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• Great Illustrators Study – Shel Silverstein (plus some poetry, too)

  Imagination Soup

  Melissa Taylor

  15 May 2012 | 1:37 pm

  Maggy of Red Ted’s Art Blog is hosting a monthly series called Kids Exploring The Great Artists. I thought I’d participate but adapt to be The Great Picture Book Illustrators. As I pondered what illustrator to choose first, my 10-year old told me about an in-class project on Shel Silverstein‘s black and white drawings. Her teacher, Jayme Mansfield, is an artist and a writer and thanks to her, we’ll start with an illustrator study of Shel Silverstein. “Draw a crazy picture,  Write a nutty poem, Sing a mumble-gumble song, Whistle through your comb.  Do a…

• Scamming consumers to educate them about online scams

  Osocio Weblog

  Tom Megginson

  16 May 2012 | 8:24 am

  We’ve all seen these types of web sites, promising weight loss, easy money and other things. But this one is not what it seems. Click any navigation on the page, and it takes you here: This online campaign by the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation alerts consumers about common scam web sites by creating some of their own. In addition to Flabkiller (above) the campaign site, topmassachusettsdeals.com, hosts: ModExperts (fake loan modification services) DebtMenders (fake debt relief) Envelope Elf (a work-at-home scam) Deals R Us (a “win a prize”…

• The Essentials of the Education Technology in 2012 - Free Kit

  Free Education Magazines and Downloads from alltop.tradepub.com

  19 Apr 2012 | 12:00 am

  The Essentials of Education Technology in 2012, brings together the latest in information, coverage of important developments, and expert commentary to help with your Education Technology related decisions.The following kit contents will help you get the most out of your Education Technology research:Managed Print Services for Government and EducationCisco Physical Security Solutions: Improve School SafetyMobile Technology Adoption in EducationRequest Free!

• Sharing Our Way toward Equality: Social Media and Gay Rights

  NTEN

  Brett

  15 May 2012 | 6:56 am

  By John Hoffman, Director of New Markets, ZeroDivide Since the moment that President Obama stated that he supports same-sex marriage, there’s been a flurry of social media activity, both pro and con, on the issue. It’s obvious by now that social media has played a huge role in shaping Americans’ attitudes toward LGBT issues. But I would go a step further. Despite the unavoidable struggles and setbacks that lay ahead, the inherent qualities of social media make the passage of same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT individuals and families inevitable. Here’s why: 1. Social media is…

• You May Be Looking for the Wrong Measurement Director

  Bridgespan - All RSS Feeds

  2 May 2012 | 5:00 pm

  You May Be Looking for the Wrong Measurement Director 2012 05 03 Matthew Forti Nonprofits on the journey to using measurement as a continuous improvement tool will eventually need to decide whether to create a full time position to

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  Imagination Soup

• Great Illustrators Study – Shel Silverstein (plus some poetry, too)

  Melissa Taylor

  15 May 2012 | 1:37 pm

  Maggy of Red Ted’s Art Blog is hosting a monthly series called Kids Exploring The Great Artists. I thought I’d participate but adapt to be The Great Picture Book Illustrators. As I pondered what illustrator to choose first, my 10-year old told me about an in-class project on Shel Silverstein‘s black and white drawings. Her teacher, Jayme Mansfield, is an artist and a writer and thanks to her, we’ll start with an illustrator study of Shel Silverstein. “Draw a crazy picture,  Write a nutty poem, Sing a mumble-gumble song, Whistle through your comb.  Do a…

• Pretend Play George’s Marvelous Medicine

  Melissa Taylor

  14 May 2012 | 1:51 pm

  Guest post by: Charlotte from Make, Do and Friend. Hi! I blog about creative play and imaginative learning with my 2.5 year-old son, Vincent. I’m so excited to be at Imagination Soup sharing our Roald Dahl inspired playtime. Recently Vin and I caught a reading of George’s Marvelous Medicine at our local library. Vinnie loved the story; we brought it home and read a chapter each night before bedtime. One of our favourite things to do is turn stories into playtime so I knew we would end up playing along as we read. George’s Marvelous Medicine really lends itself to…

• Book Rhymes with Nook (Enter to Win!)

  Melissa Taylor

  13 May 2012 | 10:43 pm

  You, my wonderful readers, go to the library with your kids. I know this. Now I’m wondering about your home libraries; so is Target. And Target wants to give one of you a . . . NOOK . . . and to tell you about the Target School Library Makeovers and Literacy Pilot program. Nice, right? School libraries need our help – badly. (Did you see this post about DC Schools cutting almost 50 librarians?!!) Target is helping; renovating 32 school libraries with more books, new furniture, carpet, and shelves, and a full technology upgrade. In addition, each child in the school will receive…

• 24 Educational iPad Apps for Kids in Reading & Writing

  Melissa Taylor

  10 May 2012 | 11:11 pm

  As I started a go-to list of the best educational iPad apps for kids, the list got so long, I split up my posts into categories. So, today we’ll start with my favorite iPad apps for literacy — reading and writing for toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-age kids. Also, I’ve included special needs iPad app resources at the end of this post. General Literacy and Learning iPad Apps 1. BrainPOP Featured Movie – BrainPOP® I’m very impressed with the quality and learning videos – kids love these! 2. The Electric Company Social-emotional games and content.

• Early Readers & Easy Chapter Books – Spring 2012

  Melissa Taylor

  8 May 2012 | 6:54 pm

  If you have a child who is beginning to read, you’re looking for engaging books. Here are my favorite newly published early readers and easy chapter books. But, I must add that there is no need to rush into chapter books. Picture books are always marvelous – and often get forgotten when kids start chapter books. Don’t forget them. Please? Early Readers Ride Fly Guy Ride by Tedd Arnold Is there a bad Tedd Arnold book? I think not. This is another super Fly Guy story that engages early readers. We love these books! Pinkalicious I Can Read Level 1 by Victoria Kann (Pink around…

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  Osocio Weblog

• Scamming consumers to educate them about online scams

  Tom Megginson

  16 May 2012 | 8:24 am

  We’ve all seen these types of web sites, promising weight loss, easy money and other things. But this one is not what it seems. Click any navigation on the page, and it takes you here: This online campaign by the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation alerts consumers about common scam web sites by creating some of their own. In addition to Flabkiller (above) the campaign site, topmassachusettsdeals.com, hosts: ModExperts (fake loan modification services) DebtMenders (fake debt relief) Envelope Elf (a work-at-home scam) Deals R Us (a “win a prize”…

• They’ll be sexually active earlier than you think

  Tom Megginson

  16 May 2012 | 7:40 am

  I like this campaign. It’s funny, and it plays with the emotions of parental protectiveness to get a very serious message across. It’s a very different approach than the pathos of Sarah McLachlan’s famous SPCA PSA. (TM Advertising’s CCO, Bill Oakley, told AdFreak, “When I see those Sarah McLachlan commercials, I turn them off. I can’t even watch them.") And personally, I agree. These are positive and memorable. See a campaign infographic video after the break. Author: Tom Megginson

• Save the Niger Delta with Shell. Live with it!

  Marc

  15 May 2012 | 11:50 am

  Nice spoof campaign from the Dutch Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Milieudefensie. They created this campaign to hold Shell accountable for their reckless pollution in the Niger Delta. Shell’s Live With It! application explores the role technology can play in addressing the tragedies inherent in the oil and gas industry. Innovative uses of QR codes and geo location software have resulted in an easy to use app available for download now. The campaign video shows a nifty smartphone app meant as a participation and marketing tool. But not the tool Shell wants to promote in Nigeria.

• A tweet can change everything #actionsahel

  Marc

  14 May 2012 | 1:03 pm

  This is a new campaign from the French Action contre la Faim (ACF - Action against Hunger). It is for the devastating situation in the Sahel again. Over 15 million people are food insecure and nearly 3 million children are threatened by acute malnutrition. To make the people of France aware of the situation ACF use the tagline “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”. And for the campaign they use various items like print ads, outdoor ads, web banners, Facebook and a web video. But the two most notable items are the tweet and guerrilla action. ACF asked to use the hashtag…

• Violence in traffic starts with words, even with a hashtag

  Marc

  13 May 2012 | 11:21 am

  Two nice ads from the Municipality of Parnamirim. Parnamirim is a city in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. I love the signs used for gross terms. “Violence in traffic starts with words.” Author: Marc

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  Free Education Magazines and Downloads from alltop.tradepub.com

• The Essentials of the Education Technology in 2012 - Free Kit

  19 Apr 2012 | 12:00 am

  The Essentials of Education Technology in 2012, brings together the latest in information, coverage of important developments, and expert commentary to help with your Education Technology related decisions.The following kit contents will help you get the most out of your Education Technology research:Managed Print Services for Government and EducationCisco Physical Security Solutions: Improve School SafetyMobile Technology Adoption in EducationRequest Free!

• The Top 3 Ways a Postage Meter Can Save Your Business Money

  4 Apr 2012 | 6:20 pm

  Whether it's saving time, cutting back on gas expenses or simply not overpaying for day-to-day office expenses, postage meters help improve business performance, accuracy, accountability and image. Gain valuable savings on Priority Mail® and Express Mail®. Stop guessing weights and overpaying on postage.Eliminate costly, time-consuming trips to the post office. Gain better control of your postage--and better tracking of usage. An in-house postage meter can help even the smallest business save both time and money, increase efficiency, and help make the most of every dollar. Learn why postage…

• Managed Print Services for Government and Education

  2 Apr 2012 | 4:50 pm

  When your IT department is spending its time dealing with printer break/fix issues, the really critical network and system issues suffer.Request Free!

• Consolidation with HP Multifunction Printers Saves Money, Time for State

  2 Apr 2012 | 4:50 pm

  Instead, it was costing more than replacing them. If you are looking for ways to improve and save money printing, copying, scanning and faxing take a look at this case study.Request Free!

• HP Scanners, Kofax Capture and Intellidact Software Automate Redaction Process

  2 Apr 2012 | 4:50 pm

  Identity thieves don't need to go dumpster diving anymore to find private personal data; all the information they need is in public documents.Request Free!

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  NTEN

• Sharing Our Way toward Equality: Social Media and Gay Rights

  Brett

  15 May 2012 | 6:56 am

  By John Hoffman, Director of New Markets, ZeroDivide Since the moment that President Obama stated that he supports same-sex marriage, there’s been a flurry of social media activity, both pro and con, on the issue. It’s obvious by now that social media has played a huge role in shaping Americans’ attitudes toward LGBT issues. But I would go a step further. Despite the unavoidable struggles and setbacks that lay ahead, the inherent qualities of social media make the passage of same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT individuals and families inevitable. Here’s why: 1. Social media is…

• Google Drive: Does It Matter?

  Brett

  14 May 2012 | 10:48 am

  TJ Rainsford Chief Technology Officer 501cTECH Google Drive is still brand new and not without limitations, but its capabilities are pretty hard to ignore. On April 24, Google announced the much anticipated Google Drive service, a cloud-based "disk drive" where individuals and organizations can store there documents, spreadsheets and a host of other electronic files. That may sound like a big deal but organizations and individuals with Google accounts could do that already using Google Docs. So does Google Drive really matter? In short, the answer is yes!

• Member Round Up: Change and Opportunities!

  Amanda

  11 May 2012 | 2:23 pm

  Flickr:MarkusramWe can feel it - the season is changing! How do we know? NTEN members are providing more educational opportunities, asking for more help on amazing projects, and announcing even more technology tools than ever before. With all the change going on, make sure you learn about all the ways NTEN members are making a difference in the world. Have more news to share? Drop us a line or include your links in the comments!Women rule! And Women Who Tech just created an awesome infographic that details exactly why women rule. For example, did you know that women represent 56% of the…

• Engaging Volunteers in Technical Roles

  Brett

  11 May 2012 | 11:54 am

  Would you trust a volunteer to help maintain your organization's servers? Okay, probably not, but what about taking out an iPad to collect constituent data? Or setting up wi-fi hot spots after a disaster. Volunteers are the lifeblood of many a nonprofit, and there are many ways you can engage them in technical roles – but it requires a special skill set to manage them. We'll explore the pros and cons of a volunteer workforce supporting technology at our upcoming webinar, "Engaging Volunteers in Technical Roles". Learn more and register today >> In this webinar, you'll learn: How to…

• Developing a Cloud Migration Strategy, Part 2: Process, Costs & Things to Consider

  Brett

  10 May 2012 | 2:57 pm

  Matthew Eshleman Director of Professional Network Services Community IT Innovators The promise of the cloud is that you don't have to worry about servers anymore. The reality of the cloud is that you have a lot of other things to think about. We may have jumped the gun a little by discussing what systems to migrate in part 1 of this look at developing a cloud migration strategy, but now we're going to ask and answer the question of How to Migrate. Migrating to a cloud based application or service is different from installing some software or server in your office. It is imperative that…

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  Bridgespan - All RSS Feeds

• You May Be Looking for the Wrong Measurement Director

  2 May 2012 | 5:00 pm

  You May Be Looking for the Wrong Measurement Director 2012 05 03 Matthew Forti Nonprofits on the journey to using measurement as a continuous improvement tool will eventually need to decide whether to create a full time position to

• Government's Role in the Social Services Industrial Complex

  30 Apr 2012 | 5:00 pm

  Once funding starts flowing through legislative committees and administrative agencies to organizations in the field to carry out a particular social policy, all the participants-inside government and out-tend to have a vested interest in sustaining the influence and power that flows along with the money. It is this combination that gives the complex its political juice, which can surprise even experienced political hands.

• The Social Services Industrial Complex

  24 Apr 2012 | 5:00 pm

  The dirty little secret of the social sector is that once government money starts flowing, the nonprofits that have advocated for it and/or who are benefitting from it have a vested interest in keeping it going, even as evidence shows “weak or no positive effects."

• Making Measurement More Than an Add-on

  22 Apr 2012 | 5:00 pm

  Making Measurement More Than an Add on 2012 04 23 Jacob Allen In this guest post on the "Measuring to Improve" blog, Bridgespan Manager Jacob Allen discusses the concept of 'embedded measurement,' an intentionally integrateive approach to measurement for

• Data’s Not Just for Donors—It Can Improve a Nonprofit’s Work

  31 Mar 2012 | 5:00 pm

  Data’s Not Just for Donors—It Can Improve a Nonprofit’s Work 2012 04 01 Matthew Forti Kathleen Yazbak Nonprofits, it appears, are not spending enough effort to measure how well their programs and organizations are doing. Over the last decade,

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  Idealist Blog

• How parenthood is changing the way I work

  Celeste Hamilton Dennis

  12 May 2012 | 3:22 pm

  A member of the Idealist team offers a personal reflection for Mother’s Day. I’m a new mom to a daughter named Hattie who has the most irresistible cheeks. During my three months of parental leave—yes, Idealist is an awesome place to work—I got to kiss, nibble, and lightly squeeze those cheeks all day long. As our twelve weeks drew to a close, I grappled with the internal conflict so many professional moms experience: How would my relationship with Hattie change once I returned to the office? Did I have it in me to not look at the pictures on her Facebook page (yes, we’re…

• Contest roundup: Funds to help ideas spring to life

  Celeste Hamilton Dennis

  8 May 2012 | 10:28 am

  Innovation is in the air! Dust the cobwebs from your brain and polish your ideas for a better world before these opportunities disappear: Dell Social Innovation People’s Choice Awards WHO: University students from around the world WHEN: Deadline to submit and vote for projects is May 13 WHAT: Dell Social Innovation Challenge wants your brilliant solutions to global problems in categories from agriculture to health to technology. The community votes on which projects make the grade, with $1,000 awarded to the eleven most popular ideas. Want your idea to have the best chance at success?

• Discount tickets to Personal Democracy Forum in NYC

  Julia Smith

  4 May 2012 | 12:32 pm

  For the third year in a row, the organizers of Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) are offering a discount on registration to members of the Idealist community. (If you’re reading this, that means you!) PdF is a two-day conference exploring and analyzing technology’s impact on politics, government, and civil society. This year’s event takes place June 11-12 in New York City and is centered around the theme “The Internet’s New Political Power.” Speakers will include: David Boyce, CEO of Fundly, the largest online social fundraising platform in the U.S. Sara…

• Diana’s Big Move: The first job interview

  Diana Hsu

  2 May 2012 | 9:37 am

  Now we're moving. (Photo: Norlando Pobre, Flickr/Creative Commons) I just finished my first interview! I got the interview request a few days ago, and after weeks of stress-induced quesadilla dinners and panic, this was a huge reassurance. Someone somewhere thinks I’m doing something right! (If you need to catch up, here’s how I started my search and what I’ve been doing since.) After finishing my celebratory happy dance, I got down to work. Here’s how I prepared and how I think you can make it through your interview with minimal stress. Review. Remind yourself why…

• Who files 990s for your organization?

  Putnam Barber

  1 May 2012 | 12:09 pm

  Two weeks from today, May 15th, is the deadline by which most U.S.-based nonprofits need to turn in their Form 990 to the IRS. (The deadline is four months and 15 days after the end of an organization’s fiscal year.) Larger organizations have procedures in place to get this done, and can get an automatic six-month extension just by filing Form 8868. Smaller organizations have an easier form to file: the “e-postcard” Form 990-N. But they often have a harder time remembering to do it. Do you know who’s taking care of this at your favorite organization? The stakes As I…

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  Full Contact Philanthropy

• Lower standards guarantee higher outcomes

  David Henderson

  19 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am

  Measurements are often given meaning relative to thresholds. Someone is housed or unhoused, poor or not poor, by some definition. Yet these thresholds are arbitrary, and open to debate and manipulation. While one might think there would be agreement on what homeless means, especially since it is a word that almost defines itself, there is considerable argument over its definition with significant policy consequences. As the social sector struggles to measure its impact and make the case that real progress is being made, the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) might have found the easiest…

• Evaluating your organization’s use of metrics

  David Henderson

  23 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am

  Evaluating organizational effectiveness is a growing sub-field of the social sector, with a slew of competing measurement frameworks. Something a lot of these frameworks assess is whether organizations make use of data management system. The idea is that an organization that has a data management system in place is more likely to be data savvy and to actively manage to outcomes. This might be a reasonable proxy for whether an organization actually incorporates evidence in its practice. But from where I stand, data only has value in so far as it helps an organization make higher impact…

• Data helps answer questions, it does not determine what questions should be answered

  David Henderson

  18 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am

  As the furor to incorporate metrics in the social sector grows, organizations are feeling the heat to get more data savvy. In principle, this is a good thing. Information should help inform decision making. But there is a big difference between information informing your agenda and allowing it to set it. Data should inform your answers to questions, but data sets should never determine what questions you seek to answer. Every organization grapples with a myriad of decision problems, from optimizing resource allocations to increasing the social impact of interventions. The natural role of…

• Measuring the social impact of blogging

  David Henderson

  30 Dec 2011 | 12:50 pm

  Professionally I do two things; I help organizations make high impact data-oriented decisions, and I write. As 2011 draws to a close, I reflect on another year helping a lot of great organizations increase their social impact, and a pile of blog posts that I hope help advance the social sector toward lasting change. Obviously I believe writing, and the exchange of ideas that comes with it, is important to the growth of our sector and advancement of solutions. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t write anything. But as someone who prefers evidence to anecdotes, facts to…

• Why predictions are so difficult to make in the social sector

  David Henderson

  27 Dec 2011 | 10:00 pm

  As 2011 comes to an end and we look forward to 2012, pieces predicting what will happen in the coming year are popular in every industry, including the social sector. While making predictions is no easy task, not even for psychics, making predictions in the social sector is especially difficult. Most industries tend to have clear industry leaders. These organizations, like Apple, Chevron, and Wallmart are significantly large that they can in many ways move industries on account of their sheer size. In the social sector we have no clear market makers, with the exception of governments. But…

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  eJewish Philanthropy: Your Jewish Philanthropy Resource

• The Ethics of Fundraising: What are the Nonprofit’s Obligations?

  Stephen G. Donshik

  15 May 2012 | 9:30 pm

  Last week’s posting about the protocol for soliciting past and present clients elicited numerous responses – both on and off-line. In several coming postings, I will be addressing the issues of ethics and fundraising as they pertain to nonprofit organizations, fundraisers, and donors. More questions may be raised by opening this discussion and I welcome an exchange of ideas. If we begin the discussion from the perspective of the nonprofit organization there are a number of ethical obligations that warrant serious consideration. When beginning a fundraising campaign, whether it be for…

• For U.S. Russian Jewry, An Exercise in Identity

  eJP

  15 May 2012 | 8:07 am

  Ukrainian superstar Iryna Rosenfeld performing at Limmud FSU Princeton on motzei Shabbat; photo courtesy Nathan Roi. by Michele Alperin JointMedia News Service PRINCETON, NJ – A gap remains between young Russian Jews and the larger American Jewish community, even as organizations like Limmud FSU and others work to build bridges between them. Sandy Cahn, co-founder of Limmud FSU, suggests that the only way to ultimately bring these two communities together is to continue, at least for now, having separate organizations and events for Russian Jews. “There is something very special about…

• On Chicago, Hillel and the JDC

  Dan Brown

  15 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  The bitter controversy in Chicago involving University of Chicago Hillel may be off the front page, but isn’t going away. We’re told the Jewish Federation simply does not care – they continue to have the support of local donors and apparently this is where their interest lies. But what the good folks over at the Federation are missing is the concern expressed by many a national organization that partners with Federation on local programs – if it happened with Hillel it could happen with them. And, this is not such a good reputation to have. Over at JDC, life is also…

• Welcome to Birthright Israel Summer 2012

  eJP

  15 May 2012 | 4:05 am

  Jerusalem, May 15, 2012 – Six groups of exhausted Birthright Israel participants walked out of Ben Gurion arrivals terminal to the sound of beating drums, singing IDF soldiers and the welcoming call of the Shofar being blown. The drummers then led the group of 250 young Jews as they made their way to an open area outside the airport terminal where a brief welcome ceremony took place. Each group of participants will share their experience with four to six Israeli soldiers, who are part of the Mifgash (Encounter) program. These were the soldiers who sang songs of welcome on the groups’…

• A Call for Jewish Innovation Month

  Ariel Beery

  14 May 2012 | 10:10 pm

  In a seemingly parallel world to the political messes of recent months, a new world is being born right before our eyes: a world born out of the visions of young Jewish social entrepreneurs around the world, over a hundred of which will be launching their ventures this June. So I hereby propose: let us declare June Jewish Innovation Month. If the upcoming events in the month of June go smoothly, the reports of a disconnected, past-tense Federation and JCC system will prove to be unfounded. Starting on May 31st in Boston, six communities across North America – and five others worldwide…

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  Inside Philanthropy

• Philanthropy is about people

  30 Apr 2012 | 2:40 am

  By Todd CohenNonprofits and philanthropic funders can get so caught up in their causes and strategies that they forget about the actual people they exist to serve, or simply treat them as “metrics” to help gauge their organizational impact.But several recent reports suggest the demand and supply sides of the charitable marketplace both need to better understand and engage real people in the communities they serve.Needle-Moving Community Collaboratives, a report by The Bridgespan Group, says fixing tough community problems will require new strategies for how to think and work together.And…

• Nonprofits need to get it together

  23 Apr 2012 | 2:23 am

  By Todd CohenA lot of nonprofits, boards and funders are in serious denial.Many are in a deep financial hole, yet precious few can talk straight to their funders about their problems.Compounding the communications gap, many boards do not understand their nonprofits’ expenses, and far too few use their connections to help their nonprofits raise money.Those are some of the findings from a new survey by the Nonprofit Finance Fund that offers a grim view of the way nonprofits are faring in the stricken economy.Among over 4,600 nonprofits surveyed, for example, 85 percent saw rising demand for…

• New investment strategies vital for nonprofits

  16 Apr 2012 | 1:48 am

  By Todd Cohen As economic turmoil continues to stress the charitable marketplace, new investment strategies are emerging to support the social sector. Foundations for many years, for example, have built on their traditional grantmaking through “program-related investments,” or loans, to nonprofits. And more recently, a small but growing number of foundations have become more active investors in the capital markets, tying their investments in the capital markets to companies that are aligned with the foundations’ mission. Over the past 10 to 15 years, “venture philanthropy” also has…

• Nonprofits lagging on finance

  9 Apr 2012 | 2:15 am

  By Todd CohenThe economic turbulence of the past three-and-a-half years has whipsawed nonprofits.Some have shut down, while others having frozen or cut staff, pay, benefits and programs.Smart nonprofits have taken a hard look at their programs and operations, searching for ways to get back to their mission and to the basics of doing business, including keeping better track of their finances and economic indicators.But as a new study shows, nonprofits have a lot to learn about finance.While three in four of over 500 nonprofit financial-management professionals surveyed by The Center on…

• Working together key to nonprofit survival

  2 Apr 2012 | 2:33 am

  By Todd Cohen The human impulse to lend a hand drives the charitable marketplace. In the U.S., the culture of helping has fostered a social sector that generates over $290 billion in charitable giving a year, employs 10 percent of the workforce, receives over 8 billion volunteer hours a year from nearly 53 million adults, and accounts for five percent of gross domestic product. But what prompts us to want to look out for one another and work together to find ways to fix the social and global problems we face? And can understanding that motivation help nonprofits do a better job running their…

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  Marketing for Nonprofits

• Don't Hate. Appreciate!

  Jocelyn

  21 Apr 2012 | 10:46 am

  Want to improve productivity at your organization? Want to reduce the cost and stress of employee turnover? Want to consistently create awesome experiences for your donors, members, clients and volunteers? Learn how to APPRECIATE and practice APPRECIATION at work! According to The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People by Gary Chapman and Paul White, "70 percent of people in the United States say they receive no praise or recognition in the workplace."  Yikes!  As you can imagine, this lack of appreciation and praise is a MAJOR…

• The Mission Myth

  Jocelyn

  8 Apr 2012 | 10:02 am

  Sometimes I feel like a capitalist at my nonprofit. Maybe it's because I'm focused on results.  Maybe it's because I'm a sales gal at heart, i.e. I'm used to having a "number on my head." Either way.  As a leader at a nonprofit, there are times when I feel out of sync with my colleagues and wonder if I'm too focused on revenue vs. mission. That is why I LOVED The Mission Myth: Building Nonprofit Momentum Through Better Business by Deirdre Maloney. Maloney is a veteran Executive Director, who spent seven years learning the ups and downs of institution-building, while leading the…

• New FREE e-Book on Email Marketing for You!

  Jocelyn

  30 Mar 2012 | 1:27 pm

  Want to save money on your print newsletter? Want to provide your constituents with instant updates on your work? Want to help save the planet? Start an email newsletter today! Download this e-book - From Print to Email: Take Your Newsletter on an Epic Journey, by Kivi Leroux Miller of Nonprofit Marketing Guide, sponsored by Network for Good. Happy communicating! Jocelyn

• Please Vote for the Next Winner of the Care2 Impact Prize

  Jocelyn

  28 Mar 2012 | 2:52 pm

  Recognizing great work is something we can never do too often.  And in the nonprofit sector, where so much good work is being done every day, with so much heart, and for such great causes, well, as Willy Loman says in Death of A Salesman:  "Attention must be paid." That's why I think that each of us who work in the nonprofit sector -- especially if we're doing marketing, fundraising, advocacy and social media -- should take a minute and go cast a vote for the next winner of the Care2 Impact Prize. (Full disclosure: My former employer, Care2, created this prize in partnership with…

• Is Your Website Slick or Ick?

  Jocelyn

  21 Mar 2012 | 8:16 am

  Your website is your home base on the Web.  It's also your primary tool for online fundraising.  Make sure it's Slick vs. Ick! Take this fun quiz from my company - Network for Good. Next, sign up for this FREE webinar and learn more about this 6-week training. Cheers! Jocelyn

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  IdealistNews: what's new in nonprofits

• What's All the Fuss About Nonprofit Regulation?

  15 May 2012 | 10:42 pm

  submitted by johannawise [link] [comment]

• Hey reddit, a 145 year old woman needs your help!

  15 May 2012 | 6:59 pm

  Lillian Wald, founder of the Henry Street Settlement in New York City had a revolutionary vision for community services in 1893. Today the Settlement carries on Lillian's vision by providing services to children, seniors, the mentally-ill, homebound seniors, domestic violence victims, the homeless, and the jobless. In addition to these services, the Landmark Arts Center is a source of arts and culture for the community. My mom, Josephine Lume, as the CFO of the Settlement is fiercely proud of the agency and all it does for the surrounding community. Partners in Preservation is challenging…

• Recommendations for non-profit management books?

  13 May 2012 | 9:57 pm

  Have been looking for a good book that covers management, board structure, marketing, and fundraising strategies for non-profits. Any suggestions? submitted by ilimanjf [link] [3 comments]

• I'm a web programmer. How can I help the nonprofit community?

  13 May 2012 | 4:08 pm

  I'm a web developer who wants to help charities, but I've no idea how to make myself useful. What do nonprofits want? Disclaimer: I may not get to suggestions soon -- I ask this question for side projects. submitted by EvanHahn [link] [11 comments]

• Water for peru

  12 May 2012 | 3:07 pm

  submitted by Trickish [link] [comment]

• 

  Leading by Design: A Resource for Nonprofits

• Visioning Your Work

  26 Apr 2012 | 4:55 am

  THIS WEEK, THREE COLLEAGUES AND I HAD THE CHANCE TO PRESENT a session at the NYS Museums in Conversation Conference about how we are working together to shape the next steps in our careers.  We began by explaining how the four of us came together: we and one other were actually brought together by one person because 1) she knew that all of us are at career crossroads of one sort or another; 2) when she asked, none of us admitted to having a personal/career strategic plan (yet we're all rabid proponents of organizational planning!); and 3) we all knew one another to varying degrees and…

• Authentic Strategic Planning

  21 Apr 2012 | 6:45 am

  DESPITE TONS OF READILY AVAILABLE ADVICE ABOUT THE WHYS AND HOWS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING, many organizations still engage in planning because someone else told them to do it.  That someone could be a funder, a consultant, a staff leader, a program partner, a board member -- anyone, really, who has the audacity or ignorance to say "money/audience/visibility will come if you have a plan".   Fact is, many of these folks don't particularly care if the plan functions or not, just so long as there's a piece of paper or swell looking PowerPoint to show for it. The bottom line is if…

• The Powerful Force of a Big Idea

  18 Mar 2012 | 9:13 am

  NOBODY CREATED A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION FROM A SMALL IDEA, PERIOD.  Just think about it:  what museum, artists' cooperative, hospital, school or community garden didn't begin with someone saying "what if?"....and then taking action.  Founders dream dreams and work tirelessly to make them reality.  Those of us who come after founders have dreams, too.  We work tirelessly to take our organizations to the next level by continually trying to raise the impact bar.Big ideas are critical fuel for the nonprofit engine.  They ignite imaginations, attract people (both as…

• How's Your Leadership Cred These Days?

  12 Feb 2012 | 9:35 am

  The Great Recession is dragging into year four and there's no question it has left most nonprofits staggering as they try to find some equilibrium under the weight of constricted philanthropy, slashed government funding, and the high stakes competition of foundation and corporate support.  Some institutions are finding gold in big name programs or capital projects, while many struggle to manage the spiraling costs of their "if we build it, they will come" aftermaths.Event attendance remains predictably unpredictable.   Yet, core audiences in need of programs and services…

• Organizational Change: The First 90 Days

  7 Feb 2012 | 6:00 am

  THERE'S A DISCUSSION GOING ON OVER AT the Strategic Planning for Nonprofits group on LinkedIn about leadership and change management.  So far, the topic is pretty broad and most of the posters are encouraging ways to focus it.  Until now.  One poster, a military officer, weighed in saying that the first 90 days is the most critical for new leadership to make change.  If you let the opportunity go by the boards, you're stuck with what you've inherited.  He writes:The First 90 Days are critical and in most cases can make or break a true leader in the end. The First 90…

• 

  Facing History and Ourselves

• Scholarship Allows Palm Beach Teachers to Attend Boston Seminar

  EmilyBlackie

  15 May 2012 | 2:26 pm

  press_type:  In the News May 15, 2012 Two Facing History and Ourselves teachers... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• BULLY Screened in Cleveland to Increase Awareness Among Teens

  EmilyBlackie

  15 May 2012 | 8:49 am

  press_type:  In the News May 12, 2012 Nearly 100 Cleveland-area students came... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Member of the Little Rock Nine to Speak at Community Event in Jamaica Plain

  EmilyBlackie

  15 May 2012 | 7:47 am

  press_type:  In the News May 11, 2012 On Thursday, May 17, 2012, Facing History... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• Author, Luis Rodriguez, to Speak at Facing History and Ourselves Carson Schools Network Celebration about Building and Transforming Communities in Los Angeles, May 14, 2012

  EmilyBlackie

  15 May 2012 | 7:39 am

  press_type:  Press Release May 11, 2012 Press Contact: Marti Tippens... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• New York Times, WNYC, and Facing History Host ‘Teach-In’

  EmilyBlackie

  11 May 2012 | 10:10 am

  press_type:  In the News May 9, 2012 A teach-in co-hosted by the New York Times’... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

• 

  The Art of Education

• Leaders make room "at the table"

  15 May 2012 | 2:28 pm

  A few days ago, I read and shared an article by school leader Justin Tarte in which he highlights the importance of relationships within teams.  In the article, Dr. Tarte reminds us that strong relationships are a hallmark of strong teams.  I agree with Justin, and his post caused me to reflect for a moment about teams and leadership.  As such, here are a few thoughts of mine that, hopefully, will help add to Justin's insights.Thought #1 - With some positions on teams, leadership is expected.  In other positions, it is usually earned.Thought #2 - Whether leadership is…

• Defying the odds

  14 May 2012 | 2:26 pm

  Odds are...summer vacation and all the trappings of the end of the school year are creeping into your classroom.you are spending more and more time on next school year's projects than this year's.your have finished your textbook or have decided that finishing it is impossible.one more project or book to read for class is probably asking too much.you feel as if you have done all you can do for a struggling student at this point in the year.But remember it is often said, "If not for the last minute, very little would ever get done."Defy the odds and push through to the end.  It…

• A different perspective on ranking educational systems

  10 May 2012 | 3:31 am

   Recently, I had the pleasure of listening to a high school senior speak of the differences between the educational system in the United States and South Korea.  This student is South Korean.  Her family moved her to the United States four years ago.Given the world rankings for educational systems, I anticipated her report to back up those findings and to herald the South Korean system as superior to the one she experienced in the United States.  After all, even our own President has commented on how our system of education could learn a few things from the South…

• Using goal setting to adjust student mindsets

  8 May 2012 | 7:03 pm

  Info graphic credit: http://mindmapblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Mindsets.jpgIf your students resemble mine at all, when you ask them to set some goals for their classes, the majority of them will begin with something like, "I want to get an A in math" or "I want to earn a B in science."Goals like those are indicative of a fixed mindset which seeks to validate intelligence by achieving noteworthy scores.  While there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to do well in a class, research suggests that a more growth oriented mindset has many advantages…

• THE formula for educational success?

  7 May 2012 | 3:39 am

  Many successful products are seen as having found THE formula for success.  Either stumbled upon or developed over time, the formula is often seen as the key to success.  However, as Malcolm Gladwell points out in this TED talk, what we view as THE formula for success is often a diversity of formulas designed around the particular tastes/interests of a much wider group of potential customers. Take Coke for example.  There is, of course, the famous formula for Coke Classic, which at one point was changed with disastrous results and quickly brought back (which is how we…

• 

  NYT > Jews and Judaism

• Exhibition Traces the Emergence of Jews as Medical Innovators

  13 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  An exhibition offers a look at the emergence of European and American Jews as innovators in medicine, despite their status as outsiders frequently scorned by the establishment.

• Q. and A. With Times Reporters About Abuse in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Communities

  10 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Taking Questions: The Times reporters Sharon Otterman and Ray Rivera are responding to readers' questions about abuse cases in the ultra-Orthodox community.

• Beliefs: Bronx Teenager Knows Her Torah Trivia

  10 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Yeshiva University last weekend hosted the National Bible Contest, which tests students’ knowledge of stories from the Hebrew Bible.

• Who Speaks for the Children?

  10 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Religious leaders in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities must ensure that molesters are brought to justice.

• Bloomberg Among Critics of Brooklyn District Attorney

  10 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and leading mayoral candidates rebuked Charles J. Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney, for his handling of sex-abuse cases in the ultra-Orthodox community.

• 

  JTA -

• Facebook IPO: Good for the Jews?

  15 May 2012 | 6:23 pm

  The story of Facebook’s impact on the Jewish world ultimately may be about the ways it is prompting Jews to change how they organize communities.

• Five steps to studying and learning from the Torah

  15 May 2012 | 5:08 pm

  If we study the Torah the way a child plays with a toy -- repeatedly and open to the possibility of discovering something remarkable -- then perhaps we can discover something remarkable.

• Old becomes new as couples personalize wedding ceremonies

  15 May 2012 | 1:59 pm

  As couples continue to personalize their weddings, many are giving egalitarian slants to ceremonial aspects that largely had been ignored outside the Orthodox world.

• Political, social turmoil worries Hungary’s Jews

  13 May 2012 | 2:49 pm

  Anxiety over anti-Semitism in Hungary is one toxic element of a broader national crisis that touches all parts of society two years after the 2010 elections swept the conservative Fidesz party to power.

• JDC CEO Steve Schwager stepping down

  rkampeas@jta.org

  11 May 2012 | 1:08 pm

  Steve Schwager, CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is stepping down.

• 

  Haaretz.com headlines RSS

• U.S. music star Lenny Kravitz to rock Israel in October

  16 May 2012 | 12:17 pm

• Tel Aviv's rainbow crosswalk draws cheers, then jeers, online

  16 May 2012 | 10:58 am

• Lithuania reinstates event to honor Nazi collaborator

  16 May 2012 | 10:36 am

• Former Spain PM: Russia believes Israel will prevent Iran nuclear weapon

  16 May 2012 | 9:02 am

• U.S. aid to Syrian rebels is a signal to Iran

  16 May 2012 | 8:28 am

• 

  JPost.com - Front Page

• Looming peril

  16 May 2012 | 3:40 pm

  As long as infiltrators assume that once through, they become untouchable and able to stay, they will keep coming.

• The Tal Law

  16 May 2012 | 3:37 pm

  The most effective means of ensuring greater social justice and social equity is that of creating a better-educated society.

• Terra Incognita: How racism crept into my neighborhood

  16 May 2012 | 3:33 pm

  African migrants are viewed through the prism of “victims”; their own racism is not usually acknowledged.

• Iran flouts UN sanctions, sends arms to Syria

  16 May 2012 | 3:23 pm

  Syria remains top destination for Iranian arms shipments in violation of UN Security Council ban on weapons exports by Islamic Republic, according to confidential draft report by UN panel.

• Echoes of 1967: Israel unites

  16 May 2012 | 3:19 pm

  If the world does not act to stop Iran during the 18 months before the next general elections, Israel will.

• 

  JPost.com - Jewish World - Jewish News

• Orthodox rapper Y-Love reveals he’s gay

  16 May 2012 | 7:31 am

  “I feel like I’ve wasted years of my life worrying that it would alienate the community I dedicated my life to,” rapper tells 'Out' magazine.

• Class shows haredi readiness to tackle sex abuse

  14 May 2012 | 9:23 pm

  Course launched recently to train haredi counselors to work with sexually abused kids shows openness to once taboo issue.

• Holocaust novel wins British foreign fiction prize

  14 May 2012 | 2:31 pm

  "Blooms of Darkness" by Israeli Aharon Appelfeld awarded 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize London ceremony.

• Radicals attack ‘I Like Israel’ event in Germany

  13 May 2012 | 6:31 pm

  Head of pro-Israel group "neveragain" says he is "not surprised but nonetheless shocked."

• Artist to give his ‘Illustrated Genesis’ to pope

  13 May 2012 | 3:14 pm

  Avner Moriah's work juxtaposes the Hebrew text of the Bible with the artist’s interpretative drawings.

• 

  csr-reporting

• CSR: 8 short questions, 5 long answers

  elaine

  11 May 2012 | 5:49 am

  For those of you who don't speak Romanian (which I don't, though I have downloaded an App :)), I thought I would provide a translation of my recent interview which appeared online here The interview is with ResponsabilitateSociala.ro,  the premier portal in Romania for all things relating to CSR. Andreea Giuclea, editor of ResponsabilitateSociala conducted the interview and was responsible for asking me many thought-provoking questions. ResponsabilitateSociala is hosting the annual Europe CSR Lessons on 15th and 16th May in Bucharest, with a fine line-up of speakers and…

• What makes a Sustainability Report good or bad?

  elaine

  8 May 2012 | 9:20 am

  My friend and CSR & Sustainability Consultant Juan Villamayor, who writes a great blog, is also writing a dissertation on the quality of Sustainability Reporting. In return for the promise of loads of ice-cream the next time I am in Barcelona, I agreed to provide Juan with my thoughts in response to his question: What makes a Sustainability Report good or bad?After I had drafted my response, pretty much off the cuff, I thought I would share it, in case anyone else is writing a dissertation. More ice cream for me, right ? Here is more or less what I wrote:What makes a…

• The Price of a Sustainability Report

  elaine

  5 May 2012 | 12:53 am

  What value would you place on your Sustainability Report? $1 ? $10 ? $1,000 ?Here is an organization that has an answer. $200.This is what non-members have to pay to read The MPI GRI Sustainability Report on WEC 2011 in which MPI presents its Global Reporting Initiative statement for the 2011 World Education Congress in Orlando. Meeting Professionals International (MPI), apparently, is "the meeting and event industry’s most vibrant global community [which] helps its members thrive by providing human connections to knowledge and ideas, relationships, and…

• Lilly: Sustainability Report Cone Award

  elaine

  5 May 2012 | 12:01 am

  This is the third in my series of Sustainability Report Cone Awards.  The second was SGS - net 2 cones. The first was Intuit - also net 2 cones. This time, Lilly, the drug people. Can they beat net 2 cones? (Note: All cone pictures were sources from Ice Cream Cone ClipArt)Lilly 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report About the Company:Tenth largest pharmaceutical company in the world. HQ in U.S. $23 billion revenue. 38,300 employees. Manufacturing plants in 13 countries. NYSE listed.   About the report:PDF 103 pages. GRI Application Level B. Not externally assured. UNGC…

• Local Reporting: How ArcelorMittal Does It

  elaine

  29 Apr 2012 | 11:07 pm

  ArcelorMittal is the world’s leading steel and mining company, with 100 million tonnes of annual production capacity and 260,000 employees across 60 countries and annual sales of $78 billion. I tried to imagine what 100 million tonnes of steel looks like. But I scored a blank. All I know is that 100 million tons of ice cream would look a whole lot nicer :). But I do have an idea of what 2,000 tonnes look like - yes, you guessed it -   the ArcelorMittal Orbit. The ArcelorMittal Orbit is a sculpture and public viewing platform was designed by Anish Kapoor and Cecil…

• 

  Financial Times - Europe homepage

• How JPMorgan’s storm in a teapot grew

  16 May 2012 | 12:01 pm

  The bank’s idea for hedging credit risk, which went spectacularly wrong, has become something of an epic tale for hedge fund managers

• Shipping woes wipe out Maersk profits

  16 May 2012 | 11:43 am

  Settlement of tax dispute in Algeria and investment gains mask first-quarter decline as Danish group highlights problems facing sector

• Rajoy warns Spain faces debt market exile

  16 May 2012 | 11:39 am

  Spain’s PM says the country is at ‘serious risk’ of a borrowing freeze or being forced to ‘borrow at astronomical prices’ without austerity measures

• Shell warns on US natural gas bounce

  16 May 2012 | 11:36 am

  Chief executive Voser predicts strong recovery from the 10-year lows the fuel has hit as a result of the boom in shale gas production

• Federal Reserve wary of eurozone risks

  16 May 2012 | 11:22 am

  The focus on risks to the economy among members of the FOMC helps to explain a clash between the committee’s forecast and members’ individual predictions

• 

  The Economist: Europe

• Italy’s local elections: Battered all over

  10 May 2012 | 8:06 am

  ITALIANS are exasperated. They are cross with politicians, parties, austerity, technocrats who seem out of touch and with a new tax on property that is all but incomprehensible. So when voters in 1,000 municipalities were given the chance to show their discontent on May 6th-7th, they grabbed it.Shaking the political establishment, the clearest winners were protest parties, above all the Movimento 5 Stelle (5-Star Movement), founded by Beppe Grillo, a comedian, satirist and tireless blogger. Italians also showed their irritation by staying at home: the turnout was seven points down on…

• Serbia’s elections: Third-party success

  10 May 2012 | 8:06 am

  Dacic, a man who would be prime minister ON THE national stage there was one clear winner in Serbia’s many elections on May 6th. Ivica Dacic, the interior minister in the current government, crowed that, although he did not know who would become the next president, he knew who would be prime minister. Mr Dacic, who was a spokesman for Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s, is a politician who has resurrected himself.Although voters have made Mr Dacic quite likely to become prime minister, nothing is certain. Serbia held simultaneous local, parliamentary and presidential elections. In the…

• Vladimir Putin: Back in the Kremlin

  10 May 2012 | 8:06 am

  ON MAY 7th, the day of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a third term as Russian president, the centre of Moscow was marked by a sense of overwhelming emptiness. The police had cleared the streets of people—supporters and protesters alike—allowing Mr Putin’s motorcade to glide eerily across the capital and through the gates of the Kremlin.Only the day before, the city had looked very different. An anti-Putin march of as many as 20,000 people turned chaotic and violent. The turnout was surprising; a smaller crowd was expected, since protesters had lost momentum after March’s…

• Charlemagne: Ode to growth

  10 May 2012 | 8:06 am

  AS CANDIDATE, François Hollande found the doors of Europe’s chancelleries shut in his face. He visited London, but David Cameron refused to meet him. Angela Merkel would not see him in Berlin, and openly supported his opponent. Italy’s Mario Monti did not find time in his diary. How foolish they all seem. And how pleasing for President-elect Hollande that so many now sing to his tune on the need for economic growth.The German chancellor has invited the new French president to Berlin as soon as possible. Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, has summoned European Union…

• Spain’s woes: Those sinking feelings

  3 May 2012 | 8:00 am

  A madrileño’s lament THE sea of troubles just keeps on coming. GDP shrank in the first quarter of 2012, pushing Spain formally into recession for the second time in two years. Another 366,000 people have lost their jobs, bringing the total unemployed to 5.6m, the highest on record. Standard & Poor’s, a credit-rating agency, has downgraded Spain and 11 of its banks. The Madrid stock exchange is back down to 2003 levels as investors pull out. And José Manuel García-Margallo, the foreign minister, has said that the European Union risks becoming like the Titanic, with most classes of…

• 

  The Economist: The world this week

• Politics this week

  10 May 2012 | 8:06 am

• Business this week

  10 May 2012 | 8:06 am

• KAL's cartoon

  10 May 2012 | 8:06 am

• 

  Culture | guardian.co.uk

• The Second Sexism is just victim-envy | Suzanne Moore

  Suzanne Moore

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  It is perfectly possible to understand that many men are suffering at the moment without blaming it on feminismAre men the new women? Are they having a harder time than silly moaning ladies? Has feminism gone too far? Has political correctness been put away for its own good? These are such familiar cultural tropes that we may dismiss the word trope altogether. Instead I would use another word: tripe.Still, abundant tripe trickles down from on high, even academe. Every so often a new tome details how men, not women, are discriminated against (apart from rape, murder, equal pay, genital…

• How could the Beeb take Blue Peter off BBC1?

  Lucy Mangan

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  It says that kids today don't care and that CBBC is a better home. But it feels like a desecration of childhoodForget the reductions in news, arts and music programming announced in the BBC's latest round of cost-saving alterations to the entertainment schedules – there is only one change that really matters. After 60 years on the flagship – or, in lay terms, "proper" – channel, BBC1, Blue Peter is to be moved to CBBC, the digital channel for children.The BBC says (I paraphrase slightly) that it makes no odds. Children don't distinguish between main and other channels and almost all…

• Pass notes, No 3,177: King Herod

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  Chris Moyles is to play the man who ordered the death of Jesus in the 40th anniversary production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Time to emigrate?Age: Uncertain, but at least 49 when he died; about 2,032 had he lived.Appearance: At the London O2 arena come September, before embarking on a nationwide tour.What? He has risen from the dead? He's not going to start murdering firstborns from Docklands to Durham, is he? Because that's really going to kill the post-Olympics buzz. No. You're thinking of Herod the Great.Who are you talking about then? Herod Antipas, who was responsible for the execution…

• TV highlights 17/05/2012

  Jonathan Wright, Andrew Mueller, Ali Catterall, Julia Raeside, Rebecca Nicholson

  16 May 2012 | 11:59 am

  Two Greedy Italians: Still Hungry | The Great Euro Crash With Robert Peston | Tales Of Television Centre | The Exclusives | Playhouse Presents: Care | Grandma's HouseTwo Greedy Italians: Still Hungry 8pm, BBC2Taking manhood as their theme and rather flirting with sexism, Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo conclude their culinary journey through Italy by heading for Rome via Lazio's mountain villages. In the latter, men are still men, as an eating competition apparently proves. However, in the Eternal City it seems women are increasingly in control. So is there still room for (wannabe)…

• Magdalena Kožená: 'I'm not scared of the big maestro'

  Kate Connolly

  16 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  What's it like to sing Carmen when your husband is the conductor? Magdalena Kožená (aka Lady Simon Rattle) reveals all to Kate ConnollyMagdalena Kožená believes musicians fall into two categories. "There are people who love to work with their partners and those who simply can't," she says. It is, she admits, "fortunate that I'm the first case": the celebrated Czech mezzo-soprano's husband happens to be conductor Simon Rattle.What's the main advantage of being married to the conductor? "You can say, 'I'm sorry, darling, you know today my voice is just not in a very good…

• 

  Art and design: Architecture | guardian.co.uk

• Why are houses in Britain so small?

  Jon Henley

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  We build the tiniest new dwellings in Europe, and yet more storage and living space is what people desperately wantOne left their kitchen bin in the middle of the kitchen, because there was nowhere else for it. Another said their cupboards were so small they stored shopping in the boot of the car, while Miriam and Matt from Liverpool were so short of space they kept their vacuum cleaner at their mother's house, a good 20-minute drive away.A report this week by Riba and Ipsos Mori found "long- and short-term storage space" – for everyday functional items such as ironing boards and bed linen,…

• London 2012 Olympic Park site architecture - video

  Robert Booth, Guy Grandjean, Josh Strauss

  16 May 2012 | 9:35 am

  Architects Amanda Levete and Piers Gough and critic Charles Jencks give their verdict on the key venues of the London Olympic siteRobert BoothGuy GrandjeanJosh Strauss

• London Olympics stadium disappoints architects, but supporting cast save day

  Robert Booth

  16 May 2012 | 9:31 am

  Velodrome and aquatics centre are the stars of Olympic park, according to a panel of architects convened by the Guardian"That's as dull as ditchwater," said architect Piers Gough as the organising committee's minibus skirted the copper-clad Olympic handball arena. Amanda Levete, Stirling prize-winning designer, craned her neck to take a look. "Do you think it is deliberately banal?" she asked. "Shocking. The electricity substation is better."It was a tough start for the architecture of the Olympic park, which was being put to the test by a panel of leading architects and critics convened by…

• From dream homes to hellholes: architects shed light on the way we live

  David Shariatmadari

  16 May 2012 | 8:37 am

  A report by Riba suggests what we want from our homes – big, light-filled spaces – we just don't get. But in the current economic climate, what can architects do about it?We all know the English like to think of their homes as castles. But according to a report by the Royal Institute of British Architects, "dungeon" could now be a more fitting medieval analogy. The architect's professional body has produced a report called The Way We Live Now, a study of what people want out of their homes and how they're using them. What leaps out from its pages is the gap between expectations and…

• Poll: Have you got enough room at home?

  16 May 2012 | 3:51 am

  A new report from Riba claims that new houses are too small, leading to some people resorting to extreme storage solutions. Have you got enough space at home?

• 

  Art and design news, reviews, comment and features | guardian.co.uk

• Why are houses in Britain so small?

  Jon Henley

  16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  We build the tiniest new dwellings in Europe, and yet more storage and living space is what people desperately wantOne left their kitchen bin in the middle of the kitchen, because there was nowhere else for it. Another said their cupboards were so small they stored shopping in the boot of the car, while Miriam and Matt from Liverpool were so short of space they kept their vacuum cleaner at their mother's house, a good 20-minute drive away.A report this week by Riba and Ipsos Mori found "long- and short-term storage space" – for everyday functional items such as ironing boards and bed linen,…

• London 2012 Olympic Park site architecture - video

  Robert Booth, Guy Grandjean, Josh Strauss

  16 May 2012 | 9:35 am

  Architects Amanda Levete and Piers Gough and critic Charles Jencks give their verdict on the key venues of the London Olympic siteRobert BoothGuy GrandjeanJosh Strauss

• London Olympics stadium disappoints architects, but supporting cast save day

  Robert Booth

  16 May 2012 | 9:31 am

  Velodrome and aquatics centre are the stars of Olympic park, according to a panel of architects convened by the Guardian"That's as dull as ditchwater," said architect Piers Gough as the organising committee's minibus skirted the copper-clad Olympic handball arena. Amanda Levete, Stirling prize-winning designer, craned her neck to take a look. "Do you think it is deliberately banal?" she asked. "Shocking. The electricity substation is better."It was a tough start for the architecture of the Olympic park, which was being put to the test by a panel of leading architects and critics convened by…

• Our memories of Mike Kelley's art will be shaped by the manner of his death

  Jonathan Jones

  16 May 2012 | 8:49 am

  The late artist's unfinished replica of his childhood home, with its dark underground retreat, suggests parallels with his troubled lifeDoes Van Gogh's painting of crows over a wheat field, like black messengers of fate, presage his imminent death? However many art historians argue otherwise, it is always going to look like a painted suicide note. When an artist dies by suicide this has a deep effect on how we see that artist's work.While Van Gogh is written into history as "the man suicided by society", in Antonin Artaud's words, the place of American artist Mike Kelley in modern memory has…

• From dream homes to hellholes: the way we live now

  David Shariatmadari

  16 May 2012 | 8:37 am

  A report by Riba suggests what we want from our homes – big, light-filled spaces – we just don't get. But in the current economic climate, what can architects do about it?We all know the English like to think of their homes as castles. But according to a report by the Royal Institute of British Architects, "dungeon" could now be a more fitting medieval analogy. The architect's professional body has produced a report called The Way We Live Now, a study of what people want out of their homes and how they're using them. What leaps out from its pages is the gap between expectations and…

• 

  Art and design: Art | guardian.co.uk

• Our memories of Mike Kelley's art will be shaped by the manner of his death

  Jonathan Jones

  16 May 2012 | 8:49 am

  The late artist's unfinished replica of his childhood home, with its dark underground retreat, suggests parallels with his troubled lifeDoes Van Gogh's painting of crows over a wheat field, like black messengers of fate, presage his imminent death? However many art historians argue otherwise, it is always going to look like a painted suicide note. When an artist dies by suicide this has a deep effect on how we see that artist's work.While Van Gogh is written into history as "the man suicided by society", in Antonin Artaud's words, the place of American artist Mike Kelley in modern memory has…

• Queen on tour: 'unofficial' exhibition of royal portraits arrives in London

  Mark Brown

  16 May 2012 | 8:29 am

  Exhibition of images of Elizabeth II, which has already visited Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, arrives in capitalA fragile and rarely loaned portrait of the Queen has gone on public display for the first time in 26 years as part of an exhibition of portraiture that includes works that would not necessarily be of Her Majesty's choosing.The summer-long show arrived at the National Portrait Gallery in London ahead of the diamond jubilee weekend celebrations. But its curator, Paul Moorhouse, stressed: "The really important thing to say is that it is in no sense an official exhibition. It has not…

• Stone carvers defy Taliban to return to the Bamiyan valley

  Emma Graham-Harrison

  16 May 2012 | 7:02 am

  Afghan students learn the centuries-old skills that carved out the giant buddhas blown up by extremistsUnder perfectly carved niches that once held dozens of small buddha statues, the purposeful tap of chisel on stone echoed over the Bamiyan valley for the first time in centuries.Twelve young Afghans had gathered to take the first tentative steps back towards a stone-working tradition that once made their home famous, at a workshop in a cave gouged out as a monastery assembly hall more than 1,000 years ago.The cave-hall was part of a complex built around two giant buddhas that loomed serenely…

• British pavilions at the Venice Biennale - in pictures

  15 May 2012 | 9:14 am

  The artist Jeremy Deller has been picked to fill the British pavilion at next year's Venice Biennale. We look at some of the past pavilions ...

• Resisting the Present - review

  15 May 2012 | 6:01 am

  Musée d'Art Moderne, ParisThe show starts demonstratively, with $50,000 cut into the wall above the entrance by a series of bullet holes. The ironic title of this installation is No hay artista joven que resista un cañonazo de $50,000 dólares (No young artist can resist a $50,000 cannon blast). The work by the Tercerunquinto collective introduces Resisting the Present (until 8 July). The opening work harks back to a disabused remark by Álvaro Obregón, the president of Mexico in 1920-24, condemning the corruption rife among the military during the revolution in the 1910s: "No hay general…

• 

  Society: Communities | guardian.co.uk

• It's time to challenge outdated and unfair GP funding

  Zara Aziz

  15 May 2012 | 5:30 am

  General practice funding is based on an outdated system that leaves many surgeries in poorer areas at the bottom the pileFor many years there has been a gross inequity in general practice funding in many areas of the UK. This means that some practices can boast twice as much financial support as those that lie at the bottom of the funding table. Even surgeries next door to each other can have vastly different contracts.Our GP practice, along with many others in the most deprived part of Bristol, comes at the bottom of the table. Historically, this funding inequity dates back to when GP…

• Graph of Doom: a bleak future for social care services

  David Brindle

  15 May 2012 | 4:30 am

  Without radical change, the cost of social care could soak up every penny of Barnet council's budget within 20 yearsLet me to introduce you to the Barnet Graph of Doom. It's a PowerPoint slide showing that within 20 years, unless things change dramatically, the north London council will be unable to provide any services except adult social care and children's services. No libraries, no parks, no leisure centres – not even bin collections.Barnet, once dubbed "easyCouncil", is known for its enthusiastic embrace of service outsourcing. But the Graph of Doom is quite separate. Irrespective of…

• Are you a gardening good samaritan? | Open thread

  Jessica Reed

  14 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  Islington council wants locals to use their bathwater to water street trees. Tell us how you've helped improve public spacesSometimes the simplest things can brighten your rainy commute to work. To wit: as I was making my way to the Guardian's offices this morning, I noticed that each of the small trees growing along York Way had been adorned with a small laminated public notice, presumably put there by Islington council. It said:"In this time of drought, there is a real risk that some of our trees will suffer greatly if they do not receive enough water. When water is scarce, residents can…

• Experience: I was a teenage gangster

  11 May 2012 | 2:59 pm

  'The future held only two options for me: death or jail'When I was young, I had everything I needed, but I wanted more. My head was turned by the glamour of music videos and I felt I wouldn't be happy until I had £90 trainers. My mum and dad couldn't afford them, so I started dealing – it was all around me on the estate in London where I grew up. I began with cannabis in my early teens and by the time I was 16, I was selling class A drugs.The money started rolling in and I enjoyed the lifestyle. I suppose we were in a gang, but to me they were my childhood mates; I…

• Live discussion: tackling antisocial behaviour

  Liam Kelly

  11 May 2012 | 5:11 am

  Join our live panel from 12pm on Monday 14 May to discuss how housing can manage antisocial behaviourTackling antisocial behaviour (ASB) is a priority for social landlords and tenants alike. Tales of neighbours from hell regularly hit the headlines, but rarely as tragically as the case of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her severely disabled daughter following a decade sustained abuse from a gang of local teenagers. Pilkington had called the police 33 times, but nobody was ever charged.At the inquest into the deaths, superintendent Steve Harrod of Leicestershire police affirmed that…

• 

  Art and design: Photography | guardian.co.uk

• Guardian Camera Club: Andrew Smith on conceptual photography

  16 May 2012 | 7:46 am

  Andrew Smith participates in the conceptual photography assignment

• Guardian Camera Club: Yebsiu1's portfolio

  16 May 2012 | 7:42 am

  A review of Yebsiu1's portfolio

• Guardian Camera Club: Lee Welton's portfolio

  16 May 2012 | 7:41 am

  A review of Lee Welton's portfolio

• Justin de Villeneuve's best photograph: David Bowie and Twiggy

  Sarah Phillips

  16 May 2012 | 6:54 am

  'I photographed Bowie with Twiggy for Vogue. But he ended up taking it for the cover of Pin Ups'I started going out with Twiggy in 1965. She wanted to become a model, so we arranged meetings with fashion editors, but they all said she looked too young. Eventually she got her break, and the whole look of the era changed: all the girls wanted hair and eye makeup like hers.By 1973, we were no longer a couple, but I remained her manager. David Bowie's Aladdin Sane had just come out, and we loved the line: "Twig the wonder kid." We met Bowie a few times socially, and he mentioned that he wanted to…

• 'Backwards' Abbey Road Beatles photo up for auction

  Steven Morris

  15 May 2012 | 6:22 am

  Rare picture shows Fab Four walking over pedestrian crossing opposite way to image used on famous album coverA rare photograph showing the Beatles walking the "wrong way" across the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing is expected to fetch up to £9,000 at auction.The version that found its way on to the 1969 Abbey Road album has the band walking from the photographer's left to right.In the version up for sale John Lennon, splendid in white suit and shoes, leads the group from right to left.Other differences are likely to tantalise Beatles fans, particularly Paul McCartney's footwear. On the album…

• 

  Education

• Companies Value Internships, So Why Don't They Hire Interns?

  Nona Willis Aronowitz

  16 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  As recently as the 1980s, internships were uncommon and certainly not required for entry-level jobs. Nowadays, they represent a rite of passage for three-quarters of the 10 million students enrolled in America’s four-year colleges and universities. And according to a recent study by Millennial Branding, Inc., the lion's share of employers expect students to have internships on their résumés; 91 percent of the 225 employers surveyed think students should have between one and two internships before they graduate. Yet the study found that half of those employers…

• Florida Teen Starts 'Giving Library' for Homeless Kids

  Liz Dwyer

  16 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  There’s nothing like curling up in bed with a good book before you go to sleep, but far too many low-income kids don’t know what that’s like. Two-thirds of poor children have no age-appropriate books at home, and the nation's 1.6 million homeless children have even fewer options. Fifteen-year-old Florida resident Lilli Leight wanted to help provide homeless kids in her community with access to books, so she created a "giving library" at a Miami homeless shelter. To staff the library, she formed a teen book club to encourage her classmates to volunteer. Her…

• A Grassroots Group Demands Legislators Stop Education Cuts

  Liz Dwyer

  16 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Can a grassroots parent group convince California's state legislators to create a balanced budget without deeper education cuts? That's the goal of the "Stop the Circus" public service announcement produced by Educate Our State, a 3-year-old 40,000-member organization hoping public pressure can force legislators to protect schools from the latest wave of slash-and-burn fiscal policy. The PSA—which features a little girl getting the run-around from politicians when she demands to know who is responsible for fixing the education system—was created by Greg Bartlett…

• Should 5-Year-Olds Evaluate Their Teachers?

  Liz Dwyer

  15 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Should input from kindergarteners play a role in teacher evaluations? According to the Hechinger Report, a K-12 pilot program in Georgia will ask students in every grade to fill out evaluations that will be used to decide whether a teacher keeps her job. The best educators already give their students informal surveys several times a year. Teachers often ask if students feel they can ask for help in class or if they feel like they’re part of a classroom community, then use the results to adjust their teaching practice and classroom environment. But high-stakes student surveys are on the…

• 5 Tips to Mobilize Teenagers to Do Something

  Alex Goldmark

  15 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Without a hint of a wrinkle around her bright smile, Aria Finger, 29, is nonetheless an official old person. “At DoSomething, you turn old the moment you hit age 26,” she concedes. “It's very official. It's a very tough birthday at the DoSomething office. Tears.” Finger is the Chief Operating Officer of DoSomething.org, a teen-focused nonprofit that runs campaigns to get young people active in helping others. After seven years tracking what makes teens volunteer and donate, or generally step up and do something in any way, Finger is an expert in tapping…

• 

  Culture

• A Public Art Project Symbolically Reverses Detroit's 'White Flight'

  Zak Stone

  16 May 2012 | 11:15 am

  The late artist Mike Kelley spent most of his career working in Los Angeles, but his origins lie in Westland, Michigan, a working-class town 16 miles outside Detroit. One of his final works before his suicide in January reconnects with those roots using a replica of the classic ranch-style home he grew up in in the 1950s. The public art piece, called "Mobile Homestead," toured through Detroit and surrounding towns on a flatbed truck to demonstrate a symbolic reversal of the "white flight" from a struggling city to its suburbs. The project began in 2005 when Artangel, a…

• Sounds GOOD: Download 'Proton Drive Theme Song' by Daedelus

  GOOD Projects

  14 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Sounds GOOD brings you new music by artists we love. Pay what you want to download the track, and GOOD will donate the net proceeds to a worthy organization. (Payments are not tax-deductible. Net proceeds are the total revenue from sales minus transaction costs.) <a href="http://sounds-good.bandcamp.com/track/proton-drive-theme-song-spring-2012"…

• GOOD Pictures: Jaimie Warren Wants You to Feel Better

  Jaimie Warren

  11 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  GOOD Pictures features work by a new photographer each week, with a focus on up-and-coming artists. It is curated by Stephanie Gonot and Jennifer Mizgata.  Jaimie Warren's website and Aperture monograph are entitled "Don't You Feel Better." And yes, I do feel better when I look at her work. The images above are from an ongoing series of absurd and playful self-portraits she's been creating since 2003.  The Aperture bio describes Jaimie as "a curator, performance artist, and photographer who makes theatrical, humorous, self-portraits in…

• What's Wrong With This Picture? When Juxtaposing Past and Present Sends the Wrong Message

  Dylan C. Lathrop

  10 May 2012 | 11:00 am

  If you've been on the internet in the last two days, you may be aware that many people aren't too happy about North Carolina voters' decision to approve a constitutional amendment that strengthens the state's existing ban on gay marriage. And true to internet form, that sentiment resulted in plenty of memes, quotes, tweets, and GIFs.   Above is one form of expression we see all too often: the old image comparison, juxtaposing how it was then to how it is now and dismissing all the time in between as irrelevant. Then. Now. Bad. Still bad. These particular photos compare a…

• GOOD Maker Winner: Encouraging Creativity Through Communal Doodling

  GOOD Maker

  10 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Doodling is now a team game on the University of Miami campus. Thanks to the creators of U-Doodle, a project “promoting social interaction and collaborative creativity,” students can enjoy a break from calculus and anthropology to add colors and illustrations to communal canvases. The idea for these group scribble sessions took shape during a dorm conversation between co-founders Jordan Magid and Marc Fruitema. Magid was interested in creating more spaces where students could engage in community-building. Fruitem, a perpetual doodler himself, dreamed up the idea for these spaces…

• 

  Brains On Purpose™

• How do you listen attentively? Well, first you grab a paint brush, a pencil, or a piece of chalk

  StephanieWestAllen

  10 May 2012 | 7:38 am

  Being able to draw well can be somewhat like attentive and complete listening. For many people, learning a certain kind of drawing helps them to be better listeners. A receptive state that enables this kind of drawing, once learned, can be transferred to listening. Good news: (Almost) anyone can master this state. Today I will recommend two books to help...

• Is physical pain the same as social pain? Maybe for poets

  StephanieWestAllen

  9 May 2012 | 7:08 pm

  I've been reading Psychology's Ghosts: The Crisis in the Profession and the Way Back and have recommended it to others several times. Reading the first chapter can help one become a much more critical reader of research. Jerome Kagan, the author, points out that behaviors and biological responses are influenced by properties of the brain, an individual's prior experience, and...

• Become a Quick Draw: Let images guide you to new understanding

  StephanieWestAllen

  7 May 2012 | 11:06 am

  In every program I present, I advocate the use of images in addition to words to facilitate communication. Last weekend at the 19th Annual Nothwest Dispute Resolution Conference, that advocacy was taken to whole new level because I was fortunate to have Nancy White graphically record my presentation. Take a look at her masterpiece above (click to enlarge). It is...

• Dopamine related to motivation?

  StephanieWestAllen

  3 May 2012 | 12:28 pm

  After reading books such as Psychology's Ghosts: The Crisis in the Profession and the Way Back, I am even more likely to see most research studies as, at best, clues, and clues only only in the material world. That's how I view this study written about below, but I post the news release here because I can never be reminded...

• Neuroscience and social conflict: A new interdisciplinary initiative

  StephanieWestAllen

  3 May 2012 | 8:21 am

  The first meeting of the Project on Justice in Times of Transition occurred earlier this year. Matt Armstrong, one of the attendees, blogged about it at his Mountain Runner. Excerpt: What if you put neuroscientists, social scientists, conflict resolution experts, and diplomats together in a room? Is there something to the “human dimension” of conflict that the science of the...

• 

  The Huffington Post | Full News Feed

• Anthony Bourdain On Paula Deen: Hate Mail After Comments Was "Scary"

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  16 May 2012 | 12:31 pm

  In the days following Anthony Bourdain's famous bashing last year of Food Network's resident butter-lover, Paula Deen, before her diabetes announcement, Bourdain tells Rolling Stone magazine that "scary" letters, e-mails and social media messages started pouring in.Bourdain's comments, which were made during an interview with TV Guide, invited a great deal of media attention at the time. Particularly, his branding of Deen as the "worst, most dangerous person to America.""It was the first time I've ever been frightened," he told Rolling Stone. "I don't know what my problem is, honestly. Why…

• Obama-Boehner Meeting: President, Speaker Talk Debt Ceiling

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  16 May 2012 | 12:23 pm

  WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Apparently healed from the trauma caused by last summer's debt-ceiling showdown, House Republicans and the White House have begun an eight-month long standoff over the next debt-ceiling fight. President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met for lunch Wednesday, during which the predictable battle lines were drawn over allowing the U.S. government to pay off its financial obligations for the foreseeable future. According to a readout of the meeting from Boehner's office, the president made it clear that he wanted a debt-ceiling increase without any attached…

• Detroit Housing Plan Lures Few Cops

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  16 May 2012 | 12:21 pm

  By Christine MacDonaldMore than a year after Mayor Dave Bing launched a campaign to lure police and firefighters back to the city by selling rehabbed homes on the cheap, the program has sold six houses.City officials call that a start to a Project 14 program they're confident will be a success.Read More... More on Detroit Real Estate

• YouTube Food Channel: 'HUNGRY' Launching With TV Veterans

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  16 May 2012 | 12:21 pm

  -- Bruce Seidel is confident the future of food television won't be seen on television.Which is why the Food Network and Cooking Channel veteran has checked out of network TV to oversee the launch of YouTube's latest original content channel, HUNGRY. The channel, which goes live on July 2, is expected to feature a freewheeling blend of how-to and celebrity-driven food videos.Read More... More on Video

• Ashley Dupre, Former Eliot Spitzer Call Girl, Opens Lingerie, Swimsuit Shop 'Femme By Ashley' In New Jersey

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  16 May 2012 | 12:20 pm

  Ashley Dupre, the woman once linked to the downfall of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, has now opened a lingerie shop in New Jersey.Her new business venture, "Femme by Ashley," focuses on selling luxurious swimsuits and intimate apparel for women. Since the Spitzer scandal, Dupre has written a sex and relationship column for the New York Post and posed nude for Playboy. But now the 27-year-old is looking to get out of the media spotlight and behind the doors of her new boutique. Read More... More on Video

• 

  nybooks.com: Recent items

• Why I Still Write Poetry

  Charles Simic

  15 May 2012 | 12:15 pm

  Charles Simic A still from the 1925 film Chess Fever When my mother was very old and in a nursing home, she surprised me one day toward the end of her life by asking me if I still wrote poetry. When I blurted out that I still do, she stared at me with incomprehension. I had to repeat what I said, till she sighed and shook her head, probably thinking to herself this son of mine has always been a little nuts. Now that I’m in my seventies, I’m asked that question now and then by people who don’t know me well. Many of them, I suspect, hope to hear me say that I’ve come my senses and given…

• The Loves of Lena Dunham

  Elaine Blair

  15 May 2012 | 8:15 am

  Elaine Blair Girls a television series on HBO created by Lena Dunham Mark Seliger/HBO Lena Dunham as Hannah Horvath in Girls There are many reasons to love Lena Dunham’s HBO television show Girls, and some of them have nothing to do with sex, but I’m going to begin with the sex scene in the second episode that most critics have mentioned and described with some amount of repugnance or lament. It’s one of the most complicated and intelligent sex scenes I’ve seen.

• In Defense of the New York Public Library

  Robert Darnton

  13 May 2012 | 8:15 pm

  Robert Darnton Anne Day The Rose Main Reading Room at the 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library; photograph by Anne Day from the new edition of Henry Hope Reed and Francis Morrone’s The New York Public Library: The Architecture and Decoration of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. It is published by Norton. Few buildings in America resonate in the collective imagination as powerfully as the New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The marble palace behind the stone lions is seen by many as the soul of the city. For a century it provided limitless…

• Fear and Literature

  Tim Parks

  11 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  Tim Parks Christopher Anderson/Magnum Photos A man driving through Catia, a violent slum in Caracas, Venezuela, 2005 Is the novel a space of intense engagement with the world, of risk and adventure? Or is it a place of refuge, of hanging back from life? The answer will be all too easy if we are living in a country that does not allow certain stories to be told. For Solzhenitsyn writing novels was indeed a serious risk. But in the West? In my last piece in this space I considered the idea that our personalities are formed in communities of origin where one particular polarity of values or…

• The Myth About Marriage

  Garry Wills

  9 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  Garry Wills Palazzo Massimo alle Terme A Roman sarcophagus depicting a bride and groom (center), 270-280 CE Why do some people who would recognize gay civil unions oppose gay marriage? Certain religious groups want to deny gays the sacredeness of what they take to be a sacrament. But marriage is no sacrament. Some of my fellow Catholics even think that “true marriage” was instituted by Christ. It wasn’t. Marriage is prescribed in Eden by YHWH (Yahweh) at Genesis 2.24: man and wife shall “become one flesh.” When Jesus is asked about marriage, he simply quotes that passage from…

• 

  NYT > Books

• Books of The Times: ‘I Am Forbidden,’ a Novel by Anouk Markovits

  By SUSANNAH MEADOWS

  16 May 2012 | 12:27 pm

  Two Hasidic girls, united as a result of Nazi persecution, pursue opposite paths in this novel by Anouk Markovits.

• Carlos Fuentes, Mexican Novelist, Dies at 83

  By ANTHONY DePALMA

  16 May 2012 | 12:17 pm

  Mr. Fuentes was Mexico’s elegant public intellectual and grand man of letters whose panoramic novels captured the complicated essence of his country’s history.

• Children's Books: ‘Heroes of the Surf,’ by Elisa Carbone

  By PAMELA PAUL

  16 May 2012 | 9:54 am

  In Elisa Carbone’s “Heroes of the Surf,” two young boys travel from South America to New York City on a steamship that encounters rough waters.

• Children's Books: ‘Code Name Verity,’ by Elizabeth Wein

  By MARJORIE INGALL

  16 May 2012 | 9:14 am

  Two young women fight for Britain during World War II.

• Mike McGrady, Known for a Literary Hoax, Dies at 78

  By MARGALIT FOX

  16 May 2012 | 9:10 am

  As a Newsday journalist, Mr. McGrady led his colleagues in the creation of “Naked Came the Stranger,” a steamy parody novel.

• 

  Pixel of Ink

• [Save 82%] Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso

  Pixel of Ink

  16 May 2012 | 11:16 am

  Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso Genre: Thriller Sam Travis lives in a Civil War era farmhouse in Gettysburg, PA, where he awakens one morning to find an old journal with an entry by a Union soldier, Lt. Whiting…written in Sam’s own handwriting. When this happens several more times, both at night and during waking “trances,” Sam begins to question his own sanity while becoming obsessed with Lt. Whiting and his bone-chilling journal entries. As the entries begin to mimic Sam’s own life, he is drawn into an evil plot that could cost many lives, including his own. Can the…

• Wednesday Afternoon: 6 More Freebies!

  Pixel of Ink

  16 May 2012 | 10:23 am

  Here is a collection of 6 Free Kindle Books you will want to snag today! Did you know we post over a dozen free books every day? Make sure you don’t miss another deal: Click Here to get our Daily Email updates! Though free at time of posting, prices may change at any time. Please verify that the “Kindle Price” is $0.00. If you see a price for “Prime Members” or “read for free”, then the book is NOT free any longer. For non-U.S. readers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary. Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Romance, Time…

• Wednesday Morning: 5 Free Kindle Books

  Pixel of Ink

  16 May 2012 | 7:08 am

  More of the best Free & Bargain eBooks are on the way, be sure to check Pixel of Ink throughout the day! Though free at time of posting, prices may change at any time. Please verify that the “Kindle Price” is $0.00. If you see a price for “Prime Members” or “read for free”, then the book is NOT free any longer. For non-U.S. readers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary. Genre: Action & Adventure, Contemporary Fiction, Political Thriller, Romance The Winds of Sonoma by Nikki Arana FREE on Kindle Angelica Amante at twenty-four must make…

• [Kindle Daily Deal] Daughters for a Time

  Pixel of Ink

  16 May 2012 | 5:50 am

  Amazon has a daily promotion called the Kindle Daily Deal. You can view this special deal every day here: http://amzn.to/KindleDailyDeal Today’s deal is… Daughters for a Time by Jennifer Handford Genre: Contemporary Fiction Jennifer Handford’s heartfelt debut explores the ties that bind us and the lasting pain of childhood loss. The novel follows Helen Francis as she longs for a family to heal a heart broken by her mother’s death, her father’s abandonment, and the terrible illness of the sister who raised her. Click here to download from Amazon for the Kindle:…

• [Hot Deal] The Return of Rafe MacKade by Nora Roberts – Save 57%

  Pixel of Ink

  15 May 2012 | 12:45 pm

  The Return of Rafe MacKade by Nora Roberts Genre: Romance Ten years after disappearing from Antietam, Maryland, the bad boy has returned. Cleaned up and successful now—and still dangerously good-looking, —Rafe MacKade sets the town on fire, and tongues wagging. Lovely newcomer Regan Jones is intrigued— what kind of man could cause this sort of talk? She’ s just about to find out… The Return of Rafe MacKade is Book #1 in The MacKade Brothers Series, and right now all 4 books in the series are on sale! The order for the The MacKade Brothers Series is as follows: Book #1: The Return…

• 

  ESSENTIALS For Photographers

• WordPress Basics for Photographers: Part Three

  wizwow

  13 May 2012 | 9:40 am

  Once we have our theme worked out, we must get our materials ready. I suggest doing this before you start to build your WordPress website. Flying by the seat of your pants is NOT the best way to organize your material, as well as write it, design it and get it into the site. I start with the information I want to have on the site. I know I want an About Page, and a Portfolio of course. A Contact Page is a good idea, and a Blog is a given. That is one of the best reasons to use WordPress for your website framework; the built in blog. The ease of use and maintenance is the other best reason.

• Workshops? A New Direction… After a Break. Maybe.

  wizwow

  9 May 2012 | 9:43 pm

  It’s time. Actually it may be later than that. And that makes it all the more… more… Well, I don’t really know how I feel about stopping the workshops. A little sad, I suppose. Possibly a tiny bit bitter (fuckit, I’m human… right?). But mostly I feel like I needed to do it and move to a different place. Doing workshops was something that was fun, but not my main source of revenue, and I need to focus a bit more on that these days. When I started the Lighting Essentials workshops it was in response to what I was seeing here in the Phoenix area in regard to…

• Ten Things I Know About Creativity

  wizwow

  3 May 2012 | 8:21 am

  Occasionally we run into the argument of whether or not ‘creativity’ can be taught, or does it have to be born within us? We read all about creativity and how important it is. We award little statuettes to really “creative” people. Creativity is blessed, cursed, chased, obsessed over, ignored, beaten down and vindicated. It is a word so over used that we mention Stravinsky and Lady GaGa in the same breathless discussion of creativity. Schools want to nurture it (bullshit). Companies seek it (bull-bullshit). Poets have it in spades (bull… oh never mind). But have…

• A Project 52 Assignment: Lunch

  wizwow

  1 May 2012 | 11:21 am

  This was a most incredible assignment over at Project 52. Based on a single layout, supplied to the photographers, they had to complete a faux assignment from an ad agency that was representing a Pharmaceutical Company. The point of the ad was to show how a new pill could allow oldsters to feel like they were younger. The product addresses an eating disorder, so the focus was on having “lunch”. There were few creative directions; the photographers could look at the assignment from a contemporary perspective, shooting older folks behaving more like they were young, or in a…

• Thoughts On A Couple of Portraits

  wizwow

  22 Apr 2012 | 4:55 pm

  I was asked about my portraiture by a reader who wanted to know what I am thinking about when shooting. I decided to break down a couple of shots I did of Natalie in Seattle the Sunday after my creativeLIVE presentation. We were on the waterfront and the sun was out in full force. Yes, it was out in full in Seattle in April. Maybe it was me, maybe it was Bri… who knows. The girls were taking turns standing by a metal building with some glass in order to get warm. Even though the sun had just burned off all the clouds, there was still a very chilly breeze coming off the water. I was…

• 

  In Focus

• Views From the Night Sky: London and the U.K.

  16 May 2012 | 8:59 am

  Based just outside London, photographer Jason Hawkes has been making fascinating aerial images since 1991. One of his specialties is nighttime photography, where he mounts his camera to a gyro-stabilizer and takes photos directly from the open door of a helicopter. Jason has been generous to me over the years, and once again he has shared a group of stunning images. As we approach the London Summer Olympics, let Jason give you a preview tour of London and other cities in the U.K. [30 photos (plus 1 video)] Night aerial view over Swiss Re Tower, and the Lloyds Building, City of London. (©…

• Star City and the Baikonur Cosmodrome

  15 May 2012 | 7:21 am

  Earlier today, a Soyuz-FG rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying an International Space Station (ISS) crew into orbit. Baikonur, Russia's primary space launch facility since the 1950s, is the largest in the world, and supports multiple launches of both manned and unmanned rockets every year. With the U.S. manned space program currently on hold, Baikonur is now the sole launching point for trips to the ISS. Gathered here is a look at the facility, some of the cosmonaut training programs in Star City outside of Moscow, and a few recent launches and landings --…

• 50 Years Ago: The World in 1962

  14 May 2012 | 5:37 am

  A half-century ago, the space race was heating up and the Cold War was freezing over. Soviet missile bases discovered in Cuba triggered a crisis that brought the U.S. to the brink of war with the U.S.S.R. Civil rights activists won hard-earned victories against segregationists in the American South, and John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Algeria gained independence from France and the U.S. slowly escalated its involvement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Seattle held a World's Fair called the the Century 21 Exposition, celebrating the themes of space, science, and the future. Let…

• The Last Horse Drive

  11 May 2012 | 6:01 am

  Reuters photographer Jim Urquhart recently captured these scenes from a fading culture, as he followed Montana ranchers on their final horse drive, moving more than 300 horses down from their winter range. Every spring the Mantle family, along with with a group of wranglers, drives the herd north over 35 miles and three days, through the small town of Three Forks to their ranch. After decades of supplying and tending to horses, the Mantles, citing financial challenges, now plan to sell off their herd and shift to raising beef cattle. Take a moment to travel with the Mantle family through big…

• Lighting the 2012 Olympic Flame

  10 May 2012 | 6:57 am

  Seven years after London was selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Olympic Flame is on its way to England. Earlier today in Greece, performers dressed as priests and priestesses gathered for a ceremony in Olympia, the ancient birthplace of the Olympic games, where they appealed to the sun god Apollo to light the flame with the help of a parabolic mirror. The Olympic flame was then passed to swimmer Spyros Gianniotis to begin a seven-day relay through Greece, followed by a flight to Great Britain, where it will begin a 70-day journey, changing hands 8,000 times on its way to London.

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  The Big Picture

• Ways of the wind

  16 May 2012 | 9:53 am

  It's something often ignored unless it's annoying, harnessed for sport or energy, the cause of great damage, or sometimes used for fun. Wind is simply defined as "a natural movement of air of any velocity." Here is a collection of images showing its effects on us and nature. -- Lloyd Young(40 photos total)A woman grips her umbrella against the wind in front of the Jubelpark - Cinquantenaire in Brussels as a storm moved over Belgium on Jan. 5. The Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute gave a code orange warning for the heavy storm weather that moved over Belgium this morning. (Benoit…

• Food and nutrition crisis in Sahel region of Africa

  11 May 2012 | 2:54 pm

  A potentially catastrophic food crisis in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa could affect as many as one million children. The food and nutrition crisis resulting from a severe drought, threatens the survival of an entire generation of children. Those children in eight countries - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal - are at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Sparse rainfall, poor harvests and rising food prices have left many vulnerable and weak, seeking medical attention. Sahel is one of the poorest regions in the world where children…

• Victory Day 2012

  9 May 2012 | 11:41 am

  Russia and former Soviet republics marked the 67 years since the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II today. Russia's newly inaugurated President Vladimir Putin promised a strong Russia during a speech he delivered during a military parade at Red Square in Moscow. The Soviet Union lost an estimated 26 million people in the war, including 8.5 million soldiers. -- Lloyd Young (31 photos total)A World War II veteran walks at the Red Square in Moscow, on May 9, 2012, after the Victory Day parade. Thousands of Russian soldiers marched today across Red Square to mark the 67 years since…

• Supermoon: the perigee moon of 2012

  7 May 2012 | 10:35 am

  The night sky on May 5 was animated by the once-a-year cosmic event of the perigee moon. Popularly known as the "Supermoon", the moon appears much larger above us when the elliptical orbit brings it within 221,802 miles to Earth, the closest point. The effect is magnified during a full moon, when we see our nearest celestial neighbor appear roughly 20 percent brighter and 15 percent larger. Collected here are images taken just before, during, and just after the perigee moon of 2012. -- Lane Turner (27 photos total)The May's full moon rises beside San Francisco's Coit Tower on May 5, 2012.

• Afghanistan, May 2012

  4 May 2012 | 12:53 pm

  With well over a year before American forces pull out of Afghanistan, the conflict there drags on. Every month in The Big Picture, we feature a selection of recent images of events there, from the soldiers and insurgents at war, the people longing for peace, and daily life and culture in the country of 29 million. Afghanistan remains among the world's poorest nations, and struggles with issues not found in other places, like an ongoing fight against polio. Afghanistan still supplies about 90% of the world's opium, a major cash crop in a country with few viable exports. Gathered here are…

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  WSJ.com: World News

• Japan Political Heavyweight Adds to Intervention Hints

  16 May 2012 | 12:12 pm

  A Japanese ruling-party heavyweight said the government must intervene in the currency markets if the yen's rise accelerates sharply, adding to the level of jawboning aimed at controlling the currency's moves and its impact on the economy.

• Turkey Seeks to Revive EU Bid

  16 May 2012 | 12:11 pm

  As fears grow that crisis-stricken Greece could become the first country forced to exit the euro zone, Athens' neighbor and old rival Turkey is seeking to revive its stalled bid to join the EU.

• BOE Cuts U.K. Growth Forecast

  16 May 2012 | 12:10 pm

  The Bank of England said that inflation in the U.K. will probably take longer to return to target than previously thought, while economic growth will be weaker.

• Hollande Picks Moderates For Cabinet Posts

  16 May 2012 | 11:51 am

  French President François Hollande named moderate Socialists to key ministerial posts hoping to unite his coalition ahead of the June legislative vote.

• Indonesia Details Additional Mineral Taxes

  16 May 2012 | 11:37 am

  Indonesian officials revealed additional plans to tax mineral exports from the resource-rich country, compounding worries that government policies could slow the flow of investment into one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.

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  World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post

• Many will profit if Pakistan reopens NATO supply routes

  Richard Leiby

  16 May 2012 | 8:17 am

  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — U.S. commanders in Afghanistan want to get war supplies rolling across Pakistan’s borders again. So do Pakistanis in places high and low — from officials trying to balance the nation’s budget to black marketeers who stand ready to plunder the NATO-contracted trucks and oil tankers expected to shortly resume passage into Afghanistan after nearly six months of closed border crossings. Read full article >>

• President Obama executive order gives Treasury authority to freeze Yemeni assets in U.S.

  Karen DeYoung

  16 May 2012 | 8:10 am

  President Obama issued an executive order Wednesday giving the Treasury Department authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of anyone who “obstructs” implementation of the administration-backed political transition in Yemen. Read full article >>

• India promises “some austerity” as rupee collapses

  Simon Denyer

  16 May 2012 | 7:16 am

  NEW DELHI — Facing a collapse in investor confidence and a decline in the rupee to a record low against the dollar, India’s finance minister said Wednesday it was time for “some austerity” — but not time to panic. Read full article >>

• Merkel says she’s open to ‘stimulus’ for Greek economy

  Anthony Faiola, Michael Birnbaum

  16 May 2012 | 6:58 am

  ATHENS – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that she wants to keep Greece on the common euro currency and would be open to “stimulus” that would help foster growth in the troubled European country. Read full article >>

• As adoption demands grow, Indian families look beyond castes and religion

  Benjamin Gottlieb, Emily Frost

  16 May 2012 | 5:41 am

  NEW DELHI — On a dusty lane too narrow for a car to fit through, the Delhi Girls’ Home sits shrouded by the minarets and residential houses that litter Delhi’s outer suburb of Burari. It’s a cavernous three-story building, housing 15 young Indian girls. Read full article >>

• 

  TEDTalks (video)

• TED: David Kelley: How to build your creative confidence - David Kelley (2012)

  TEDTalks

  16 May 2012 | 8:30 am

  Is your school or workplace divided into "creatives" versus practical people? Yet surely, David Kelley suggests, creativity is not the domain of only a chosen few. Telling stories from his legendary design career and his own life, he offers ways to build the confidence to create... (From The Design Studio session at TED2012, guest-curated by Chee Pearlman and David Rockwell.)

• TED: Jean-Baptiste Michel: The mathematics of history - Jean-Baptiste Michel (2012)

  TEDTalks

  15 May 2012 | 8:00 am

  What can mathematics say about history? According to TED Fellow Jean-Baptiste Michel, quite a lot. From changes to language to the deadliness of wars, he shows how digitized history is just starting to reveal deep underlying patterns.

• TED: Tali Sharot: The optimism bias - Tali Sharot (2012)

  TEDTalks

  14 May 2012 | 8:10 am

  Are we born to be optimistic, rather than realistic? Tali Sharot shares new research that suggests our brains are wired to look on the bright side -- and how that can be both dangerous and beneficial.

• TED: Renny Gleeson: 404, the story of a page not found - Renny Gleeson (2012)

  TEDTalks

  11 May 2012 | 8:08 am

  Oops! Nobody wants to see the 404: Page Not Found. But as Renny Gleeson shows us, while he runs through a slideshow of creative and funny 404 pages, every error is really a chance to build a better relationship.

• TED: Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do - Joshua Foer (2012)

  TEDTalks

  10 May 2012 | 8:00 am

  There are people who can quickly memorize lists of thousands of numbers, the order of all the cards in a deck (or ten!), and much more. Science writer Joshua Foer describes the technique -- called the memory palace -- and shows off its most remarkable feature: anyone can learn how to use it, including him.

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  ANTI SEMITISM NEWS - Google News

• Anti-Defamation League criticizes 'Sieg Heil' cry in Statehouse - Nashua Telegraph

  16 May 2012 | 12:36 pm

  Anti-Defamation League criticizes 'Sieg Heil' cry in StatehouseNashua TelegraphBy DAVID BROOKS BOSTON – The Anti-Defamation League, a national group that battles anti-Semitism, has called for state Rep. Steve Vaillancourt of Manchester to apologize more broadly for shouting the Nazi-era salute “Seig Heil” at the House speaker in and more »

• Absurdity of Equating Opposition to Israel with Anti-Semitism By Khalid Amayreh - Al-Jazeerah.info

  16 May 2012 | 10:08 am

  Sydney Morning HeraldAbsurdity of Equating Opposition to Israel with Anti-Semitism By Khalid AmayrehAl-Jazeerah.infoBy Khalid Amayreh In a shameless effort to criminalize criticisms of Israel, pro-Israeli circles in some western countries have been trying to equate criticisms of Israeli policies and actions with anti-Semitism. The brazen effort is ostensibly The Media on EdgeThe Cutting EdgeWhy haredim should not be ZionistsJerusalem PostMy Offer of $100K to Peter BeinartFrontPage MagazineCNN (blog) -Hawaii Reporter -MWC Newsall 1,304 news articles »

• Jewish group urges Europe to tackle anti-Semitism and threat of far right - Fox News

  16 May 2012 | 8:51 am

  Jewish group urges Europe to tackle anti-Semitism and threat of far rightFox NewsPRAGUE – The head of a major European Jewish group says his organization is urging European governments to quickly adopt measures to tackle anti-Semitism and the threat of a growing far right. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, and more »

• Arrests over anti-Semitic remarks on Facebook - BBC News

  16 May 2012 | 6:24 am

  Rutland and Stamford MercuryArrests over anti-Semitic remarks on FacebookBBC NewsFive men and a 15-year-old youth have been arrested in East Renfrewshire and Glasgow after anti-Semitic remarks were posted on social network site Facebook. Almost 50 police officers raided seven addresses after complaints from members of the Jewish Anti-Semitic website targeting Giffnock Jewish community prompts police raidGlaswegianSix charged with breach of the peace over antisemitic websitestv.tvSix charged over Facebook abuse of Giffnock JewsJewish Chronicleall 65 news articles »

• Israel Advocacy on Campus Gets New App - The Jewish Week (blog)

  16 May 2012 | 5:24 am

  Israel Advocacy on Campus Gets New AppThe Jewish Week (blog)Its goal was to serve as an informational guerrilla unit of sorts and work with established campus organizations like Hillel to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda. With calls for universities to divest from Israeli companies still

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  opensource.com

• Need cash? NLnet advances open source technology by funding new projects

  valer

  16 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  Laying fundaments In April 1982, exactly 30 years ago, the European Internet was launched by the Dutch researcher Teus Hagen, at a European Unix User Group conference in Paris. EUnet was the very first European Internet backbone. NLnet Foundation subsequently took the lead of this initiative, and not only helped shape the European Internet, but was fundamental in establishing the currently biggest Internet exchange on the planet, and also built out a market leadership. In September 1997, so 15 years ago, it was acquired by UUnet, now Verizon. All money was put in a fund with the sole purpose…

• MediaGoblin 0.3.0 released: See what's happening with this media hosting project

  suehle

  16 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  MediaGoblin, which released version 0.3.0 this month, is a free and open source media hosting platform. Chris Webber, project founder and lead developer, took a few minutes to talk to us about the project so far and its future. Read more... read more

• On Twitter, do you follow or listen?

  jhibbets

  15 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Should Twitter change the term "followers" to "listeners?" Yes No It doesn't matter Something caught my attention in this story by Phil Shapiro. It was something he said in the video presentation he made--as he was describing what Twitter is and what people use it for, he made the argument that the term followers should be changed to listeners. This is where my brain started racing. Read more... read more

• Can government agencies be innovative?

  Paul Wolf

  15 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Are politics preventing your local government from being innovative? Yes No Six reasons why government is not more innovative Steve Denning recently wrote a great post titled How To Make Government Innovative Again. In his post Denning asks the following: Why isn’t the Government generally more agile? Why isn’t innovation part of everything government does? Denning’s answer to these questions are: "Simple. The constraints on talented people who work in government agencies are enormous." Denning lists six reasons why government is not more innovative. Read more... read more

• How open educational resources from pre-K to 12th grade present accessibility problems

  wivenhoe

  14 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Digital technology and open educational resources have enormous potential and power with young children. For parents of special needs children, especially those who are blind or visually impaired, dyslexic, or physically or cognitively impaired, the situation is compounded. Parents usually have to advocate to ensure that teachers and schools, even preschools, have educational materials are accessible and available for their child's use. Read more... read more

• 

  RollingStone.com: Music News

• On the Charts: Rihanna's 'Ship' Sails

  16 May 2012 | 10:50 am

  WINNER OF THE WEEK Mother's Day We're not comfortable generalizing about mothers' musical tastes – this writer's wife who is a mother favors George Jones Parliament and the Sex Pistols – but stereotypical mom-oriented albums got a boost on the Billboard charts this week Carrie Underwood's Blown Away sticks to...

• Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Call Reunion a 'Kick-Start to a Beautiful Situation'

  16 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  Guerilla Union the promoter who puts on the Rock the Bells tour each year was initially scheduled to unveil the lineup at an LA press conference May 8th But the announcement was delayed a week to allow the members of a reuniting group to attend It worked out...

• High and Tight: Our Rock & Roll Baseball Experts Pick the Best and Worst Big League Stadiums

  16 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  In May 1976 my Dad took me to Detroit’s venerable Tiger Stadium for my first major league ballgame a Sunday afternoon contest between the pre-"Birdmania" Tigers and the eventual AL champion Yankees Though just a little over 60 years old at the time "The Corner" at Michigan and Trumbull (formerly...

• Nas, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Wiz Khalifa Announced for Rock the Bells

  16 May 2012 | 7:45 am

  Traveling hip-hop festival Rock the Bells has announced its lineup Performers include RZA (who will also curate the festival's 36 Chambers Stage) Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Wiz Khalifa Ice Cube Mac Miller J Cole Kid Cudi 2 Chainz A$AP Rocky Atmosphere Missy Elliott and Timbaland Redman and Method Man Nas Yelawolf Kendrick...

• OneRepublic Drummer Arrested in Denver

  16 May 2012 | 5:55 am

  OneRepublic drummer Eddie Fisher was arrested in Denver yesterday on suspicion of assault Reuters reports Fisher was also booked on charges of disturbing the peace and destruction of private property The musician is being held without bond at the Denver city jail Police have not revealed details of the actions that...

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  RollingStone.com: All News

• On the Charts: Rihanna's 'Ship' Sails

  16 May 2012 | 10:50 am

  WINNER OF THE WEEK Mother's Day We're not comfortable generalizing about mothers' musical tastes – this writer's wife who is a mother favors George Jones Parliament and the Sex Pistols – but stereotypical mom-oriented albums got a boost on the Billboard charts this week Carrie Underwood's Blown Away sticks to...

• Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Call Reunion a 'Kick-Start to a Beautiful Situation'

  16 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  Guerilla Union the promoter who puts on the Rock the Bells tour each year was initially scheduled to unveil the lineup at an LA press conference May 8th But the announcement was delayed a week to allow the members of a reuniting group to attend It worked out...

• High and Tight: Our Rock & Roll Baseball Experts Pick the Best and Worst Big League Stadiums

  16 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  In May 1976 my Dad took me to Detroit’s venerable Tiger Stadium for my first major league ballgame a Sunday afternoon contest between the pre-"Birdmania" Tigers and the eventual AL champion Yankees Though just a little over 60 years old at the time "The Corner" at Michigan and Trumbull (formerly...

• 'Glee' Recap: What a Feeling

  16 May 2012 | 8:55 am

  "Props" and "Nationals" were as predictable in their two-hour glory as I expected them to be yet the penultimate episodes of Glee's third season had a spirit about them that made for entertaining moments both heartfelt and whimsical But of course a double dose of Glee meant twice as many...

• Nas, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Wiz Khalifa Announced for Rock the Bells

  16 May 2012 | 7:45 am

  Traveling hip-hop festival Rock the Bells has announced its lineup Performers include RZA (who will also curate the festival's 36 Chambers Stage) Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Wiz Khalifa Ice Cube Mac Miller J Cole Kid Cudi 2 Chainz A$AP Rocky Atmosphere Missy Elliott and Timbaland Redman and Method Man Nas Yelawolf Kendrick...

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  Mojo4Music

• Donald 'Duck' Dunn, 1941 - 2012

  14 May 2012 | 4:27 am

  The soul legend has died at the age of 70...

• Win T. Rex's Electric Warrior Box Set

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:17 am

  The glam legends' finest album, rebooted and up for grabs...

• EXCLUSIVE: The Cornshed Sisters Cover The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:05 am

  Brit-folk quartet bask in the California sun...

• The Beach Boys' Greatest Flicks

  25 Apr 2012 | 5:56 am

  New MOJO cover stars in 18 moments of triumph, tragedy, tragi-comedy... and controversy.

• Swoonalonga Beach House!

  24 Apr 2012 | 10:21 am

  Baltimore duo head misty, spangled invasion of Stateside dream poppers. MOJO rounds 'em up.

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  The Q Daily

• Black Sabbath man drops out of reunion, Rolling Stones planning autumn dates? 'Roses reunion trigger Man City league win, Jay-Z backs gay marriage, Jessie J skint... Daily Hot List

  16 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  A round-up of all the news, views, interviews and cool music things online today (16 May)

• Q&a Gaz Coombes - on going solo, his own 'basement tapes', Supergrass, the influence of Duncan Jones' Moon & more

  16 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  With album Gaz Coombes Presents... Here Comes The Bombs out on Monday (21 May) we spoke to Gaz Coombes Presents... the person

• Column - Can they kick it? Who knows but here's 5 sports stars who tried music

  16 May 2012 | 3:11 am

  Following tennis player Serena Williams' rap debut, Michael Holder ranks her sporty yet musical competition

• Arctic Monkeys 'Our lyrics are a joke', Jay-Z tries to book Obama for festival, Noel Gallagher on Man City win, Jack White & more for iTunes festival, CBGB the movie... Daily Hot List

  15 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  A round-up of all the news, views, interviews and cool music things online today (15 May)

• Column - Little Boots on her first steps towards a new album

  15 May 2012 | 3:53 am

  Nicola Jones catches up with singer Victoria Hesketh about the follow-up to 2009's Hands