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Robert Babak Rowshan

'It is not in the American national interest to go to war against Iran anytime soon' So I ran into a friend who knows a lot about U.S. policy and Iran. We sat down on a park bench and this is what he told me: The worst possible thing to do is go to war with Iran. The key is the people — and they are sick of the mullahs. Right now the pressure is working to separate the people from the regime.

THIS JUST IN! Sloths in onesies! I Double-Derp Dare You. What, are you chicken? Go ahead, lick the window. I promise your tongue won’t get stuck. (You will, however, look like a total dork for our amusement.) With this much derp, we’ll need more than one FaveFrame™ Cute Overload :D. FileHippo.com - Download Free Software. Google Voice Founder Sets His Sights On VoIP Once Again. Odd Anomalous Facts about the Human Mouth.

If you're new here, you may want to sign up for email alerts or to subscribe to my RSS feed . Enjoy Life in the Fast Lane ! While your mouth is more than the simple means of mastication and communication, there are a number of little-known facts about the human mouth that will give you some food for thought. Right-handed people are most likely to chew on the right side of their mouths , and just by the basic act of kissing your partner, you can gain over 250 colonies of bacteria. Mouth off-limits. Photo Francisca Ulloa The act of kissing is a common expression of affection among many mores worldwide, yet in certain cultures kissing was introduced only through European settlement — prior to this, kissing was not a routine occurrence.

Just as we all have unique fingerprints, humans also have unique tongue prints. Those with a narrow mouth roof are more likely to snore. Of the 5 senses, taste is the weakest in humans. Photo Hammed Saber Females have more taste buds than males. ShareThis. Chartbeat’s New Features: Up With Engagement, Down With Linkbait.

Chartbeat is going to be launching a new version of its real-time analytics service in a few weeks, and I got a sneak peek earlier today. The big theme: looking beyond pageviews. You can see a screenshot of the main Chartbeat dashboard above. Specifically, it’s the Chartbeat page for venture capitalist Fred Wilson’s blog, because apparently he doesn’t mind sharing. Elements of the interface might change (Chartbeat’s Lauryn Bennett and Alex Carusillo kept telling me, “Don’t fall in love with anything.”) but if they do, the basic functionality will remain the same.

So what’s new? As in the existing version, the number of current visitors to your site is displayed prominently, but there’s a new number that’s just as visible — the total amount of time that visitors have spent engaged on your site today, and the average time for each visitor. The dashboard still includes a list of articles, but they aren’t the articles with the most views.

Don’t draw attention to your community’s weaknesses. Movie-Vault does a great job at highlighting its weaknesses. Take a look at the homepage; as of Wednesday January 11th, in the left column we see 67 RSS readers and 55 Twitter followers. In the articles section, we are repeatedly reminded that nobody is commenting on the articles -there are four articles all with a large button proclaiming ’0 Comments’ (apart from one article lucky enough to attract the attention of a spammer). Furthermore, on every article we have the opportunity to be the first to ‘Like’ the content on Facebook. Not all online communities have the audience or level of interaction to support the social proof tools we commonly see online today. Unfortunately, because they’re so prevalent, the temptation to integrate them into our own websites or online communities can often be irresistible. Why draw attention to the fact nobody comments on your content? Move-Vault has drawn attention to the following weaknesses: Download My Community Building Pack inShare2 Similar Posts.

Australia’s Leading Renewable Energy Company – Hydro Tasmania – Completes Cisco Connected Grid Implementation at Tasmania’s King Island Power Station. Cisco Australia has been working with Logica on a major upgrade to the communications network at Tasmania’s King Island power station. King Island is a small island approximately halfway between Tasmania and the Australian mainland and the upgrade is part of Hydro Tasmania’s AUD$46 million King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project (KIREIP). KIREIP is a project which exists to create renewable energy generation and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. To achieve this, a portfolio of old, new and experimental products are brought together which will increase renewable energy use, deliver reduced carbon emissions, all the while maintaining the quality and reliability of the power supply on the island.

Cisco Connected Grid technology has been added to the portfolio of environmentally friendly products used in this initiative. The Cisco Connected Grid solution includes ruggedized routers and switches that are specifically designed to handle the most demanding energy utility environments. Google Meets Miss Manners, Encourages Searchers To Thank Those Who +1'd Content. DEAR MISS GOOGLE: When I searched for something using your service, I found a friend had +1′d one of the of listings. What should one do in this case? GENTLE SEARCHER: It’s always polite in these situations to thank your kind friend.

In fact, I’ve added a new “Thank” feature allowing you to do exactly this, though Google+. Yes, a new Google+ feature has been spotted in the wild that further blends organic results with social information. Early today State of Search and charliesaidthat noticed a thank you link on an organic listing next to the Google+ users who +1′d a result. When logged in as a Google+ user, various editors here could see this functionality appearing sporadically on a range of search terms. In order for the “Thank” link to show, the link in the results had to be +1′d from a circled user. If a searcher did choose to thank someone for the +1, they were prompted to thank directly on Google+.

So don’t be surprised next time you’re thanked for a +1 on your wall. How independent is your online community? A great community manager can build a great online community. That being said, a community shouldn’t be reliant on one person for its success. Yes, it needs a leader – but it shouldn’t depend on that leader for its daily survival. Here’s a quick and easy way you can determine just how independent your community is – find your community’s total post count, and figure out how many of those posts were made by you. When you’re building a new community from scratch, it will be largely reliant on its manager – you need to encourage the development of existing conversations and get new ones started.

As the community develops, you want to get this percentage down. Insomnia Land is two years old. 22% of forum posts were written by meFemale Forum is three years old. 4% of forum posts were written by meJust Chat is twelve years old. 0.17% of forum posts were written by me Insomnia Land is two years old, but it’s clear that it still relies on my contributions to keep it going. InShare5 Similar Posts. Alumni Scholarship Award Winners: Carrie, Kristin, Catherine — School of Visual Arts — MFA in Interaction Design. The department is proud to announce that second-year MFA Interaction Design candidates, Carrie Stiens, Kristin Breivik, and Catherine Young have received Alumni Scholarship Awards from the School of Visual Arts Alumni Society. The scholarship is awarded annually, with the reward amounts ranging from $500 to $2,000, to undergraduate and graduate students to support their thesis or portfolio projects during their final year of study.

The funding for this scholarship comes entirely from alumni who have established themselves as artists and designers since graduating from SVA. SPOKED: Prototyping ride tracking methods In the process of working on their thesis, Carrie, Kristin, and Catherine all needed to conduct large scale explorations, experiments and tests, for which they needed funding. The award they’ve received has allowed them to move forward with projects without compromising on the quantity and quality of their explorations. Rorsketch: a public interface concept for MoMA PS1.

SEC Charges Adviser with Defrauding Investors via Social Media Sites | Investing, Raising Capital, Sales Training, and Recruiting with Social Media. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Chicago-area investment adviser, Anthony Fields, with fraudulently promoting more than $500 billion in fictitious securities on several social media sites and issued two alerts and an investor bulletins regarding the risks investors and advisory firms face when using social media. “Fraudsters are quick to adapt to new technologies to exploit them for unlawful purposes,” said Robert B. Kaplan, Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit. “Social media is no exception, and today’s enforcement action reflects our determination to pursue fraudulent activity on new and evolving platforms.” The SEC order against Fields alleges he made multiple fraudulent offers through his two sole proprietorships – Anthony Fields & Associates (AFA) and Platinum Securities Brokers.

He provided false and misleading information to the public regarding assets under management, clients and operational history. How to Ensure Replacement Windows Live up to Efficiency Claims. Home energy savings from replacement windows may be overstated by marketers… Homeowners who replace their existing windows with new energy-efficient ones will be saving energy and helping to reduce heating and cooling costs. But the home energy-savings claims made by some companies which market replacement windows may be overstated.

Window technology has improved significantly in the last 15 years, with new windows offering reduced heat loss, less air leakage, and warmer window surfaces which help reduce condensation. However, some marketing claims go so far as to suggest that “overall home energy costs will be reduced by up to 50%.” The FTC has recently announced five settlements with marketers of replacement windows over charges that their savings claims were deceptive and not backed by reliable scientific evidence. What are realistic savings estimates from replacement windows? Replacement window savings during the heating season: Replacement window savings during the cooling season: Follow WordPress Development.

Steve Jobs’s Reality Distortion Field — [VIDEO. 6 Steps To Get The Most Out Of Your Optimization Team. I would like to start this blog post by stating I am NO Analyst! However, I am on the front lines, talking to the people contacting FutureNow Inc. and answering their sales related questions. My unique lack of expertise in the day to day analytical reporting allows me to share some insights about what is necessary to begin a Conversion Rate Optimization Engagement, even before your first call with an analyst! We have a mixed audience at FutureNow Inc., those who understand conversion rate optimization but need some outside perspective or guidance and those that understand conversion because they can see their numbers but don’t know what to do with those numbers.

I think our own Howard Kaplan said it best, “a good percentage of our audience calls looking for help, but haven’t taken some basic steps to turn their Google Analytics data from a thermometer into a thermostat.” 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A. B. C. D. Now that you have all the basics set up, give us a call! Online Checkout Evolves — Pay by Holding Your Credit Card Up to Your Webcam. The Internet will need to see some ID, please. Online payment company Jumio has announced the launch of Netverify: an image recognition technology that allows merchants to remotely scan credit cards and IDs with a webcam or phone.

To use Netverify, shoppers hold up a credit card and a driver’s license to their cameras to verify their identification as they’re checking out. This online equivalent of asking a customer to show ID at the checkout stand is designed to help eliminate credit card fraud, and although the application can recognize and verify an image, no data is stored on the computer. With less hardware than a traditional credit card swiper – and an even more mobile platform than a plug-in device like Square – Netverify can make an online transaction just as personal as a point of sale, but less expensive for the merchants. What will this mean for the social media industry? In the real world, identity verification is limited to high-security and age-restricted areas. Would you Expose your Family to Neurotoxins for a Greener Lawn?

The EPA is being sued for failing to respond to a 2008 petition to ban 2,4-D from lawn care products… Every year over 4.6 million pounds of the toxic herbicide 2,4-D are applied to lawns, playgrounds and golf courses in the U.S. Commonly found in ‘weed n’ feed’ products, 2,4-D is an ingredient in Agent Orange which was used as a defoliant during the Vietnam war.

And while the EPA has been made aware of the health threats associated with 2,4-D, the agency has been slow to take measures to remove this hazardous ingredient from lawn care products. Today, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a lawsuit against the EPA to ban the use of 2,4-D from ‘weed n’ feed’ lawn care products. Specifically, the suit claims the EPA has failed to respond to a 2008 petition to cancel all registrations and revoke all tolerances of the known neurotoxin and ingredient in Agent Orange. …birth defects were 60% to 90% more likely in counties with higher 2,4-D application rates… World Water Day Focus: Carbon for Water. Enter to win free tickets to “Carbon for Water”, or $50 cash below. Every March 22nd since 1993, World Water Day has been a time to focus attention on global water issues and to recognize the role that fresh water plays in our lives.

With population growth and climate change, access to safe drinking water is becoming more difficult for people the world over. But today we’re going to tell you a fascinating and uplifting success story, which is the subject of the new documentary film, Carbon for Water. We’ll also show you how to win tickets to a screening of this inspiring documentary. Every day over 5,000 people die, mostly children in developing countries, from diseases contracted by drinking dirty water. Every day over 5,000 people die, mostly children in developing countries, from diseases contracted by drinking dirty water. In Kenya’s Western Province, over 90% of people lack access to safe water. Only 60 years ago, most of the province was covered by forest. 41total entries Entry #15S. Community Math: Multiplying Employee Power to Fight Global Hunger.

Hands On With The New iPad.

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