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Important Ideas for Your Patio Pavers

Important Ideas for Your Patio Pavers Investing on your patio pavers is a brilliant idea. Knowing that there is a spot in your house where you can relax and rest as long as you want gives you peace of mind and serenity that money can’t buy. Though designing and installing patio pavers can cost you some dollars, the benefits and the fulfillment that such endeavor can provide in your life is huge enough to make it materialize.

Patio pavers provide a soothing setting if you want to have some personal time for yourself or with your family and loved ones. After a long day of working, you can breathe some fresh air while sitting in your lounge chair placed in your patio.

Designing an Eden Right in Your Backyard

Working on your patio requires an outdoor space. So, if you have the space, all you need to do is to turn the space into your new patio. In building your patio, you need construction materials such as unit pavers, crushed stone, and slab paving. If you are in a tight budget you can use cheap raw materials instead.

Patio pavers are effective construction materials because they don’t easily crack like when concrete slabs are used. More so, you can use your creativity and wild ideas when building your patio by using patio pavers in different materials, size, and shapes. Many homeowners prefer bluestone, bricks, cobblestones, and flagstone for their new patios.

The Materials That You Can Use For Your Patio

The bluestone materials are perfect if you are into sophisticated design. Bluestone units are large with 10 x 14 inches of size wherein the thickness is from 1 to 2 inches. Apart from its great aesthetics in a garden setting, bluestones are smooth and slippery.
Flagstones on the other hand are cost-effective. They are available in brown, blue, and red. If you are fond with irregular shapes, flagstones are for you. Flagstones are typically used in installing pathways which were very dominant in the late 20th century.

The most common patio pavers are probably bricks which are made of clay. Bricks are available in warm color and can go with other patio pavers like bluestones and cobblestones. So, if you want to use various patio pavers, bricks can perfectly suit the picture of elegant yet traditional design in patios.

Cobblestones which are made of granite and were common in New England can match bricks to accentuate a historical design for your patio. However, the surface texture of granite cobblestones can be bumpy because of the materials used. So, if you have a patio made of cobblestones, avoid placing furniture since the surface is not usually stable.

Through time, patio pavers have developed into various styles that have been made using different materials such as the mentioned above. This becomes advantageous to homeowners who wish to have their patio in their lawn since they can incorporate the design they want to their patio with various pavers units and colors. This way, they can turn their patio into a good investment which in turn can be a real treasure buried right in their own land.

Aging sushi Journal Post About drugs

Named after the traditional iron wok used in Indian cuisine, Kadhai cooking is quickly catching on as a new trend in the culinary world. The method is very effective in cooking a dish quickly while retaining many levels of rich, fresh flavor.

A kadhai wok is deeper and narrower than the familiar Japanese or Chinese woks. Using very little, or more often, no water, the idea is to cook all the ingredients together in a tomato-based sauce with a savory mixture of garlic and other assorted spices. The ingredients cook in their natural juices as they are stirred, and the seared bits of meat and tomatoes are scraped from the sides of the wok and added to the whole of the dish, creating another subtle layer of delicious, mouth-watering flavor.

Over time, a kadhai wok can become well-seasoned, enhancing future dishes. If you wish to begin an exciting adventure in Indian cuisine, then of course you will first need to purchase your own kadhai. You should be able to find one at any Asian or Indian cookware shop, or in gourmet cookware shops. A practical size is 10-13” wide, with a 3” inch deep well. Non-stick aluminum is recommended. A thicker pot is preferable to a thinner one, as vegetables and other ingredients can tend to burn in the thinner pots before they are fully cooked.

You will find that the kadhai also serves as an excellent serving platter. When the meal has finished cooking, simply place the kadhai on a trivet and let your family help themselves.

Traditionally, you will use oil first to extract and retain the essence and flavors of the herbs and spices you will use in your dish, but you can use ghee as well. Because of the round, flat bottom of the kadhai, you will not need to use much of either to effectively and evenly cook your food. Often, little or no whole spices will be used, but garam masala, a blend of various ground spices, is used quite often, aiding in quick absorption of the flavors.

For a quick and delicious kadhai meal using chicken, follow this scrumptious recipe. You will need one whole chicken, cleaned and cut into pieces. Heat a small amount of oil in the kadhai and add 3 chopped onions and 3 chopped green chilis, and fry until lightly browned. Add a teaspoon each of chili powder and turmeric, and two teaspoons each of garam masala and ground coriander, and salt to taste, mixing well.

Add 6 chopped tomatoes of medium size, and two teaspoons each of ginger paste and garlic paste, and cook until the tomatoes become tender. Add 1/4 cup of water and bring the dish to a boil. When it appears slightly thickened, add the chicken and mix well. Reduce the heat to medium and cover and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Garnish the completed dish with coriander leaves and prepare your taste buds for a fascinating ride! See also

IM News

Lately im interested in SEO

They do not like to spend 20 or 30 minutes on a single brand’s page, unless they are consuming innovative, funny, or exclusive content. So a travel site looking for a long time spent on a page should not put up a treasure hunt on a world map where you invite your friends and can together find great prizes after exploring cities. Sounds good in a pitch meeting, but it results in abysmally numbers of active users.

Facebook users are very sophisticated, and there is no way a single campaign is going to compete on game mechanics with CityVille. If you want to build CityVille, it might work. But, even Netflix pulled their Facebook app. You are superior off putting up a bunch of funny videos from around the world and leave it at that.

Lots of Apps on One Tab Do not Work

It is to think of a Facebook tab like a Web page, and throw a bunch of features on it - such as a poll, gifting, and some videos - all on one tab. However, most users do not show up on a Facebook tab like they do on a Web page. They are usually coming in by clicking on a page’s newsfeed posting (“What kind of traveller are you? Take the quiz!”), a friend’s newsfeed posting (“I’m a cranky traveller! What kind of traveller are you? Take the quiz?”), or a Facebook ad (“Find out what kind of traveller you are!”).

Now, if after clicking on one of these links a user is dropped into a Facebook Page tab with eight different things on it, they are not going to see a quiz immediately and move on. There should only be one engagement feature per tab.

Sweepstakes Work

After an initial onslaught of Facebook sweepstakes promotions, marketers are learning that sweepstakes have very low conversion rates and no viral uptake. We’re also learning that they attract unengaged users who are there for the prize rather than a relationship with the brand.

Facebook users like to click around and look at stuff, and do not like filling out forms. We have run highly promoted sweeps campaigns for major artists that included things like backstage passes and a limo ride to the show that had abysmal conversion rates. There is absolutely no incentive to make sweepstakes social.

Why would you invite more people to join a sweepstakes? It reduces your own chances. Have you ever seen a “I just entered a sweepstakes and you should to” posting on someone’s wall?

One attempt to increase viral spread in sweepstakes is to offer more prizes when there are more entrants, but all that does is confuse users with conflicting agendas. There is a disincentive to invite people since it reduces your chances of winning, but if enough new people join up perhaps you can win something else… “Ah, too confusing, I’m going to watch videos instead.”

Photo and Video Contests Rarely Work

A lot of brands like to do pic and video contests, but unfortunately they do not have the user base that likes to submit and videos. Travel and photography brands? For sure. Mobile carrier? Beverage brand? Not likely. Even clothing brands pull this off.

Uploading a pic or video is a huge investment on the part of the user, and they do not anticipate to do it for the vast majority of businesses. These campaigns also require the labor to moderate the submissions. If you must run a or video Facebook campaign, the ideal way to do it is actually NOT in an app.

Instead, have users upload the and videos to the brand’s page, and moderate them there. Then have users get their friends to Like the pictures or videos. This way, the campaign leverages all of Facebook’s viral channels around - when the user uploads the photo, when they Like the photo, when their friends like or comment on their submission, it is all highly likely to show up in their friends’ feeds, drawing traffic. The great thing about this is that it is simple to do for free, since using all of Facebook’s pic and video features are free, and users get to use the known Facebook photo and video interface, which increases conversions.

Where was meaning of life ? What 2 write of it.

The detect of spiritedness constitutes a cogitative topic in the steadfastness and idea of being or continuance in general. This concept can be expressed from one end to the other of a multiplicity of interrelated questions, such as “Why are we here?”, “What is life all about?”, and “What is the illustration of it all?” It has been the citizen of much consistent, ordered, and theological consideration wholly history. There accomplish been a brawny gang of answers to these questions from miscellaneous distinguishable cultural and ideological backgrounds. The signification of unitary is extremely cross-bred with the unrealistic and thorough conceptions of existence, consciousness, and jubilation, and touches on profuse other issues, such as symbolic insinuation, ontology, value, object, ethics, well-disposed and insurgent, released intent, conceptions of Numen, the being of Tutelary, the intellect, and the afterlife. Scientific contributions are more circumlocutory; not later than describing the observed facts surrender the bailiwick, judgement provides some nature and sets parameters after conversations on interrelated topics. An surrogate, human-centric, and not a cosmic/religious technique is the mull over “What is the discrimination of my life?” The value of the question pertaining to the calculate of tender being may coincide with the attainment of highest actually, or a hint of oneness, or a vehemence emotions of sacredness.

Medical Videos are getting known

This story reminds me of the motion picture Catch Me if You Can where Tom Hanks asks Decaprio how he passed the bar exam, the response “I studied for it.” There was actually a time where studying for the exam was all you needed to become a lawyer, law school was just a way to get a head start on your exam and internship.

In our world certification and where you learned often means more than your qualifications. I feel that diploma proliferation especially among those of the higher economic strata with the means to pay for advanced degrees and take the time out of the work force to study are naturally reinforcing their groups economic position. Degree stipulations used especially in the public and education sector to squeeze out applicants perfectly qualified often in favor of making the hiring process appear impartial or to make the weeding out process of the HR department easier.

Make no mistake I spent over ten years in university full and part time amassing several degrees but this was more for my own personal enrichment and mostly not to get a job. I still understand why my sister in law needs a masters degree to sit three days a week with an interesting novel and proctor GED exams, but that was a firm requirement to apply for that junior college position.

I suppose if a person, say an experienced nurse or paramedic, were able self study the curricula for med school, line up labs and an internship, then actually succeed during the supervised internship and residency there is no reason that they should not be licensed even as a physician.

How is this guy unlike most of the population who lies on their resume or CV? It is a catch 22, you wont get hired ahead of other resume liars unless you lie about your experience, then for the rest of your career you have to look over your back. It is unfortunate that this dishonesty has caused him to be discredited as a proven who apparently has such a positive lifesaving impact, mostly just to punish him. Would he ever have been taken seriously or had the meritorious impact had he told the truth. Conflicted I am…

Los Angeles Times:

A judge has ordered Los Angeles not to enforce key sections of its controversial medical marijuana ordinance, issuing a preliminary injunction that once again leaves the city with limited ability to control dispensaries and raises the possibility that new ones could open.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

SEO Review

This days im interested in EcommerceThe most-simple way to cross channel is that it’s the inverse of a multi-channel, siloed approach where plans and actions occur in relative isolation. This is happening today in many businesses, where separate teams aligned to mobile, social media and email collaborate little, if at all.

Recognizing the Problem

Explained to any digital marketer, the logic of cross channel resonates yet it’s also acknowledged that the current state was unavoidable. The pace of innovation in digital marketing has been such that adding abilities trumped more time consuming integration considerations.

If you are a digital marketer, you know first-hand how this played out. A lot of brand marketers jumped to the conclusion they required an iPhone app or marketing leaders prioritized building a following on Twitter or Facebook because the competition had done so first. Another marketer may have tacked a text message call to action to the end of a promotional project as an afterthought. Services companies and point products for digital marketing have done admirable jobs creating urgency to move on nearly anything “mobile” lest you permanently fall behind the curve.

Before disconnected efforts become too entrenched however, marketing leaders should recognize some challenging byproducts of marketing silos. First, separate people, products, databases and processes all pointed at driving desirous consumer behavior effectively compete with one another. The inefficiencies of such an environment should be also apparent.

Second, consumers are exposed to some 3,000 marketing messages every day from various sources and different channels (per Symphony/IRI research). A “message quagmire” drags down the performance of everyone’s marketing efforts.

Thirdly, consumer adoption of smartphones increases daily and the devices are used for all manner of activities, at any time or place. In fact, you could say the mobile device is becoming the primary digital interface between consumers and business on a mass scale.

Inefficiencies in digital marketing efforts beget real redundancies in consumer touches, which in turn fight for attention with marketing messages from other sources. Response rates and campaign ROI suffer over time. Given expertise in how consumers use mobile devices, mobile marketers are uniquely positioned to steer their companies to better outcomes.

Mobile Marketers Take the Lead

With expertise in how consumers use mobile devices, mobile marketers have a chance to lead their companies in the right direction. Soon every business will need a “conductor” to orchestrate customer relationship strategies targeting the mobilized consumer. The mobile marketer could be that person.
Cross channel marketing is neither an abstract business school concept nor a rip and replace technology solution. It simply makes sense, but getting started requires a step-wise approach that begins to unwind siloed digital marketing efforts. Fortunately, there are a number of ways mobile marketers can demonstrate the value of cross channel marketing as a step toward broader adoption.

Start and end with customer Experience: Cross channel marketing creates better experiences for consumers by recognizing everyone has channel preferences and that different channels bring strengths and weaknesses to the task. Two examples of easy-to-implement cross channel approaches include leveraging the email subscription list to build the mobile subscriber base, and taking advantage of the reach of text messaging combined with the viral qualities of social media. Although to execute conceptually, these efforts require specialized software optimized for mobile interactions and that have value added ties to other channels.

Leverage the email list: Most companies have long established and lists of opted in email subscribers. These customers deserve an opportunity to opt into mobile communications, offers and other calls to action. Adding a link in an email update that takes consumers to an opt in form is often all that is necessary, along with an incentive such as registering for mobile alerts, offers or finding the nearest location to make a purchase. This form should be tied directly to the mobile marketer’s system to automatically build up the mobile opt-in list.

What’s in it for the email team? Email communications are challenged by competition with other messages in jammed-up email in boxes, and a tie to mobile can alert subscribers to look out for a message. Later, the email and mobile teams can work together to develop higher response marketing campaigns that take advantage of the best attributes of each channel (email as visual/explanatory, mobile and text as timely, portable and universal).

Create a mobile/social campaign: Cross channel campaign management systems optimized for mobile interactions take advantage of the large reach afforded by text message communications and the viral qualities of social media. Sweepstakes are a popular text message campaign-type that can be deployed to Twitter followers in such a way that contest posts may be forwarded or retweeted. In the process, followers broadcast the promotion to many consumers outside the marketer’s social network, who may be influenced to follow the marketer’s brand and also participate in the promotion. The mobile marketer creates a higher performing promotion while the social media team grows its base of followers.

Photo by clix

(Editor’s note: Byron Deeter is a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)

The modern chief marketing officer is as much a scientist as he or she is an artist.

The role is one that’s rapidly evolving these days thanks to advanced new technologies that grant marketing professionals to track, target and measure their company’s spend. At Bessemer, we see many of the CMOs as “quant jocks” – not creative types ordinarily concerned with creating attractive print ads or snappy videos. Top CMOs get the creative, but also comprehend how to use the latest high-tech tools to maximize marketing programs and convert potential customers into buyers.

Those tools make CMOs more powerful because they can directly attribute actions to results. It’s now possible to track the vast majority of customer-influence points, rather than just the final keyword or e-mail that triggered an online purchase.

To wit: What if a prospective customer types “Diapers.com” into Google and unknowingly clicks on a paid link, instead of the SEO-optimized link? This would be an inaccurate attribution of value in the final sale, thanks to Google’s smart SEM technology. The customer already knew the company’s name, so another marketing touch point, like a branded display ad or an e-mail marketing campaign, must have initiated the consumer’s interest in the company, and deserves partial credit for the purchase. Technology providers like Convertro enable advertisers to precisely the value of each interaction with its customers.

CMOs often find that targeted display ads, not Google AdWords, drive actual purchases. An emerging trend that takes advantage of this is called retargeting. This practice e-commerce websites to selectively target shoppers who have previously visited their website and viewed products, but left without completing a purchase. Here’s a real world example:

Noodling around Zappos.com one day, you find a pair of shoes you like. You add them to your shopping cart, but get distracted before purchasing and click away from the site. Two days later, you might be reading an article on Yahoo! News and see a display ad touting those exact shoes (or a similar, pair), possibly including a promotion.

This is personalized retargeting. And these ads are far more relevant and effective than non-targeted ones. Today’s Web users are starting to see relevant ads, click the links and conveniently make a purchase, rather than wasting time revisiting multiple sites.

One of the largest personalized retargeting companies is Criteo, which actually grants its customers to re-acquire these uncommitted shoppers on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis, rather than the traditional cost-per-thousand (CPM) model of display advertising. This lets marketing executives pay only for results – like they do on Google.

For marketing departments, this is the combination of the pay-for-performance model of SEM and the branding impact of traditional display advertising (since even free impressions that don’t result in a click generates brand awareness!).

Given the strong ROI of re-targeting, we strongly believe the vast majority of medium and big e-commerce companies globally will be using this relatively new form of on the web marketing within the next 18 months. (For a more thorough argument, see a white paper we put together called “Bessemer’s Top 10 Laws of E-Commerce”.)

Targeted display ads are just the beginning, though. There is far greater monetization potential, for example, when someone books a first-class ticket to Hawaii through an online-travel site. The consumer’s individual cookie data associated with the flight purchase may subsequently be used to identify the purchaser as affluent, and help hotel chains show the shopper display ads for luxury Hawaiian accommodations, or to offer high-end auto rentals in Maui.

We’re also seeing the emergence of advertising exchanges like Google’s AdX, Microsoft’s AdECN, or Yahoo’s Right Media taking advantage of this “renaissance of display.” On these exchanges, display inventory can be purchased on a per-impression basis. Separate data exchanges such as BlueKai and eXelate allow buyers to purchase segment data independent of impressions, and manage their own, targeted buys.

Although the consumer market is leading the charge, we’ve seen exciting companies like Bizo and Eloqua emerge to allow data-driven, display targeting and marketing automation for B2B customers as well.  Even though B2B buys typically have much longer sales cycles than consumer purchases, the buy value is much larger. Thus, the value of influencing a buying process also is quite high.

B2B sales and marketers can segment and target prospects on any site they visit, whether the Wall Street Journal or a local community sports site, and track their entire digital signature through every stage of the buying process.

That’s good news. The cost of traditional, offline media remains exorbitant for many companies. A one-time quarter-page ad in the print Wall Street Journal, for instance, runs $55,000. Those costs aren’t going down – and, in the long run, may further prod the adoption of innovative, performance-based online-marketing tools from the next generation of marketing-technology providers.

Next Story: Offermatic comes out of stealth mode to take on group-buying sites Previous Story: As malware hits new records, more than 95 billion phishing emails will be sent this year

See also marketing internetowy

SEM Review

This days im interested in IM

Digital marketing budgets are expected to increase steadily during the next few years, according to Datran Media’s Annual Marketing & Media Survey, which reaches out to more than 5,000 marketing executives from Fortune 500 brands, top publishers, and leading advertising and media agencies.

This is good news for those of you hoping to break into the digital marketing industry. Whether you’re passionate about search, affiliate, social media, or another area of marketing, there are a few things you can do to prove your worthiness to prospective employers.

We asked five industry insiders about their top tips for aspiring digital marketers. Find their below and add your own in the comments.

1. Get Hands-On Marketing Experience

“Any hands-on involvement with campaign creation, analytics, or optimization can be extremely beneficial to aspiring digital marketers,” states Traci Kuiphoff, online marketing manager at BareNecessities.com. “If you’re in school or a recent grad, the best way to gain experience is to do an internship at a company or agency that has a department or focus in on the web or digital marketing. Not only do you get real world hands-on experience, but it’s also great to put on your resume when you’re ready for a full-time position.”

If you are in college, look for paid or for-school-credit marketing internships at your college’s job fairs, via job search sites, and on social media sites. You could even land your next gig through Twitter.

If you don’t land an internship or find a position of interest, create your own project or enter a marketing contest. While studying marketing and international business at NYU Stern’s Undergraduate School of Business, a classmate and I entered the John Caples Student Campaign of the Year contest and created a digital marketing campaign for Pentel. Our campaign included a mix of digital, social and direct marketing communications, along with thoroughly gathered success metrics. Not only did we first place, which included summer internships and a money prize, but we also met industry experts who have acted as mentors to us.

2. Know the Lingo

Being able to analyze marketing campaigns and comprehend what worked or didn’t is the key role of a digital marketer — in order to do that, you’ll need to know (and love) the industry jargon.

“Understanding metrics on the web is key,” Naishi Zhang, assistant marketing manager at Barnes & Noble. “The Internet provides so many ways of user behavior, and knowing how to gather and interpret data is important for success. Read widely and learn the lingo, so when someone asks about the CTR of a banner ad or the number of page views a landing page received, you’ll be ready.”

Mastering marketing terminology and metrics, and knowing what they mean, will take time and practice, but you can get a basic knowledge by picking up a marketing 101 textbook or attending an introductory course. Check out local college or continuing education courses. If that isn’t an option, the InternetInternet is at your disposal. About.com’s glossary of marketing terms and HubSpot’s glossary of social media marketing terms are both very useful for beginners, and you should also read some of the top marketing blogs to get your daily fill of information.

3. Nurture Your Personal Presence

Your personal brand is value-added in the job market.

“Your on the internet clout is sometimes referred to as ’social currency,’” he continues. “In other words, there’s a value associated with your on the internet personal brand. Increased value carries as much weight as a great resume. A high Klout.com score for example, will help you stand out and validate what your resume states about you.”

Your Klout score is a number between 0 and 100 that measures the size of your engaged audience, the likelihood that they will amplify your messages, and your overall influence within your network. More massive isn’t always better. Bakas explains, “Aspiring marketers would do well to grow an engaged on the internet following, not necessarily a huge on the web following. Again, Klout.com is a great tool to evaluate the strength of your on the web presence.”

4. Dabble in Everything, Specialize in Something

The best way to get a taste of all of the options is to dabble in a bit of everything. “Digital marketing agency experience can be extremely valuable — at an you can be exposed to all avenues of digital marketing from paid search, social media, mobile and everything in between,” Kuiphoff advises. ”Most likely, you’ll touch a number of different accounts which can help you select a vertical focus or specialty.”

Once you have a base knowledge in each area of marketing, you’ll be equipped to a more specific path of focus. Having a specialty enables you to hone your skills in that area and become an expert, which is a valuable asset to potential employees.

5. Attend Industry Meetups and Conferences

Kuiphoff adds, “Digital marketing conferences not only provide a great networking opportunity, but most offer in-depth workshops that can enhance your skill set.”

Some worthwhile conferences to include SXSW, Search Marketing Expo, Web 2.0 Expo, Ad Age Digital Conference, ad:tech, Search Engine Strategies and Pivot.

If you’re not into the hustle and bustle of industry conferences, you can a more toned-down approach by attending or organizing your own Meetups. There are thousands of marketing Meetups around the world. The NY Entrepreneurs Business Network and San Francisco Entrepreneur Meetup are two of the largest.

6. Keep a Pulse on the News

“Remember that standing still is going backwards. Yes, it’s an adage that has been used for years to inspire ambition, but it is blatantly obvious in the digital landscape. Not only does that technology evolve at a lightening pace that transcends Moore’s law, but consumer behavior is shifting at a radical pace, and media consumption becomes more and more fragmented.

“Being on top of consumer behavior –- understanding what they’re doing online, what motivates them and their social and mobile behavior –- and staying ahead of that by learning what’s in the market and what’s on the come, will help ensure you don’t get stuck on the sidelines when interviewing for jobs in digital marketing.”

Kuiphoff suggests subscribing to industry blogs and newsletters to stay on top of the latest news. Some of my personal favorites include Ad Age, ClickZ, eMarketer, BrandWeek and AdWeek.

7. Get Technical

You won’t be coding programs or building full websites as a digital marketer, but you will need to work with developers and designers or other web specialists to communicate your marketing design needs. A basic knowledge of how the web works, HTML, and one or two programming languages, such as PHPPHP, JavaScript, CSS and Ruby, will help you comprehend the current boundaries and opportunities that will affect your marketing campaigns.

“It’s important for anyone working in the digital world, whether it’s marketing or designing features for a product, to have a basic understanding of coding,” recommends Dharmishta Rood, a research assistant at Harvard Business School and fellow at the Center for Future Civic Media at MIT. “There are great experiential benefits from understanding the underlying technologies that shape what we do online — it’s easier to comprehend how users can interact with content, what is possible for design with things like CSS and JavaScript, and comprehend the nuances of basic technical terminology.”

8. Perfect Your Resume

Everyone needs a resume; what you do with it is up to you. To help you stand out, here are a few tips from our digital marketing experts:

• “Demonstrate that you can produce results and work in a fast-paced environment, whether you’ve had previous digital experience or not. Don’t be afraid to include things about yourself that may not be directly related to the job. Resumes get scanned quickly, so it always helps to inject something creative and clever.” — Naishi Zhang, assistant marketing manager, Barnes & Noble
• “One way you can make your resume stand out is to get certified. GoogleGoogle has a certification program for Adwords. If you have a paid search marketing focus this can help assure a client/employer that you’re proficient in the system.” — Traci Kuiphoff, marketing manager, BareNecessities.com
• “I’m a huge believer in making sure your resume is on LinkedInLinkedIn, and to have recommendations on LinkedIn. asking for soon. LinkedIn is like your digital resume. Make sure the facts match up. Also, Google your name to see what comes up — your prospective employers will.” — Rick Bakas, director of social media marketing, St. Supéry Vineyards and Winery
• “Use keywords to describe your previous experience that make sense for the specific job you’re applying for — if the job description or department does ’social media outreach’ and your description of all those TwitterTwitter @replies, FacebookFacebook messages and moderated blog post comments is currently called ‘customer service,’ this does not play up your strengths as a digital marketer. Use common sense though. If their keywords don’t match your experience, don’t write anything untruthful, and doing things to get the types of experience for the jobs you want, such as volunteering to help with the social media of a non-profit whose cause you support.” — Dharmishta Rood, research assistant, Harvard Business School

To showcase your skills alongside multimedia and other online assets, check out some digital alternatives to the paper resume, including video resumes, VisualCVs, social resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

9. Let Curiosity and Passion Drive You

It may sound cheesy at first, but she has a point. Without inquisitiveness and zeal, we’re just work drones on a mission to take over the Internet. Plus, these traits have a positive effect on the way we work, Hofstetter says:

“People who have these qualities can innovate and identify trends from seemingly ordinary data — they’re the first to try new things (platforms, tools, technology) and think about how marketers can benefit from them. They don’t always have the answers, but when you’re being asked to do never-been-done-before things, there isn’t a rulebook. That’s why when we’re recruiting, we look for people who know how to ask the right questions.

10. Unplug for Your Sanity

Staring at a personal screen all day long can take a toll on your body, mind and social life. Get away from that monitor and breathe for crying out loud!

Bakas suggests getting out every once in a while to work on who you are as a person outside of work. “Because transparency is important, it’s important to be a good person in the real world,” he says. “It’ll translate into the digital world — you can’t fake being a good person if you’re a jerk in real life. Unplug for your own sanity, but also to continue growing as a person in life.”

I second that. Now, get out of here and get a job.

Digital Marketing Job Listings

• Digital Strategist at Vladimir Jones in Colorado Springs, CO.
• Brand Manager at sweetgreen in Washington, DC.
• Director of Digital Strategy at DeVries Public Relations in New York, NY.
• Marketing Manager/Director at BreakoutBand in Brooklyn, NY.
• Sr. Marketing Manager at WOWIO in Los Angeles, CA.

More Job Search Resources from Mashable

- 5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media Marketers
- 10 Tips For Aspiring Community Managers
- 5 Tips for Aspiring Copywriters and Art Directors
- HOW TO: Land a Career in Digital Public Relations
- Top 5 Tips for Aspiring Music Bloggers

Image courtesy of RICEinteractive; iStockphotoiStockphoto, track5

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Social business services company Dachis Group has acquired Stuzo, provider of social marketing applications and programs, and notably one of the first and largest Facebook Preferred Developers. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Stuzo offers a suite of services and technologies serving social marketers, launching almost 200 custom social marketing campaigns for over 100 global brands and agencies in under three years. The company was launched in May 2007 and became one of the first ten Preferred Developers worldwide selected by Facebook.

Dachis Group the acquisition of Stuzo fits into its strategy of becoming the “world leader in Social Business Design”, adding to grant massive global brands the development and customization of platforms and features for the management of Facebook Pages, the development of Facebook apps, or development and management of Facebook Connect integrations for clients and their brands.

The company states it will integrate Stuzo into the company’s offering effective immediately.

Dachis Group was founded in 2008, by CEO and chairman Jeffrey Dachis (cofounder and former CEO of Razorfish). The company offers services around the globe with offices in eight cities in five countries, employing over 120 people.

Its growth strategy, which consists of rolling up smaller companies in the social business services space as well as growing organically, is backed by a financial commitment of up to $50 million from Austin Ventures (Dachis Group is headquartered in Austin, Texas).

(Summer|Vacations|Holidays} Blog Premier Article

Uncrowded Tropical Vacations

Sunshine The Opposite Than God

It is 9 a.m. on a sunny Los Angeles day, and a certain pink wigged, loud sweatshirted, Zac Efron-obsessed blogger is sitting at his pink bedazzled laptop ruining the lives of celebrities. His Tazo tea-toting assistant reads off a gamut of incredibly urgent news, for instance a Real New York City housewife has stabbed a puppy after mistaking it for a predator. Later that day, he must be seen at the week’s hottest A-list event: the wake of the recently deceased Britney Spears. The audience may laugh, but this just one snippet of the incredibly important life of Perez Hilton.

“Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (or at least the greater Los Angeles area)”, chronicles a day in the life of the celebrity blogger and his thrilling life spent bitching about people on the internet and saving LA from nuclear disaster. Love him or hate him, as Perez (Randy Blair) sings early on in the show, “he writes what the world wants to read.” Although he is mega famous, with both Kirstie Alley and Barack Obama on his answering machine, Perez’s rise to the middle has been surprisingly lonely. All he wants is “love, or at least a BJ.” It seems as though his luck is changing when he meets Kevin (Tim Drucker), on an X-rated dating website. Little does he know, Kevin is really Kebab, half of an Islamic terrorist duo hell bent on blowing up LA and achieving fame of its own. Shortly after their first date at the Olive Garden, Perez is kidnapped by Steve Urkel, who now works for a government-sponsored anti-terror unit, and is told he is the only person who can stop the evil plot and save the world’s most important city from nuclear disaster.

After given top-notch defense training, including the ability to create a fool proof decoy (a.k.a. screaming, “Hey look! It’s Mario Lopez!”), Perez must choose between “the first person to give him feelings… ever” and the city he loves. Many songs and celebrity cameos later, by the likes of Kathy Griffin, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Tiger Woods, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and yes, even Zac Efron himself, Perez is able to put himself in the center of the action and to go down in history as the hero who saved Los Angeles.

Highlights included a diva moment by Perez’s assistant, Alyssa (Dana Steingold), in which she laments the life of the assistant, with all of the work and none of the glory, a song about “shooting [a hot terrorist] in the face,” and a slideshow of images with Perez’s sloppy white handwriting all over them to add to each scene.

The show is colorful and kitschy to the max, and boldly attempts to delve into the psyche of this (in)famous blogger. In this show, men want him, and women want to be him, but all Perez really wants is to be rid of his own insecurities. It suggests that Perez is the way he is because he is able to take out his own neurosis on the people he writes about. However horrible that may seem, it turns out the celebrities really need him as much as he needs them. As the closing song says, bitching can save the world.

What is urs favorite italian recipe ?

I hadn’t felt this nervous since the day my daughter was born. I kept asking the employees at the front desk of the hotel what I should wear. I had crossed the Atlantic, spent a few nights at La Rioja, taken a plane to Barcelona, and then driven for almost three hours to the little town of Roses in Spain. In the days prior to this meal, I had visited a number of other restaurants. Every time I mentioned where I was going, they all had a story. It was like the old E.F. Hutton commercials — when I spoke, people listened. I was having dinner at the restaurant that dethroned French food. Yes, I was going to El Bulli, Ferran Adria’s cathedral of modern cuisine.

First things first — if you have a rental car, get a driver, or take a cab. The restaurant is located on top of a mountain, with a winding road leading up to it which makes Lombard Street in San Francisco look like a highway. Once you get there, you realize that the place which for years has been the best restaurant in the world is also the most relaxed and unpretentious. I could have left my sport coat at home.

No short rib, Chilean sea bass, or rack of lamb on this menu. Here Ferran Adria, partner Juli Soler, and his staff will serve you caviar made out of mango, eggs fried in nitrogen, olives made out of pasta, ham turned into gelatin slices, Parmesan ice cream sandwiches and whatever else you never expected to eat in this world. He is the king of culinary foam, there is more foam here than at the old foam parties in South Beach’s discotheques. The difference is that here everything tastes spectacular. The olives explode in your mouth, swiftly turning into pools of the finest olive oil. The 34-course meal takes about three hours. If you get there early, start with a drink on the terrace, overlooking La Costa Brava.

The food looks like art. Even my wife was impressed, and she’s never been impressed with me.
Good to note that the restaurant is only open for about six months of the year. Reservations are taken a year in advance. The other six months are spent at El Taller in Barcelona, a warehouse where they experiment with products for the following year’s menu. It’s like visiting NASA.

If you want to go, hurry. 2010 is sold out, and there are no scalpers here. If you are lucky, you might get in for 2011. Reservations start again in September.

Adria announced a few months ago that he would close his doors after the 2011 season for a few years. When the New York Times falsely reported that he was closing for good, it felt like the gourmet world’s Titanic had just sunk. There were articles everywhere lamenting the closure. Ferran, however, denied the report and all was right with the world once more. The only recent frenzy has been trying to get a reservation before he goes on hiatus. If you do get one, here’s something to bear in mind — the restaurant is losing about half a million Euros a year. So don’t give the chef a hard time.

Q. Dear Umbra,
I am a fairly active, athletic person; that being said, I love my pasta. When I boil the water for my pasta, I run the tap water for about 5–10 seconds until the water becomes very hot, then fill up my pot, and set it on my glass-top stove to boil. The water seems to boil almost instantaneously when I fill it up with hot water, and when I fill it up from the tap right away with cooler water, it takes longer. So, my question is: Is it more wasteful to let the precious water run to get hot for 5–10 seconds, reducing the boiling time? Or is it more wasteful to fill it up with cooler water, not wasting any water, but using more electricity to boil the water? One other consideration is that I live at high altitude, and water takes longer to boil here. Thanks so much!

Nate W.
Redmond, Ore.

A. Dearest Nate,

Photo: lucadea via FlickrYou know, I actually dropped a few pounds on a pasta diet once. I just had to walk pasta the refrigerator, pasta the bakery, and pasta the ice cream shop. A 3-year-old told me that joke.

But you know what’s really nothing to laugh at (besides my pasta joke)? Wasting our precious resources. Cooking noodles is one of those small things I’m always telling you not to sweat; but conserving water and energy is a big honking thing to sweat, so I’m happy to fill you in. Plus, it gives me a chance to play around in the Grist test kitchen.

Since I have some better solutions to come, let’s go ahead and take the letting-water-run-until-it’s-hot option off the table right now. After space heat—that is, heating your entire home—water heaters are the largest household energy consumers. And there are more efficient means of heating such a small amount of water that also don’t let natural resources just run down the drain (I don’t suppose you had a bucket there each time to catch excess water?).

So does that just leave us waiting for the recommended six quarts of cooler tap water to boil on the stovetop before adding our pasta? Not necessarily. First off, you do not—I repeat, do not—need six quarts of water to make a bowl of pasta. Yes, I know that’s what it says on the box. Grist’s own food guru, Tom Philpott, and food-science writer Harold McGee both concur that six quarts are overkill. About a quart and a half should do the trick (I actually used even less for mine).

Secondly, here’s the real coup: You can put the pasta right into the cold water! That’s right. You don’t need to boil the water first. Pop your pasta in, put a lid on the pot (contains the heat), and stir as needed to prevent sticking. This method produced the same delectable rotini for me as the boil-first method, saving water (ta-ta, six quarts) and energy, and it was really no extra effort.

I wasn’t satisfied to stop there, though, as I wanted to give you options, plural. I’m not sure how the cold water method works at high altitude, or if there’s any difference at all, but let’s say you decide to stick with the boil-first method. We know from my previous column on boiling water for tea that the electric kettle is No. 1 in water-heating efficiency. Thusly, how about getting your pasta water started in an electric kettle? Once it’s boiling (or nearly boiling) pour it over your pasta in a pot, and then pop the lid on. Turn the burner on to keep the water’s momentum going, and voila. Cooked pasta in 10 minutes (or however long your particular type of pasta takes)—which reminds me of yet another energy-saving tip: You don’t have to leave the stove on for the duration of the cooking time. Turn off the burner a few minutes before the pasta is finished, leaving the lid on. The pasta will continue to cook in the pot.

And don’t just toss that water post-cooking. Pasta water in restaurants is liquid gold—used as a sauce thickener. While you may not be able to replicate the starchy water made from boiling order after order of spaghetti, you can still try mixing some pasta water in with your next batch of homemade tomato sauce. Or you can just let the water cool to room temperature and use it to give your houseplants a little hydration.

Saucily,
Umbra

Other helpful links:

Ask Umbra on water conservation
Ask Umbra on boiling water for tea
Ask Umbra on water heaters
Ask Umbra on waiting for warm water

Q. Dear Umbra,
My granddaughter uses Clorox Disinfecting Wipes constantly on everything. She has a 2-year-old son, who is asthmatic and seems to have a somewhat compromised immune system. The least little trigger can set him off into an asthma attack, which on occasion has developed into pneumonia and resulted in hospital stays. She is obsessed with certain hygiene, and I tend to think she overdoes it. Plus, she tends not to wipe off the kitchen counters with a dishrag before she uses the wipes, which leaves scum on the counters. Please help me with recommendations I can pass on to her. Thanks!

Carol J.
Scottsdale, Ariz.

A. Dearest Carol,

Advising loved ones on child-rearing or cleaning techniques is a slippery slope indeed, as is giving this question a definitive answer.

Let’s first start by breaking down what exactly is in these wipes. A couple of the key ingredients are alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and alkyl dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride (whew, glad I didn’t get those words in my fourth grade spelling bee). The production of these compounds results in harmful dioxins, which can cause cancer, immune system problems, and reproductive issues. Additionally, the ingredients themselves can cause skin irritation, headaches, and respiratory issues. In short, these chems are not a good thing to have around a child who’s already having his share of breathing problems, methinks.

Plus, these wipes are utterly disposable, equaling a lot of unnecessary waste. One swipe, and then into the trash bin—sad. Not to mention the fact that they are packaged in a plastic bottle, which is a big petroleum-sucking no-no in my book.

I’m not a doctor and don’t even pretend to play one in this column (though I do look mighty authoritative wearing a stethoscope), so I’m not going to try to diagnose whether your great-grandson’s condition warrants the kind of disinfection these wipes offer, harsh though their ingredients may be. Try referring his mom to my April 12 column on sanitizing counters with white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide (in two separate bottles). The combo kills almost all Salmonella, Shigella, and E. coli bacteria. However, if whiter, grime-free surfaces are all your granddaughter is after, then our friends vinegar, baking soda, and castile soap along with a reusable dishcloth and a little elbow grease should do the trick.

Spotlessly,
Umbra

Other helpful links:

Ask Umbra on bleach
Ask Umbra on green cleaning
Ask Umbra on having kids
Ask Umbra on mini-dilemmas

In my April 5 column, I responded to 9-year-old Ian’s question about eco-friendly packaging for his newly designed card game. In return, I received a package this week with a handmade thank-you card from Ian, a lovely letter from his mom, and pictures of Ian and his completed product, which I wanted to share with you guys.

Ian, rocking a rad fedora and showing off his upcycled game packaging.Hello! I wanted to say thanks, because your ideas really helped! My updated format looks great, and it’s eco-friendly, not to mention cheap. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Ian

Dear Umbra,

Several weeks ago, you answered my 9-year-old son’s question about creating eco-friendly packaging for a game he’s invented. Your reply thrilled him—he was surprised that he got a reply. It made his day. He ended up rethinking his packaging and created drawstring bags out of a variety of leftover fabrics. It significantly lowered his costs, taught him sewing skills, and added an element of personalization to each game. And eco-friendly to boot!

Many thanks from a grateful mom,
Gwyn R.

Love is that

Read About of Gods

What are your favorite recipes?

The buns should have bread the writing on the wall: nothing but the automobile for Americans’ daily meat-to-mouth resuscitation. Which is why KFC said buh-bye to bread in order to shove even more gross industrial chicken Double Down hungry throats. KFC is shooting for a more manly for getting meat to the gullet, opting for the Hummer of the food world: more meat.

The recipe for total organ failure? Two slabs of bacon, along with Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese, between two fillets of chicken (this is where the buns get the middle finger), all slathered with the Colonel’s special sauce. 32 grams of grease that KFC’s Double Down will get ya. Because the Colonel too chicken to add more chicken.

Psst … for a meaty bonus, scroll down to the bottom of this story for the fictional precursor to the Double Down chicken-on-chicken sandwich. Compliments of 30Rock’s Tracy Jordan!

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Blue Ribbon’s Excellent Matzo Ball Soup

Posted by Caroline Russock, March 25, 2010 at 2:15 PM

[Photographs: Caroline Russock]

During Jewish holidays when I was growing up, Matzo Ball Soup was always the number one topic of conservation. Coming from a family that was not too concerned with food on an everyday basis, I found it strange that everyone automatically turned into a critic when the soup was served. First the soup itself was discussed: Too salty? Not flavorful enough? Or perhaps there was a tiny too much dill?

After dissecting the soup, it was time to speak about the matzo balls. One of my grandmothers made golfball-sized matzo balls that were dense and sunk to the bottom of the bowl, while my other grandmother’s were softball sized, so light that they fell apart in your spoon. I enjoyed them both, since choosing between them would be like picking a favorite grandmother.

But it’s been a while since I have had a bowl of grandmother-made matzo ball soup and with Passover coming up I figured it was time that I made a batch of my own. I chose the recipe from Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Cookbook, the eagerly anticipated cookbook from Bruce and Eric Bromberg, the masterminds behind the Blue Ribbon family of restaurants in New York.

Their recipe starts with a flavorful stock made of a whole chicken cooked with plenty of aromatics. Once the chicken is cooked through, it’s taken out and the meat is stripped from the bones. The bones are placed back in the stock and cooked for an additional hour. The stock is left to cool overnight so that a layer of chicken fat, or schmaltz, forms on the surface.

The Bromberg Brother’s matzo balls contain two secret weapons for ultimate matzo ball deliciousness: schmaltz and seltzer water. The seltzer water lightens the matzo balls and the chicken fat gives them breathtaking flavor. Since the matzo balls are cooked in water instead of chicken broth they retain a flavor of their own instead of just soaking up the stock.

Is Blue Ribbon’s matzo ball soup better than either of my grandmother’s? I’d rather not say. What I will is that it lived up to the title of “excellent”—the stock was beautifully flavored, and the matzo balls were the ideal weight and density and tasted of chicken fat in the possibly way.

Blue Ribbon’s Excellent Matzo Ball Soup

- serves 6 to 8-

Adapted from Bromberg Bros. Blue Ribbon Cookbook by Bruce Bromberg and Eric Bromberg.

Ingredients

Chicken Broth

1 whole chicken (3 to 4 pounds)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
5 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 sprigs of fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 dried bay leaves

Matzo Balls

4 eggs
1 cup matzo meal
2 tablespoons schmaltz (rendered chicken far reserved from making broth) or duck fat
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup seltzer water
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds (about 1 cup)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

Procedure

1. To make the broth: Rub the chicken with salt inside and out. Let rest on a plate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Rinse very well under cold running water and then pat dry with paper towels.

2. Put the chicken in a massive stockpot and add enough cold water to cover by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, them skim off any foam that rises to the top. Add the celery, carrots, onion, garlic, parsley, dill, peppercorns, and bay leaves, and return the liquid to a boil. Skim again.

3. Reduce the heat and let simmer uncovered until the chicken is cooked, about 45 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a big bowl and, when cool enough to handle, take the meat off the bones (reserve the meat for another purpose). Return the bones to the pot and simmer for 1 hour more. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, discarding the solids. Cool the broth slightly, then refrigerate until cold, overnight or up to 3 days.

4. Using a slotted spoon, skim off the solidified chicken fat from the broth. Save for making matzo balls or another purpose.

5. To make the matzo balls: In a big bowl, stir together the eggs, matzo meal, schmaltz, salt, and baking powder. Add the seltzer and use a rubber spatula to mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

6. Fill a large, wide pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Fill a small bowl with cold water and have nearby to keep your hands clean and wet. Working gently, without pressing, use clean, wet hands to form 1/2-inch-round matzo balls. As they are formed, drop them into the boiling water. When all of the matzo balls are formed, cover the pot with a round of parchment paper to keep them submerged (or partially cover the pot with a lid if you have parchment paper) and simmer very gently (don’t let the water boil again) until cooked through and tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon, and arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. If not using that day, let cool to room temperature, then store the matzo balls in a single layer in an airtight container filled with cooled cooking liquid to cover for up to 2 days.

7. To serve, gently reheat the matzo balls in a pot filled with matzo ball cooking liquid or fresh water to cover (when the water comes to a simmer, taste a matzo ball to see if it’s hot enough, and either use immediately or continue to simmer until warmed to taste).

8. In a separate pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the carrot rounds and simmer until soft, about 7 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then add the dill.

9. Ladle the broth into individual serving bowls. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the warmed matzo balls into the soup and serve piping hot.

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Beginning in Sydney, Australia three years ago, Earth Hour has grown into a global observance. States, large organizations and individual people observed Earth Hour 2010 on Saturday March 27th, as homes, office towers and landmarks turned off their lights for an hour starting at 8.30 pm local time to raise awareness about climate change and the threat from rising greenhouse gas emissions. Collected here are a series of before-and-after photographs from this year - which (starting with the second one below) will fade between “on” and “off” when clicked

Malaysia’s landmark Petronas Twin Towers

Hong Kong Island and Kowloon

before-and-after view of the Las Vegas Strip

Seattle’s Pacific Science Center

  [click image to see it fade]  

Singapore

Beijing, China

Moscow Say University

Sydney skyline

Athens, Greece

Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Forbidden City

Rio de Janeiro

Malaysia

Toronto’s financial district

Atlanta, Georgia

Hong Kong

Norway

New York

Japan

New York

Abu Dhabi

Bucharest

South Africa

Hey

CheckSee|Look at} few home pictures i love.