#neilson survey

[valar-did-me-wrong]

This is JUST the US data!!

Global audience loves ROP way more!

More than 1 Billion minutes watched 💟

[scotianostra]

On June 23rd 1927 the singer Kenneth McKellar was born.

One of the most accomplished classical tenors of his generation, Kenneth McKellar was born in Paisley, the son of a grocer his earliest musical experiences came from the family gramophone, but he was also taken toconcerts at St Andrew’s Halls, Glasgow.

Kenneth was soon entertaining family friends by impersonating his favourite singers. But his greatest pleasure in his early years was exploring the Scottish Highlands. The depletion of Scotland’s forest reserves during the World War II left him with a burning desire to help restore them, and after leaving the John Neilson school, Paisley,

Despite a keen interest in music, McKellar initially studied forestry at Aberdeen University. He also joined the university choir, where his vocal talent was apparent, and he received individual coaching from the university’s director of music. While still a student, McKellar made his first broadcast, from the BBC studios in Glasgow, after gaining his degree he joined the Scottish Forestry Commission. Over the next two years he took part in a research and survey programme on the woodlands travelling by horseback up and down the Scottish countryside.

After two years as a forester, McKellar decided to switch careers and take up a scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London. While still a student, he made a private recording in a booth at the HMV record shop in Oxford Street singing Roger Quilter’s O Mistress Mine and a few Scottish ballads. HMV sent the recording to Parlophone, which immediately gave him a recording contract. He recorded eight sides of songs and ballads on 78 rpm’s.

These records helped him to get a job in the chorus of the Carl Rosa opera company after graduation. There, he was given an opportunity to sing the opening aria from Rossini’s Barber of Seville so well that he was promoted to principal tenor.

After two years of touring, McKellar decided that a career in opera was “like living in a goldfish bowl, and I thought, I don’t need this. All I want to do is sing.” A few months after leaving, he signed a new recording contract with Decca, for whom he went on to make more than 30 LPs between the mid-1950s and the early 80s. These encompassed a huge range, from mainstream classical and religious songs through excerpts from Broadway musicals to the Scottish popular tradition of Robert Burns, Harry Lauder and well-known folk pieces.

With his 1960 album, Songs of Robert Burns, McKellar was among the first contemporary singers to revisit the poet’s whole body of work. He also recorded and performed more recent songs by Scottish composers, notably The Song of the Clyde by RY Bell and Ian Gourlay. If you have watched the 60’s film Billy Liar you will have heard Kenneth belting out Song of the Clyde at the start of the film! Another fact on this song is it was the very first record played on Scotland’s first commercial radio station on 31st December 1973.

McKellar occasionally wrote songs too, including the comic piece The Midges and the patriotic The Tartan, he was not averse to participating in the “tartanry” side of Scottish culture, which emphasised the more kitsch elements of national song, dance, dress and cuisine. With Jimmy Shand and his band plus the hosts Andy Stewart and Moira Anderson, he is indelibly associated with the White Heather Club, the BBC TV show that saw in the New Year in the late 1950s and 60s.

McKellar supported a number of charities, was an honorary president of Burns societies around the world and was a trustee of the Scottish International Education Trust.

As we await the crucial game tonight against Hungary it is only fitting I post this song......

[astarisms]

man I follow some aesthetic blogs to get good reference photos to use when i try to draw but nothing is more annoying than seeing a simple photo of like a flower or some shit and then just a string of reblogs of people just writing their own URL in fancy letters or all caps

[3416]

It’s wild that 911 is the most popular show on Fox and shippers think that it’s,,; bc of them? And without them the show would get less ratings? Like my dear that is not dependent on your tweets but rather the boomers who fill out their Neilson surveys lol

[thegrapeandthefig]

Priapus of the sailors

About two weeks ago I wrote about Aphrodite and her role as a sea goddess. Finding the epigrams about this aspect of hers led me to a rabbit hole of extracting dedicatory epigrams from the Palatine Anthology. Sixteen of them mentionned Priapus, of those, eleven epigrams present Priapus under a different aspect than the one we are used to: as a god of sailing and patron to fishermen.

Priapus is a complex and foreign god. Myth makes Aphrodite abandon him in the city of Lampsacus in Asia Minor (now in Turkey), which is, in fact where his cult is attested as soon as the 4th century BC. Mainland Greece wouldn't adopt him until a century later at least.

The Palatine Antholology epigrams

I won't be listing all eleven, as some are very similar. So I chose three of them as example:

Maecius Quintus “Priapus, who does delight in the sea-worn rocks of this island near the coast, and in its rugged peak, to you does Paris the fisherman dedicate this hardshelled lobster which he overcame by his lucky rod. Its flesh he roasted and enjoyed munching with his half-decayed teeth, but this its shell he gave to you. Therefore give him no great gift, kind god, but enough catch from his nets to still his barking belly.”

Anonymous “You fishermen who pulled your little boat ashore here (Go, hang out your nets to dry) having had a haul of many sea-swimming gurnard (?) and scarus, not without thrissa, honour me with slender first- fruits of a copious catch, the little Priapus under the lentisc bush, the sea-blue god, the revealer of the fish your prey, established in this grove.”

Theaetetus Scholasticus “Already the fair-foliaged field, at her fruitful birth-tide, is aflower with roses bursting from their buds ; already on the branches of the alleyed cypresses the cicada, mad for music, soothes the sheaf-binder, and the swallow, loving parent, has made her house under the eaves and shelters her brood in the mud-plastered chamber. The sea sleeps, the calm dear to the Zephyrs spreads tranquilly over the expanse that bears the ships. No longer do the waters rage against the high-built poops, or belch forth spray on the shore. Mariner, roast first by his altar to Priapus, the lord of the deep and the giver of good havens, a slice of a cuttle-fish or of lustred red mullet, or a vocal scarus, and then go fearlessly on your voyage to the bounds of the Ionian Sea.”

The Palatine Anthology is a difficult source, as it is a late Byzantine text that gathers epigrams from different periods of Antiquity and attributed to various authors. The epigrams alone do not constitute a solid foundation to come to conclusion, but we can clearly see a trend of associating the god with humble fishermen and other mariners. 

Archaeological evidence

Thankfully, there are archaeological elements that seem to back up the importance of Priapus as a sailing deity.  

Let's start with this 3rd century BC Greek inscription:

"I, Priapus, the Lampsacan, am at hand to help the city in any way, I who embark and return bringing wealth"

What is especially interesting with this inscription is that it predates a lot of the roman material we have for Priapus and gives us a more accurate idea of his role as a deity. However, his function has a wealth and luck bringer stayed the same over the centuries, whether that is through a bountiful harvest or fishing.

Findings of a terracotta phallus in the Pisa Ship E has been used a suggestion that Priapic images were carried aboard of Roman ships as a protective device. However, the problem with this particular phallus is that nothing else nearby where it was found indicated a religious context. Another find, coming from another wreck, the Planier A, found near Marseilles (France) is more explicit. The ship, dating back to the 1st century AD, contained a wooden figurine which hs been identified as Priapus: the figurine shows him lifting his tunic to show his member. The phallus is now absent. The figurine has a socket where the phallus would be, indicating that the phallus was a seperate piece that would be attached to the figurine. 

In the same wreck has been found another wooden figure, which depicts a man in a toga. Taken as a pair, they would indicate the presence of an onboard shrine (lararium) directly on the ship. The other figurine could represent the captain or the ship’s genius. Either way, the shrine's role was probably linked to guaranteeing the safety of the ship, the crew and the cargo. 

One last example before wrapping up this post: underwater survey on the coasts of Caesarea (Israel) brought up a bronze figurine portraying Aphrodite with her son, Priapus. The statuette was found at a depth where other Roman artefacts were found, which places it around the second half of the 1st century AD. This statuette is also thought to be part of objects brought by mariners aboard to bring them luck and protection.

Aphrodite and Priapus being honored together is a very interesting contrast with myth, where Aphrodite is portrayed as too disgusted by her son's ugliness to accept him. Yet, Priapus has inherited of his mother's role as a protector to seafarers.

Further reading: 

Neilson III R. H., A terracotta phallus from Pisa Ship E: more evidence for the Priapus deity as protector of Greek and Roman navigators, in: The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 2002 Galili E., Rosen B., Protecting the ancient mariners, cultic artifacts from the holy land seas, in: Archaeologia Maritima Mediterranea, 2015 Paton R. W., The Greek Anthology, Volumes 1 and 4, 1927

[sciencespies]

'Storm Tracker' Maps Shows How Hurricanes Spread Invasive Species

https://sciencespies.com/news/storm-tracker-maps-shows-how-hurricanes-spread-invasive-species/

'Storm Tracker' Maps Shows How Hurricanes Spread Invasive Species

Hurricanes and tropical storms bring more than flooding and pollution to affected areas—they also carry invasive plants and animals into new regions of the United States.

Since 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey has mapped the spread of more than 200 invasive species in the wakes of hurricanes. The maps first focused on the species spread by 2017’s major named storms, Harvey, Irma, Maria and Nate. That season saw 17 total named storms, ten of which were hurricanes. Intensifying hurricane seasons will only worsen the spread of invasive species around the U.S., Rebecca Renner reports for National Geographic.

“Our overarching goal for this as a tool…is to help with early detection and rapid response efforts,” said Matt Neilson, a USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center biologist, to Earther’s Maddie Stone in 2018. “In invasive species management circles [that’s] a key goal. The best time to manage a non-native species is at the start.”

The maps have an extensive most-wanted list. Zebra mussels, for example, traveled to the U.S. from the Black and Caspian seas and now plague the Great Lakes, Neilson told the Verge in 2019. The small mussels push out local mussel species and grow on hard human-made surfaces, affecting power plants’ cool water intakes, drinking water, irrigation systems and more. They’ve recently been spotted in the mid-Atlantic, per National Geographic.

An initial map of the effects of Hurricane Delta shows how the Cuban treefrog, which is covered in irritating secretions, has spread around New Orleans.

Invasive plants like water hyacinth, a floating plant native to South America, can grow densely on lakes and rivers and interferes with boating and fishing, per the Verge. Giant apple snails, which originally came to the U.S. through the aquarium trade, wreak havoc on aquatic crops like rice, per National Geographic, and spread a parasite called rat lungworm. In May, Texas Parks and Wildlife put out an advisory asking residents around the Houston area and the San Antonio River to report any sightings of the six-inch snail or its pink egg clusters, Mary Claire Patton reported for KSAT this May.

“There are two potential ways that a hurricane could move things around. The first would be storm surge. As the Hurricane’s coming, it’s pushing ocean water onto shore,” Neilson told the Verge. “The second would be through rainfall-associated flooding. We get lots of water getting dumped on the land, which raises the height of the water on those interior watersheds. Where it floods, water can spill from one watershed to the other.”

Like giant apple snails, many invasive species were first brought to the U.S. as part of the pet or hobby trade. Some scientists speculate that a 1992 hurricane caused the first mass release of Burmese pythons from a breeding facility into Florida’s Everglades, reports National Geographic. Now, the snakes dine on local species, including rabbits, deer and alligators.

The predators can grow to over ten feet long. Earlier this month, hunters working with the Python Elimination Program caught a 104-pound Burmese python that was 18-feet-and-nine-inches long, Florida Fish and Wildlife shared on Facebook. And in the last three years alone, programs have removed 5,000 pythons from the Everglades, Zachary Sampson reports for the Tampa Bay Times.

“Any potential increase in storm frequency or severity could increase the potential for species spread through the flooding,” said Neilson to the Verge.

Invasive species cost the U.S. about $120 billion per year, National Geographic reports. As climate change fuels more frequent, intense hurricanes, the range of invasive species will likely grow.

#News

[marineexplorer]

Young Sydney cardinals Apogon limenus #marineexplorer #underwatersydney by John Turnbull Via Flickr: Juveniles can be a challenge when doing underwater surveys. They are particularly tricky in fish which change their colours and patterns as they grow, like parrotfish and wrasse. The little cardinalfish in this shot aren't too difficult as the are just a mini version of the adult (in background of shot) with a little less pink. Neilson Park

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

okay, something that i really fucking hate both on this hellsite and even on facebook now, is people writing posts about those scammy bullshit survey sites where they’re all like “hey! i made $1,000 for a new phone by using this website! and all i have to do is sit and watch a few ads for a few brands and write some feedback!! sign up today!!!! *posts screenshots of their bank account to show that they’ve been paid certain amounts for certain surveys*” like im so used to it on this hellsite, that i’ve learnt to just scroll past those posts from those big blogs that endlessly reblog those posts.

but it really troubles me that bigger mainstream websites like buzzfeed and junkee (in australia) caught wind of it a while ago, and started to write/re-share articles about sites like swagbucks and toluna being good ways to make some backup cash on uni breaks or whatever. but they’re scams. you know how i know??? because i signed up to these sites for an experiment to see if i would get paid even just $5 for a survey or the sweepstakes (god knows fucking what really lmao) on one of the MANY sites that sites like toluna are also linked to. it’s an endless run around of stupid accounts that you forget that you signed up to. like for one website idk, surveycompare (which i’ve since stopped receiving emails from and i’ve deleted all those emails lmao) sent me to another website called mint surveys (if i remember correctly) and i had to sign up to that before i could used surveycompare or whatever the fuck bc they were somehow linked to each other. and i’ve since found a few more looking back in my emails, like opinionworld and mysurvey, which, again, were linked to each other or whatever. 

but my main rankle with this is that the sweepstakes winning or gift card or monetary reward they promised from whatever fucking website i was on, never got sent to me. i never got a $2.50 pay for some shitty 20 minute survey that i did. i never got a $25 paypal gift card sent to me via email or on that particular account. like i honestly dont know how the fuck these tumblr “micro-influencers” or “influencers” (if they can even be called that) and even mainstream media websites are just consciously getting people to sign up to scams. like okay. i know that the tumblr people are getting poached, in a sense. bc i got hit the other day with this bullshit from a bot or corporate account:

and these survey websites are the main sources of scams on this website.... and the fact that the tumblr influencers are peddling them to people in precarious positions (like low-income student payment uni students) or to impressionable young followers, as a good idea of idek a side hustle??? is beyond fucking ridiculous. as an fyi, you’d be extremely, extremely lucky to make even the “i got $50 for a survey!” bullshit claim..... when 95% of the ones i got sent were literally $2.50 or $5 or even maybe $15, but you’d never receive any of that money.... is fucking laughable. please shut the fuck up.

outside of tumblr, you’d think big media sites like junkee and buzzfeed would have some sense of accountability in telling uni students to join scam schemes.... but they fucking don’t. don’t join swagbucks. don’t join toluna. hell, don’t even fucking join neilson or whatever the fuck it is, no matter how much these popular posts with several thousand notes claims these sites are “legit” and “the best in the survey business!!! they’ve been doing it for like 100 years!!!”

just please fucking exercise some critical thinking and don’t join them. because they’re a huge fucking waste of your time.... and you’ll never actually receive that gift card or that sweepstakes prize or that prize of $50 for completing some bullshit customer feedback or whatever...... unless you spend literally every single fucking waking moment of your fucking day on those sites. i’ve done some of it for you with this post.

[deercreekhubbard]

A Golf Course Unlike Any Other: How The Masters Became The Masters

When Bobby Jones won the Grand Slam — all four major tournaments in a calendar year — it included the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, The U.S. Amateur, and the British Amateur. Today the first major of the year is Jones’ own tournament, The Masters. Hosted on the course he built, Augusta National, it has become an annual American sporting tradition that transcends golf. But The Masters wasn’t always iconic, it wasn’t even always called The Masters, and it almost failed a number of times. We caught up with golf historian and Bobby Jones biographer Sidney Matthew to find out how Augusta National and The Masters went from a bankrupt passion project to a seminal part of our sporting identity.

Why did Bobby Jones build Augusta National?

Because he was tired of playing in front of crowds. He wanted a sanctuary, and he always, from early in his career, had the ambition of building the world’s greatest inland golf course.

What would make the ideal golf course in his mind?

Well, it evolved over time. As he played around the world, he collected knowledge about all of the famous golf courses. He borrowed from these golf courses, the very best features. And of course he studied golf course architecture. He wrote about it. He discoursed on it. He talked to his pals who were golf course architects, and he believed that you never really mastered golf until you try to figure out what the architect had in mind when he built the golf course. That way you would be able to play the golf course correctly, the way it was intended by the architect.

What were the world class courses Jones borrowed from?

Late in his life, Jones said, If I were to be sentenced to play on one golf course for the rest of my life, it would be the Old Course at Saint Andrews. And the reason for that is the essence of golf is adventure, and the key to adventure is variety. A golf course that provides the most adventure and the most variety provides the most enjoyment because it presents a different challenge every time you play it. The ultimate golf course would never play the same way twice two days in a row because of weather, because of conditions, because of the playing partners. Because of the way that the course may be set up with flag positions, and just the seasons, and the way the grass grows. But with Saint Andrews, it provides the most variety of any golf course that Jones had ever seen.

Jones didn’t design Augusta National alone. Why did he take on a design partner?

He chose Alister MacKenzie because MacKenzie was a kindred spirit in this notion that the Old Course is the best golf course in the world. And MacKenzie understood it, the Royal and Ancient hired him in 1921 to do a line drawing and the first competent survey of the golf course that had been done. MacKenzie was in the Boer War early on and studied the art of camouflage. He could see that the Boers were digging trenches and building embankments to hide their guns. So you’d move your troops in thinking that you were out of range and they’d blow you to bits. So he copied some of those features of camouflage in some of his golf courses. He would put a bunker 30 yards from the green but trick you into believing it was the green side.

Sort of an optical illusion to play with the mind?

Yeah. You see that today, and of course you know. MacKenzie said when you play a golf course, you should envision yourself on the forecastle of a ship than on the heavy sea. And when you’re looking at the front of the ship, you see the waves crashing at you. You see the breakers, white caps. Those are bunkers. But when you look back behind the ship, you see the rolling sea and you see no white cap. It’s all green. And when you’re on a MacKenzie course, you can see that today.

What was MacKenzie’s more general design philosophy?

MacKenzie believed that many of the broad roads will lead to destruction, narrow is the way that leads to salvation. You should build a golf course with as much variety and as many options as possible. The USGA sets up an Open golf course that you’ve got to be a marching soldier right down the middle. You’ve got to hit your drive right straight down the middle, you’ve got to hit your shot straight on the green, and you’ve got one putt or two putt. If you stray to the right or stray to the left, it’s going to cost you a shot because you’re in rough up to your ankle and will break your wrist. What that does is make a very mechanical, unimaginative golfer, because straight, straight, straight, that’s all you do. MacKenzie spawned the strategic school of golf course architecture. The penal school of architecture was old-testament thinking — if you sin, you should be punished, and there is no forgiveness, there is no redemption. That’s the way it is. The strategic school of golf course architecture said wait a second. Let’s flatten some of these bunkers out, so with a heroic shot, you should be able to redeem yourself. But it’s got to be a heroic shot. So they at least give you a chance for forgiveness and it followed the reformation. It had a religious overtone to it. So a golf course provides the most enjoyment for the highest-skill player or the lowest duffer. And that’s the variety of the adventure. That’s beautiful.

You described Jones’ reason for building Augusta National, as he wanted a sanctuary away from the crowds. Then why create this tournament?

Everyone said that Bob Jones was insane for building a golf course during the Depression. Golf courses were folding, and Augusta folded twice. The fact is that he seized on the opportunity because of the piece of ground. Jones saw the piece of property and said, That’s it. We’re going to build my dream course on this piece of property. He said it looked like this land was lying there for years waiting for a golf course to be laid on it.

But (after building it) they folded a couple of times. So (the partners) decided, Let’s see if we can hold an invitation tournament and then invite all of Bob’s pals. Surely they’ll come. And Grantland Rice said, Well, I’ll help you out. All of the sports writers go down to the [Florida] Grapefruit League [for] baseball in the winter in Florida, and I’ll tell them to come back to Augusta and report on the tournament and maybe we can bring the gate up. They also told the British press, if you guys can make it to New York, we’ll put you on a train, put you up at the Bon Air Vanderbilt, and that’s how they got the British Press to come. Of course anybody who was anybody wanted to come play at Bob Jones’ first invitational tournament. Because Bob was a national and international hero. And so everybody showed up and the gate didn’t come in. So Alfred Severin Bourne had to reach into his pocket and come up with the $5,000 purse. Then in the second year, Gene Sarazen hits the shot heard round the world on 15 and makes, and all the sports writers go crazy, and so everyone wanted to go to the next tournament in ’36 to find out what in the world’s going on in Augusta. And that’s really what kicked it off. Jones initially thought it was somewhat immodest to call it the Masters, but in 1938, Jones said, I think that it has earned the right to be called the Masters, because it continues to assemble those who are entitled to call themselves the masters of the game.

Jones won the grand slam. It included two amateur tournaments. How did the Masters come to supplant one of those?

In 1894 when the USGA was formed by the top half dozen golf clubs, amateur golf was on page one of the sports page. In Plato’s Republic the amateur athlete was the hero who was emulated by the populous. And that was true at the turn of the century. They did not have professional golf at that time. They had exhibitions. Walter Hagen was the first guy to make a living as a professional golfer in the late ‘20s.

And this is because it was viewed as being sort of undignified?

Well it was. Golfers were associated with caddies. They were not educated. They didn’t dress well. They were shagging the member’s wives. They were not allowed in the club houses. It was not looked upon as an honorable profession, and mainly because it was associated with gambling and drinking. One of the reasons Bob Jones retired in 1930 was he had more ambition than to be a professional golfer and he hated to travel. It was the horse-and-buggy era. They traveled by ship, they didn’t have private citation jets yet. It was horrible. And the biggest purses were a few thousand dollars, so, you might make a few hundred dollars. Jones had a profession. In 1928 he’s working as a lawyer for Coca-Cola, and all of the big companies wanted him as their lawyer so they could play golf with him.

So when the Masters first started, it was more of a social outing with Bob Jones to rub shoulders with Jones and all of his pals rather than a money-making thing. And it wasn’t until the later years that it became a major because of the publicity that it got, and because of the uniqueness of the golf course — a golf course unlike any other. And it continued to assemble those who were entitled to be called “the masters of the game.” Anybody who was anybody wanted to win Bob Jones’ tournament, the same way that [later] they wanted to win Arnold Palmer’s tournament. You always want to win the King’s tournament.

So I suppose we could say that the Depression sort of leveled the playing field in terms of the perspective people had on professional golfers. 

It did. Everybody had to be scrappy. Hagan was the paradigm. But Neilson, Snead, and Hogan, that triumvirate really kind of launched it. I mean, Snead goes over to Saint Andrews and he wins it in ’37, first time he ever saw it! Hogan goes over to Carnoustie in ’53, and he’s on his way, he’s won three, he’s on his way to win the grand slam, right? That he couldn’t make it back to play in the PGA was his problem. But he won Carnoustie the first time he ever saw it. So these guys became international superstars as professionals.

Later on The Masters becomes iconic — it transcends golf. It becomes an iconic sporting event. How did it become so popular?

Well, yes, the popularity became universal. People who did not play golf found that they enjoyed watching it on TV. Remember, golf was a rich man’s sport. In Great Britain, it’s a poor man’s sport. You know, it’s a common town, and everybody in town belongs to the golf course. And you don’t have to be rich to play it, the courses were public. Here they’re private, so only the rich guys could play it. But you didn’t have to play it, you could watch it, and it became extremely popular because it had this swash-buckling Errol Flynn–type character, Arnold Palmer, making these heroic displays of athleticism and looking fabulous.

But The Masters also became a singular tournament because Bob Jones and Cliff Roberts made it gentile. They made it fun for the spectators, and they raised the level of sportsmanship. In the ’60s when Jack Nicholas was overhauling Arnold, some spectators shouted out, “Miss it! Fat Jack.” Jones heard that, and he was terribly distressed. So he sat down, put pen to paper and he wrote out some suggestions for the spectators. They still hand it out today. It says, that, in the game of golf, etiquette and decorum are almost as important as the rules governing play. Most distressing are those rare occasions upon which a spectator will applaud or cheer misplays or misfortunes of a player. Although these occurrences are extremely rare, we must completely eliminate them if our patrons are going to deserve their reputation of being the most knowledgeable and considerate in the world. Now, that is a pretty high standard. But guess what? You don’t see anybody acting out. The patrons of the Masters are the most considerate and knowledgeable in the world.

Source: Men’s Journal

The post A Golf Course Unlike Any Other: How The Masters Became The Masters appeared first on Deer Creek Golf Course.

[respectanimalrights]

@pnwsalmonproject @pnwprotectors Please Read Caption Finally, the roe herring gillnet fishery in the Strait of Georgia has closed for the season.⁣ ⁣ Important Herring update from @conservancyhornbyisland :⁣ ⁣ 🐟 Today, DFO (@fisheriesoceanscan) announced that after 23 days of being open and following a 50% reduction of their quota, the gillnet fishery was only able to catch 𝟯,𝟰𝟬𝟳 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝘀 of the reduced 𝟲,𝟳𝟴𝟴.𝟰𝟰 𝘁𝗼𝗻 quota.⁣ ⁣ 🐟 The Strait of Georgia (SoG) herring stock is the last remaining of five major B.C. herring stocks on Canada’s west coast. ⁣ ⁣ 🐟 A recent report authored by DFO Scientist Emeritus Dr. John Neilson, identified the Northern Gulf Islands (using DFO data) as the most important area on the entire BC Coast for Pacific Herring, home to half of the remaining critical spawning grounds in the Strait of Georgia. ⁣ ⁣ 🐟 This year, despite the appearance of some spawn, few herring returned and only 3 of the dozen DFO-recognized critical spawning sites were active in the Northern Strait of Georgia, according to Notices during the fishery, spawn surveys and reports by fishermen. ⁣ ⁣ 🐟 With herring being repeat spawners that home back to their natal sites, a lack of spawn one year can lead to the wiping out of future generations of herring, as has occurred in the southern portion of the Strait of Georgia & other regions of the west coast of Canada in recent years.⁣ ⁣ 🚨 CHI and our allies are calling on Fisheries Minister @joycemurraymp to place a moratorium on the Strait of Georgia herring roe fishery which would include a herring recovery program to allow stocks to recover – before it's too late.⁣ ⁣ Click link in bio to sign the petition. ⁣ ⁣ Important post by @conservancyhornbyisland ⁣ ⁣ © 📸: @SimonAgerPhotography⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #BIGlittlefish #sayNOtoROE #lettheherringlive #protectpacificherring (at Strait of Georgia) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbr7M_hDMUJ/?utm_medium=tumblr

[scotianostra]

On June 23rd 1927 the singer Kenneth McKellar was born.

One of the most accomplished classical tenors of his generation, Kenneth McKellar was born in Paisley, the son of a grocer his earliest musical experiences came from the family gramophone, but he was also taken toconcerts at St Andrew’s Halls, Glasgow.

Kenneth was soon entertaining family friends by impersonating his favourite singers. But his greatest pleasure in his early years was exploring the Scottish Highlands. The depletion of Scotland’s forest reserves during the World War II left him with a burning desire to help restore them, and after leaving the John Neilson school, Paisley,

Despite a keen interest in music, McKellar initially studied forestry at Aberdeen University. He also joined the university choir, where his vocal talent was apparent, and he received individual coaching from the university’s director of music. While still a student, McKellar made his first broadcast, from the BBC studios in Glasgow, after gaining his degree he joined the Scottish Forestry Commission. Over the next two years he took part in a research and survey programme on the woodlands travelling by horseback up and down the Scottish countryside.

After two years as a forester, McKellar decided to switch careers and take up a scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London. While still a student, he made a private recording in a booth at the HMV record shop in Oxford Street singing Roger Quilter’s O Mistress Mine and a few Scottish ballads. HMV sent the recording to Parlophone, which immediately gave him a recording contract. He recorded eight sides of songs and ballads on 78 rpm’s.

These records helped him to get a job in the chorus of the Carl Rosa opera company after graduation. There, he was given an opportunity to sing the opening aria from Rossini’s Barber of Seville so well that he was promoted to principal tenor.

After two years of touring, McKellar decided that a career in opera was “like living in a goldfish bowl, and I thought, I don’t need this. All I want to do is sing.” A few months after leaving, he signed a new recording contract with Decca, for whom he went on to make more than 30 LPs between the mid-1950s and the early 80s. These encompassed a huge range, from mainstream classical and religious songs through excerpts from Broadway musicals to the Scottish popular tradition of Robert Burns, Harry Lauder and well-known folk pieces.

With his 1960 album, Songs of Robert Burns, McKellar was among the first contemporary singers to revisit the poet’s whole body of work. He also recorded and performed more recent songs by Scottish composers, notably The Song of the Clyde by RY Bell and Ian Gourlay. If you have watched the 60’s film Billy Liar you will have heard Kenneth belting out Song of the Clyde at the start of the film! Another fact on this song is it was the very first record played on Scotland’s first commercial radio station on 31 December 1973.

McKellar occasionally wrote songs too, including the comic piece The Midges and the patriotic The Tartan, he was not averse to participating in the “tartanry” side of Scottish culture, which emphasised the more kitsch elements of national song, dance, dress and cuisine. With Jimmy Shand and his band plus the hosts Andy Stewart and Moira Anderson, he is indelibly associated with the White Heather Club, the BBC TV show that saw in the New Year in the late 1950s and 60s.

McKellar supported a number of charities, was an honorary president of Burns societies around the world and was a trustee of the Scottish International Education Trust.

[csdataabase]

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[delightfulconnoisseurgentlemen]

Automatic Bronzing Machine Market to Witness Notable Growth by 2026 Covid-19 Analysis

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A new market study is released on Automatic Bronzing Machine Market 2021 with data Tables for historical and forecast years represented with Chats & Graphs with easy to understand detailed analysis. The report also sheds light on present scenario and upcoming trends and developments that are contributing in the growth of the market. In addition, key market boomers and opportunities driving the market growth are provided that estimates for Global Automatic Bronzing Machine Market till 2026. The authors of the Automatic Bronzing Machine Market report have piled up a detailed study on crucial market dynamics, including growth drivers, restraints, and opportunities. Automatic Bronzing Machine Market report carries out research and analysis of the market for a particular product/service which includes the investigation into customer inclinations. It performs the study of various customer capabilities such as investment attributes and buying potential. This market report involves feedback from the target audience to understand their characteristics, expectations, and requirements. The report provides new and exciting strategies for upcoming products by determining the category and features of products that the target audiences will readily accept. The global Automatic Bronzing Machine market research report collects data about the target market such as pricing trends, customer requirements, competitor analysis, and other such details.

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Research objectives: Post-COVID analysis on market growth and size (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry specific challenges and risks). To study and analyze the global Automatic Bronzing Machine market size by key regions / countries, product type and application, historical data from 2015 to 2021 and forecast to 2026. The study covers the current Automatic Bronzing Machine market size and its growth rates based on 5-year records with a company overview of key players / manufacturers:

BOBST, TENAUI, Neilson, Winon, Technical Industrial, GIETZ, ...

To understand the structure of Automatic Bronzing Machine market by identifying its various subsegments. Focuses on the major players of the global Automatic Bronzing Machine Market, to define, describe, and analyze the value, market share, market competitive landscape, SWOT analysis, and development plans in the coming years. To analyze the Automatic Bronzing Machine Market with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market. Analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches and acquisitions in the market to better understand the pre and post COVID scenario. Reporthive has released an updated research report highlighting the title Global Automatic Bronzing Machine Market Research Report 2021, which presents a modern market growth outlook as well as the forecast forecast along with the Investment Rate (ROI) as a whole., with a developing CAGR close to XX% throughout the 2019-2026 period. The file studies the revenue of the Automatic Bronzing Machine industry in the global market, especially in the North of the United States, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, consumption, income, import and export in those areas. Market by Automatic Bronzing Machine Type: Flat Bronzing Machine, Surface Bronzing Machine Market by Automatic Bronzing Machine Application: Food Industry, Daily Chemical Industry, Decorative Printing, Security Applications, Others Automatic Bronzing Machine Geographic Market Analysis: The report provides information on the Automatic Bronzing Machine market area, which is subdivided into subregions and countries. In addition to the market share in each country and sub-region, this chapter of the report also provides information on profit / growth opportunities and also mentions the share according to the impact of COVID-19 for each region, country, and sub-region. * North America (Mexico, USA, Canada) * Europe (Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, UK, Russia, Spain, Switzerland) * Asia Pacific (China, Australia, Japan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam) * Middle East and Africa (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Israel, Nigeria) * Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru). Reason for purchasing this report: - It offers research and analysis of changing serious situations. - For the improvement of expert choices in organizations, it offers systematic information with essential organizational viewpoints - It helps to understand the important parts of the key elements. - The report explains the major key factors of the market, for example, drivers, limitations, models and openings. - It offers a provincial survey on the global Automatic Bronzing Machine market along with the business profiles of some partners. - It offers tremendous information on the introduction of new elements that will impact the advancement of the Global Automatic Bronzing Machine

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TOC Highlights: Chapter 1. Introduction: The Automatic Bronzing Machine research work report covers a concise introduction to the global market. This segment provides assessments of key participants, a review of Automatic Bronzing Machine industry, outlook across key areas, financial services, and various difficulties faced by Automatic Bronzing Machine Market. This section depends on the Scope of the Study and Report Guidance. Chapter 2. Outstanding Report Scope: This is the second most significant chapter, which covers market segmentation along with a definition of Automatic Bronzing Machine. It characterizes the whole scope of the Automatic Bronzing Machine report and the various features it is describing. Chapter 3. Market Dynamics and Key Indicators: This chapter incorporates key elements focusing on drivers [Includes Globally Growing Automatic Bronzing Machine frequency and Increasing Investments in Automatic Bronzing Machine], Key Market Restraints[High Cost of Automatic Bronzing Machine], opportunities [Arising Markets in Developing Countries] and introduced in detail the arising trends [Consistent Innovate of New Screening Products] development difficulties, and influence factors shared in this latest report. Chapter 4. Type Segments: This Automatic Bronzing Machine market report shows the market development for different kinds of products showcased by the most far-reaching organizations. Chapter 5. Application Segments: The analysts who composed the report have completely assessed the market capability of key applications and perceived future freedoms. Chapter 6. Geographic Analysis: Each provincial market is deliberately examined to understand its current and future development, improvement, and request situations for this market. Chapter 7. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Automatic Bronzing Machine Market: 7.1 North America: Insight On COVID-19 Impact Study 2021-2026 7.2 Europe: Serves Complete Insight On COVID-19 Impact Study 2021-2026 7.3 Asia-Pacific: Potential Impact of COVID-19 (2021-2026) 7.4 Rest of the World: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic Chapter 8. Manufacturing Profiles: The significant players in the Automatic Bronzing Machine market are definite in the report based on their market size, market served, products, applications, regional development, and other variables. Chapter 9. Estimating Analysis: This chapter gives price point analysis by region and different forecasts. Chapter 10. North America Automatic Bronzing Machine Market Analysis: This chapter includes an appraisal on Automatic Bronzing Machine product sales across major countries of the United States and Canada along with a detailed segmental viewpoint across these countries for the forecasted period 2021-2026. Chapter 11. Latin America Automatic Bronzing Machine Market Analysis: Significant countries of Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Mexico are assessed apropos to the appropriation of Automatic Bronzing Machine. Chapter 12. Europe Automatic Bronzing Machine Market Analysis: Market Analysis of Automatic Bronzing Machine report remembers insights on supply-demand and sales revenue of Automatic Bronzing Machine across Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, and Italy. Chapter 13. Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) Automatic Bronzing Machine Market Analysis: Countries of Greater China, ASEAN, India, and Australia & New Zealand are assessed, and sales evaluation of Automatic Bronzing Machine in these countries is covered. Chapter 14. Middle East and Africa (MEA) Automatic Bronzing Machine Market Analysis: This chapter centers around Automatic Bronzing Machine market scenario across GCC countries, Israel, South Africa, and Turkey. Chapter 15. Research Methodology The research procedure chapter includes the accompanying primary realities, 15.1 Coverage 15.2 Secondary Research 15.3 Primary Research Chapter 16. Conclusion >> [With unrivaled insights into the Automatic Bronzing Machine market, our industry research will help you take your Automatic Bronzing Machine business to new heights.] <<

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Why Report Hive Research: Report Hive Research delivers strategic market research reports, statistical surveys, industry analysis and forecast data on products and services, markets and companies. Our clientele ranges mix of global business leaders, government organizations, SME’s, individuals and Start-ups, top management consulting firms, universities, etc. Our library of 700,000 + reports targets high growth emerging markets in the USA, Europe Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific covering industries like IT, Telecom, Semiconductor, Chemical, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Energy and Power, Manufacturing, Automotive and Transportation, Food and Beverages, etc. Contact Us: Report Hive Research 500, North Michigan Avenue, Suite 6014, Chicago, IL – 60611, United States Website: https://www.reporthive.com Email: sales@reporthive.com Phone: +1 312-604-7084"

[darrenneilson]

Top 5 Reasons To Homeschool Your Kids In 2021 

In the upside-down world today, it is important to keep an eye on what is happening carefully. When you see it right now, I want you to think about the world. What are you seeing happening there and wondering, that's your will? Do you subscribe to this in society, is this what you want? Are you and your families in keeping with your view of the future? 

Any people get trapped in this growing wrath. They experience lack of consent to their family and cultures, and unwelcome improvements. Most people want a change to secure their children and their future. 

Let's see my top five arguments for your children's home education in 2021. 

Why Should I Homeschool My Children

1, We need to be strong and safe for our kids. 1. If we can't be an inspiration, we lose another generation of latch key kids and we'll NEVER be around. Or worst. And worse. One of the strongest arguments for our children's home education is that we didn't want anyone else to parent them. Those children were too precious to let others teach them while it was a sacrifice for us. They are now part of community who love and care about them. 

How To Homeschool My Autistic Child

2, We needed to educate our disabled twins at home. It's a difficult road for every child in the public education system. Our twin boys have delays as a result of birth trauma and potential vaccine problems (One has Autism). It is advantageous for parents of autistic children to homeschool their children. The majority of countries provide disabilities assistance to homeschoolers. Of default, the government will normally handle the grants, so you will have FULL rights to pay for disabilities services and curriculum. When the children attend a public school. Their disability funds are deposited into a common pool. I don't need to tell you that depositing tens of thousands of dollars in a public shared pool is a bad idea. Our children would have received only a limited portion of the funds. It's

Should I Homeschool My Child With Anxiety (HSP) 

3, I must admit that I wish my parents had t aught me at home. I'm a Highly Sensitive Person. (HSP) is not a disease, it is a trait that makes 15-20% of the population extremely sensitive to the basic 5 senses and some of us to the 6th sense.. Look, a survey is available to see if the HSP will be yours. Click Here. Click Here. 

Public education..., for an HSP, anything public is a hard prospect. In the quietest setting, children who are highly sensitive normally flourish. Another one of the features shown by all HSPs. It is necessary to hide away in the daytime. We need to decompile and recharge or risk burnout. That was what got me booted out of school for trying to find a private room to spend an hour or two by myself. They would find me in a music rehearsal room. Being a kid at home would've totally changed my life. I needed much counselling for C-PTSD because of the bulling at school. 

Homeschoolers Are Learning How To Make Easy Money From Home

4. In figures, home-school parents look to the Internet to offset the missed money that the parent who remains at home will miss. Some find that they may risk other advantages, such as life insurance premiums, dental benefits or losing their houses if they don't move to another source of revenue. For others, it's now a raging urge to get money from an online business. You know that the time it takes to learn business, teach mentorship, research and testing is experienced by the most absorbing minds in your home. That's going to get me to point 5. 

Teaching Their Kids How To Make Easy Money From Home.

5, Our kids are sponges, and I don't me the square kind with yellow pants. They ingest vast quantities of data every day. For a later lecture, much of it just gets packed aside. Yet we teachers at home, we have the possibility of suggesting data eaters and a potential occurrence that transforms lives. You should show them how to do it online and make money. When I hear home-school parents celebrate how much their children earn on-line, regardless of their parent company successes, it doesn't surprise me. It's all about the happiness that you get when you see your kid's eyes looking on your first dollar online. I swear it's like a superhero's discovery of its strength. Gives me shivers. 

Discover MORE ABOUT The Top 5 Reasons To Homeschool Your Kids In 2021

To sum this all up. Our kids are way too important to let anyone have a free hand in what our precious children learn and believe. Home education will mold them into loving caring members of society.  Or we can leave them to the over-excited media spoon-feed craziness they called the education system. If we continue to let society dictate the way we raise our children we will not have many generations left. Thank you for reading my blog. I hope it was interesting and informative

Our bestowed benefits are not given to us by the powers that be, OUR rights are not gifts there are prizes that are WON, by those who step up and receive what is rightfully theirs .

BeBlessed, Darren Neilson `The Homeschooling Millionaire

[raquel08]

Maximize Your Website’s ROI with Affordable Usability Testing

Website usability testing is a technique used to evaluate a product design by testing it on users. Typically, during a test, participants will try to complete defined tasks, on the website or using prototypes, while the administrators observe and take notes. 

The purpose of testing is to identify any usability problems and to ensure your website is accomplishing its intended goals. Large companies have been known to invest in million dollar usability labs. But deep pockets aren’t required to carry out usability testing. Even a small budget will substantially improve a site's business value. Here is how usability testing can be quick and relatively cheap.

4 Steps to Simple & Effective DIY Usability Testing

1. Define What Your Customers Are Looking for On Your Website

Make sure you customers can easily find what they are looking for so they don’t hit the back button. First, outline the questions and needs of your target audience. If you’re not positive of their needs, consider setting up a survey to ask. 

You will get a higher response rate if you offer customers an incentive for their feedback, such as a discount on your site or the chance to win a gift card. Promote your survey on your site or via your e-newsletter list. Want a simpler approach? Interview your customers or ask questions on social media. Often the simplest way is to ask your staff. Identify your team members who interact most with your potential or actual clients and ask them what questions or concerns they hear most.

2.Leverage Usability Guidelines to Optimize Your Website

Perform a Google search to find a guide for best web practices such as Neilson Norman Group’s 113 Design Guidelines for Homepage Usability. Once you identify an effective reference, assess how your design stacks up to standards and make a list of items you can improve for your users.

3.Try a Paper-Prototype or Webinar Test

Now, it’s time to test the design with real users. Develop a series of tasks fwith associated outcomes you want users to do when they visit your site. Do you want your user to fill out a form? Call you? Purchase a product? Sign-up for a newsletter? 

If your new website is already coded, users can go on the site directly from their own laptop. If it is just in the design phase, you can print enlarged copies of your design mocks ups to test for usability prior to coding. Give specific directives like - You are looking to purchase a gorilla cage- what would you click on first? Then, record what action they would take. 

If on a webinar, recording the session digitally is ideal so you can refer to it later. You can even use jpg or png files in place of print outs. Encourage users to talk out loud as they are making decisions to help you discover why they made certain choices. Tests can be quick, at 10 minutes a piece. You want to test at least 5 users.

Once complete, compile and review your data and ask - did your user take the path you expected them to? If not, why? Did they accomplish your end goal? If not, where did they get lost and why? How can you improve the experience to help users find what they are looking for easier and to direct them more effectively to your desired action(s)?

In summary, try this…

1. Sit next to someone and watch them navigate through your site.

2. Ask them to perform simple tasks and see what they do.

3. Have them talk about their thought process the entire time.

4. Follow up with questions “why did you click that button?”

5. Retest on other users to grow your usability outcomes.

4. Implement Findings for Better User Experience

Once you have identified problems and sticking points with your website user experience, spend some time modifying your site to fix the worst problems identified in your review. Which of your design elements were furthest off the mark when referencing your chosen usability guidelines? When carrying out user testing, where did users most often get stuck or confused on their way to converting? Spend time remedying the most blatant problems first, then you can get more granular.

5. Bonus Step: Improve Search Engine Visibility

93% of online experiences begin with a search engine. What good is usability if users never find your site? Make sure as you are going through and auditing design, you are also double checking key areas of your site not only to optimize user experience, but to improve your search engine optimization (SEO*). Ensure the following for top-notch search engine visibility:

1. Make sure you are publishing relevant content targeting specific keywords/ phrases.

2. Update content regularly to indicate your site’s relevancy to search engines.

3. Make sure you are adding metadata* and reviewing/ updating it overtime.

4. Use Alt Tags* on your images and video media.  

5. Check your links and use descriptive link text with keywords.

Cost Saving Tips for Usability Testing

Location: A spare conference room or webinar can be ideal locations for usability testing.

Payroll: Rather than hiring expensive usability professionals, hire a consultant to teach existing staff how to conduct studies.

Reach: Use a video conference platform to avoid concerns about location and reaching a wide enough demographic. Choose from one of many free webinar tools out there.

Prototype: If you don’t have the budget for interactive automated prototypes, low-tech paper prototypes or png/jpg mock-ups can bring valuable results.

Participants: You also don’t need a lot of participants - 5 users can be enough to test for specific tasks. In fact, studies show that 5 users will find 85% of usability problems.

Usability testing is well worth the time and monetary investment to ensure a maximum ROI for your website. But it can feel overwhelming or even confusing. Not to worry. There are many experienced web developers in Thornton, CO who can help and guide you conducting affordable usability testing.

[almassadlive]

3 Reasons A Strong Online Presence Will Help You Make More Money Studies have proven that advertising consistently over time can increase profitability by 30% or more. This is true because advertising helps build brand recognition that ultimately influences purchasing decisions. In our Internet driven world, a strong online presence works like a robust advertising campaign and may be all you really need to make more money and increase profitability. This is the reality; The Internet has changed how consumers shop and interact. Almost everyone has access to the Internet. In fact, almost all consumers now use the Internet is some way to shop locally. As a result, using your online presence to advertise and promote yourself and the products and services you offer is more important than ever. This is why: The consumer purchasing decision making process hasn't changed for thousands of years. When a consumer has a need or desire, they search for a solution, then they compare options, make a purchasing decision and a post purchase evaluation. What has changed over time is how the availability of tools that help consumers work through the process. In our world today the entire process can be accomplished without ever talking to a salesperson or walking into a store. It can all be done online. The reality is this; Consumers are in control. There are search engines, social networks, business directories, websites and mobile applications that consumers can use to search for products and services, compare options and get recommendations without moving their eyes off their computer or smartphone screen. What that means is this: If you sell products or services, you must get your business listed on as many search engines, social networks, business directories and mobile platforms as possible. Creating a website and Facebook page isn't going to do much to improve your online presence in the Internet world of today. If you don't have a strong online presence, a large segment of potential customers may never even have the opportunity to consider purchasing anything from you, because they don't know you exist. A Strong Online Presence Promotes Brand Recognition and Trust Your online presence can define your brand. People identify with brands. Developing your online presence helps convey a uniform quality, credibility and experience. It will help you define who you are, what you do, and can differentiate you from the competition. Your brand is your identity; it helps you convey trust and develop relationships that lead to customer loyalty and more sales. This fact isn't surprising: Surveys indicate that consumers prefer to purchase products and services from people and businesses they trust. You wouldn't purchase products or services from people or businesses you don't trust, neither will anybody else. This however is really important; These same surveys indicate that consumers will pay more for the same product or service if it is purchased from a person or a brand they trust. Consumers want to be satisfied with their purchase. Many studies have been conducted that try to measure how consumers use and react to different types of advertising and delivery platforms. Many of these studies confirm that a strong online presence is important to consumers today. A study by Neilson concluded that consumers now believe branded websites can be trusted more than any other form of advertising other than the personal recommendations from friends and family. Seventy percent (70%) of global consumers now say they completely trust branded websites. Branded websites are themselves defined and identified by a strong online presence that not only promotes credibility of the site itself, but improves search engine ranking. This in turn influences purchasing decisions. In other words, a consumer's trust in the advertising type and platform directly increases the probability that he or she will be positively influenced by that advertising. Creating a Strong Online Presence is Affordable Traditional advertising is expensive. More importantly, it's not nearly as effective as it used to be. In fact surveys indicate that not many people trust the advertising they see or hear on most traditional advertising platforms. As a result, a random advertising campaign on these traditional platforms is generally ineffective. Think about this: Consumers are bombarded with advertising messages from the back of sales receipts and coffee cups to highway billboards and online banners. The human brain can only absorb so much information effectively at any given time. As a result, consumers have become very good at effectively ignoring advertising messages that are fed to them that they don't want or need. This further diminishes the return on investment of traditional advertising campaign. Currently the most expensive form of advertising is on prime time television and the least expensive in improving your online presence. The cost to reach 1000 people on prime time television is approximately $34 as opposed to $8 for general online presence improvement. If you sell products and services locally, your ability to develop a strong brand identity may directly affect your long term ability to make more money and improve profitability. Clearly, money invested in advertising, packaging, public relations, sales promotions, word-of-mouth marketing programs, etc., all contribute to developing a strong brand, but given the facts, nothing is more important today than developing your brand online by strengthening your online presence.