Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirelessly for eleven years begging for its inclusion into A.A. recovery circles. His desire was to help alcoholics stay recovered. This means he would have immediately brought this mineral replacement therapy that eliminates alcohol cravings forth without exception. Master of ceremonies, Andrew W. Saul, includes Bill Wilson as an inductee of the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame at the Hotel Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 29, 2006 in his induction speech, “…To this day, selective history records A.A.’s 12-Step Program, but has forgotten, or deliberately purged, what Bill wanted to be A.A.’s 13th step – orthomolecular therapy with vitamin B3.”[Lee Brack1] In February 2009, Orthomolecular Medicine’s founder, Abram Hoffer and Bill Wilson’s good friend, clarified to me over the phone, “..yes, Lee, he wanted to share this information as an added step and talked about it all the time because he felt so strongly about nutrition…” Abram Hoffer passed away a few months later in May having lived healthy and happily for ninety one and a half years.
6 April 2013 Tuned-In Centre, Majuba Road, Redcar, TS10 5BJ
Event | North-West District of Cocaine Anonymous welcomes you to... Reaching Out in Redcar UNITY Day | ||
| Time | Saturday 11:30am Start | ||
| Address | Tuned-In Centre, Majuba Road, Redcar, TS10 5BJ |  | |
| Additional Notes | Speakers; Cameron F (Canada) Will B (Spain) Danielle (Cheshire) | ||
| Information | TICKETS £5 (or donation). Refreshments provided. Click here to download flyer & contact info. | ||
Understand the inherently peaceful presence of Awareness the art of Living in the NOW
Understand the inherently peaceful presence of Awareness the art of Living in the NOW, and see that this peace is not dependent upon the condition of the mind, body or world, just as a screen is not dependent on the quality of the words or images that appear on it.
The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental cues
There are many biological factors that are involved with the addicted brain. "The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental cues" (2) In the brain, there are many changes that take place when drugs enter a person's blood stream. The pathway in the brain that the drugs take is first to the ventral tegmentum to the nucleus accumbens, and the drugs also go to the limbic system and the orbitofrontal cortex, which is called the mesolimbic reward system. The activation of this reward system seems to be the common element in what hooks drug users on drugs (2).
Drugs seem to cause surges in dopamine neurotransmitters and other pleasure brain messengers. However, the brain quickly adapts and these circuits desensitize, which allows for withdrawal symptoms to occur (3). Drug addiction works on some of the same neurobiological mechanisms that aid in learning and memories (3). "This new view of dopamine as an aid to learning rather than a pleasure mediator may help explain why many addictive drugs, which unleash massive surges of the neurotransmitter in the brain, can drive continued use without producing pleasure-as when cocaine addicts continue to take hits long after the euphoric effects of the drug have worn off or when smokers smoke after cigarettes become distasteful." (4)
Since memory and pleasure zones are intertwined in the brain, many researchers have been using psychological approaches to stop drug use. Many rehabilitation centers have used classical conditioning to rehabilitate drug addicts. They combine exposure to drugs combined with cognitive scripts, like statements how drugs have destroyed a person's life or what can be accomplished without using drugs, according to DeLetis (5). By using classical conditioning, the drugs addicts pair the drugs with negative connotations and properties. "Adverse withdrawal symptoms can function as an instrumental negative reinforcer and can be linked to the opponent process theory of motivation." (6) However, drug addicts may relapse and start using again because of many environmental "cues", which are external forces that are associated with drug use in their lives. When the drugs addicts see these cues, their brain circuitry, especially the orbitofrontal cortex become hyperactive and causes these people to start craving drugs again (2). No matter how successful the rehabilitation treatment is, once those "cues" are around, the drug addicts remember how pleasurable the drugs felt and relapse into drug abuse again.
Through all of the research done about drug addiction and its affects on the brain, one can see how drug addiction is considered a brain disease. Drug addiction is a disabling disease and can ruin a person's life. By taking drugs, a person's brain becomes "rewired" to tolerate high amounts of dopamine neurotransmitters, but once those high amounts of dopamine cease to exist, the person experiences withdrawal symptoms. However, there are ways drug addicts can control their drug intake by using classical conditioning techniques, which allows them to associate drugs with negative attributes.
Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirelessly for eleven years begging for its inclusion into A.A. recovery circles.
The Serotonin Support Group (SSG)
Is a mutual support group for people who suffer from low Serotonin levels, wishing to participate in a support group that uses as one method a vitamin supplement as a method of replacement or addition to a diet to help the sufferer.The historical basis of this form of nutritional treatment was discovered and researched by Bill Wilson of Alcoholics Anonymous and it is to promote this Legacy to persons who suffer from low serotonin uptake and depression that the Group was formed.Bill Wilson wished to add a step to the 12 he had produced for AA. We struggle to make that possible and fulfill his promise. Without detracting from the message of recovery in the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. If alcoholics and addictive abusers of other drugs have specific chemical imbalances in the brain, and if these imbalances turn out to be reliable enough and measurable enough in sufficiently large numbers of human addicts, it is natural to wonder whether, eventually, science can find a way to correct them.
Some sort of neurotransmitter cocktail, maybe.
Bill Wilson is on record for having found a solution in 1960 for treating anxiety and depression using vitamin B-3 therapy and worked tirelessly for eleven years begging for its inclusion into A.A. recovery circles. His desire was to help alcoholics stay recovered. This means he would have immediately brought this mineral replacement therapy that eliminates alcohol cravings forth without exception. Andrew W. Saul, includes Bill Wilson as an inductee of the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame at the Hotel Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 29, 2006 in his induction speech, “…To this day, selective history records A.A.’s 12-Step Program, but has forgotten, or deliberately purged, what Bill wanted to be A.A.’s 13th step – orthomolecular therapy with vitamin B3.”[Lee Brack1] In February 2009, Orthomolecular Medicine’s founder, Abram Hoffer and Bill Wilson’s good friend, clarified to me over the phone, “..yes, Lee, he wanted to share this information as an added step and talked about it all the time because he felt so strongly about nutrition…” Abram Hoffer passed away a few months later in May having lived healthy and happily for ninety one and a half years.
The results strongly suggest that the mechanism of depression after alcohol drinking may be related to serotonin.
| We examined tryptophan and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) levels in the blood after consumption of alcohol. Forty-five minutes after drinking, whole blood serotonin concentration was significantly reduced, whereas no changes were observed in tryptophan level. The diurnal rhythm of 5-HT in subjects who the day before had drunk alcohol was quite different from the control group, but very similar to that of patients with depression. The results strongly suggest that the mechanism of depression after alcohol drinking may be related to serotonin. |
The important thing with serotonin, is to keep it at steady levels.
The important thing with serotonin, is to keep it at steady levels. The medicines that raise the level of serotonin in the brain do so by slowing the reabsorbtion of serotonin. The alcohol increases the availible serotonin for a bit and then it drops off quickly, leaving the depressed person feeling worse, and they tend to not take the medicine correctly when they feel badly or are drunk. High serotonin levels do not mean somebody will feel happy or good, It makes it more likely that they won't feel realy bad.
Police have several leads in the investigation of the large forest fire that started a week ago.
Suspicions that it was started malicously has possibly strengthened. Sources claim that the fire spread quickly because there was more than one fire. Witnesses stated inter alia, have seen an unidentified jeep coming from a farm between Ojén and Marbella exactly where the fire then got an awesome course. In Marbella, it was announced yesterday that it is now able to restore electricity, water and telephone networks in all affected areas. It is now under the companies just the kind of disruption that is "normal". In areas Elviria Ricmar has repaired water pipes, power lines and 3000 meters telephone and fiber optic cable. It has also been launched several campaigns to restore nature and conduct tree plantings. Biologists say that tree planting may be necessary until next year. The hotel chain Fuerte Hoteles has among other things promised to donate a tree for every hotel guest you have in Marbella. The hotels have also started a fundraiser where guests can help by buying a tree, which will then be planted in the affected area.
experts believe we can actually become "addicted" to stress.
Stress can be physical,And then there’s the kind that’s in our heads — that OMG I’m so overwhelmed right now feeling. While psychological stress has some definite downsides (chronic freak-outs may increase our risk for cancer and other diseases), take a moment to exhale. In moderate amounts, stress can boost our focus, energy, and even our powers of intuition.
Still, in some cases, stress does more than light a productivity-boosting fire under our butts. Both emotional and physical stress activate our central nervous system, causing a “natural high,” says Concordia University neuroscientist and addiction specialist Jim Pfaus. “By activating our arousal and attention systems,” Pfaus says, “stressors can also wake up the neural circuitry underlying wanting and craving — just like drugs do.”
This may be why, experts believe, some of us come to like stress a little too much.
Type A and Type D personalities — or people prone to competitiveness, anxiety, and depression — may be most likely to get a high from stressful situations, says stress management specialist Debbie Mandel. Stress “addicts,” Mandel says, “may also be using endless to-do lists to avoid less-easy-to-itemize problems — feelings of inadequacy, family conflicts, or other unresolved personal issues.”
Some stress junkies have difficulty listening to others, concentrating, and even sleeping because they can’t put tomorrow’s agenda out of their minds, explains Mandel. Others tend to use exaggerated vocabulary — craaazy busy right now, workload’s insane!! And some begin to feel anxious at the mere thought of slowing down their schedule.
But psychologist and addiction researcher Stanton Peele cautions against labeling anyone a stress addict. “Only when that pursuit of stress has a significant negative impact on your life could it qualify as addiction,” he said, adding that many people are able to effectively manage — and in fact thrive under — high stress conditions. (Think: Olympic athletes or President Obama.)
Study: Stress Shrinks the Brain and Lowers Our Ability to Cope with Adversity
For budding stress “addicts” or for those who just, well, feel overwhelmed, here are some tips to dial down that anxiety:
- Seek professional help if you’re verging on burnout. (Not only can hashing it out with a therapist take a load off your mind. Some studies suggest it also boosts physical fitness.)
- Do something creative. Mandel recommends carving out a once-weekly time not to think about tomorrow’s agenda by painting, cooking, writing, dancing, or anything else that’ll take you off the clock temporarily.
- Take it outside. Numerous studies show spending time in nature improves general well-being, lowers anxiety, stress and depression, and even boosts self-confidence. Especially for women. (As it turns out, most addiction recovery centers offer outdoor-immersion programs.)
- Calm down quickly. If you really don’t have time for any of the above, these 40 tricks to chill take five minutes or less.
Some of us may seek out stress a bit more excessively than others and struggle to just relax. It takes skill to handle hectic agendas and long lists of responsibilities — without losing sleep or feeling frazzled. So try these tips and try not to freak out.
Worried that you or someone you know seeks out stress a little too much? Think stress addiction is a myth? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
For those red wine drinkers who’ve been feeling morally superior about all the health benefits of the relaxing glass or two sipped during dinner, there’s some bad news on the horizon.
Turns out, those glasses of wine would be a lot healthier if they were non-alcoholic, a new study shows. Spanish researchers led by Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the University of Barcelona found that non-alcoholic red wine reduced blood pressure in men at high risk for heart disease better than standard red wine or gin, according to the study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research. Although the reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was modest, decreases of just 4 and 2 mm Hg have been associated with a 14 to 20 percent reduction in heart disease and stroke, the researchers pointed out. “The daily consumption of dealcoholized red wine could be useful for the prevention of low to moderate hypertension,” they concluded. Although there have been many studies on the impact of moderate drinking on health, the findings have been mixed, with some studies showing a benefit and others suggesting none. The new study found that 3 ounces of gin a day had no impact on blood pressure, while consumption of regular red wine led to a small, but not statistically significant, improvement. The new study suggests that if you’re going to have a drink, red wine would be the healthiest choice, said Dr. Kelly Anne Spratt, a heart disease prevention specialist and a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Still, Spratt said, “while there are those of us in cardiology who believe in the benefits of red wine, we want to be wary. We’re not going like gangbusters recommending people go out and start drinking. There are a lot of problems associated with drinking, like weight gain, cardiomyopathy, alcoholism, an increased breast cancer risk in women who consume two or more drinks a day.” Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues suspect that blood pressure improvements were due to the impact of polyphenols, a red wine component, on nitric oxide. The theory is that nitric oxide molecules help blood vessels relax, which allows better flow and more blood to reach the heart and other organs. For the new study, Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues followed 67 men with diabetes or three or more cardiovascular risk factors. During the study, the men were all required to consume the same foods along with one of three drinks: 10 ounces of red wine, 10 ounces of non-alcoholic red wine or 3 ounces of gin. During the 12 week study, the men tried each diet/beverage combination for four weeks at a time. The researchers determined that the standard red wine and its nonalcoholic counterpart contained equal amounts of polyphenols, an antioxidant which has been shown to decrease blood pressure. Men who drank regular red wine saw minor reductions in blood pressure – too small, in fact, to be statistically significant. Those who drank gin with their meals saw no change in blood pressure. But men who drank non-alcoholic red wine saw a blood pressure decrease of about 6 mm Hg in systolic and 2 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure. Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues concluded that their findings show that the alcohol in red wine actually weakens its ability to lower blood pressure.
During experiments on the axons of the Woods Hole squid (loligo pealei), we tested our cockroach leg stimulus protocol on the squid's chromatophores.
The results were both interesting and beautiful. The video is a view through an 8x microscope zoomed in on the dorsal side of the caudal fin of the squid. We used a suction electrode to stimulate the fin nerve. Chromatophores are pigmeted cells that come in 3 colors: Brown, Red, and Yellow. Each chromatophore is lined with up to 16 muscles that contract to reveal their color.
Paloma T. Gonzalez-Bellido of Roger Hanlon's Lab in the Marine Resource Center of the Marine Biological Labs helped us with the preparation. You can read their latest paper at:http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/08/13/rspb.2012.1374
The nine people believed injured by stray police gunfire outside the Empire State Building were not the first to learn how dangerous a crowded street can be in a gunfight.
Civilians occasionally find themselves in harm's way when officers use deadly force, though usually only a handful of times annually. When that happens, a rigid process of investigation is set in motion — and the police department can reasonably expect a lawsuit. The latest episode came when police say a man disgruntled over losing his job a year ago shot a former colleague to death and pointed his weapon at two police officers in the shadow of a major tourist attraction. He apparently wasn't able to fire before police killed him, one firing off seven rounds and the other nine. Bystanders suffered graze wounds, and some were struck by concrete gouged from buildings by the bullets, authorities said. At least one person said he was actually hit by a bullet. Robert Asika, a 23-year-old tour guide who was hit in the right arm, said he was "100 percent positive" he was shot by a police officer. A witness told police that laid-off clothing designer Jeffrey Johnson fired at officers, but ballistics evidence so far contradicts that, authorities said.
Tracking a Rare Tattoo-Related Infection
A Trail of Ink: Tracking a Rare Tattoo-Related Infection
This trail began when the man received a tattoo in Rochester, N.Y. in October 2011. A short while later, he noticed the raised, bumpy rash. He called his primary care physician.
Doctors initially treated the man's arm with topical steroids, thinking that the rash was allergic-contact dermatitis. But that only made the problem worse.
By the time dermatologist Dr. Mark Goldgeier saw the patient, it was clear that this was no simple allergy.
He performed a skin biopsy so he could take a closer look at the rash under a microscope. What he saw was startling: the sample was riddled with a wormlike bacterium related to tuberculosis.
"I explained [to the patient] that he had TB, and he had a look of horror on his face," Goldgeier said.
For the patient, the finding meant a trip to an infectious disease specialist to start up to a full year of treatment.
Goldgeier, meanwhile, called the Monroe County Health Department.
"As soon as biopsy came back," he said, "I knew something in the process of tattooing was involved -- the ink, the water used for dilution, the syringes, the dressings."
And so began a nationwide medical mystery.
Dr. Byron Kennedy, public health specialist at Monroe County Department of Public Health, took over the case from Goldgeier. Kennedy first confirmed the results by repeating a skin biopsy on the patient. Once again, tendrils of mycobacterium chelonae, a type of tuberculosis-related skin bacteria, showed up in the sample.
Mycobacterium chelonae is a rapidly growing bug found in soil, dust, water, animals, hospitals, and contaminated pharmaceuticals. This family of bacteria does not commonly affect healthy individuals, but in patients with suppressed immune systems -- like those with HIV or on chemotherapy -- these bacteria can cause serious disease, often resulting in death.
The finding sent Kennedy and his associates to the tattoo parlor where the patient had been inked. Everything in the clinic was sterile, which made it unlikely that the infection had arisen there. But the tattoo artist, they learned, had been using a new gray premixed ink purchased in Arizona in April 2011; he used the ink between May and December 2011.
The ingredients of the ink -- pigment, witch hazel, glycerin, and distilled water -- seemed innocuous enough. But further examination revealed that the distilled water in the pigment was the likely culprit of the contamination.
The finding raised a number of questions -- not the least of which was how the bottles of premixed ink passed U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged this gap in regulations Wednesday in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report.
"Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, tattoo inks are considered to be cosmetics, and the pigments used in the inks are color additives requiring premarket approval," the report says.
Armed gang fight breaks out in Venezuelan prison
Twenty-five people were killed and 43 others hurt in a prison battle in Venezuela as two armed gangs vied for control of a penitentiary near Caracas, authorities said on Monday.
Addiction Books For relaxation When 50 Shades of Grey doesn’t cut it.
The Science of Addiction: From Neurobiology to Treatment
Carlton K. Erickson
312 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company (2007)
Amazon Overview: Neuroscience is clarifying the causes of compulsive alcohol and drug use––while also shedding light on what addiction is, what it is not, and how it can best be treated––in exciting and innovative ways. Current neurobiological research complements and enhances the approaches to addiction traditionally taken in social work and psychology. However, this important research is generally not presented in a forthright, jargon-free way that clearly illustrates its relevance to addiction professionals. In The Science of Addiction, Carlton K. Erickson presents a comprehensive overview of the roles that brain function and genetics play in addiction.
The Addiction Solution: Unraveling the Mysteries of Addiction through Cutting-Edge Brain Science
David Kipper and Steven Whitney
304 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books (2010)
For decades addiction has been viewed and treated as a social and behavioral illness, afflicting people of “weak” character and “bad” moral fiber. However, recent breakthroughs in genetic technology have enabled doctors, for the first time, to correctly diagnose the disease and prove that addiction is an inherited, neuro-chemical disease originating in brain chemistry, determined by genetics, and triggered by stress. In their groundbreaking Addiction Breakthrough, David Kipper, MD, and Steven Whitney distill these exciting findings into a guide for the millions of adults who want to be free from the cycle of addiction, and for their loved ones who want to better understand it and to help.
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
Gabor Maté
520 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books (2010)
Based on Gabor Maté’s two decades of experience as a medical doctor and his groundbreaking work with the severely addicted on Vancouver’s skid row, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts radically reenvisions this much misunderstood field by taking a holistic approach. Dr. Maté presents addiction not as a discrete phenomenon confined to an unfortunate or weak-willed few, but as a continuum that runs throughout (and perhaps underpins) our society; not a medical "condition" distinct from the lives it affects, rather the result of a complex interplay among personal history, emotional, and neurological development, brain chemistry, and the drugs (and behaviors) of addiction. Simplifying a wide array of brain and addiction research findings from around the globe, the book avoids glib self-help remedies, instead promoting a thorough and compassionate self-understanding as the first key to healing and wellness.
Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines his Former Life on Drugs
Marc Lewis
336 pages
Publisher: PublicAffairs (2012)
Marc Lewis’s relationship with drugs began in a New England boarding school where, as a bullied and homesick fifteen-year-old, he made brief escapes from reality by way of cough medicine, alcohol, and marijuana. In Berkeley, California, in its hippie heyday, he found methamphetamine and LSD and heroin. He sniffed nitrous oxide in Malaysia and frequented Calcutta’s opium dens. Ultimately, though, his journey took him where it takes most addicts: into a life of addiction, desperation, deception, and crime. But unlike most addicts, Lewis recovered and became a developmental psychologist and researcher in neuroscience. In Memoirs of an Addicted Brain, he applies his professional expertise to a study of his former self, using the story of his own journey through addiction to tell the universal story of addictions of every kind.
The Chemical Carousel: What Science Tells Us About Beating Addiction
Dirk Hanson
472 pages
Publisher: BookSurge (2009)
A book for anyone concerned with the care and healing of addiction, substance abuse, and the latest advances in the area of addiction science. In The Chemical Carousel, science writer Hanson takes the reader on a voyage through the heady world of addiction science, from the lab to the clinic to the junky on the street. Hanson explains the workings of common neurotransmitters and documents the direct effect drugs and alcohol produce on the reward pathways of the brain. He shows how scientists and treatment professionals have finally given us an answer to the perennial question about addiction: Why can't those people just say no?
An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug, Cocaine
Howard Markel
336 pages
Publisher: Vintage (2012)
Acclaimed medical historian Howard Markel traces the careers of two brilliant young doctors--Sigmund Freud, neurologist, and William Halsted, surgeon--showing how their powerful addictions to cocaine shaped their enormous contributions to psychology and medicine. When Freud and Halsted began their experiments with cocaine in the 1880s, neither they, nor their colleagues, had any idea of the drug's potential to dominate and endanger their lives. An Anatomy of Addiction tells the tragic and heroic story of each man, accidentally struck down in his prime by an insidious malady: tragic because of the time, relationships, and health cocaine forced each to squander; heroic in the intense battle each man waged to overcome his affliction.
How to Change Your Drinking: a Harm Reduction Guide to Alcohol
Kenneth Anderson
86 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (2010)
This book is the first comprehensive compilation of harm reduction strategies aimed specifically at people who drink alcohol. Whether your goal is safer drinking, reduced drinking, or quitting alcohol altogether, this is the book for you. It contains a large and detailed selection of harm reduction tools and strategies which you can choose from to build your own individualized alcohol harm reduction program. There are many practical exercises to help people change their behaviors, including risk-ranking worksheets, drinking charts, goal choice worksheets, and many more. There are also innumerable practical tips from folks who "have been there" and have turned their drinking habits around for the better.
Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Shows, and What We Should Do about It
William R. Miller and Kathleen M. Carroll
320 pages
Publisher: Guilford Press (2010)
While knowledge on substance abuse and addictions is expanding rapidly, clinical practice still lags behind. This state-of-the-art book brings together leading experts to describe what treatment and prevention would look like if it were based on the best science available. The volume incorporates developmental, neurobiological, genetic, behavioral, and social–environmental perspectives. Tightly edited chapters summarize current thinking on the nature and causes of alcohol and other drug problems; discuss what works at the individual, family, and societal levels; and offer robust principles for developing more effective treatments and services.
Writers On The Edge: 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency
Diana Raab and James Brown204 pages
Publisher: Modern History Press (2012)
Writers On The Edge offers a range of essays, memoirs and poetry written by major contemporary authors who bring fresh insight into the dark world of addiction, from drugs and alcohol, to sex, gambling and food. Editors Diana M. Raab and James Brown have assembled an array of talented and courageous writers who share their stories with heartbreaking honesty as they share their obsessions as well as the awe-inspiring power of hope and redemption. Frederick & Steven Barthelme, Kera Bolonik, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Maud Casey, Anna David, Denise Duhamel, B.H. Fairchild, Ruth Fowler, David Huddle Perie Longo, Gregory Orr, Victoria Patterson, Molly Peacock, Scott Russell Sanders, Stephen Jay Schwartz, Linda Gray Sexton, Sue William Silverman, Chase Twichell, and Rachel Yoder
WHEN YOUR HIGHER POWER FAILS YOU
It happens every time. Without fail. Without exception. I bet it's happened to you also. Just think about it. How often has your god failed you? Every single time. Every single time I have turned a human being into a god, or turned something man-made into an idol, or placed my trust, expectation, hope, and confidence in anything else but the one true God, my god has failed me. Some people are slow learners. I am one of them. I have made the same mistake countless times. And every single time, that's right, you've got it. It happens every time. Maybe I should be more careful when I place my trust, expectation, hope, and confidence in a human being. Maybe I should be more choosy with the human I choose. Not so. No matter the human, the same outcome will arise. My god will fail me. I did it again recently. I made the same mistake. But my mistake wasn't the human I chose. My mistake was the choice I made to pick a human. And guess what happened? You guessed it. My god failed me. But how can this happen, time and again? Easily. First, it happens when I fail to remember when I need not to forget. Never, ever, place what belongs to God in heaven in the hands of a human. My love and trust, my loyalty and faithfulness, my belief and confidence, my hope and expectation, must be placed in the Lord first and foremost, above all and everyone else - whether it be someone or something else, or whether it be myself. Second, it happens not because I forget, but because I don't realize and recognize what I have done. Hard habits sometimes die slowly, don't they? And slow habits die hard. It has been a hard lesson for me, and I have to be vigilant to ensure I don't unconsciously do what I have so often done. So what is the outcome of this all? My gods fail me. Every human I have ever made into a god, every person or thing I have ever turned into an idol, the result has always been the same. My false gods have failed me, hurt me, let me down, forsaken me, abandoned me, rejected me, broken me, fallen short, messed up, and a zillion other things. Seriously? Yes. Will the real God please stand up?
The Five Keys to Mindful Communication
The first key of mindful communication, according to Chapman (2012), is having amindful presence. This means having an open mind, awake body and a tender heart. When you have a mindful presence, you give up expectations, stories about yourself and others, and acting on emotions.
You are fully in the present moment; your communication isn’t focused on the “me” and what the “me” needs, but the we.
Mindful listening is the second key to mindful communication. Mindful listening is about encouraging the other person. This means looking through the masks and pretense and seeing the value in the person and the strengths he or she possesses. It’s looking past the human frailties and flaws that we all have to see the authentic person and the truth in what that person is attempting to say.
Mindful speech, the third key, is about gentleness. Speaking gently means being effective in what you say. It’s about speaking in a way that you can be hard. To be gentle with our speech means being aware of when our own insecurities and fears are aroused to the point we are acting out of fear rather than acceptance.
Practicing self-compassion for our fear, envy, jealousy and self-doubts is more effective than focusing on others as being a threat or attempting to change them. When you use gentle speech, you are communicating acceptance to the other person and saying what is true, not an interpretation or an exaggeration or a minimization.
The key to mindful relationships is unconditional friendliness. Unconditional friendliness means accepting the ebb and flow of relationships. Sometimes you meet new friends, sometimes friends move on, sometimes there is joy and sometimes there is pain. Sometimes you’ll feel lonely, sometimes you’ll feel cherished and connected, and then you’ll feel lonely again.
Unconditional friendliness means that your acceptance of others is not dependent on them staying with you or agreeing with you. You don’t cling to relationships to avoid loss.
Mindful responsiveness is like playfulness. Playfulness is the openness that you can have when you let go of preconceived ideas and strategies. It’s like creating something new. Imagine two skilled dancers who alternatively lead each other in creating a new dance in every interaction, never doing the same complete dance over and over. They respond in the moment to the message sent by the other. There are no rules or expectations and yet they both bring skillful behavior.
Mindful communication requires practice. If you choose to practice the keys, you might choose to focus on one at a time. Being willing to regulate your emotions is a prerequisite to mindful communication and mindfulness of your emotions is necessary for emotion regulation.
Mindfulness is a core skill for the emotionally sensitive.
References
Chapman, Susan Gillis. The Five Keys to Mindful Communication: Using Deep Listening and Mindful Speech to Strengthen Relationships, Heal Conflicts and Acceomplish Your Goals. Boston: Shambhala, 2012.
ADDICTION charity Focus12 has received a huge financial boost after a codumentary about Russell Brand was shown last night.
The documentary Russell Brand: Addiction to Recovery resulted in an immediate boost in donations and inspired the managing director of Bury St Edmunds based Chevington Finance and Leasing to offer the charity £106,000 over three years.
Russell Brand attended Focus12, the Bury St Edmunds abstinence-based alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre, in 2003 and is now a patron of the charity, describing it as ‘a really excellent example of a small cost effective rehab that can help people change in dramatic ways’.
Chip Somers, Focus12’s chief executive, said: “Russell’s documentary and his work this year to raise the profile of abstinence based recovery has got people talking about addiction in a different way, and made them realise that there is a viable alternative to simply giving up on addicts, or parking them on methadone.
“We are blown away by the generosity of Chevington — this financial support will make a huge difference to us as a charity and will certainly mean we can continue to stay open and help those who need us for longer. Raising funds for a recovery charity has never been harder than it is at present, every day is literally a struggle to keep afloat and we are very grateful.”
Clive Morris, Managing Director of Chevington Finance and Leasing said: “My wife and I were incredibly touched by last night’s documentary, which inspired us to endorse the local treatment centre Focus12, and we have today agreed funding assistance for the charity of £106,000 over the next 4 years.
“We believe that as a successful, responsible and reliable company we have a duty to help local charities survive this recession and the work that Chip Somers and his team do is fantastic and we fully endorse their abstinence based programme and have seen what a difference it makes to people’s lives.”
Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap presents a groundbreaking developmental road map to guide readers away from their co-dependent behaviors and toward a life of wholeness and fulfillment.
Breaking Free of the Co-dependency Trap presents a groundbreaking developmental road map to guide readers away from their co-dependent behaviors and toward a life of wholeness and fulfillment.UK Citizens
This is the book that offers a different perspective on codependency and is strongly recommended by Dream Warrior Recovery as part of a solution based recovery. This bestselling book, now in a revised edition, radically challenges the prevailing medical definition of co-dependency as a permanent, progressive, and incurable addiction. Rather, the authors identify it as the result of developmental traumas that interfered with the infant-parent bonding relationship during the first year of life.US Citizens
Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Barry and Janae Weinhold correlate the developmental causes of co-dependency with relationship problems later in life, such as establishing and maintaining boundaries, clinging and dependent behaviors, people pleasing, and difficulty achieving success in the world. Then they focus on healing co-dependency, providing compelling case histories and practical activities to help readers heal early trauma and transform themselves and their primary relationships.
Brad Pitt is reportedly utilising his free time to plan his wedding with Angelina Jolie.
The 48-year-old has taken charge of preparations for the wedding that is expected to take place end of September. He has flown in a team of builders to renovate the home he shares with Jolie in southern France.
"Angelina isn`t so bothered about when they tie the knot, it`s Brad who is piling on the pressure," a website has quoted a source as saying.
"He wants the main house to be finished when the event takes place, even though the close friends and relatives who are invited aren`t the types to care. He wants everything to be absolutely perfect," the source added.
yellow jacket stun gun case for iphone
yellow jacket is a case that transforms the iPhone 4 & 4S into that 650,000-volt stun gun you've always needed.
scheduled to hit the US market in fall 2012 the case is advertised as being able to
easily stop an aggressive male attacker, and ready for use in less than two seconds.
its designer seth froom, a former military policeman came up with the product after
being robbed in his home at gunpoint.
what is the demand for such a hostile product you might ask? well, yellow jacket
has managed to receive over 100,000 USD worth of backing on the crowd-funding
website indiegogo which means that there must be quite a few people out there
who feel the need to transform their phone into a weapon.
detail of the stun gun nodes
the iPhone's designers could never have conceived half of the the weird and wonderful accessories
that have been designed for use with the iPhone since its launch, but even in the name of self defense
a stun gun seems a bit much, doesn't it?
Now You Can Buy a $250,000 Nail Polish
That title was previously held by Models Own, which produced a $130,000 bottle (featuring a 24-carat gold, diamond-encrusted lid) back in 2010. However, the self-professed “king of black diamonds,” Azature, has doubled that figure. A bottle of black nail polish containing a whopping 267 carats of black diamonds in the actual polish will go for $250,000. Yikes. You won’t be able to just walk into Duane Reade and buy this sucker, however–only one bottle of the stuff will be produced.
For those of us who can’t afford a quarter of a million dollars for a manicure, Azature is offering a $25 version (see, now doesn’t $25 nail polish sound downright cheap in comparison?) containing one measly black diamond. You’ll be able to pick it up in LA at Fred Segal starting this month.
Estepona Town Hall sacks 176 municipal workers
The news was given on Wednesday by the Councillor for Personnel, Pilar Fernández-Figares Estepona Town Hall has sacked 176 municipal workers. The PP Councillor for Personnel, Pilar Fernández-Figares, announced on Wednesday that the 176 workers are victims of the ERE Employment Regulation which the Town Hall put forward in June. The workers will be compensated with 2.5 million € and they will be given their ‘finiquito payments of 408,000 € between them. Pilar Fernández-Figares said one they were sacked the Town Hall will start to work on a new ‘training program for the reinsertion of the sacked workers’.
BMW to sell luxury cars for less online
The BMW i3 concept car at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January. (John T. Greilick / Detroit News)
BMW will sell cars over the Web for the first time as the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles seeks an inexpensive way to reach more buyers to recoup spending on its electric models.
A direct online sales platform for BMW's new I sub-brand will be unique in an industry where, outside of small-scale experiments, competitors leave Internet orders for cars to dealers. BMW's range of strategies for the models, including a roaming sales force backing a limited showroom network, reflects the challenge carmakers face as low-emission vehicles trickle into dealerships to sluggish demand after years of development.
"There is considerable risk in BMW's approach of promoting the I brand so prominently," said Stefan Bratzel, director of the Center of Automotive Management at the University of Applied Science in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. "There is the image risk, if they don't succeed as quickly as expected, and then there's the main risk of costs, which can only be countered with high deliveries."
BMW opened the I models' first showroom Tuesday in London, although only prototype cars and informational materials will be displayed at first because the vehicles themselves won't go on sale before next year. BMW is spending about $3 billion developing the i3 battery-powered city car and i8 plug-in hybrid supercar, according to an estimate by Frost & Sullivan. Industry sales of electric cars last year, at 43,000 vehicles, were only 57 percent of the 75,000 deliveries predicted by Sarwant Singh, a London-based automotive partner at the consulting company.
Starting prices posted
The four-seat i3, scheduled to reach the market in late 2013, will be priced at about 40,000 euros ($48,500), Bratzel estimated. That compares with a 23,850-euro starting price ($29,388) in Germany for the 1-Series, the cheapest BMW-brand car. The i8, targeted for sale in 2014, will cost more than 100,000 euros ($123,221), according to Ian Robertson, BMW's sales chief.
Details of how I-model buyers, the website and dealerships will interact are "still in the planning process" and will be communicated later, Linda Croissant, a spokeswoman at Munich- based BMW, said last week. Sales will be focused on the world's major urban areas, she said.
The online sales option is aimed at a generation of drivers used to making daily purchases over the Internet, and will be an extension of the car configuration that most automakers offer customers to view models with desired options such as interior colors, seat materials and roof styles.
Test drives not an option
The Internet platform may take a while to catch on because "many customers will still want to go somewhere to look at and drive the vehicle before buying," said Ian Fletcher, an auto analyst in London at research company IHS Global Insight.
"With new technologies, there may be even greater skepticism about buying a car over the Internet, as in many cases you'll have to win the confidence of customers that it works and there is support for them," Fletcher said in an email.
The setup may help BMW reduce expenses: Internet sales require less than half the cost of distributing through a dealership, according to Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the Center Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. That allows online car prices to be 5 percent to 7 percent less than showroom tags.
Still, BMW sees standard dealerships as "the backbone of what we are doing in the interface with the customer" for the I models, Robertson said in June at a press presentation at the sub-brand's Park Lane showroom in London.
Dealer selection criteria
Outlets will be restricted to dealers with high BMW-brand sales volume who have floor space as well as capacity to work with I models' powering technology and carbon-fiber body material, Robertson said. The carmaker has chosen 45 of its approximately 200 dealers in Germany to sell the i3 and i8, a ratio that will probably be similar elsewhere, he said.
Dealers will be designated as agents for the I models, which provides an "advantage" by keeping the vehicles on the carmaker's books, the association of BMW distributors in Germany said in an email.
Electric vehicles' disadvantages versus conventional cars include costly battery packs, limited ranges and the time needed to recharge. Consumer reception to models like the Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf and General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt has been tepid.
"Currently available electric cars have a limited market success because they are a big compromise," said Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst at Credit Suisse AG. "Customers are not willing to compromise and spend a lot of money."
Carbon fiber bodies lighter
BMW Chief Executive Officer Norbert Reithofer started Project I at the end of 2007 as tighter emissions regulations threatened the viability of sporty sedans. BMW chose to create all-new vehicles that use expensive carbon fiber for a lighter body to make up for the weight of the battery system.
The approach contrasts with a decision by Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars division to convert existing models, such as the van-like B-Class or two-seat Smart, to electric power.
To make its electric vehicles more attractive, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler's Smart brand offers to lease the battery separately from the car. The automaker has a target of selling more than 10,000 of the models next year, with a starting price of 18,910 euros plus monthly battery rental at 65 euros.
The I models' new technology poses risks for BMW, "but they have no choice if they want to keep their premium and image as an innovation leader," Ellinghorst said.
The i3 and i8 will probably be among BMW's lowest-selling models through 2024, alongside the existing Z4 roadster, according to IHS estimates. In 2014, the first full year of production, BMW will probably deliver 31,380 i3s, compared with 564,760 of the best-selling 3-Series model and 18,101 Z4s, a study by the research company shows.
BMW's stance is that the models should produce earnings from the start, sales chief Robertson said.
"We clearly, as a company, go into any product launch with the view of making profit, which is no different with the I brand," Robertson said. "This is a car line just as every other car line, and we intend to make profit from Day 1."
Mobile operator O2 hit by nationwide network failure that left users unable to make calls or text
The O2 mobile phone network crashed tonight leaving thousands of customers across the country cut off. Users were left stranded, unable to make or receive calls or send texts, as the firm - which has 23 million customers in the UK - said it did not know when the problem would be fixed. Some customers also had no internet access. O2, Britain's second-largest mobile phone operator, admitted it was unclear exactly how many people had been affected. It said ‘thousands’ may be experiencing problems. The problems began this afternoon for some mobile users, the network said. O2 are urging customers to check their Twitter and Facebook feeds for updates - but the company’s webpage which displays live information about network coverage crashed. A spokeswoman said the problem was not 'location-specific'. ‘The problem is an issue within part of our core network that is preventing some mobile phones from successfully connecting,' she said. ‘The problem is not location-specific. All possible resources across our and our suppliers’ engineering teams are being deployed to restore service as soon as possible.’ Thousands of angry customers took to Twitter to complain. BBC television presenter Huw Edwards (@huwbbc), tweeted: ‘6 hours of non-service and counting, simply not good enough, O2.’ One Twitter user, Kelly Jones (@kelly-92), tweeted: ‘Having a phone that hardly works usually is annoying, but this whole no signal on o2 all afternoon is beyond irritating.’
belgian photographer kurt stallaert has conceived a series of hyper-realistic images entitled 'bodybuilder's world'. the personal project
bodybuilders' world surreal photographs
'bodybuilder's world' by kurt stallaert
belgian photographer kurt stallaert has conceived a series of hyper-realistic images entitled 'bodybuilder's world'. the personal project
suggests an imaginary world with a literal 'powerful twist'. at first glance the subjects look ordinary in their daily surroundings,
but on closer inspection they have been augmented to look like avid members of the professional fitness sport. the faces of the individuals,
often those of children, are attached to the superhuman trunk of a bodybuilder generating a peculiar sense of curiosity, particularly
within the everyday life setting.
the faces of children are attached to those of bodybuilders
the subjects are often within an everyday life setting
I believe white to be the most inherently beautiful color as it carries with it the potential to simultaneously expose and negate space.
Kate Beck is a Maine-based artist whose primary palette includes black, white, and grey. Her Form Surface series, which are line paintings and drawings that are created by using things like graphite and poured oil and enamel on aluminum, paper, and linen, are studies in tonal gradation. The minimal works are impressive to say the least.
Beck’s Manifesto:
I believe white to be the most inherently beautiful color as it carries with it the potential to simultaneously expose and negate space.
I believe black to be the most innately powerful color as it is defined by the presence of light as well as by the absence of light.
Fashion was very slow to adapt to our new hyper-connected reality
6 hot digital trends transforming the fashion industry
30TH JUNE 2012 by AMALIA AGATHOU
Fashion was very slow to adapt to our new hyper-connected reality, but has in a very short time managed not only to catch up but also innovate in the ways tech can be used to give an time-tested but fast-paced industry a lift. In the words of Heidi Klum, in fashion, much like in tech, “One day you are in and the next you are out”, so lets take a look at some of the hottest trends right now:
1. The reinvention of runway shows
Fashion shows were always at the heart of fashion and part of why fashion was so reluctant to give in to social media, as the high level of competitiveness between designers and maybe a touch of diva attitude demanded top secrecy surrounding the shows.
Backstage: Now designers welcome the “intrusion” backstage and are the first to tweet out first looks. Oscar de la Renta crowdsourced runway coverage for his Spring 2012 collection live on his Tumblr and live-pinned his Bridal show on Pinterest. Burberry, a brand that has become the leading example when it comes to digital and fashion, hired photographer Mike Kus to present its Instagram followers with a real-time photo feed during its September London runway shows, while it tweeted animated GIFs of backstage scenes and first looks.
Front row: The front row has also transformed: among the editors and celebs, bloggers have secured their seats and now “common” influencers from the land of Social Media, like the winner of the Rebecca Minkoff Runway Design Challenge on Polyvore, start reserving their seats as well. We’ve seen influence on social media become the golden ticket into exclusive fashion events, and a FNO party in Floridaby Bal Harbour Shops, where the doors opened only for people with a Klout score above 40.
The show: The direction of shows has also changed and adopted a more cinematic approach. In the latest season of Tyra Banks’ America’s Next Top Model runway show, the two finalists took part in a fantasmagoric show for Forever 21 where the models interacted with projections. Always ahead of his time, back in 2006 Alexander McQueen used a hologram version of Kate Moss that modeled a dramatic organza gown, seemingly appearing out of the air inside an empty glass pyramid. Last year Burberry revisited this trend and used a mix of real models and holograms to present its collections on the occasion of its Beijing store opening. German designer Stefan Eckert has collaborated with motion graphics designer Tim Joeckel for his latest fashion show to present his clothes exclusively on a virtual model in the world’s first 3D hologram fashion show.
Almost all of the shows nowadays are broadcast live, often in 3D ( Burberry, Hugo Boss, Castelbajac) but how long before you have holograms modeling the latest collections right in your living room or in selected locations all over the globe? This way the runway show will become more open but also a more intimate experiences where consumers can revisit a look, watch it walk down the runway again, and examine it in detail with a 360-view.
Shop straight from the runway: Opening up the runway shows to the public has affected the system of buying, as well as the cycle of production. Burberry allowed attendees of the London Fashion Week runway show special events streaming at global Burberry boutiques in spring/summer 2011 to order items right off the runway through an iPad application and get them much earlier before the same items are scheduled to arrive in the shops.
Pre-ordering from the catwalk, as well as analysing the looks that got the most positive buzz online, is an excellent way for both designers and buyers to get a sense of which might be the strongest looks from the show. In this way tech is helping fashion revitalize a very old trend – trunk shows and private views for VICs ( Very Important Customers) – on a much greater scale. Moda Operandi (which stocks many high-end designers like Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs) offers online trunk shows, as well as from-the-catwalk ordering.
Members-only e-commerce subscription site StyleMint.com recently hosted a live shopping event on its Facebook page that enabled shoppers to purchase apparel at discounted prices, while also interacting with the brand. By adding social elements (styling tips customized to your shopping profile) and virtual shopping assistance, brands could take personalised couture to a new level.
2. Crowdsourcing and curation
There’s been a lot of talk – and action – around crowdsourcing and curation. Brands have used crowdsourcing to generate buzz on social media but also to spark an emotional connection with their customers and curation to leverage influencers’ networks and create shopping experiences that merge editorial content with retail.
Crowdsourcing: Threadless was one of the first e-tailers to let the crowd in on their creative process by letting them vote on their favourite t-shirt designs to go into production. Many fashion brands have tapped into the power of creative platforms, like Polyvore, which leverages its active community for crowdsourcing contests. Moxsie was of the first brands that put customers in the role of the buyer, with its regular scheduled Buyer Chats on Twitter and Modcloth did the same on Facebook, taking things a step further by producing a whole collection based on user-generated designs.
Producing crowdsourced products helps brands generate buzz online, build a deeper connection with their customers and gain valuable insights on consumers’ preferences. On the other hand, consumers may know what they want today but they don’t always know what they want tomorrow and for this reason brands use crowdsourcing in a smaller scale so that they can handle short cycle production.
Curated commerce: A growing number of fashion sites at the affordable end of the market work with influential bloggers, stylists and celebrities to sell products via e-shops with an editorial feel. London-based Stylistpick, offers consumers a “personalized showroom” full of products selected by well-known stylists. #MyMix for eBay in the UK and Germany is curated by The eBay Style Collective a group of fashion bloggers, stylists and eBay fanatics. Yoox often features a section with picks by celebs like the most recent Orlando Bloom: His choice for her. ASOS finder is curated by its own community.
Sites that used mechanism for personalized curation, like Google’s Boutiques.com, haven’t caught on so far, partly because in order for a successful recommendation system to work effectively it needs significant volumes of user data, and shopping preferences in fashion change extremely quickly. Maybe a hybrid shopping site that uses recommendation engines along with shopping assistance by professional stylists is the next step.
3. Mixing online and offline
Consumers expect to have the same personal experience when they shop online as with brick and mortar stores and they expect the same convenience and speed in-store at the same levels as they enjoy online. According to research, customers value technology that makes shopping easier, with 63% of the respondents interested in using services like handheld scanners and 45% in-store kiosks.
Interactive dressing rooms and mirrors: Dressing rooms enhanced with augmented reality and social media features could transform the shopping experience altogether. Shoppers this way could easily try on different looks and get feedback from friends in real time.
Fitting Reality, which pitched only a few days ago at Bizspark Europe, builds virtual fitting rooms with Microsoft Kinect technology. Irish start-up Von Bismark, uses the Kinect camera and Intel’s AIM Suite facial recognition software to turn a digital display into an interactive mirror, where users can touch and move around physical goods. Major cosmetics brands, like L’Oreal, Maybelline and Shiseido have already started testing special kiosks (mostly in the Asian market) that enable shoppers to virtually try on makeup by simply taking a picture. The “mirror” takes into consideration skin tone, facial features and product colour to make recommendations and allows the consumer to share a virtual makeover image with friends online.
In-store use of iPads & Mobile: Mobile devices used by sales associates are also perfect for data collection in addition to providing instant access to product data. Of course, something like this would presuppose the constant education of sales people in these tools.
Tory Burch is using mobile in-store enabling sales associates to log onto the site with personalized log-ins on their iPads, so all activity can be linked to that employee and store.
In China, Burberry stores, with interactive touch screens the size of mirrors and sales staff armed with iPads, let customers mix, match and customize beyond the inventory available onsite. At Guess, iPads in-store enable shoppers and store associates to browse various styles via the LookBook functionality, select products for immediate purchase and order online. At selected Nordstrom locations, sales associates on hand with pre-loaded iPads can help customers order made-to-measure suits. Associates take and record measurements, and collaborate with customers on cut, fabric and design details.
Interactive store windows: Store windows could not only become impressive shows, but also go beyond gimmicks and become a personalized “front page” of the store. Immersive Labs, which has focused so far on advertising and Kinect, could easily apply its tech to store windows and apart from extending a personal invite to the customer to walk in a store, provide the brand with valuable insight on customer’s response to its window and the products showcased.
We’ve seen the tech applied to art installations like in the case of Nordstrom in downtown Seattle, where passers-by could draw with light on the back wall, andRepetto that with motion tracking enabled people to interact with its store window in Paris and zap through several ballet videos made by Marcel. Luxury diamond brandDe Beers brought its window displays to life at its London Old Bond Street and New York Fifth Avenue flagship stores by projecting a specially created 3D film byHolition on customized Alioscopy screens that don’t require 3D glasses.
A more practical application is Adidas Virtual Footwear Wall, which allows shoppers to explore shoe collections in 3D, examine details in close-up and see the designs from different angles. The wall also provides relevant content with each shoe in form of text or video.
Interacting with products: A customer can easily interact with products online, share them on social media to get feedback from friends, research for styling tips, save them on their wish list to buy later, etc. What happens in-store? I remember back in the days fashion bloggers would often get into arguments with sales persons for their “no photos in-store” policy, well safe to say this is water under the bridge today. By simply providing WiFi, QR codes or AR technology, brands can enable shoppers to interact with clothes as much as online, if not more.
In Brazil, retailer C&A has launched FashionLike, which works like this: whenever sometime ‘Likes’ a clothing item online at C&A Brasil‘s site, it is tallied on a screen embedded on clothes hangers in store. Macy’s Backstage Pass provides customers with celebrity tips via QR codes on tags.
4. Shop from anywhere
The Internet, well at least since the dial-up era, has made us all the more impatient, especially when it comes to immediate access to information. Customers see something they like and they want to get it right away. A few clicks later they may have already picked something else equally shiny and easy to access. I bet you’ve heard a lot fashionistas wishing for a ‘Shazam for fashion’, and although this is not a reality (…yet!) brands have made efforts to make their clothes easily ‘shoppable’ wherever you see them online. From fashion magazines online and offline, to ads, like Burberry’s latest interactive campaign for its autumn-winter collection, to social sites like Polyvore, Fancy, Pinterest, Pinshoppr , Lyst and Svvply
5. Tablets and mobile
Mobile seems to work best for shopping with intent, while tablets seem better suited for more relaxed shopping. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen in Q1 2012, the vast majority (79%) of US smartphone and tablet owners have used their mobile devices for shopping-related activities. Smartphones are used more often than tablets for activities on-the-go: “Locating a store” (73% vs. 42% for tablets ), “using a shopping list while shopping” (42% vs. 16% for tablets) or “redeeming a mobile coupon” (36% vs. 11% for tablet owners).
However, tablet owners are much more likely to use their device for online shopping: 42 percent of tablet owners have “used their device to purchase an item,” compared to just 29 percent of smartphone owners. eBay reached a record $5 billion in mobile purchases (from smartphones and tablets) in 2011 and predicts this number will climb to $8 billion by the end of this year. For Guess, mobile makes up 15% of online revenue. At flash site Rue La La, m-commerce is 18% of businessduring the week and 30% on weekends.
Seeing high conversion rates from mobile, brands are happy to invest further, offering mobile-exclusive offers to consumers, merging mobile shopping with the in-store experience, broadening mobile and tablet capabilities beyond Apple products, shoppable mobile ads ( ex. Kate Spade, Victoria’s Secret ) and adding social elements to mobile shopping.
Who does it best? Sephora is at the top spot in L2’s first Prestige 100: Mobile IQ Index having a mobile site that is m-commerce compatible, an iPhone app that integrates with an in-store retail experience and a highly engaging iPad app that allows consumers to follow how-to videos that teach them how to apply various products. Nordstrom, Macy’s, Net-a-porter and Bloomingdale’s took the remaining four of the top five spots.
6. Video
In numbers recently released by comScore, Internet users watched nearly 37 billion online videos in the month of April, in the US alone and watched 9.5 billion video ads. Though the fashion industry has so far invested mostly in the production of expensive artistic films and cheaper “behind-the-scenes” footage, it hasn’t managed to cash in this trend yet. Fashion films being produced, although looking good visually, haven’t managed to connect with the viewers via storytelling. If you check out the YouTube channels of most top fashion brands you will see most films earn much less than 100,000 views.
Social Video Networks: Brands are starting their invasion of Instagram-like video apps like SocialCam and Viddy. DVF is using Viddy to show backstage clips from fashion events and share personal videos starring Diane herself and her everyday work life.
Shoppable Videos: Montreal-based designer ecommerce site Ssense collaborated with Australian female rapper Iggy Azalea to create a shoppable music video. Popdust, a music news site, created a video featuring Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan, the excessively chirpy pop duo known as Karmin, trying on a variety of clothes that can be shopped right from the site with Karmin getting a cut of the sales. This could inspire not only shoppable music videos but also how-to videos with styling tips offering instant shopping access.
Interactive TV: One in four (25%) people will regularly use interactive TV to shop by the end of 2014, according to new research by eBay UK. The study comes soon after WorldPay‘s Global Online Shopper Report, 21% of global shoppers already own a next generation interactive TV, and 24% of those who own connected TVs have already bought goods and services using them.
The huge success of Fashion Star on NBC showed the huge potential of shopping through TV. On the fashion reality show, contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and have them purchased by a buyer from one of three stores: Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, and H&M. The designs presented and bought by the stores would go on sale right after each show online and in stores. The show not only generated global buzz and is set to be broadcast in more than 75 countries, it has also set record sales for the stores involved, with the winning looksselling out in only a few hours.
The fashion industry has the money and creative talent to not only keep up with the tech industry but also push it and offer a vision for new ways to encompass tech in our day-to-day lives.
This post was inspired by my talk during the latest Bitspiration conference in Poland, you can find the slides on this topic below:
Please shed whatever lowly vestments you're currently using to hide your disgusting body, and slip into one of these pre-shrunk cotton miracles.
1. Biker Stryker
2. DJ Peace
3. DJ Caesar
4. Boxer Rocky
5. Hunter Buck
6. Biker JD
7. Combat Sam
8. Combat Stryker
9. DJ Jahman
10. Graffiti Saber
11. Navy SEAL
12. Smokin Jahman
13. DJ Sarge
14. Rocker Cooper
15. Duck Hunter
16. Big Cock Head
17. Guard Panzer
18. Nas T-Rex
19. Punky!
20. Backpack Kitty
21. Come & Get It
22. Rastafurrian Kitten
23. T-Rex Tearing
24. Golden Feather
25. My personal favorite (SOLD OUT!!!)
