vineri, 10 mai 2013

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


90's Rave Kids vs Today's Rave Kids

Posted: 10 May 2013 08:59 AM PDT

A lot has changed during the last 15-20 years.







































DIY Batmobile

Posted: 10 May 2013 08:24 AM PDT

How to build a Batmobile for your kid.















































Travel Hacking Vegas: Las Vegas Deals [Infographic]

Posted: 10 May 2013 08:08 AM PDT

Ahhh, Las Vegas. Land of gambling, buffets, and wedding chapels. It's easy to spend a lot of dough in Sin City, but we've teamed up with our friends at Marriott to help you 'travel hack' your way through Vegas and save some cash. Check our handy infographic for some Las Vegas deals and tips for your next trip to Sin City. You (and your wallet) will be glad you did. Even on a budget, you can find plenty to do and enjoy in Vegas, baby!

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Via marriottintl

Geometric Tattoos

Posted: 09 May 2013 09:44 PM PDT

Geometric tattoos don't always look cool, but they are graphically gorgeous.










































































































Via Buzzfeed

Living in a Ghetto

Posted: 09 May 2013 08:37 PM PDT

You know you live in a ghetto when you see things like this.





























































 





West Wing Week: "I Dare You to Do Better"

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Friday, May 10, 2013
 

West Wing Week: "I Dare You to Do Better"

This week, the President traveled to Mexico and Costa Rica, spoke to the graduating class of 2013 at The Ohio State University, hosted the new President of South Korea, discussed hurricane preparedness -- and kicked off his Jobs & Opportunity tour in the Lone Star State.

Watch this week's West Wing Week here.

West Wing Week 05/10/13

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog:

President Obama Talks Jobs, Skills and Opportunity in Austin
President Obama kicks off a series of Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tours focused on the his core agenda: creating a strong and vibrant economy built on good middle class jobs.

Manufacturing Innovation Institutes Explained in 60 Seconds
Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, explains why plans to establish three new Manufacturing Innovation Institutes are an important part of President’s strategy to invest in manufacturing.

Landmark Steps to Liberate Open Data
President Obama signs an Executive Order directing historic steps to make government-held data more accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs and others as fuel for innovation and economic growth.

Today's Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

10:45 AM: The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

1:45 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney WhiteHouse.gov/live

2:40 PM: The President delivers a statement on the Affordable Care Act WhiteHouse.gov/live

WhiteHouse.gov/live Indicates that the event will be live-streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/Live

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What's a manufacturing innovation institute? The answer in 60 seconds.

The White House Friday, May 10, 2013
 

What's a manufacturing innovation institute? The answer in 60 seconds. 

After shedding jobs for a decade, American manufacturers have added about 500,000 positions over the past three years. Production is growing at its fastest pace in over a decade.

President Obama is committed to continuing this progress -- which is why he’s laid out a comprehensive agenda to make America a magnet for manufacturing.

Yesterday, following through on a promise he made in his State of the Union, the President rolled out the first piece of that agenda, announcing competitions to establish three new Manufacturing Innovation Institutes.

These new institutes, partnerships among business, universities and community colleges, and government, will develop and build manufacturing technologies and capabilities to help U.S.-based businesses and workers create good jobs.

We asked Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, to explain in 60 seconds or less why these institutes are an important part of the President’s strategy to invest in manufacturing.

Find out why investing in manufacturing is so important.

Watch On the Clock with Gene Sperling

P.S. -- In case you missed it, yesterday President Obama directed his Administration to take historic steps to make government-held data more accessible as fuel for innovation and economic growth.

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Positioning Your Business for the Future of SEO - Whiteboard Friday

Positioning Your Business for the Future of SEO - Whiteboard Friday


Positioning Your Business for the Future of SEO - Whiteboard Friday

Posted: 09 May 2013 02:14 PM PDT

Posted by RonGarrett

Keeping up with the rapidly changing pace of SEO best-practices can sometimes be as difficult as juggling flaming batons while reciting the alphabet backwards. As an agency or business owner, you need a checklist to help make sure you're staying competitive, focusing on the right tactics, and building your business in the right direction. 

In today's Whiteboard Friday, Ron Garett discusses how to position your business for whatever the future of SEO may bring. Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below!

For your viewing pleasure, here's an image of the whiteboard used in today's video:

 

Video Transcription

"Howdy SEOmoz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. My name is Ron Garrett, and I work with Distilled out of their New York office. I'm just down here this week in Seattle, and Rand invited me over to tape an edition of Whiteboard Friday. Either which way, I hope you like it.

Today I'm going to primarily be talking to agencies, business owners, freelancers, and consultants. The topic is positioning your business for the future of SEO. Now we all know that SEO is rapidly changing. The skills that you need to be successful in SEO, whether it's technical, being good with analytics and big data sets, UX design, content creation, all of these different facets, we need to constantly innovate and make sure that we're at the top of our game.

What I've done today is put together a checklist of things that you, as an agency or a business owner, can go through your business and review to make sure that you're staying competitive, to make sure that you're focusing on the things that you should be focusing on, and really trying to figure out where you should be building your business.

Let's go ahead and start off. Use the resources within your organization. Let's go ahead and start over here.

First, start talking to your salespeople. They're oftentimes the first defense to clients. So oftentimes when clients reach out, they're going to be the first to talk to the clients and get a sense of what they're looking for, get a sense of how they think about SEO, get a sense of how they're spending for SEO and how their teams are working, their digital, their content, all those different teams are working together to be able to bring SEO and integrate it. Try to figure out what they doing, how they're doing it, and how you can take that information and integrate it back into how you sell, how you talk to clients, those types of things.

Also talk to your consultants. They spend a great deal of time working with each of the clients that you have to have a deep understanding of their needs, what their business goals are, what the biggest opportunities are, and where the biggest flaws or weaknesses or challenges are within the organization. Talk to them and try to get a sense of where the common threads are across most of your clients.

Also, once you have a relationship with a client and your interests are aligned, reach out to them. Take them out to lunch and see how they're doing. Get a sense of what's going on in their organization, how they talk about SEO internally, how they spend on SEO internally. Is SEO at the table when everybody is discussing content strategy, technical and all these different things?

Also reach out to other companies in your industry. I think one of the things that I love most about the SEO community is the fact that it is just that. It's such a great community of people. Even if you have a competitor that you may compete against for business, they still may be a great resource for you to go out and chat and see what's worked well for them and what hasn't worked well for them and see what the commonalities are there.

Also make sure that you're following what's going on in the industry. Making sure that you are either putting on events or attending events is a great way to see what are some common topics that are coming up quite frequently. Take a look at the trends and the commonalities there.

Also take a look at the talent and the people that are coming up within the industry and the things that they're talking about, the things that they're passionate about, and the things working for them. That's a great way to keep a pulse on the industry.

Also take a look at emerging technology. There are some pretty impressive startups and impressive technology companies, like SEOmoz, Conductor, and all these different companies who are creating technology that allows SEO agencies and businesses to scale and be efficient within their organization. Take a look at those emerging technologies and see how you can utilize those as a business to take your business to the next level.

One big thing that we talk a lot about at Distilled is how we can continue to tinker and test ideas. This is really important because sometimes you won't have enough knowledge. You don't know what you don't know. We encourage and recommend all of our consultants to continuously test and continuously tinker with things and figure out some interesting things that are working and not working. Oftentimes there is no way that we can plan for those types of knowledge gaps that we get there.

I also want to discuss really quickly what's worked well for us here at Distilled is our value are set up as "Discover, Implement and Learn." That's really given us a nice framework to be able to make sure that we're constantly testing things, we're constantly putting things out there, we're constantly figuring out what works and what doesn't work, and we're integrating that back into the solutions that we're providing our clients. That's been quite nice.

Next, you as an organization figure out whether or not you want to specialize or whether or not you want to be a comprehensive business, whether or not you want to provide a specific solution, such as integrating SEO with PR, or whether or not you want to be a full-fledged agency where you're providing digital solutions from a technology standpoint, to content creation, to outreach, to digital PR. Really figure out what your niche is going to be. Even if you do choose to specialize, don't think that you can't take on other types of work. It just helps customers understand what your value proposition is and what they can expect when they come to you. You can always show them other things that you're capable of providing, but I think having that starting point can be really beneficial.

Here is a checklist that I put together of when you're looking to assess your business and figure out, "All right, where are my strengths? Where are my weaknesses? Where can I make improvements?" Start to look at if you were to make certain decisions within your business, what are the different risks and rewards that you would get out of making certain decisions and try to forecast a little bit. Try to take a look at some of the data that you've accumulated over time and think, "If I were to make this decision for my business today, what are some of the things that I can anticipate?"

Also, it's important to take a look at your current strategy to see what's working and what's not working and continue to improvise upon that. Reevaluate that strategy and figure out what's working and what's not working.

Also, I think it's important to have a good balance between aspirational and pragmatic. Take a look at the things that you as a business can accomplish in the short term, given the resources that you guys have, and how you need to think about achieving some of your long-term goals and being realistic. Figure out ways you can get that kind of minimal viable product out there. Figure out what's working and what's not working and continue to innovate on top of that. That can be really beneficial as well.

Also evaluate your company mission, vision, and values. I know a lot of companies are taking a look at the values and making a lot of their decisions based on their values. So making sure that with where your company is at and where your business is at that those things still apply. Those things can be really powerful drivers for why somebody would want to come work for you, why somebody would continue to stay working for you, and the purpose they get out of the job they have. Just make sure that you're constantly looking at and evaluate that.

I also think it's important to take a look at the client mix. Take a look at the percentage of clients that are currently on a project basis versus a retain basis. These types of things can influence cash position and cash flow within your organization, and looking for ways to either drive up the amount of retained clients that you have or figuring out just really beneficial projects that you can take on that are either going to drive the knowledge gap forward or drive the cash flow position forward. Just make sure that the types of projects that you are bringing on are helping you achieve your goals.

Take a look at your company and your employees, and take a look at their strengths and weaknesses. I think being pragmatic about that as well can be very beneficial, especially when you start to reach critical mass at your company. You go from 10 employees to 50 employees, 50 employees to 100 employees, and the dynamic of your company starts to shift, and you get a very eclectic group of people that end up coming in that all have different strengths and talents, and they get very passionate about different things. Understanding the dynamics that those play and what works well with one another can be really important for you to understand when making these types of business decisions.

It's also important to understand as a company your tolerance for risk. You can have all the aspirations in the world, but if your company hesitates to make certain types of decisions and you don't feel like it's a decision that you can fully make and commit to, it may be good to reevaluate whether or not that decision is something that you should look to make further down the line or what type of infrastructure or what things you would need to be able to make that decision sooner. Just being realistic about the tolerance levels that you have at your organization.

Take a look at how you currently make money. At different companies we love the places we work, and ultimately we have to be able to figure out ways to be able to make money. Taking a look at where your big drivers for cash are and how those are marking your company money can be really beneficial.

Future aspirations. We all want to have goals. We all want to work toward something that's going to create purpose for us, that's going to help us get to where we want to be, and we want to make sure they're big enough to where it's not easy for us to attain in the short term, but it's something that we can all believe in and work towards as a company. I think figuring out what your future aspirations are, both at a company level and at an employee level, can be very, very powerful.

Last, but not least, if you're looking to make investments in your organization, understanding the types of investments that you can and cannot make now based on your current cash flow position or whether or not you have access to capital and just understanding the dynamics between that can help determine how quickly you can make certain decisions or what types of clients you're going to have to bring on before you can make those types of decisions.

I know I've provided you with a lot of information today, but ultimately I wanted to help give you a framework and a checklist for you, the business owner or the agency, to take a step back and to evaluate your company, to evaluate your employees, to evaluate all the things that make you great, and to evaluate the areas where you need to make improvements and get to where you want to be. I think once you have a deeper understanding of all this, it will help you make business decisions, it will help you communicate those decisions to the employees there, and it can help empower people at your organization to do some pretty incredible things.

So get out there, keep building."

Video transcription by Speechpad.com


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Seth's Blog : Miscommunication

 

Miscommunication

The challenge of communication isn't to never miscommunicate, it's to cut down the time between the interaction and the realization that the communication didn't get through. Because the sooner we know we're not connecting, the sooner we can fix it.

Phone calls, for example, lead to less miscommunication than instructions sent by mail. A cycle of clarity is built into the medium. "Huh?" is a perfectly appropriate way to ask someone to refine a message. Conversations are more clear than marching orders, because conversations have built-in error detection and correction.

Organizations that are good at flagging the misunderstood internal messages are far more likely to move quickly, in sync, than the ones that assume that messages from on high are never to be questioned. When in doubt, ask.

     

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joi, 9 mai 2013

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Currencies on the Move: Yen-USD Busts Through 1.00 Barrier; Australian Dollar, Euro Slump; The Uplifting "Abenomics Bra"

Posted: 09 May 2013 01:24 PM PDT

There are some interesting moves in the forex markets today. Most notably the Yen cracked the 1.00 barrier.

Yen Daily Chart



click on chart for sharper image

After flirting with 1.00 for three weeks, the Yen fell through today.

Is it the new Abenomicsa Bra?
The Japanese division of lingerie maker Triumph International unveiled on Wednesday an "Abenomics" bra, a special edition it says offers a "growth strategy" and a potential lift towards Japan's elusive inflation target.

"We hope that, as the Japanese economy grows, we can also help bust sizes to get bigger," said Triumph spokeswoman Keiko Masuda. Its benefits for Japan's policymakers were less clear.
The Uplifting Abenomics Bra



Australian Dollar Intraday Action



click on chart for sharper image

Top to bottom swing is about 2.5 cents vs the US dollar. That is a big swing, without (thankfully) a bra for Prime Minister Julia Gillard on display.

However, a high school student threw a sandwich at Gillard today.
The student in question, Kyle Thompson, has been suspended for 15 days for the incident but denies he did it, local TV reported.

[Kyle Thompson, Student]: "I hit the sandwich out of the kid's hand because he threw it and there was another one so I hit it out of his hand," he said.

When asked why the prime minister was targeted he said, "maybe because nobody likes her."

Although there was the occasional boo, most children cheered and jostled to shake Gillard's hand during the school visit.

Currency Moves



Unfinished Business

The end of my previous post was accidentally cutoff. Here is the tail end of Action Plan to Save Slovenia is Trifecta of Stupidity.
Trifecta of Stupidity

Is there not one bureaucrat who can be fired? What about changes to work rules to make the country more productive? Is every cent Slovenia spends necessary?

Hiking taxes in a recession is the single worst thing a country can do, yet Slovenia proposes a trio of them. When Slovenia slumps further into the gutter (and it will if they implement even a portion of these proposals), Keynesian clowns will holler "austerity ruined Slovenia".

Nothing could be further from the truth. Tax hikes in a recession are not austerity, they are stupidity, and Slovenia is going for the tax-trifecta of a tax on wages, a hike in the VAT, and a hike on property taxes.

Unemployment, already at 13.5%, will hit 20% if this plan is implemented.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Action Plan to Save Slovenia is Trifecta of Stupidity

Posted: 09 May 2013 10:05 AM PDT

As Slovenia struggles to avoid an inevitable bailout, it pursues a plan that will instead make the size of the eventual bailout larger.

Please consider the inane "Action Plan" for Eurozone Straggler Slovenia.
The new government of struggling eurozone member Slovenia is expected to announce Thursday an action plan aimed at avoiding a bailout, reportedly including privatisations, "crisis" taxes and austerity cuts.

Moody's last week cut its rating on Slovenia two notches to "junk", the economy has been in recession since 2011, unemployment stands at 13.5 percent and voters are fed up with their political leaders.

According to leaked details, Bratusek is eyeing a "crisis" levy of 0.5-5.0 percent on all wages, to hike in 2014 value-added tax (VAT), a tax on property and other measures to boost state revenues.
Trifecta of Stupidity

Is there not one bureaucrat who can be fired? What about changes to work rules to make the country more productive? Is every cent Slovenia spends necessary?

Hiking taxes in a recession is the single worst thing a country can do, yet Slovenia proposes a trio of them. When Slovenia slumps further into the gutter (and it will if they implement even a portion of these proposals), Keynesian clowns will holler "austerity ruined Slovenia".

Nothing could be further from the truth. Tax hikes in a recession are not austerity, they are stupidity, and Slovenia is going for the tax-trifecta of a tax on wages, a hike in the VAT, and a hike on property taxes.

Unemployment, already at 13.5%, will hit 20% if this plan is implemented.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

ECB Ponders Buying Toxic Debt of the Periphery; Don't Worry, It Will Be "Fiscally Neutral" and Temporary

Posted: 09 May 2013 01:08 AM PDT

In an effort to stimulate small and medium (SME) lending the ECB considers acquiring banks toxic debt of the periphery. Via mish-modified translate from Spanish Libre Mercado.
The European Central Bank (ECB) could "soon" start buying bad debts of Southern European countries in an attempt to end the fragmentation in the eurozone and boost funding to SMEs, as confirmed by the German ECB representative Jörg Asmussen.

"It's part of the debate on lending to SMEs," Asmussen said when asked about the measure, which was unveiled by the German newspaper Die Welt. The ECB has an "open mind" to do everything "within our mandate" to solve this problem, Asmussen explained in an appearance before the Economic Affairs Committee of the Parliament.

The goal, the German banker continued, is "revive the market asset-backed securities, particularly those backed by loans to SMEs, of course with strict supervision." In any case, the ECB representative stressed that "liquidity is not what is preventing banks from lending" but "the lack of capital."

For his part, Vice President of the Commission responsible for Economic Affairs, Olli Rehn, has said that in "many parts of southern Europe" live SMEs "financial trap". "We are facing severe financial fragmentation in Europe, where similar types of companies must pay for credit interest rates significantly higher in southern Europe compared to the core countries," said Rehn.

"It is very important that each European institution, within its mandate, work to overcome this funding and liquidity trap in southern Europe," he insisted. "We have to complete the repair of the banking system as soon as possible, ensure its capitalization, build a banking union and resolve the liquidity trap," stated the economic vice.

Asmussen seeks a complete banking union "as soon as possible" to break the "negative interaction" between banks and states and prevent recurrence of crises such as Cyprus.

"The Cypriot case has been a salutary reminder of the importance of establishing a banking union as soon as possible. Only then will we be able to break the negative interaction between states and their banking systems," said the representative of the ECB during a hearing in the Economic Affairs Committee on Cypriot case.

The German banker also stressed that the EU must "urgently" a framework for resolution of financial institutions that include "a set of clear and known in advance" about how the losses will be shared among the different creditors, establishing a "preference for depositors".

"The new framework should put depositors at the top of the hierarchy of creditors and ensure that the role of deposit insurance funds in the settlement is limited to guarantee to depositors" with less than 100,000 euros.

The ECB also wants a unique mechanism of resolution "with a strong central authority to take impartial decisions to minimize time and costs of the resolution." This authority should have a resolution fund that has temporary public support and is "fiscally neutral".
Scary Stuff

Talk of "temporary public support" ought to scare everyone in Germany to death. Heck, this kind of talk should scare the UK to death as well. It serves as a warning signal for the UK to exit the EU while it can. 

Fiscally Neutral?

Supposedly the proposal will have a "resolution fund" that is "fiscally neutral". Hmm... Neutral to who? Taxpayers?

Banking union? Who does that benefit?

Within Mandate?

Asmussen says the ECB has an "open mind" to do everything "within our mandate" to solve this problem.

Since when is it under ECB mandate to buy toxic debt of Southern European countries to stimulate SME lending?

Uncertainty Principle Yet Again

Seems to me banks lent too much money already to SMEs and are choking on losses. Is it within ECB mandate to provide capital to failing institutions?

I think not. Nonetheless, the Fed Uncertainty Principle is at play once again. Simply substitute ECB for Fed in the following corollary.
Uncertainty Principle Corollary Number Four: The Fed simply does not care whether its actions are illegal or not. The Fed is operating under the principle that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. And forgiveness is just another means to the desired power grab it is seeking.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Creepy Ghost Photobombs

Posted: 08 May 2013 08:49 PM PDT

Ghosts make the best photobombers..



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