. Television's most popular show, "NCIS" on CBS, has roughly 20 million viewers for each new episode, twice as much as AMC's buzz worthy "The Walking Dead."
"It's a privilege to reach an audience the size that we're able to reach in broadcast," said "NCIS" executive producer Gary Glasberg. "The fact that we're in our 11th season and we have the viewership that we do, 18 million Facebook fans, that's crazy. And, you know, that's because I'm on broadcast."
Networks are now looking for more limited-run series. Over the past year, CBS, NBC and Fox have each assigned executives to look specifically for these types of projects. Veteran producer Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey, successful with "The Bible" miniseries on History last year, signed with CBS to adapt "The Dovekeepers" to television for a miniseries.
Kevin Reilly, Fox entertainment president, said he's doing away with broadcast's traditional pilot season, where networks make test episodes of dozens of prospective series and choose among them during a furious couple of weeks in the spring. That's a nod to cable: Reilly wants to take more time developing series to work out kinks and have a better idea of how it will work.
Not everyone fully agrees with him, but change is in the air.
David Bauder can be reached at dbauder@ap.org or on www.twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.
Behind in tablets, Intel pays firms to use its chips
Why is Intel confident that 40 million tablets will ship in 2014 with its Bay Trail processors? Here's one good reason.
3D Animal Prosthetics Helps Duck Walk Again
A very lucky duck who lost a leg to aggressive chickens is walking tall today in the B.C. Interior, thanks to 3D printing technology.
Dudley, a five-month-old call duck, was in a pen with some chickens at K9-1-1 Animal and Rescue Services in Sicamous last August. One of them attacked his right leg so badly that the foot fell off.
Months later, Dudley is quack of the walk, has found a mate and is standing up to animals that are ten times his size thanks to Terence Loring, a Kamloops designer who has made him a brand new leg using 3D printing technology.
"His nickname is, from what I hear, Studly Dudley," Loring told The Huffington Post B.C.
Check out some photos of Dudley and his 3D prosthetic leg. The story continues below:
The young duck may be just his first client as he joins a growing movement of innovators designing 3D prosthetics for injured animals around the world.
Animal parts, it should be said, are not Loring's primary business. He produces them on a voluntary basis as part of his work for his company 3 Pillar Designs, which creates 3D renderings for residential and commercial properties.
He began designing animal parts after he was approached by his Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor, whose parents Doug Nelson and Debbie Fortin own the shelter in Sicamous.
"I was happy to jump on this project, not having too much experience with wildlife or anything like that," Loring said.
THE FIRST LEG
In designing Dudley's leg, he drew on his background in biomedical engineering, but YouTube also proved helpful. Videos on the social networking site helped him observe the precise angle and position of a duck's leg in each stride.
He eventually came up with a jointed prosthetic leg made of hard plastic and sent the design to Proto3000, an Ontario-based company that produced the limb using a 3D printer.
In the first experiment, the joint broke when Dudley stood on it, sending him face-first into the ground. So Loring designed a second leg, this time an unhinged model made of softer plastic.
When Dudley put it on, "the first thing he started doing was wagging his little butt, and literally, he just started walking. There was no delay for him."
The second leg is causing some sores at the bottom of Dudley's stump and he often snags his foot. Loring is still perfecting the design: "This is going to be the most advanced duck leg out there."
There's a growing demand for this kind of animal prosthetics.
In 2012, a bald eagle named Beauty was found starving in Alaska, unable to eat properly after a poacher shot most of her beak off. A mechanical engineer designed her a new beak using a 3D printer and a titanium mount.
Last year, Buttercup the duck became a worldwide sensation as innovators looked to replace a foot that was bent backward when he was born.
Novacopy 3D Printing in Memphis, Tenn. modeled a prosthesis based on Buttercup's sister, which was later used to cast a silicone prosthesis. The company soon received requests to help animals including dingoes, chickens and dogs, MyFoxMemphis reported.
Dudley, the young drake who was once bullied by chickens, now stands up to Elsie, the potbelly pig who checks him out when he visits the facility's grooming shop, said Doug Nelson.
"If the pig comes over to check him out or kind of noses him or anything then Dudley will put the run on the pig," he said. "He runs at him and the pig is threatened by that, I guess. He takes off."
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Tech Industry Finds Obama's NSA Reforms 'Insufficient'
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Technology companies and industry groups took President Barack Obama's speech on U.S. surveillance as a step in the right direction, but chided him for not embracing more dramatic reforms to protect people's privacy and the economic interests of American companies that generate most of their revenue overseas.
"The president's speech was empathetic, balanced and thoughtful, but insufficient to meet the real needs of our globally connected world and a free Internet," said Ed Black, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, a group that represents Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other technology companies upset about the NSA's broad surveillance of online communications.
On Friday, the president called for ending the government's control of phone data from hundreds of millions of Americans and ordered intelligence agencies to get a court's permission before accessing such records. He also issued a directive that intelligence-gathering can't be employed to suppress criticism of the United States or provide a competitive advantage to U.S. companies.
In addition, the president directed Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to consider whether new privacy safeguards could be added to online data gathering. Although those activities are only meant to target people outside the U.S. as part of national security investigations, information on Americans sometimes gets swept up in the collection.
Eight of the world's best-known technology companies underscored their common interest in curbing the NSA by releasing a joint, measured critique of Obama's proposal. They applauded the commitment to more transparency and more privacy protections for non-U.S. citizens, but also stressed that the president didn't address all their concerns.
"Additional steps are needed on other important issues, so we'll continue to work with the administration and Congress to keep the momentum going and advocate for reforms consistent with the principles we outlined in December," said the statement from Google, Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and AOL.
In his speech, Obama also directed Holder and Clapper to look into new restrictions on the length of time the U.S. can hold data collected overseas and the extent to which that data is used. He added that the U.S. won't spy on regular people who don't threaten national security.
But nothing he said is likely to diminish the potential losses facing the U.S. technology industry, said Daniel Castro, a senior analyst for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington D.C. think tank.
The ITIF estimates that the doubts raised by the NSA spying could cost U.S. companies as much as $35 billion over the next three years.
In the aftermath of recent NSA leaks, the companies set aside their competitive differences to come together and urge Obama to curtail the NSA's online snooping and lift restrictions that prevent companies from publicly disclosing specifics about how frequently they are asked to turn over their users' personal information in the name of national security.
Obama did agree to at least one major concession to the technology industry by pledging "to make public more information than ever before about the orders they have received to provide data to the government." The companies are hoping greater transparency will show that the U.S. government has only been demanding information about a very small fraction of their vast audiences.
But the promise of more disclosure didn't satisfy two different groups focused on online privacy and other digital rights.
"Far more needs to be done to restore the faith of the American people and repair the damage done globally to the U.S. reputation as a defender of human rights on the Internet," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation believes there's still a long way to go. "Now it's up to the courts, Congress, and the public to ensure that real reform happens, including stopping all bulk surveillance — not just telephone records collection," she said.
Recent revelations about how much information the U.S. government has been vacuuming off the Internet threaten to undercut the future profits of technology companies that depend on the trust of Web surfers and corporate customers.
U.S. Internet companies are worried that more people, especially those living outside the U.S., will use their products less frequently if they believe their personal data is being scooped up and stored by the U.S. government.
Less online traffic would result in fewer opportunities to sell the ads that bring in most of the revenue at companies such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo. There is also concern that foreigners will be reluctant to do business with a wide range of U.S. companies that sell online storage and software applications that require an Internet connection.
Obama's proposal made "progress on the privacy side, but it doesn't address the economic issues," Castro said. "I don't see anything in the speech that will prevent companies in other countries from using what the NSA is doing to gain a competitive advantage over the U.S. companies."
Ortutay reported from New York.
Disclosure: The Huffington Post is owned by AOL. While this story was written and reported by the Associated Press, The Huffington Post provided headlines and photo selection.
Adobe looks poised to release Lightroom for mobile devices
9to5 Mac spots an offer on Adobe's Web site for a $99 annual subscription to use a mobile version of the photo editing and cataloging software.
World Record For Longest Man-Made Echo Shattered In Scotland (LISTEN)
This is a test, test, test, test …
Intrepid scientists in Scotland fired a pistol deep inside a secret tunnel and created an echo for the history books — one that the Guinness World Record folks subsequently ratified as the longest-lasting man-made echo.
"Never before had I heard such a rush of echoes and reverberation," Trevor Cox, the University of Salford acoustic engineering professor who spearheaded the test, told the BBC. "My initial reaction was disbelief… The reverberation times were just too long."
Exactly how long did the echo last? One minute, 52 seconds, according to the Independent. The echo was recorded on June 2, 2012 and ratified by Guinness on July 2013 but only recently revealed by Cox, the professor told The Huffington Post in an email.
The previous record was set in 1970, when the bronze doors of the Hamilton Mausoleum, also in Scotland, slammed shut to create an echo that lasted for 15 seconds, according to The Scotland Herald. (The echo created by a typical household door lasts about 0.4 second).
The new record-breaking echo test was conducted inside a network of oil storage tanks called the Inchindown Tunnel, near Invergordon. The tunnel is longer than two football fields and is 30 feet wide and more than 44 feet high. Built on the brink of World War II, the tunnel was used for bomb-proof fuel storage for nearby warships. The tunnel was closed in 2002.
Cox learned of the tunnel when it was featured on BBC1's "The One Show," according to The Independent.
"You need a man-made structure with no windows and a smooth concrete surface with pores to absorb sound," Cox told The Independent. "I didn't think we'd find anything as reverberant as this."
(Story continues below.)
Inside the oil tanks of Scotland's Inchindown Tunnel, where the sound test was conducted.
Allan Kilpatrick, an archaeological investigator with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland who also runs public tours of the tunnel, fired the blank shot about a third of the way into the tunnel, while Cox recorded the sound on a microphone at the other end, the BBC reported.
Because the tunnel has no door, "you literally have to be shoved through to get in there," Cox, who had to climb through one of the tunnel's 18-inch oil pipes, told CBC radio.
"It was like going underground into a Bond villain's lair," Cox told The Independent. "I started off just playing around, whooping and hollering. The sound just goes on and on and on."
Target Under Fire For Not Revealing Hacks Earlier
When Target and Neiman Marcus revealed they'd been hacked, they didn't come forward willingly. The attacks against the retailers only came to light after Brian Krebs, an independent cybersecurity reporter, began asking them questions.
The fact that both merchants didn't disclose the thefts of customer data until they were pressured highlights what experts say is a troubling culture of secrecy with hacking victims that allows cybercriminals to thrive. Companies that get hacked often keep quiet for weeks or longer, withholding valuable information that could protect consumers and other businesses from similar attacks.
The Secret Service and Justice Department notified Target of the breach on Dec. 13, The New York Times reported Friday. The company disclosed the attack publicly six days later on Dec. 19. Target chief executive Gregg Steinhafel has said the company disclosed the attack after it "confirmed that we have an issue."
It took almost an additional month for investigators to release a report on the Target breach, revealing Thursday that the theft of 40 million credit cards was part of a hacking campaign focused on multiple retailers.
"The fact that it took almost a month for details to come out about what actually hit Target is inexcusable," Krebs told The Huffington Post. "Target should have told the rest of the retail industry weeks ago."
On Friday, IntelCrawler, a cyber-security firm, said it found that six other retailers also had been hacked with the same piece of malware used in the Target attack. IntelCrawler did not identify the retailers.
Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer of the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, said the widespread nature of the attacks highlights why companies should share data about breaches. Companies could tell each other about the IP addresses and malicious code used when they were hacked, allowing others to protect themselves against being targeted.
"Everyone is operating in their own silo," Alperovitch said. "People don't share information. If these companies do not come out and say [they were hacked], we have a problem on our hands."
Neiman Marcus said it discovered on Jan. 1 that cybercriminals had stolen credit card data from its stores to make fraudulent purchases, but waited until Jan. 10 to disclose the attacks publicly. The breach had gone undetected since July, according to The Times.
A Neiman Marcus spokeswoman has said the delay in going public was because the company was investigating the extent of the attack.
Hacking victims have several motives for not talking about breaches publicly. Companies' lawyers typically advise keeping quiet because they face potential lawsuits. The news also may damage stock prices and reputations.
But not every victim is silent. In 2009, Heartland Payments Systems, a payment processor, revealed that millions of credit and debit cards were stolen from its computer network.
Heartland went public, even though its lawyers advised otherwise, because "we felt it was important," the company's chief information officer told The New York Times last year.
"Until then, most people tried to sweep breaches under the rug," Steve Elefant said. "We wanted to make sure that it didn't happen to us again and didn't want to sit back while the bad guys tried to pick us off one by one."
Nearly every state has a law mandating that companies tell customers when their personal data has been compromised. But the laws give companies several weeks to investigate before disclosing a data breach. And there are no rules requiring them to share details about attacks with other businesses.
Krebs said there should be.
"I think it's great there is some information out there now," he said. "But I think it's ridiculous that it took a story by a journalist to make that happen."
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Originals: Time To Cancel Your Cable Subscription
There's no doubt that Netflix has changed the way people watch television. With the abrupt and overwhelming success of "Orange is the New Black" and "House of Cards," the media site is no longer limited to streaming the hit shows — it's creating them.
The competition is taking note. Not to be outdone, Hulu and Amazon Prime are heating things up, dipping their toes into the waters of original scripted programming. Their shows aren't winning any major awards like frontrunner Netflix, but they're helping change the face of television.
It all started here. Throughout 2012 and 2013, Netflix produced nine different original series, which it exclusively aired along with numerous specials, miniseries and films.
Of those nine original series, four will be starting new seasons in 2014.
This year, political thriller "House of Cards," supernatural horror series "Hemlock Grove" and dark comedy "Orange is the New Black" will begin their second seasons. "Lillyhammer," a crime-drama and Netflix's very first original series, will debut its third.
Children can get in on the Netflix action with the series "Turbo FAST," an animated series based on the film "Turbo," which DreamWorks Animation Television is producing exclusively for Netflix; it's the first of its kind. Another animated series, called "BoJack Horseman," features the voice acting of Aaron Paul and Will Arnett, and is slated to premiere in 2014.
And there's more to come. Netflix will be rolling out several new original series over the next few years, including "Marco Polo," a historical fiction show that will chronicle the famed explorer's adventures, and "Narcos," which will document the life and death of drug lord Pablo Escobar. Netflix is also working on several sci-fi and superhero series that are set to premiere in 2014 and after.
Unfortunately, Netflix has not yet compiled an official, comprehensive list of all of its original series and programming.
At only $7.99/month, Netflix is doing its best to corner the market on affordable streaming services, simultaneously amping up its original content.
Hulu is barging into the realm of original content with its made-for-adults animated superhero series "The Awesomes." The show is the brainchild of SNL's Seth Meyers, and it features an all-star voice-acting cast with Meyers alongside Ike Barinholtz, Tara Killian, Rashida Jones and Kenan Thompson.
Other Hulu originals returning in 2014 include "Behind the Mask," a critically-acclaimed docuseries that looks at the world of sports mascots, "East Los High," a California-set teen drama and "Quick Draw," a comedy western that follows the life of a Harvard graduate-turned-sheriff in 1875 Kansas.
And like Netflix, Hulu is exploring all genres. In 2014, Hulu will debut "Deadbeat," a supernatural comedy that is being co-produced with Lionsgate Television, as well as "The Hotwives of Orlando," a scripted parody of reality TV's popular "Real Housewives" series that features prominent several prominent actresses including Angela Kinsey, Kristen Schaal and Andrea Savage.
Hulu Plus costs $7.99/month, and viewers still have to put up with ads. Many titles and select episodes are available for free viewing.
See all of Hulu's original programming here.
Amazon.com is more than just an enormous online mall. Amazon Prime, the service that allows customers to receive free shipping on select items, also streams movies and television shows. Following Netflix and Hulu's lead, the service is venturing into original programming.
In April of 2013, Netflix released 14 original pilots and asked viewers to vote on which ones they would like to see turned into full length series.
Of the five winners that are now available as full series, Hulu has developed two comedies and children's shows. "Alpha House," which was created by "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau, is a political comedy about four U.S. Senators who share a home in Washington DC, while "Betas" is a Silicon Valley-themed comedy about startups and tech-culture.
For kids, Amazon Prime is developing "Creative Galaxy," an alien, art and library-themed series for young children, "Tumbleaf," which explores the magic that happens when when imagination turns to reality, and "Annebots," a story of two children and their robot friend.
At $79/year, Amazon Prime costs a bit less per month than other streaming services currently available, but the selection of original content is considerably smaller.
The amount of original content being produced by third party streaming sites is making cable companies nervous, and rightly so. The scripts are good, the actors are established and the growth possibilities are essentially unlimited at this point. With so many new original shows to choose from, it's easy to see how Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime are revolutionizing the television industry.
My NSFW Sext-Only Relationship Made 'Her' Seem Not-So-Distant
The following post contains some explicit language and imagery. It is intended for adult readers.
The first time he sent me a photo of his dick I giggled like a schoolgirl in fourth grade sex-ed class. The photo was blurred, obviously; he didn't want to give away too much at once. That was the policy I made for us to preserve some sense of, I don't know, perverse virtue? That's not at all true but it saved me more than him. I never gave him anything more than a peek at what my favourite bra looked like in my foggy bathroom mirror.
I don't remember what he said to introduce the picture. I laughed in any case because these kinds of pictures are really, really terrible but especially this one. It was a lumpy bit of darkness wholly un-erotic and on the verge of turning me off completely. I am sure it would receive a D- on Critique My Dick Pic (NSFW). I may have sent him back a seductive photo or maybe I faked a kind of moaning through my words about how I loved his dick so.
I didn't actually love his dick. I loved the things he said about his dick, the things he said he would do to me with it; the things we could do to each other. In no other way did I love him than the lengths we would go to satisfy the other. Green blobs of text appeared on my phone telling me all the ways in which he'd be a superior lover: the lover to end all lovers. He always confirmed to me in our exchange when he got off, and I to him, but I always faked it. I never could rhythmically pleasure myself to the second by second responses and respond to him.
It's been two years, three months and a handful of days since I met the boy who sent me that blurred photo. I've seen him, touched him, and kissed him once, but we've only gone less than two months at a time without talking since we met, which has, to date, not ended. We both had tumultuous relationships, dreamy and mediocre lovers, one-night regrets in that time, and yet here we are. Our interaction is limited to what can be said with our fingertips. We have only spoken via text. Via sext, that is.
We met IRL by drunken happenstance on a hot October night in my hometown. I was 22 at the time; he was 20. My friends and I went to some middle school auditorium during our annual heritage-y festival. We exchanged our pinky drink tickets for some cheap beers and watered down vodka and orange juice. That night is a haze of grimy yellow flags and loud polka music and vile Neil Diamond covers. I spotted him almost immediately amid the suburban pseudo-hedonistic chaos. There was nothing particularly special to him: he was human-shaped and tall and a bit rough around the edges. I think I said something clever to him, I usually do in situations like these, and he smiled at me. Leaning in unbearably close to my face, thumbing the buttons of the jean jacket I wore, he said, "I've been waiting for a girl with a jacket like this my entire life."
There is something to be said for someone who can speak so directly, so surprisingly complete, in a text message about all the ways they want to fuck you. Each is a different version, another self. We seamlessly created our identities not like our truest selves so anything we said, he wrote, I felt, was infinite, and that was exceedingly powerful.
The messages we sent the months after we met are obscured to me now. I can pinpoint when our sexting tryst began though; when the soft musings of "I miss you" turned into lurid statements of "I wish you were here to give me head forever." I awoke most nights to my phone vibrating continuously with him telling me how he was going to make all of my fantasies come true and that really though, he did his best work from the bottom with me on top.
But none of the things he said to me were new. Sexting is clumsy and ordinary now: it's a string of "what are you wearing" and "tell me how close you are." It wasn't especially good in the beginning with us until his one-line aphorisms turned into novel length extraordinarily sexy thoughts. It takes someone with particular skill to make your skin pulse and fizz like freshly poured ginger ale in an icy glass without actually touching you.
And with that he slipped between the realms of a real life lover to the idea of a great lover; synthesized and wholly automated. Our exclusivity was with our phones: we were entirely dependent on a piece of technology that bounced sexual requests between satellites until they reached the other. I consciously fed it, him, us, craving a sort of connection with him in anyway I could. When he promised me he'd visit, that he'd drive all the hours from his school to my apartment and really have me, I secretly wished he'd forget and never arrive so we could preserve whatever it was our relationship had become.
A film like Her portraying a relationship between a man and his sultry sounding operating system rather than any singular person is a reality with which I had become acquainted though, sadly, Scarlett Johansson is nowhere in my story. It all comes down to human-made simulation of feelings: we get attached to objects rather than people in a friendly, comforting or sexual manner, and ascribe certain ideas and expectations on them that in turn humanizes them. It's easier to slip into our imagination than truly form a bond with another. All of that takes effort. This is effortless: it's a kind of affluence and truer comfort because it is comfort of our own making. We fluff our virtual pillows, prop them up behind us, and feel a kind of ease with which no one could possibly make, even if those kinds of things are manufactured.
The almost two and a half years I've been involved with this one person via t/sext is not unlike the snapshot of our social/sexual future in Her. The difference here could be that I met the person first and then he became an object, a machine, and a mechanism of pleasure. But isn't that the kind of thing we've already become accustomed to anyway? Wouldn't this progression from real person feelings to feelings with/from a machine happen organically?
The shift from a potential real life lover to a simulated one was rather easy. Whenever I got particularly mad at him I'd punish him by turning my phone off because that was really the only physical action I could take in our pseudo-relationship. I resented my phone. I wanted to smash it until it was nothing but shards. But I needed it to truly need him.
I ask myself what is/was the value of not having that real life interaction. He was an unknown known thing to me; so unfamiliarly familiar in a sneaky sexy paradoxical way that elicited such a thrill. He still is in some ways, though now he makes me weary and I've grown apart from him. He is someone, something, I created and can easily turn to for comfort; he is, after all, simply a text away.
I thought I gave him up for good this summer when I fell in love with someone else — an IRL man who rarely texted me the dirty things he wanted to do, he actually did them — but he persisted. He'd come to me earnestly saying "hi, how are you?" or "baby, please, pleeeeeease." I turn to my phone in the night still half expecting to see a meagre "hello" permanently etched into my display. He wrote once — on a night I swear I was dreaming about him and he was actually holding me - - saying, "hi, wish we still talked." We never talked though; we said skin humming sexy things that ought to be whispered to you by a lover, not read on a screen. But I read him. I have read all of his lines. I memorized them and played them over and over because it's what I have of him. Or maybe what I have left of him. He's a string of words now: poorly structured sentences with terrible grammar and spelling; black and white letters on a screen; a flash, vibration, an annoying little ding noise. He is pixilated arms and legs and has no face.
The last I heard from him was as recently as a few weeks ago when I was visiting my hometown and he asked me if I was there, if we could finally see each other. I'm still waiting to find out if we will.
This originally appeared on Medium.
VIDEO: Can smartphones save money on energy?
A number of systems allowing customers to control their central heating via their smartphones are now on sale in the UK, promising big savings.
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Got me some bad back pain!
Can't bend, at times I feel my life's in vain.
Friends tell me "take some opioids to numb the pain" they are insane!
Doctor says "kill it with Fentanyl" is he for real?
mistaken or for deliberate suicide, feeling forsaken.
Drug lords enrich coffers while Mr, Miss and Mrs in cheap coffins waste away.
but sure to finish me, a slow guardian killer to a point of no return.
It's a known felon, unstoppable.
A marksman freely licensed to kill as it schemes to populate hell.
I'm as angry as hell!
about a woman Maddie who died of an overdose after years of addiction to an Opioid (a painkiller drug). My sincere condolences to her family.
My prayer and hope is that many will resist the urge to accept offers to take drugs of any kind to ease pain, depression or just to fit in with friends who take drugs.
If you need help contact us, we can listen, offer counsel and give you the right information/resources you may need. You are not alone.
Posted on December 9, 2018 December 9, 2018 Categories Freedom from AddictionsTags addiction, drug relief, drugs, encouragement, Freedom from Addictions, Freedom from drugs, inspiration, opioids, poetry, spoken word, writingLeave a comment on Opioids Slave? Hell No!


text:
Danwatch Casts Troubling Labor Allegations in Guatemala Coffee Report
Nick Brown | September 20, 2016
Danwatch photo by James Rodriguez.
The Danish independent journalism source Danwatch has published the results of its second major investigation within the coffee sector, suggesting instances in Guatemala's coffee industry of illegal child labor, indications of forced labor, and dangers in attempts to unionize workers.
The report comes approximately half a year after the group's sprawling, condemning report on alleged "slavery-like" conditions existing within parts of the Brazilian coffee sector. Both reports have been controversial and somewhat contentious, praised for bringing to light serious issues plaguing the coffee industry at large in the mistreatment of farmworkers, while also being criticized by actors within the coffee sector for being too general in nature, or for under-exploring market forces and inequity throughout the supply chain that have resulted in instances of farmworker exploitation.
The Danwatch report on Guatemalan coffee focuses on three primary areas of concern: unlawful child labor; forced labor among farmworkers, many of whom are displaced indigenous people; and resistance against organizing and unionize workers. Particular areas of focus through interviews with people involved in the sector include children applying and mixing pesticides; farmworkers, often displaced indigenous people, being forced into debt before earning wages, or having their personal documents withheld; and threats, firings or actual violence and killing of people working to lawfully organize and unionize workers.
While originally published in Dutch, an English-language version of the report on Guatemala, titled "Bitter Coffee II," is written in long-form investigative journalism style, offering numerous anecdotes from identity-protected sources related to unlawful or inhumane treatment of farmworkers. In other words, there's a bit of shock value to the reporting itself as the individual voices of farmworkers come through.
Danwatch did reach out to the Guatemalan coffee agency Anacafé, which reportedly told the group that it was unaware of any forced labor within the country's coffee sector. Here's a bit from that exchange, beginning with a quote written by Anacafé:
"Anacafé acknowledges that there are significant challenges in the coffee value chain. Anacafé will continue to work and engage itself in the sector in an effort to make improvements as well as to foster social, economic and environmental sustainability," writes the trade organisation.
According to Anacafé, however, its efforts to promote change will not be enough if consumers and businesses do not also become engaged.
"If Anacafé's work to promote more sustainable coffee production is to succeed, it is imperative that the industry and coffee consumers also become involved in the process," the organisation writes. In its opinion, profits are distributed unequally in the coffee supply chain.
Danwatch departed in an important way from its previous report on Brazil, not citing the names of specific plantations that had been found by government agencies to be in violation of labor laws, while also not connecting the dots between those plantations and coffee companies in consuming countries in the United States and Europe that may have supply relationships.
"Danwatch has chosen not to map the supply chain from these plantations to coffee companies in Denmark, Europe and the United States, because we feared that the coffee workers we interviewed could be traced if we identified the plantations where they work," the group said in the report, data and interviews for which were collected largely during Guatemala's coffee harvest season in late 2015.
Find Danwatch's Bitter Coffee II in English here.
Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. Feedback and story ideas are welcome at publisher (at) dailycoffeenews.com, or see the "About Us" page for contact information.
Tags: Anacafe, child labor, DanWatch, forced labor, Guatemala, labor issues


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(Across from Wally's Pub & Christy's Pizza).
AMPTON BEACH — The first frozen yogurt shop at Hampton Beach, the Berry Breeze, is still going strong since opening in August 2012. The store is the first of its kind at Hampton and gives beachgoers a variety of options for their frozen treats.
Owners Sueann Yin Rasavong and her brother Lee Yin said they got the idea for the shop after seeing the frozen yogurt craze take off. Realizing that Hampton Beach didn't have a frozen yogurt shop, they decided open one themselves.
"It's good to see the customers come in and show appreciation for the place," Sueann said.
Sueann said that they wanted the store to be a hip fro-yo shop with a touch of a nautical theme, with customers coming in and feeling like they're sitting out at the beach.
"We wanted to go for a nice clean, relaxed atmosphere," Sueann said. "Our main goal is to have our customers feel like they're at home."
Sueann said they wanted to make sure their customers had options and in that spirit they made the Berry Breeze a self serve store, where customers make their own frozen yogurt treats. Sueann said that she had always felt pressured when she went into an employee-served frozen yogurt shops and that she didn't want that for her customers.
"We felt that was better to allow you to take your time, make anything, and put how much of what you want on something," Sueann said.
Sueann say customers have a huge influence on the shop's flavors and toppings. The Berry Breeze has few main flavors that don't change such as chocolate and vanilla, with flavors that rotate, such as California Tart and Espresso, based on customer opinion.
"Right now we just are talking to customers," Sueann said, "'Hey what do you prefer?', 'Is there a topping you want but don't see?'"
Sueann says they're planning on putting up a board with flavors and toppings that people can vote on but for now simply talking with customers has worked well. Sueann said that last week they had decided to take vanilla off the menu and after listening to customers decided to bring it back. Sueann says that business has been picking up since Memorial Day and that they've just been trying to get their name out there.
"We had a group of 6 kids that came in with their parents saying 'this place is awesome!' Rasavon said. "Seeing the excitement on the faces of kids and our customers, it's a good feeling."


– The controller comes with a photo button to snap pictures, a video button to start and stop recording and a roll button for an instant 360° roll.
– Left trigger and right joystick combo with flip 360° in any direction. Right trigger turns the signal light on and off.