Nelson-Atkins welcomes Chinese New Year in celebration
February 11, 2009
Nelson-Atkins welcomes Chinese New Year in celebration
Happy New Year, and welcome to the year 4707 on the Chinese lunar calendar.
While most Kansas City residents were celebrating over a month ago, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art ushered in the year of the Ox in proper Chinese fashion.
Nelson sold every seat to all events in the festival for yet another year of celebrations, with many different activities to fill the evening.
Science Dissemination Using Open Access: Table of Contents
Science Dissemination Using Open Access: A Compendium Of Selected Literature On Open Access / Editors E. Canessa and M. Zennaro (ICTP-SDU, Italy).
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Science Dissemination Unit (SDU) / July 2008 / 207 pp. / ISBN 92-95003-40-3.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: Selected Literature – 1
OVERVIEW – 3
GETTINGS PROFESSIONAL – 37
Challenges for new journals ….. 38
Measuring your impact …… 39
Journal standards and identifiers …… 40
Building reliable and ongoing content …… 42
Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS) ….. 42
LEGAL FRAMEWORK – 43
Open Access journals ….. 73
UCLA's defense shuts down Cal men – San Francisco Chronicle
January 30, 2009
UCLA's defense shuts down Cal men – San Francisco Chronicle UCLA's defense shuts down Cal men
Washington Post
San Francisco Chronicle -
(01-29) 04:00 PST LOS ANGELES — – All week long, Cal coach Mike Montgomery preached that the vaunted and physical UCLA defense was as tough to solve as in year's past, despite many critics' suggestions to the contrary.
Turnovers cost Cal in loss to UCLA
No. 17 UCLA routs Cal
Ads pressure GOP senators to back Obama's stimulus plan – CNN Ads pressure GOP senators to back Obama's stimulus plan
ABC News
CNN -
By Mark Preston WASHINGTON (CNN) — Voters in Cleveland, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Reno, Nevada, will wake Friday morning to a new radio advertisement calling on them to urge their Republican senators to support President Obama's stimulus …
Video: Coulter Slams Stimulus Plan
Turkish PM given hero's welcome – BBC News Turkish PM given hero's welcome
Aljazeera.net
BBC News -
Turkey's PM has received a hero's welcome on his return to Istanbul after he stormed out of a debate about Gaza at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Erdogan hailed after Davos walkout
Angry exchanges shatter Davos’s genteel dialogue 30/01 07:41 CET
Movie Review: Taken – Entertainment Weekly Movie Review: Taken
Washington Post
Entertainment Weekly -
By Owen Gleiberman In the propulsively outlandish thriller Taken (it's like Paul Schrader's 1979 Hardcore with no brain and more muscle), Liam Neeson plays a retired CIA agent out to find his daughter, who has been abducted by an Albanian sex …
You’ll be quite ‘Taken’ with Neeson’s thug-thrashing retired spy
Movie review: 'Taken' keeps on giving
Are You Using Clichés In Your Marketing?
January 17, 2009
Are You Using Clichés In Your Marketing?
“Examples of exaggeration can be found in almost any advertising medium. The use of the superlative is altogether too prevalent. Phrases like; the finest, the best, the greatest, the purest, the most economical, and so on ad infinitum, are hurled at the public everywhere. Surely not all products of the same class can be the best or the finest.” —Daniel Starch
No one should be using these words on their landing page: greatest, hottest, best, fantastic, amazing. These clichés have been used so much over the last 50 years that they have lost the ability to ping a reader’s emotions. The average American hears or sees about 12,000 advertisements each week. They have become experts at picking up on weasel words and sensing when they are the target of a snow job. Your sales pitch should come off as being authentic and personal, not like what a carnival hustler yells at everyone walking by his stand.
You want to avoid sounding like a hustler. For example, the worst headline you can use is, “Best Deal on the Most Amazing Book on Earth!” When your prospect sees this kind of headline, it is a huge red flag that signals that what they are reading is nothing more than hype, and certainly not a solution to their problem or need. As soon as your reader feels like she might be the target of a hype job, within four seconds she will hit the back button and take her business to one of your competitors.
Not only can you spot an amaeture marketer by the clichés that he uses in his headlines, but how often he uses an exclamation point. The idea is that using an exclamation point pings the emotion of excitement in his reader. This is simply not true. A business that came to me for help with their sales copy had the headline, “Buy! Buy! Buy!” As if yelling at someone is going to make them buy your product or service.
A property management company asked me to write an ad that would increase call volume on an apartment complex. The units were priced competitively to other similar units in the area, and the location of the apartments were in the middle of town. Defining the unique selling proposition (USP) for the apartments was a challenge, but it seemed to be location. Being that the apartment complex was located in the center of Fresno, it was not really far from anything.
When I looked at the current ad, the headline read, “Best Deal.” Using Claude Hopkins’ reasoning, I dropped the cliché “Best Deal” and used specificity to create a new headline: “Last Chance At The Cheapest Close To Everything Homes In Fresno.” To strengthen the “last chance” claim, I had the price removed from the ad and added a starburst bubble below the headline that read, “Rent So Low We Won’t Publish It Here—Call Now.” To bolster the “Close To Everything” claim, I used specificity in the text of the ad to make a personal connection with readers (pinging the emotion of anger which is a subset of fear): “Angry At Rising Gas Prices? Near Freeways 41, 168, and Over 100 Businesses.”
The ad was a great success, causing an increase in call volume of 250% and resulting in the manager renting all the vacant apartments.
Here is what the father of marketing, Claude Hopkins, wrote about using clichés in your Internet marketing:
Platitudes and generalities roll off the human understanding like water from a duck. They leave no impression whatever. To say, “Best in the world,” “Lowest price in existence,” etc. are at best simply claiming the expected. But superlatives of that sort are usually damaging. They suggest looseness of expression, a tendency to exaggerate, a careless truth. They lead readers to discount all the statements that you make.
By Lance Jepsen author of Profits That Lie Hidden In Your Website
Campus Art: Quintanilla mural livens Haag stairwells
January 16, 2009
Campus Art: Quintanilla mural livens Haag stairwells
Note from the Editor: With our lives as busy as they are, it comes as no surprise that things around campus go unnoticed. But it’s a shame that we’re missing the wealth of art housed in our very own buildings. This is the first in a series about art around campus, featuring many beautiful works from the lounges in the University Center to the stairwells of Haag Hall and sculptures on the grounds.
Science Dissemination Using Open Access: Table of ContentsScience Dissemination Using Open Access: A Compendium Of Selected Literature On Open Access / Editors E. Canessa and M. Zennaro (ICTP-SDU, Italy).
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Science Dissemination Unit (SDU) / July 2008 / 207 pp. / ISBN 92-95003-40-3.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: Selected Literature – 1
OVERVIEW – 3
GETTINGS PROFESSIONAL – 37
Challenges for new journals ….. 38
Measuring your impact …… 39
Journal standards and identifiers …… 40
Building reliable and ongoing content …… 42
Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS) ….. 42
LEGAL FRAMEWORK – 43
Open Access journals ….. 73
Rough and rocky road for Roos
January 14, 2009
Rough and rocky road for Roos
The basics are easy to understand. If you put the ball in the net you are awarded points.
The Roos had major issues with this concept in the second half of Saturday evening’s game at Municipal Stadium against the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah University (SUU).
Science Dissemination Using Open Access: Table of ContentsScience Dissemination Using Open Access: A Compendium Of Selected Literature On Open Access / Editors E. Canessa and M. Zennaro (ICTP-SDU, Italy).
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Science Dissemination Unit (SDU) / July 2008 / 207 pp. / ISBN 92-95003-40-3.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: Selected Literature – 1
OVERVIEW – 3
GETTINGS PROFESSIONAL – 37
Challenges for new journals ….. 38
Measuring your impact …… 39
Journal standards and identifiers …… 40
Building reliable and ongoing content …… 42
Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS) ….. 42
LEGAL FRAMEWORK – 43
Open Access journals ….. 73
The Curling News Book Sale
January 7, 2009
A subscription will, of course, get you this info on a helpful monthly basis.
There is also an advertisement for the TCN Book Blowout, in which we are cleaning out a small inventory of classic curling books – in mint condition – at rock-bottom prices.
Burned by the Rock is a 1991 (second, updated edition) classic by former Toronto Sun writer Jean Sonmor, focussing on the “inside world of men’s championship curling”. Harken back to the days of Ryan’s Express, The Wrench, and Russ and Glenn Howard together on the ice – and off. A very young, and controversial, Kevin Martin, too. It was a great read back then, and it still is today. Was $19.95, now only $9.95!
Ken Watson on Curling is the famous instructional book from the sport’s first true master. Every curler and hardcore curling fan needs this one on his or her bookshelf of honour. Softcover, this original pressing was $21.95 and is now available for only $10.95.
Canada Curls was arguably the greatest work of TCN’s dearly departed Editor Emeritus, Doug Maxwell. Still a decent seller seven years after its initial printing, this oversize all-curling “coffee table” tome was $29.95 but is now available from us for just $12.95.
There are also two more books (not shown) in our collection: the legendary Sam Richardson’s rollicking Say It Again, Sam (was $27.95, now only $9.95) and the curling psyche book Between the Sheets, by co-authors Guy “The Rockin’ Reverend” Scholz and Cheryl Bernard (was $24.95, now only $9.95).
One or two books will cost you $8.95 in shipping and handling, while three or more books will add $10.95 in shipping and handling to your bill. And don’t forget the taxes (argh).
Act now – as in right now – and not just because Christmas is coming. Canada Post is upping the cost of parcel shipping in early January, big time – a 100-per-cent increase! – and that means any book orders we receive after December 23 will be subject to increased S & D charges.
Grab the latest December issue to get the mail-in coupon, or give our intrepid subscription guy Ryan a call at 1-800-605-CURL to order via phone. International callers can dial +1 905 887 1261.
Get your curling read on!
Laws of Attraction: New & improved Keword Advertising on Google & Yahoo
December 28, 2008
Laws of Attraction: New & improved Keword Advertising on Google & Yahoo
Traditional pay per click, or PPC, is the standard process whereby search engines such as Google and Yahoo make their money. Essentially, you choose the keywords that you want to bid on. You place your bid, and if your bid is higher than the competition, your ad gets displayed in the sponsored/pay per click sections of search results’ pages.
Pay per click advertising is flexible. Keywords can be adjusted, added, or deleted according to current market conditions. And compared to more traditional advertising techniques, it can be more economical depending on the keywords you are targeting.
Before you begin, establish a sensible budget for your PPC advertising campaign. Obviously, spending per click must be less than profit per click. Once the campaign has been launched, be sure to review the number of leads generated to ensure the campaign in still on the right track.
While pay per click advertising generates traffic immediately, and is a responsive and fast method for creating buzz for your site, it also comes with three very real problems.
1. Your competitors can “drown you out” by outbidding you.
2. Even if you have a high enough bid to be displayed on the search page, the search engine can still decide to run your ad infrequently because your advertisement is not getting enough clicks. Remember, they make money only when someone clicks on your advertisement.
3. A syndrome which is called “click fraud.” Essentially the issue here is that your competitors can organize a campaign to have people (who have no interest in your product or service) click on your ad as often as it takes to consume and maliciously waste your budget.
But here’s the good news …
We were determined to find a keyword advertising service that solves these three problems. We’ve recently started using a new service at Alpha, and so far, we’re delighted with the surge in traffic and leads coming to Alpha Five.
With this keyword advertising service, we’re guaranteed to be in the top three slots in the sponsored positions at the top of the page on Google and Yahoo.
Our ads run 24×7, so we never miss an opportunity to be found. Our competitors can’t outbid us. Our competitors can’t cause our budget to be “used up” without us achieving the intended benefit of the campaign. And we know, ahead of time, what the costs are going to be. And that price is guaranteed to us for one year.
To see how this works, let’s use Alpha Software as an example. When someone searches Google for the word “AJAX software” (which is one of the many keywords we’ve targeted), we want to show up prominently on the search results page. This new service does precisely that, and does it consistently. (Right now we are only using the service in North Amercia – we will expand it to other parts of the world soon.)
To see for yourself, type “AJAX software” into the Google search box, and see who comes up at the top of the page. Or, here’s Google’s search results page.
Unfortunately, I don’t have permission to give this keyword advertising company’s name publicly. But fortunately, I am able to connect you to this great service.
If you’re interested in getting in touch with this company, just e-mail me personally at richard@alphasoftware.com and I’ll put you directly in touch with them.
Champ Curling
December 16, 2008
You can get The Champ at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Victoria, February 21 to March 1; the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary, March 7-15 and also at the Ford World Men’s Championship in Moncton, April 4-12.
What you might not have noticed is some pretty cool branding aimed at tempting you to grab these ducats, and get your butt out to some tremendous live curling.
World champ Jennifer Jones was shipped to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club back in September for an outdoor shoot, filled with sunshine and bright blue water backgrounds.
World champ John Morris, meanwhile, was hauled out to Trilogy Studios in Calgary in October for a grimy, sweaty, indoor boxing shoot that suggests you don’t want to mess with the Mo.
You can check out more of Morris’ Champlike efforts online at the Tim Hortons Brier website while Jones’ seafaring ways are located at the Scotties TOH site.
To hear what both athletes said about the photo shoot, well, you’ll just have to grab a copy of the imminent January edition of The Curling News, which you can purchase via subscription right here. Johnny Mo, in particular, is quite funny.
Canadian Curling Association CEO Greg Stremlaw commented that both Morris and Jones were more than merely accommodating.
“Both athletes were true to form of the characteristics that set elite curlers apart from those in other sports,” said Stremlaw.
“I mean, they were totally co-operative to the point they were thanking us for the opportunity to be a part of it.”
There is also a branded campaign underway for the super-big 50th anniversary Ford World Men’s in Moncton, and it is more lighthearted: local hero Russ Howard and curling funnyman Guy Hemmings can be seen clowning around with various props and headgear on the Ford Worlds website.
The Champ is essentially two specially-priced ticket packages that allow you to get the maximum enjoyment out of the final weekend playoff action at these big events.
For all three majors – the Scotties, Brier and Worlds – The Evening Champ consists of three weeknight draws – the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – plus the entire playoff round on Friday, Saturday and Championship Sunday.
The Weekend Champ goes hard on the Thursday – with all three climactic round-robin draws that day – right through the full playoff draws.
There are, of course, other packages available… from full Event Passes to Rocks In Your Socks, a “stocking stuffer” package sold only in pairs for either the full opening weekend or any of the first three weekdays (Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday) of morning and afternoon action.
The Champ Scotties photographer was Al Harvey of Vancouver. Art Director was Rob Glennie of Winnipeg. Concept development by Rod Palson (In House Strategies) and Rob Glennie.
The Champ Brier photographer was Grant Waddell, with art direction from Brad Bell of Calgary. Concept development by IHS and Brad Bell.
Anything else?
• Did you see this National Post feature on Russ?
Well, guess what. The old wheezer did indeed beat ex-teammate Wayne Middaugh in the quarterfinals yesterday before losing to Bob Ursel in the semis, and suddenly the guy with zero points now has a 2010 Olympic dream… and with his son at second stone, no less.
Ursel, by the way, went on to beat Kevin Martin in the final…
• Marie-France Larouche won the big dealio in Ottawa and has now won five of six tournaments this season …
• And Mike McEwan is also on a roll, and has knocked fellow ’Pegger Jeff Stoughton out of the Canada Cup. Stoughton, who almost beat Brad Gushue in the 2005 Olympic Trials final, may now miss next year’s Trials entirely …
• DID YOU KNOW: that the CCA is paying for Sean Grassie and Allison Nimik, one-half of the Canadian Mixed championship team, to go to Camrose this week? The appointees will take the opportunity to learn more about Mixed Doubles before they compete in April’s world championship in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy …
• And finally, some enterprising Germans have modified Reebok’s popular training shoe for curling …
A subscription will, of course, get you this info on a helpful monthly basis.
There is also an advertisement for the TCN Book Blowout, in which we are cleaning out a small inventory of classic curling books – in mint condition – at rock-bottom prices.
Burned by the Rock is a 1991 (second, updated edition) classic by former Toronto Sun writer Jean Sonmor, focussing on the “inside world of men’s championship curling”. Harken back to the days of Ryan’s Express, The Wrench, and Russ and Glenn Howard together on the ice – and off. A very young, and controversial, Kevin Martin, too. It was a great read back then, and it still is today. Was $19.95, now only $9.95!
Ken Watson on Curling is the famous instructional book from the sport’s first true master. Every curler and hardcore curling fan needs this one on his or her bookshelf of honour. Softcover, this original pressing was $21.95 and is now available for only $10.95.
Canada Curls was arguably the greatest work of TCN’s dearly departed Editor Emeritus, Doug Maxwell. Still a decent seller seven years after its initial printing, this oversize all-curling “coffee table” tome was $29.95 but is now available from us for just $12.95.
There are also two more books (not shown) in our collection: the legendary Sam Richardson’s rollicking Say It Again, Sam (was $27.95, now only $9.95) and the curling psyche book Between the Sheets, by co-authors Guy “The Rockin’ Reverend” Scholz and Cheryl Bernard (was $24.95, now only $9.95).
One or two books will cost you $8.95 in shipping and handling, while three or more books will add $10.95 in shipping and handling to your bill. And don’t forget the taxes (argh).
Act now – as in right now – and not just because Christmas is coming. Canada Post is upping the cost of parcel shipping in early January, big time – a 100-per-cent increase! – and that means any book orders we receive after December 23 will be subject to increased S & D charges.
Grab the latest December issue to get the mail-in coupon, or give our intrepid subscription guy Ryan a call at 1-800-605-CURL to order via phone. International callers can dial +1 905 887 1261.
Get your curling read on!
Quartet disrupts library silence (with permission)
November 29, 2008
Quartet disrupts library silence (with permission)
A string quartet made of Kansas City Symphony members performed at The Kansas City Public Library last Tuesday for library patrons as a part of its Community Connections program.
Using the city skyline as a backdrop, the quartet played four songs in the east corridor of the library.
Science Dissemination Using Open Access: Table of Contents
Science Dissemination Using Open Access: A Compendium Of Selected Literature On Open Access / Editors E. Canessa and M. Zennaro (ICTP-SDU, Italy).
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. Science Dissemination Unit (SDU) / July 2008 / 207 pp. / ISBN 92-95003-40-3.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: Selected Literature – 1
OVERVIEW – 3
GETTINGS PROFESSIONAL – 37
Challenges for new journals ….. 38
Measuring your impact …… 39
Journal standards and identifiers …… 40
Building reliable and ongoing content …… 42
Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS) ….. 42
LEGAL FRAMEWORK – 43
Open Access journals ….. 73
Unacceptable breach of privacy from the Greens The
November 15, 2008
Unacceptable breach of privacy from the Greens
The Green Party has a website called vote for us where people can make billboards. Many have. But last week the Green Party sent an email to all those who made billboards asking if they would give permission for the billboards to be used in a newspaper advertisement – but it revealed everyones addresses in the process – meaning everyone who made a billboard could see who else had made one as well. That is an invasion of privacy.
But the Greens are sending more unsolicited emails from a different Green Party address asking for people to vote for them – meaning they now have a data base consisting of e-mails that they are using for purposes for which email addresses were not given.
That is unacceptable behaviour.
