Parques Temáticos Ride / Disney.
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Os seis parques temáticos pertencentes e operados pela The Walt Disney Company sob a subsidiária Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, também conhecidos simplesmente como Disney Parks. Suas atrações mais conhecidas incluem passeios e shows de última geração baseados nos filmes da Disney, bem como desfiles espetaculares, fogos de artifício e outras apresentações ao vivo. Você quer ter certeza de que todos saibam que você está indo para lá.
Walt Disney teve a ideia de seu parque original quando levou seus filhos a um parque e notou que os pais estavam pendurados para o lado enquanto as crianças brincavam. Ele decidiu construir um lugar onde toda a família pudesse se divertir e se divertir. Embora a ideia tenha sido recebida com algum cepticismo, a execução teve um sucesso estrondoso e permanece assim até hoje.
Disneyland Resort: O Disneyland Park original foi inaugurado em 17 de julho de 1955 apenas por convite e, no dia seguinte, para o público em geral. Localizado em Anaheim, Califórnia, é o único parque que Walt viu construído em sua vida. Serve como modelo para a maioria dos parques em todo o mundo, embora os fãs elogiem o fato de que a Disneylândia é o único parque que teve o toque pessoal de Walt. Seu parque de companhia, Disney California Adventure, foi inaugurado em 2001. Entre e adjacente aos dois parques fica o distrito comercial / de restaurantes conhecido como "Downtown Disney". Não há tantos resorts ao redor deste site porque a Disney não tinha muito dinheiro quando o parque foi construído, e quando a empresa se tornou a Mega Corp, eles são hoje, os valores de propriedade da cidade passaram pelo telhado por causa de o turismo que a Disneylândia trouxe (Walt não ficou feliz com essa ironia). Walt Disney World Resort: O maior e mais popular dos resorts inaugurado em 1971, localizado nas cidades de Bay Lake e Lake Buena Vista, próximo a Orlando, Flórida. Inclui quatro parques: Magic Kingdom (baseado principalmente na Disneylândia original), Epcot (dedicado à ciência, tecnologia e culturas do mundo; inaugurado em 1982 como EPCOT Center), Disney's Hollywood Studios (anteriormente Disney-MGM Studios [com um terceiro nome a ser anunciado no futuro] e com foco em atrações relacionadas a cinema / cinema, 1989) e Disney's Animal Kingdom (combinação de parque temático e parque de vida selvagem, 1998), bem como dois (anteriormente três notas O original River Country aberto em 1976, mas acabou se tornando muito desatualizado em comparação com seus parques irmãos e fechado permanentemente em 2001) parques aquáticos: Typhoon Lagoon (1989) e Blizzard Beach (1995). Os fãs debatem constantemente qual dos quatro parques é o melhor, se eles eram melhores nos velhos tempos, e assim por diante. Disney World também inclui muitos hotéis, um complexo esportivo para todos os fins, campos de golfe e algumas lojas / restaurantes / complexos de entretenimento como o Disney Springs (antigo Downtown Disney, entre outros nomes do passado).
Além dos principais resorts do parque temático, a Disney também administra vários empreendimentos adicionais de férias e lazer que espalham sua influência para praticamente todos os cantos do mundo e dão aos hóspedes acesso a mais opções de férias fora dos parques, mantendo a "sensação Disney": Adventures by Disney: Executa férias guiadas para vários destinos nos EUA e em todo o mundo, desde o Yellowstone Park até a Riviera Francesa, cada uma coordenada pela Disney "Adventure Guides", que serve como guias turísticos pessoais e concierges, oferecendo aos hóspedes a oportunidade de veja as maravilhas do mundo enquanto ainda mantém a hospitalidade da marca registrada da Disney. Disney Cruise Line: Bem, é uma linha de cruzeiro ... da Disney. Atualmente tem uma frota de quatro navios: Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream e o mais novo, Disney Fantasy, que entrou em serviço em 2012. Originalmente baseado em Port Canaveral, FL, os navios agora navegam de vários portos nos EUA para cruzeiros para Caribe, Europa, México e Alasca. Todos os cruzeiros pelo Caribe oferecem uma parada em Castaway Cay, a ilha particular da Disney nas Bahamas. Disney Vacation Club: A Disney assume a propriedade de timeshare, e como você pode ouvir sobre isso enquanto estiver hospedado no WDW, The Best Kept Disney Secret. Os membros compram em uma parte de um resort de DVC e recebem uma parcela anual de pontos com base no tamanho de seu investimento. Estes pontos podem ser colocados para uma viagem, bem como bancados ano a ano ou emprestados contra o próximo ano, dependendo do tipo de viagem desejada. Para a maioria das pessoas, o investimento inicial se paga depois de alguns anos. Os resorts apresentam comodidades acima e além das dos resorts Deluxe, incluindo quartos estilo Villa com cozinhas completas. Os membros têm acesso prioritário ao seu resort "doméstico" no momento da reserva, mas também podem usar seus pontos para ficar em qualquer resort que escolherem. A Disney também possui três resorts off-site em Hilton Head, SC, Vero Beach, Flórida, e Aulani no Havaí, e contrata centenas de hotéis em todo o mundo que os membros podem visitar como parte do DVC.
Os parques são um poço rico de Afetuosa (ou não) Parody Fuel, muitas vezes na forma de Souvenir Land. Algumas das atrações mais populares foram até mesmo adaptadas para filmes, com Piratas do Caribe sendo o mais bem sucedido deles, mas também incluindo Torre do Terror, A Mansão Assombrada, Os Ursos do Campo e Tomorrowland. Há também Escape from Tomorrow, um filme de terror indie em preto-e-branco filmado em estilo de guerrilha na Disneylândia e na Disney World sem a permissão da empresa, e Some Jerk with a Camera, um programa de resenhas gravado nos parques.
Veja também The Kingdom Keepers, uma série de livros de Ridley Pearson, que acontecem no Walt Disney World; Disney Kingdoms, uma marca da Marvel Comics focada em histórias baseadas nas atrações; Down and Out no Magic Kingdom, um romance de ficção científica ambientado no Disney World do século 22, e o Wasteland do Epic Mickey é baseado nos parques do "Magic Kingdom".
Vários outros videogames são baseados nos parques, incluindo quatro que nunca saíram do Japão. Além disso, dois DVDs da linha Walt Disney Treasures foram dedicados aos parques: "Disneyland, EUA" e "Disneyland: Secrets, Stories, and Magic".
Os Parques Temáticos são o Trope Namer para:
Os tropos usados nos parques incluem:
Arco Abortado: Os acenos a dragões e unicórnios no Animal Kingdom estavam insinuando para uma terra que eles acabaram nunca construindo, Beastly Kingdom, focando em criaturas de fantasia. Camp Minnie-Mickey originalmente incluiu sobras da terra desmantelada, incluindo uma rocha em forma de dragão e uma ponte que se parece com a entrada de um castelo. O parque originalmente oferecia passeios de barco que passavam pela toca de um dragão invisível, mas esses recursos foram fechados no primeiro ano. Além disso, para a confusão de muitos convidados, o logo do parque inclui um grande dragão. O conceito de incluir criaturas mitológicas no parque foi eventualmente capturado pelo Yeti da Expedition Everest, e totalmente realizado com Pandora - The World of Avatar. Alguns dos Imagineers por trás do Beastly Kingdom foram trabalhar na Island of Adventure da Universal Studios, e muitas das atrações na área de mitologia daquele parque, especialmente a montanha russa Dueling Dragons, foram derivadas do projeto da Disney. (Muita desta área seria incorporada no Mundo Mágico de Harry Potter depois; Dueling Dragons foi reteminado e renomeado como Dragon Challenge.) No super-secreto restaurante Club 33, várias cabeças animatrônicas de animais abandonadas estão penduradas na parede. Walt planejara falar através deles com seus convidados. A ideia foi abandonada porque foi considerada tola demais para um restaurante de alta classe e por causa de preocupações com a privacidade. A ideia surgiu no agora desativado Adventurers 'Club na Disney World Pleasure Island. O prédio gigante e sem uso do pavilhão japonês do Epcot foi originalmente construído para abrigar uma versão americana do Meet the World, uma atração charter da Disneylândia de Tóquio (à medida que o desenvolvimento e a construção dos parques se sobrepunham). Mas este programa de Audio-Animatronic / filme recontando a história japonesa encobriu o papel do país na Segunda Guerra Mundial, e os executivos da Disney perceberam que ele poderia ofender os veteranos americanos, então foi descartado. O massivo refazer de 1,1 bilhão de aventuras da Califórnia, realizado de 2007 a 2012, pretendia transformar o parque na Califórnia de Walt Disney, com cada terra representando uma década diferente de sua vida no estado. Ao longo dos cinco anos de construção, esse plano começou a escorregar e, após a conclusão do projeto, o único remanescente foi a transformação do centro na rua Buena Vista, na Califórnia, como era quando a Disney chegou na década de 1920. Ace Pilot: exemplos da vida real são mostrados na fila para Soarin 'Around the World, que apresenta uma área de pré-show em homenagem a muitos pilotos e aviões famosos que fizeram um impacto inovador na história da aviação. Entre os ícones mostrados estão Amelia Earhart, Chuck Yeager, Howard Hughes e James Herman Banning. Discurso da figura de ação: os performers do personagem. Embora mais recentemente, trajes com bocas funcionais (e olhos piscando) começaram a ser introduzidos para os casos em que eles precisam falar, como o Mickey que aparece na abertura do Magic Kingdom e o Timon que emite O Festival do Rei Leão . Destilação de Adaptação: A filosofia por trás do design da versão "dark ride" de um filme de animação é que, em vez de refazer o enredo do filme, você deve tentar recriar o impacto visual / emocional dominante do filme usando um punhado de cenas importantes. lugar em ambientes imersivos. Assim, por exemplo, a maior parte da viagem de Peter Pan consiste em duas salas ocupadas por modelos de Londres e Neverland cercadas por estrelas de fibra ótica, sobre as quais os passageiros "voam" em veículos suspensos de uma pista suspensa. O enredo real do filme é comprimido em algumas breves cenas no final do passeio. Adjective Animal Alehouse: Um sinal para "The Green Dragon" pode ser visto no filme Wild Toad's da Disneyland. Tudo no Manual: Muitos backstories de atração contam com itens promocionais e livros sobre os parques para entender e / ou familiaridade com seu material de origem no caso de brinquedos adaptados de filmes, programas de TV, etc. A Disney tem um site para Explique diferentes localidades no New Fantasyland da Walt Disney World, bem como uma explicação fictícia sobre por que os visitantes tiveram que esperar 41 anos após a inauguração do Disney World antes de ir para esses lugares. (Depois que os fãs de contos de fadas superaram as histórias, os vilões aproveitaram a oportunidade para roubar itens significativos, ativando uma maldição que escondia New Fantasyland do mundo real.) Ao tentar experimentar atrações através de vídeo on-line, encontrar versões com as pré-aberturas é uma parte importante de obter contexto para as histórias de atração, especialmente para projetos criados desde a década de 1990. Na verdade, há uma história de fundo do desfile noturno Spectromagic, principalmente para o Mickey e o SpectroMen.
Além disso, os quatro SpectroMen nas bolas whirly são chamados de Hyper-Chic, Lo-Ball, Rapper e Opera. American Kirby é Hardcore: Este tropo pode ser sentido nos comerciais de TV da Splash Mountain quando foi inaugurado pela primeira vez. Eles tocam "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" ao fundo e, claro, apresentam a enorme queda climática, mas é aí que as semelhanças terminam. O comercial para o passeio na Disneylândia (inaugurado em 1989) tem uma sensação muito pressentente e apresenta um locutor (que soa muito parecido com Don LaFontaine), que diz ameaçadoramente que "a única saída é um longo caminho. Abaixo!" Por outro lado, o comercial para o mesmo passeio na Tokyo Disneyland (inaugurado em 1992) tem um tom muito mais alegre. O locutor (falando em japonês, claro) também parece animado. Ensopado do Anacronismo: Na Main Street da Disneyland EUA: Vários personagens, como Alice e Mad Hatter, podem passear pela terra apesar de não serem daquele período ou local. O Main Street Theatre exibe desenhos de Mickey Mouse que não seriam liberados por vinte a trinta anos após o início da década de 1900. A Jolly Holiday Bakery, baseada no filme Mary Poppins, está na terra uma década antes do filme acontecer. O loop de música de fundo de 2012 da Main Street inclui "Married Life" de Up, um filme que começa na década de 1930. Ele é organizado em um estilo de virada do século para combinar com outras músicas no loop, no entanto. O passeio do DINOSSAURO, apesar de ser definido no período do Cretáceo Superior, mistura-se em vários dinossauros de diferentes épocas, incluindo os que remontam à era do Jurássico Superior. Um pequeno exemplo, mas a cena final de Carousel of Progress, ambientada nos anos 90, acidentalmente se tornou isso quando a TV quebrou, e como as TVs de tubo analógicas não são mais fabricadas, elas a substituíram por uma tela plana de quase 2000s. E agora para algo totalmente diferente: Os países do World Showcase no Epcot incluem o México, o Japão, a Itália e a Noruega. e Arendelle. É meio que integrado com a Noruega, mas ainda assim. Headband Animal-orelhudo: A contraparte de Minnie ao clássico chapéu de Mickey. Personificação Antropomórfica: Os bonecos de lembrança "Atrativos" são amigos que desejam incorporar seus brinquedos favoritos. Eles são: Carrie (Carrossel da Terra da Fantasia) Pérola (Piratas do Maddie das Caraíbas (Festa do Chá Louco) Gracey (Mansão Mal-Assombrada) Nellie (Cruzeiro na Selva) Celeste (Montanha Espacial) Holly (Torre da Zona do Crepúsculo do Terror) Briar (Splash Mountain) Mudança antropomórfica: alguns conhecem e cumprimentam personagens como Plutão e Marie, Toulouse e Berlioz agora podem andar sobre duas pernas Log apocalíptico: Uma das transmissões de rádio na fila para Jungle Cruise tem um capitão avisando os estivadores sobre os nativos atacando barcos, entrando e saindo antes de serem perdidos em estática. "Arabian Nights" Dias: Costa da Arábia na DisneySea. Soldadura por arco: Desde os anos 90, tem sido comum as atracções que partilham uma terra serem entrelaçadas num enredo maior para essa área. Nos últimos anos, porém, os Imagineers ficaram mais ambiciosos, levando o enredo da Society of Explorers e Adventurers no Tokyo DisneySea e começando a amarrá-lo em quase todas as atrações originais com aventura de celulose e sobrenatural. temas urais. Além das principais bases residenciais da SEA na Torre do Terror de Tóquio, Mystic Manor de Hong Kong e Miss Adventure Falls de Orlando, a organização tem ligações com The Jungle Cruise, The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain e até mesmo a franquia Indiana Jones. O Artefato: O tema científico atual do pavilhão de imaginação no Epcot é um artefato de seu antigo filme Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. O Magic Eye Theatre percorreu tantos shows que até seu nome é remanescente de seu filme charter original, Magic Journeys. A razão pela qual o estacionamento do Epcot é tão grande é porque ele pretendia ser a localização de um segundo maior Centro de Transporte e Ingresso. Nos planos, o circuito de monotrilho do Epcot-to-Magic-Kingdom teria outros dois loops - um que serviria os hotéis do Epcot, e outro que levaria os hóspedes ao shopping center Walt Disney World Village (agora Downtown). Disney). Se você já viu o Electric Parade, a maioria das pessoas ao seu redor provavelmente estava murmurando "Quem é esse?" quando o flutuador Petes Dragon chegou. O dragão de Pete flutua, que é imediatamente seguido por um carro alegórico do Bicentenário dos Estados Unidos! O Concurso de Água Elétrica também apresenta um final com tema do Bicentenário. As criaturas míticas acima mencionadas na iconografia do Reino Animal. Enormes pedaços da área de Hollywood da Disney se tornaram assim uma vez que parou de funcionar como um estúdio de cinema / animação, e o Studio Tour (reduzido a uma fração de seu antigo eu) finalmente foi fechado em 2014. Eles estão prontos para se tornarem lares de expansões em torno de Toy Story e Star Wars. Quando o Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland fechou nos anos 70 para a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, grande parte do rock não afetado pela nova atração foi deixada para trás. Cascade Falls foi demolida nos anos 90 devido a danos causados pela água, mas grande parte da rocha do Living Desert tornou-se um cenário para o zoológico e o barbeque do Big Thunder Ranch. Parte disso seria arrancada para a expansão de Star Wars, mas outros pedaços aparentemente estão planejados para serem retidos. Artefato de Doom: O ídolo de Shiriki Utundu na Torre do Terror da DisneySea era poderoso o suficiente para possuir todo o hotel e dar um novo impacto a Harrison Hightower em outra dimensão. Também uma jóia mística na sequência Indiana Jones do Great Movie Ride no Disney's Hollywood Studios. E não importa o que, NÃO OLHE PARA OS OLHOS DE MARA OU O CRÂNIO DE CRISTAL. Isso pode ser perigoso. Muito perigoso. E depois há a caixa de música encantada em Mystic Manor, que faz com que os artefatos ganhem vida para tentar matar Albert, o Macaco e os convidados, e destrói a mansão. Artefato Título: Disney California Adventure, que começou com uma série de atrações temáticas da Califórnia, gradualmente as perdeu. Até mesmo a assinatura Soarin 'Over California foi substituída por uma turnê mundial. A Fazenda Beneficente, a vinícola, a fábrica de tortilhas e o filme Sonhos Dourados desapareceram. Os fãs apelidaram a PixarLand, e em breve estará ganhando uma MarvelLand. Ações Atmosféricas Artificiais: Ouvir instruções em espanhol pode parecer assim nos parques americanos: as vozes inglesas são todas muito expressivas e in-character. Os anúncios em espanhol, por comparação, soam quase como um anúncio de texto para fala. No entanto, há passeios que visivelmente evitam isso "um ótimo exemplo é" é um mundo pequeno ", onde os anúncios de língua estrangeira são muito bons e se encaixam muito bem no tema. Radiator Springs Racers tem Ramone dando as instruções de segurança em espanhol, enquanto o Junkyard Jamboree de Mater é atrapalhado por Larry the Cable Guy em personagem como Mater. O "Exit" assina em algumas atrações e Dark Rides pode ser assim também. mas realmente, não há razão para não torná-los visíveis, ou ter alguma maneira de consertar as pessoas presas. O Animatronics também pode parecer assim. Quando eles falham, é bastante hilariante na melhor das hipóteses ou absolutamente assustador na pior das hipóteses. Enquanto soa estranho: O canto em uma linguagem inventada no desfile da Tapeçaria das Nações / Tapeçaria dos Sonhos foi feito para evocar a sensação das línguas africanas ou nativas americanas para dar a música do mundo a sensação de que precisava sem ser muito específico da sua origem. Ascended Extra: O Dr. Nigel Channing (interpretado por Eric Idle) começou como um dos personagens de Honey, I Shrunk The Audience, mas mais tarde recebeu um papel proeminente no pré-show da versão de Tóquio da atração, e mais tarde foi transformada na estrela da Journey into Imagination, expandindo o universo em que a HISTA está inserida. Impressionante momento de coroamento: Tokyo Disneyland e depois Walt Disney World tiveram um show, Cinderellabration, representando a coroação de Cinderela em uma princesa. As festividades incluíram aparições de convidados das outras princesas e fogos de artifício que os espectadores podiam ver mesmo durante o dia. Susto de morcego: O primeiro elevador na estrada de ferro Big Thunder Mountain leva através de uma caverna cheia de morcegos guinchando. Under the Earth: DisneySea's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a porção da Disneyland Paris 'Phantom Manor onde os Doombuggies estão enterrados e você vê um monte de cadáveres subindo de suas sepulturas subterrâneas. Bears Are Bad News: Jogou bastante direto com os ursos no Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars em Hong Kong Disneyland, no qual os ursos inadvertidamente mandam os pilotos para o caminho errado e depois explodem um pouco de TNT e mandam os pilotos para outra pista. Os vários Bear Country mostram mais ou menos evitar isso (veja Beary Funny abaixo), exceto no Country Bear Vacation Hoedown, que tem uma linha em uma música, "The Great Outdoors", em que os ursos cantam que "se y" todos não se juntem a nós, nós vamos te perseguir por uma árvore! " Beary Engraçado: O Country Bear Jamboree. Belly Dancer: A área World Showcase no Epcot apresenta o Pavilhão Marroquino, projetado para parecer uma rua marroquina da vida real, onde os turistas podem assistir a shows de dança do ventre no pátio ou no interior do Restaurante Marrakesh. A loja de Souk-Al-Magreb também oferece livros que podem ensinar seu leitor a dançar no ventre. O Tokyo DisneySea Park, do Tokyo Disney Resort, tinha uma atração para um jantar chamado A Table is Waiting, que exibia diferentes pratos de comida de culturas de todo o mundo. Um dos países mostrados foi a Índia, onde artistas vestidos como dançarinas do ventre cantavam sobre tempero e curry com a música "Spice Up Your Life". The Big Easy: New Orleans Square (Disneyland) e Port Orleans French Quarter Resort (Walt Disney World). Bigfoot, Sasquatch e Yeti: O Matterhorn Bobsleds estrela o Abominável Boneco de Neve, enquanto o Expedition Everest apresenta o Yeti. Bónus Bilingue: Prevalência em muitos parques, principalmente no Reino Animal, onde a porção africana apresenta sinais, na sua maioria, de suaíli. Biting-the-Hand Humor: acontece ocasionalmente no Jungle Cruise. Blatant Lies: "Você conhece o segredo mais bem guardado da Disney?" É assim que eles anunciam o programa de timeshare do Disney Vacation Club. Eles têm quiosques tão proeminentes no parque. Bowdlerise: O passeio Piratas do Caribe começou, por exemplo, com piratas perseguindo mulheres, implicando potencial agressão sexual. Em seguida, as mulheres receberam comida para que fosse o que os piratas estavam depois. Então os piratas receberam a comida e as mulheres os perseguiram para recuperá-la. Somewhat Truth in Television, como comida não estragada, era bastante difícil de encontrar em alto-mar, e se você fosse um pirata, a única maneira de realmente adquirir algum é roubá-lo. Animal Kingdom teve um gostinho disso antes mesmo de abrir. O Kilimanjaro Safaris originalmente tinha o cadáver visível de Big Red depois que ela foi morta por caçadores ilegais, e a caverna do dragão no Discovery River Boats originalmente tinha os cavaleiros mortos em volta dela. Ambos foram removidos depois de receberem uma resposta extremamente negativa durante as prévias dos funcionários do parque. Após a morte de uma criança pequena na boca de um jacaré local, a Walt Disney World removeu brevemente todas as referências a crocodilianos em seus parques temáticos, incluindo uma infeliz linha do Jungle Cruise dizendo "Vigie seus filhos ou os crocodilos". vai ... "e até mesmo remover Croc Tock-Tock de aparências, incluindo o Concurso de Água Elétrica. Essas referências retornaram gradualmente, com exceção da linha Jungle Cruise. Castelo Brilhante: O icônico Castelo da Bela Adormecida (ou Castelo da Cinderela, se você estiver na Flórida ou em Tóquio) em cada um dos parques no estilo Magic Kingdom. Bulungi: O centro da porção africana do Animal Kingdom está situado na cidade de Harambe, na nação fictícia da África Oriental, que a julgar por uma bancada recebeu a independência em 1961. Butt-Monkey: Skippy, o pequeno e fofo alienígena de os pré-shows de Alien Encounter e Stitch's Great Escape. Em Alien Encounter, ele foi teletransportado de um tubo para outro, mas foi frito no processo, e desapareceu indefinidamente ao ser re-teleportado para o tubo anterior. Ele não sofre nenhum dano físico em Great Escape de Stitch, apesar de ter sido preso por "jaywalking entre Marte e Júpiter". Albert em Mystic Manor de Hong Kong é um exemplo literal. Depois de abrir uma caixa de música encantada adquirida por seu dono, ele logo se torna um alvo para algumas das coisas trazidas à vida pela música mágica, dos tikis atirando flechas para ele, para samurais tentando decapitá-lo e até a estátua de jade de The Monkey King / Sun Wukong criando um vórtice tentando sugá-lo para fora da mansão. Coelhinhos da fofura: Até agora, Thumper e Miss Bunny são um dos únicos coelhos da Disney que interpretam esse tropo direto durante o meet and greet. O Cameo: A versão atual de "it's a small world" na Califórnia e Hong Kong inclui versões "small world" de personagens da Disney nas áreas correspondentes. Alguns são realmente óbvios (Ariel e Lilo & Stitch na área tropical, The Three Caballeros na América do Sul), alguns nem tanto (você especificamente tem que estar procurando encontrar Peter Pan e Tinkerbell voando na Europa, e isso pode levar um minuto para perceber que alguns dos animais da selva são Simba, Pumba e Timon). O Incrível Sr. Limpet está no passeio da Pequena Sereia. Embora não seja um personagem da Disney, é um sinal para ele aparecer como um personagem de fundo em "Under the Sea" no filme. Capitão Ersatz: O alienígena do ExtraTERRorestrial Alien Encounter era um dos, bem, o Xenomorfo de Alien. Aparentemente, foi originalmente planejado para ser um Xenomorph, e um Xenomorph real aparece em The Great Movie Ride. Capitão Óbvio: O narrador do extinto passeio semi-educacional Aventura através do Espaço Interior deu algumas preciosidades como:
Parodiado no The Jungle Cruise.
Apropriadamente, dado o fundo do ator narrador: Do Mel, encolhi a Audiência preshow: "Mas por favor, não coloque os óculos de segurança [óculos 3D] até que você esteja seguramente sentado com segurança dentro do teatro com segurança." Seqüência ácida da Disney: Alguns filmes diretos e alguns exclusivos dos parques: os quartos Heffalump e Woozle nas atrações de Winnie-the-Pooh. Praticamente o que é o World of Color. Mesmo com a exclusão da sequência de Alice. Passeio selvagem do Sr. Sapo leva você através do inferno. Literalmente. E então, houve jornadas mágicas. A seqüência de "Amanhã da Criança" da versão de Walter Cronkite da Spaceship Earth A totalidade do passeio original de Journey Into Imagination. O passeio Alice no País das Maravilhas da Disneylândia. O carro de Roger Rabbit Toon Spin. Disneyfication: A Disney fez isso com uma de suas atrações: O passeio Sinbad no Tokyo DisneySea, que passou de uma empolgante aventura em estilo visual parecido com Mary Blair para um musical que tirou todo o perigo das aventuras de Sinbad, deu a ele um adorável sidekick e basicamente foi cheio Small World. Retribuição desproporcional: Você olhou nos olhos da caveira de cristal / Mara? Nesse caso, por favor, fique em seu transporte enquanto o deus tenta explodir uma ponte, enviar guerreiros mortos-vivos / crânios de tiro de dardo e um demônio de cobra gigante atrás de você, mais uma pedra rolante. Doomy Dooms of Doom: Os veículos de passeio em The Haunted Mansion são chamados de "Doombuggies". A parte assustadora do Indiana Jones Adventure começa no "Gates of Doom". Downer Ending: O passeio selvagem de Mr. Toad termina com o veículo colidindo com um trem que se aproxima, sendo então enviado para o inferno. Broca Sargento Desagradável: Conhecimento Geral (interpretado por Corey Burton) a partir do agora desaparecido Cranium Command show. Averted com o sargento 90210 em Great Escape de Stitch! . Drives Like Crazy: Carro de Roger Rabbit Toon Spin e Passeio Selvagem do Sr. Sapo. Early-Bird Cameo: Disney fez isso com passeios inteiros. O passeio do Castelo da Bela Adormecida na Disneyland abriu vários anos antes do filme, It's Tough to be a Bug aberto alguns meses antes de A Bug's Life, e Countdown to Extinction apresentou Aladar e o Carnotaurus de Dinosaur cerca de dois anos antes do filme chegar e a atração foi renomeado para o filme (embora eles não tenham nada em comum, caso contrário). Partição antecipada Estranhaidade: Disneyland tinha um circo? De 1957 a 1961, havia uma área dentro do parque Disneyland chamado Holidayland, que só era acessível de fora dos portões do parque. Tinha sua própria admissão separada e contava com playgrounds, mesas de piquenique, um campo de beisebol, anéis de ferradura e redes de vôlei, entre outras atividades recreativas - e, ao contrário da Disneylândia, a área vendia cerveja. Depois de quatro anos, foi arrancado para dar lugar à New Orleans Square, anexando a terra ao parque. A turnê nos bastidores do Disney-MGM Studios tinha originalmente duas horas de duração e consistia em um passeio de bonde, um passeio a pé, uma porção de filmes e vários restaurantes e lojas ao longo do caminho. A parte de bonde foi encurtada significativamente alguns meses depois que o parque foi aberto quando a New York Street (agora a Streets of America) foi disponibilizada para os hóspedes que não estavam na turnê, e a singular turnê foi dividida em várias turnês individuais menores. 1991. Eventualmente estas excursões menores foram fechadas e a maioria foi substituída por passeios; a última turnê individual restante, a turnê de bonde, fechou para sempre em 2014. Ganhe seu final feliz: No antigo show do Tokyo Disney Sea, 'Over the Waves', os personagens principais, Tonio e Maria, parecem entender isso. Facilitando a Aventura: O objetivo da Main Street, EUA nos parques do Magic Kingdom é oferecer aos hóspedes algo aconchegante e relaxante para desfrutar antes de apresentá-los com os ambientes mais exóticos da Adventureland, Tomorrowland, etc. Isso foi especialmente importante quando a Disneyland abriu, como ninguém nunca tinha visto nada parecido antes. Ovo de Páscoa: Livros inteiros foram escritos sobre os chamados Mickeys Escondidos, imagens discretas de Mickey Mouse ou sua silhueta colocadas em vários locais inesperados ao redor dos parques. Também é muito comum, quando uma atração é fechada e substituída por outra, para que os Imaginadores incluam uma homenagem discreta à velha atração da nova atração. Nos Estúdios de Hollywood da Disney]], se olharmos para a Torre do Terror da área de fila do Fantasmic, eles poderão ver uma silhueta em uma das janelas. Em The Haunted Mansion, uma luz estranha pode ser vista movendo-se através da mansão à noite, como se alguém estivesse andando por ela segurando uma vela. Mentor excêntrico: O Dreamfinder foi o Figment até que a atração foi atualizada para removê-lo. Ego Polis: Esse tropo realmente precisa de explicação? Todos os parques temáticos são sufocados com a imagem de Walt Disney, incluindo o nome! Estranhamente, o próprio Walt Disney tentou evitar isso. Ele chamou a Disneylândia de si mesmo (ou, mais precisamente, depois de sua empresa), mas não queria que sua imagem aparecesse em nenhum lugar do parque e, durante sua vida, isso não aconteceu. Foi somente após sua morte que "The Walt Disney Story" foi instalado na Main Street Opera House, com um mural com um enorme retrato sorridente de Walt. Mais retratos, estátuas, etc. foram adicionados ao longo dos anos, mas Walt não queria nenhum deles. O Mystic Point de Hong Kong Disneyland, nomeado para Lord Henry Mystic, embora seja mais um posto de explorador pequeno que serve como base de operações para as aventuras de Mystic que ele abriu para visitantes curiosos para ver sua vasta coleção de arte de todo o mundo. um local de encontro para a Sociedade de Exploradores e Aventureiros. Mesmo com a Tower of Terror do Tokyo Disney Sea e o companheiro explorador Harrison Hightower, exceto devido ao misterioso desaparecimento de Hightower, a Sociedade de Preservação de Nova York lida com tours de seu antigo hotel. Efeito da Torre Eiffel: Cada parque tem um certo marco que é usado para representá-lo: note Imagineers chamam tais ímãs visuais "weenies". Mesmo. Cinderela / Castelo da Bela Adormecida para todos os parques no estilo "Magic Kingdom", Spaceship Earth para o Epcot, o Hollywood Tower Hotel para os Estúdios de Hollywood da Disney, note que isso tem flutuado; originalmente era o Teatro Chinês, que compartilhava seu status com a Torre Earffel, mas ambos foram destronados pelo Chapéu do Feiticeiro em 2001. O Chapéu foi removido em 2015, então a Torre Earffel foi removida em 2016; although the Chinese Theatre remains, the Hotel is now the park's primary icon the Tree of Life for Animal Kingdom, Mount Prometheus for Tokyo DisneySea, and the Carthay Circle Theatre for California Adventure note originally Grizzly Peak; similarly to the Chinese Theatre, it was dethroned while remaining in the park, presumably because the trees that originally made it look taller grew tall enough to dwarf it . They serve two main purposes. The first is having something to get your picture taken standing in front of. The second is so that no matter where in the park you are, you can look up, note where the landmark is in relation to you, and instantly know where in the park you are (which can be very important, as many rides have exits nowhere near their entrances). Elaborate Underground Base: As anyone who's been backstage at a Disney park can tell you, the backstage area has lots of dressing rooms, props, and parade floats, often just barely out of sight. Disney hides these by putting up large walls, having secret doors, and even a massive maze of underground tunnels that allow the cast members to quickly get from one place in the park to another. Even Evil Can Be Loved: From "Yo-Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me)", the theme song for Pirates of the Caribbean:
Drink up, me 'earties, yo-ho.
Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads.
Drink up, me 'earties, yo-ho.
Also noticeable in the Aladdin-based stage production in California Adventure. Not to mention the extinct Kitchen Cabaret / Food Rocks show at The Land pavilion. Ignored Expert: Poor Professor Dorje puts up all those nice displays in the Expedition Everest queue warning people of how dangerous the Yeti is and yet they still walk right by and get on the train headed into its sacred domain. Improv: Turtle Talk with Crush , the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor , and Stitch Encounter are all entirely this, as they involve digital puppeteers interacting with an audience in real-time. These shows do have brief scripted bits, however. Incredible Shrinking Man: A Bug's Land, a part of California Adventure themed to the movie A Bug's Life, is built to make guests feel bug-sized, with giant shamrocks, benches made of popsicle sticks, and restrooms disguised as a giant box of tissues. Any Toy Story themed attraction also involves this, especially the Toy Story lands at various parks around the world. Themed to Andy's backyard at the scale of a toy, they include larger-than-life versions of classic toys like RC Car and Slinky Dog as attractions; bamboo shoots are used to represent blades of grass. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids became the basis for a playground/set walk-through (Hollywood Studios) and the 3D show Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (Epcot/Disneyland/Disneyland Paris/Tokyo Disneyland). Body Wars (1989-2007) took you on a mission inside the human body within a ship miniaturized to fit within a blood vessel. In the long-gone Disneyland ride Adventure Thru Inner Space , riders were "shrunk" small enough to travel inside an atom. Indian Burial Ground: Combined with Never Say "Die" in some versions of Big Thunder Mountain . There's a curse on the mountain due to it being a "sacred place" to the natives. The Haunted Mansion at Disney World is also said to built on one of these. Insistent Terminology: Show-business terms are constantly used throughout the parks. Park employees are all known as "Cast Members", whether they're dancing on a stage or serving corn dogs; public areas are referred to as "on-stage", and restricted areas are referred to as "off-stage"; the guidelines employees follow are called "good show"; e assim por diante. Intercontinuity Crossover: Walt Disney World's former Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management) . The new management? Iago and Zazu. The Tokyo version is instead invaded by Stitch. Fantasmic! is an even better example, with several Disney Villains from various films attempting to attack Mickey Mouse via his dreams, and a few good guys helping him out. Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom , an interactive game hosted by Merlin that sends guests around the Magic Kingdom park to battle the various Disney villains that are working together. Occasionally, the walkaround Disney characters will interact with one another. For example, on YouTube you can find several videos of Alice and the Mad Hatter interacting with Peter Pan and Wendy. The new stage show, Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, is one that features Mickey, Minnie, and the rest of the gang interacting with characters from Disney's more recent movies, including The Princess and the Frog , Tangled , and Frozen . The stage show at Disneyland, Mickey and the Magical Map, has Mickey, Yen Sid (the sorcerer from The Sorcerer's Apprentice ), Tiana and Louis from The Princess and the Frog , Sebastian from The Little Mermaid , King Louie from The Jungle Book , Pocahontas from Pocahontas , Mulan from Mulan , Rapunzel and Flynn Rider from Tangled , and Stitch from Lilo and Stitch . Internal Homage: Increased a lot after the original park hit 40 years or so, especially as so many rides have gone away. It's not uncommon to see a nod to Horizons around today's Epcot, an attraction which itself had a Continuity Nod to Carousel of Progress. In fact, one of the biggest Horizons tributes in Florida is not in Epcot at all, but rather in the post-show for Space Mountain after the ride was overhauled in 2009. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in particular is packed with references to the original Submarine Voyage, which was based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea . From Atlantis to the Graveyard of Ships, to a trip into a cave evoking the trip to the bottom of the sea in Submarine Voyage, to the Angler Fish being an Expy of the terrifyingGiant Squid in 20,000 Leagues , and even two rock formations that deliberately look like a Sea Serpent and a Mermaid. there's even an old diver's helmet that is another reference to 20,000 Leagues as well! Instant Awesome: Just Add Dragons!: Disneyland Paris has an life-size animatronic dragon underneath its castle. Also, the different versions of Fantasmic! each have their own dragon Maleficent. The ever lovable Figment from Journey into Imagination adopts the form of a purple dragon. Invisible Backup Band: Sonny Eclipse's Space Angels at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe Irony: Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life is built on an oil rig . Obviously, the structure isn't actively pumping oil, but rather, it was chosen to withstand hurricane-force winds. It Will Never Catch On: A running gag in the current version of Carousel of Progress, thanks to its Technology Marches On plot. Also, people once said this about Disneyland, back when Walt was trying to get funding to build it. They couldn't have been more wrong. Jungle Japes: A major portion of Adventureland and Animal Kingdom, plus the African section of It's A Small world . Kayfabe: Strictly enforced. As far as every "cast member" is concerned, that is Mickey Mouse, that is Cinderella. The characters never break character unless it's an absolute emergency, and they're quite careful to make sure you never see two Tinker Bells at once. note For example, if you're on line to meet Queen Elsa, the line is likely to end in a large waiting room—then one group at a time will be taken from the waiting room to the actual audience chamber where Elsa is waiting. There might be four audience chambers, each with its own Elsa, but the kids-of-all-ages will never know. Keet: The Spectromen from Spectromagic all act very energetic and giggle a lot. Kid-Appeal Character: Marty Wazowski in Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor , Mike's nephew who usually interacts with the youngest kids in the audience. Large Ham: The non-speaking characters often make exaggerated gestures and do goofy things. Then there are the Spectromen from the now-gone nighttime parade Spectromagic at Walt Disney World. LARP: The Legends of Frontierland game in Anaheim is one of these, right down to the standard convention of using Rock-Paper-Scissors to simulate a fight between players. Legion of Doom: Walt Disney World currently has the villains in a "Halloween Villain Mix and Mingle." Maleficent and Captain Hook seem to be an item (?!), and Frollo is there again, dancing . Hey, Frollo! I thought you didn't enjoy these kinds of festivals?! Disneyland Paris has a similar Maleficious Halloween Party where various villains teach Doctor Facilier some evil skills (and Maleficent and Jafar appear to be an item). Lighter and Softer: Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland is much lighter than its Haunted Mansion counterparts (and definitely much, much lighter than Phantom Manor ), featuring an adorable little monkey, much brighter lighting, a musical score more adventurous than spooky (and by Danny Elfman, no less), a tone of general whimsy rather than dark comedy, and as a matter of fact, no ghosts whatsoever-just magic. Apparently, this was done due to Chinese cultural views regarding spirits of the dead; that is, they're deeply respected and revered, and certainly nothing to laugh at. Light Gun Game: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and Toy Story Midway Mania are theme park ride versions of this. Literal-Minded: Face characters will sometimes develop a severe case of this when asked for an autograph. Loads and Loads of Characters: Well , ofcourse . Some of them have become subject to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, including Doug, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and the Power Rangers note who aren't Disney property anymore as of 2010, thus justifiably retired for copyright reasons . Some characters are exclusive to each park, such as Huey, Dewey and Louie along with Berlioz and Toulouse for Disneyland Paris, and Chef Louis for Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. In recent years, characters such as Clarice from "Two Chips And a Miss" and Marie later made appearances at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and other parks starting in 2011 and 2012. Looks Like Jesus: Dreamfinder according to one child . Lost World: In Shanghai, Adventure Isle's Roaring Mountain is very much this, complete with mysterious isolated tribe and a Prehistoric Monster of a crocodile. Mad Scientist: The Timekeeper starred a robotic one voiced by Robin Williams. Dr. Seeker from Dinosaur takes riders back in time minutes before the meteor that would eliminate the dinosaurs hits, despite the safety restriction imposed by Dr. Marsh. He thankfully has the sense to return the riders to present day before the meteor actually makes impact. Magic Map: Disneyland's live show Mickey and the Magical Map . Matrix Raining Code: Shows up in the current version of Spaceship Earth at the start of the descent. This probably wasn't meant to be unnerving, but. Meaningful Name: Pretty much any other character in the park who isn't from a pre-existing Disney movie or TV show is named meaningfully or punnily. For example, the two talent agents from The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management are named William and Morris. Mega Corp.: Disney itself falls into this with the amount of power that they wield at Disney World. Just look up "Reedy Creek Improvement District" and be astounded at the amount of power that the state of Florida gave Disney for its operations there. There's a reason why snarky Floridians call it "America's Vatican". Root of All Evil declared Disney to be more evil than SCIENTOLOGY . Well, it is a whole lot bigger, wealthier, and influential, and thankfully hasn't caused anyone's death. Not on purpose, anyway. That we know of. Less litigious, too. In terms of in-universe examples, there's X-S Tech in the now-gone Alien Encounter attraction at Magic Kingdom. Merchandise-Driven: If it's a popular movie or other Disney property that sells a lot of merchandise, odds are you can expect to see an attraction based on it — if not now, then certainly in the near future. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is hotly debated. Every ride built for the last several decades ends by dumping you right into the gift shop for that attraction. And some were actively remodeled to dump you into a gift shop when they didn't before, such as "it's a small world". Snow globes were HUGE sellers for Disney World in the late 1990s/early 2000s. So much so that the Magic Kingdom's centerpiece for the 100 Years of Magic celebration (honoring Walt Disney's 100th birthday) in 2001 was the "Share a Dream Come True" parade ◊ , whose floats were nothing but giant snow globe set-pieces with popular Disney characters inside. This ended up happening at the worst possible time: the September 11th attacks took place a month before the parade debuted, which not only slowed tourism but also led airlines to make restrictions on what items flyers could take on planes, with snow globes being one of the first banned souvenirs. This effectively killed off the booming Disney World snow globe business, and the parade limped on for five years before it was reconfigured into the "Disney Dreams Come True" parade, which was the same parade as before but minus the snow globe tops on the floats. Mickey Mousing: note Har-dee-har-har. California Screamin's music swells and falls alongside the coaster, especially when climbing the second lift hill, and when going over the smaller hills above the Midway. Many parades sync the effects on the floats, as well as the movement of characters and dancers, to the soundtrack. Mine Cart Madness: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The Big Grizzly Mountain attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland. And in the Magic Kingdom, there is the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Monster-Shaped Mountain: Grizzly Peak in California Adventure. Mood Whiplash: The "Celebrate a Dream Come True" used to have a villain float where they talked about their dreams coming true. Also happens in Snow White's Scary Adventures. The Disneyland version cuts immediately from the witch falling off a cliff to a giant storybook reading, ". and they all lived Happily Ever After." Plus, the brilliant finale of SpectroMagic comes just after a scene devoted to Fantasia , whose last float depicts Bald Mountain, complete with Chernabog opening up and closing his wings periodically. The Movie: One is currently stuck in Development Hell, titled Magic Kingdom , directed by Jon Favreau, about a family that gets trapped in the park after dark a la Night at the Museum . Escape from Tomorrow , a black-and-white "guerrilla movie" about a man slowly going crazy (or is he?) during a family vacation, was secretly filmed at Disney World and Disneyland. The director was amazed he, his actors (who hid their scripts on their iPhones), and crew wasn't caught; then again, what's one more a guy with a camera at Disney World? Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof have produced a sci-fi flick titled Tomorrowland starring George Clooney and Hugh Laurie. It featured the similarly named theme park area as a cover up for an alternate dimension inhabited by visionaries. Multiple-Choice Past: As noted below, the burning shack on Tom Sawyer's Island. Munchkin: There is a certain class of fan that treats a day at the park like a game. Most time on rides and least time in line wins. With the addition of FastPass, the strategy has become even more Serious Business. Mythology Gag: Several to the original source material of the rides featured at the parks. For example, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror contains props referencing the original series. Cars Land has a streetlight that blinks yellow, and every third blink is slightly slower.
Never Smile at a Crocodile: Q'araq in Shanghai's Roaring Rapids. Never Trust a Trailer: Sometimes, commercials for the attractions feature things that are not at all included in the actual attraction for obvious reasons other than for perhaps, dramatic effect. Nice Guy: Practically a prerequisite for working in a Disney park. It's incredibly hard to find someone working there who doesn't genuinely enjoy doing their job (or at least do a decent job of acting like it), from the costumed characters to the guys who walk around with brooms and dustpans who keep the place obsessively clean. This is a big part of Disney's corporate policy. It should be noted that they certainly don't get paid extra to smile. It is pretty much understood that when auditioning as Cast Member, the person auditioning enjoys being around, better yet playing with, and is understanding and patient with children. Nice Hat: Mainly (but not exclusively) the iconic mouse ears. It started with the classic Mouseketeer style and exploded from there. You can get one for practically any conceivable occasion or character now. Also some of the Spectromen in Spectromagic wear hats with big feathers. Non-Ironic Clown: When New Fantasyland first opened in 2012, they used to have a group of clowns outside of Dumbo's Storybook Circus called "Giggle Gang Clown Troupe" during its first few years. Also, the clowns seen in the former 3D attraction "Magic Journeys" at Epcot's Imagination Pavilion. Non-Standard Character Design: The Spectromen from Spectromagic look a little out of place compared to the other Disney characters. There faces used to change color, act and move very energetically, and all their hair was fuzzed up. They later got redesigned in 2008 and became face characters. Nightmare Face: Mara can nowdothis. Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Pirate Zombie Robot part, anyway—audio-animatronic pirate skeletons on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Obvious Beta: Whenever the parks are undergoing major refurbishment, such as California Adventure from 2007 to 2012 or Hollywood Studios from 2016 to 2019, it can feel like you've stepped into one of these. California Adventure even earned the derisive nickname "Wall Street, USA" during its reconstruction. Official Cosplay Gear: One of the many things available as souvenirs, with one of the most famous being the hats with the Mickey Mouse ears. Ominous Pipe Organ: Dreamfinder played one in the Tales of Terror sequence of the original Journey Into Imagination (the twist, though, was that since the section was about literature, the organ resembled something of a huge typewriter/computer). There's also the atmospheric music in the Haunted Mansion, which even has an actual pipe organ being played by a ghost in the ballroom scene (which, in California, is actually the same pipe organ from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ). The Oner: Honey, I Shrunk the Audience is built around two long, continuous-appearing shots to pull off its premise (see the trope page for details). Open Secret: Disneyland's Club 33. It's secret in theory and doesn't advertise, but it's not like Disney can prevent people from talking about it. Even if you never get to go (and most people won't—it is highly exclusive), you can learn as much as you want to know from various books and websites. Oracular Head: Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion. Also the Shrunken Ned fortune telling machine at Disneyland's Adventureland. Orange/Blue Contrast: Spaceship Earth, at night, is lit up blue at the top and orange at the bottom. Original Generation: Many attractions around the different parks are original concepts not tied to pre-existing films, resulting in numerous original characters, prominent examples including Figment and Dreamfinder, the Orange Bird, the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion, the Country Bears, and the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. Our Founder: The iconic "Partners" statue of Walt and Mickey holding hands. There are also two companion statues: "Sharing the Magic" at Disney World features Roy O. Disney and Minnie Mouse sitting on a bench, and "Storytellers" at California Adventure depicts a younger Disney arriving in California, with the earlier pie-eyed Mickey standing on his luggage. Cars Land also includes the statue of Radiator Springs' founder Stanley, as shown in the movie. Our Ghosts Are Different: The Haunted Mansion 's spirits are said to be from all over the world, with the Mansion itself serving as a supernatural boarding house/retirement center. But in the Tower of Terror , the ghosts seem to be permanently stuck in the hotel as a result of the elevator accident. Then in Phantom Manor , we've got the ghostly villain taking on three forms throughout while tormenting the bride into old age. In fairness, Tower of Terror (at the U. S. parks) is based on an intellectual property that Disney had to license, so discrepancies could arise from that situation. The movie also states that the ghosts can't actually leave the hotel grounds due to the curse that caused the accident in the first place. Out of Focus: The first iteration of Epcot's Journey Into Imagination attraction took guests on a hypothetical journey through the human mind's creative process (hence the title). The second iteration kept guests mostly in a laboratory, and focused on how optical illusions tricked people into seeing things that aren't really there. in order to (somehow) make the guests more creative. The third iteration ditches the first-person guest narrative entirely and instead spends (or at least attempts to spend) most of its time discussing how the five senses can trigger the imagination. The message of the attraction has changed with each iteration as well, and seems to match up with whatever message the park itself was trying to push at the time it was made. The message of the 1983 version has the very 1980s Epcot message that "imagination and science can work together to solve the world's problems", while the message of the 1999 version had the very 1990s Epcot message of "science is totally awesome, and it can be used to analyze the imagination", and the message of the 2003 version has the very 2000s Epcot message of "science is boring, but imagination is totally awesome and the two should be separate". Oven Logic: In the last part of the current version of Carousel of Progress , though unintentional, the oven was programmed to automatically set the temperature if it hears numbers spoken aloud (that's one hell of a design flaw) and the father was talking about the Grandmother's score in a video game. Pantomime Animal: Cast members in character costumes who roam the parks. (This doesn't include "face characters", like Alice or Snow White.) Parental Bonus: Disneyland has (or at least had) a few areas where parents could take a breather and enjoy some relatively tasteful atmosphere and fine dining, complete with (gasp!) alcoholic drinks. Oh, and the Submarine Lagoon used to have comely Mermaids in there to wave and smile at passing men. There also used to be a working Pharmacy, a tobacco store and a shop selling women's underclothes. While Disney World's Magic Kingdom has a very, very strict "no alcohol, EVER" policy — in 2012 it was relaxed at one new venue, the Be Our Guest restaurant, and only at dinnertime — said policy does not extend to the non-Magic Kingdom parks. Animal Kingdom has its own beer , and "Drinking Around the World" (guests attempt to try the signature alcoholic beverage of each country in Epcot's World Showcase) is a popular extra-curricular activity for some guests. They even let you bring a margarita on Mexico's El Rio del Tiempo until it was replaced with the Gran Fiesta Tour in 2007. Combined with the rising popularity of the Epcot Food and Wine festival, seeing drunk people wandering around the World Showcase is more common than ever. As for Disneyland, you'll probably have to head for California Adventure, unless you're lucky enough to have a membership to the uber-exclusive Club 33 . There, you'll find the more complete bar in any Disney Park. In the Aladdin play, Genie's lines. A former band of holiday-themed street performers in the Hollywood Studios park in Florida performed a song about what they would build the perfect gingerbread man out of. After singing an overly-long description of how he bites the gingerbread man's arm off, a rather effeminate man completes his portion with the line "and a gummy thong!" Journey into Imagination with Figment includes a handful of references to older Disney films going back to the 60's and 70's, including The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes . Politically Correct History: Pretty much any attraction with a historical setting, although Pirates of the Caribbean and The Hall of Presidents are major offenders. Upper management seems to think that people don't come to theme parks to be disturbed or have their consciences bothered, and they're probably right. Pirates is noticeable for once containing scenes that were considered less politically correct (brides being sold, pirates chasing wenches, a naked girl hiding in a barrel) that have since been replaced by "family friendly" versions (townspeople forfeiting their belongings, women chasing pirates away with brooms, Jack Sparrow hiding in a barrel). Averted with the now-defunct Golden Dreams in California Adventure. The show didn't pull any punches regarding the treatment of native Indians by the conquistadors, the dangerous circumstances under which Chinese railroad laborers had to work during the Gold Rush, the overt racism against the Japanese (especially "picture brides") during the early part of the 20th century, or the hardship and borderline hostility towards migrants from Oklahoma and Arkansas during the Dust Bowl. (It often played to near-empty houses and has been replaced by a dark ride themed to The Little Mermaid , though the film was also used as part of Disney's Youth Education Series of lesson plans.) Golden Dreams was intended as the Spiritual Successor to Epcot's still-running The American Adventure , a retrospective on U. S. history through World War II that does take a few moments to point out that women, blacks, and Native Americans often got the short end of the stick compared to white males. Polly Wants a Microphone: The Enchanted Tiki Room . Poisonous Friend: Disneyland's very first employee, C. V. Wood, is viewed as this by the company. He started out as a researcher for the Stanford Institute (who helped Disney locate the land for the park) and shortly after joined Disney full-time, becoming something of an unsung hero of the park's development. He was the guy who made sure that everything was running on schedule (the park only had a year to be built, so this was insanely important) and he also made many little deals with outside companies to help sponsor the park, and in doing so is credited with helping make the park a reality. Then, three months after Disneyland was opened, Roy Disney discovered that Wood was embezzling money from the park. He was very quickly fired from Disney. and then almost immediately afterwards set up his own amusement park development company with many of the people who had helped build Disneyland, and built many different Disneyland-esque parks around the United States, including the very first Six Flags. The Power of the Sun: Parts of the design for Sage of Time from Tapestry of Nations were meant to evoke sun god imagery, particularly his headdress Pretty in Mink: The cast members who are cast as a Disney Princess get warmer dresses in winter, with the collar and cuffs lined with white faux fur, and Belle's actresses getting a white fur shoulder cape. Product Placement: Attractions at the parks are occasionally sponsored by outside companies, which are prominently displayed on its signage. At Disneyland, this was due to financial issues at the park's opening date, so this is less often seen in the other parks. A rendition of the song "Dear Old Donegal" that was sung at Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Theater swapped out the word "whiskey" for "Pepsi" in the lyrics. Given Walt Disney's somewhat cavalier attitude towards alcohol in his films and theme park attractions (despite refusing to sell it in the park), this was less Bowdlerization and more of a shout-out to the Theater's then-sponsor Pepsi-Cola. The current version of Test Track at Epcot, besides having Chevrolet branding all around, also plugs the OnStar in-vehicle service. Both companies are owned by the same company, General Motors. Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The Back. Side. Do. Water! Race Lift: At the Asian parks, even at their American - and European-themed areas, you’ll hardly find a non-Asian, non-character cast member. Randomly Generated Levels: Star Tours: The Adventures Continue has several layers of this. The bulk of the ride consists of two randomly-selected destinations, which are divided by a randomly-selected intro sequence (where a "Rebel spy" is chosen from the audience) and a transmission from one of several different characters. In all, there are around 100 possible adventures. Rattling Off Legal: Parodied in Star Tours: The Adventures Continue , where the disclaimer for all the astronomical incidents the agency will not cover lasts for almost half a minute . It is the Evil Empire's reign, after all. Raygun Gothic: Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Tomorrowland at Disneyland ("updated" in the '90s to wild indifference) is closer to Zeerust, and Tomorrowland at Shanghai Disneyland is more Tron-inspired Cyberpunk. Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris goes an entirely different direction and falls under Steam Punk. Reality Is Unrealistic: While normally the scenery would attempt to be as believable as possible, the (real) restaurant opposite of the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride, The Blue Bayou , could easily be mistaken as part of the scenery. Recurring Location: almost every resort around the world has their own version of the Magic Kingdom in generally the same layout, starting with Disneyland and going all the way to Shanghai. They (usually) each have a Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland, although the appearances and attractions of these lands can vary wildly. Rides are also often recreated between parks so that guests in California can enjoy an attraction without having to travel all the way to Florida. For example, the Haunted Mansion appears in almost every park (in Hong Kong, it's been replaced by Mystic Manor, and is called Phantom Manor in Paris), and Space Mountain does as well. Recycled In Space: Space Mountain is pretty much The Matterhorn IN SPACE , sans monster (save for a spooky look for Halloween). This is even more apparent in Florida's version, where the vehicles only fit one rider per row, just like the Matterhorn. Disneyland Paris' version of Space Mountain however is completely different. Featuring an outdoor load/unload area, an inclined launch up the side of the dome and even inversions! If it wasn't for the fact that it actually opened about half a decade prior, it would probably be more accurate to call it "Rock N' Roller Coaster IN SPACE ". Retcon: Attractions would be updated with new scenes or elements which become integrated into the storyline. This is typically done out of necessity for maintenance and/or to regain appeal. A notable example is the ghostly bride in the attic of The Haunted Mansion who got her own complex backstory in 2006 after decades of being an amorphous, nameless character. See also Updated Re-release below. The original Star Tours was continually updated with better graphics for a while before before being fully refurbished into Star Tours: The Adventures Continue . This was mainly to include references to the Star Wars prequel and sequel trilogies. Retraux: The 2008 Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough at Disneyland uses all kinds of special effects to recreate a mid-50s attraction. Meanwhile, Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln utilizes audio from a 1964 World's Fair exhibit with an advanced audio-animatronic. Rhymes on a Dime: The Dreamseekers from Tapestry of Dreams . Ribcage Ridge: The T-Rex skeleton at Big Thunder Mountain . Right on Queue: The lines at especially popular attractions range into the truly absurd, especially for newer rides. The FastPass system is Disney's way of combatting this, which reduces the wait times to no more than 15 minutes. There are also several ways that they keep guests in the standby line entertained: videos to watch that set up the plot, details such as sight gags and puzzles to keep your eyes busy, and—more recently—interactive elements such as touch screen video games. This can backfire, though, since sometimes guests can be so invested in the queue that they forget to keep it moving! The longest ride queue to date occurred in Walt Disney World Christmas day (one of the busiest days for the park) in 2009, when one of the theaters for Epcot's Soarin' broke down. The resulting line from fans of the ride soon grew to SEVEN HOURS ! For those keeping score at home, a flight from Orlando International Airport to LAX is only five hours. (Hard mode: Leave the end of the broken-down Soarin' line in Florida, hop on a real plane to LAX and arrive in Anaheim to get in line for their Soarin' Over California before you would've gotten to go on the Florida version!) Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure Park - quite literally every. single. rider. knows. esta . Two-hour waits are quite common on the weekends, and fast passes for the entire day are gone by lunchtime. Couples will often get on the much shorter "single rider line"—when they get to the front they'll be split up to fill up the six-person cars, but with any luck they'll end up racing each other. The queue time for Frozen Ever After at Epcot could get up to four hours long when it first opened due to the insane popularity of the source material. The Roaring '20s: Buena Vista Street, the revamped entry plaza to California Adventure, is themed to Los Angeles at the time Walt Disney first arrived there on the cusp of The Golden Age of Hollywood. Rodents of Unusual Size: Well, what else would you call the costumed versions of Mickey, Minnie, and other such characters? Scaling the Summit: Every now and then, a group of climbers will ascend the Matterhorn , helping complete the Yodel Land theme. Though it's an artificial mountain, it's still a challenge and the climbers have to be certified before they are allowed on it. Scenery Porn: Some scenery looks very artificial. but many of the resorts and rides are very elaborate. Special mention goes to Storybook Land in Anaheim. Those plants you see in there? There's a good reason they look so realistic — they are real. Also, there are herbs growing throughout the parks in Anaheim, but there's a lot in Tomorrowland. There are herbs growing such as lavender, sage, and basil; fruits such as bananas, grapes, pomegranate, and oranges, and even peppers and coffee beans. All selected based on an "Agrifuture" concept for the area's landscaping. In the Animal Kingdom park, the designers even made sure the streetlights and power poles looked correct for the regions of the world the park sections represent. And the entry rainforest contains plants from every continent. Schmuck Bait: The only reason why Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye doesn't end sooner is because most, if not all, of the guests will look into Mara's eyes despite the warning. Scotireland: Anecdotal evidence suggests more than a few Merida face characters don't know the difference between a Scottish and Irish accent. Scrapbook Story/Story Breadcrumbs: Outside pre-shows and the occasional outside Manual is provided, all attraction backstories are generally conveyed through details scattered throughout their queues such as pictures, props, and documents that the observant can piece together into a greater whole. Script Wank: Ellen's Energy Adventure . The original Universe of Energy spent a lot of time discussing alternate energy sources, such as the solar panels on the attraction itself. The current version, which launched in 1996, may well be titled I Love Fossil Fuels . Self-Deprecation: The park staff often takes pot shots at "it's a small world". It's somewhat of a whipping boy. The Lion King even lampshades this when Zazu sings the theme song to Scar, who reacts with disgust. Sonny Eclipse, Magic Kingdom Tomorrowland's resident alien musician, describes the song as being used on his planet "to break the enemy". The Magic Kingdom park staff similarly used to take shots at The Hall of Presidents . The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management! had Iago mention he's heading to the Hall for a nap. This stopped after the implementation of the 2009 refurbishment, which made the show considerably less boring and preachy. Serious Business: Understandably, going into out of bounds areas or entering onto the abandoned sections of the park is not something taken lightly by the park staff, and they will mark you a trespasser and get you permanently banned from entering any of the parks. They have cameras everywhere , so don't think you won't get caught. In the parks more conservative years, the staff had no tolerance for any image defacing or even parodying Mickey Mouse on a t-shirt. Cartoonist Scott Shaw recalled an incident in the 70's where a staffer threatened to eject him from the park without a refund for simply wearing a Mickey Rat T-shirt, but allowed him to stay if he bought an official Mickey Mouse t-shirt from the local gift shops. A similar but even more bizarre incident occurred in the 90's where staff who worked on Runaway Brain were not allowed to enter the park because they wore their crew shirts from working on the film, which had the monstrous Julius-Mickey depicted on front. On a lighter note, pin trading is a booming business in every park, with multiple dedicated pin stalls and cast members always carrying at least a few on them. Sexy Silhouette: Naturally Ms. Toonservice herself, Jessica Rabbit makes one in the queue to Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin . The Shangri-La: The area around Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom . Shown Their Work: In addition to most of the science in the Animal Kingdom being accurate, the scent pumped into the theater for It's Tough to Be a Bug's stink bug scene is actually what a real stink bug smells like. Shrunken Head: The Jungle Cruise has a native witch doctor at the end holding a few of these, seemingly to sell to passing tourists. River guides at this point will usually insert an Incredibly Lame Pun. Sigil Spam: The Mickey symbol is everywhere . Fans have raised finding all of them, no matter how small or subtle, to an art form. Signs of Disrepair: In Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! , as Wayne's hovering machine malfunctions, it slams into the neon sign reading "INVENTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD", which knocks out some letters leaving only "NERD" before shorting out the sign entirely. The Tower of Terror : The neon sign of the Hollywood Tower Hotel is left damaged from the lightning accident with one or two of the letters flickering when lit up at night. Also the lobby directory had several missing from the bulletin board. with the missing letters spelling out "evil tower u r doomed" at the bottom. Another California Adventure example: A playground area themed to a decrepit boat named the S. S. Trustworthy . except that the initial T had fallen off. Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Matterhorn , Expedition Everest and the Blizzard Beach water park. Souvenir Land: Parodied by Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama , though the area itself would grow to be hated by park fans owing to its silly, carnival-style rides. Spiritual Successor: New attractions will come up that replace and/or greatly remind you of a previous attraction that A: Are thematically similar, B: Utilize the very same or similar technology, C: Were produced with the involvement of notable creators from a previous attraction or D: Simply just have a multitude of attributes in common. These attractions may even exist in the same park , no less. The Haunted Mansion is easily one to Adventure Thru Inner Space (in more ways than one, you might say). Both are Omnimover/"Doom Buggy"-type dark rides narrated by legendary voice actor Paul Frees, opened in the late 1960s. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is seen as one to The Haunted Mansion : two classic, popular, dark, horror-themed, Disney attractions set within haunted venues and narrated by disembodied voices. The Indiana Jones Adventure to Star Tours and, by extension, Captain EO since they're all adventure-themed collaborations of Disney and George Lucas. While we're on Star Tours , consider Epcot's beloved Body Wars . The interior of the Bravo 229 vessel mimics that of the Starspeeder so much, you couldn't help but automatically think that you're on " Star Tours only inside the human body". Even the instructional video was a clone. This is because Star Tours opened at Disneyland in 1987, but didn't arrive in Florida until December 1989 (Metropolitan Life, which sponsored Epcot's Wonders of Life where Body Wars was found, insisted on opening that ride first, which it did in October of 1989). Body Wars copied the technology and arrived shortly before the original did, at a different park — one that, at the time, was trying to plus up its image with kids via more exciting attractions. Luigi's Flying Tires and Radiator Springs Racers of California Adventure's Cars Land to Disneyland's Flying Saucers (1961-1966) and Test Track (currently-running Epcot attraction), respectively. Radiator Springs Racers also brings to mind the short-lived Rocket Rods from the '90s. Epcot's Future World is essentially a successor to Tomorrowland, taking its initial goal of displaying future technologies more seriously. Horizons was a grander version of the Carousel of Progress , and Mission: SPACE is one to the former attraction Mission to Mars at Tomorrowland, which was already one to Disneyland's former attraction Rocket to the Moon . Animal Kingdom's Expedition Everest to Disneyland's own Matterhorn Bobsleds . California Adventure's World of Color uses the water projection technology from the earlier Fantasmic! , only on a grander scale. Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin to Mad Tea Party a. k.a. "the Tea Cups". Pandora: The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom appears to be one to the abandoned Beastly Kingdom, at least on the concept level of a land where imaginary animals live. The entire concept of Animal Kingdom in of itself is one to not only Adventureland, but also to the Jungle Cruise, which Walt had initially considered to feature real animals until he opted to use audio-animatronics in their place. Speaking Simlish: While the Spectromen from the nighttime parade Spectromagic do sometimes talk in English, they mostly communicate by singing or speaking with made up words. Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Disney has recently been revamping large sections of the park to make room for a lot of new Star Wars attractions, even permanently closing down the Magic of Disney Animation Attraction and even parts of Frontierland forever to make room for them. The Starscream: The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game shakes things up and has Maleficent play this part to Hades, who serves as the Big Bad. Jafar and Ursula are also trying to take the Crystal of the Magic Kingdom pieces for themselves or shake off Hades' leadership. Steam Punk: Mysterious Island at Tokyo DisneySea is based on the works of Jules Verne, and clearly looks the part. Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris also has this theme, and was inspired by Verne as well, with him being one of the most respected and famous writers in France. Stock Dinosaurs: Disneyland's Primeval World diorama and EPCOT's Universe of Energy depicts, in order, Dimetrodon (not a dinosaur, but certainly a Stock Prehistoric Reptile-Like Thing), Apatosaurus, Pteranodon (see above parenthetical), Triceratops , Struthiomimus , Stegosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus. Most of them are none too accurate, but then the animatronics were built in the 1960s. Fairly averted with Animal Kingdom's DINOSAUR: Countdown to Extinction which depicts a Styracosaurus , a Alioramus , Parasaurolophus (called a "Hadrosaur", which isn't inaccurate, but Hadrosaur is the family name and not the genus), a Velociraptor (called just "Raptor"), a "Saltasaurus" (called just "Sauropod"), the Pterosaur Cearadactylus , a Compsognathus , an Iguanodon , and of course the Carnotaurus , which is stock now but was not at the time of the ride. Most of them hold up pretty decently today. The Velociraptor lacks feathers but is the correct size. Stuff Blowing Up: Mostly in shows, and not just fireworks displays. Stylistic Suck: Chester and Hester's Dino-rama, a Crappy Carnival full of cartoonish dinosaurs to juxtapose the serious and scientific Dino Institute down the road. As a point of fact, the parking lot it's built in is fake. There was never a real parking lot there. Take That!: In The Great Movie Ride , upon preparing to enter the Nostromo, the gangster from The Public Enemy will often note it's getting horrific… and quip "Jersey?". The Bus Came Back: Some Disney characters who haven't been seen in the parks for years such as Huey, Dewey and Louie and Mrs. Bianca and Bernard have returned to doing meet and greets. Unfortunately, they are only exclusive to Disneyland Paris or Tokyo Disney Resort. However Thumper did return to doing meet and greets at Animal Kingdom sometime in the late 2000's since he hasn't been seen at WDW or Disneyland since the 70's. Flik has also returned to doing meet and greets in Animal Kingdom. Took a Level in Kindness: Some of the characters that guests can meet including villains are a lot more nicer and not as mean or mischevious are they were in the original films they were in and depending on the character. For example, Marie is energetic, sweet and loves showing affection to guests, while in the film she debuted in would mostly act like a Spoiled Brat and arrogant around her brothers. The Talk: Yes, Epcot's The Making of Me was real. While this site does not include the film, it does have a photo of the hilarious disclaimer outside the theater. Still to be answered: is an already overstimulating Disney World vacation really the best time to have this subject brought up, possibly for the first time for some kids? That said, Martin Short actually handled it pretty well. Temple of Doom: The Indiana Jones attractions. At DisneySea, it's complimented by the Raging Spirits coaster. Tempting Fate: Common in performances of Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular .
Alternative Title(s): Disney Parks.
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Posted in Kawasaki Concours.
Thank God for Starbucks and lane splitting. Sitting still in 88 degree weather on the freeway is not my idea of a good time. Seems like everyone else in the world is escaping to Lake Tahoe. Well, at least a rider can get hydration, caffeine, a healthy snack and WiFi thanks to the Pequod’s chief mate.
Possibly the best $29 I have ever spent was on an evaporative cooling vest. After a two minute soak in the bathroom sink at Starbucks (which was immaculately clean) the vest is “charged” com água. You then blot off the inside fabric barrier that stays dry against your shirt, and put it on under your riding jacket. I was then able to ride in complete comfort in 90 degree heat. Surpreendente.
After stocking up on pita, avocado, bananas, water and a salad bowl at the Grass Valley Safeway, I headed north on Hwy 49 towards Downieville. This road is listed in the Destination Highways moto-map book as DH9 and carries a score of 81/100, and it deserves it. It is wonderfully scenic, twisty and empty of traffic. Downieville itself looked very cute, like a preserved gold rush era town. I decided to camp instead of finding a room, but on some future trip, I’m definitely going to stay in Downieville.
I timed my ride so that I could set up camp while it was still light, but only just. I use a great iPhone App named “Sol” that tells you times for sunset, dusk, dawn and sunrise wherever you are. This allowed me to keep riding until I found Chapman Meadows campground around 8:00 P. M.
Getting old is terrible. I remember when hotel rooms were $6.00 at Motel 6, so it makes it painful to pay $21 for one night at an unimproved campground. Well, at least it had “nice” pit toilets. The mosquitoes quickly drove me into my tent where I fell fast asleep straightaway.
The great thing about traveling alone is that you don’t need to cater to anyone else’s schedule. So, at 4:45 A. M., I rousted myself out of my down cocoon, performed my morning ablutions, and started breaking camp. I got on the road a little before six and headed over the Yuba Summit to be treated to a gorgeous sunrise over the Sierra Valley. I left Hwy 49 a little before Sattley and turned north on Hwy 89, headed towards Quincy and Lassen Volcanic National Park beyond. Although I was bundled up in layers, winter gloves, and TurtleFur neck warmer, I was freezing when I arrived at the Express Coffee Shop. Nothing that a spinach omelet and 10 cups of coffee couldn’t cure. Something tells me MyConnie is going to get a few more RPMs now that MY motor is running.
Can you ever overdose on the beautiful conifer forests of the High Sierra? I think not, but you certainly get your fill traveling through the Tahoe and Plumas National Forests. But every once in a while, the trees are interrupted by a glorious body of water like Lake Almanor. I crossed over Canyon Dam and marveled at this man-made interruption to the Feather River. The outlet tower shown behind MyConnie sends the product of this 90 foot deep reservoir to two smaller reservoirs and others downstream to powerhouses capable of creating a total of 360 megawatts of electricity!
I had been to Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park years ago but wanted to experience it’s burbling mudpots and sulphur-spewing springs anew. So I checked my trusty map book and found that the roads to, through, and around Lassen are included in their lists of great motorcycle roads. Without any hesitation I pointed MyConnie north along the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.
One of the troubles of blogging “live” from my AT&T iPhone is how poor their rural mobile phone service is. However, after paying my $10 park entrance fee, I noticed this sign and for a fleeting moment hoped that the U. S. Park Service had embraced modern technology by installing WiFi thorough the park. Alas, it was the icon for an amphitheater I mistook for WiFi symbol. D’Oh!
The Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center shows a great 20 minute documentary film every half hour that explains the history and formation of the park which is the only place on earth with all four types of volcanos.
A mile north is The Sulphur Works where you can smell noxious fumes and see bubbling mud.
After that, it seemed that every quarter mile were increasingly beautiful places that beckoned me to stop and take a photo.
Unfortunately, the walking trails to “Bumpass Hell” which take you right next to all of the bubbling water and mudpots were closed due to safety concerns. But the ride up and over the ridge at around 8,500 feet elevation was spectacular as was the ride down and around to the north end of the park.
At this point, I had enough of solitude and decided to head home. I took a few more “Destination Highways” that were perfect for motorcycles on the way, but most was spent traveling 75 MPH on Hwy 5 in 90 degree heat. Once again, thank God for my evaporative cooling vest and the many rest stops and convenience marts along the way.
Volcano Ride ‘n Photo Tour.
As for this trip, I racked up 671 miles from noon Friday to 6:30 P. M. Saturday, a bit over 30 hours. Not bad for my first Father’s Day weekend solo trip. It’s not often I get so much “me” time to think about life without the distractions of other people (no matter how pleasant) or social media (no matter how addictive – then again, I am writing this post!). I might just have to make this an annual pilgrimage.
Note to fellow bloggers and those thinking about blogging: I took all of the photos above and wrote all of the text during the trip itself using the WordPress App for iPhone. This made ‘capturing the moment‘ much more spontaneous and added to my enjoyment of the ride. I went back later on my computer and added the sections below.
Ride Map: Click here for Google map.
& # 8211; Roads: Since this trip covered so much territory, I encountered: 20 miles of lane splitting to get around everyone headed for Tahoe, wonderfully engineered and paved roads, nicely paved but less well-engineered roads, and tight curves with limited sight lines on the roads between Shingletown and Dales.
& # 8211; Scenery: What can I say, I have been living in California my whole life and I am still awestruck in seeing its majesty. If you are from some other state, COME HERE AND RIDE!
& # 8211; Weather: The weather was absolutely perfect on this Father’s Day weekend, albeit a little warm at times (high 80s) at the lower elevations. The sky was a sapphire blue with those intense puffy white clouds you want to photograph because they are so perfect.
& # 8211; Challenge: Intermediate throughout with the biggest challenge being not getting run over my a semi-truck on Hwy 5.
& # 8211; Food: Plenty of choices along this route. I stopped at Safeway in Grass Valley and stocked up on healthy food and snacks this time – what a concept!
& # 8211; Gas: There were no problems finding gas, but then again, with my 7.5 gallon tank, I could have done the whole thing on way less than three tanks.
& # 8211; Rating: 5-stars (out of 5) for scenic beauty. with a few most excellent motorcycle roads thrown in along the way.
For you aficionados of Bosworth & Sanders excellent book “ Destination Highways of Northern California ” this trip included these DHs & TEs:
Note: I bought the Destination Highways of Northern California book at the last International Motorcycle Show I attended. It is pretty expensive at $60, but I have to say that it is absolutely worth it. I use it to plan all of my northern california trips to ensure I get the most out of my time on the road. Although it is pricey for a map book, they actually put in the time and effort to bring the value to the rider than exceeds your expectation. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to ride in northern california.
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A Trip to Virginia City, Nevada: Motorcycle Gold — Part One.
For the third year in a row, my motorcycle buddies and I planned a trip to the High Sierras over the first weekend in October. We have found that this weekend the traffic is nonexistent, the weather is perfect, and the aspens are all turning gold over the mountain passes. This year, our destination was the old west town of Virginia City and we had something special happen. One of our group entered a raffle and won a brand new motorcycle!
Frequent readers of this blog know that my brother-in-law and frequent riding partner, “Bocci,” rides a Triumph T100 Bonneville that he bought in 2010 as his get-back-into-motorcycling ride. He and I have been all over California and Oregon on my 1,000cc Connie and his 865cc Bonnie. But a while ago, Bocci started to have a wandering eye, making true the sentiment that motorcycling has never really been about monogamy. Bocci was first thinking that a pair of KLR650s would be a nice addition to our stable, allowing us to wander farther afield down forest roads. But I knew that in his heart of hearts, he really has always wanted a Moto Guzzi.
Being a mechanical engineer by trade, Bocci was not afraid of exotic Italian iron and he has talked himself into how the Guzzi’s transverse vee-twin design would make engine maintenance a breeze. So we put the KLR idea on hold and Bocci started lusting after a dual-sport Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX.
Some months later, and without mentioning anything to me, Bocci noticed that the Pro Italia Moto Guzzi dealership in Los Angeles was holding a charity raffle to publicize the opening of their new Triumph franchise. He bought a dozen raffle tickets for $10 each in hopes of winning a brand new Triumph that was a replica of the one Steve McQueen rode in The Great Escape .
As fate would have it, a week before our High Sierra trip, Bocci was washing his Bonnie and missed a phone call. When he noticed the missed call on his mobile phone, he saw that the area code was from Los Angeles. He told me that his hands started to shake a bit before he returned the call, and sure enough, he found out that he had won the replica Triumph, worth $10,000!
The only problem was that it was almost identical to the Triumph he already owned except that it was painted olive drab. Knowing that Pro Italia was also a Guzzi dealership, he asked if he could trade in the Triumph and put the full value towards the Stelvio. Pro Italia was more than accommodating and set him up with the Guzzi of his dreams for a few thousand more.
This hit Bocci like a ton of bricks because now instead of prepping the Bonnie for our annual 600 mile High Sierra tour, he was going to fly to L. A., get a motel room, arrange to be picked up by the dealership, pose for press photos with the replica Triumph, then do the paperwork to buy the Moto Guzzi. He was then going to pack up the Stelvio with his gear for the trip, swing his leg over a new and foreign bike, and head into SoCal traffic towards the back side of the Sierras where we arranged to meet him in Walker, CA the next day. What an adventure!
As for me, I hooked up with my moto-partner in crime, “Ace,” and we headed out to meet Bocci at a Walker barbecue place that we found online. Our fourth rider, Des, was coming south from Jackson and would meet us in Walker, as well.
As we expected for an October trip over the Sonora Pass, Ace and I had great pavement, no traffic, perfect weather and gorgeous scenery. But I got a little surprise when I followed Ace as he pulled off at the unmarked Donnell Lake scenic overlook to stretch. As we dismounted, two other riders joined us in the parking lot, both of whom had BMWs like Ace. So after a bit of Beemer-banter, we took a few photos at the quite spectacular overlook and started to mount up. Just then, another Kawasaki Concours rider rolled in. I stopped my gearing up to be neighborly to a fellow Connie owner when he came up to me and said, “ Hello, P Radsliff .” Never having met him before, I was somewhat taken aback, and Ace was positively dumbfounded. As it turned out, the rider was a member of the Concours Owners Group (COG) and he recognized me from the many photos I posted on the COG forum and from my Me and MyConnie blog. Whereas I don’t think this was my 15 minutes of fame, I still rode out of the parking lot sitting a little bit taller in the saddle, lording my “celebrity” over my riding buddies whenever I got the chance in the following days: see video.
It was really great meeting “ GF-in-CA ” (his COG forum ‘handle’), whose posts I have read and whose opinion I have come to respect. I found out that he is a mechanical engineer and knows what he is doing with motorcycle maintenance. It was great seeing him roll in on his Connie and that it had a bunch of “farkles” on it — i. e. a loose acronym for owner modifications that stands for: F ancy A ccessory R eally K ool L ikely E xpensive . He was riding with his wife two-up which was also great to see. After more pleasantries and a promise to follow up via the COG forum, Ace and I headed east towards Sonora Pass.
As the road got steeper and twistier, we knew we were getting close to the pass. But before reaching the 9,624 ft. summit, we rode through a small valley with a dense copse of aspen trees that were all shimmering brilliant gold. We’ve seen this valley in its gold plumage in years past but it was no less breathtaking seeing it once again. It’s the kind of experience where you find yourself yelling “ Oh my God, this is incredible ” out loud inside your helmet just because you have to share it outside of your inner monologue.
In traversing up and over this formidable High Sierra pass, one can’t help but think of the first wagon train that crossed these jagged peaks in 1841. I wonder how different the roads here might have been if these mountains didn’t form a barrier between the gold and silver mines of Nevada to the east, and the international port of San Francisco to the west. All I know is that the many mountain passes that cross the High Sierras make some of the best motorcycle rides in the world, and they are all in my own back yard.
Ace and I continued down the eastern side of the Sierras into climate and country that is very different than the west side of the summit. Out here it’s all high desert scrub, not the verdant evergreen forests we just left behind. An interesting point of interest we encountered before turning north on Hwy 395 was the Marine Corps Mountain Training Warfare Center which is spread out on the left side of Hwy 108 at Pickel Meadow, CA. It’s not uncommon to see lots of military vehicles running around here, and aircraft as well.
Hwy 395 is a U. S. route that starts in Hesperia, CA about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, and crosses the Oregon border 557 miles later. It continues through Oregon and Washington all the way to the Canadian border. However, in California, state route 395 crosses through terrain that is arguably the most varied and beautiful in the state. Bocci was making the trek from the Los Angeles area up Hwy 395 so he was able to enjoy the stark but beautiful Mojave desert, followed by the spectacular Owens Valley which is just 60 miles west of famed Death Valley. The Owens Valley is framed by mountain escarpments that include Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505 ft. The Owens Valley even features glaciers! Bocci stayed the night in Mammoth Lakes before heading north towards Walker and our rendezvous at Mountain View Barbecue.
We meandered alongside the Walker River which parallels Hwy 395 through deep canyon gorges and wide open high desert plains, eventually coming into the little town of Walker and our new rally point. We were greeted by a parking lot made from two-inch deep pea gravel which always makes for interesting maneuvers on a motorcycle. We saw two bikes parked at the restaurant, an orange Triumph Speed Triple that we knew belonged to Des, and a behemoth of a bike: the Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX: see video.
Approaching the Stelvio from the rear was kind of amazing. With its aluminum panniers, it measures in at 42″ wide—that’s quite a bustle on its hustle! My first thought was that we wouldn’t be lane splitting anytime soon. As I walked around the bike, it was truly a thing of beauty—in a rough and tumble kind of way. Like a HumVee, but as if it were designed by Italians. The Guzzi had interesting angular lines with utilitarian bolt-ons, like the panniers and skid plates. As I walked around the bike, Bocci approached and greeted me by saying, “ She’s a stout beast. ” No doubt, I thought.
During our excellent BBQ lunch, Bocci regaled Des, Ace and myself with stories of his adventures: doing the winner’s photo shoot, packing the Stevio, and heading off into L. A. traffic. He told us about the Guzzi’s massive low-end torque and how well it handled for such a big bike. He bragged about its massive 8.5 gallon gas tank that gave him almost 350 miles range. I guess I can’t boast about the “ measly” 7.5 gallon tank on MyConnie anymore.
But Bocci had a few problems, too. A snap-in turn signal cover vibrated loose and fell off somewhere along his ride. And he felt a strange vibration that he couldn’t tell whether it was intermittent, and/or even normal for this bike that was new to him. He also experienced first hand a characteristic that is prevalent with transverse vee-twins: rev the engine while stopped at a light and the bike lurches sideways from the torque. Still, nothing could wipe off the ear-to-ear grin from a guy who had just won the bike of his dreams. Damn! Attaboy, Bocci.
Next Installment: Part Two – Virginia City.
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International Motorcycle Show: Oppa San Matean Style.
Not many motorcycle enthusiasts are as lucky as I am in that I live five blocks away from the San Mateo Expo Center, home each November to the Progressive International Motorcycle Show. So each year, my riding buddies and I, pay homage to our favorite pastime by getting together to visit the show and see what’s new in the moto world. This year I make a point of taking a lot of photos of the show so that the readers of Me and MyConnie who weren’t able to make it to one of the shows. Hope you enjoy the photos…
Nice Ural in the parking lot! I hope I win it! The raffle Hayabusa. The Twisted Throttle guys always have a great booth.
Lots of exhibitors Nice to try on new helmets from many manufacturers for fit. Lots of contests, as well.
Wild! Chome-OUT Looks like it’s from Toontown.
That’s a lot of chrome Let the good times roll! Great detail.
You could ride a Harley inside the exhibit hall on rollers Nice touch Crazy fancy.
Other side Nice Ninja Lots of MotoGP bikes. Neat to see them up close.
Lots of chopper, too. I’m a sucker for nose art. More contests.
Fun for the kiddies. I’m really thinking about buying a tire mounting setup. All the major manufacturers were there.
I bought the book. It’s fantastic! All the Bay Area Kawi dealers. More inside demo rides.
Red Bull stunt team Driftin’ Crazy!
Backwards wheelies. Incrível.
A young man’s first motorcycle show tradition: booth babe photos Bocci and the Geico Gecko Tire changing contest.
Cool Brit gear A superhero themed bike Dan-O is looking for his first ride.
Ace tried on a few bikes for size Everyone was getting into the act! Now I’ve seen it all: a Warn winch on a bike.
GREAT bike lifting demo Success!! Those Ducatis are sure sweet!
Des like the Ducs, too Or maybe a Honda But there is this guy selling a used Kawi Ninja…
Stones tries on a new Connie for size Ace tries the Connie, as well Maybe a dual-sport?
Another fun part of the show, the food vendors The Twinkies sold out in a few hours after the announcement of bankruptcy Kenny Roberts legendary Yamaha.
About KR It wouldn’t be a show without Flo’
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Four Perfect Motorcycle Days.
Labor Day weekend 2012 will go down in my personal record book as the most epic of motorcycle trips on MyConnie…so far. Four days of motorcycle camping from San Mateo, California to Eugene, Oregon and back, taking the best motorcycle roads in between. This was by far the most ambitious and arduous trip I have made on a bike in my life, racking up 1,455 miles and more than 29 hours in the saddle over four days.
This may not sound like a lot to members of the Iron Butt Association, but these weren’t just flat-out highway miles. We went out of our way to choose a route that wrung the best out of our bikes and riding skills. We started by planning the route around four goals: 1) visiting my son in Eugene, Oregon where he is starting freshman year as an University of Oregon “Duck,” 2) going to my Dad’s property in Chiloquin, Oregon near Klamath Falls to put sealant on his roof prior to winter, 3) choosing awesome motorcycle roads that were recommended by Tim Mayhew of Pashnit, and 4) ending each day at a campground that had beer.
The third requirement was of particular interest to me because I am an avid reader of Pashnit’s California Motorcycle Roads website where I found that there were wonderful places in the state that I had never visited, all connected by roads that are great for bikes. The fourth and final requirement was at the request of my riding buddies who would go along with the interminably long days in the saddle, but only if they didn’t have to ride somewhere to have a beer and then ride back somewhere else to bed down for the night. SInce I was also trying to experience what motorcycle camping was like and cut down on lodging bills, this meant one thing: KOA Kampgrounds.
What’s not to love about a KOA? They have a store with ice cold beer, nice campsites, food within walking distance, online registration…oh, and did I mention ice cold beer? To top it off, the one we were going to stay at has an espresso machine and a gas pump. What more could three motorcyclists want?
We experienced some amazing motorcycle roads and some still more amazing scenery—learning a bit more about ourselves along the way. Here are the highlights of our adventure:
• Avenue of the Giants – Home of the giant redwoods.
We decided to head north taking Highway 101 all the way to Fortuna and then turn east so that we could experience Highway 36 which drew raves on Pashnit. As we entered redwood country, we took a side-route called The Avenue of the Giants which parallels Highway 101 and crosses under it in serpentine fashion for about 20 miles or so. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous with massive redwoods trees, the largest living things on earth, lining both sides of the road. Here is a link to a brief video of us riding through the redwoods along The Avenue of the Giants.
• Highway 36 – One of the best motorcycle roads anywhere.
One interesting item of note, at one point nearing the junction with Highway 3, we came across a sign that read, “ Road Ends 500 Feet. ” We thought, “ What the heck?! ” After riding about an hour and a half just to then find what seemed to be an impenetrable obstacle, we were dumfounded. As it turned out, the road wasn’t impenetrable, just incredibly nerve-wracking. There was road construction going on and for about a quarter mile. The asphalt had been removed and we were faced with what was essentially a gravel road. With no other real options, we sucked up our courage, stood up on our pegs, and let the bikes wiggle crazily beneath us as we drove slowly but confidently over the loose terrain. As it turned out, it was easy-cheesy, but something to remember for sure.
• Highway 3 – Gateway to the Trinity Alps.
Highway 3 north through the Trinity Alps did not disappoint. Like Highway 36, it was a gorgeous road, both in ride-ability and scenery. It didn’t hurt that we were traveling during the time of day photographers know as “the golden hour” right before sundown. It was a strikingly beautiful day with the golden sun low in the sky at our backs or on our left, illuminating the mountains and small towns along the way. After winding an hour more along Highway 3 we rolled into the Trinity Lakes KOA “Kampground.” It was nice to find extremely pleasant staff, a well-stocked store, beer, ice, firewood and a nice little campsite for our three tents and bikes.
After a well-deserved meal at the adjacent food shack (pizza for me, fish ’n chips for Bocci and Ace), we built a fire and started settling in for the evening. The next morning, I woke before dawn to see if I could get any great photos of Trinity Lakes. It was a short mile walk to the shoreline, and I wasn’t disappointed when I was presented the setting moon over hills lit by morning glow.
I sought out a cup of espresso from the Kampground store, after which, we packed up camp, gassed up, and headed north up Highway 3 towards Yreka. We found that rolling through the Trinity Alps provided an entirely different environment than the rolling valleys of Highway 36. After emerging from the mountains, enjoying some wonderful curvy roads with sweeping vistas, we entered a very large flat high-altitude valley dotted with little towns. I had no idea that a mere 30 miles to the west of Highway 5 on the way to Oregon was this idyllic sub-alpine farming area. It was truly breathtaking to roll mile after mile through these valleys surrounded by mountains all around, and such a nice change from the monotonous drone of Highway 5, California’s main north-south route. I highly recommend taking Highway 3 if you are going from the San Francisco Bay Area to points in Oregon and can afford the extra time.
• Roseburg, Oregon – A quaint jewel along the Umpqua river.
• Eugene, Oregon – Home of the University of Oregon Ducks.
We had a great visit with my son after he got off of work delivering pizzas and he introduced us to Voodoo Doughnuts, an experience not to be missed. It seems like my 18 year old is settling into college life as a freshman nicely.
Oregon Hwy 138 – The Umpqua River Valley.
I should mention that Oregon is a mecca for gorgeous motorcycle roads and we certainly spent too much time on Highway 5 when we could have been exploring other river valleys and redwood forests. But we only had four days and needed to accomplish certain goals, so we would just have to leave more Oregonian exploration for a later date.
Oregon Highway 138 towards Crater Lake through the Umpqua River Valley is a gorgeous route. There is a long section where the road is low, twisty and adjacent to the river, and other sections where we cut across vast forests at relatively high speed. All of this led us to the north entrance of Crater Lake National Park, but before we could get in, we found ourselves at the back of a long line of cars stopped dead on the highway. We were surprised at this, and decided that this many people must have the right idea, so we inched forward in line for 45 minutes just to pay our entrance fee to get into the park.
• Crater Lake – Deepest lake in America and possibly the most beautiful.
What a sight! We took a lot of photos at various points around the rim and then decided to skip the lodge as traffic was a mess. It was well worth the trip and the wait in line, though, for the sheer beauty of the lake. We stopped at the Annie Creek Restaurant and waited FOR-EVER for our food, which was mediocre at best. A much better idea would be to continue on to Highway 97, gas up and eat at the KlaMoYa Casino near Chiloquin.
Our goal in visiting the little village of Chiloquin was because I own property there which previously belonged to my parents, and their roof was in bad need of some sealer prior to winter. We quickly found that our bikes did not like the red rock road that led to the house as the Bimmer and MyConnie got stuck. So we hoofed it with my tools to the house and Ace—a contractor by trade—helped me out by shinnying up onto the roof without the help of a ladder and spread the gooey tar over the offending seam.
We finally extracted ourselves from the slippery red rocks by riding out into the meadow, working tenaciously to avoid the holes and cowpies that abounded under shin-high grass. It was already getting late in the afternoon and we had many miles to go to our next campsite, so we decided to leave a visit with the neighbors for my next trip and got back on the road towards Klamath Falls.
• Lava Beds National Monument – California’s overlooked pearl.
We accidentally split up for a short time and I found myself riding a causeway through the middle of Tule Lake trying to find the elusive campground. Do you know what you get at dusk next to a large shallow lake? BUGS! I don’t think I’ve ever tucked-in so tightly on MyConnie, trying to shield my helmet from this entomological onslaught.
After regrouping with my fellow riders, they led the way to the campground, but it was now very dark and we had to fumble our way around to find a site and then set up our tents. However, sometimes luck shines on the ill-prepared because we found a campsite that overlooked the lava beds area and were treated to a blood-red full moon, made that way by the smoke from many California wildfires raging in nearby counties. We came to find out from the campground host that this was the only site left, and it was the best of the lot. And although there was no store with cold beer, there was a nice, clean bathroom building and someone kindly left firewood at our site which Bocci quickly lit ablaze with some help from his camp stove gas. We dined on turkey chili, beef jerky and washed it down with hot chocolate—all-in-all, a nice end to a long day.
At dawn, the views were amazing. We came to find out that there are over 700 lava tubes in the national monument area, 25 of which are open to the public and have trails leading through them. Two campers on adventure bikes told us of one caves is 1.5 miles long with ice in the bottom! This is an area we definitely want to visit again to do some exploring. Not only to see more of this unique geology, but also to experience the incredible light of dawn over the lava beds one more time.
• The Modoc Plateau – California’s upper right corner.
One disappointment was that we didn’t have time to get to Glass Mountain, an entire mountain made of large chunks of obsidian. Not only were we not sure of how to get there, but we knew that the last couple of miles to its over 7,000 foot peak were a dirt and gravel road. So we decided to “punt” on Glass Mountain this time, but affirmed our desire to return there in the not-too-distant future.
Turning south on Highway 139 led us on a high-speed trip through beautiful high country ranch land for quite some distance. We came to a decision point of whether to head west down Highway 299 towards Mount Lassen, or to head east towards Alturas and Highway 395. Bocci’s less-than-bottomless fuel tank on the Triumph made the decision for us as it was only 20 miles to Alturas, so off we went in search of gasoline.
We noticed on Highway 139 and then on the road to Alturas that most of the cars traveling in the opposite direction were all covered with white dust. I noticed this but didn’t think much about it until we reached the gas station. After refueling, I went into the store to buy a map. In walked a very attractive young woman wearing an abbreviated halter and Daisy Dukes. Most notably, she had a foxtail clipped to her backside and was covered with the same white dust that we had seen on the passing traffic. Hmmmmmm…what was going on here?
As I exited the store, we noticed a few other strangely dressed individuals and a large van that had the eastern-Indian greeting “Namasté” emblazoned across the hood. Finally it hit me, these people were all returning from Burning Man! I have heard a lot about this festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where 50,000 people converge to create a sustainable “city” for one week and then leave without any trace that they had been there. I aspire to attend Burning Map someday, but the exhausted look on the white dust-coated people’s faces may make me rethink that position. My main regret now is that I didn’t have the presence of mind to take photos of these desertified miscreants before we left.
Rather than backtrack towards Lassen, we decided to run directly south on Highway 395 to Susanville and then head south and west first on Highway 36, and then on Highway 32 to Chico which sits astride Highway 99. One thing was sure, we were still a very long way from the Bay Area and needed to let our war ponies run.
The run from Alturas to Susanville leads across the Modoc Plateau, a mile-high expanse of lava flows, cinder cones, juniper flats, pine forests, and seasonal lakes. Highway 395 here is dead straight with only intermittent towns along the way. The flat, straight roads and 90 degree heat led to our decision to make the hundred mile run to Susanville a constant 80 mph. Never having been to this part of California before, I was struck with the immensity of the surrounding land and just how remote it was from where most people traverse the state. I’m sure the Modoc Plateau holds many more treasures that we will explore on future trips.
• The High Sierras – The mountains in my back yard.
After reaching Susanville and having a very nice lunch at the Chinese Kitchen, we headed off to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains. We would have liked to have gone through the heart of Lassen National Forest, but different wildfires were still being contained so we consulted the California statewide fire map and devised a route around them because we wanted to avoid any entanglements with fire crews. As it turned out, we found a beautiful route back to the central valley passing by the north shore of Lake Almanor and then down through spectacular pine forests to the town of Chico.
• The “Back Way” Home – Taking roads less travelled.
Bocci and I finally did run into holiday traffic at Vacaville where there was a big traffic jam. We did a little end-around using Google maps and surface streets and eventually got back on track. Our fourth day ended when I arrived home around 9:00 P. M. thoroughly exhausted but exhilarated as well.
Looking back over the previous four days I was just amazed at the different climates and types of geography we traversed. And this from a native Californian who has traveled extensively throughout the state and thought he knew most of its attractions. What I learned is that there is much more to the Golden State than what lies close to major points of interest such as Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and Disneyland. And for those willing to explore on two wheels, there is yet a wide wonderful world to discover within their easy reach while enjoying the journey as much as reaching the destination.
I find myself now less interested in planning for trips to faraway lands and intrigued instead with thoughts of Death Valley, the Salton Sea, Desolation Wilderness, Plumas National Forest, Glass Mountain, Lassen National Park, Big Sur and all points in between. We Californians are truly blessed to enjoy topography this spectacular and year ’round riding weather to keep enjoying it all.
I think I’ll now log in to Pashnit and start planning my next adventure.
Friday August 31st — Monday September 3rd, 2012.
1,455 miles ( day 1 = 424, day 2 = 293, day 3 = 289, day 4 = 449 )
& # 8211; 2001 Kawasaki Concours ZG1000.
& # 8211; 2010 Triumph Bonneville T100.
& # 8211; 1998 BMW R1100RT.
Day One: San Mateo > Trinity Lake KOA Campground = 424 Miles @ 8.5 hours.
Day Two: Trinity Lake KOA Campground > Eugene, Oregon = 293 Miles @ 5.5 hours.
Day Three: Eugene, OR > Lava Beds Nat’l Monument = 289 Miles – 6.25 hours.
Day Four: Lava Beds Nat’l Monument > San Mateo, CA = 449 Miles @ 8.75 hours.
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Me and MyConnie: First Year, First 10,000 Miles.
One Year Down, 10,000 Miles in the Mirror.
I’ve only owned three bikes in my life: a 1967 Honda CL350 Scrambler, a 1979 Suzuki GS750LX Cruiser, and my current ride, the 1,000cc Kawi Concours. I’ve only ever ridden three others: a 2010 BMW R1100RS that I rented, an 80s-era GPz550 I rode at Laguna Seca during Keith Code’s California Superbike School, and my friend’s 2009 Triumph Speed Triple. But it was the advice of an ex-CHP friend of mine that steered me towards the Concours, and I’m so glad he did.
My limited experience with different motorcycles hasn’t allowed me to have much of an opinion about other bikes like v-twins, dual-sports, or the like. In fact, all I really know is Japanese iron with one luscious weekend on a German boxer. So when I reflect on the specs of the rides I have owned, it shows me the following:
What this also tells me is that in terms of power-to-weight ratio (HP/LBS), my Honda was loads o’ fun—something I already knew. But even at a more sedate PTW ratio of 0.16, MyConnie will still impress any Porsche Carrera driver off-the-line, considering their PTW ratio is 0.19. Still, comparing motorcycles to cagers is a fools game as any biker knows. What got me thinking about the past year’s travels was more what I’ve learned, where I’ve gone, and where I’m going.
What I’ve Learned.
I’ve also learned that the old saying that “ you’ll never see a motorcycle parked in front of a psychiatrist’s office ” is really true. Spending a minimum of 1.5 hours a day riding to the office and back has given me the ability to shed tension like no other activity. Seeing the beautiful sights and smells when I take the back roads to the office has put me in the best frame of mind of my entire working career. I can’t even believe I’ve missed out on this for the past twenty years.
And I’ve learned—no… remembered — how great it is to take up an activity that has a huge learning curve with resulting stellar rewards, and also serious penalties. There is no greater learning than putting yourself in a situation where you will be tested. I think it is that, more than all the rest, that I enjoy the most. To challenge myself and see whether I will rise to the occasion, or fall down trying…only to get up, and try all over again. Call it my own “hero’s journey” of sorts. But one where there is no brilliant flash of heroism, only the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from mastering a complex endeavor.
I’ve spend the last year exploring the wonders of Northern California including the golden passes of the High Sierra, the windswept bluffs of the North Coast, and the twisty backroads of San Francisco Bay. The sheer magnificence of our natural surroundings is something that you take for granted when driving inside a cage of steel. Air conditioning masks the smell of eucalyptus, tinted glass dulls the glow of aspen groves, and soft suspension separates us from the hand-hewn roads originally carved by rough men across our great land. More than just a vehicle, my motorcycle has been the vehicle through which my five senses have been reignited.
There has been an incredible amount of information that has helped me from an unlikely source, the Concours Owners Group. Besides being the quintessential knowledge bank for the Kawasaki Concours motorcycle, the group also represents hundreds of years of riding experience through its members who share their wisdom freely, with good humor and camaraderie. Their motto: “ Join for the bike, stay for the people ” couldn’t be more true. And besides the colloquial wisdom of serious amateurs, there is also a potent community of motorcycle professionals within the ranks of COG, both vendor companies like Murph’s Kits and regular people like Shoodabeen Engineering who have raised the level of home wrenching to an art form, and a business that Kawasaki could learn a few things from.
I have found in life that it is never good to drink your own bathwater. Meaning, all of the skill I have regained in the past year has really only served to make me more dangerous by potentially becoming too cocky. Now that a year has passed, it’s time to take stock and plan for the next year of learning, and trying to get rid of that last inch of chicken strip that defines my contact patch like bookends. A few predictions…
I predict that I…
– will watch Keith Code’s A Twist of the Wrist II DVD another 4 times…at least.
– will re-read David Hough’s book, Proficient Motorcycling to bone up on what I missed the first time.
– will start doing overnighter rides where I camp instead of staying in a motel.
– will do a dozen farkles to MyConnie.
– and I predict I will only increase my love for riding and hopefully my skill level, as well.
Until then, I’ll be the one flashing two fingers to you as we pass each other by…but only if you are on two wheels.

Film / Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Editar bloqueado.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 live-action/animated film, with Robert Zemeckis directing the live-action and Richard Williams directing the animation. Its success is largely responsible for setting off The Renaissance Age of Animation, having had a huge influence on executives' attitudes toward seeing animation as more than what it had been in the Dork Age — Disney's 90s animated films, the Pixar films, The Simpsons , Tiny Toon Adventures , Animaniacs , Batman: The Animated Series , Nicktoons, and MTV cartoons would probably never have existed if it weren't for this film. A co-production between Touchstone Pictures (i. e. Disney incognito) and Amblin Entertainment (Steven Spielberg), it is so far the only official crossover with classic Disney, MGM, and Warner Bros. cartoon characters.
Set in an Alternate Universe in the city of Los Angeles in 1947, during The Golden Age of Animation to be specific, this Hardboiled Film Noir depicts a world where cartoon characters are a real ethnic minority living alongside human beings. At the center of the story is Roger Rabbit, a Toon movie star on the run from the police after having been accused of murdering Marvin Acme, a human manufacturer of cartoon props, with whom Roger's wife Jessica happened to be "playing patty-cake". note Not a euphemism, in this case. See Does This Remind You of Anything? abaixo. His only hope is Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), an alcoholic human ex-cop turned private investigator who used to specialize in this kind of case, but has refused to work for Toons ever since one killed his brother by dropping a piano on his head. He winds up getting sucked into the investigation after Roger hides out at his apartment. Together, the two of them uncover something much bigger than either of them expected.
The film is ( very ) loosely based on Gary Wolf's 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? , but owes more to Roman Polanski's Chinatown , as it was originally intended as the final installment of a trilogy which tanked due to the second film, The Two Jakes , flopping.
The title of the film officially has no question mark at the end; rumor has it this is the result of a marketing survey which said films with question marks in the title make less money. The film is notable for being the biggest crossover of famous Western cartoon characters pre-50's than anything that has come before it (it is the first and only official time Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny appear in a scene together).
It also had three Spin-Off theatrical shorts that ran from 1989 to 1993, all of which were included in the film's special edition DVD release. The book series itself used the film as canon.
It should be noted for historical purposes that the entirety of the animation that appears in the film was done BY HAND — no computers of any kind were used, not even Jessica Rabbit's sparkling dress during her song — except for the necessary blue-screening when Eddie Valiant went to Toon Town, where everything was animated, and to operate the player pianos during Donald and Daffy Duck's piano duel.
A sequel was planned shortly after the booming success of the original, but it never came to light. The first obstacle was that the film was intended to be a prequel set during World War II, but Steven Spielberg refused to work on a movie that satirized Nazis after finishing Schindler's List , and he was moving on to start DreamWorks at the time. Then, a skyrocketing (for the time) budget and the advent of computer animation, landed the second movie in deeper waters.
On October 30, 2009, director Robert Zemeckis had confirmed that a second Roger Rabbit movie was on the way, with Zemeckis himself returning to direct the film and the original screenwriters, Seaman and Price, returning as well, but with the dismantling of Zemeckis' studio the sequel's fate is now uncertain.
In February 2013, Wolf himself proposed a Roger/Mickey Mouse vehicle to Disney called The Stooge . Apparently, this will be an all-animated movie which could, in theory, co-exist with the Zemeckis sequel. However, it too has lapsed into Development Hell. Following Bob Hoskins' death from pneumonia in April 2014, the sequel remains in Development Hell. In 2016, Robert Zemeckis announced the reason why there hasn't been anything new on Roger (in both shorts, film, and other small projects) is because the current people at Disney do not like Jessica at all .
Compare and contrast Ralph Bakshi's Cool World , which began as only having similar filmmaking techniques but was watered down into a raunchy version of this.
This film provides examples of:
Abhorrent Admirer: Lena Hyena couldn't possibly be any more of one to Eddie in their only Toontown encounter. Achilles' Heel: Dip, for the toons, and consequently, Judge Doom . Acid Pool: The Big Bad threatens to throw Roger into a barrel full of Dip, a green-colored concoction that is the only thing that can kill Toons. Acrofatic: Okay, Eddie is more chubby than fat, but nobody was expecting such quick reflexes, somersaults, or freaking backflips . Action Survivor: Eddie Valiant — a good and smart one. Adaptation Distillation: The original book, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? , was about Valiant, originally hired by Roger to investigate his bosses' broken promises. When Roger is murdered (or "censored"), Eddie investigates things with the help(?) of Roger's antagonistic wife, Jessica. The movie was basically "An anti-hero and a toon, forced together in a strange bedfellows kind of way, investigate someone else's death, with a plot built around the Los Angeles Streetcar Conspiracy." All other books that followed retconned this into Jessica Rabbit having a dream. Adaptational Heroism: Jessica and Roger himself . The former was a Femme FataleGold Digger and former porn actress, while the latter was revealed to be a murderer who tried to make Eddie the Fall Guy. Adaptational Ugliness: This happens with Eddie Valiant. The Eddie from the original book, as a parody of a pulp hero, is noted by several characters as being very attractive. Film Eddie, as a parody of a noir hero, is beaten down and schlubby. The Alcoholic: Eddie, after his brother's death. He's almost a booze-seeking warhead, in fact.
Roger : "I didn't know where your office was, so I asked the news-boy. He didn't know, so I asked the fireman, the greengrocer, the butcher, the baker, they didn't know! But the liquor-store guy, he knew!"
Eddie : "One too many refrigerators dropped on his head?"
Without that gun I had no fun, I'll kick you in the.
[A vase drops on Eddie's head, knocking him out.]
Roger (desperately interjecting): Nose!
Smart Ass: Nose? That don't rhyme with walls.
Dance Party Ending: The assembled Toons singing and dancing to "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile". Dark Is Evil: Judge Doom's entire wardrobe is black as pitch, even his cane, a sure sign that he's not just bad news, but the real mastermind behind the scheme to buy up Toontown . It also makes it easier to conceal his true toon form . David vs. Goliath: Eddie Valiant (5.3' feet tall, chubby) vs. Judge Doom (6.1' feet tall, slight build, a super strong, nearly-immortal Toon ) Guess who won. Dawson Casting: Parodied in-universe. Baby Herman looks like and plays a mindless newborn baby, but is actually in his fifties. Deader Than Dead: As demonstrated by the weasels, dying usually isn't such a big deal for toons. Being dissolved in The Dip, however. Deadpan Snarker: Quite a few characters actually. Eddie Valiant.
RK Maroon: Let's call the other fifty a carrot to finish the job.
Eddie: You've been hanging around rabbits too long.
Roger : Why I resent that innuendo!
Santino : I already got a stiff on my hands, thank you.
Eddie : Got a thing for rabbits, huh?
Jessica is the only notable exception to this. Benny might also count. when he's forced to drive another car. Duck Season, Rabbit Season: Just before Roger is about to get "dipped", Eddie does this to trick him into drinking another shot of bourbon to produce the same effect the stuff had on Roger at R. K. Maroon's office. Dying Declaration of Love: Jessica confesses her love to Roger while both are tied together, at a time when the situation looks hopeless. Dynamic Entry: The weasels bust their way into Eddie's office looking for Roger by shooting the doorknob out. As seen under Big Damn Heroes, Roger bursts into the Acme factory through a sewer pipe and attempts to hold the weasels and Doom at gunpoint. Ears as Hair: Roger wrings water out of his ears, and yet it hurts him when Eddie picks him up by the ears. Since toons operate on Rule of Funny, it's safe to assume they can do whatever they want as long as there's a chance it'll be funny. Eddie jerking Roger around wasn't funny. Empty Chair Memorial: The other chair in Eddie's office is his brother's. When Roger tries to sit down in it, Eddie goes bonkers. Era-Specific Personality: Most of the classic cartoons act according to their shorts the film's timelime represents. Most notable with Daffy, who acts much more akin to his Cloudcuckoolander persona from the 1940s (he gets in his later "You're Dethpicable!" catchphrase once though). Occasional references from later appearances are made however, see Anachronism Stew above. Escalating War: Donald Duck vs. Daffy Duck at the Ink and Paint Club. Establishing Character Moment: Eddie derisively saying "toons" and knocking back a bottle. Jessica Rabbit's entire entrance at the Ink and Paint Club emphasizing her appearance and Femme Fatale personality while her song focuses on her utter disinterest in men who don't "do right" while she uses her appearance to support herself and Roger. Eternally Pearly-White Teeth: Judge Doom. Justified in that he's not human . Eureka Moment Eddie Valiant finding Marvin Acme's will in one of the pictures he took - first through the base of a whiskey glass, then with his magnifying glass. However, he literally says "the hell with it" and would have crawled into a bottle and out of the movie if Roger hadn't shown up in his bed(Less Disturbing in Context). Eddie Valiant's revelation on Cloverleaf while listening to the newsreel in the theater - where Cloverleaf buys Maroon Cartoon Studios. "That's it! That's the connection!" Then again when Judge Doom harangues the Weasels, "One of these days, you idiots are going to laugh yourselves to death!" Comes complete with the eureka "ping". Even Evil Has Standards: Maroon thinks little of blackmailing his neighbor with patty-cake pictures, but never intended for Acme to get killed over it and doesn't want Toontown destroyed. Everything's Better with Sparkles: Jessica's dress on stage. Heck, the dress was supposed to sparkle throughout the whole movie, but it would have been too difficult and expensive to do it. Evil Albino: Judge Doom. Evil Gloating/Motive Rant: Judge Doom again. Evil Is Hammy: Just take a wild guess. Evil Plan: Judge Doom wants to destroy Toontown and use the land to build a freeway . Evil Sounds Deep: Completely inverted. Exact Words: Never ask a Toon to give you a "spare" of something if you don't want a tire. And it's not a good idea to ask for a drink "on the rocks" if you actually want ice. Again, this is because Toons work on Rule of Funny. When Roger and Eddie use Benny to escape from the weasels, a couple of cops on motorbikes give chase too, and Roger remarks there are cops right behind them. Benny reverses into an alley and says, "Not for long, Roger. Now they're right in front of us." Exactly What I Aimed At: How Eddie deals with Judge Doom , given that he knows from extensive experience that a Toon punch-hammer wouldn't even slow him down. Releasing the Dipmobile's spigot on the other hand. The Exit Is That Way: "That's the closet!" Expy: Jessica Rabbit's design and career is a more vampish version of Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood. Eye Shock: In the nightclub scene when Jessica Rabbit is on stage, combined with Wolf Whistle. Eye Take: The weasels do one that fills the windscreen of their wagon during an Oh, Crap! moment when Benny evades them and they realise they're about to crash into two cops. Failed Attempt at Drama: . but Roger's a toon. If it would've been successful, he wouldn't be a toon. Family-Unfriendly Death: The cute little cartoon shoe that is shoved in the dip, slowly and gradually as it squeals in pain , is rather painful to watch, especially after Doom emphasizes beforehand that, unlike usual cartoon deaths, this is very real. Arguably R. K. Maroon being shot by Doom , with a long bleak shot of his corpse afterwards. Adds a slightly dark tint since Eddie inadvertently assisted it via his Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique. Double-subverted. Doom's death by steamroller would have been a hell of a nasty way to go, then you see him stand up. The double-subversion comes when he gets melted by dip , in a slightly more family-friendly, but no less horrifying way. Fanservice: Just about any scene involving Jessica. Subtlety doesn't come into it. Fan Disservice The scene where Jessica meets a shirtless and very hairy Eddie in his office. Lena Hyena, the exact opposite to Jessica. Fantastic Racism: Actually played much more realistically than about 99% of examples of this trope. While Eddie came to hate Toons because one killed his brother, he's not a slathering KKK-style racist about it. he generally treats Toons about the same as he treats everyone else, he just doesn't want to be around them if he can help it. It's handled especially well in his treatment of Betty Boop. It's very obvious that he cares for her as a friend and feels upset that she's so hard up she's working as a cigarette girl at a bar. Many times, real-world racists actually do have friends and even family of the races they claim to hate. Not just Eddie (although in addition to the above mentioned, he also tosses the word, "Toon" around as if it's a slur), but the movie in general kind of depicts toons almost as second-class citizens. The Ink and Paint Club, where toons either entertain or work, is based on many a bar or club back in the days of segregation, where African-Americans may have been allowed to perform, or even wait and tend bars, but were not allowed in as customers or visitors. Fantastic Noir: Your run-of-the-mill, gritty Hardboiled Detective Film Noir story with the cartoon characters and everything. Fat and Skinny Eddie Valiant is short and stocky. Teddy Valiant, in the one brief glimpse we see of him in a photograph, is tall and slender. Also Eddie and Roger (who is quite skinny). Feel No Pain: Roger demonstrates this with the refrigerator that's dropped on his head 23 times and repeatedly when the record player skips, resulting in several broken dishes. Averted when it comes to his ears. He hates having them pulled. Truth in Television since rabbits' ears are generally very sensitive and grabbing one by the ears can cause serious harm. Felony Misdemeanor: Roger's deeply in love with his wife Jessica, and is horrified when Eddie finds photographs of her and Mr. Acme "Playing Patty-cake." If you're wondering what "Playing Patty-cake" is a euphemism for. Toons consider it to be equivalent of sex. Roger is deeply hurt . Partially subverted in that they are, in fact, playing patty-cake. This is an artifact from the novel, where "playing patty-cake" was used as a euphemism for sex. Femme Fatale: Jessica. What would a hard-boiled detective story be without one? Fictional Currency: "Simoleons" are apparently an actual Toontown currency. Film Noir: The underlying plot is almost classic film noir: "I'm going to listen you spin Cloverleaf's scenario — the story of greed, sex, and murder" note "And the parts that I don't like, I'm gonna edit out. " . Flat "What.": Eddie says this when he is first informed that Marvin Acme was killed by, supposedly, a cartoon rabbit. He responds the same way when Dolores informs him that it is Cloverleaf that seeks to own Toontown and will do so if Acme's will doesn't show by midnight that night. Flirtatious Smack on the Ass: Baby Herman dispatches his nursemaid / handler with a smack on her ass, as well as sending her to get a racing form. Baby Herman does this in order to have a private and serious conversation with detective Eddie Valiant. Foil: Eddie and Roger form this for each other. Roger is an overly-idealistic person who's forced to deal with the fact that things aren't as perfect as he likes to pretend they are, while Eddie is an overly-cynical person who needs help remembering that the world isn't as horrible as he thinks it is. For Happiness: According to Roger, a Toon's whole purpose in life is to make people laugh. For the Evulz: Judge Doom and the Weasels. For the Funnyz: Toons operate on this principle in general. Foreshadowing When Christopher Lloyd read the script instruction never to blink his eyes, he cried out "He's a Toon!" . Near the beginning, when asked if he has a car, Eddie says the he doesn't need one in L. A. since it "has the best public transportation system in the world." Turns out that a major plot point in the film is that Judge Doom bought the Red Car so that he could dismantle it. Teddy Valiant and Marvin Acme were both killed by heavy objects being dropped on them. Turns out it's the modus operandi of one Judge Doom . When Valiant comments wondering how Doom could be a judge, Lt. Santino mentioned that he bought the election in Toontown with a lot of money. He acquired it by stealing during the robbery where he killed Eddie's brother .
"Somebody musta made her do it!" "Stop that laughing! You know what happens when you can't! Stop! Laughing?! (shuts up Stupid by throwing a plunger at him) One of these days, you're gonna die laughing!" "A laugh can be a very powerful thing . Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have." Pretty much everything about Judge Doom. He's Obviously Evil in every sense of the word. In outfit, name, and the way he presents himself. While the other characters are played more realistically, he's not subtle in the least, in actions or appearance. This makes a lot more sense when it's revealed he's a Toon, who are by their nature over the top . Doom's clothes dramatically blow in the wind despite the fact that no one else's does because there's no wind. Just another dramatic effect adopted by a Toon. Doom allows Eddie to give Roger one last drink, and even lets them do a Duck Season, Rabbit Season bit. Remember when Roger said he could only do something when it was funny? Eddie's line "I don't know who's Toonier; you [Roger] or Doom !" Notice the way Doom slips on the fake eyeballs, flailing in midair for a moment instead of falling right away. Also, he’s covering one eye with his hand when he gets up, for reasons that will be evident later. Cloverleaf, as in the shape of highway on-ramps. "Unless Acme's will shows by midnight tonight, Toontown's gonna be land for the free—" (two gunshots to the back) When Eddie knocks over the drum of Dip when escaping from the bar, Doom backs away from it. This is mentioned in the commentary. This also provides a second explanation for why Judge Doom puts on a big rubber glove to Dip the shoe: It'd take his hand off because he's a Toon, not because it's toxic . In the same vein, when Jessica gets the drop on Eddie in Toon Town she shoots Doom, clearly hitting him straight in the chest. He's up and running away, perfectly fine, moments later. The aforementioned photo on Teddy Valiant's desk of him, Eddie, and their father in the circus wearing full clown gear foreshadows some of Eddie's behavior in the climax. Eddie: "Sure, I got the will " (knowing full well it was really Roger's love letter to Jessica). Turns out the "clean piece of paper" Roger wrote his letter on was indeed Acme's will all along which was written in disappearing/reappearing ink . Freak Out!: Even the normally stoic Jessica is scared of "The Dip". Freeze-Frame Bonus Fans of Golden Age cartoons have worn out their pause buttons trying to count all of the cameos from classic cartoon characters. The closest estimate is 90 . There's a plaque inside Eddie's toon gun case that reads, "Thanks for getting me out of the Hoosegow. Yosemite Sam" note hoosegow is slang for prison The out-of-order bathroom that Eddie steps into in Toontown has graffiti that reads "For a good time, call Allyson Wonderland, the best is yet to be" . Eddie hangs his hat on a Maltese Falcon when he enters his office. After the car crash, when Jessica is whirling away with her legs spread, freezing a specific frame reveals that she "going commando." This has been censored in the subsequent digital editions. After the dip machine crashes through the wall over into Toon Town , watch one frame at a time and see a different murder or death going on in each window of the train it gets hit by . Functional Genre Savvy: Eddie Valiant and Judge Doom both know enough about cartoons to manipulate the various toons they work with (mostly Roger). Eddie still remembers only a second too late that when you order a scotch "on the rocks" at a toon-staffed club, you better specify you mean ice. Fun with Flushing: While trying to sneak into the Acme factory, Roger falls on the toilet and gets flushed down. He later comes out a drain pipe in the factory floor for a (failed) Big Damn Heroes moment. Funny Octopus: There's an octopus working the wet bar of the Ink And Paint Club, where he mixes drinks, serves patrons, polishes glassware and examines notes for counterfeits all at once. Furry Confusion: Benny the Cab drives a non-sentient Alleged Car that Roger was driving. In Toontown, there's a poster of Porky Pig's own brand of "All-Beef Sausage".
Gag Boobs: Jessica Rabbit. "Nice booby-trap". Gainaxing: Jessica Rabbit's breasts, which have a habit of bumping into things. Oddly enough, Jessica's boobs reverse - Gainax, moving in the opposite direction of normal walking movement (basically, they bounce up rather than down when she walks), in part to make her more cartoony. Genius Loci: Some of the buildings in Toontown have eyes as windows and move around a lot. Then again, they're toons and almost anything is alive in Toontown. Genocide from the Inside: Doom is in fact a toon, and attempts to wipe out all toons and Toontown. Getting Crap Past the Radar: Lots . Most prominent example: A Booby Trap . Then there is Baby Herman, with his "50 year-old lust and 3-year old dinky". The brand of oven in the opening cartoon is *Hotternell* - i. e., "hotter than hell." Eddie showing rather than telling Smart-Ass what rhymes with "walls." Dolores "had to shake the weasels". It Makes Sense in Context, but still. Bongo the Toon Gorilla Bouncer at the Ink-N-Paint Club calls Eddie a "wiseass" after his sarcastic remark, and then gives him the finger. "Don't bust a button, Dolores. You've only got one left." is a PG-13 remark about Dolores' low-V-cut blouse. Even though Dolores' blouse actually has two buttons. Related to the above, at one point Eddie encourages Dolores to duck. by reaching up and grabbing her right in the center of her cleavage. The (very briefly visible) look on her face is priceless. Subverted with Marvin Acme and Jessica Rabbit playing "Patty Cake". Roger was still hit with a Heroic B. S.O. D. Contudo. As Eddie enters the "out-of-order" restroom in Toontown, there's a particular message written on the wall beside him (See the Bathroom Stall Graffiti example above). When Lena Hyena notices Eddie she licks her lips and fixes her breast. It's implied that she wasn't simply planning to kiss him. Ugh. Near the end of the film when the toons are discussing Judge Doom's true identity and a number of animal species are are being suggested, Sylvester says "A Pussy?" prompting a Signature Laugh from Woody Woodpecker. Glass-Shattering Sound: See Make Me Wanna Shout. Good-Guy Bar: The Terminal Station Bar, sort of. G-Rated Sex: Roger reacts to secret photos of his wife Jessica and Marvin Acme playing "Patty-Cake" as if he'd been presented with photographs of them having acrobatic sex. This is carried further in the short films, where, at the end of the "Tummy Trouble" Maroon Cartoon shoot, Jessica seductively promises Roger a game of patty-cake as a reward. Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Eddie figures this out firsthand upon his return to Toontown in the "Mickey/Bugs" scene. Groin Attack: At least four different ones during the course of the movie. Two of them were cut off from the 20-year celebration edition DVD. Hair of the Dog: The first thing Eddie does after being woken up after a night of Drowning My Sorrows is to grab a fresh bottle of Wild Turkey and start pounding it down. Hanging Judge: Judge Doom, who happily attempts to use Dip on toons whenever he can. Hardboiled Detective: Eddie Valiant. Lampshaded when he force-feeds a minor character a hard-boiled egg for mocking him over the fact he's working for a cartoon producer. Happily Married: Roger and Jessica. Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: Baby Herman. Held Gaze: Eddie and Dolores have one before their Almost Kiss that is interrupted by Roger. Helium Speech: Judge Doom , when he reveals his true identity. Hello, Nurse!: Jessica Rabbit. Heroes Gone Fishing: According to the photos in Roger's wallet, he and Jessica spent some time at the beach (possibly on their honeymoon) and at the Brown Derby Restaurant. After the aforementioned scene above, Eddie also looks at photos, which include him with Dolores (probably during their trip to Catalina), and then some of him with Teddy on a beach. Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny go parachuting in their spare time, apparently, as seen when Eddie falls out of the building in Toontown. Heroes Want Redheads: Jessica. "Hey, You!" Haymaker: Jessica does it to Eddie while at the site of Acme's murder.
Donald Duck: Oh, yeah?! [grabs Daffy and throws him into his piano]
Mad Scientist: Judge Doom. He invented the Dip. Make Me Wanna Shout: Roger's glass-breaking "steam whistle" after drinking strong liquor. Malaproper: Smart Ass, the leader of the weasels. "Shall I ripose of him right now, boss?" "Look Valiant, we got a reliable tipoff, the rabbit was here, and was corrugated by several others." "Search the place, boys, and leave no stone interned." "You want us to dis-resemble the place?" Judge Doom corrects him on this one. "No, Sergeant; disassembling the place won't be necessary." Also, Roger's comment about his uncle's problems with his "probate" when Eddie asks Dolores to check the probate. (Eddie corrects him on that one, however, saying, "Not prostate, you idiot, probate !"). Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Cartoon characters from just about every animation studio in existence in the 1940s appear in the movie. Meaningful Echo: Roger is seen entertaining the bar patrons with an improvised song and dance routine to "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" (aka the Looney Tunes theme) with a few of the lyrics made about Eddie. Later, during the climactic fight in the Acme warehouse, Eddie foils the weasels by and doing an improvised routine to the same theme with some of his lyrics made about Roger. This may show that not only is Eddie getting his sense of humor back, but also how he's warmed up to Roger over the course of the movie. On top of that Roger's version may double as foreshadowing.
Eddie : Now Roger is his name, laughter is his game, come on you dope, untie his rope, and watch him go insane.
Eddie: Got a thing for rabbits, huh?
Also Lena Hyena, who's not a hyena but a human toon. Noodle Incident: How did Eddie get Yosemite Sam out of "the hoosegow"? We'll never know. The scrapbook of Eddie and Teddy's previous cases provides a couple of these. Apparently, Goofywas accused (obviously falsely) of espionage at some point. Not Distracted by the Sexy: While every other male character thinks very lustfully of Jessica, Roger seems alone in seeing her as a human being (kinda?), not a piece of meat. Roger is, as she puts it, the only guy who can "make her laugh," which could mean he's the only guy she knows who's main concern is her happiness. Not Growing Up Sucks: "I gotta 50-year-old lust and a 3-year old dinky." Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Jessica Rabbit's quote lampshades her status as Ms. Fanservice.
Valiant: Roger? He chickened out on me back at the studio.
Jessica No he didn't. I hit him on the head with a frying pan and put him in the trunk. so he wouldn't get hurt.
Eddie and Roger when they're chased by two cops on bikes down an alley and the Toon Patrol wagon pulls into the same alley in front of them. The weasels, accompanied with an Eye Take, when they're about to crash into the same two cops mentioned above after Benny evades them. And, of course, Jessica: "Oh my God, it's DIIIIIIIIP. " Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: For the most part, Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant does an impeccable American accent, but he does have one moment where he slides from "hard-boiled American detective" to "British West-country farmer": when he sees Roger hiding in a desk drawer and yells at him to "GET OUTTA THERE!" In this case, it's not the pronunciation so much as the inflection; most Americans would put the emphasis on "outta", but Hoskins as Eddie puts it on "there". In the same scene, when he says "not anymore" (in response to Roger saying, "When a Toon's in trouble, there's only one place to go: Valiant and Valiant.") and "don't ever" (as in "For starters, don't ever kiss me again."), he suddenly sounds more like Miles O'Brien than Sam Spade. The accent slips again when he says "murder" to R. K. Maroon (as in "A story of greed, sex and murder.") when pretending to. In short, he seems to have trouble with words ending in the "r" sound. Older Than They Look: "Baby" Herman. Omnicidal Maniac: Judge Doom 's true nature. One-Winged Angel: Judge Doom's Toon form , complete with transforming appendages. Made more horrifying knowing that it is his true form and the only parts visible are his crazy eyes. Opera Gloves: Jessica. Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: Dolores, referring to the bulge caused by Eddie hiding Roger under his coat. O. O.C. Is Serious Business: Jessica Rabbit only loses her composure when faced with Death By Dip. Outside Ride: Eddie hitches a ride on the back bumper of a Red Car. Pain-Powered Leap: Yosemite Sam jumps all the way from Toontown when his butt is lit on fire. Paper People: This is how we learn the truth about Judge Doom . Parental Bonus: The Film Noir Parody, several of the Lampshaded Double Entendres, and the much older cartoon characters appearing in the background (Betty Boop, Harvey Toons, etc.)
"Not prostate you idiot, probate !"
Acme and Jessica "playing pattycake". Toontown is practically composed of nothing but this. Eddie speaking about the stupidity of the cartoon bullets: "Dum-dums." Punched Across the Room: Judge Doom to Eddie Valiant using his "anvil hand". Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Eddie: "I! DON'T! WORK! FOR! TOONS!" When Judge Doom reveals his true identity to Eddie.
Roger: No, not at any time, only when it was funny .
Sacrificial Lamb: The red toon shoe that Judge Doom kills in the Dip to demonstrate the threat he poses. Scary Shiny Glasses: Doom pulls off one of the scariest live action invocations of this trope when staring down Eddie. Scenery Porn: To a degree, due to the film noir-style lighting. Screams Like a Little Girl: Judge Doom , having started talking in a high-pitched, squeaky, almost girlish voice all too familiar to Eddie once he is exposed as a Toon , screams in this manner after getting hit by the Dip. Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Subverted. Eddie thinks Roger is doing one when he sees a car driving out of the studios after Maroon is shot dead. It turns out to be Jessica, who had Roger in the trunk. Secondary Character Title: Roger Rabbit is not actually the main character. He's just the one who solicits the services of the story's actual protagonist, human detective Eddie Valiant. Roger steals every scene he's in and is pivotal to the case, though. Seesaw Catapult: at Maroon Studio, a hippo ballet dancer sits down on a bench next to a man, launching him into the air. Selective Magnetism: The Acme magnet Eddie uses against Judge Doom . Setting Update: A rare inversion of this as the original novel was published and set in then-Present Day early 1980s, but the movie pushes the setting back over 30 years to 1947 having been inspired by classic Film NoirHardboiled Detective mysteries of the time. Sexy Silhouette: Subverted. When Eddie visits Toontown and thinks he's stumbled on to Jessica Rabbit, he actually runs into Lena Hyena. One word: "butterface". Although Jessica really does make one when she visits Eddie's office and when she's running to her car outside Maroon Studios. Sexy Walk: Jessica Rabbit walks this way. Shapeshifter Weapon: In the final battle, Judge Doom uses this ability to attack Valiant, turning one fist into an anvil and then a buzzsaw. Shave and a Haircut: Used by Doom to lure Roger out from a hiding spot, as Toons apparently can't resist finishing the line. Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Baby Herman is this. Cute and innocent on the outside. definitely not innocent but another kind of cute on the inside. Shoot Out the Lock: The weasels use a machine gun to shoot a hole around the lock on Eddie's door to open it. Shout-Out: There are dozens of these: to Golden Age cartoons, live action films ( The Maltese Falcon , The Wizard of Oz , Sunset Boulevard , Chinatown , and Back to the Future ) and the play Harvey . In Maroon's second scene, he's wielding what looks like the Golden Gun. Jessica's Veronica Lake hairstyle. Show Within a Show: The Maroon cartoon "Somethin's Cookin'", starring Roger Rabbit. Sickeningly Sweethearts: Jessica and Roger. Sickly Green Glow: The dip. Side Boob, and plenty of it, from Jessica. Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Jessica Rabbit. Not that anyone noticed. Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Eddie literally has this attitude toward Roger. Sincerity Mode: Roger's apologetic tone when explaining the Rule of Funny suggests that he's not just trolling, and isn't any more pleased than Eddie is about how he couldn't slip out of the cuffs any sooner. Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Jessica and Roger. So much that her "He makes me laugh" is the top quote on the page. Sissy Villain: The chief weasel is seen by some as this, particularly given that he wears a light pink suit. Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Roger and Eddie occupy opposite ends of the scale, allowing them to serve as foils for each other. Slipped the Ropes: Roger Rabbit can slip out of his cuffs at any given moment, but only if it's funny. Smelly Feet: The weasels burst into Valiant & Valiant to find Roger, currently handcuffed to Eddie. All they find is Eddie washing something in the sink.
(Weasel turns away in disgust holding his nose, just missing Roger as he sticks his head up to breathe)
Eddie: Yeah well. you don't know how hard it is being a man, looking at a woman looking the way you do.
Eddie: Who says I'm here by myself?
[Cut to Jessica Rabbit throwing Roger in her trunk.]
And when Roger holds Doom at gunpoint, he says, "We toons may act idiotic, but we're not stupid ! We demand justice! Why, the real meaning of the word would hit you like a ton of bricks!" What do you think lands on him immediately after he says that? Technically a Smile: Judge Doom seems very humorless, even when everyone else is laughing at a joke. When he does smile, it shuts them right up. It turns out that his true personality is more into Slasher Smiles. That's All, Folks!: Porky Pig says this at the end with Tinker Bell doing her ending shtick immediately afterward. This Is a Drill: Judge Doom at the end. This Is Reality: As an armed Roger goes off to rescue Jessica and Eddie, Benny warns him, "Be careful with that gun! This ain't no cartoon, ya know." Justified, as Roger is an actor, and Benny tells him this is not a cartoon starring him or anyone else nor is he in Toontown anymore: the perils are very much real, and there is a good chance he may not come out alive. This Means War!: As Daffy and Donald engage in their dueling pianos session at the Ink and Paint Club, they get into an argument, culminating in Donald throwing Daffy into his piano and slamming the lid shut over the latter duck's head, with only his beak sticking out. At this point, we hear Daffy dazedly say, "Thith meanth war. ", and the competition heats up from there. Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Roger and Jessica. Also, Eddie and Dolores, rather less pronounced. Toilet Teleportation: Roger Rabbit (accidentally) uses this trick. Token Minority: Along with Positive Discrimination. The only black character in the movie is a one-armed black veteran with a Purple Heart who frequents Dolores' restaurant. Too Dumb to Live: Roger has a few moments of this. Roger can't resist, no matter how much he tries to, finishing the "Shave And A Haircut" tune by bursting through the wall behind Judge Doom and going "TWO BITS!", even though he knows it means going to his own death. Doom knows this. Roger also sings and dances loud enough to be heard from the street while wanted for murder, despite knowing full well he faces certain death if he's caught. His defense when Eddie confronts him with this: "But I'm a toon! Toons are supposed to make people laugh!" Luckily for him, this one ends up working in his favor, forcing Doom to use the "Shave And A Haircut" trick to get Roger to come to him. The weasels too, because they laugh at rather more than they should, even though they know if they laugh too hard and too much, it could end up killing them, as had happened to their hyena cousins, as noted by Doom. It does, as Eddie uses this to his advantage to get rid of them, except Smart Ass, who gets a Groin Attack that lands him in the Dip. Took a Level in Kindness Both Roger and Jessica, compared to the original book. Eddie's about the same in both versions. He does get progressively nicer over the course of the film, though, even regaining his sense of humor. Toon Physics: Naturally. Toon Town: The Trope Namer (or Trope Codifier, depending on how you look at it. ) Toon Transformation: Played with in a Deleted Scene where Eddie has an animated pig's head painted over his own head when he entered Toontown. This is also why he has just showered in the middle of the day when Jessica shows up in his office.
Roger also does this to Maroon's gun, which he found in Eddie's car, upon gaining entry to the ACME Factory. Tragic Bigot: Eddie Valiant came to hate Toontown and the toons in it after one killed his brother. Trick Bullet: Eddie use a gun that fires toon bullets: bullets that are self-aware cartoons and can steer themselves in flight. Unfortunately, they aren't the brightest of toons. Tuft of Head Fur: Roger Rabbit has a tuft of red hair on his head that is different from the white fur over the rest of his body. Twisted Echo Cut: When Valiant is photographing Acme and Jessica "playing pattycake", you can hear Acme saying "Pattycake. pattycake. " getting more excited each time. The scene then switches to Maroon's office, where Roger is virtually screaming "PATTYCAKE! PATTYCAKE!" in disbelief after being shown the pictures. The way the scene was cut kept the repetition of "pattycake" unbroken between scenes. Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Donald Duck and Daffy Duck are seen in a piano battle that quickly escalates into an actual duel. Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Dolores and Valiant. Kind of makes the story sweet in a G-related way. Then of course, naturally, there are moments of this in earlier scenes between Eddie and Jessica. The Unreveal: We never get to see all of Judge Doom's real Toon form nor learn his true identity . In-universe, Eddie sees the reveal of Judge Doom being a toon this way due to how crazy his ultimate goal was. The Unsmile: Judge Doom seems very humourless, even when everyone else is laughing at a joke. When he does smile, it shuts them right up. It turns out that his true personality is more into Slasher Smiles. Unusual Euphemism: Santino refers to Acme's murder as getting "kacked." Unwilling Suspension Unwitting Pawn: Eddie's simple case in the beginning - to find proof that Jessica is cheating on Roger - was actually a ploy to give Roger a motive for killing Acme. The reason he takes Roger's case is to get back at the people who used him. R. K. Maroon ends up on both ends of the trope. He used Eddie in his plot to blackmail Acme, but Cloverleaf turned out to have used Maroon as a pawn in getting their hands on Toontown . Values Dissonance: In-universe, Roger and Jessica are considered an odd couple, but for different reasons depending on perspective: Humans (like Eddie) wonder what a knockout bombshell like Jessica is doing with a goofball like Roger. Toons think Jessica is the one who made out like a bandit, which makes sense if you compare their careers. Jessica is a Lounge Singer (albeit a high-class lounge singer), while Roger is an A-list celeb in the toon world, on par with Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny. It's an even bigger step up in the book, as Jessica got her start in Tijuana Bibles, which essentially makes her a porn starlet. On a more philosophical note, the most important attribute in Toon society is humor. Roger's Funny Animal looks thus make him the equivalent of Leonardo DiCaprio. and Jessica's Impossible Hourglass Figure makes her the equivalent of an acne-scarred nerd. (Although both Benny and Greasy seem to find her plenty physically appealing.) Jessica's reason is "He makes me laugh." Which, toon or human, can be considered a heartwarming moment - Roger makes Jessica happy, and in the end isn't that the most important ingredient for a happy marriage? It also could be that this ability is more widely prized in the Toon world than in human circles. Vapor Wear: Jessica Rabbit doesn't seem to have any undergarments, but she's "just drawn that way". Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The Cloverleaf plot is based on a real-life urban legend that General Motors bought the Los Angeles Red Car Trolley system to shut it down. The Bradford-Snell conspiracy theory has been thoroughly debunked; GM didn't buy up the Red Cars until years after they had been converted to a bus system due to problems with funding maintenance and expansion (they actually were convicted of conspiracy related to the affair, but not for that reason). Victoria's Secret Compartment: Greasy Weasel tries to search Jessica's cleavage for Acme's will, and gets his hand caught in a Bear Trap. She's definitely not happy to see him.
Eddie: Not really. That lame-brained freeway idea could only be cooked up by a Toon !
Betty: (putting down a tray of cigars and cigarettes) Long time no see.
Eddie: What are you doing here?
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Cruiser performance with attitude to spare.
Bruiser cruisers: the name pretty much says it all. These bikes combine the best performance that cruisers offer and wrap it in a package dripping with attitude to spare. For this comparison, we decided to stick with the V-Twin engine configuration. Por quê? Because the V-Twin is the just about the official engine configuration of cruiserdom – that and the fact that no Yamaha V-Max was available for testing. So, for this test we have the 2018 Ducati XDiavel facing off against the new for 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob. Both of these bikes have eye-catching good looks that exude function as well as style.
V-Twin Power – Two Different Ways.
The essential difference between these two power-cruisers is defined by how their two engines produce power. The Ducati looks to the mid-range and top-end for its power, while the Harley puts out tons of torque in the bottom end of its comparatively low-revving engine. Both manufacturers remain true to their roots when it comes to power production.
This dyno graph tells you everything you need to know about how to ride the Harley quickly. You can also see that we weren’t lying when we said the Ducati doesn’t wake up until after 3,500 rpm.
The XDiavel uses the Testastretta DVT 1262cc engine based on the Multistrada 1200 engine and has been massaged for the characteristics that Ducati feels it needs for cruiser duty. The 1262cc displacement is the result of 106.0mm x 71.5mm bore and stroke dimensions (bumped from the Multistrada’s 106.0mm x 67.9mm). The DVT in the name stands for Desmodromic Variable Timing that varies the timing of both the intake and exhaust camshafts independently, allowing the engine to deliver the broadest possible power curve. The goal is to give as much bottom end as possible and then transition into the top-end horsepower that Ducati sporty bikes are known for. The result is a measured torque peak of 83.9 lb-ft at 8,000 rpm, while the horsies max out at 142.6 hp at 9,600 rpm. Cruiser fans will note that the torque peak is a bit high for how cruisers are typically ridden – in fact, this is borne out by the 5,500 rev ceiling of the Fat Bob’s Milwaukee-Eight engine.
So, despite the DVT, XDiavel riders who don’t come from the sporting side of motorcycling will need to learn to spin up the engine to get the most out of it. FNG Associate Editor Brent Jaswinski sums up our opinions by noting, “The engine feels like it’s lugging even at 3500 rpm, but this is a Ducati we’re talking about here – it loves the higher revs.” And he’s right. Although we can’t expect the XDiavel to compete with the Fat Bob’s 600cc displacement advantage and the oodles of torque that comes with it, the Duc more than makes up for it if you spin the engine out, and you quickly learn to appreciate the scooped-back of the saddle for its ability to hold you in place while you snick your way through the closely spaced gears that keep the engine on boil for as long as you’re willing to hold the throttle open.
The XDiavel’s horsepower curve tells the second part of the power delivery story. The Fat Bob dominates until it runs out of revs, then the XDiavel takes over and runs away – literally.
Power delivery isn’t the only way in which the XDiavel differs from the Fat Bob. The Duc’s ride-by-wire throttle means that it also has traction control and ride modes. However, even in the concrete jungle, we never selected the Urban mode, preferring to keep all of the Testastretta’s ponies at our command with the twist of the smoothly transitioning throttle. However, while the TC is a nice feature, it came on in a heavy-handed manner at lower speeds, like encountering sand when pulling away from a stop and briefly cycling into an on/off-throttle hobby-horse response on a couple of occasions.
The Harley-Davidson Milwaukee-Eight 114 uses the fun and effective “bigger hammer” technique for propelling the Fat Bob through the torque curve provided by 1868cc of hydrocarbon-devouring displacement. We’ve loved the M-8 in all its variants since its introduction in the Motor Company’s touring line last year, and the updates for use in the Softail line have only made us more fond of the mill. The 102mm x 114.3mm bore and stroke breathe through four-valve heads while dual counterbalancers quell vibration of the solid-mounted engine. The exhaust note has a hearty depth to it that makes low-speed riding an aural pleasure.
Around town, the Fat Bob’s bottom-end-heavy torque made it the most fun to ride.
Although the clutch pull is fairly stout despite the torque-assist clutch, getting the Fat Bob’s 676 claimed pounds moving is super easy, thanks to the early torque availability. Said Jaswinski, “You can lug the bike at 1500 rpm, and it doesn’t feel like it’s lugging whatsoever, making slow-speed maneuvers easy.” In fact, that heaping helping of torque makes the Harley much more fun to ride around town. At every urban speed we encountered, the Harley chuffed along while at certain speeds the Ducati required the rider to balance the throttle and clutch on occasion. Still, we’d be remiss if we didn’t note the Milwaukee-Eight’s 60-hp deficit, which became obvious once the roads got twisty and the speeds got higher. ”With such a big motor and a 600cc advantage over the Duc,” said Brent with the understatement of the year, “the horsepower numbers leave a lot to be desired.”
Both bikes exhibited exemplary throttle response in a wide variety of riding situations – well, once the Ducati’s tach climbed above 3,500 rpm. Whether roaring down the freeway or negotiating a series of corners or just moving along in traffic, both bikes took throttle input with the aplomb of well-set-up CV carburetors. No hint of EFI abruptness ruffed their demeanors.
The Testastretta DVT 1262 engine looks massive in the XDiavel’s chassis. Its top-end power matches the looks.
Tilting At Apexes.
At the Fat Bob’s introduction a few weeks ago and at the XDiavel’s first ride in 2016, a lot was made of their ability to go around corners. No, these muscle-cruisers aren’t sportbikes, but they can go around corners quickly – and as we noted above, the engines aren’t afraid of acceleration, making point-and-shoot riding of the twisties a hoot. Still, we’re here to compare these two bikes, and when you look at the spec sheets, the Ducati has a clear advantage with its claimed 40° of lean on both sides while the Harley checks in with a claim of 31° to the right and 32° to the left. How much does that really affect real-world performance? Well, the difference is noticeable, but we dragged pegs on both of these bikes. The good news is that they both drag cleanly with the pegs giving plenty of warning before hard parts touch down. However, the lean angle differences don’t feel as great as the spec sheets imply, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t like to see more clearance from both of them.
In fact, the most noticeable feature differentiating the two bikes when cornering was the way they steered. The XDiavel’s 240mm rear tire required more effort to crank the bike over in a turn, and in some instances it also required a slight countersteering pressure mid-corner to maintain its line. While this isn’t a big deal, it was apparent and required a change in riding style as we switched from bike to bike. “The wide rear tire made the bike feel like it wanted to stand up in slow speed turns and corners around town, however, this feeling disappeared at speed through the canyon twisties,” noted Jaswinski.
The Ducati’s 240mm rear tire stands out visually and, at low speeds, in handling. Once the speeds ramp up and the road gets twisty, the XDiavel handles quite nicely. We’re suckers for single-sided swingarms.
The Harley, despite its narrower handlebar and fat 150mm front tire, steers much lighter than the Ducati. The Fat Bob is easier to turn at all speeds, but it is particularly apparent when changing lines in a high-speed sweeper. The Fat Bob just went where it was told, while the XDiavel required a little more direction.
This likely has something to do with the riding positions of the two bikes. The Ducati’s pegs are higher and further forward than those of the Harley – as are its grips – leading to a slightly clamshell riding position. The Fat Bob with its more relaxed rider triangle puts the pilot in a better position for negotiating big maneuvers like corners and little exercises like the minute adjustments involved in splitting lanes.
When it came to ergonomics, the Fat Bob got the nod from both our testers. “The Harley’s rider ergos are great,” enthused Jaswinski. “The footpegs are somewhere between mid and forward controls, and the handlebars are narrower than the Ducati’s and right where you want them without having to reach. Additionally, despite its name, the Fat Bob feels surprisingly skinny and nimble when dancing through tight traffic. The Ducati’s ergo’s felt a little too far stretched (even by cruiser standards) – both the handlebar and footpegs could have been slightly closer (and I’m 6’1).”
The XDiavel’s pegs and grips require a long reach – even for our six-foot, one-inch associate editor.
When it comes to suspension, the Fat Bob had the plusher of the two rides, though both Brent and I wished it had more suspension adjustability, particularly in the front. Said the FNG, “Suspension was firm, yet supple; however, some adjustability (especially in the front) would be nice as the bike nose-dived a little more than desired under heavy braking and during spirited riding.” Around town, the Harley’s more compliant ride was greatly appreciated when the road got bumpy since the firmer Ducati was downright harsh over square-edged bumps. However, get the XDiavel on a winding road, and the suspension’s sportbike roots move to the fore. In every sporting situation, except over the harshest of bumps, the Ducati maintained better chassis composure, and the fully adjustable suspension means that riders have the ability to tune the suspenders to their preferences.
One area where we expected the Ducati to dominate was the brakes. Instead, we got a surprising parity – even with the Harley’s additional 130 lbs. of curb weight. Although the XDiavel’s Brembos offered better initial bite and the Fat Bob needed a firmer squeeze at the lever, these big boys could be hauled down from speed with surprisingly similar braking intensity. While both have ABS, the XDiavel ups the ante with Cornering ABS provided by a Bosch Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which adjusts the ABS unit’s response to chassis orientation and state of change. It’s nice to see cutting-edge safety technology working its way into cruisers.
Even at a standstill, the Fat Bob looks ready to rumble, and it does, finishing much closer to the XDiavel on the scorecard than we initially expected.
When we went into this comparison, we thought that the Ducati, with the higher performance roots of the XDiavel, would handily clean up on the MO Scorecard . This was not the case. The results ended up being more closely matched than we anticipated. While we expected the Testastretta engine to dominate the scorecard the way it did the dyno sheet, an interesting thing happened. In the subjective categories surrounding the engine, the pleasing character of the Milwaukee-Eight garnered it comparable scores.
The two also tied in the Handling category – though this was caused by a difference of opinion between the riders over the Ducati. If you don’t mind giving constant steering input in some situations, you won’t mind the feel of the 240mm tire on the Ducati. What sealed the Harley’s fate was the Suspension and Technology categories where the lack of features cost the Fat Bob points. With those numbers, combined with the objective scoring, the Ducati built an insurmountable lead that couldn’t be topped – even when the Fat Bob cleaned up in the Quality, Cool Factor, and Grin Factor categories.
Engine doesn’t wake up until 3,500 rpm Semi-clamshell riding position Handling takes some getting used to.
Intoxicating bottom-end power Relaxed riding position TORQUE!
A pipe and an EFI flash from decent horsepower Non-adjustable front suspension Wish it had the same cornering clearance as the XDiavel.
In the end, the Harley started out at such a deficit in the objective scores that its amiable nature couldn’t drag it out of the scoring hole, and the Ducati XDiavel won by a total score of 88.2% to the Fat Bob’s 86.7%.
Really, though, the true winner is the one that speaks to the rider and how they plan on riding the bike. If you prefer a more compact riding position and like surfing a torque curve, the Fat Bob will probably appeal to you. On the other hand, riders looking for maximum performance in a feet-forward riding position will likely gravitate towards the XDiavel with its top-end rush and flashier technology. With these two choices, now is the time to be in the market for a V-Twin Bruiser Cruiser.
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I made a trip to the local dealer this week and saw the Diavel up close. It makes the Fat Bob look like a POS. I’d need to ride one to see how it handles.
The 240mm rear tire was the worst form over function design choice Ducati ever made. It kills the handling feel on what is otherwise a very well balanced machine on both the Diavel and XDiavel. I love my dads custom Diavel, but it’s a pain in the ass in so many ways.
It does not kill the handling. I have owned a Diavel and now own a XDiavel. It just takes some getting use to. It will never handle as quick a sport bike, but because its a sport bike tire just wider. Once you get use to it as a rider you realize you just keep leaning. You get surprised how easy turning gets once you get use to it. And then when riding in a long straight line it makes the bike so stable.
Well I have never gotten used to that weird feeling from the rear end. Like it’s not tracking the same arc as the front wheel. It feels like chassis flex, but without the wobble or weird steering feel. I know the rear end isn’t actually going to break traction, but it kills my confidence to push it harder than a mild pace in the twisties. YMMV.
What you are feeling is exactly what is happening. When a rear tire is wider than the front tire the rear tracks a larger radius arc.
It also depends on how the chassis is designed. If a bike is well designed, it will handle well even with a big rear tire.
Idk man, name one other bike that has wider than a 200mm rear tire and leans over 40 degrees. It’s a pretty specific complaint and the Diavel handles just fine around town and on the highway, the problem I’m describing occurs during the last 20% of the bikes lean angle. Also, I think Ducati knows a thing or two about chassis design…
Harley makes good handling bikes with 200-240mm rear tires but they don’t have 40 degree lean angles.
Ride them both before you form an opinion. Looks aren’t everything.
In this category I’d say they are extremely important. That HD looks like a motorcycle at least:
I think there was some favoritism involved (or a slight sport bike bias). The HP deficit killed it for the Harley even though it is all about the torque. But in the torque category they gave 100% to the XDiavel even though the torque doesn’t come on until 4400 rpm, which is not the way you ride around town. I think the Fat Bob should have won this shootout because a lot more of them will be sold than XDiavels. I have yet to see one. The Harley is much better for daily riding and touring.
Have you ever ridden a Diavel or any Ducati for that matter? You absolutely ride them around town in the 4-6k rpm range. That’s where the fueling and the gearing naturally falls. Below 3k you are literally chugging, and over 6k you are breaking the law.
I’ve ridden the Diavel, and it’s cool, but I see it more of a highway blaster than something I’d want to ride around town. Drag strip – yep, Diavel.
I mentioned somewhere in this tangled mess of a comment section the Diavel is tiring to ride. Not because it lacks “around town power” whatever the hell that means, but because it’s not designed to go slow. It’s a quarter horse, bred to be a natural sprinter. Light throttle spring, light flywheel, instantaneous power everywhere in the rev band. It lurches at even the smallest throttle openings. The Harley was literally designed to go slow and cruise, that’s why it is so good at loafing along and plodding from stoplight to stoplight. Apples to hand grenades really.
& # 8221; I think the Fat Bob should have won this shootout because a lot more of them will be sold than XDiavels.”
so you want to turn this into a popularity contest then? (likely the only way a Hog will ever win a straight-up comparison, all thanks to millions of midlife-crisis-afflicted buyers)
what a farce; using that criteria, good thing they didn’t included a Bajaj 200, it would have smoked them both…..
You read about all these bikes that are “better than Harleys” but you never see one on the road. I went to Street Vibrations a couple of weeks ago and 97% of the bikes there were Harleys. So who cares what the XDiavel does or doesn’t do. I will never see one. And there are over a quarter million “midlife-crisis-afflicted” Harley buyers every year all over the world who share this opinion.
billions smoke cigarettes… what’s your point?
You might want to replace OHV with pushrod. Everything made for a LONG time has been overhead valve. Unless we’re talking about Ford Flatheads.
All that bile must make you sick. You should see a doctor.
…and wearing multicolored power ranger suits like most sportbike riders favor ISN’T a dress up game? Hypocrite much? The funny thing is that i like both Harleys and sportbikes. I guess this makes me a dual poser…
Depends where you wear your power ranger suit. At the racetrack it is mandatory protective gear, on the road it is over the top.
They use OHV because it eases packaging (a DOHC V-twin is very wide). Also, unlike a Ducati, it does not need the engine torn into regularly to adjust the valves. (Valve adjustments…a relic of 1950!)
I bought a Harley because of the ridiculous PM schedules on many bikes. In sharp contrast, mine is put gas in and ride! Oil every 10K, gearbox oil and check the primary chain every second oil change, replace the belt when it gets worn (usually 50K or more). That’s it…no valve checks, no cam chains.
I don`t need to adjust the valves on my Briggs and Stratton lawnmower either; similar technology, similar result.
Primary drive chain? wow, now THAT is advanced tech for sure!
You may enjoy tearing into your engine annually…I do not.
Precious time better spent polishing chrome, right?
I put 20,000 miles on my last bike (not a Harley) in 3 years-only 4000 miles last year because I was going to school and had no time. (Riding season here is 6-7 months, tops.) I am planning a 4000-mile trip this year, and hope to put at least 10K on the bike.
Some bikes call for valve checks every oil change.
I hate chrome with a passion, plan to get most of what my Sporty has powdercoated. I’m not a “Harley guy.”
Would you care to be wrong about anything else, now?
Look at the width of the torque bands. Harley makes a ton of torque right off idle, but it falls off quickly. It’s made to lug around and quick-shift. Anything like the Diavel with a wide and flat torque band that makes that kind of horsepower is going to feel much more responsive.
I agree the torque band is wide but it doesn’t start until 4400 rpm. Harley starts from 2500 rpm.
It’s all about the gearing. Like it was said earlier, you aren’t riding this motorcycle around at no RPM - more like cruising in that 4400rpm range.
Harley starts from idle.
Yes, you are right. The peak torque is at 2750 rpm.
Acordado. Plus from lots of experience, I know that Duc will be in the shop a lot more.
Sayyed Bashir That is the way you ride around town. A Ducati is not geared like a Harley. So riding around at 20 MPH in 1st gear your doing 4400 RPM. Its a big piston with a very short stroke, Its the opposite of a Harley when it comes to a V-Twin. Riding 2000 RPM just cruising on a Harley would be about 4000 RPM on a Ducati when just cruising around.
In this instance I think the Harley is absolutely the aesthetic winner, but I can’t overlook the fact that Harley is willing to leave carb-legal performance on the table just so they can make thousands more off their customer with their “Stage” kits that only give you what you should have got in the first place. Also I think it’s about 100lbs too heavy to be the bike they wanted it to be.
sounds like a fair evaluation to me.
The base price is already very high for something so perfectly useless.
It is not so useless to the quarter million people who can afford to buy new Harleys instead of last year’s leftover Japanese bikes.
pretty sad to the see the quantity of people and dollars spent to be a poser….. a sad reflection on our society….. can’t understand how you can see that as a positive…..
I think I am more sad for you, spending all this time and effort putting down Harleys when you could be riding one like everyone else and be happy. Are you planning on buying the XDiavel or are here just for the fun?
mikstr, in our riding group, we have a couple of Gold Wings, three Harleys, two yamaha FJRs, a KLR650 and my Vstrom. Anyone is welcome to join us, regardless of brand; the only requirement is that you are mature adult, and not a dick. Bashing another’s bike choice the way you do is a sign of insecurity, and would disqualify you under those rules. Mostly I feel sorry for you; you’re missing out on friendship and great adventures by being so narrow minded. Good luck to you.
Para com isso. A small percentage of Harley riders will choose this bike. It’s way more expensive than bikes with the same engine and badge prestige.
In the 1970s Cadillac had an overwhelming share of its market segment. However they had very low customer equity and a bad case of hubris.
Harley is an innovative company in some ways but if they want them to continue to succeed they, and their acolytes need to listen to some feedback and drop the smarmy attitude.
Where do you get your facts from? You think the Fat Bob will not sell when every Fat Bob made before has sold very well? Harley riders can see the value of the bike and decide for themselves whether they want to buy it or not. The Fat Bob is not the stripped down model the Street Bob is so it will be more expensive. Harley riders are not looking for just a badge, they are looking for value. They are figuring what it would cost to add the amenities if they bought the stripped down model. Here is the paint job on the tank of my favorite bike: the 2010 CVO Fat Bob. Don’t ask how much the bike cost.
Why is it so offensive to you that people, including me, would like to buy a shiny cool Harley with braking and handling performance that at least matches a 10 year old Bandit?
Take a new Fat Bob for a ride and see what you think.
A Bandit is not a Harley, and vice versa. If you want a Bandit, buy a Bandit. Better yet, buy both of them like I did. Then you will have the best of both worlds.
Não esta bom o suficiente.
Harley has a great mission statement: “Fulfilling dreams of personal freedom”
Nothing that specifies what the product is or isn’t.
Their goal is to make money. Listening to customers is good business. Premium is still a core product value. Price isn’t the issue.
There are lots of people that would by Harley if they addressed the often cited concerns of basic performance.
I think they will, going forward. The new 2018 Softails are a big step in the right direction.
I hope so 🙂 I like the new soft tails quite a bit.
Everyone doesn’t want a “Stage” kit.
I didn’t read the article yet, but I did look at the dyno sheets. The Harley wants to be shifted at what 5200? I cruise between 4 and 6. Yes, different motor blah blah blah, but face it, modern sports cars are more revvy (that might not be a word). Nothing wrong with a cruiser engine until one claims it has performance creds.
No it wants to be shifted at 4400, it’s lights out a thousand ripums later.
Numbers on paper don’t mean anything. A Harley will outrun you every time from a stoplight. Who cares what rpm the gears are shifted at? Sport bikes and cruisers are ridden differently. Deixe isso para trás.
Honestly, if you think any Harley but a NHRA dragster will outrun a Diavel with equal riders in any scenario, there is simply nothing I can do to help you. Harley doesn’t produce box-stock and street-legal 10 second bikes, Ducati does.
What’s the point of a box-stock and street-legal 10 second bike? You can buy a regular-strength Harley and turbo it into competitive speed with scrap parts and beer money if you know a decent exhaust shop and EFI tuner.
Either you drink a LOT of beer or you are talking out of your ass friend. Lemme know where I can get a functioning turbocharger for 10-20$, let alone convince a muffler shop and dyno tuner to offer me their services for free…
Nothing’s gonna be free but if you start off by doing as much of the work and research as you’re capable of doing, make and keep talented friends and don’t mind coming behind other people’s schedules or using salvage parts(diesel turbos work well and last long, but they tend to be quite ugly and usually need new blowoff valves), you can get something serviceable (if ratty) for a few grand.
That figure is pretty fair I reckon, maybe if I stop drinking beer for a couple years. Haha
Oh, you’ll still be BUYING beer… Just for your buddy while he works, none for yourself!
Why not just accept that they are beautiful artwork on wheels instead of saying stupid, false nonsense like that? An HD will not outrun squat “every time” at a stoplight. Under even the standard kindest to your proposition (equating a 60 foot time to a stoplight “race”), the best I’ve ever seen from any street legal HD is 1.7+, and I practically live at the drag strip. Harleys are not race bikes. They’re not drag bikes. They’re cruisers. They’re beautiful. But they are fast only in the imagination of a diseased mind.
So anybody who thinks Harleys are fast is stupid and has a diseased mind? Who has been winning flat track races until the FTR750 came out? Who is still winning drag races? Anyway, I have no wish to argue with you.
Yes, diseased or delusional. The fastest street HD was the vrod. High 11s out of the box, if you’re lucky. That’s not just slow, it’s laughably slow.
Are you riding a flat track bike on the street? No. And we both know that HD whined to the AMA in 1984 to get a rule change so it could stay competitive with Honda, who had just eaten their lunch.
Are you riding a drag bike on the street? No. And we both know that NHRA PSM rules are drafted so that HD’s entries are competitive. Mainly: an 870cc displacement advantage over any I4, AND they are allowed to run the same displacement as other v-twin engines, even though the vrod is 4-valve instead of 2-valve. But despite all of those advantages HD is handed, Savoie still won the series on his Suzuki last year.
We’re not arguing. One of us actually races NHRA and has hard facts and numbers. The other thinks his Softail is fast because he gets speeding tickets.
High 11’s isn’t slow for a sport tourer. The contrary, it was more or less the usual for a big sport-tourer of that era. (It was about the same as a Concours 1000 or ST1100.)
Who was the only show in town until the Indian came out?
No Harley is out running me anywhere… Except some dragbikes. Would this bike out run a Scout?
Only 1 time I can remember a harley keeping up was once when I was on a ninja 650. A whole 70hp and 48 lbs torque I think were the paper specs for that bike.
Don’t remember exactly what model the guy had, but I think it was a dyna of some kind with what looked like a lot of “harley” performance mods.
Light to light wtfo, and he edged me by 1/2 a tire maybe? I’m not a harley hater, but bone stock 650 vs a clearly modded much larger CC bike, does not sound like something that will be winning all too often.
Recently had an ultra classic with screaming eagle whatevers wanted to run with the gsx s1000. 1/4-1/2 throttle never left first. Ultra classic guy just kept smiling, shaking his head. He laughed, said I can’t keep up, and it doesn’t look like you ever shifted.
I can understand since I have both a Harley and a GSF-1250S Bandit. Both are different bikes. Harleys don’t have to keep up with sportbikes because they always catch up at the next gas station where the sportbike guys are resting their sore behinds and arms.
Thing is you make it sound like a harley will outrun anything from a stop light. If a performance harley can barely outrun a bike not made for performance with 1/3 the displacement, it’s not out running much.
Why do what seems like the vast majority of harley riders feel the need to defend them so much? If they were that great, would they need so much defense? I have ridden a few, and just not my thing. If anything I prefer the metric cruisers for that style. Could even be I just have no interest in fake individualist, but actually conformist harley culture they are trying to sell.
Harley riders have to defend themselves from metric riders who don’t understand a thing about Harleys but insist on criticizing them. Why don’t they ride their own bikes and leave Harleys alone? Is it some kind of inferiority complex where they have to put Harleys down in order to feel good? All I have heard so far is that all Harley riders are posers and the bikes are too expensive and heavy and don’t perform as well as metric bikes. Okay so what? You made your choice so now you have to live with it. Why do you have to justify it to everybody? When you tell someone you bought a new bike, and they ask you if it is a Harley, and you have to say no it is a Stratoliner or Flying Fortress or a Star Eluder, that is your problem. It has nothing to do with Harley.
I probably should have said harley fanatics instead of the majority of harley riders. Your answer though does clear it up a bit.
Harley fanatics buy Harleys for brand recognition by the non riding public.
Harley fanatics are upset that when a comparison is done the harley may face some criticism even though all bikes in a comparison receive criticism. Seems it is taken as a personal attack in their choice of ride.
Harley fanatics are the only people who “understand” Harleys. If your a metric rider you just don’t understand and have no right to compare it to a harley.
I think I got it now. Have to give harley credit though, they are one of the few companies who has been able to create such fierce brand fanatisicm. Because if this they are able to sell for a premium price, no matter how good or bad their bikes review.
You will see, I never bagged on the Harley motorcycles themselves. All I said is not my thing. It is the fake culture they sell I don’t understand.
I like the design of the new carbon, but the only reason it is $20k is because of the harley name. Wrap it under any other brand and it is a $12-$15k bike. Not being willing to over pay for a bike doesn’t mean you can’t afford it.
So I guess in the end, fanatics are willing to pay top dollar for the style and harley image, while non fanatics are more about the bike itself.
Even if you took the badge off a Fat Bob, it would still be a Harley. It will not become a Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda or Kawasaki. Japan simply cannot make a bike like a Harley. It is not in their culture. That is why they have failed at it so miserably. And if it is still a Harley, you will have to pay top dollar for it if you want it. There is no two ways about it.
Ummm, didn’t Harley just update their line to have an engine that doesn’t mix paint and corners closer to the metrics?
Personally I think if they dropped their “premium” price they would sell more bikes. Make up for the difference in volume. The number of Harley purists seems to be declining.
Might get more non fanatics and maybe even some true haters willing to give them a try if they were not just paying for a name.
True haters will never buy a Harley. No need to dilute the brand by reducing prices or coming out with cheaper models like Ducati did with the Scrambler line. Now every kid and their dog has a Ducati. Harley does have entry level bikes but they will never drop the price of their premium models. That’s why they are called “premium”. And plenty of people are willing to pay for them. A Harley is not for everyone.
When you look at similar bikes ( for example, the new Yamaha Touring bike that has (shudder!) a v-twin and belt drive, the prices are pretty close. HD constantly updates their bikes, but all he haters see is a v-twin. All I can say is, ride one BEFORE you comment. The guys that bash HD but have never ridden one are just trolling.
Naah. Buy used…there is a glut of low-mileage H-Ds on the market for good prices!
The “good prices” for used Harleys are still not as low as used Japanese bikes. That was the point of the discussion.
Well, sure…if you want to rise a KLR, a Rebel, or an S40, they’re really cheap.
So true, Sayyed. As my friend once said “no one makes their Harley look like a Yamaha/Honda/Kawasaki/Suzuki.”
A decent observation:)
I really like the Fatbob though it doesn’t feel very fast to me. Both of my bikes feel faster leaving a stop. The FB is fast enough to be fun, it handles real well, and is comfy as can be. They need to work on getting that price down though. It’s Road King expensive without the functionality.
Rule of marketing : Charge what the market will bear. So long as people keep forking out excess money for said bike, why should they drop the price….. the perils (for the buyer) of a cult brand.
The price is not going to come down. It is a Harley after all which is a premium brand.
You mean premium price, cause posers will pay dearly to pose, which makes them all the more pathetic.
I might consider a Harley more seriously if their ad-copy didn’t prey directly on basic insecurities.
If you shop around here, there’s big savings to be had on last years models.
Big changes this year for the medium size HDs. Hence the price drops on 2017 models. Up here in Canada, the price drops weren’t that significant, though; I’d still spend the extra for a 2018 with that new frame and motor.
“Perfectly smooth”? Not any Guzzi I’ve ever ridden. I like Guzzi, but HDs M8 motors are MUCH smoother. Even my old 103 was smoother. Plus, HDs don’t try and fall over when you rev them😎
Have you ridden the Cali 1400? Smoothest twin I have ever experienced. No stalling issues either. Can’t comment on any other Guzzi as this is my first.
Yes, I test drove a Cali 1400 when they first came out. Maybe it was just the one I rode, but the engine was, at best, “agricultural”, plus it burned my knees. Loved the looks of it, and I wanted to like it, but I didn’t. Kept my Road Glide a bit longer.
Yeah my experience is completely the opposite, smooth shifting, complete lack of vibration in the bars above 5mph, and a light clutch. Rides like a sport tourer instead of a cruiser.
Drop some cams in and graft a turbo on one and see how slow it is. youtube/watch? v=Ci1b5zrEThY 148 horsepower and 127 pound feet with a hairdryer and hot cams, that’s plenty even at 700 pounds!
you can get way more performance for way less money….. considering what a Harley costs, you shouldn’t have to drain the bank account to make it go.
I was gonna link the Diavel article but you beat me to it. Thanks haha.
If you’re not down to bleed money, you shouldn’t be into motorcycles. Período.
spending and wasting are 2 different things….
wow, what a terrible video, Mr. Roboto.
lol, take your pick, there are thousands on youtube that show better performers at much cheaper prices than blown Hogs…. which was the whole point.
I get the point. It was just obnoxious. And, it goes to show you that Harley riders are not the only ones to brag about their bikes. I’m surprised the guy didn’t list the price of all his mods.
ANYTHING can be tuned to make horsepower. How many of you are actually going to do it?
Forced induction is a stupid comparison. It only ends with the guy with the most money winning the dyno shootout.
Force feed a Harley and you get a 150 hp land yacht that still handles like crap. The only reason to do it is for bragging rights or burnout contests.
Since we’re obviously ignoring the fact that people enjoy the way Harley-Davidsons ride and perform in larger numbers than any other motorcycle company worldwide besides Honda, the only reason to have ANY bike larger than 600cc on the street is bragging rights. Even something objectively slow, like the Moto Guzzi V7.
You can’t be serious. You must ride Harleys! I would never buy anything just to brag about it.
he he…. truth is coming out….. a Hardley poser right to the end…..
“Since we’re obviously ignoring the fact that people enjoy the way Harley-Davidsons ride and perform in larger numbers than any other motorcycle company worldwide besides Honda” now that’s a keeper if ever there was one. So you seriously think they sell more bikes than Yamaha, Suzuki, or Kawasaki? Heck, I am sure Bajaj sells many, many times the number of bikes that Hog sells. There is so much more to global motorcycle sales than the US market…
Well, narrow it down to those over a litre and H-D is tops. They’re quite a status symbol in Nippon, like Rolexes, Colibri lighters, etc.
Of course, North America by no means has a monopoly on image-obsessed posers…
Well, if NA had a monopoly on posers, no other nations would have any, right? But you’re saying they do? Affluent Japanese (and other nationalities as well) have a fine eye for quality, and can afford anything they choose.
I’ve come to believe that all this anti-HD stuff isn’t so much about the scoots themselves, rather some of the individuals who ride them….it’s HOW they ride…..how much noise they can make and how much attention they can get….they take themselves soooo seriously, in their standard H-D getup. It gets tiresome.
Personally, I rather like Harleys……I’ve had 3 of them, had no issues at all (except a brake lite switch on the Superglide) and got lotsa compliments.
Over 600cc, actually.
Even Royal Enfield sells 3 times more Bullets per year than Harley.
Then there are Hero and Bajaj, both which sell millions of motorcycles per year while Harley hovers around 250,000.
I’m curious….who told you that?….and I don’t think they make anything over 750, right? I commented that over 1 litre (that’s 1000cc, ya know), H-D is tops worldwide.
I didn’t respond to your post. I responded to TheMarvelous1310’s post who claimed Harley is the second best selling motorcycle manufacturer worldwide.
No, Royal Enfield doesn’t make anything over 750cc. Their bread and butter is the 500cc Bullet. A low performance retro bike that sells on nostalgia. Sound familiar?
I have a 1200cc bike because what I want in a bike simply is not available in 600cc.
No it’s not, you can turbo anything! My friend has a Yamaha R6 with a tiny little turbo that wrecks Hayabusas in races.
Whoooooooooossssssshhhhhhhhhhh………… That was my point flying over your head.
The type of bike I want is not available in a smaller displacement. I would love a smaller engine. (Indeed: if the newest wasn’t 30+ years old, I would probably own a GL650 Silver Wing Interstate.) But it isn’t, so I have a 1200cc bike.
Now run it at the drags. Which would win, if that bagger ran against a stock Concours 1400? (A Concours 1400 runs 10.60’s right off the showroom floor.) Be honest.
A built Harley-Davidson runs 9s.
That bagger makes LESS power than a stock Concours 1400. (158HP) And the bagger is heavier.
And, of course, a turbocharged bagger is a toy, probably needing race fuel and regular, while a Concours 14 is something you could take on an Iron Butt ride.
How do you only get 82 HP out of over 1800cc’s? My SV650 puts out 70 RWHP and is 1/3 the displacement almost. Torque is just a natural product of displacement. Therefore, just shows how unimpressive these Harley motors are.
“Harley Davidson. The most efficient way to turn.
gasoline into noise without the unwanted side effect of horsepower.”
Who needs screaming horsepower when you can have 104 ft lbs of torque at only 3100 rpm? These are different engines for different kinds of riders. You like Diavels, good for you. Not too many people do. Harleys are much more fun to ride around town and on the freeway as the article said.
Now for a dose of reality: Twist the throttle aggressively on ANY V-twin at low rpm (ie. 800 – @ 2500) and see what happens . Here is a hint: the thing will chug and lug so bad you will be left thinking it will fall apart (same goes for big Singles btw; try a Duke 690 below 3500 rpm). This is not a knock on Harley, it’s common to ALL v-twins (own one, rode many, am speaking from experience). In fact, it gets so bad that some older Harley engines have had their cranks go out of phase as a result. So, power is there, until you try to actually use it (which is why I always laugh when I hear this ever-present V-twin low-end BS). Roll on it smoothly (ie. slowly) and you can harness it, but any kind of aggressive throttle will have most anyone with respect for their bikes easing off immediately. An I-4 is another story, of course and I rode a Bandit 1250 (two-up nonetheless) down to about 15 mph in 6th and rolled on it with nary a stumble.
Case in point: youtube/watch? v=mk30A9ePj6A I have read of folks taking off in 6th on their GSX-S1000, thoiugh can’t confirm it to be true….
try this on your Hog (or any other V-twin for that matter), lol.
O que? Both my Buell S2T and Kawasaki Mean Streak pulled clean and strong at full throttle at 2500. My Klr650 stammered like it was gonna die but not those other two.
Every Victory I rode (numerous 100 and 106 ci engines), Yamaha Raider, Suzuki C109, my vtr, various Ducatis and virtually every cruiser I hear being lugged sounds as though the engine will self-destruct - your bikes must be real special and unique, hang onto them….
It’s all about the tune. Throw a tiny cam in an inline 4 beast like a Bandit or Hayabusa and it will make a mountain of torque at a low RPM. It will also probably detonate itself out of existence quickly at the compression ratio of a typical Japanese inline 4.
tune yes, but firing sequence plays a part too, and the irregular V-twin firing sequence does not take kindly to generous throttle at low rpm…..
That’s what the massive flywheel is for.
Yes, but even it can’ t do away with the low rpm chugging; physics at work.
I do actually own a 2007 Suzuki Bandit 1250S and love it. But I also love my 2007 Harley Softail Custom and ride it everyday and have received more speeding tickets on it than on my other two bikes. All these complaints have nothing to do with the normal riding of motorcycles on a daily basis. Only sportbike riders come up with these complaints and they are not going to buy a Harley anyway, so who cares! You are supposed to ride a bike the way is it designed. You are not supposed to ride a cruiser like a sportbike. Why would you lug it from 0 rpm? Any 4 year old (except Mr. T) can understand that.
“Why would you lug it from 0 rpm anyway?” you may want to explain that to your legion of fellow Hog owners, lol.
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I have had my 15 Street 750 in 6th gear as lo was 30. She didn’t like it too much.
Take a Fat Bob, Add a V&H FP3, Intake and exhaust when available, See what the power will be? My 750 with Stage 1 upgrade was Dyno’d at 70HP and 58 pounds Trq. Up from 57HP and 45 Trq.
If ease of operation is synonymous with fun then sure, if heart stopping acceleration is your idea of fun, not so much. I much prefer my sportier multistrada around town and the freeway, but love my Guzzi on an open country road. Horses for courses.
yes, but the paint is shiny 🙂
Harley intentionally tunes their motors like this. They are severely under-cammed. I don’t dig it either, but it appeals to the type that rides them. A slightly larger cam, a pipe, and a tune, and it will produce a LOT more horsepower. Whether or not you can stand the insane vibration where it makes power after the fact is up to you.
The vibration isn’t really that bad with the right gloves. Yeah, your hands will get numb, but you won’t feel it until you stop for gas!
They tend to scissor their cranks when people try to make them too powerful. Best to ride them like they are.
You want a rocket, buy the Duc, find a good tech, and give him your kid’s college fund account number.
You want a fun, comfy, streetbike, get the Harley and change the oil every 5k or so.
Prices on either are way too high though.
If you’ve ridden the 114, you’ll see that there is very little vibration compared to an older HD, or ANY other v-twins. It’s a smooth motor!
You get over 100 with a re-flash and an exhaust, plus the same HUGE torque. You don’t miss the revs after that.
It would be interesting to slap a cam in with a little more duration and extend the torque band out to 5400. If you could do that (and I know it would be easy), you would have 100+ horsepower, since hp=torque at 5252 rpm. Even the big blocks from the muscle car era would turn 5200 rpm.
Your SV 650 has about 50 foot punts of torque and doesn’t make any power below 4000 rpm. Completely different motors. I know, I ride a vstrom.
It also only has 1/3 the displacement.
And again, I say, completely different motors for completely different purposes. My old Road Glide would happily putt along at 2500-3000rpm fully loaded with wife and gear. It would pull from 1500 rpm or less. My Vstrom 1000 is faster and handles better, but I’d be damned if I want to ride it across 10 states fully loaded with wife and gear — although many do; I’m too old for that. You, my friend, have an irrational hate on for HD, which can mean only one of two things — you’ve never actually ridden one, or you can’t afford one. Don’t give me the “polished turd” line — you have a hate on, and continuing to troll on this page is making you look pretty silly.
The x - Diavel is a hidious sack of design non-decisions! That tin colestomy bag! The machined surgical scissors on the cylinders! The non Euclidean hideousness that can drive a person insane.
Complete product dysphonia.
Not even the delightful young lady at the show could persuade me to sign up for a ride on that malignant pile of corrupted filth.
Both are beautiful IMO (from a non-cruiser guy and self-avowed Hog hater)….
Kinda of an apples to rocks comparison. But I find the Ducati styling to be a bit odd. Interesting, but odd. I’d take the Harley. Gobs of torque and interesting look. Not a huge fan of the headlight but I’d live with it. I’d want a more standard riding position to handle the vast amount of power available in the Ducati. Gotta love both bikes though. It takes guts to go out on a limb like that and I tip my hat to them both.
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Since we’re talking about Harley horsepower – I wonder if they are ever going to bring back the V-Rod or use the motor in anything.
they weren’t moving off the showroom floors before (shame as it’s a nice engine), what makes you think they would move in the future?
Just that since they’re updating entire lines they might update that too or perhaps add a high-end model to the street line. A Street Rod 1200 might sell . . . Talvez.
It could be a great bike, but it will never happen: V-Rod was a flop as was the XR1200…. can’t see a marriage of the two being any different, which is a real shame… the reality is Hardley-philes want heavy, underperforming air-cooled 45-degree vees and non-Harley types won’t touch them with a ten-foot pole for fear of being lumped in with said posers….
Hate to say it, but this is about as close to the truth as I’ve seen. The Harley crowd is the number 1 reason I would never buy one. I actually kind of like the bikes themselves - they have a unique character.
I think they should squeeze it into the Sportster, but I’m crazy.
and become showroom furniture…..
Nah, the squids and stunters would eat them up.
to their credit, squids and stunters don’t want anything from Milwaukee, lol, and who can blame them….
That’s not crazy, it’s called logic. Giving a mortorcycle with “sport” in the name a flexible an athletic engine. Who would do such a thing!?
This is an unfair comparison. The Fat Bob should be compared to a metric cruiser. In every performance measure the Ducati destroys the HD, and i find it telling that there are no acceleration or roll on numbers in this comparison. Perhaps putting those numbers would have highlighted the disparity. Its too bad that HD can’t figure out how to let a engine rev. Having ridden bikes with the M8 motor, if they could hold that torque for just 2k more rpm they would be great. the power just falls off so fast.
I’m no engineer, but it seems the 45degree V-twins just cannot be made to rev that extra 2000 RPM without inherent vibration killing reliability.
then perhaps HD should have invested more in the Revolution motors from the v-rod. 60* revs to 8K and makes good torque and power.
problem is their customer base don’t want them…. must be so utterly frustrating to be an engineer at Harley… working with a straightjacket that is a long-stroke 45-degree V-twin…
HD could put whatever motor they want in it and people would still buy them as long as it still looked right. Most of their buyers don’t know or care about the technical aspects of their own motorcycle.
very true, but then same ignorant individuals come on forums and spew nonsense and urban legend as fact…. reminds me of the old saying “better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt”….
You don’t seem to be taking your own advice.
Sayeth the poser poster child.
HD cannot. Harley riders are married to the 45 degree twin due to the sound, look and feel. That’s one reason the Street 500 and 750 with a 60 degree twin are not so popular with the HD crowd whereas the 883 is accepted.
nobody likes overhead cams. Too much maintenance, not enough low end torque. Besides, you can already buy one of those anywhere.
since when does OHC have ANYTHING to do with an engine’s torque output? If anything, OHC, by virtue of a lighter, more responsive valvetrain, can BOOST torque as it allows tuners to use more aggressive cams (more lift, which is key for torque).
You guys are too funny…. Wasn’t so long ago you guys were saying the same thing about 4-valve heads and now that the new M8 sports them, it’s surely the greatest thing since sliced bread….. Time to quit drinking the Hardley kool-aid……
Harleys are underpowered and mechanically archaic on purpose and always have been, proven technology underperforming steadily will always last longer and be easier to fix even after the parts are gone and the molds are melted. Plus, you can get more than enough power with a hot cam, an exhaust and a re-flash, and you still have the oppurtunity for more with a big-bore kit–and all of that before you even think about forced induction!
We know our bikes are slow and heavy, but we don’t need to impress you or outrun you because we’ll still be riding when you need to swap chain links/adjust valves/walk off your sore pelvis or tailbone/sleep. Then you’ll have a hard time catching up, without breaking one of those pesky speed limits!
more Hardley delusion….. “we’ll still be riding when you need to swap chain links/adjust valves/walk off your sore pelvis or tailbone/sleep.” so you’re saying only Harley builds comfortable bikes? Too funny (though quite predictable). Pretty obvious your knowledge of motorcycling is limited to the confines of Milwaukee, so no sense in trying to pull you into reality, might make your entire universe come apart… meanwhile, back in a place called Reality, the rest of us can enjoy bikes that are lighter, quicker, better handling, stop better, handle better, are more reliable, more comfortable, more versatile… than anything Milwaukee has ever produced and, with its existing brainwashed client base, will ever produce…
You had me on board until you mentioned sore tailbone on a sportbike. I never experienced that ergonomic problem until I bought a cruiser. With a forward lean, the majority of your weight is on your inner thighs and the meaty part of your ass, in the lazy boy position your weight is right on the tailbone and lower back. Good thing the seat is as padded as it is otherwise the bike would be unrideable.
easy on the poor guy, logic is not his forte… thinks a tailbone-oriented riding position is comfy, lol.
Exactly the reason I switched from cruisers to adventure and sport bikes. The riding position killed me on my cruisers, but I could go all day on my V-strom, and have done 12 hours on my Speed Triple, even with a 36″ inseam and its somewhat high pegs.
I don’t think they are intentionally archaic. It’s really the synergy of the design that produces the end result. They sell bikes based on the sound of a single pin long stroke motor. A long stroke, out of balance motor just can’t rev without massive vibration. So, what do you do with it? Maximize the torque in the RPM range that the bike will be used, which is why they end up with a torque curve that looks like a ski slope rather than a plateau. There’s nothing wrong with that, unless you want to start comparing apples to oranges, like this article. Anything can be tuned into performing better, and I really think most Harleys would benefit from more cam to produce a little more of a powerband and horsepower peak. Then again, I prefer a torque curve like the Ducati has, but it’s butt ugly, and I would want that motor in a chassis that can actually use it to full advantage. I really think the Ducati is the odd Duc here.
Você está certo. That is exactly the kind of engine and bike Harley riders like, and there is absolutely wrong with that, other people’s comments here notwithstanding.
Well said, Marvelous! I don’t understand why these sportbike types spend so much time on these forums putting down Harleys. Must be some kind of inferiority complex or low self esteem. Or there could be a “sour grapes” syndrome where they have to bad mouth anything they cannot buy even if it is actually good. They should be out there riding their wonderful bikes instead of wasting our time here. We like riding Harleys and don’t have to justify that to anyone. Live and let live.
Exatamente! A lighter valvetrain (like overhead cam) lets the valve get off the seat quicker and into an area where the head flows significantly, which is ALWAYS good for torque. It might seem odd, but a 2 valve head typically has a torque advantage over a 4 valve head, due to induced swirl at low RPM. But, this is only at low RPM, and the difference is very small.
can’t speak to the swirl effect, but I recall reading that at low/initial lift, four-valve heads flow better as valve circumference is the key determinant of flow (as opposed to total area, which becomes more critical at full lift) and that two intake valves, at equal area, have a greater circumference than a single large valve. All this to say that the four-valve configuration is overwhelmingly superior to a two-valve set-up and OHC is potentially much superior to OHV (and some variations of OHC are superior to others, finger followers having more potential than shim-under-bucket designs, for example). It’s all about component weight and inertia (but try explaining the merits of light weight to someone groomed on overweight chromed-up land yachts, lol)
Tudo muito verdadeiro. David Vizard studied 4 valve heads vs. 2 valve heads and found that 4 valve chambers tend to be stagnant at low openings (a lack of swirl, or tumble, that aids in combustion at low throttle low RPM use). He actually patented a method of inducing swirl with a 4 valve head to combat the problem, typically by staggering the flow by using two different intake valve sizes in a 4 valve head. Like I said, we’re talking about a very small effect. That said, it is interesting to look at the differences between the modern Chevy LS 2 valve motor (still pushrod and ohv) compared to other modern OHC 4 valve motors. The LS motor tends to produce better torque at lower RPM, while still being very effective at producing horsepower up to an RPM (typically 8500 or so) where the valve train becomes unstable. 2 valve pushrod motors are still a viable solution and have been refined to the point where they are extremely efficient. Of course there are endless small variables that define an engine’s performance, so we are speaking in generalities. Harley is much more limited by the long stroke and uneven firing order than by its valve actuation.
thanks for that interesting insight. Speaking of the swirl, didn’t Buell (on its ill-fated 1190) have one valve open slightly sooner than the other to create this same effect?
I don’t know about that, but it sounds interesting. I’ll have to google that and check it out.
Kevin Cameron did a write-up about it for CW IIRC…..
One could hardly accuse the Motus of being slow, and it’s Corvette inspired engine has pushrods.
Pushrods make sense in a big V-Twin format. They can handle the lower rev range and they keep an inherently tall long stroke engine from swelling to ridiculously tall, AKA Victory, proportions.
Harleys can make good enough for their intended use power and the new Milwaukee 8 engine is a nice step forward. HD is always holding back on us though, you have to dig deeper into your wallet and spend for “CVO” or at least “Screaming Eagle” to get the power. Can’t blame HD for that I suppose, but it is more than a little annoying. When dropping this kind of money on a motorcycle, I want their best effort.
You realize that you can have overhead cams and hydraulic lifters right? I believe the victory engine was configured that way and was considered to be one of the lowest maintenance cruisers available. My Guzzi on the other hand, has pushrods and requires valve checks every oil change. (they are a cakewalk though)
I don’t know if we can use Victory as role models. They never really did anything with all that innovation besides the Vision, and that’s a boring lump compared to the concept version. Besides, that thing had a mean rattle at upper RPMs and a terribly clunky transmission.
A Hardley-phile knocking another company for lack of innovation? Incrível! It just so happens that the Victory engine absolutely KILLED the Harley in power and torque production at equal displacement. Have a look here: cycleworld/2016/01/13/2016-victory-gunner-cruiser-motorcycle-dyno-run-video-and-performance-chart#page-2.
basically same numbers as the all-new (and revolutionary, lol) 114 ci Milwaukee Eight (despite being down 8 cubic inches in displacement)…..
So, if Victory was so awesome, why is it dead?
Cause all the poser-boys only care about the name on the tank…. really, as if you didn’t know that, lol Hardley’s been polishing turds for years, and their brainwashed customers keep buying them… though the well is beginning to run dry as posers move on to other equally shallow pursuits… can’t believe you’re questioning the obvious…
Honda did it for years on the Nighthawk.
vrod is liquid cooled… different animal.
Now that Harley’s got their suspension woes mostly under control, it’s high time they started playing with turbos. And full-size fairings. Basically what I’m saying is, Softail XR11800X Grand Prix.
That would be hilarious and super fun! I’d put my Guzzi to the test for sure!
Where are the performance tests? How about real world 40 – 60 mph and 80 – 100 type tests.
Completely unimportant. You’ve never been about to merge or pass on the highway and thought “WAIT! Is my 80-100 fast enough for me to do this?”, I guarantee it.
You are correct because I would only purchase a bike that is capable of ripping past a line of rvs. I want to be sure that a bike has the capability to pass quickly because many can not. Some large bikes can not even get to 100 in the same day. I do not want one of those machines. Magazine tests used to provide that information.
I guarantee I have. Not in the literal “I know my bike does 80-100 in X, so I need Y amount of time to pass Z number of cars”, but every time I go for a pass, I consider if I have room to clear it. Which is exactly what 80-100 measures.
Fatbob wins the resale value category after 5 years. The Duc will be utterly worthless 5 years down the road.
’cause we all buy bikes bikes as investments….. stick to bonds if you care about such things…..
Well i guess, but I didnt mean it in that sense. I didnt buy mine has an investment. I have 25K miles on my 2015 Road King that I bought in 2015 and its worth 13-15K if I wanted to unload it easily. 25k miles on a ducati is ancient and worthless to some buyers and maintenance costs and parts are really low to HD compared to Ducs.
A quick (by work computer standards) glance at Cycle trader reveals that you are wrong. They both have very, very similar windows of resale value, with 2011s going between $8500-$12000, 2012s for $9500-$13000, and so on. Considering the Diavel starts.
$1500 cheaper than the HD, that means the HD loses more value over the same period.
Easy with the facts, Hoggers don’ t much care for those.
In fairness, his point about the service costs are dead on. The higher costs would definitely level the playing field financially. For my money though… hell yeah, worth it any day of the week, twice on Sunday, thrice on holidays. The Diavel is supermodel sex on two wheels, the U. S. is a sweaty old biker with a two foot beard with no shirt. Pass. Hard, hard pass.
Congratulations Harley for finally building an engine that has more… wait, I just Googled it, nope, the 2006 Roadliner still has more HP and Torque from about the same size engine. Oh well, I’m sure the Harley faithful will love anything they put out as long as they continue to charge a ridiculous amount of money for it. And really, the Diavel is not a cruiser. I don’t know what it is, but other than having 2 cylinders and a clam-shell riding position, it has nothing else in common with a “cruiser”.
You don’t compare a Harley-Davidson to a non-Harley, you compare it to the previous model.
only then does it stand a chance of winning a comparison, lol.
No, Harley-Davidsons almost always win subjective comparisons. You know some vehicles, like the Rolls-Royce Wraith or the Bugatti Veyron or the Jaguar F-Type or the Charger Hellcat, are never ever gonna win an objective test. They don’t need to, because they’re not selling numbers or bragging rights. They’re selling an ambiance wrapped in a mode of transportation, and good luck beating THAT with performance numbers-even Victory couldn’t, and Indian still can’t!
Bem dito! No one has ever been able to produce anything like a Harley, and it is not for want of trying. They simply can’t. Indian comes close but it has other problems.
Why would you want to? Its only sales feature is the name on the tank, which appeals to millions of mid-life crisis boomers… can grt better bikes for less money (if you’re not an image-obsessed poser that is)
Can you get a dictionary?
Sayyid, mikstr is blinded by hate for HD. Possibly his bank account won’t allow him to own one? I’ve tried to reason with him, but he’s one of “those” guys…
I am glad I am not the only one who thinks that.
Too funny! You do realise that you are freely admiting, albeit in different words, that Hog owners are buying to pose don’t you?
No, posing is to impress OTHER people. A Harley-Davidson is to impress YOURSELF. A poser would be, for example, a squid on a sportbike he’s never tracked doing wheelies and burnouts. Or any sportbike riders who’ve never been to the track, for that matter.
Do they still make the Roadliner? Não. Imagino por que? I rode one, and it had lots of torque, but rpm topped out around 4200, and it handled like it had two flat tires. Those things did not sell; if you bought your 2006 in 2009 as new old stock, you probably got a decent price. So, Yamaha is trying the big tour bike thing again. Will it sell? We will see.
Good point! The Japanese have almost given up on trying to beat Harley. Metric cruisers are a dime a dozen. They are good bikes but they are not Harleys.
Metrics are designed on a spreadsheet instead of by people that enjoy their craft.
Likely won’t sell cause the posers onlybuy Hogs.
Interesting comment, being as you see more people TOURING on big Harleys than all other brand combined. Are they posers too? After HD, you’ll see BMW and Gold Wings. Recently, a lot of “adventure” bikes are on the road now too. I won’t deny that some people buy HD to go bar hopping or “posing”; some people buy Japanese cruisers to do the same. But on the open road, most of the touring bikes you’ll see are HD. Take off your hate blinders, and you’ll see.
I’m guessing the crowd these rides speak to would gravitate to the HD despite the lower scores in certain categories.
Heck, I ride sport bikes and I wouldn’t touch the Diavel. I would buy a Harley if I wanted a cruiser. If I were to drop this kind of cash on a Ducati, it would be a real Ducati, not something compromised for market share in the US.
Você está certo. The lower scores are in categories they don’t care about.
Surpreendente. Everything that was initially said about the XDiavel with its deficit of torque in-town and difficulty of turning immediately condemns it next to the Fat Bob in my mind. An easier to ride cruiser is a better cruiser. It’s intended use is apparent, no? Instead, the verdict is: POWER! SPEED! MUAHAHAHA.
The lack of flywheel mass and 100+ lb weight advantage will make up for the pure torque deficit when it comes to acceleration. If you ride the Ducati properly, as in not lugging it under 4 grand, the “around town” torque nonsense fades away. It will pull harder than the Harley from any speed, however, that makes it a tiring bike to ride. It revs so fast and pulls so hard even at small throttle openings that ease of operation is diminished by rider fatigue.
Very good observation. I used to stall my KTM 1190 R all the time in the dirt at low rpm, until I learned to keep the revs high and feather the clutch). My BMW 1200GSA buddies just tractor it through at any rpm.
I am not of fan of this Ducati. Having owned a Monster and a 748, I can’t believe this is from the same company. I have seen the Fat Bob 114 up close and had a sit. I like what I saw. I might consider the Fat Bob if it were a few thousand less, but if I am buying in this category, it is V Max all the way. I think the Fat Bob wins over both the Max and the Devil as far as aesthetics are concerned.
Harley, for almost $20,000 should have more horsepower standand. How about electronic suspension and traction control with less weight to compensate for less horsepower. I like the Harley’s look but style only is not going to sell bikes. GM is had the same problem a few years ago. Europe is going to make air cooled motors very difficult to pass emissions.
“style only is not going to sell bikes”. Harley will sell a lot of these bikes like always. This is exactly the kind of bike Harley riders want, and that’s why Harley makes it. Harley already has several models with liquid cooling. When the time comes, they will be ready. All Harley models meet European standards.
I’ll take the DUC over any HD, OMG that small gas and almost 700 lbs you gotta be kidding.. These people talk about how the HD is better around town REALLY they must have won the lottery, be a cold day in HELL before I spend $20,000 dollars for bar hopping….
These people seem to forget these bikes off the floor no mods. if you want to be an ***ASS*** put the same amount of money into the DUC and really see who the winner is.
What do you ride now, David?
The tank is 5 gallons as always and gives a 200 mile range as always. A bigger tank only serves to weigh down the bike. Most people stop every 100 miles to stretch their legs, go to the bathroom, get something to drink, and fill up the tank. So the only problem you seem to be having is the price. Well, I am sorry to say that the Harley is probably not the bike for you. There are no winners or losers. Just people who like to ride different bikes.
3.6 Gal for the Fat Bob. Probably the most disappointing number on the whole spec sheet to be honest.
Another question – which one is going to spend more time in the shop? My 2008 HD, which I just sold, had 90,000 km with only one issue, that being a clutch issue. I’ve ridden the new HD 114 Fat Bob and it’s nothing like ANY HD before it – the handling is amazing, and the power is bags of fun. My V-Strom will out handle it, but like the Duc, the Strom makes power up top; it doesn’t have the pull (torque) of the HD. So I guess it’s a case of where you like to ride. FWIW, my old HD had a stage 2 cam and big bore kit installed; it revved to 6300 rpm with the flash. I’m sure one could do something similar to get more revs and HP from the 114.
I have 159,000 miles on my 2007 Softail Custom and still ride it daily. I love riding it.
Check the cam chains.
Not a problem with my bike. The cam chain tensioner issue was resolved before I bought my bike. 162,500 miles on it now.
No, it wasn’t, unless you upgraded to gear-driven cams.
What kind of comparison is this? Some lame attempt to get some Harley advertising in? The HD is outclassed by just about every motorcycle in the world.
Are you going to get the Ducati?
This Ducat looks horrible. It’s a contraption of an oil refinery. I’ll take the Harley in a minute, it looks clean. As to the leaning angle; past 11 degrees I call mamma.
You guys complained about the riding position on the XDiavel, saying the handle bars and foot pegs are too far of a reach. The XDiavel is adjustable, you can get a closer to the rider handle bar from Ducati, and the foot pegs are adjustable with just 2 bolts on each side. You can move them further away or closer. In the closer position they mirror the Harley position.
Oh yeah, I just love riding around town at 8000 rpm. It’s so relaxing.
Ha, no need to ride around at 8k, but a least there is the option.
At 8000 RPM in first gear you’d probably be breaking the speed limit around town. Então & # 8230;
Looks are always subjective, but xdiavel won EICMA 2015 design award. You might not like it, but to say it´s horrible… I can se many complaining about xdiavel performance but never ever rode one. I own one, I´m 5 11″ and the riding position is spot on, but there are many positions combinations for the handlebar, pegs and seat. I like the looks on the fat bob, I like booth, but tecnology, performance and ergonomics are on the xdiavel side. And 1868 cc for 82 hp, for almost 20 grand? You must be kidding me.
The HD looks 10x better, sounds great with proper baffled pipes on it, and is perfectly engineered to go stoplight to stoplight, and hop around town. The new engine is a nice advance, and I am sure it responds well to easy mods to make it perform better for it’s intended use.
I do wish the HD crowd would stop with the straight pipes. Even if they worked (they don’t) HDs are not fast motorcycles – if fast is truly important, buy something, almost anything, else. Why bother making them so noisy, unless you have a complex and did not get enough attention in High School as a kid? It that is a problem, stop annoying everyone else on the road and seek therapy…
There are a many other options out there that can spin a dyno drum far harder than a Harley. One can easily and less expensively obtain that kind of performance, from used Bandit 12’s for pizza & beer money, and even in a tall dirt bike looking thing with semi knobby tires. There is no need to ride around on this Toontown looking Duc. I can see why nobody buys them. The Duc’s engine, if it had feelings, would likely be bummed that it was installed in this weird looking orphan package, and not picked to pull Multistrada duty.
Never thought I would say it, but horsepower is not everything…
If Harley built an airplane would you fly in it? Apenas curioso & # 8230;
Honda and Kawasaki build jets-no loose tolerances there.
The design should be simple so it works even without tight tolerances. It is more reliable that way. Harleys run forever. Even the first Harleys made 114 years ago are still running. Can’t say that about Japanese bikes.
Na verdade não. Offhand, the Twin Cam is an inherently-flawed engine with serious, fundamental, sometimes not-fixable problems.
My 96 cu in Twin Cam has 162,500 miles on it in 10 years and is still a daily commuter. In fact I like riding it better than my other bikes. It runs like when it was new. What are the fundamental flaws?
I looked into Harleys, and the TC problems are the reason I own a Sportster.
Cam chain tensioner design: inherently flawed. Fix is either replacing tensioner shoes regularly or upgrading to a geardrive.
Primary chain “self adjuster”, which only goes one way. (It can tighten, but not loosen.) Fix is swapping to the old manual tensioner (sold as a Screaming Eagle part) and checking regularly.
Heat is an issue, especially on the bigger ones-to the point there is an ongoing lawsuit due to riders being burned. (One guy had his pants catch fire-which is, admittedly, a funny visual.)
Shift drum-bad run of springs. If it breaks, it can fall in the gears and (best case) grenade the transmission. No fix beyond replacing it.
Drive belt on a TC is a brutal all-day swearfest, requiring dismantling the swing arm and primary, and can run close to $1000 at a dealer. (It’s a half-hour job on a Sporty.)
Flywheels are pressed onto the crank, and occasionally slip. No rhyme or reason, no warning, no fix short of a new crank.
Need to change three different oils (engine, trans, primary), which is ridiculous. (Even the 2 on a Sportster is ridiculous.)
Oil changes are needlessly complicated.
Weak oil pump, fixed early 2007.
Bigger TCs (103 and up) tend to blow oil out the breathers.
Wide primary, with the end of the crank cantilevered way the hell out.
Clutch cable requires major disassembly for what should be a ten-minute fix.
2006-09 Cruise Drive transmissions had gear circlip problems.
Alternator magnet adhesive can fail on hot-running engines.
Excessive thrust from helical-gear transmissions, which is brutal on the bearings. Bigger the engine and harder it’s puished, the worse it gets. Go WOT from 1500RPM in third gear, you can see the clutch lever jump back and forth.
Bad oil relief valves-supposed to open at 55-65psi, open at 25.
Note that the 4-cam Evo in a Sportster has NONE of these problems!
So its a wonder I haven’t had any of these problems in 10 years.
Ridiculous illogical that’s like saying a 1918 Sopwith Camel is a better airplane than an F-16 because it’s “simpler” therefore more reliable. Besides there aren’t any 114 yr old Japanese bikes yet to make a valid comparison. And you never answered my question-I sure as hell would not put my child in a Harley-Davidson airplane to crop dust let alone fly across country. Those bikes are outdated anachronisms that persist because they satisfy a need for some people to feel cool. They succeed there but for those of us that consider motorcycling a sport they are abject failures.
Are you actually trying to say that HD builds the same bike as they did in 1918? Because that shows your ignorance about motorcycles in general. Take one for a demo ride before you spout such utter nonsense.
Read more carefully-making the point that just because it’s “simpler” with “loose tolerances” that make it more reliable(?) doesn’t in any way make it superior. I’ve been riding for 47 years multitude of bikes multiple Harleys old and new-and what they call improvements(Brembro brakes, ABS, DOHC) have been around on other bikes for years. They are still basically the same overweight, poor handling, vibrating(more than they should), overpriced, poor performing(in an absolute sense) bikes they’ve always been-BUT they are for the most part beautiful machines with excellent fit/finish. Ironically the best Harley ever built was the VRod, and they d/c’d it because the Harley aficionados just couldn’t wrap their minds around a Porsche engine and water cooling.
I get the Harley riding experience and enjoy it on my custom Honda Fury but for riding using all my skills and for the sport of riding I ride my 2014 Triumph Trophy SE. Will run circles around any Harley and just as comfortable.
All I can say, Dirk, is take any new HD out for a ride.
I have Mike a 2017 Road Glide with the Milwaukee8 and all the bells and whistles. There’s a little more power, better mapping, transmission shifts lower effort and smoother, and of course very pretty bike great fit/finish. I don’t want to continue insulting the brand you obviously feel strongly about. I guess a lot of my feelings about HD are based on the HD fanatics that tell me “get a real bike” and “look at all that cheap plastic” and “if you don’t ride a Harley you ain’t sh*t”. It’s ok to love your ride, but don’t tell me mine is inferior because of some baseless opinions. I am a fast rider, love the mountain switchbacks where handling is paramount. And I can’t tell you how many HDs I’ve passed sometimes 5-6 at a time because they can’t(or won’t) ride my pace. I want me to be the limiting factor in the sport of riding, NOT the bike. And Harley’s always are. But just ride what you love, and how you like to ride it. Oh, and you might want to ride a Trophy sometime. I’ll ride anything and everything because I love bikes and you never know what you may like-funny many HD lovers won’t sit their ass on anything else. Afraid they might become enlightened?
Peace-and ride safe.
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For quick rides through mountain curves the Ducati’s extra 8-9 degrees of available lean would be an advantage in speed and potentially safety as well. Everywhere else the HD should be the more satisfying ride.
Agreed, but for that kind of riding, anything else from the Duc catalog would be better. I’d go with a Multistrada for my kind of riding these days.
the harley just now catching up to what my thunderbird storm made in 2011 on regular unleaded. i made 84hp and 106lb/ft. ill take the triumph over either of these.
these two bike should not have been compared. they are completely different and not even is the same price range.
Harley must get on the HP wagon and improve it dramatically. I always wondered why they never published their numbers but this is why,, they pale in comparison to the competition.
lol… I’ve had my XDiavel S for a year now, after owning 2 V-rods over the last 12 years. I also have a ’13 FLTRU. Nice bike for what it was built for.
I don’t even know where to begin. There is no comparing a Harley and a Ducati. Not ever.
Stop trying to have power cruiser comparisons without the king. Rocket III.
I’ve owned a xDiavel for a couple of years and I’ve tested the 114. The cons of the xDiavel is that it’s not manegeable in the city and, at least in my case, it has spent a lot of time repairing. The pros is the reponse in the road is much faster. The hp is excesive. The fat bob has a slower response to controls in the road, but it’s more pleasure to ride as a cruiser. xDiavel is not a cruiser. It’s a devil?, monster?…

Toontown how many stock options in front three

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"Your web site shows an incredible array of projects that you've done. I'm impressed. I hope we can work together again. Thank you SO much for all your hard work. I'm really glad I found you." -- Oregon.
"Moya Mason was brought in as a strategist, researcher, and writer for my start-up. Her professional and innovative approach was invaluable." -- California.
"I want to thank Moya Mason for being a good thinker, creative tinkerer, and editor." -- Philadelphia.
"Thanks again for your examples, expertise, support, and helping me to get started. Thank you for everything, Moya." -- New York.
"Thank You! Your professionalism and work ethic are fantastic. I really appreciate the effort and I totally understand the difficulty you must have had in finding this type of information. I will definitely keep you in mind for future work." -- Modesto, CA.
Recent Professional Experience.
I will be updating my resume very soon, February 2012.
Researcher, June - October 2011.
Independence and separatist movements can be found in virtually every country in the world. Some of them are well-known. For instance, the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Corsican movement in France, and the Basques and Catalans in Spain. These are all well-documented and researched. In Columbia, there is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), and in Indonesia there are the Aceh and Maluku movements. In North America, the Cascadia movement calls for an independent nation made up of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington. Even Western Kansas wants to separate, not to mention Quebec, Canada. In Somalia, there are independence movements in Puntland and Somaliland. Relatively quiet African countries like Senegal also have low grade conflict. The Casamance region of the country is home to the Jola people who have a long tradition of peaceful independence demonstrations. My job is to research more than two hundred independence and separatist movements, dividing them into two parts: serious movements (which is most of them), and the not-so-serious ones. I am expected to provide background historical information for each, an account of why a particular movement wants independence, and a snapshot of their web presence. What types of information do these movements have posted on the Internet? What are other organizations, countries, and governments saying about them on the Internet?
Fact Checker and Researcher for a New York Publishing House, May - June 2011.
The encyclopedia I am working on is a two-volume A-Z reference work that will examine the dramatic events, domestic and foreign issues, public policies, and everyday concerns that have shaped the evolution and nature of America's policies on national security, national defence, constitutional rights, and public safety. Interdisciplinary in approach, the articles examine numerous facets of recent history in order to equip readers and researchers with a working and accurate vocabulary to examine present-day issues and understand ongoing discussions of future concern. This is being written primarily for use by students and general readers. I am one of a team of researchers and writers, who are working together to write and fact check the manuscript. We have access to multiple databases and also use the Internet for some of the work.
Researcher, Writer, and Editor, May - June 2011.
A medical researcher hired me to help him research, write, and edit an extensive paper on the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and how and why it promotes fat loss in adults.
Fact Checker and Researcher for an Upcoming Book on Inspirational Quotes, May - June 2011.
My job was to validate and correct hundreds of quotes and delete any redundant ones. I had to confirm the language and make sure that the punctuation was accurate. I also had to find a context/source for each quote. This is an example of a job that takes much longer than you think it will. For example, "Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain" is a quote that was attributed to Mark Twain. I ran into a lot of problems with that one. Finally, I spoke to one of the archivists working on The Mark Twain Papers project at Berkeley and she told me that it wasn't one of Twain's after all. Many of the quotes were very problematic. For this project, I used multiple sources to fact check the quotes, including Google Books.
Researcher for an Innovative Engineering Solutions Company, May 2011.
I was hired to do some exploratory research on the following three concepts to find out if they have technical merit and/or are feasible technologies to pursue: using social marketing to disseminate evidence-based energy balance intervention; portable e-technology tools for real-time energy balance research; and innovative technologies for enhancing function for individuals with disabilities. I was also asked to come up with a suggestion for how each of these concepts would make them commercially viable.
Researcher for an American Charity, May 2011.
I was hired to create individual prospect research profiles for both existing and prospective donors. The work will continue on a quarterly basis throughout the next year. When the profiles are loaded into specialized databases, my clients will be able to identify which prospects should be invited to their annual events and which donors they should contact to participate in special sponsor tours and projects instead of contacting everyone for every event. For example, a person who has donated only when a natural disaster has taken place probably wouldn't be interested in being continually contacted to donate to other types of campaigns. You don't want to overwhelm your donors. Rather, you want to create long-term relationships with them. The profiles will go a long way in making this happen.
Researcher for a Management Consultancy, Victoria, Australia, April - May 2011.
The company that hired me was designing a leadership program for a government agency using the tenets of a learning organization. The agency was facing a number of organizational and operational challenges as a result of an increasingly competitive market and a change in business objectives. As a result, they recognized that in order to meet its near and long-term goals and overcome its challenges, they would need to strengthen its leadership capacity and create a much healthier workplace by designing work environments that are open to creative thought by breaking down hierarchies and shifting away from the traditional authoritarian workplace. My role was to provide the stakeholders with information on learning organizations and summarize my research in a comprehensive report and teaching tool.
Survey Writer for a Berkeley, CA Research Group, April 2011.
A research consultancy hired me to help them write a survey that focused on the state of entrepreneurship in Africa and Western Europe. Ultimately, my clients were looking for insight into the economic future of particularly important regions in the area. A large number of surveys were sent out to a variety of grassroots organizations. We received a very good response.
Researcher for a Montreal-based Lifestyle Television Company, April 2011.
My role was to help a member of the production team with the research for a strategic plan.
Fact Checker for an Educational Publisher in South Carolina, April 2011.
A publisher of non-fiction books for middle and high school readers contacted me to fact check a biography of Alexander the Great for accuracy.
Researcher for a Washington Technology Consultancy, March - May 2011.
I was asked to help with the research for a white paper on the use of cloud computing in federal government agencies. Many federal agencies are evaluating and implementing cloud computing. As agencies take on this transformative technology, they find the transition to cloud computing impacts many aspects of their IT environment, including legacy systems, the sustainability of infrastructure, security, and privacy. Cloud computing can have a very high return on investment, but it does bring additional risks that must be managed. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finds cloud computing solutions share five characteristics: on-demand self-service; broad network access; resource pooling; rapid elasticity; and measured service. Cloud vendors are able to provide on-demand scalability at reduced costs because their infrastructure is streamlined and they take advantage of massive economies of scale. For many organizations, cloud computing is much more cost effective than providing the capabilities themselves, but should the government be using it for sensitive information? Should they be uploading personal information onto third-party servers? Security is cited as a leading concern for those considering cloud computing. One of the main problems is that agencies cannot easily find out who has accessed the data or even find out how it is archived. Should the government exchange in-house developed systems for vendor managed off-site systems and software platforms? Many critics contend that because of the uncertainties involved with cloud computing, the risks outweigh the rewards, especially since the overall costs and reliability factors are difficult to determine.
Survey Writer and Researcher for an Educational Association, March - May 2011.
I helped to create a questionnaire and a survey study that was designed to help analyze how undergraduate students view plagiarism and academic dishonesty. Students from 77 selected American universities were a part of the study. Academic pressure was the number one reason given by students who copy material for essays from the Internet. Students were also asked whether library staff included the concept of plagiarism as part of their information literacy classes. My clients are hoping they can map out profiles of students likely to plagiarize and bring more awareness to the problem. Preliminary results will be made available as soon as the summary report is compiled.
Researcher for a UK Charity, March 2011.
I worked with a small charity in Oxford to research and write case studies for lesson plan supplementation that will be used to educate college and university students on major global issues such as climate change, modern slavery, food safety, human rights, and the privatization of water. The project was developed to engage hard-to-reach young people in global issues.
Researcher for an Advocacy Institute, March 2011.
The history of international humanitarian aid before the 20th century was the focus of this project. The incorporation of realist, liberal, and constructivionist perspectives were required. I read a couple of books but mostly used peer-reviewed journal articles to find the information my client needed. I also read numerous whitepapers and reports written by aid workers and organizations. Historically, the definition of humanitarian assistance has changed and has covered a broad range of issues, ambiguities, and contradictions. Identifying the evolving connections and differentiations between the different forms of humanitarian aid formed a large part of my work. Human rights violations, poverty, famine, armed forces intervention, natural disasters, emergency disaster relief, and aid offered in conflicts zones were also covered in my report.
Researcher, February - March 2011 (NDA in Place)
I was hired by an author writing a book about parenting. The book was research intensive. It is a follow-up to another successful book by the same author. I also helped to develop the bibliography.
Researcher and Writer for a Dance Studio in London, February 2011.
This project involved finding dance instructors with outstanding credentials in Ballroom and Latin dance in the UK area. I also did some basic PR writing for upcoming events. I then submitted the press releases to various area newspapers, and arts and entertainment editors that I had identified.
Researcher for a Washington, DC-based Consultancy, February 2011.
I was asked to find the recent sales and marketing numbers for caffeine pills. Annual and wholesale sales numbers for coffee were also requested. Plus, sales figures for grass seed, both wholesale and retail, for a number of countries, were a part of my research.
Researcher and Editor for a Canadian Filmmaker, February 2011.
My job was to do research on eight countries and also provide histories of their political situations. The information was used as part of a proposal for government funding. I also helped edit the document.
Researcher and Editor for a Canadian Lawyer, January 2011.
My role in this project was to act as a research assistant for my client. He was under a lot of pressure to have an article finished for a legal journal. The paper explores the nature of the venture capital industry in Canada. I did basic research for the twenty-five page article, while my client handled the legal aspects. I also helped with the editing and the bibliography.
Researcher for a New Luxury Magazine, January 2011.
I was hired to fact check a number of articles that were written for the premier issue of a new magazine that will offer articles of interest to affluent women with a net worth of more than ten million dollars.
My client is currently selling books to an Asian distributor, but isn't sure if the discount they are getting is fair or typical. She wanted me to find out what the typical discounts for sales from publishers to distributors are in different parts of Asia; what the typical discounts for sales from distributors to resellers (bookstores) are; what the typical discounts for sales direct from publishers to resellers (bookstores) are; and if most publishers sell through distributors or do many bookstores buy directly from publishers in that particular market. This project was a difficult one for me. It took a lot of primary research on my part, with help from some specialized databases and a number of publishing associations to find the answers.
Internet Researcher for an Online Radio Show, December 2010 - April 2011.
I was hired to finding interesting items for an online radio news show; to find background information on guests and potential guests; and do some writing and editing. I worked for this company for five months as a part-time freelance researcher.
Researcher for a British Manufacturer, December 2010.
Finding the contact information for the principal manufacturers of domestic water filters and purification products and their contact details in the United Kingdom was the starting place for this project. First, I had to establish which companies were the best in their field. The second part was to determine which of them had the best specification systems available. For example, which filters were the most effective on a sliding scale? Finally, I had to provide research and product information on three specific types of filters: reverse osmosis systems, carbon-based systems, and in-line carbon systems, particularly for American style fridges.
Substantive Editor, November - December 2010.
My client wrote a book that he is hoping will prove to be the right material for a positive family movie. I was hired to review the book, make edits, suggest rewrites, and strategize on the overall plot of the book. Great project.
My job was to help an art history student, doing a Master's degree, find information and photographs about both the Parthenon frieze and the Ara Pacis Augustae. My client lives in China and said she was unable to locate adequate reference materials or resources in her local libraries, nor were her professors able to help with the research since they specialize in Chinese art history and not Western art history. I found a number of good articles and full-text digital books that she was able to use to complete her thesis.
A first time author contacted me for help with research for a non-fiction book she was writing for Penguin about on-demand Internet streaming video companies in the United States and Canada. I was asked to find news stories, quarterly financial conference call transcripts, and other corporate/SEC type documents on a few companies from 1997-present. I checked all the business databases I had access to and was able to find some of the information, but the rest was not easily accessible and would cost a lot of money to obtain. Business research is always difficult to do because the information a client would like may not exist, may be proprietary, or may be very costly.
Researcher for an Educational Publishing Company in Boston, October 2010.
I was hired to fact check two middle school social studies books. Very little was true fact checking and was more checking the source that was already noted. Each chapter had approximately sixty digital assets to check.
Researcher for a Consumer Insights Company, October 2010.
This contract involved researching the cultural and economic differences that exist between the provinces and territories of Canada. I then wrote both individual summaries of the information and also a comprehensive report that gave an overview of the differences. The information was used as part of a global pharmaceutical company's marketing campaign.
Researcher for an Asian Design Consultancy, October 2010 - February 2011.
This multi-pronged project was very challenging. It required me to investigate the economic factors that may impact or influence the bathroom products and accessories markets in Asia. A thorough analysis (both qualitative and quantitative) of the Asian industry and the key market factors/drivers of bathroom products and accessories was also needed. The identification of the market gaps for bathroom products and accessories and the apparent opportunities within the Asian industry were compiled, along with a series of recommendations and proposals of business models to capitalize on the Asian market were uncovered from the findings. Countries of interest: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, China, and Dubai. Asian socio-cultural drivers, including country-specific consumer developments, consumer cultures and niche segments, and people/consumer insights into European bathroom products were a part of the value-added research. An analysis of the Asian Market, including market size, market share and segmentation, industry barriers, and ways to overcome both competitive and entry-level considerations was a major part of this research project. I was lucky enough to be given access to a number of specialized online databases to do the bulk of the research. I collated the information and wrote a series of reports for the client.
Business Intelligence Researcher for a Law Firm in New York, October 2010 - January 2011.
This very hands-on position saw me scoping out new resources for competitive information. I was expected to offer strategic input, analyze business data and information, and provide support for the decision-making process. I also conducted primary research for a series of special projects working as part of a firm-wide virtual library team.
Researcher for a Large UK Telecom, September - October 2010.
This qualitative customer experience study of B2B Direct Marketing companies in Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, Sweden, China, Japan, Korea, Hungary, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico was a new experience for me. I worked with a great team of freelance researchers and was project-managed by a consulting group with its head offices in London.
Researcher for a B2B Start-Up, September 2010.
This company hired me to research and identify small businesses in the B2B space that can serve a national audience in the categories of Business Growth, Employee Rewards, and Productivity Improvement. They built a B2B ecommerce engine that created a community for small businesses through discounted group sales. In essence, they were interested in sourcing unique deals that can serve a national audience of small businesses and its employees.
Researcher, September 2010.
This client wanted to build an online database of good sources for information on the history of cookbooks. My role was to find the websites of cookbook publishers around the world. I also used the Internet to find information on cookbook awards; leading food critics; fairs, such as the Paris Cookbook Fair; and authors who have won or were short-listed for awards such as the International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards, the James Beard Cookbook Awards, and Gourmand International's World Cookbook Awards. I also collected websites that review gourmet food products and restaurants.
Fact Checker for a Healthcare Software Company, September 2010.
I fact checked a lengthy historical timeline that traced the evolution of consumer health technologies over the last one hundred years.
Business Researcher and Interviewer for a UK Branding and Design Consultancy, August - November 2010.
I was asked to help with the early stages of a book about branding. They were interested in talking to a cross section of people around the world about what they think of personal and professional branding, what it means to them, and how it affects their lives. They needed help on identifying potential candidates, getting their contact details, writing/phoning/emailing them, interviewing them, writing up the transcripts, and identifying trends.
Researcher for a Health Services Manager, August 2010.
This project focused on researching the phenomenon of reactivity, including the Hawthorne Effect. I also identified and described significant findings that came out of the Hawthorne Studies and led to changes in theories about how managers should behave to motivate and inspire their employees. The other part of the project was to explain and describe how effective human resource management planning, recruitment, and selection can assist in the continuous growth and development of an organization.
Researcher and Editor, July 2010.
I helped a senior citizen from Phoenix, Arizona with his memoirs. I did some research on his hometown and edited the manuscript.
Substantive Editor and Bibliographic Consultant for a PhD Thesis, July 2010.
Researcher for a Technology Provider for Financial Institutions, June - July 2010.
I was asked to develop a number of white papers and executive briefings that are now used as content in presentations, webinar decks, and videos. One of the topics I researched was how much money companies in the financial services industry spend on technology services. The client also wanted me to find out which social networks financial institutions actively participate in regards to particular topics. I also had to research item processing outsourcing, including SWOT information, market share, industry trends, information to support building a business case of why a financial institution would outsource their item processing functions, and benefits of outsourcing. The other main thrust of my work was research on online banking and bill payment processes. I had to find out the major players, SWOT information, market share, industry trends, and information to support building a business case of why a financial institution would switch to my client's company for their online banking and bill payment services. Identifying which factors contribute to a financial institution's decision process for selecting a vendor was also requested. Examples would be accuracy, error rate, speed, and conversion impact.
Medical Researcher and Editor for a Dental Company in San Francisco, June 2010.
This new venture capital backed dental company hired me to do the research for and create white papers and tech briefs on a number of topics. I also helped them edit and write some of their clinical materials.
Researcher for a Master's Student, May - June 2010.
My job was to help with the research for a Master's level dissertation on deceptive marketing. I also worked on the literature review.
Researcher for a Pennsylvanian Communications Consultancy and Design Firm, May 2010.
The topic of the research is training materials used to teach and guide service employees in completing basic stepwise processes. The client was especially interested in in-situ, on-the-job training, not classroom training or e-learning modules. This research assignment was two-pronged: find out the best current ideas that can guide design of such training materials, and identify some specific, instructive benchmarks from across different industries and the military. I was expected to conduct the research online and to use secondary sources, such as LexisNexis, Questia/Highbeam, and Factiva. The deliverable included a report that summarized the key insights together with links to and copies of primary sources. The industry benchmarks included illustrations. They expected brief progress reports and telephone discussions to make sure the work was focused appropriately. Everything was delivered in an accessible digital form.
Researcher for Queensland University of Technology, May 2010.
I was hired to research creative writing programs at Australian universities, including how many there are in Australia, how long they have been around, what they offer, a brief profile of the staff working for them, and a short history of their development. Creative writing programs have existed in the United States for over a hundred years, with the establishment of creative composition courses at Harvard University in the 1880s and the founding of the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1939, the oldest graduate-level creative writing program in America. In England, the Bloomsbury Group laid a solid foundation for creative writing from the 1920s onwards. These informal networks were important because they allowed writers to critique each other's work, exchange ideas, and act as mentors; the type of role that is now fulfilled by universities. But these networks were often only for the elite or for those who ran in artistic circles. In Australia, creative writing higher degrees are relatively new and find their roots in the Colleges of Advanced Education programs of the 1980s. Just a decade ago, few Australian universities offered creative writing doctorates or master's programs. Now many offer a full range of creative writing programs, from undergraduate to doctoral levels, and are in high demand. The Australian Learning and Teaching Council has an interesting report on the Australian Writing Programs Network (AWPN) here.
Researcher for a PhD Student, May 2010.
I was hired to fact check a thesis. My client also needed a lot of help with the references because although she originally meant to make the footnotes and bibliography entries as the thesis was being written, deadlines were looming and she didn't keep track of them. I had to go over each section of the thesis and where an author was cited, either in parenthesis or directly in the text, I needed to check the source. In the majority of cases, the source was already listed in the bibliography, but essential information was missing. I followed the MLA style guide and made sure that the bibliography was up to par. I also had to go back and cite the source in the text and associate each with a particular page number. That meant that I had to search the actual source for the information cited and then insert the page number or numbers in the thesis text.
Researcher and Writer, April - July 2010.
I was asked to research and write a comprehensive series of articles covering a variety of topics based on a wealth of primary source materials and subject matter expert interviews for an online nanotechnology knowledgebase. The tool will be used by nanotechnologists and science institutes. The client provided me with a conceptual framework, expert resources, and access to source materials. I uploaded the material using a content management system that was created with information architecture and instructional design input from me. The entire development process, from initial research, content gathering, drafts, and final production of the knowledgebase took four months of part-time work.
Researcher, April - June 2010.
My client is writing a book about how cities around the world thrive or die. I did a lot of research and read many books, articles, and city planning maps. I then summarized pertinent information into a series of white papers. Using a number of expository forms, my client discusses what makes a city successful. Of course that changes over time. What made a medieval city successful is a lot different than what makes a modern city such as New York successful. The humanistic management of cities; the right mix of aesthetics and practical, user-friendly spaces; and balancing grand and classical structures with contemporary initiatives in cities are covered. Encouraging city planners to take a progressive approach to the development of urban areas is key, as is considering diversity to create a better quality of urban life. While important aspects of reimagining cities are things such as cleaner public transit and building using the latest energy efficient designs, we also have to consider that people need a daily connection with nature and require sustainable urban areas that incorporate green spaces and natural life forms and systems into their cityscapes. Rooftop and sidewalk gardens are two examples of how urban planning can transform city areas from distressed and grey communities to revitalized neighbourhoods that promote health, a connection to nature, and a place that inspires and stimulates the human psyche. Recognizing that city environments can be planned in such a way that the lives of people are enhanced by encouraging physical activity and surrounding them with beautiful vistas rather than decaying urban infrastructures goes a long way towards creating cities that will thrive along with their inhabitants.
Researcher and Writer for a Non-Profit, April - May 2010.
This project focused on the loss of religious buildings in the United States, particularly in relation to changing demographics, economic hardship, shrinking congregations, or as a result of religious orders paying out large amounts of money to victims of molestation and abuse. In order to bring this reality to the public's attention and to help congregations learn of their counterpart's struggles and creative solutions, my client had me do research on a number of religious buildings and arrange interviews with some of the important stakeholders. I then compiled the information and wrote a report. Many communities have faced the loss of their places of worship. Many of these buildings are sold to land developers who turn them into condos or level them to construct residential or commercial buildings. Churches and synagogues are an essential part of urban hubs, providing sanctuary, community outreach, jobs for the community, improved mental health for residents, reduced levels of crime, foster charitable contributions, encourage volunteering, support a variety of local businesses, and improve the vitality of the community. Their loss can be devastating, not just to art and architectural history, but to society as well. Churches contribute to vitally important components of successful societies and their presence in communities provide many benefits that cannot be measured solely by direct revenue.
I worked for an art institute's online division to assist with arranging image permission requests and researching the fair use of copyrighted works.
In this case, my clients had been involved in holistic nutrition and medicine for over thirty years as patients. They both take 75-100 supplements daily, including standard vitamins, a number of esoteric ones, and also longevity and cognitive supplements. They also had many chelation IVs, ALA IVs, Myers Cocktails, Phosphatidyl Choline pushes, ozone IVs, oxygen therapies, had taken heavy DHEA and HgH injections for two decades, and even bought a mostly UV-B sun-tanning bed to increase Vitamin D levels. And, for over thirty years, they only saw American College for Advancement in Medicine sanctioned holistic MDs. They also read over one hundred holistic e-newsletters weekly, as well as a number of print ones. They hired me to do some detailed research on Enhanced External Counterpulsation Therapy (EECP), a procedure performed on people with angina, heart failure, or cardiomyopathy. I also provided a list of MDs who would perform the procedure for preventive purposes. Since they were considering moving to another state, they asked me to generate a list of doctors who offered certain protocols. They also asked me to find the best type of sauna and where it could be bought. Finally, I investigated a number of new supplements, therapies, procedures, blood tests, and looked at other relevant research studies. I used the Internet and a number of academic and medical databases to do the research.
Researcher for an Upcoming Book on Customer Conversion Rates in Retail Operations, March 2010.
I did some initial research for this book. It is being written by the founder of a business analytics company that works with leading retailers, including Hallmark, Adidas, Home Depot, and Sears. The book is about the importance of measuring prospect traffic and customer conversion rates in retail operations. It is a follow-up to When Retail Customers Count .
Fact Checker, Proof Reader, Researcher, Substantive Editor, and Writer for an Upcoming Book that Looks at Evolution as a Religion, February - June 2010.
I was contacted by a first-time author who had spent years researching and writing a book that challenged the theory of evolution. As a product of the public school system, he was taught to believe in evolution and never thought to question it until a chance meeting with a biology professor from UCLA in the 1970s, who told him that the possibility that life could have happened by chance was 1 in 10 to the 27th power. That remained with him and prompted a great deal of thought and eventual research into the complexities of life. The end result of his journey is this book. This was a big project for me. Each chapter was proof read and fact checked. As a result, a lot of additional research was needed. I used articles I retrieved from academic databases to find information and also found that Google Books was an invaluable tool. The book came to me with incomplete footnotes and needed many others added. As a substantive editor, I advised my client to make some major changes in how the information was structured and arranged. I also edited the book and rewrote sections of it to make my clients' ideas shine through more effectively. Finally, I created a sixteen page bibliography and formatted the book in preparation for publication. The premise of his book is that Evolution is a faith-based theory. It stands alongside other faith-based movements, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The one common thread that binds these great religions together is FAITH. Faith may be defined as having complete, unwavering trust and belief in a concept for which no scientific evidence is available. The theory of evolution gained wide exposure following the publication of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in 1859. It became a very popular book and went through six editions within a brief period of time. The book was particularly popular in academic circles. In Darwin's day, the cell was thought to be so simple that brilliant scientists of the day accepted his theory of evolution to explain the foundation of life. As science advanced and the complexity of the cell became clearer, the idea of intelligent design became more and more compelling. This book does a very good job explaining intelligent design and irreducible complexity. Evolutionary presentations found in articles and textbooks, and used by millions of students start with the assumption that the accidental formation of life is a fact. Mutations and accidental mistakes in cell reproduction are credited with species' progression. This faith-based evolutionary concept uses the assumption of the original cell as a point of departure, which then leads to broad-based transitional forms and the tree of life, and concludes, with life as we know it. Many prominent evolutionists and other professionals define evolution as a religion. Sir Julian Huxley, Charles Darwin, James D. Watson, George Wald, George G. Simpson, Jonathan Sarfati, James Perloff, Luther Sunderland, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Adolph Hitler, Fred Hoyle, Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, Antony Flew, Francis Crick, Michael Denton, Richard Dawkins, and James F. Coppedge are just some of the people covered in this book.
Client and Market Researcher for a California Insurance Brokerage, February 2010.
I was hired to find insurance brokers in the Los Angeles area who have clients with small commercial buildings and who also place that business in the wholesale insurance market. I collected the names and addresses of the firms, noted if the firms were an insurance brokerage, if the firms handled small apartment buildings, and if they placed any of this business in the wholesale marketplace.
Researcher for a Marketing Director, January 2010.
My client needed a list of bankrupt or no-longer-in-business companies that were issued a UCC certificate prior to August 28, 2002 in the United States. This certificate would give them a block of Universal Product Code (UPC) barcodes. He also needed the last known contact information of an executive or owner of those companies: the last available contact information of the owners or higher up executives, or someone with access to the certificate and the ability to transfer ownership. The more contacts I could collect the better because there would be a segment that would not be interested in selling the certificate or have enough codes remaining to sell. My client didn't care how old the certificates were but pointed out that the companies that received their certificate closer to their demise date would be optimum and would increase the odds of having more remaining usable codes. Ultimately, he was hoping for 200-300 contacts going back two to three years prior to August 28, 2002. The end goal was to purchase the UCC certificates, thus taking ownership of their block of barcodes. The UCC completely changed the barcode regulations post August 28, 2002, but any code established before that date is still valid and has fewer regulations attached to it. This was a project that I couldn't do in the end. I did work on finding the information but I ran into trouble. I did find out that a definitive list of all UCC certificate holders (prior to August 2002) doesn't exist. I figured if I could find that list I could then check the companies and their status. The inventor of UPC, George Laurer, can't even get a list, even though he has tried for years. I then contacted a friend of mine from grad school who does business research for a living and who has access to very relevant databases and he couldn't find the information either. One thing that might help my client is if he can find a list of the companies involved in the class action suit levied against the GS1 in the state of Washington. The GS1 lost and all prefix owners prior to August 28, 2002 became exempt to the GS1's renewal fees.
Researcher for a Marketing Support Company in Reston, VA, January 2010.
My job was to research federal agencies that have issued grants in the past five years. I was expected to name the agencies, the award amounts, levels of profit, time frames, the winners, and their competition. Brief descriptions of the grants were also requested. Another part of the project was to investigate federal agency grant trends and projections. My client was interested in finding out more about the health, security, space, IT, and education sectors, and other industries that have shown growth and are projected to show growth in the grant arena. Finally, I was asked to research the link between federal grants and formal procurements, and discuss how the link affects the element of developing customer relationships. A ten page white paper was the end result of my research. I included graphs that depicted past and future market percentages.
Researcher for an Upcoming Book on Japanese American Baseball, January 2010.
Specifically, I was asked to find newspaper articles from Honolulu, Hawaii newspapers between the years 1915-1920. The client also wanted articles from a Japanese American newspaper based in Los Angeles called the Rafu Shimpo , years 1925 to 1927. I used LexisNexis but those years were not indexed. I then did a search for the information on the newspaper websites, but most only archive a few years online. I then wrote a number of newspapers to ask for assistance but surprisingly, the newspapers don't even have extensive archives offline and couldn't help me. I then thought to write the state libraries, but they weren't helpful either and suggested that I come in and search their microfilm for the articles. Since I was thousands of miles away, that wasn't an option. I suggested that my client make use of a library research service that allows you to hire a librarian to find and print out the information and mail it to you. The other alternative was to post an ad on Craigslist asking if there was a local student interested in going to the library and performing the task for him. Posting an ad on pertinent universities' electronic job boards and requesting the same was also suggested.
Researcher for a Vitamin Company, December 2009.
I was asked to use excerpts from biochemical texts and published medical studies to find scientific verification for the three step process that takes B vitamins to the generation of energy. Higher potencies of B vitamins help the body generate more energy. The process starts with the ingestion of B vitamins, which increases mitochondrial function and performance, which in turn increases ATP production. Increased ATP production leads to more available energy. PubMed was my main tool.
Market Researcher for a North Carolina School, December 2009.
This school was interested in hiring a consultant to conduct market research for them. As a state-funded special education school for students with sensory disabilities, they wanted to determine how to better serve their students, community, and state using socially-responsible initiatives. As part of their strategic plan, the school needed to evaluate the market so as to continue delivering high quality education and to ensure its relevance to society. Working with management to implement objectives and directly targeting important priorities will allow the staff to increase its effectiveness and to expand their programs.
RSS Consultant, December 2009.
I was required to set up a series of RSS feeds for news, blog entries, and articles. The focus was on the emerging business of trading emission credits, which is a way for low emission companies to sell its credits to benefit higher emitting companies. It is a bigger business in Europe than in North America, and my clients wanted to find out what is happening in this market-based approach to controlling pollution. They also asked me to find some older articles on the subject.
I was hired to find email addresses and fax numbers for lingerie businesses in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, and Italy.
Researcher and Writer for a Class Action Committee, November 2009 - February 2010.
This American public-interest organization was waging a battle for healthcare reform against a private hospital company, questioning its integrity and accusing it of being corrupt. I was hired as a secondary researcher to supplement the efforts of its information team, which consisted of a researcher and two health-care analysts. They believed their research efforts could be improved by bringing in a consultant. Above all, they were looking for hard facts that could be incorporated into reports. Some of the tasks could be completed quickly in a few days, other larger projects were targeted at a few weeks. I worked for a number of people in the organization, but had a primary project manager. The following are examples of the work I did: 1.) research specific lawyers, including who they had worked with, what political parties they contributed to, their connections to particular politicians, and anything else that could be important for my clients; 2.) I was asked to obtain certain court records for them; 3.) transcripts of television shows were requested; 4.) I often was asked to pull together all existing news and clips about certain hospitals and then write succinct memos covering the most salient points; 5.) I was also expected to take a look at certain civil and criminal court cases and obtain the records; 6.) keep my clients updated on a regular basis through memos about a series of subjects; 7.) investigate a federal budget for specific line-items and find out who sponsored them; and 8.) access information on Washington lobbyists and find out how much they were getting paid. Overall, a very challenging four-month part-time job.
Survey Developer, Researcher, and Writer for a Report on the Social Value of Leisure for an International Cruise Line, November 2009.
My client will use the information I found in a variety of ways, including in the development of its leisure programming and in its advertising packages. Instead of looking for data on Baby Boomers or Seniors, this study focused primarily on young people, ages 21 to 50. We started by developing a survey that zeroed in on their spending habits, lifestyle choices, recreation habits, and leisure values. We posted it on very appropriate websites and were surprised by the number of people who took the time to answer our questions. Further analysis was conducted by gender because we were also interested in male/female preferences when it comes to relaxation, socialization, competitiveness, and the importance of pleasure as a form of recreation. It is important for recreation planners and leisure service providers to understand the leisure values of the people they work with in order to provide adequate services and programs. Today, more than ever, people are seeking to improve their quality of life through enjoyable recreation and leisure pursuits, especially when they are on vacation. They are increasingly aware of the importance of preventative health strategies, rest, and recreational activities, and try to incorporate this philosophy into the vacation packages they spend money on. With more disposable income, good jobs, and a heightened awareness of the world and its travel opportunities, young people will continue to become the focus of cruise lines and resorts. I also read a number of studies, academic articles, and books on the subject of leisure and put all the information into a report.
Researcher for a Book Proposal, October 2009.
I helped an author put together a book proposal on the subject of test stress. He needed me to research a large number of studies, facts, and figures for the audience and marketing sections of the proposal. He also had a lengthy list of very specific questions I had to find answers for.
Researcher and Photographic Consultant for a US-based Newspaper Columnist, October 2009.
I was hired to find information on the South Bank Skate Park, which is located underneath Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Thames in London. I was also asked to find copyright-free photographs of the area. The park has been popular with skateboarders since the early 1970s. For almost forty years, this public space has acted as a community for thousands of young people and is widely acknowledged as London's most beloved skateboarding area. Performance and graffiti artists, photographers, tourists, and buskers also migrate to the park. The Graffiti Archaeology Project has an archive of the area's art throughout its history. The park also appeared in a Tony Hawks computer game. Although its size has been reduced in recent years and partly given over to retail shops, the government has agreed that this vibrant public space has had a very positive impact on thousands of young people and contributed to the cultural heritage of London, so much so, that plans for more retail outlets were recently nixed.
Researcher and Writer for a Non-Fiction Book Proposal (NDA in Place), October 2009.
My client is a well-known author with over twenty-five years experience in the fields of filmmaking and technology. The project I worked on with him was for a non-fiction book about the convergence of a number of complex digital technologies. I helped with the research and design of the book proposal. I also assisted with the writing and editing of the first three chapters of the book that were sent to the publisher along with the proposal.
Researcher for an Educational Publisher, September 2009.
For this project I had to do research on a number of interrelated subjects: US college enrollment growth due to the recession; job training growth in general; colleges moving toward online learning and digital course materials; high schools moving toward online learning and digital course materials; digital books and their affect on traditional book publishers; and the growth of ebooks in any channel over time. I used a number of academic databases to do the research, collected articles on each topic, read them, making notes as I did. I took all important information and made a series of short reports, one for each of the topics I had researched. College enrollments are closely aligned with the economy. When the economy weakens, there is an increase in post-secondary enrollment rates as people hasten to increase their employable job skills and ride out the storm. When the economy strengthens, enrollment rates fall off as more people look for jobs instead of attending college. This is particularly true for community colleges during the global recession that began in 2008, when students cut across all demographic groups. According to a survey by the Sloan Consortium, higher education institutions believe that bad economic news is good news for both overall and online enrollments. More people go back for additional schooling in a bad economy, specifically people working in low-paying jobs. The largest universities and all community colleges in northeast Mississippi reported their enrollment numbers were through the roof, driven by a weak job market and high unemployment. California college officials reported turning away 250,000 community college students because they had no room for them. Historically, when the economy slows, one of the first things cut is job training. Funds for job training/re-training have recently increased but the state of these types of programs are still far from what they were in 1979. So, it is impossible to say whether job training funds will decrease as the recession wanes, but it is very likely they will since the unemployed will be moving into jobs and not spending as much time in retraining programs. The stimulus spending bill signed in early 2009 includes $4.5 billion for job training. Armed with new federal funds, American states are trying to help their jobless residents. The new Economic Stimulus Act includes $5.7 billion for workforce programs, which represents the largest infusion of dollars into the workforce in decades. Private companies are also partnering with states to help with job training. For example, Microsoft Corporation works with state officials in Florida, New York, and Washington, using the company's e-learning programs and online certifications. If you want to help people get back on their feet, you need to take a rigorous new approach to technical training. Online learning is an important piece of the puzzle and continues to be the fastest growing segment of higher education. And yet the educational establishment still debates whether e-learning can ever be as good as traditional teaching at a campus. A study released by the US Department of Education found that when compared to face-to-face teaching, many types of online college courses were better at raising student achievement. President Obama has also endorsed online education, while talking about his recent community college initiative. Convenience is one of the main reasons why so many students take courses online. They are available 24 hours a day and are particularly attractive to younger students, who are quite at ease navigating their way through the collaboration software, digital tools, and video components used in online education classes. Online learning has turned a corner and moved into mainstream education as advancements in technology and high-speed broadband networks allow for a more interactive and personalized learning experience. Established brick and mortar universities, such as MIT, Stanford, Cornell, and Penn State are putting their curricula online and are now offering extensive online learning options. UMassOnline reports that enrollment among students under the age of 25 has increased 91 percent over the past three years. Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, N. J. is reporting a 100 percent growth rate over the same period. The shift from paper to digital textbooks is also gathering speed as school systems struggle to provide students with books at a time when budgets are being cut. The California Digital Textbook Initiative will replace some high school science and math texts with free ones in hopes that the state will save hundreds of millions on textbook purchases. It will be years before students will have access to all their books in a digital format, but there is no question that competition from open-source materials poses a real threat to traditional textbook publishers. Moving towards open-source materials is well under way in higher education courses as President Obama pushes for the creation of free online courses to improve community colleges. According to the National Association of College Stores (NACS), which tracks the higher education retail market and reports the latest findings, e-books currently constitute a small portion of the college textbook market but are expected to reach 15 percent of textbook sales by 2011-12 and are increasingly nudging their way into the marketplace. For example, CourseSmart is a joint venture of the leading traditional publishers in North American higher education. Companies such as McGraw-Hill Education, John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier Science, Cengage Learning, Princeton University Press, and Sage Publications, Inc. provide digital books and learning tools to millions of student with more than 7000 titles. They are also accessible on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, iPod Touch, and the Blackberry, to name a few. The most popular college texts can be downloaded at approximately half the price of traditional texts. NACS' Student Watch 2010: Student Attitudes & Perceptions reported that the average full-time college student spent an average of $693 on college textbooks and course materials in 2010. Going digital seems to make a lot of sense when you consider numbers that high. Amazon is currently conducting a pilot program that provides students at Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Pace University, Princeton University, Reed College, and the University of Virginia with the revamped Kindle and the ability to download textbooks. As portable gadgets become more ubiquitous, digital publishing will continue to grow. Initiatives such as Google's Library Project also go a long way to explain the increased interest in digital books and devices, especially since Google made sure that all digitized materials were formatted for mobile devices. Apple also plays a crucial role in the transition from print to digital with its iTunes University. It offers college lectures and provides free storage and bandwidth to universities, some of which make their lectures available to all, while others restrict based on enrolment. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has tracked digital book sales since 2003, which were $20 million at the time. By 2007, that had more than tripled. By 2008, revenues were reported as $113 million. An added note: according to the AAP, the first quarter of 2011 saw e-book sales explode to $233.1 million.
Historical Newspaper Researcher for an Author, September 2009.
My client wanted access to Los Angeles newspapers' accounts of the death of Thomas Ince and the subsequent coverage. His novel will feature the death of Thomas Ince as a small part of the plot. Ince was born in 1882 and was famous as the owner of his own progressive movie studio. He was also a well-known actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Ince was considered an industry leader and Hollywood virtually came to a standstill the day of his funeral. He died at his home in Beverly Hills in 1924 after falling ill aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht, the Oneida , amid rumours that he was murdered by Hearst over a dispute about a woman. The official cause of his death was heart attack. In the end, there was no official investigation into Ince's death. On December 11, 1924, the Los Angeles Times published the following: District Attorney, Chester Kempley, announced that he had uncovered nothing to justify him in proceeding further with the matter. He said, "I began this investigation because of the many rumours brought to my office regarding the case and have continued it until today in order to definitely dispose of them. I am satisfied that the death of Mr. Ince was caused by heart failure as a result of acute indigestion. There will be no further investigation, at least as far as the county of San Diego is concerned. If there is any investigation of the stories of liquor drinking on board the yacht where Mr. Ince was a guest it will have to be in Los Angeles, where, presumably, the liquor was secured." I used LexisNexis to find over fifty full-text newspaper articles for my client to read for his research.
Joomla Consultant and Content Provider for Mystic River Marina, August - October 2009.
I helped the web programmer design this site, integrating a number of photographs to spotlight the marina's many amenities. I also did some research into local businesses, services, and events to add pertinent information to the website. I used Joomla to make the pages and also wrote or edited the website content.
Medical Technology Researcher for a Medical Center, August - September 2009.
This project required me to research thirty medical innovations identified by clinicians and medical researchers using web-based resources and medical journals accessed through proprietary databases. I then wrote a brief for each technology that included a description of the application, the technologies or methods it will replace or complete against, its clinical trial status, the current state of development, regulatory approvals, commercial availability, companies involved with the technology, patient benefits, and when it is likely to appear in the marketplace.
Researcher for a PhD Student (NDA in Place), August 2009.
Client Researcher for an Art Restorer, August 2009.
A professional conservator of paintings hired me to find contracts for her company. It had been awarded some lucrative state and federal preservation jobs, but she wanted to find more state and federal painting or mural restoration projects on which she could place bids. She'd had little success finding such contracts herself and needed some assistance. I used the Internet to do some of the work, but focused my attention on the appropriate government agencies and community organizations to find the information.
Internet Researcher for a Documentary Filmmaker in Mongolia, July - September 2009.
My client needed help locating rural schools and libraries in Mongolia, including a description, photographs, and contact information for each. He wanted to tell the stories of people who use extraordinary efforts and ingenuity to bring knowledge to those without access. In many remote areas of the world, there are no library buildings. Instead, there are donkey, elephant, and camel libraries; wheelbarrow, boat, bus, and train libraries are also very common. Some libraries are housed in the homes of farmers and people come and go, sometimes great distances, to select books. These mobile libraries and their librarians play a key role in the lives of people living in rural areas. For them, the arrival of the mobile library is an important occasion and an exciting event. My primary tool for this project was the Internet and a few NGOs, operating in the area.
Researcher and Survey Designer for a Study on Homeschooling in the United States, July 2009.
There is no question that homeschooling, when properly done by competent people, can be a wonderful experience for everyone involved. Many glowing reports have already been written that highlight the advantages and unlimited learning possibilities that go along with home-based education. Studies have definitely shown that some homeschooled students score much higher than the average publically-educated child. But what about the dark side of homeschooling? What about the parents who say they are homeschooling their children but are, in fact, not actually teaching them anything, resulting in illiterate adults? Who is monitoring these children? In some states, the answer is no one. Most states do insist upon some form of annual standardized testing and a monitoring of the homeschooling program, but many leave the enforcement of provisions to local school districts, which have few resources to do so. My client decided to write a book that uncovers some of the darkest secrets of the homeschooled, including profiling the uneducated and lazy parents who have fallen through the cracks and are pretending to homeschool their children without the knowledge of any educational agency. The other allegation that the author wanted to explore was the contention that homeschooled children are more likely to be abused and because they do not attend school, nobody knows. Some of the children are also subjected to an extraordinary amount of religious instruction, to the detriment of other subjects. Others are simply put to work. We started by designing an online survey that we posted in multiple places on the Internet. It basically asked if the reader knew of any children being kept home from school, but who were receiving little in the way of educational instruction. For example, some parents believe that taking their children for a walk and pointing out the clouds constitutes a science lesson. Similarly, they believe making a cake together and cooking supper every day can be counted as hours spent learning. Most parents consider these types of activities interacting with their children, not school lessons. We were surprised by the number of responses we received. My other duties included doing a review of the literature, researching state laws and legislation, and working with the survey results to generate statistics and graphs.
Researcher for a Project on the Management of Serials in Academic Libraries, July 2009.
I was asked to undertake the research for this project because my client, an academic librarian, was very busy with other responsibilities. This is the type of work that takes a lot of time. After I used a series of academic databases to do the research and downloaded over one hundred appropriate articles, I had to read them. As I read through each article, I copied important points and placed them into a Word document with related bibliographic information. I also added my own notes, possible points of departure, and ideas on how the information could be integrated into the final report. Libraries of all types are facing a digital revolution that is continuously changing and difficult to manage. For years, library finances have been struggling to keep up with the growth of journals. The shift from ownership of physical collections to licensing content for electronic resources has occurred quickly in the fields of medicine and science, but other collections are mired in problems, uncertainties, and controversies. As universities and colleges offer more online courses and create global educational environments with increasing numbers of offsite international students, they have no choice but to make a move from print to digital serial collections. The changing culture of scholarly communication and learning will continue to challenge librarians and require even more change from libraries. The transition from print to electronic resources has meant better service to library patrons, but the challenges of managing electronic resources have forced library staff to work more collaboratively and advocate for the creation of new partnerships and resource-sharing in order to transform library services. Libraries and serial publishers face unique challenges in the acquisition of electronic resources, including new pricing models, obtaining access rights, and determining packaging options. Effective communication, enhanced library workflows, new partnerships, electronic resource management systems, and the utilization of web services are all important factors in the reshaping of library services in this digital age.
Fact Checker for an International Publisher of Consumer Periodicals and Books, June - August 2009.
I was hired to fact check and verify the information in a four book series. The project was fun and interesting, in part, because the trade books were very entertaining and provocative to read. Topics included a history of food in New York City, the culture of fear in America, the science behind gadgets, and the resurgence of the cupcake.
Researcher for an Examination into Publicly-Available Information for a Content-on-Demand Company (NDA in Place), June 2009.
Fact Checker and Researcher for a Nutrition Magazine, June 2009.
I was required to do some fact checking and research for a new fitness, exercise, and nutrition magazine. From time to time, I am contacted by them to verify article facts or do the research for new articles.
Internet Researcher for an Overview of APIs (Californian Consultancy), June 2009.
This long established company was interested in branching out and incorporating some new ideas and technology as a way to expand its business. They decided that a web application programming interface (API) was something they would like to investigate. An example would be the Google Maps API that can be used by anyone to build a business around. Real estate developers and agents come to mind. I discovered that there are tens of thousands of APIs available for free on the Internet. Lots of options for my clients to choose from. Here is one website to give you an idea of the types of businesses that can be started by using an API.
Researcher and Writer for a California Health Information Management Consultancy, May - July 2009.
The company needed to acquire hard data on the market for US health and science staffing services, as well as on the US staffing industry, in general, to aid in the formulation of their marketing strategies. The research was limited to the US market only. The data collected for each sector included market size in dollars, geographic distribution, client universe (# of establishments) by sector and sub-sector, and employment universe (by relevant profession). The universe of staffing firms in OAI sectors; financial data on top 25 players in each sector; total number of people employed by health & science staffing companies; market share held by the top 25 health & science staffing companies in each sector; trends in health and science staffing; merger and acquisition activities in the last five years; trends in usage of staffing services for health and science staffing; fastest growing health and science professions being staffed by the staffing industry; and seasonality of staffing employment were all included in the deliverable. Government data sources, such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept. of Commerce, US Bureau of the Census, and other federal agencies and departments; commercial data sources, such as LexisNexis, Dun & Bradstreet, and Standard & Poor's; trade data sources, such as the American Staffing Association, the American Nurse Association, and other relevant trade associations; media data sources, including trade publications, industry white papers, professional association publications, industry analysts and experts; company and industry websites; and online research reports were the tools I used to find the information. I then used Excel to input the data I was able to find.
Researcher for a Newspaper Journalist, May 2009.
This project involved finding statistical information on patterns of private philanthropy. Americans, Europeans, and Japanese were the focus of the research. My client, a journalist, was working on a piece. He requested specific numbers to make the comparisons, including gross amounts and a careful breakdown of what was included and how it was sub-divided in categories such as religious, secular, arts, health, science, emergency relief, and other similar sub-categories.
Bibliographic Consultant for a Medical Publishing Company, May 2009.
My client had 250 references stored in an EndNote library. EndNote is a bibliography program that keeps track of your references. Many of the references were missing some of the information and needed to be polished up. In some cases, I had to find the city of publication, clarify authors' names, and about 25-30% were missing the date. The good thing about this job was that most of the references were imported from PubMed journals, so finding the missing information wasn't all that difficult. For some of the other references I had to use WorldCat to find them because they were pulled from diverse sources, including psychology books, federal reports, book chapters, and websites.
Co-Designer of Three Web-based Applications for North American Organic Farms, April 2009.
Small, family-run organic farms are often burdened by debt, or at least a lack of money. Coming up with the funds to pay for the services of a web programmer or a designer is difficult for many, even when their businesses would run a lot better with the help of information technology. So, when one such farm approached me for advice, I decided it would be a good project to get involved in. For example, they run an organic co-op, but had no online application form for people to sign up for the service. Instead, they had posted a PDF application form which had to be printed off, filled in, and mailed using the postal service. A bigger problem for them was they didn't have a web application that local restaurants could use to make their weekly orders, nor did they have an easy way for customers to order any of their almost 150 product seedlings. I worked with a programmer to design the forms and the application interfaces. I then inputted all the product information and prices. The applications have subsequently been offered to many other farms across North America.
Researcher and Writer for an European Conference on the Subject of Collaborative Divorce, April 2009.
I acted as a research assistant for a presenter at a conference. Her topic was collaborative divorce, a method of practicing law in which divorce lawyers for both parties agree to help their clients work through their conflicts and find resolution using non-adversarial interest-based negotiation and cooperative techniques rather than litigation. The lawyers are key in collaborative divorce and are committed to settling all issues and conflict in creative, fair, and non-confrontational ways. The process is much less expensive than a regular divorce case that goes to court. The collaborative divorce model was developed in the early 1990s by lawyers and other professionals who believed that litigation was injurious to the principals involved, especially the children. It is also a way to avoid the arbitrary and uncertain outcomes of court litigation and allows both sides to achieve an equitable and fair divorce settlement that reduces the negative consequences that are often an outcome of traditional divorces. Learning new skills, such as conflict resolution, effective communication, and healthy co-parenting tips are also goals of the process. The model has spread rapidly throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and other parts of the world.
Researcher for a Privacy Consulting Company, April 2009.
This company specializes in creating strategic privacy governance programs for major corporations. Corporate privacy is a major issue and is expanding as personal privacy is shrinking. Privacy initiatives need to support business strategy and has to scale across all units. Affordability, effectiveness, and sustainability are also important aspects of privacy programs. The use of appropriate technologies and compliant infrastructures also play a critical role. My role in the project was to assist the primary consultant in a privacy scan for an American food corporation, make recommendations for next steps, and help write up the summary report.
Market Researcher for a Regional Car Dealership, April 2009.
My job was to find research studies that examined how Canadian women buy cars. Pertinent questions included: are they the primary purchasers or are they influencers?; are there any big picture buying patterns?; and are there any legitimate statistics that can answer these questions? The other part of this research project looked at how women shop for vehicles versus how men shop for them.
Fact Checker and Editor for a Book on the History of Jazz, March 2009.
I was given a manuscript on the history of jazz in the United States and Western Europe to read and was asked to fact-check it for accuracy and consistency, editing as I went through the process. Ideas of democracy, modernism, racism, and redemption are covered in the book.
Researcher for an Upcoming Book, March 2009.
For an author based in Ontario, Canada, I conducted research for a book on American and Canadian water issues, focusing on the crisis that some bodies of water are experiencing, the most promising methods of conservation, and the commodifaction of the global water supply. The book was structured as an easy to read introduction to the subject and was not particularly scientific or technical in nature.
Researcher for an Asian Agricultural Organization, February 2009.
For this project, I had to find all current and archived news stories about Indian agriculture, its farmers, and how new technological advancements may be able to help both. I used LexisNexis and ProQuest to do the work.
Business Researcher for a Technology Presentation (NDA in Place), February 2009.
I was hired by a software company specializing in next-generation operating system platforms to find a diverse collection of data that its in-house research department was having difficulty finding. One aspect was searching for global ecommerce statistics for 2002 and onwards. The research was needed urgently because of a time sensitive race between two companies developing the same technology, a technology that has mega implications for ecommerce.
Internet Researcher and Writer for a Report on Search Engine Optimization, January - February 2009.
A well-established web company contacted me to put together the latest information on search engine optimization. For many years, its rankings had always been respectable, but all of a sudden, they took a big hit and revenues began to slump. The company then hired a series of SEO experts, all of whom had different ideas, opinions, and costly steps for the company to take to solve the problem. Instead of spending any more money and changing everything on its site one more time, they decided to find out which SEO best practices were presently being employed and what results they could expect. I did a series of interviews with SEO experts, read the most recent reports and books I could find, visited Internet forums specializing in SEO, and searched the web for value-added information. I put all pertinent findings into a white paper.
Researcher for an Australian Consultancy, January 2009.
The main objective of this project was to establish if pheromones increase a person's attraction. The client required a list of human-based clinical studies and research papers. The deliverable was a highly condensed summarization with copies of the research papers and clinical trials attached in the appendix. I searched for studies that confirmed pheromones increase a person's attraction. Some of the questions I tried to answer were: does a person's attraction increase if pheromones are applied on the body? If so, what sort of pheromones? Artificial or animal derived? Can the human body increase attraction with an increase in pheromone production from the inside? There are nutritional supplements available on the Internet that make such claims. Is there any research to substantiate this claim?
Researcher, Writer, and Editor for a Publication on ACRL Literacy Standards, Instructional Scaffolding, and the Value of Web-based Tutorials in an Academic Setting, January 2009.
I worked with a librarian on this project. She needed help with researching, writing, and editing to take her ideas and turn them into an article. When you look at the research habits of NextGens, a couple of things become pretty obvious: they use the Internet as a starting point for research instead of searching academic databases; when using library databases, they often disregard help screens; and they employ a very erratic style of searching webpages for information, something that Angela Weiler called "I don't think, I click" in Information-Seeking Behavior in Generation Y Students: Motivation, Critical Thinking, and Learning Theory . Almost every academic database has a different interface, a different set of search protocols, and different full-text retrieval engines, meaning access to these resources is less than transparent. For example, PsycINFO offers the option of using controlled vocabularies, while JSTOR doesn't. Before conducting a search, LexisNexis forces the user to select different source areas, while the best way to search Factiva is to make use of its subject directories to narrow searches. Some provide full-text articles, while others, only the bibliographic information and perhaps a pointer to where an article can be retrieved. Even experienced researchers become confused when faced with multiple procedures. It takes quite a bit of expertise to navigate digitized information systems and use them well enough to get the best available information. That is why it is important, if not crucial, to offer sufficient support when students are first being introduced to research tools in an academic setting. Support from librarians is a key component, but web-based tutorials are also critical because they tap into the independent and tech-savvy nature of NextGens and are also cost effective. Students could benefit from having basic explanations of elements found on search results pages, definitions of commonly used terms, and simple contextual maps to explain the basics of information retrieval for the wide array of databases found in academic libraries. Maybe academic libraries and the tools they offer their students shouldn't differ that much from online businesses such as Amazon, Google, and Netflix, which spend a lot of their time and money focused on improving the self-service functionality and usability of their websites so that visitors can find the answers they need when they need them. Perhaps emulating their self-service models to create an instructional framework could go a long way to facilitate active learning and may even serve to increase a user's general research skills.
Researcher for a Real Estate Marketing Company, December 2008 - February 2009.
A company that provides innovative, web-based marketing systems and software for both real estate agents and mortgage brokers contacted me for research help and the creation of content for their marketing files containing local-based information. I eventually researched approximately 250 topics, including many in the area of financial services. I also wrote a series of articles for their monthly newsletters which cover a variety of subject matters.
My client was looking for a list of public relations companies that were founded by women and who have their primary offices in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Researcher for an Upcoming Historical Novel on William Marshal, the 1st Earl of Pembroke, November 2008 - January 2009.
I read a large number of books and academic articles on the life of William Marshal. I also read background information on the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries as preparation for my work. I then created a series of summaries on a large number of topics and events so that my client could more easily write the book, without having to stop every day to do more research. William Marshal's life is well-documented because his eldest son commissioned a record of his life shortly after his death in 1219. The resulting work was L'Histoire de Guillaume le Mar chal and it contained many eyewitness accounts of Marshal's life from his contemporaries. William Marshal was born during the tumultuous Civil Wars of King Stephen and Empress Mathilda. Sentenced to death at the age of five by King Stephen when his father refused to surrender, William Marshal had a notorious beginning. He was a hostage of Stephen's, held in surety in exchange for his father's good behaviour. But his father, John Fitz Gilbert the Marshal, had other ideas. Although Stephen's knights urged him to hang the child, the king decided to give John Marshal another chance to save his son by forfeiting the castle at Newbury. But William had three brothers and a young mother. When King Stephen's messenger delivered the ultimatum he was told that John cared little if William was hanged since he had the anvils and hammers to make more and even better sons. He said his youngest son was of far less value than his castle at Newbury. King Stephen had every right to hang the boy, but William was not executed and went on to become an important bodyguard for Eleanor of Aquitaine and a courageous knight. Over his life, he served four kings: Henry II, Richard I, John Lackland, and was made regent for the nine year old, Henry III.
Researcher, Editor, and Analyst for a Real Estate Strategy Consultancy, November 2008 - January 2009.
I was hired to read, review, and edit five strategic plans that my client had written for various commercial real estate projects. The typical document was 80-100 pages. I edited, filtered, and condensed the reports into three templates to serve as base documents for future reports. I found that some things were stated more clearly in one report than another. My client needed the best of each report standardized and applied to three different templates for three different types of real estate projects (i. e. town center, regional mall, entertainment focused center). I also analyzed cities, regions, states, and then produced market overviews for projects that my client was working on. For example, if one of the consultants was given an assignment in downtown Atlanta, he/she would need an overview of downtown Atlanta, with a focus on real estate. The number of businesses in the downtown core, daytime work population, traffic statistics, total number of hotel rooms, square footage of office space, rental rates, retail sales, job growth, downtown residential population, etc. Typically, a ten page report provided a good overview. I also supplied my client with a write up of the overall national real estate market with overviews in housing, hotels, office space, apartments, and retail.
Researcher and Writer for a Study on Recession-Proof Industries, November 2008.
An American college was intrigued by the idea of developing new diploma programs based on the premise that the courses would provide recession-proof jobs for graduates. When jobs are scarce and the economy is going through a downturn, many people go back to school to upgrade their skills. Why not offer them programs that could keep them employed long into the future? No career is truly recession-proof, but discovering the high-demand jobs of the future and updating your skills accordingly, can go a long way in offering economic security. Emerging fields such as geographic information systems, green energy, and specific healthcare occupations are currently receiving a lot of attention. The most important part of this project was the futures research I did for it. Every year we are surprised by social, economic, and technological upheavals that appear to come from nowhere. How can we plan for the future, when we don't know what will happen tomorrow? Predicting which jobs will still be vital a decade from now is not an easy task and must be made using some of the principles of scenario planning. Key to preparing for the future is making better decisions today. We can do this by highlighting large-scale forces that push the future in different directions. The work I did was summarized into a report and given to the provost for evaluation.
Researcher for a Washington, DC Non-Profit, October - November 2008.
This research project is part of a multi-prong initiative that looks at how politicians are using the Internet and if it changes the way they govern. I looked at politicians from many countries, not just the United States. I basically used the Internet for all of my research, collecting information on different politicians and parties, and on how they are using the medium to transform the democratic process. I put all my findings into a report. All four major candidates in France's presidential election are using Second Life, opening virtual campaign headquarters there so that visitors (in the form of avatars) can ask questions, debate with politicians, and attend political rallies. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards are also campaigning in Second Life. Clinton has even held press conferences at her virtual headquarters. UK politicians are increasingly using blogs and are responding to the posted comments. Blogs have become extremely important, with millions reading both local and national blogs daily. The British Conservatives have launched their own Facebook pages to attract new support. Facebook is a really fast growing way for politicians to communicate with constituents. Voters who become a 'friend of the Conservatives' receive regular updates and tips on how to get involved in the political process. European politicians are using podcasting, vlogging, blogging, and other Web 2.0 tools to raise funds, recruit volunteers, and to organize supporters. Britain's Conservative Party leader, David Cameron, has his own video blog to post slick clips that attract voters and engage the public in a new kind of conversation. The Conservatives say the party has been inspired by what's happening in America. Social networking sites had a huge impact on the United States Presidential elections. Barack Obama credits social networking and Web 2.0 tools for his campaign's phenomenal support and successful fundraising efforts. He won every important caucus state by using these tools because he was able to move thousands of people to organize. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in such a way that would require an army of volunteers in traditional campaigns. The Internet also allowed him to run a campaign for much less money. For instance, Obama's campaign is taking advantage of YouTube for free advertising. Also, the ad material they created for their YouTube channel is currently being watched more than ten million hours, something that would cost tens of millions of dollars on broadcast television. And, unlike direct mail, the Internet costs nothing in comparison. The election of 2008 is already being called the 'YouTube Election' thanks to the videos uploaded by presidential hopefuls.
Photographic Researcher, October 2008.
My job was to find images of gods and goddesses associated with knowledge, learning, wisdom, writing, books, and libraries. These images of deities will be used as part of a librarian's presentation at a conference in Thailand. Hermes was the Greek god of knowledge and invention; Vidya Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of learning and rational thinking; Lono is the Hawaiian god of learning and intellect; Seshat (Sashet, Sesheta, Safekh) is the Egyptian goddess of writing, historical records, accounting and mathematics, measurement and architecture to the ancient Egyptians. Seshat was the goddess of libraries, knowledge, and geomancy; Thoth was the oldest and greatest of Egyptian librarians and was known as the inventor of writing and acted as scribe to the gods; Ganesha (Ganpati) is the Hindu God of knowledge and learning; Wei T'O is the ancient Chinese god of libraries and books; Hayagriva is the Hindu God of learning and wisdom; Carmenta is the Roman Goddess of writing and the alphabet; Saturnus was the Roman god of learning; Nabu is the Babylonian god of writing and wisdom; Quetzalcoatl is the Aztec god of learning and creation; Sarasvati is the Hindu goddess of books and knowledge; Tenjin is the Japanese god of learning, language and calligraphy; Nisaba or Nidaba is the Sumerian goddess of writing, the Learned One and scribe of the Sumerian heaven; Bridget is the Celtic goddess of writing, poetry, and learning; Buddha Manjushri is a god of learning; Ogma is an Irish god of writing, eloquence and poetry; Vagdevi is a Hindu goddess of learning; The other gods of education and knowledge were the Muses, who were the daughters of memory and goddesses of the arts and libraries; Athena was the goddess of wisdom, learning, and teaching; Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom, learning, art crafts and industry; Apollo was the Greek god of knowledge, past, present, and future; and Danu was the Celtic god of knowledge. This is a webpage showing the images of the gods and goddesses I found. Here is the key that goes along with the photographs.
Environmental Researcher for a Study on the Environmental Impacts and Health Concerns Related to Wireless Internet Towers (Washington State Grassroots Organization), September 2008.
This project was both interesting and frustrating. I found an equal amount of information on both sides of the debate. Often when you are hired as a freelance researcher, the client is expecting you to deliver only information that supports the way they see a situation. They want you to find information that backs up their viewpoint. In this case, that was difficult. Many of the reports and articles I read on the subject reported that there is very little to worry about when it comes to the potential health risks associated with exposure to microwave radiation. A number of experts stated that microwave ovens are more of a health risk than ISP towers because they leak radiation. And, as they point out, cell phone towers are much more of a concern when it comes to health. In general, public health implications of wireless technologies is a relatively new phenomenon and it will be several more years before studies can reliably demonstrate and predict what exposure to all kinds of microwave radiation does to the human body and if it alters brain chemistry. Another part of my research was to find information on how Internet towers affect the value of homes located near them. The information I could find points to the subjectivity of each case. For example, a home may decrease in value by 20-30 percent in some areas, but in other locations, namely very rural areas, an Internet tower could be viewed as a positive by people looking to buy a home with access to high speed wireless. The perception of the buyer is key. One of the questions that arose out of my research was how the locations for these towers are chosen. Particularly, why are they built anywhere near houses and people? The answer is they need access to electricity, so a location can't be a very remote and uninhabitable area, and must as a consequence, be built in populated areas supplied with power. One other interesting point was raised by this research: when you say no to Internet towers, sometimes you are saying no to a lot more. We found that entire rural areas of the United States are basically without reliable and speedy access to the Internet because local people have fought against towers. Without access to a high speed connection, you are invariably cutting people off from having access to a lot of important information. The Internet has become a lifeline to rural communities. Think also of small businesses, the home schooled, and the telecommuters. The Internet is a critical utility and is as important as telephone, electricity, and mail. Living in isolation, off the grid, is just not an option anymore. The Internet provides too much opportunity. Even the off-gridders have Facebook pages these days, which is kind of funny. The Internet gives you access to the whole world and hundreds of years of knowledge. For instance, the National Library of Wales is digitalizing everything printed about Wales and the Welsh people since the 16th century. And, every day, another service becomes available only online.
Researcher for an Overview on Best Practices for Corporate Website Usability, Customer Experience, and Usability Engineering, September 2008.
I was hired by a North Carolina consulting firm and directory to evaluate their website and online social communication tools. After losing some of their ranking in various search engines, they decided that it was a good time to take a closer look at their online presence and find out if customers and visitors to the site were having a positive experience. Sometimes companies spend so much time and money on positioning themselves for search engine optimization that they forget the basics of customer service. Unless the experience is user-friendly and barrier-free, people won't come back. Search engine spiders are getting better at indexing Flash elements but without a duplicate site for spiders and for users without the needed plug-ins, parts of my client's site was inaccessible to many. The site also relied, in part, on audio cues alone, which meant that the hearing impaired couldn't fully use the site, nor could those that didn't have speakers hooked up to their computers. The website also could not be read by the computers of visually impaired users. Computers are unable to read text that is enclosed in graphics. People with disabilities were unable to navigate the site because it was built to be visually pleasing rather than informationally and structurally sound. Visitors were also unable to change the font sizes, which is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. I also found that users were unable to efficiently and quickly locate information on the site. The interface design required people to guess where items were because the information was not well organized or properly labeled. The site's navigation wasn't easy to use or find because it featured a navigation scheme considered cutting-edge. The reality was that users couldn't figure out how to use it, especially since it did not remain in the same place throughout the website. A "breadcrumb trail" built directly into the navigation is a very helpful component of a site, as is using webpage titles and subtitles to indicate what section of the site a person is in.
Researcher for a Study on the Portrayal of Male Librarians Throughout History, August - September 2008.
I spent quite a lot of time researching male librarians, from the earliest documented accounts. This project was multi-pronged and complex. The first thing I did was a literature review. I used a series of online academic databases to find good articles and books. My client requested that I highlight the most important points in each article and write a summary. After my initial research, I put all the information together and wrote a report that chronologically tracked librarians over time. I also put the highlights into a simple timeline. Historically, the image of the male librarian has come full circle. The profession was originally peopled by bookish men, although there are certain exceptions. The famous philanderer, Casanova, was the librarian for Count von Waldstein in the Chateau of Dux in Bohemia. Ancient librarians had high social status and were often scholars or priests. They were generally the only literate people in their communities. The chief Librarian of Alexandria was chosen by the king and was always a prominent scholar. In Egypt in the early 500s, Pachomius started a monastery and insisted that all resident monks read and write. Many monastic enclaves emerged throughout the Roman Empire and most had theological libraries. Monasteries in the Middle Ages were centered on librarianship and libraries, housing monk scribes, with the head scribe often put in charge of the library. The Benedictines created libraries and the scriptorium became sacred. It soon became customary for monasteries to lend to other monasteries, giving birth to inter-library loans. Prior to 1870, public opinion was that librarians were introverted, mean, eccentric, and male. Early male librarians were seen as dusty old bachelors, and undernourished, weak and non-masculine bibliophiles. The masculinity of male librarians was never questioned when libraries were the exclusive territory of male employees. That changed when libraries were primarily the workplaces of women. Male librarians were then stereotyped because they were seen to work in a female-dominated profession. By the end of the 19th century, the profession was slowly transforming into a 'woman's profession,' thanks to Melvil Dewey's School of Library Economy, the first institute to offer formal training for future librarians, including women. He established a pool of relatively cheap female labour that transformed the landscape of librarianship over the next half-century. Once exclusively the domain of men, librarianship evolved over time to not just incorporate women, but to become a profession that is almost completely associated with them. Women weren't seen as having a role in the profession until World War I. A review of American and British articles written prior to 1914, shows that librarians were always referred to as "he." In the era following World War II, men were actively recruited into the profession and there was an increase in the number of men entering the field, enticed by higher salaries and rapid advancement into administrative positions. Stereotypes of male librarians as effeminate was a big factor in keeping many from working in academic librarianship, especially since the public perceived such a man as a failure who couldn't find work in typically traditional male professions, such as law and medicine. Men of that era tended to consider librarianship as better suited to women than men. His very identity as a man could be compromised by choosing to become a librarian. Because the workplace is dominated by women, male librarians find themselves associated with the stereotype. Like male nurses, male librarians, have a fear of being perceived as homosexual since they work in a feminized profession. Surveys do not show that there are any more gay male librarians working in the field of librarianship than there are in the general population, just that it is possible that societal homophobia forces many gay men away from typical men's work and into jobs that were once called sissy jobs, such as dancer, librarian, secretary, and florist. More importantly, what movies, comic books, and literature have said about male librarians is that they are typically effeminate, weak, nerdy, etc., with effeminate being the most important trait that can be traced back to the gay stereotype. When you research male librarians throughout history, homosexuality has not been one of the main stereotypes that comes up, not at all. There is no substantial evidence to indicate that a large number of male librarians are gay, although surveys indicate that there is a perception that gay males predominate in librarianship. According to a famous study by James V. Carmichael, the proportion of homosexuals and heterosexuals among male librarians is comparable to that in the general population. In reality, the majority of male librarians surveyed had a MLIS degree and were older married men. The stereotype that men in libraries are more likely to be gay is a myth. The homosexual image is only one of the stereotypes associated with males in the library profession. Male librarians are often thought of as "the systems guy" who joined the profession because of its technological aspects and because they are seen as more technologically-savvy than women. Men who work in libraries are frequently seen as in charge, with patrons assuming they are managers or directors. Male librarians appear in many movies. In the Rose , Volker Prechtel played an anti-social male librarian; in Brazil Jonathan Pryce played a male librarian who was seen as a failure; in Offbeat , John Turturro played an anti-social male librarian, Neil Pepper; in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , Richard Burton portrayed a male librarian characterized as a failure; in Ghostbusters , John Rothman played an anti-social male librarian; and In the Name of the Father , Alan Barry was socially-inept, archivist Jenkins. This is a webpage displaying pictures of male librarians that I collected. Here is the key that goes along with it.
Medical Researcher for a Study on the Effects of Candida Yeast, August 2008.
Using a number of relevant books and academic articles obtained from MedLine, I provided my client with the latest information on candida yeast, its symptoms, the effects it can have on the body (short and long-term), and treatments, including comprehensive cleanses to rid the body of the overgrowth of candida albicans yeast.
Researcher for an Entertainment Company, July 2008.
My job was to identify all sport and entertainment venues with seating capacities greater than 12,000 in North America, South America, and Western Europe. Government documents were a great help for this project.
Researcher for a New York City Research and Consulting Firm, July 2008.
The firm assists organizations in optimizing their education and training resources, and teaches them how blogs might contribute to a learning environment. The company retains the services of independent researchers to research and write on topics related to learning and development in large organizations. The topics I was hired to do were e-learning, learning technologies, leadership development, and measuring training-related performance improvement.
Client and Market Researcher for a Nutraceutical Manufacturer, June 2008.
The CEO of a small manufacturing company of nutraceutical products hired me to identify and research companies who may be potential customers for products he manufactures. I also created profiles for the companies.
Researcher and Writer for a Report on the Future of Life Insurance, May - July 2008.
This project was a summary of insurance market activity for several countries. Specifically, I had to find information on life insurance penetration, trends, challenges, leading players, sales channels/distribution, foreign investment, bancassurance, direct sales and marketing, health insurance, growth metrics, and IFAs. I was hired to do the research and write the report. This wasn't an easy job because a lot of the information and statistics I needed were proprietary and already compiled into very expensive reports, which my clients weren't interested in buying. I was fortunate that I had access to a few insurance associations, which allow members access to timely statistics and reports. I was also able to make use of databases, such as Factiva and LexisNexis, and was able to get additional data from a few insurance experts working overseas. For the most part, I combed the Internet and read every whitepaper and report I could find and made use of each country's insurance association, such as the Berlin-based, German Insurance Association (GDV). As the insurance industry continues to evolve worldwide, distribution becomes more of a factor. Tied agents and brokers, once the mainstay of the industry, dominated most markets. But that is changing at various rates, depending on the region. Currently, the trend is towards the development of alternative distribution channels. In South America, distribution varies by country but many are experimenting with new sales channels such as drugstores, supermarkets, and malls. Some countries in the region require an intermediary for any insurance transaction, a regulation that is preventing countries such as Brazil from developing alternative distribution systems. In 2005, nineteen life insurers and twenty-four non-life insurers were operating in the country. Brokers and agents dominate the distribution channels in Colombia, but there too, company-employed representatives and banks are gaining ground. In Colombia, brokers dominate the group life market. In 2005, 52 registered brokers were working in the field. The individual life market is dominated by agents, approximately 10,000 of them. But it is the banks that are increasingly becoming a one-stop shop for financial services, since they have a better image than the insurance industry. The last year has seen the German life insurance industry busy reacting to changes in the legal and regulatory framework. Introduced in May 2007, the EU Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD) and the Insurance Contract Law, which came into effect in January 2008, are regulations that have increased the complexity of the life insurance business model, leading to higher expenses. Also, the EU Mediation Insurance Directive has had a significant impact on distribution. Higher deferred acquisition costs and surrender values, and a change from "policy model" to an "offer-acceptance model" are two of the changes that are creating new challenges for insurers. The German life insurance industry is still one of the least profitable in Europe, as German life insurers' business prospects remain weak overall. Preliminary results for 2007 indicate a decrease of 7.1% in total new business premiums to EUR 146.1bn and gross written premiums stagnated at EUR 74.3bn. Fitch currently believes that from 2009, new business in Riester and overall, will slow down. Fitch is forecasting acceleration in competition from within Germany as investment funds and banks try to benefit from the changed product environment given their experience in short and long-term savings products. Increased competition is also expected from foreign insurers. The distribution landscape for German insurers has also changed dramatically in recent years. Also influencing German life insurers is new legislation such as the Retirement Income Act (Alters-Eink nfte - Gesetz) and the Tax-Amendment Law (Steuer nderungsgesetz). After the partial lapse of tax benefits for traditional endowment policies, the new life insurance products require a much higher degree of sales force competence, as product advantages are more complex to explain to the consumer. This may spell bad news for direct sales. As in Japan, the South Korean sales force is primarily made up of women: shop owners and homemakers selling insurance part-time have historically been the distribution channel that long-established domestic South Korean insurers used to sell their products. These independent agents had little training, and as a result, the industry was marred by complaints of non-professionalism, mis-selling and low customer retention. Upon entry to the market, foreign insurers insisted upon a professional sales force and have done a lot to professionalize the industry. ING Life Korea is noted as a pioneer in this area, and has a network of professional, self-employed full-time tied agents. This model has brought about fundamental changes in the insurance market landscape. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), South Korea's insurance regulatory body, reports that insurance salespeople are becoming more professional and are making more money. What has traditionally been a female-dominated field is now attracting men to the profession. Male life insurance planners totalled 26,396 as of March 2007, accounting for 20% of the total number of people selling life insurance. The ratio of men has more than doubled since 2002 when it was a mere 9.1%.
Researcher for a Non-Fiction Biography, May - June 2008.
My client was commissioned to write a 80,000 word biography on a series of women political leaders. I was hired to help with the research. I was given a two page document that outlined the book specifications in which the author made comments about the type of content she was looking for. The book specs included a list of in print "competition" books to serve as models. I was expected to identify a list of relevant articles and books that the author could use to write the biography. I also had to create a working Table of Contents.
Researcher and Survey Designer for a Study on Learning Commons in North American Academic Libraries, May 2008.
My job was to find as many articles as I could on academic learning commons in North America. I read all of them and extracted the sections I thought were most important for my client, who needed the information to write an article he could publish and to create a presentation he had to give at a professional conference. At this point in the project, I suggested we develop a survey that could be sent to hundreds of librarians. I collected a large number of email addresses for academic librarians working in learning commons. I then put together a series of survey questions that were pertinent to our research question. My client provided feedback, we made some changes, and the survey was sent out. We got a very good response and my client was able to get more insight into the state of learning commons in universities and how reference service has evolved because of them. Another component of the project was to find out how many graduate students work in learning commons and offer consultations to undergraduate students. The nature of learning is changing. A learning commons should recognize that the needs of the learner are paramount. This includes new learning pedagogies, a greater emphasis on collaborative learning, and a recognition that advances in technology have a major impact on how students now acquire, organize, and disseminate information. The evolution of the information commons concept has been one approach to providing new and refined levels of service to academic library users. The concept can be readily adapted to the campus culture and the needs of individual institutions. Given the rapid alteration of the collective information landscape, learning styles of customers, and the nature of library operations, usage patterns of library resources have steadily evolved. Many libraries and librarians have recognized these fundamental changes and some have further undergone a series of organizational developmental processes to adapt and cope with the new realities. Creating a learning commons is one of the ways in which libraries are responding. The learning commons is not just a concept, it is a place, and in many instances, it exists in the library. Academic institutions are supporting a learning commons model because the faculty and administration recognize that students learn in dynamic ways. Learning commons are spaces with the technology and design that emphasize knowledge creation. In the framework of the learning commons, the librarian as facilitator is emphasized. The librarian becomes a partner in the collaborative process on specific projects. The librarian is also responsible for marketing the learning commons and evaluating the outcomes. Another area that the librarian needs to coordinate is the increase in technical services to make sure that the tools are available and easily manipulated by users. The challenge in this philosophy is striking the right balance between the need for supporting technology in the public computing area and providing traditional reference services. New patterns of service delivery are developed to better service the needs of students in this environment. Most information commons are based on a partnership between the library and information technology services of the university with varying degrees of collaboration and integration between the two functional areas. In some cases, multimedia services are also involved. The emphasis on how to house physical collections, accommodate library staff, and seat readers has been replaced by a focus on user needs and expectations, and client experiences. A key feature of the information commons is the help provided to users. The arrangement of the computers, the ease of moving between the desks, and the placement of the information desk all contribute to its success. Students are not always willing to leave their computer and approach a desk, no matter how friendly and helpful they know the staff to be, so it is necessary for staff to go to them. A primary aim of the information commons is to create an environment and a service that will give students the opportunity to develop information and computer literacy skills. Library design should not be dominated by a concern for information resources and their delivery. It should incorporate a deeper understanding of the independent, active learning behaviours of students and the teaching strategies of faculty meant to support those. Staff should regularly rove around the commons.
Researcher and Writer for a Presentation on the Future of Academic Libraries, April 2008.
My role in this project was to identify important trends and challenges that will shape the future of academic libraries. I used a number of databases to find relevant articles on the topic. I also searched the Internet for information, and interviewed a number of experts in the area of futuristic studies and libraries. My deliverable was a comprehensive report which my client used to build his presentation. The future of the academic library is a topic of continuing concern for the profession, particularly in view of advances in technology. Can libraries harness these new technologies to fulfill their mission in this new information landscape? Academic libraries are changing faster than at any time in their history and have entered a period of enormous transition. Identifying relevant technologies to employ in libraries to support services is crucial, and considering the impact of social networking and mobile devices on users and their expectations is also important. Libraries that integrate the interactive world of Web 2.0 ensure they are keeping pace with new ways of learning and interacting with students in provocative ways. Today's students have grown up with computers and are technologically-savvy. Their expectations and attitudes have been shaped by the Internet and other types of digital media. What kind of information are they looking for and how do they want to access it? Recent studies have found that even researchers and members of faculty prefer to access information on their computers from home or the office, and visit the library very irregularly. How can libraries make the information easier for them to access and use? Many students lack the basic skills to research online and often use Google to begin a search. They have difficulty establishing whether a website provides quality and accurate information. One of the core problems is that the prospect of using their library's online databases to find good information and refereed articles is overwhelming to them. Each database has its own set of rules and if you don't know them, you will not get good results. Students also don't like to ask for help. They have grown up in a digital world that sanctions independent and self-paced learning and require library services that are structured to accommodate them. University libraries' online catalogues have long been characterized as difficult to navigate and not intuitive. Libraries need to start taking lessons from business and workplaces to make quality information easily accessible to students like Amazon has done. Visitors to the site can look inside many books, read reviews, and learn about similar books. Google Books is a great tool because you can search in all the books at one time. This is an invaluable tool for research. A key point to make here is that rather than providing new and exciting services created specifically for the digital age, libraries are taking the safe route by providing their users with the same old types of services wrapped around online technologies. It just doesn't scale well. Yes, they offer online catalogues and other web-based services but they aren't adaptable and they aren't that easy to navigate and use, especially if you don't have a degree in library science. Libraries should begin developing custom portals to allow easier search options for their collections. Expensive, high quality information goes unread by a majority of students because they have no idea how to access it. Libraries should do whatever it takes to expose their digital collections, even if it means teaming with commercial players such as Google. If not, they run the risk of becoming irrelevant. Developing new and innovative services will be key to bringing academic libraries into a successful future. They will be judged by the quality of the services they offer and the quality of the staff. I think libraries need to establish themselves as agents of change - become leaders in an increasingly complex, information-rich world, if they hope to remain relevant. Technology and shifting expectations are radically changing the job of the librarian and their role in the digital era. Expectations of students, academics, and researchers act as drivers of change in libraries. It is true that universities and their libraries are currently facing a sort of perfect storm: they are being pressured to spend larger amounts of their budgets on computer systems, budgets which are shrinking due to the global financial crisis; they are receiving fewer endowments from private individuals, who have seen their net worth plummet in the last few years; and unprecedented transformations in scholarly communications coupled with advances in technology have also made the mission and position of academic libraries precarious. The evolution of student expectations and a cry for increased accountability and competition have made this a difficult time for all libraries. But it can also be a time to reinvent the academic library and overcome the challenges.
Website Content and Photographic Designer for a Well-Known Business Site Specializing in Gourmet Food Products, April 2008.
I acted as a stylist for the redesign of this website, working with the web designer to create a fresh updated look for this forty year old company. I rewrote a lot of the content and found or commissioned photographs that really added to the customer experience.
I proofread a document on the rise of flood devastation in the United States. People continue to build homes and businesses in areas that are prone to floods. Tens of thousands of people have lost everything to floodwaters of the ever-urbanized seaboards that are routinely hit with big storms described as isolated events but which cause billions of dollars in damages. Historically, the response has always been to employ engineering solutions to meet the challenge of flooding, along with calls for more sophisticated rainfall prediction models and better floodplain maps. This paper asks, "what's next?" For instance, Central Texas has been identified as the most flash-flood prone area in the country by the National Weather Service, but Texas has no comprehensive flood safety education program of any kind. A lack of understanding of flood risk causes deaths, massive property damage, and billions of dollars in lost revenue and aid. More stringent floodplain building codes, converting floodplains back to open spaces and parks, and publishing an annual report that identifies flood-prone areas of the country can go a long way in saving lives and raising public awareness.
Business and Market Researcher for an Insurance Start-Up, February 2008.
I was hired to find information on efforts to sell life and health insurance directly to the consumer, without the help of insurance agents (direct marketing) in the following countries: England, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, South Africa, China, India, and Korea. Identification of companies that sell direct, information about their business models, the outlook for selling direct in the countries, articles about selling insurance to the "middle market" in the countries, and information about the future of the agent distribution channel in each of the countries formed the bulk of my research.
Researcher for a Book on Luxury Shopping, January - May 2008.
My client wanted to write the definitive guide to luxury shopping throughout history. That meant starting at the beginning and researching the oldest luxury shops that exist in North America and Europe. As you might have guessed, London, England has some of the oldest, most luxurious, and expensive specialty stores in the world. We didn't simply focus on apparel and accessories, but also looked at furniture, stationary, fine jewellery, art and antiques, cosmetics, gifts, and even gourmet food and wine. One of the components of the research considered if paying more actually translates into a better quality purchase. We also added research on how the shopping experience has changed since some of these companies have opened online stores, and if the products differ from those found in their brick and mortar locations.
Researcher for a Magazine Journalist, January 2008.
I was asked to research the selling of digital assets. I primarily used LexisNexis to find newspaper and magazine articles on the subject. I also used the Internet to do some of the research. In-game trading has grown in popularity over the past five years, in step with the growth of the MMOG games industry. Commodification of virtual goods is happening whether developers want it to or not. Inflation is rampant in most games, with rising prices subsequently fueling real-world trading. In 1999, virtual assets were increasingly being traded for real money. eBay began selling digital property in 1999, primarily those associated with Ultima Online. eBay offers gamers the chance to bid on hundreds of items, including characters, gold, armour, magical potions, trinkets, and property. Recently, a gamer sold his account for $4,000, and many others have also gotten thousands of dollars. What this means is you no longer have to be an experienced player to have property and mature characters. As long as you have money, you can acquire whatever you want instead of putting in the time and work. This is changing the nature of gaming. Sony's EverQuest also has a vibrant secondary market with hundreds of items currently listed on eBay, some selling for thousands of dollars. The birth of this secondary market elicited various reactions from companies operating MMORPGs. For example, Electronic Arts, publisher of Ultima Online, was excited by this turn of events and let its players trade their virtual assets for free. On the other hand, Sony Online Entertainment, the operator of EverQuest, asked eBay to take down any auctions for EverQuest assets. This was mostly due to frauds occurring in the market. Items bought on eBay are regularly not delivered, resulting in angry customers turning to Sony for help. In 2000, it officially outlawed the secondary market by adding certain clauses to its end-user license agreement, telling sellers that character sales infringed upon its EverQuest copyright. In January 2001, Sony managed to convince eBay and Yahoo Auctions to remove all auctions of EverQuest virtual assets, but this did nothing more than move the trading to other marketplaces, such as PlayerAuctions. The unauthorized, black-market auctions grew so quickly that Sony was forced to police eBay and other sites full-time. By 2005, Sony had developed its own virtual asset auction website called Station Exchange to sell assets of specific EverQuest II servers. Security effectively eliminated fraud by forcing sellers to place items in special accounts so that Sony could make sure that buyers received what they paid for. But the illegal auctions continued. In January 2007, eBay announced that it would pull all auctions for virtual artifacts, not just Sony assets, except for Second Life assets because that virtual world encourages its members to mix real life with virtual life. All Real Money Transfers (RMT) were suspended, in part, because the legal complexities of virtual property and intellectual rights to the property were unclear. With eBay out of the way, companies such as IGE, which describes itself as "the world's largest secure network of buying and selling sites for massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) virtual currency and assets on the Internet," will make more money. The World of Warcraft banned the sale of in-game items because it doesn't allow players to upgrade their characters or tools by paying money. The company expects players to earn them the old-fashioned way and will ban a player if they are caught selling outside the game world. In December 2005, it closed more than 18,000 WOW accounts for that reason.
Researcher for a PowerPoint Deck on the Importance of Government Documents, January 2008.
My client had to make a presentation at an American Library Association conference and needed my help to research the topic and create the PowerPoint deck. One of the areas he wanted to focus on was the user's right to access government information and the importance of preserving it for future generations. Government documents tell the story of a nation, since almost every aspect of society is documented by local, provincial, and federal agencies. Becoming an informed citizen has a long history in American culture and forms an important component in the democratic process. How can librarians assist their patrons in accessing and understanding government information and become better informed citizens? Offering better service in this area of librarianship should be a primary concern for libraries, allowing better dissemination of information to students and researchers. Many libraries recognize the importance of government documents to researchers in areas such as law, political science, and history, but there are also teachers, genealogists, cartographers, small business owners, sociologists, geologists, university administrators, and local government officials to consider. Government documents play an important role in the research process, with statistical publications some of the most frequently consulted. Some government documents are available online, but the collections are far from complete and tend to disappear without any notice. They are also not very well organized. State and local documents present their own special problems because they are often classified using home-grown indexes, which can be ineffective. Librarians need to standardize how they arrange government documents to make the process easier for the average user. The other component covered in the PowerPoint presentation is the lack of bibliographic instruction focusing on using online government information. Studies of undergraduate library use show that new strategies are needed for integrating government information into standard library instruction.
Researcher for an International Insurance Group, December 2007.
I was hired to identify the number of power plants in the United States (by state), Canada, South America (by country) and Western Europe (by country). I also had to identify the power source for each plant (steam, internal combustion, combustion turbine, non-conventional, geothermal, oil, coal). I used government documents to complete the project.
Researcher and Writer for a Book Proposal, December 2007.
I worked on a book proposal for an American entrepreneur writing a book about a multi-step plan to assist with the start-up phase of new business ventures. The premise of the book is that there are many core reasons for business failure but they can be avoided through competent and considered planning.
Researcher for a Start-Up, December 2007.
I was asked to find out the percentage of visitors to contact pages of small businesses/boutique websites that result in the visitor calling or emailing the business, and what percentage of those contacts result in a sale. I did some research and it seems as though the average conversion rate (unique visitors to a boutique business' general website into paying customers) is about 1%. But this doesn't measure "bounce rate" (the percentage of visitors who only view one page, then leave) and repeat visitors who return to the site over several days. What my client was looking for is a combination of "online consumer behavior," "conversion ratio," and "website analytics." I wasn't able to provide him with extensive information because, although the statistics had been compiled, the report was very expensive to buy and my client did not have the budget for it, nor did he have the budget for me to start from scratch.
Researcher for an Academic Librarian, November 2007.
My client is an academic librarian, working towards tenure. As a result, he not only has to work full-time, but also has to work on studies and papers that will help him get promoted. That's why he hired me. This project focused on the future of reference service in academic libraries. As a first step, we worked together to develop a survey that asked librarians a series of questions about reference. I had already spent time on the Internet collecting the email addresses of reference librarians working in universities and colleges in Canada, so I sent the survey to them. We had a very good response and their comments added a lot to my final report, which included statistics, graphs, and all comments from responding librarians. Next, I did a literature review, pulling the most important points from each article to make it easy for my client to write up the paper. This is some of what I learned from the project: The bottom line is that many users of reference have moved online and expect reference when and where they need it. They also tend to be self-sufficient and have embraced the self-service ideology for most things in their lives. Long gone are the days when librarians could sit back and wait for library users to come to them, especially with the rise of online databases and virtual courses, which are crucial not only to part-time students, but to special-needs students. Reference services also need to accommodate the nomadic NextGens by supplementing traditional face-to-face service with online communications. The changing nature of college students makes it important for reference librarians to be comfortable with new technologies. Students expect services and resources when and where they need them, not when and where the library staff wants to provide them. New models of service are popping up to supplement traditional reference services: outdoor mobile reference kiosks are scattered across university campuses; librarians offering reference help in dining and residence halls; librarians walking through study areas with laptops, asking if students need help; using Web 2.0 technologies, such as MySpace to reach out; email reference; and conducting reference interviews through chat. Several libraries are incorporating training to help familiarize staff with Web 2.0 concepts. Reference librarians will continue to be flexible and creative in using technology to supplement more traditional methods of service delivery. It is very important for the survival and growth of libraries to go where the users are. However, given the preference for independent information collection, virtual reference is unlikely to be viewed as the solution to most students, particularly since it is still based on the patron interacting with a librarian and doesn't reflect the fact that information-seeking in a digital environment differs greatly from traditional library-based research. Other forms of creative online reference help need to be developed that incorporate the way electronic resources are used. Many of the challenges facing libraries are the same as they have always faced: providing products that their patrons want and succeeding in a competitive environment. Nada mudou. The current twist is choosing the right delivery system as publishers and library consortiums try to keep up in a networked world of electronic reference products. It is only through such experimentation that libraries will learn what applications are appropriate for what tasks and what reference environments. The progress of technology has allowed, and will continue to allow, reference services to become more collaborative, to the benefit of both individual services and reference work in general.
Researcher and Writer for a K-12 Book on America's Security Agencies, November 2007.
My role in this project was to look through the manuscript and taking important points from each chapter, provide qualitative web links for the topics covered. For each link, I created a fifty word descriptive annotation. I also wrote a bibliography. The research I did is found in the back of the book and can be used by students to do further research and write reports.
Fact Checker and Bibliographic Consultant for a Manuscript on Inventors, October - December 2007.
This book covers a number of famous and not so famous inventors who changed the world. Elisha Graves Otis invented the elevator brake, which permitted skyscrapers to be built; Alfred Nobel was a wealthy industrialist, who invented dynamite; Robert Metcalfe is the inventor of Ethernet; Louis and Auguste Lumi re invented a camera and projector system they named the Cin matographe, which became the foundation for the film industry; Ray Kurzweil invented the Kurzweil Reading Machine, which reads printed materials to visually impaired people; Charles Goodyear's discovery of vulcanization made rubber strong enough to be used in the manufacture of automobile tires; Milton Bradley invented the Checkered Game of Life (later sold as the Game of Life) and launched an entire new range of board games; in 1976, Seymour Cray designed and built the CRAY-1, the world's first supercomputer; Douglas Engelbart owns the patent for the computer mouse; Art Fry, product development researcher at 3M, is the person responsible for Post-it Notes; pioneering automotive engineer, Henry Ford, was an inventor with many patents on automotive components and was famous for creating the assembly line that revolutionized the auto industry and made cars cheap enough for the ordinary person; and Thomas Alva Edison was the inventor who held patents for more than one thousand inventions. He is famous as the inventor of the phonograph, the incandescent electric lamp, the first industrial research laboratory, and the motion-picture projector. I did a lot of research to make sure my client had all the facts and dates correct. I also created the bibliography.
Fact Checker for a Book on the National Parks of the United States, September - November 2007.
National parks are going through a transitional period and are faced with many problems. Encroachment, pollution, animal control issues, the dilemma of dams, and the reality that drug cartels are using national parks to grow marijuana, putting visitors and park wardens in danger when they come upon these illegal operations. Interests of various indigenous groups were also covered in the book, along with problems associated with visitors to parks. My job was to make sure all information was accurate, and in some cases, expand the scope of the subject matter. Acadia National Park, Everglades National Park, Glacier National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, Yellowstone National Park, and Yosemite National Park were covered in the book.
Researcher for a Series of Educational Booklets on the Amendments to the United States Constitution, September - October 2007.
The members of the Constitutional Convention signed the United States Constitution on September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The members met because the states were very dissatisfied with the Articles of Confederation and there was a need for a stronger centralized government to keep the federation together. After months of debate and many compromises, the draft Constitution was presented to the states for acceptance. The Constitution was eventually ratified, establishing the new Federal government in 1789. It is no surprise that the Constitution would need to change as the country grew and matured. An amendment process was built into the original document to facilitate these changes and make room for additions. The first ten amendments are collectively called the Bill of Rights. To date, there have been twenty-seven amendments to the US Constitution. An overview of the Constitution, a look at the Bill of Rights, along with a number of the Amendments, were included in my work. I then had to provide a number of modern examples that challenge some of the Amendments. Some of the amendments I researched were the establishment of women's suffrage (Nineteenth Amendment), the abolishment of slavery (Thirteenth Amendment), the prohibition of alcohol (Eighteenth Amendment), the repeal of prohibition (Twenty-first Amendment), the right to keep and bear arms (Second Amendment), the granting of citizenship to and protecting the civil liberties of recently freed slaves (Fourteenth Amendment), and the right to have individual freedoms (the Fifth Amendment). The history and the events leading up to each amendment and the politics and personalities behind the changes to the United States Constitution are discussed. I wrote summarizations of the amendments, how and why they came about, and characterizations of the main players. I also included scenarios on how these historical occurrences affect us today.
Science Researcher for Industry Canada, July - September 2007.
I used the Internet and academic databases to find examples of nano-bio-info convergent applications that are usually embedded in systems. Converging technologies are applications having new and combined features derived from the intersection or combination of different enabling technology platforms. Convergence represents a new way of viewing cross and multi-disciplinary possibilities, and it will provide major recombination opportunities for business and entrepreneurs. It may also present unintended social consequences. A diverse private - public partnership, combining key organizations is required to explore the convergent landscape, the potential opportunities, as well as the unintended negative implications. My client's primary need was to expand, deepen, and add new prospective applications to their present inventory in three areas: 1.) Energy & Environment (EE), including energy production and distribution; energy end use and device efficiencies; environmental stewardship + toxicology; environmental monitoring + sensing; and bio-remediation. 2.) Water, Food and Bio - Products (WFB), including synthetic, bioengineered foods; industrial bio-products; bio-fuels, bioenergy systems optimization; food processing and packaging; and food and water freshness and preservation. 3.) Health and Life Sciences (HLS), including nano-bio pharma-drug design and delivery; bio-computation, nano-imaging for medicine; bio-nano materials for health devices; bio-nano diagnostic devices and arrays; and bio-nano-genetic medicine. The challenge was to identify, analyze, imagine, and speculate how these new technologies, their innovative functionalities, and public partnership-stewardship implications may affect a selected set of sectoral activities that are deemed critical for Canada's future. Here are a couple of the technologies and their applications that I was able to find: 1. Researchers at the ARC Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, University of New South Wales, Australia, are developing new coatings they hope will be used for self-cleaning surfaces in hospitals and the home. Used on outdoor surfaces such as self-cleaning windows, titanium dioxide (TiO2) particles work by absorbing UV light below a certain wavelength, exciting electrons and giving the particles an oxidizing quality stronger than any commercial bleach. These nanoparticles kill microbes and break down organic compounds, and water runs straight off surfaces coated with TiO2, washing as it goes. 2. Motorola Labs and Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) announced a key advancement in the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in Field Effect Transistors (FETs) to sense biological and chemical agents at low concentrations. Together, the research teams tuned SWNT-FETs to sense specific agents by applying a peptide-functionalized polymer coating that does not affect their ability to transmit electrical signals. This developing sensor technology could be used to monitor a host of environmental and health issues, including air and water quality, industrial chemicals, and biological agents, especially in the area of homeland security. 3. Until now quantum dots have been known primarily for their ability to produce a dozen different distinct colors of light simply by varying the size of the individual nanocrystals, a capability particularly suited to fluorescent labeling in biomedical applications. But chemists at Vanderbilt University discovered a way to make quantum dots spontaneously produce broad-spectrum white light. The report of their discovery, which happened by accident, appears in Quantum Dots that Produce White Light Could Be the Light Bulb's Successor. 4. The EU-funded BioFinger project is another interesting project. Its aim is to develop "versatile, inexpensive, and easy-to-use diagnostic tools for health, environmental and other applications." The BioFinger device uses cantilevers on a disposable microchip, making it small and portable, and allowing it to be reconfigured with new on-chip cantilevers to detect different substances. The tip of the cantilever is coated with chemicals allowing it to bend and resonate when it binds specific molecules (such as those on the surface of bacteria). The analysis which can be performed anywhere, anytime, takes between 15 and 20 minutes. 5. Nano-scale sensors are in development that will monitor toxins and bacteria at all stages of food processing. This will help producers spot salmonella in chickens or e-coli in spinach, long before the products reach the shops. Self-monitoring food packaging will mature into technology like the nano-tongue. Wired into your fridge, it will detect and warn you of a whole range of chemicals given off by rotting food, or the presence of bacteria, and then clean them. 6. The food industry is excited about sell-by dates and self-preserving food. Nano-coatings will make the lifespan of manufactured food even longer. Food manufacturers including Unilever and Nestle plan to use nano-encapsulation to improve shelf life and engineer taste sensations in fat-based foods like chocolates, ice creams, and spreads. 7. Development of nanotechnology for rapid detection of food pathogens, specifically, new rapid methods for detecting food pathogens will be developed using high sensitive Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensors based on nanostructured substrates. A new generation of nanotechnology companies is focused squarely on the water and food purity market, using nanoparticles that form chemical bonds with contaminants and don't let go. Thiol-SAMMS, a powder, can suck up 60 percent of its own weight in mercury, arsenic, lead, and other metals, and is so absorbent that a single tablespoonful has the same surface area as a football field. Rice University researchers have demonstrated nanorust, microscopic particles of the metal magnetite that bond to arsenic in water and can then be lifted out with an ordinary magnet. 8. Tiny magnets help drugs reach the spot. Inhaled drugs could soon be guided to the lungs by magnetic fields using a new technique developed by researchers in Germany. The team performed computer simulations and experiments on mice to show that drugs mixed with tiny magnetic nanoparticles could be delivered to the lungs up to eight times more efficiently than if inhaled normally. Nanocarriers may not only be used for the administration of drugs to the airways but also to deliver vaccines since the stimulation of a long lasting, protective immunity to respiratory viruses is often difficult to achieve with conventional respiratory vaccines. 9. Nanopatches are expected to make needles a thing of the past. The patch will contain very tiny projections (micro-nanoprojections) that when applied to the skin will deliver vaccine to the target cells below the surface. "It's a revolutionary approach that will overcome several of the problems of existing vaccine delivery, including the need for medical personnel to administer needles, the cost and logistics of storing and transporting vaccines, and hygienic needle use and disposal. All things considered, this technology will have a huge impact on the way vaccination programs are administered in third world countries with the potential to reach far greater numbers of people than under conventional needle technology." 10. Tissue engineering and rejuvenation medicine using self-assembling nanostructures to create fully biological or biohybrid tissues and organs in vitro that can be safely implanted in the human body is also on the horizon. 11. Researchers are attempting to develop more accurate and sensitive techniques to monitor cellular changes of cancer cells in both temporal and spatial domains using nanotechnology and are now working to miniaturize MEMS devices to the nanoscale. 12. Magnetic nanoparticles heat up when a time-varying magnetic field is applied. This characteristic is used to burn away cancer cells (Hyperthermia), which can specifically destroy the desired target without deteriorating healthy surrounding tissue. Cancer cells are more sensitive to temperatures in excess of 41 degrees C than their normal counterparts. 13. Near-infrared light, which passes harmlessly through our cells, causes carbon nanotubes to heat up enough to destroy cells. The nanotubes can be placed only in cancer cells by coating them with folate to attach to the numerous folate receptors on cancerous cells. 14. Magnetic nanoparticles for cell isolation where the attraction between an external magnet and the MNPs enables separation of a wide variety of biological entities. Examples are the isolation of cancer cells in blood samples or stem cells in bone marrow to allow for improved diagnosis and the removal of toxins from the human body. Furthermore, MNPs can be biologically activated to allow the uptake of cells via endocytotic pathways, thereby allowing certain cellular compartments to be specifically addressed. Once taken up, the desired cellular compartments can be magnetically isolated and accurately studied using proteomic analysis. 15. Gold nanoshells for tumor detection: when injected into the blood stream, they naturally congregate at tumor sites so that no additional targeting is necessary. In order to feed their growth, tumors create many, many blood vessels very quickly, so the vessels are often defective, allowing the nanoshells to slip through vascular "leaks" and gain access to the tumor. Detecting and targeting tumors by exploiting their surrounding vascular defects is known as "enhanced permeability and retention," or EPR effect. 16. Nanotechnology research tools to allow better understanding of cellular behavior, the difference between normal and abnormal cells, and communications between cells are currently being developed. These tools can measure energy metabolism, internal fluid flow, transportation of components, and the signaling pathways of cells.
Lifestyle Researcher and Consultant for an Upcoming Book on Ethical Living (NDA in Place), June - November 2007.
My role in this project was to research topics for a book that looks at the issues surrounding consumer life, including the clothes we buy, the food we eat, the products we buy for our homes, and how consumers can make realistic choices that are ethically motivated and environmentally friendly.
Researcher for an Education Resource Organization, May - June 2007.
I used academic journals, websites, and books to find information on a wide variety of subjects, including great minds of ancient science and math, cultural holidays around the world, how to avoid plagiarism, landmark supreme court cases, and 19th century philosophers. This material was then used to write booklets for the K-12 education system.
Researcher and Writer for an Online Legal Information Company, April - May 2007.
I was employed to find information on a number of current topics making the news, including various types of food poisoning. I then wrote articles for each and had them published on my client's website.
Historical Researcher for Enslow Publishers, March 2007.
Thomas L. Jennings, Patricia Era Bath, George Washington Carver, Lonnie G. Johnson, Percy Lavon Julian, Lewis Howard Latimer, Jan E. Matzeliger, Garrett A. Morgan, Madame C. J. Walker, and Granville T. Woods are some of the African-American inventors that appear in this book. My job was to use the Internet to find interesting information about these inventors. I then had to summarize each website and make a record for each to insert into an online database. Before America abolished slavery in 1865, only free African-Americans were allowed to patent an invention. After the enactment of the U. S. Patent Act in 1790, there was some documentation of the works of African-American inventors, but that documentation is sketchy because the Patent Office usually didn't record or ask for the race of the inventor. Even after slavery was abolished, there were other obstacles facing African-American inventors. They didn't have the same access to education, apprenticeships, and training programs as whites. Interacting with other inventors and being nurtured through mentorships was not for them. They also found it difficult to get funding to finance their research and development, and the money to market their inventions after they were patented was unavailable to them. Many gave up the rights to their work to get the financial backing they needed, so they never made any money from sales of their inventions. From 1910-1930, more than two million African-Americans migrated from the rural south to escape racism and prejudice. They arrived in northern cities to a new way of life, leaving the fields for better paying jobs in machine shops and factories where they were able to develop new technical skills and where they were exposed to a new mentality, one which brought out their inventive natures. Thomas L. Jennings was the first African-American to receive a patent. In 1821, he received a patent for a dry cleaning process that he invented.
Researcher for a Web 2.0 Start-Up, March - May 2007.
My job was to generate a number of reports that incorporated statistics, trends, revenue and business models, market numbers, and historical growth rates. I also researched articles that would help my clients have a deeper understanding of their customers and competitors.
Researcher for a UK Non-Profit Charitable Organization, March 2007.
I was hired to assist in the research for a report on how information and communication technologies are changing the way voluntary and community organizations (VCOs) conduct their day to day business.
Researcher for an Academic Library Consultant, March 2007.
I worked with a consultant to develop a Library Disability Services Strategic Plan for a Seattle University Library. The goal was to conduct a formal strategic planning process to gauge the growth in service and to identify recommendations for improvements that would meet the future needs of students and faculty with disabilities to make sure they have access to independent learning. We created a series of surveys and questionnaires as our point of departure. An extensive literature review into best practices formed a large part of my work for this project. I also accessed disability plans for a number of comparable libraries to check on their policies. The demand for service continues to grow as libraries continue to struggle to meet the demands of students with disabilities. Only a few years ago, students with disabilities had little choice when it came to technology that facilitated independent use of digitized information. Things are changing and students have much better access to information technology and have the ability to convert materials into electronic text, which allows them to read more effectively and quickly. The following are some of the recommendations we made to the library committee: provide library spaces that are appropriate and safe; make informed staff available to students with disabilities; make certain that LDS study spaces are available whenever the library is open; require staff to undergo training in special software applications and equipment for the disabled; monitor developments in IT for new technology that will level the academic playing field for students and faculty with disabilities; provide access to the extensive library collections; and supply well-equipped library workstations.
Researcher and Writer for a London-based Author, February - March 2007.
I was hired to research topical subjects of interest for HR professionals, including current trends, employment legislation, recruitment, HR networking, talent management, the implications of social media, and outsourcing. I also provided my client with a series of mini reports that I wrote for each topic.
My client wanted me to find articles and reports that address the issue of attrition of bank checking accounts. Retail banks are currently having difficulties retaining checking account customers because of intense competition between banks for such customers. I was hired to get some hard data on the phenomenon. Factiva was invaluable for the project.
Business Researcher, January 2007.
I was hired to find information on best practices for fulfillment/retention of financial services sold via direct marketing. The Direct Marketing Association was a very helpful resource for this project.
Business Researcher, January 2007.
I used a series of questionnaires, surveys, and interviews to help my client's company become more successful and profitable. I also used government and public data, along with other financial statistics, to create a development strategy to move the business forward.
Researcher and Annotator, January 2007.
My job was to read 200 articles in the area of human and organizational systems thinking and write an annotation for each. This work was done for a doctoral student. I also rewrote his comprehensive assessment paper.
Knowledge Manager and Researcher for an International Insurance Group, January 2007.
On a monthly basis, I identify information that relates to a particular sector of the insurance industry. It is used as a foundational element in a strategic knowledge sharing system for a global operation. The research is shared with business units throughout the world. These are some of the subjects I regularly research for this corporation: Long Term Care Insurance, Marketing Insurance, Term Life Insurance, Life Insurance Distribution, Critical-illness Insurance, Policyholder Marketing, Insurance Overviews, Digital Marketing, Baby Boomer Market, Customer Retention and Loyalty in Bancassurance, Insurance Market Development, Green Bancassurance, Orphan Management, Distribution Models of Insurance and Financial Industries, Trends in the Insurance Industry (US, Canada, Europe, Asia), High-Net-Worth Market, Multi-Channel Distribution, Insurance Products, Banks Selling Insurance, Annuitization, Cross Selling Insurance, Country Profiles and Research on New Countries, New Insurance Markets, Best Practices for Fulfillment or Retention for Financial Services Sold Via Direct Marketing, Direct Marketing, Competition: ACE, AEGON, Aetna, AIA, AIG, AON, AXA, Cigna, Middle-Market Insurance, Longevity Insurance, Whole Life Insurance, Insurance Regulations, Securitization, Simplified Issue Insurance Products, Universal Life, Insurance Research Studies, Orphan Policyholders, Insurance Conferences and Seminars, Best Practices in Direct Mail, Telemarketing, Ecommerce, Statement Based Marketing, Direct TV, Outsourcing Claims, Emerging Markets Insurance and Banks, Reinsurance Market, Reinsurance Companies, Insurance Companies/Brokers, Bank Market, Marketing, Ecommerce, Customer Retention, Compliance for Communication, Data Protection and Data Transfer Regulations in the European Union and Asiapacific, Creative for Direct Marketing, Professional Broking, Information Security, Voice Message Broadcasting, Mobile Banking and Payments, Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI), Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), Professional Liability, Solvency II, Deregulation, Insurance/Bancassurance Lead Generation, Microfinance and Microinsurance, Bancassurance, Selling Insurance Online, Country Profiles and Research on Existing Countries, Industry Profiles, ULIPs, Attitudinal Data, Bluetooth Marketing, Insurance Direct Marketing, Scor, Trends in the Bank and Bancassurance Market (Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific), Accident Protector, Accidental Death Insurance, Disability Insurance, Senior Accidental Death, Income Protector, Credit (Card) Insurance, Serious Illness/Cancer, Call Monitoring and Speech Analytics, Corporate Marketing and Branding, Direct to Consumer Marketing (New Players/Trends in the Direct Marketing Business), Takaful (Islamic) Insurance, Charity and Insurance, Direct Marketing Technology, Insurance-Linked Securities Market, Mobile Banking and Microinsurance, Mobile Insurance Payments, and Behavioural Targeting.
Business Development and Researcher for an Internet Start-Up, December 2006.
I was hired on an ongoing basis to identify and match innovative business opportunities with my client's company vision. Competitive analysis, targeting potential new customer bases, and assessing target markets is included in my work. Ultimately, my role is to suggest possible new products and services, and brainstorm entirely new business markets and models. Other duties see me analyzing the needs of key customers, monitoring progress, offering solutions, negotiating fees, and contracting new business for them.
Researcher and Editor for a PhD Student, December 2006.
My client had the task of writing a lengthy essay on an ethical dilemma in contemporary social work. Ethical dilemmas present the decision-maker with competing perspectives which are of proportional or similar worth. In order to focus the situation, you must state the dilemma in ethical terms. I was asked to find the appropriate information and supportive articles, and helped with structuring the essay and editing it.
Photographic Researcher, December 2006.
I was asked to find photographs and the names of those sitting on a number of Australian banking boards.
Sports Researcher for MyReportLinks, November 2006.
I was given the manuscripts for a number of Grade 7+ books on popular sports teams. Sensational sports teams such as those featured in this series, are teams that have success on the field and are able to capture the imaginations of fans off the field. Each book tells the history of a team and highlights its top players, managers, and personalities that have made the team great. I read the manuscripts and then found thirty qualitative websites for each one. Besides the usual book format, the publisher also provides links in each of its books that relate to the topics covered. Choosing websites for school children is not as easy as some may think. There is a lot to keep in mind. The accuracy and currency of the content and the credibility of the site's creators are the most important factors when assessing whether a site should be recommended for students. Information that is correct and up to date, with appropriate author's credentials; content that is serious and scholarly; information that is politically, religiously, or otherwise unbiased; sites that appear well maintained and updated; and those with correct spelling and grammar are good places to begin. Websites should meet the same stringent standards required of print products. A few other things to watch for are: is there advertising? How is the overall design and presentation of the site? Are there graphics or other features that take a long time to download? Do you need to have specialized software to access sections of the site? Do all the links work? Once I had found the links, I wrote an annotation for each one that summarized the contents. An online database was then used to insert all bibliographic and value-added information for each site and uploaded to the company's server. The Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Chicago Bulls, and the Pittsburgh Steelers were some of the titles I did this work for. School children will use the research to learn more about their favorite athletes and what it takes to become a professional competitor.
Designer and Project Manager for a Business Website, November 2006.
I worked with an experienced web programmer and designer to recreate an already existing ecommerce site, focusing on the newest digital marketing techniques to complement the client's business plan and target audience. The design incorporates intuitive user interfaces with logical and easy-to-use navigation elements that are accessible and usable to a wide variety of operating systems and technologies.
Endangered Species Researcher and Writer for MyReportLinks, October - December 2006.
Jaguars, whooping cranes, cheetahs, otters, rhinoceroses, grizzly bears, Florida panthers, giant pandas, mountain gorillas, wallabies, orangutans, and bighorn sheep were some of the animals I researched for this job. Predators, competition for food, hunting, fire, loss of natural habitat, poaching, limited geographic range, pollution, use of animal parts in traditional Asian medicines, illegal trade, and the introduction of non-native animal species were some of the sub-topics I focused on. I then wrote profiles for each and provided other annotations. The information will be used as part of an online educational tool for students and will also appear in a series of books for the K-12 market.
Researcher for a PhD Student, October 2006.
This project involved me finding the newest and most cutting-edge information on running injuries, injuries in recreational adult fitness activities, and the etiology and prevention of sports injuries.
Researcher for an Academic Librarian, September 2006.
An academic library was considering opening a reference desk inside Second Life. One of the librarians on the committee asked me to do some research on the avatar-driven virtual world, in preparation for a meeting. I chose a hands-on approach to this research project by joining Second Life to learn about it instead of reading articles. Second Life is free to join and many of its activities are free. Others cost money and must be paid in Linden dollars, the official currency of the virtual world. If you want to own land, you have to pay a monthly fee. Businesses, corporations, banks, car manufacturers, clothing designers, tax professionals, politicians, embassies, hotel chains, real estate companies, non-profits, and entrepreneurs are using Second Life as a way to reach out to customers. The educational uses of this virtual world is also growing. For example, Stanford University's Humanities Lab has set up a museum dedicated to award-winning American artist and filmmaker, Lynn Hershman Leeson. Universities, such as Harvard, Pepperdine, Elon, Ohio, Ball State, New York, Stanford, Delft University of Technology, and AFEKA Tel-Aviv Academic College of Engineering have opened cutting-edge virtual classrooms on Second Life. Many libraries have also established 'ask a librarian' reference desks.
Researcher for an European Consultancy, September 2006.
I was hired to help my clients develop a more coherent ecommerce strategy. Specifically, I had to look for information on life and health insurance sales over the Internet (global scope); electronic policy delivery/fulfillment; email marketing of financial services; and the use of the Internet to support direct mail marketing or telemarketing campaigns. Once I had collected the information, I read everything and wrote a report.
Researcher for an International Insurance Group, August - December 2006.
Working with a web programmer, I helped design and create an application to store, categorize, and annotate digital information. I then did my research using academic journals, trade publications, magazines, newspapers, country reports, industry profiles, market research reports, and product reviews. This great tool allowed me to store the articles and information I found for my client, create bibliographic profiles for each article, categorize by subject and country, write abstracts, add keywords, and make comments and notes.
Business Plan Writer, Researcher, and Editor for a Pharmaceutical Start-Up (NDA in Place), August - September 2006.
This not-for-profit organization needed my assistance with researching and writing a business plan, one based on ideas from the field of social entrepreneurship. My clients are working on the release of an important, innovative, and controversial psychoactive substance that can be used to treat addiction to opiates, methamphetamines, and other drugs. The medication displays anti-addictive properties, interrupting the symptoms of drug withdrawal syndrome and reduces drug cravings, which allows an addict to detoxify with minimal symptoms. I also worked on the problem statement. I added new information to try to explain in more detail what my client had in mind. I added hyperlinks and posted the business plan and other background information online for supporters and potential investors who might want to read more. To date, drug development has been largely confined to the R&D-based pharmaceutical industry, which has grown into one of the most prosperous industrial sectors by focusing on the most lucrative medical markets. This reliance on market-based incentives and commercial actors to generate new medicines has transformed drugs into regular consumer goods. The limitation of this system is that market forces skew drug development investments toward diseases and patients that guarantee the highest financial returns. Given that North America, Europe, and Japan account for 80% of the world's pharmaceutical market, the health needs of the majority of the world's population are being sidelined by the proprietary pharmaceutical industry. While publicly financed research institutions are involved in the early phases of research and drug discovery, the expertise, infrastructure, and management capacity for taking these findings through the drug development pipeline are almost entirely concentrated in the private commercial sector. While multi-million dollar investments fund research aimed at developing highly profitable drugs for prosperous markets, drug R&D for neglected diseases is stifled. That is why when Doctors Without Borders won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize, it committed the prize money to the development of an alternative model for the research and development of new drugs for neglected diseases. As a result, seven organizations joined forces to establish the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi): the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation from Brazil, the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, the Ministry of Health of Malaysia France's Pasteur Institute, M decins sans Fronti res, and the UNDP/World Bank/WHO's Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, which acts as a permanent observer to the initiative. "Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) is a collaborative, patients' needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development organization that is developing new treatments for malaria, visceral leishmaniasis (VL), sleeping sickness (Human African Trypanosomiasis), and Chagas disease."
Government Documents Researcher and Writer for an Association of Curriculum Development, August 2006.
Many school teachers have few opportunities to improve on their course preparation techniques and feel unqualified to teach particular subjects. For example, surveys show that elementary school teachers feel they are more unprepared to teach math and science than any other subjects. Helping K-12 educators enrich their understanding of the subjects they teach and mastering new teaching strategies results in more effective inspired teachers and greater progress for students. Teaching children about the United States federal government and how it is structured can also be challenging for educators. I was hired to do basic research on the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch, which interprets America's laws. I was then expected to package the information in such a way as to provide a step by step guide on how to more easily and interactively teach middle school students about the three branches of government. Quizzes, games, and group activities were developed.
Digital Photographic Consultant and Image Stylist for Online Store, July 2006.
I received a large number of digital photos to be used for a gourmet food website. My job was to choose a selection that would best reflect the company brand and facilitate the building of an online retail environment that maximized customer experience and retention.
Historical Researcher and Writer for an Education Resource Organization, June - July 2006.
I researched and developed a series of virtual education field trips and finding aids that focused on American historical events and sites. Gettysburg, the National Mall in Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr's National Historic Site, and the John F. Kennedy National Historic Site were included in the project.
Business Researcher for a Technology Start-Up, June 2006.
Habbo Hotel, Second Life, Club Penguin, Nicktropolis, Neopets, Webkinz World, Whyville, and Disney Extreme Digital were the virtual worlds I was asked to research, focusing on when they were founded, how many users they have, their demographics, revenue models, terms and conditions, and their privacy policies. I was asked to find the same information for social networking sites Bebo, del. icio. us, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Imbee, Piczo, and YouTube. Additionally, my clients were interesting in knowing which Second Life asset providers and creators were considered the top players in the field. Team-VIP, Player Auctions, Markee Dragon, Gaming Treasures, EyeOnMOGS, The Electric Sheep Company, Aimee Weber Studio, Accident Designs, and Anshe Chung Studios are some of them. Here is a little of what I found out about some of the social networking sites. 1.) The Bebo site was founded in January 2005 and given a major relaunch in July of that year. It reports 30 million registered members, viewing over five billion monthly page views. Bebo is developing its business model around what it calls 'engagement marketing' where ads are spread virally around content. It has also announced plans for a platform that will allow users to choose the ads they receive. No revenue numbers are available. Product placement will be a crucial revenue stream. It was announced that Orange has paid Bebo to provide its customers with an exclusive mobile version of its popular social network, at least for a while. The move follows a similar tie-up between Vodafone and MySpace, which was announced in February. Bebo also announced that it is introducing a music download service that will allow bands to sell music. The indie store service will be available to Bebo users in the UK, Ireland, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. San Francisco-based social network Bebo recently raised $15 million from Benchmark Capital, and rejected a 300 million ($552 million) acquisition offer from British Telecom Group in 2006. 2.) Facebook launched in February of 2004. It has 20 million active users. It is free to use, but ad-driven. Revenue is estimated to be $50,000,000 per year and is expected to generate revenue of more than $100 million this year. Facebook got its first major influx of money last summer when Microsoft guaranteed to pay approximately $200 million in ad revenue through 2008. Co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg has recently said that the ad contract had been extended through 2011. Facebook continues to look for new markets and is going beyond college and high school markets, now allowing new users from corporate networks to join the social network. Inside Facebook lists ten companies that are currently Facebook-enabled: Accenture, Amazon, Apple, EA, Gap, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft, Pepsi, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Zuckerberg, now 22, reportedly turned down a $750-$800 million offer from Viacom, holding out for $2 billion, according to news accounts. More recently, it was reported that he received an offer of close to $1 billion from Yahoo!, which he also turned down. Some analysts expect Zuckerberg will file for an IPO in the next two years, when Facebook is expected to be much more valuable. He will have time to build up its ad sales and create demand for its stock before going public. 3.) Flickr was launched in 2004. There is a free version and also a paid subscription that costs $24.95 US per year. In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Flickr. Financial terms were not disclosed. Sources believe that the acquisition price was anywhere from $17 to $35 million (cash and stock deal), although most people in the know put it at $30 million. Flickr reportedly has 7.2 million registered users and 23 million monthly unique visitors. This is only an estimate since Yahoo! does not divulge revenue numbers. Co-founder and general manager, Stewart Butterfield, talks about Flickr's growth in size and quality, and its status as a Yahoo company: "We don't break down revenues by property but I can definitely say we're happy with it. The core of the business is the premium subscription service, and we do much better in that than we expected in the early days. We're gradually starting to experiment more with branded advertising and there's contextual advertising in the search. Over time, advertising will become a bigger component of the revenue picture. So people are definitely happy at Yahoo!. There's never been any worries about Flickr's revenue and the long-term potential is excellent." 4.) The MySpace service was founded in July 2003. It has 100,000,000+ users and an average of 31.5 billion unique page views per month. It is free to use, but ad-driven. MySpace was bought by Rupert Murdoch in July 2005 for US$580 million. Various analysts have called it the deal of the century because it is reportedly worth anywhere from $6-8 billion in the current market. In March 2007, Pali Research analyst, Richard Greenfield, wrote that MySpace is now generating in excess of $30 million a month in revenue, with about $24 million in domestic revenue and $6 million internationally. Google recently agreed to pay MySpace at least $900 million over three years to sell text and banner advertisements on its site. MySpace is gaining a strong footing in the mobile world. A recent deal with Cingular has resulted in the sign-up of 200,000 MySpace mobile users. Really cashing in will mean reinventing the ad business for the social networking world. One way of getting rates up is to create customized ads. 5.) YouTube was founded in February 2005 by three former employees of PayPal. It is ad-driven and free to use. Before being bought by Google, YouTube reported that its business model was advertising-based. Some industry commentators have speculated that YouTube's running costs - specifically the bandwidth required - may be as high as US$1 million per month, fueling criticisms that the company never had a viable business model. The site was losing lots of money, had huge expenses, not much revenue, and no profits, but Google was interested anyway and acquired it for $1.65 billion in Google stock. Traffic was climbing and still is. Since the deal, YouTube's audience has grown forty percent and has more visitors than any other video website, many that you can't easily find watching TV. According to comScore Media Metrics, YouTube's 136 million monthly visitors made up about 18 percent of the world's Internet audience in January. YouTube already has partnerships with NBC, CBS, Universal Music, Sony BMG and Warner Music. What it doesn't have a lot of is the kind of content that advertisers are interested in being associated with. In addition to selling banner and search ads, YouTube is doing custom campaigns for major brands that cost about $750,000 a pop. YouTube is serving 100 million videos per day.
Fact Checker for an Upcoming Book, June 2006.
Fact checking involves verifying facts and checking quotes, dates, names, page numbers, addresses, spelling, titles, statistics, geographical locations, and citations for accuracy, relevancy, and legitimacy of content using reliable sources. I was hired to fact check a non-fiction book and do the work within a very tight schedule.
Bibliographic Consultant, May - June 2006.
I was hired by a major publishing house to assist copy editors and the project manager with the footnotes and bibliography for a non-fiction book. What sometimes happens when copy editors make their final tour through a book is that the bibliographic citations get moved around and become attached to the wrong text. My job was to iron out the difficulties, check for the accuracy of each note, and to make sure that the proper format was used. I also compiled the bibliography for the book.
Business Development Researcher (NDA in Place), May 2006.
I was asked to research and identify appropriate Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors for a business that is currently looking for capital.
I was asked to find out the ownership structure of Scientific American Inc. They are publishers of the magazine Scientific American . I was also asked to obtain information on the senior management at Scientific American and/or their Board of Directors. Scientific American is a private publication. Scientific American Inc. is a private division of parent company, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, in Germany, which is also privately owned. This was a challenging assignment and I used some specialized databases to find the information.
Historical Researcher and Writer for MyReportLinks, April - May 2006.
My duties included reading a number of manuscripts on famous inventors. Henry Ford, Julius Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas Alva Edison, Philo T. Farnsworth, Louis Pasteur, Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Tesla, and Johannes Gutenberg were included in the project. I used the Internet to find quality information about the inventors and wrote a summary for each of the 240 websites. I then created a database record for each site and inserted them into an online database. The information will be made available to school children who buy the book and used to write reports.
I was asked to find out the top ten blogs and what business models they are using to make money. Using Technorati as my primary source, I found that the top three blogs were engadget, boingboing, and TechCrunch. A large assortment of ads, sponsorship ads, RSS ads, membership in a larger network, and selling branded merchandise, formed the basis of the blogs' business models. Additional income streams used by other top blogs include: asking for donations, selling books based on blog content, affiliate programs, user subscriptions, paid job postings, and speaking and consulting fees.
Business Researcher, April 2006.
My job on this assignment was to find consultants and experts to become a part of the primary management team for a new company. I found software engineers, programmers, security experts, and communication technologists to join the team.
Researcher for a Commercial and Residential Insurance Company, March 2006.
Operating in thirty-five states, this insurance company needed my help to identify information relating to a potential new class of business for them. Specifically, they were interested in finding out which insurance companies and brokers provide insurance to family/semi-commercial gentlemen horse farms in the United States, including those which offer stabling services and riding lessons. There is no central list or database that would have this information available. Many insurance companies that write property and casualty insurance have a program that is generally called a "farmowners" policy. A farmowner's policy is similar to a traditional homeowner's policy with the addition of coverage for farm type exposures. It is possible horse farms could be written under such a program. Many of the larger insurers have farmowner's programs, such as Nationwide, Erie, Allstate and State Farm. In regards to brokers, there is no list of available markets for horse farms from the standpoint of surplus lines. Surplus lines policies are often available for specific types of risks that mainstream insurance companies will not write. Brokers are required to file affidavits listing the policies they write through surplus lines insurance companies, but they are not required to identify their markets. Most of the carriers are not willing to write policies for such farms. Some of the carriers that did provide coverage for farms were willing to pick up a limited amount of equine coverage but were not willing to, if there was any kind of business involved. Besides doing exhaustive Internet searches with various keywords and phrases, I also sent out hundreds of emails to various associations to see what I could find out. A lot of people wrote me back and tried their best to be helpful. Many said that no one keeps track of which companies provide insurance for the kind of establishments my client was interested in. I wrote a variety of insurance libraries around the country, and all directed me to the Insurance Marketplace, International Directory of Excess, Surplus, Speciality Lines and Industry Services , 2006 Edition. A number of horse associations also told me that this publication is the best one to use for this type of information. I wrote every state horse council, chapter, and association I could find to ask what companies their members use. Some of the organizations seemed to have made arrangements with particular insurance companies so that their members were able to get better deals. I emailed every national horse association and council I could find, such as the American Horse Council, the American Quarter Horse Association, and the United States Equestrian Federation to ask for suggestions. A few associations, such as the United States Equestrian Federation, told me that the association offers members insurance through specific companies. In their case, it is through Equisure. I also wrote every state department and commissioner of the Insurance Information Institute to request the information. Many said that type of information was not collected. Others suggested specific companies to contact. I wrote every state association of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, Inc.. I contacted every state representative connected to the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents to ask for their insight. I was told that kind of insurance is handled by excess and surplus lines companies. Through some of my reading, I noticed that there seems to be an upward trend in country estate hobby farms, so one would assume that the market for that type of insurance would be growing as well.
Researcher for the Discovery Channel, March 2006.
I was hired to do some initial research for an upcoming documentary on Tuvalu, an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. The research centered on global warming, climatic changes, and flooding.
Project Manager for a Start-Up, February - December 2006.
My main job for this client was to keep the team on track, making sure that projects were completed on time, setting up meetings, helping with status reports, answering emails, and resolving issues in a timely manner.
Researcher and Editor, February 2006.
The subject of my research work was Memetics and its connection with terrorism and warfare. My client was interested in writing a series of articles on the topic for a possible book. I then helped with the editing.
Business Researcher, February 2006.
I was asked to find a variety of information on a large number of popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), including the number of users they have, the price of the games, their revenue models, terms and conditions of use, and privacy policies. Some of the games I researched were World of Warcraft, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Lineage, Lineage 2, RF Online, Final Fantasy XI, Star Wars Galaxies, Dungeons and Dragons, Eve Online, EverQuest II, Guild Wars, Maple Story, The Matrix Online, Mu Online, Rappelz Online, Dark Age of Camelot, RuneScape, Scions of Fate, Dofus, ArchLord, Hero Online, EverQuest, Ragnarok Online, Ultima Online, Toontown, and Asheron's Call. My client also requested the demographics for MMORPGs. The research shows that typical users of traditional MMORPGs are between the ages of 18 and 35. Numbers coming out of the Daedalus Project estimate that only 25% of MMORPG players are teenagers, and paints a picture of a very diverse demographic that is made up of retired people, college students, middle and high-school students, young professionals, and a large number of middle-aged married people. More than 73% of the players have some college education. Analysts have projected that the total worldwide game industry revenue will increase to $54.6 billion by 2009. Another part of my research was determining how many Power-Leveling companies there are and how the prices they charge vary by company, game, and service. IGE is one of the leading companies in the field, as are the MMORPG Exchange, Mogs, and PGMx.
Science & Technology Foresight Researcher for the Office of the National Science Advisor, January - March 2006.
ONSA identified the requirement for, and the importance of developing a S&T foresight strategy in order to better focus and improve Canada's future strategic preparedness for new and emerging technologies that will impact Canada's future economic performance and its security of critical infrastructure. To this effect, I was hired to locate and assess reports on PACT applications, web references, and sources for experts. I assisted ONSA in finding, documenting, and summarizing relevant research and applications reports on convergent technologies and compiled them into an accessible, organized format. I reviewed the current PACT documentation to ensure that new and additional information was the focus of the searches, and developed a framework for comparing and ordering the prospective applications to ensure that the information could be assigned or allocated according to broad sectors. My final report summarized the research so that it could be used in PACT events throughout the year. I created a template for foresight web searching and a thirty page guide on references, along with a methodological summary of which search references worked best and why. I also compiled a source list of all the reports that can be activated or linked to and inserted them into the PACT knowledge base.
Government Documents Researcher and Writer for an Association of Curriculum Development, December 2005 - January 2006.
Teaching specific subjects in the K-12 school system can be difficult and complicated, particularly to certain students. Differentiated instruction is used to overcome some of the problems by using a number of different instruction methods to facilitate learning. Continually questioning what works in the classroom and confronting the challenge of creating and using alternative approaches to learning is central to progressive education. For this job, I was expected to develop research modules on three independent government agencies: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Peace Corps.
Health Researcher for a International Nutrition Company, December 2005.
My job was to supply research on a wide variety of ingredients found in a selection of vitamin and health supplement products.
This really great job actually began in August 2004, when I helped the author with his pending proposal for the book. A year later we began putting the book together. I did extensive original research, summarizing it into briefs for the author. I used a wide range of resources, finding appropriate information in magazines, newspapers, books, government documents, websites, and databases. I edited and critiqued the work in progress, and fact-checked the materials. I also compiled the endnotes (including formatting them into the Chicago Style), references, sources, and created the bibliography. I later worked with copy editors to put the finishing touches on the book, checking the copy for readability, style, and agreement with editorial policy. I also helped with verifying facts, dates, and statistics. One of the most important parts of my job was to act as a sounding board, to tell my client the truth, offer support (because the process is a difficult one), and keep the project on track. The author's intention in writing Privacy Lost: How Technology is Endangering Your Privacy was to explain the connection between technology and privacy and speculate a little on where things might be headed. The premise of the book is that our privacy has become lost because of technology. Technology has changed our culture, how we communicate and how we don't. It has affected our ability to control our personal information, who sees it, what they see, what they do with it. Our privacy is already lost, whether we know it or not. Whether we can find it again is still unclear. Throughout the book you'll find numerous stories and examples, culled from newspapers, magazines and of course, the Internet. Sure, privacy violations happen to celebrities, but more often it affects normal people, the ones who mistakenly think that the government or the law is protecting them. This book is about this connection between technology and privacy. It's not just written for privacy advocates or for technologists. Rather, it's meant to be read by anyone who is disturbed about the growing amount of data available on them, about who's doing the collecting and what the collectors are going to do with all of our personal information. The subject of privacy is applicable to anyone concerned about the growing number of exceedingly well-publicized privacy violations and wondering about how many more incidents haven't become public. It's hard not to notice the unending stream of news stories describing one egregious privacy violation after another: companies losing the financial information of millions of users; a Veteran's Affairs employee's laptop stolen along with the personal information of nearly every American who has ever served in the military; and a Boston newspaper that wrapped papers in printouts of their customers' credit card numbers. They are all documented and discussed in this book. The stories alone are a testament to the effect of technology on our privacy.
Researcher for a United States Law Firm, September - December 2005.
My client is a class action attorney in need of some assistance finding information on a particular engine. Specifically, he was suing an automobile manufacturer. The allegedly defective design of a specific engine component was at issue. While the firm also hired expert engineers to consult with, as a preliminary effort, I was hired to find all available literature regarding this engine design and to tap into a vast literature of automobile design engineering literature. I searched for and evaluated relevant resources, schematic representations, and articles, then forwarded copies for review in an organized format. I also searched the Internet to find consumers talking about their problems with the engine and collected their contact information for a class action lawsuit.
Researcher for a Busy Academic, September - November 2005.
I was hired to act as a research assistant, finding timely articles on social work related issues. Contemporary psychotherapy, traumatized impact of child sexual abuse, perspectives on youth care programs, attachment theory, and the boundaries between physiotherapy and psychotherapy were just a few of the subjects I researched. Agoraphobia, chronic pain in primary health care, biopsychosocial rehabilitation programs, and multidisciplinary approaches to the treatment of chronic pain were also scanned and profiled.
Researcher and Writer for a Technology Start-Up (NDA in Place), August - September 2005.
My work was assisting the company directors in preparing a PowerPoint business proposal deck by supplying the market research and preparing the templates and text.
Business Plan Researcher and Editor for Start-Up, August 2005.
I assisted in establishing contact with potential backers, allies, stakeholders, advisors, and partners, along with helping research appropriate materials for the plan, writing and editing the documents, and finding missing references. Without backers, advisors, or a team, most investors don't have enough information with which to judge the prospects of a company. I helped to assemble a serious upper level team. I also helped with development and strategy, and to create a coherent capital formation strategy for successful seed-stage financing.
Historical Researcher and Writer for an International Association for Learning, July - August 2005.
I researched and developed American history information resources for topics that focused on political and cultural upheaval, revolution, and the American Indian Wars. The California Bear Flag Revolt, the Texas Fight for Independence, the Alamo, the Cherokee Trail of Tears, the Kansas Border War, and Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn were the main events that I covered in this project. The materials will be used as an accompaniment to online courses.
Research Assistant for an Educational Writer, June 2005.
Nutrition, weight management, and the causes of increased levels of obesity among children in the United States were a few of the research areas covered. Obesity and the need for weight management, risks of being overweight or obese, nutrition and your body weight, the food pyramid and portion sizes, metabolism, a road map to a healthy weight, diets, medications, surgery for weight loss, the digestive system, eating disorders in young people, and weight management for young people, were some of the specific research topics. I did the research, found the academic articles, photocopied them, and sent them to the author.
Philosophy Researcher for a PhD Candidate, June 2005.
My research focused on investigating the rhetorical devices that Bentham used in his writings, and why those devices made his writing more or less persuasive.
Historical Researcher and Writer for an International Association for Learning, April - June 2005.
My work included researching, profiling, and writing about significant 19th century American historical events and people, including the California Gold Rush, the Transcontinental Railroad, the Pony Express, the building of the Erie Canal, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, and the Oregon Trail. The information was developed to use in the creation of alternative learning resources.
I was hired to assist with the development of an information web portal specifically targeting Chief Medical Officers. The site is called CMO Exchange, a members-only, web-based portal meeting the unique information and resource needs of Chief Medical Officers and executives with comparable titles. CMO Exchange has been conceived and developed as a targeted information portal directed specifically and customized individually for the sole use of Chief Medical Officers and Medical Directors. CMO Exchange is developed by World Congress, the producer of events that convene senior-level executives from all segments of the health care industry. World Congress events include The World Health Care Congress, The World Health Care Innovations in Technology Congress and the World Congress Leadership Summit series. My focus was to work with the project manager on the Custom Research area that allows members to request quality information on any topic they need, on a project-by-project basis, including business development, change management, best practices, and medical management resources and reports. I also developed an online request form for CMOs looking for in depth research. The online form requested the following information: definition of research needs in as much detail as possible, time frame to be searched, description of limits or restrictions, reason for needing this information (i. e. journal article, conference presentation, research backgrounder for a book, etc.), preferred format of results (formalized report, list of article citations, website addresses, etc.), specific goals of the research project, provision of keywords and significant terms, depth of research required, and an overview of research already completed to avoid duplication. I also worked on a research project for them that examined best practices in the use of medical directors in case management: best practices of how managed care organizations and medical management companies use medical directors to enhance clinical and cost savings outcomes in case management. Traditionally, case managers have only come to medical directors when they had a medical management coverage decision to make - a pretty typical utilization management function. Case managers have otherwise functioned largely independently, helping to coordinate care during and in the recovery from an acute event. My client was interested in using his case management team to drive more effective outcomes on a long term basis, engaging the case managers and medical directors in more discussion around the appropriateness of the care the member is receiving, not just the efficiency of its delivery. He was also interested in the roles other companies have medical directors play, the structure of the interaction of medical directors and nurses, and any best practices.
Environmental Researcher and Writer for Enslow Publishers, February - May 2005.
I was hired to investigate the key issues associated with the global endangerment of animals, including their predators, the competition for food, hunting, fire, the loss of natural habitat, poaching, limited geographic range, pollution, entanglement in fisher's nets, illegal trade, and the introduction of non-native animal species. The Sperm Whale, the Right Whale, the Green Sea Turtle, the Gal pagos Penguin, and the Humpback Whale were some of the ocean creatures that I researched for this project. The deliverables were used in a series of educational books for middle school children.
Researcher for an Upcoming Work of Fiction, February - April 2005.
My client is writing a family saga that sweeps across time, generations, continents, and cultures. My role was to assist in the research by making sure that historical references, geographical descriptions, cultural content, and other day-to-day nuances were accurate for the time and place.
Business Researcher, January 2005.
I was asked to find information on a number of U. S. companies, including uncovering their ownership structure, internal infrastructure, bylaws, and articles of incorporation. I consulted Infogroup's OneSource aggregator of business information and Hoover's proprietary business information services to do the research. Since some of the companies are private, OneSource provides only the bare bones of financial and analyst information for them. Private companies are not obligated to provide the detailed and regulated reporting that applies to public companies under SEC, OSC, etc. Also, if a company was incorporated in Delaware, you can expect very little information because Delaware does not provide much detail from its state corporation records.
Historical Researcher and Writer for an Academic Publisher, January 2005.
I created online finding aids and cyber documents for the following: the seven wonders of the ancient world; seven wonders of the modern world; seven wonders of the natural world; and the seven natural wonders of North America. The seven wonders of the ancient world are the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse (Pharos) of Alexandria. Five of the seven wonders were constructed or sculpted by the best Greek artists and architects of the time. Despite the differences in design, all provide proof of the advanced capabilities of ancient technologies. 1.) The only one of the ancient wonders that still exists is the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is the oldest of the ancient wonders and remains substantially intact. Constructed over a twenty year period concluding around 2550 BC, it is believed that the pyramid was built as a tomb for Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu. Standing at almost five hundred feet, the Great Pyramid was said to be the tallest manmade structure in the world for almost 4000 years. 2.) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were designed around 600 BC as a present by King Nebuchadnezzar II to his wife, Amytis of Media, because she missed her mountainous and foliage-lush homeland. In his Geographies , Strabo reports that the gardens were quadrangular in shape and were a series of arches and terraces. The water was brought in by means of a chain pump from the nearby Euphrates River and would flow down the terraces spreading water to all the gardens. 3.) The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was a massive monument located near Ephesus, an ancient city that was located in what is now Turkey. It was built to honor the goddess of hunting, nature, and fertility. The temple was made of marble and had many bronze statues. Pliny said it took more than 120 years to build and was one of the largest temples ever built in ancient times. It was rebuilt several times over the centuries before its final destruction. The temple was burnt to the ground on July 21, 356 BC by Herostratus, a native Ephesian. The reconstructed temple was destroyed during a raid by the Goths in 262 AD. In 401, the temple was attacked by a Christian mob and its stones were carried off and used to build other structures. 4.) The Greek city of Olympia was home to the Statue of Zeus, an ivory and gold statue of the god. It was built by Phidias, the famous Athenian sculptor, who was commissioned by the priesthood to design a chryselephantine statue of Zeus. It took twelve years to finish the almost forty foot high sculpture. The statue sat in the inner chamber of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia for approximately 800 years. There is a debate over what ultimately happened to the sculpture. Some scholars say that it was stolen, taken to Constantinople, and destroyed in 475 AD by fire. Others argue that it was destroyed in the 5th century AD along with the temple. 5.) The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was a 135-foot high marble tomb conceived by Queen Artemisia, wife of Mausolus, who was the ruler of Caria. Some of the best artists and craftsmen of the time period helped build and decorate Mausolus' beautiful tomb. In Natural History , Pliny the Elder, reported that "along the south and north sides it extends for a length of 63 feet, but it is shorter on the front side, the total length of the circuit being 440 feet; the tomb is 25 cubits high and is surrounded by 36 columns. Skopas did the carving on the east side, Bryaxis on the north, Timotheos on the south, and Leochares on the west, but before they had completed the work the Queen died. They did not stop working, however, until it was complete. For above the pteron (peristyle) there is a pyramid which is equal in height to the lower part and tapers toward the top in pyramidal fashion with 24 steps; at the top there is a marble quadriga which Pytheus made. With this added, the total height of the building comes to 140 feet." The Mausoleum remained in good condition for sixteen centuries before an earthquake damaged the roof and the colonnade. In 1494, the Knights of St. John of Malta dismantled the tomb and used the stones to build a castle, which still stands today in Bodrum. Only the foundation remains at the original site, but several of the sculptures have survived and can be found at the British Museum in London. 6.) The Colossus of Rhodes is an ancient day Statue of Liberty. Located in the harbor of the Mediterranean island of Rhodes in Greece, the statue was believed to have stood guard against incoming ships. The construction of the 120 foot statue was finished around 282 BC and was dedicated to the sun god, Helios. It was toppled by an earthquake in 226 BC. 7.) The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. Its purpose was to guide sailors into the harbor. There was a mirror on top to reflect sunlight during the day and a fire would guide the sailors at night. The Lighthouse of Alexandria stood over four hundred feet high and maybe as high as four hundred and fifty. Earthquakes damaged the lighthouse through the centuries, but it was said to be still partially standing when Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, Qaitbay, began to fortify Pharos Island by building a citadel as a defensive stronghold on the lighthouse's foundations in 1477. The construction lasted two years. The seven wonders of the modern world are the Panama Canal, the Netherlands North Sea Protection Works, the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the CN Tower, the Itaipu Dam, and the Channel Tunnel. Each of these structures was so innovative that in 1994, the American Civil Engineering Society named them wonders of the modern world. According to the organization, they are examples of modern society's ability to "achieve the unachievable, reach unreachable heights, and scorn the notion it can't be done." The seven wonders of the natural world are Mount Everest, Nepal; Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe; Grand Canyon, United States; the Great Barrier Reef, Australia; the Northern Lights; Paricutin Volcano, Mexico; and the Harbor of Rio de Janeiro. The tradition of listing the seven wonders of the world carries on today. Unlike the wonders of the ancient world, we can claim none of the glory for creating the wonders of the natural world. Nature carved these sites that we so admire. Over the course of millions of years, rivers flowed over their rocky beds, eroding the stone and carving waterfalls and canyons. Volcanoes and mountains rose up from the earth in reaction to movement far beneath the ground. Powerful forces of nature shaped the land we know today. Finally, the seven natural wonders of North America are: on the east coast is the Florida Everglades, a subtropical wetland. On the west coast, California has two natural wonders: Glacier Point, in Yosemite Park, made of solid granite, and the tallest living trees in the world can be found in the Redwood Forest. Alaska is home to Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. The Grand Canyon is another natural wonder and is located in Arizona. On a typical day, the Canyon can have a temperature difference of 50 between its floor and its highest rim. Canada and New York share the natural wonder of the Niagara Falls, and the Mississippi River passes through ten states. These seven natural wonders are all different, but they share something in common. They are majestic works of art, shaped by natural forces.
Researcher for a Book on Architecture, December 2004 - January 2005.
Over the last three hundred years, the homes we live in have changed a great deal. Changes in the way we use space, advances in architecture, reduced family size, new materials, and technological innovations in the housing industry have transformed both our living spaces and us. My job was to research the many transformations that have taken place in North American residential housing over the last three hundred years, including changes in lot size, square footage, number of rooms, and how heating and lighting changed the way we live and use our homes. My job also included predicting the future of housing. I used academic journals, databases, books, and the Internet to conduct my research.
Business Researcher and Editor for a California Start-Up, December 2004.
My client needed an experienced editor and fact checker to make his business plan more clear, compelling, and concise for an Angel Investor. He also needed additional research and help with his references.
Researcher and Fact-Finder for a Prominent American Legal Team (NDA in Place), December 2004.
I used academic databases, journals, print publications, and the Internet to conduct value-added research.
Business Researcher for a Mexican Medical Consultancy (NDA in Place), November 2004.
I was hired to find information on the latest technological advancements in a number of related high-tech fields.
Researcher and Writer for an Educational Enrichment Company, November 2004.
My duties included reading educational manuscripts and researching related subject areas on the Internet. I then used the websites I found to create a large number of records and put them into an online database. The information is used by school children to write reports and essays.
Researcher for a Business Book, October - November 2004.
My work revolved around fact checking and gathering statistical information on international business failure/survival rates and the truth about franchising.
Science Researcher for Enslow Publishers, Inc., August - September 2004.
For this project, I did research on the planets (the Earth, the Moon, Mars, the Sun, Uranus, Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn) in our solar system, their moons, asteroids, and comets. I compiled the information and created electronic K-12 educational resources. I also looked at important astronomers and astrophysicists throughout history and wrote summaries of their work.
Researcher and Writer for a Book Proposal, August 2004.
I assisted the author in organizing the sections of his book proposal. I researched additional facts, figures, and other information to incorporate into various sections of the document, including the market potential of the publication, promotional opportunities, and anticipated readership. I also edited the document and added large sections of text to add depth and more perspective to the subject areas covered.
Editor for a Hong Kong University Research Proposal, August 2004.
Writing research proposals for additional funding can be time-consuming and very stressful for academics. It takes more than a good idea to obtain a grant. My job was to help clarify the major themes and add additional sections to the proposal.
Researcher and Writer for an International Non-Profit, August 2004.
I was hired to look at how the economic success of a country affects the philanthropy of its citizens, and how the politics surrounding debt forgiveness, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the IMF, and the World Bank puts many developing countries in a state of crisis.
Health Researcher for an American Nutrition and Health Start-Up, July - August 2004.
I was hired to research the health benefits of a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. The information was used as the documentation for nutritional software.
Science Researcher and Writer for a Canadian Government Institute, July - August 2004.
My job was to find the latest research on drugs such as ecstacy and other party drugs, steroids, heroin, cocaine, crack, nicotine, marijuana, methamphetamine, amphetamines, nicotine and tobacco, and inhalants. After collating and analyzing the data, I developed a number of informational techbriefs.
Business Researcher and Fact Checker for Upcoming Business Book by Best-Selling American Authors (NDA in Place), April - July 2004.
I used journals, monographs, and online resources for this soon-to-be-published book on how to get wealthy and stay that way. The thrust of my research was real estate related.
Graphic Design for National Research Council of Canada, April - May 2004.
The poster was designed to accompany a conference paper that was presented at the EU-US Scientific Seminar held in Seville, Spain, 13-14 May 2004. The poster was designed with Louis Atkinson. View a small version here.
Historical Researcher and Writer for an Academic Publisher, March 2004.
I was hired to do value-added research for a series of books on ancient societies. Subject areas that I worked on were Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Mesopotamia, the Ancient Inca Civilization, the Mayans, and the Persians.
Researcher, Writer, and Editor for a Tenure-Track Professor, March 2004.
I rewrote and edited an article on Chinese Archaeology for my tenure-track client based on comments he received from the editor of an academic journal. I also had to do some research to fill in the blanks. The article was subsequently published. In light of the relatively few articles highlighting Chinese archaeological websites and the issues surrounding them, the purpose of the paper was to discuss some of the features and characteristics found on the Internet. Good websites can provide readers with the latest information and also help point out trends in the development of Chinese archaeology. But what constitutes a good website? The ability to sift through the ever-increasing amounts of information made available online to find quality and accurate data is becoming more important every day. Using credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, support, and uniqueness as criteria for website evaluation, the authors analyzed five websites in an effort to determine the value and quality of the information. The article discusses the evaluation of websites dedicated to Chinese archaeology and also points to six main characters of online resources for the subject area. In addition, questions are raised concerning the extent to which online Chinese archaeological resources can advance general awareness of the field and contribute to a growing body of knowledge.
Researcher and Writer for National Research Council of Canada (Planning and Assessment, Corporate Services Division), February - April 2004.
I was hired to research and co-write a paper focusing on new strategic capabilities for Canada's science and technology (S&T) institutions, foresight planning and activities, organization strategies, scenarios definition and elaboration, and bio-health innovation and stewardship. The paper was presented at the EU-US Scientific Seminar, 13-14 May 2004 in Seville, Spain. Foresight planning is an innovative and provocative process, which produces strategic insights, especially for those willing to think outside traditional boxes. Scenarios allow a better idea of the range of futures that are possible and shed light on the challenges, choices, and implications that exist. They can weave together past, present, and future elements and help develop new views of science and technology, and then integrate them into a number of imaginative stories to allow individuals and groups to see things previously unnoticed or acquire new viewpoints on familiar situations. Foresight planning has enormous potential to advance innovation, while focusing on the required next steps and strategic investments needed to move toward preferred futures. Scenarios can be a powerful reminder of the importance and significance of long term policy work in a governmental setting, emphasizing the potential of strategic thinking, and enhancing one's preparation for multiple situations of prospective challenge and opportunity. In Canada, like many other places in the world, reaction to events is the order of the day, rather than proactive strategies and planning in scientific and technological thinking. We can no longer rely on mental and analytical models that are getting shorter and shorter with each passing year. Organizations that participate in foresight activities can more easily overcome problems and create opportunities and responses that are robust, agile, and informed by science and technology knowledge. By using knowledge, imagination, and creativity, we can invent a better future.
Researcher for an Architectural Firm, February 2004.
This research project involved finding information on residential and commercial building statistics for the North America market, along with data on the assessment of energy conservation measures, sustainable architecture, the environmental impact of buildings, and ecological land use.
Fact Checker, January 2004.
My research included checking facts for an upcoming publication on international security and global cooperation. I learned a lot about international politics and the new technology being used to create a safer world. When considering global security in the 21st century, it is important to not just understand what the threats are, but also find innovative solutions. Many countries face 21st century security threats but are using 20th century archetypes to combat them, even though traditional security doesn't work and brings about insecurity. Old-fashioned security models need to be put aside, especially since threats are no longer confined to the state versus state paradigm. The global playing field is different now and old hierarchies have been replaced. Global cooperation is no longer defined as collaboration among states; it now involves individuals, corporations, NGOs, and other non-state actors. In this post-9/11 world, our old perceptions of safety and complacency no longer work against an enemy who wants to undermine a way of life, leaving us vulnerable to attack. We need a better organized and full-proof system that will leave legitimate travelers and visitors feeling safer, more secure, relaxed, and welcomed, while minimizing security breaches and increasing the likelihood of detecting and neutralizing organized threats. We need a safe and systematic process to verify identity and check credentials, but even more than that, we need a technological system that has the capacity to accurately predict both a person's present condition and future intentions by investigating facial expressions, brain activity, and involuntary mental clicks of recognition. With identity theft on the rise, and the prevalent use of false travel documents, the current system is particularly vulnerable to abuse. Implications for personal privacy were also covered.
Project Manager and Small Business Researcher, December 2003 - January 2004.
I managed an online technology project that focused on using blogs in small businesses. I helped choose the templates and worked with the tech person to get the blogs online. I also designed the information architecture, and created categories and some initial posts on each one to get the content started. Businesses are beginning to understand that there are benefits to creating blogs and using them as corporate tools for sharing expertise and communicating with customers and potential customers. A business blog is a marketing tool that works for you 24/7, and is probably the best tool available. They can also direct more traffic to company websites. Since blog software is easy to use and often free to use, it is a good choice for small businesses that don't have the budgets for expensive websites and designers. Business blogs also allow a company to interact more easily with their customers and connect with a target market on a more personal level. The time spent in creating content for a business blog is an investment in the future of your business and worth every minute because it will increase your visibility in the search engines and attract new readers. Establishing credibility and increasing transparency, while generating inbound leads, are all good reasons why starting a business blog makes sense.
Client and Market Researcher, December 2003.
I identified business partners for a technology company interested in expanding its client base and growing the business internationally.
Business Researcher, November - December 2003.
I was hired to locate and collect information relating to the development of a virtual intentional community of cooperation for a specialized group of international entrepreneurs. In particular, my clients were interested in designing a virtual community that facilitates cooperation amongst entrepreneurs, a place where companies and individuals can access resources, and to make it easier to start successful business ventures that offer good ROI. For centuries, intentional communities have brought idealists together to create a better world by sharing a common root value of cooperation, promoting dialogue, and sharing information and experiences with others on similar paths. As a long-time member of Howard Rheingold's private virtual community, Brainstorms, I have experience working in the field of virtual community development.
Researcher for an Upcoming Book on Living a Quality Life, August - November 2003.
My role in this project was to help the author develop a list of subject areas to cover in the manuscript. We decided upon 98 topics for this encyclopedia of sorts (Qualipedia™). I then worked with a programmer to create an online software tool that would eventually house the research information, separated into individual records with eight fields/areas of interest. For example, introduction to topic, purchasing, selection, maintenance, implications, tips, etc. I then began researching, using both print and electronic resources, and the Internet to do my work. We ended up with over 3000 research records, which the author will use to write her book.
Editor for a Tenure-Track Professor, July 2003.
I edited my client's paper for acceptance into an academic journal. With my assistance, the paper was published. The paper provides tips for finding Chinese history journals on the Internet, and offers practical help to librarians and researchers building websites or electronic libraries for China studies.
Researcher and Writer for Canada Health Infoway, a Canadian Government Agency, May - June 2003.
My job was to find the latest information on international best practices and lessons learned for electronic health records, specifically for the United States, New Zealand, Australia, England, and the European Union. I then used the review of the literature to write a report that will be made available through Canada Health Infoway.
Editor and Researcher for a Tenure-Track Professor, April 2003.
For this project, I developed and conducted a survey for my client that investigated collection development practices for Chinese electronic resources in North American East Asian libraries. The survey was sent to all East Asian libraries in North America that have websites and electronic resources available on them. I made the survey accessible through email and also created an online version. When I compiled the results, I used Excel to run the stats and make the graphs. Finally, I edited and rewrote parts of my client's article, incorporating the study results, which helped him to get it published. The paper examines electronic resources, including journals and databases for Chinese studies, collected in North American East Asian academic libraries. A small survey of 26 East Asian academic libraries in North America was conducted in May 2003 in order to learn more about collection development practices and accessibility issues for Chinese electronic resources. Based on an eight question survey, 57 per cent of the responding libraries have collection development policies for their electronic resources, 36 per cent do not while 7 per cent were unsure. Budget constraints, time constraints, lack of technical support, lack of training, and Chinese/English computer operating system incompatibilities were given as the top five constraints in the collection of Chinese electronic resources and providing access to them.
Researcher for Rheingold Associates, March - May 2003.
Our team worked with a major Internet player to test the efficacy of its search engine. The first phase involved testing a search product and required me to spend several hours a week for a couple weeks trying the product. The second part required me to provide feedback and to participate in private online discussions with the company's team and other RAers. The final requirement was that I sketch out a user case study from my experience as a professional researcher using the tool. Professional researchers utilize the Internet for many aspects of their work. For instance, they could be hired to search for links to Canadian educational resources for a government portal, or newspaper articles about recent fires caused by unattended cooking. For other projects, researchers search for papers, electronic journals, and conference proceedings, to use as resources for the writing of literature reviews, white papers, annotated bibliographies, books, etc. They need powerful tools to do the job, tools that allow them to work quickly and smartly. This new search tool would be a great addition to any researcher's toolkit. The ability to exclude terms and fine-tune searches are extremely powerful tools for a researcher because as the Internet gets larger, there is more and more available to sift through in order to find the appropriate information for a client. The search tool saves time and can help build stronger search strings by allowing the up-front search power of exclusion/inclusion to do a lot of the work for you at the outset. I re-did some of my searches associated with an NDA project that I had recently completed using it and was amazed at the direction I was taken by the terms in the Fine Tuning section of the tool, terms that I had not thought of using until much later in my search were included in its exclusion/inclusion list. Not only is a researcher able to exclude or not exclude and therefore, include terms provided, it allows the user the opportunity to further the fine-tuning process by allowing the addition of information through the Choosing Interests section. One thing to keep in mind, is that many types of researchers are often asked to find information they have no previous knowledge of, so any extra direction at the outset of a search cycle is critical for success. By analyzing the terms provided in the Fine Tuning section of the search tool, a researcher could easily build a more appropriate search string and add those additional areas of interest for their subject area to the Choosing Interests section. It is this multi-step process of exclusion/inclusion, wherein we find the tool's greatest strengths for researchers. There is also power found in the provision of the Personalize options, where a choice of fonts and colours can be made. For someone who may have to spend fourteen hours a day searching through pages of Internet links, having the ability to control the display of the information is essential and can prevent headaches and eye strain. In addition, the ability to search more than one phrase is also uncommon among search engines, and is therefore, both very useful and powerful.
Internet Researcher for Elike Solutions (NDA in Place), March - May 2003.
I worked with my client and his PR person to put together information packages for shows such as 60 Minutes . What we needed was to find specific families/individuals who had suffered from unattended cooking fires. Our focus was on five major local media markets nationwide: New York, Boston, DC, Chicago, and Los Angeles. These stories were then packaged for the media as a tie into a patented consumer device. Some of the problems I encountered were that newspapers like to sell their articles, so most are not indexed by Google; newspapers have very poor archives or very inadequate search engines; newspapers will give you a headline but would like you to pay $2.95 or more per article; many articles about fires do not include names; and many locations, besides the ones my client really wanted, were included in the final report because I couldn't always find articles from the regions my client wanted.
Researcher and Cybrarian for Canada Health Infoway, a Canadian Government Agency, March - April 2003.
I was part of the team that created the knowledge portals for Infoway's intranets and website. Specifically, it was my responsibility to find every website, listserv, newsfeed, PDF document, report, and digital resource that was specifically related to electronic health records. First priority was given to Canadian sites in both (or either) French or English, followed by international sites in either French or English. I was not expected to conduct literature searches on the topic. The Infoway team was looking for 1.) as comprehensive a search as possible given the time constraints 2.) quality information. Every resource was then entered into a multi-field database and an annotation was written for each one. Feedback and search results were sent to the KM team in Montreal on a regular basis.
Project Manager and Moderator for a National Research Council of Canada Internet Workshop, January - February 2003.
I worked with the Canadian Science and Technology Foresight Pilot Project (STFPP) team to develop, implement, and host a week-long virtual workshop/conference to elaborate and develop the initial findings from a series of onsite workshops and technical panels that were held in the fall of 2002. The online workshop's purpose was to enable all the participants, as well as a selected group of additional experts and generalists who were not able to be involved in the fall events, to consider the findings that were summarized into two reports and to help develop the information further in preparation for the scenarios work to be done by the project team in March 2003. The workshop was deemed to be a critical element of the iteration of observations and results from the fall events of 2002. I worked with the project leaders to organize and plan the virtual conference. My work also included helping to write the email invitations; contact all guests and provide them with their registration information; set up the conference, which used conferencing software called Caucus; help the team develop the workshop itinerary; work with a graphic designer to create the workshop graphics; host the event; was present at the conference, checking in at least twelve hours a day to greet the participants and be available for help questions; help those with problems; and format posts, especially long posts that needed HTML tags inserted to facilitate reading. I also made sure the client got a CD-burned copy of the event. Great project!
Internet Researcher for a Virginian Company, January - February 2003.
My job was to search newspaper databases, the Internet, Google News, and LexisNexis for articles that my client was interested in reading. I then used online resources, such as telephone directories, reverse look-up, tax assessor data, and real estate property report databases to locate various people.
Internet Researcher for an International Insurance Group, December 2002.
The research I did was needed as value-added information for a business plan for a proposed international insurance venture start-up that plans to specialize in large-scale property insurance. I had to identify all cities in North America, South America, and Western Europe with commercial office buildings in excess of 50 stories or with 3,000,000 rentable square feet.
Search Engine Optimization, November 2002.
I helped a dentist from Los Angeles to rank higher in web searches for California cosmetic dentistry and TMJ/migraine/headache dentistry. I did this by using a multi-pronged approach to search engine optimization.
Website Design and Database Integration, August - November 2002.
I worked with Higher Mind Productions to help design Smart Mobs, the companion website and blog for Howard Rheingold's new book. I also created individual database records for each of the 1000 citations in the online bibliography so that it would act as a mirror for the book's bibliography. Note: although the site we did is no longer online, here is a screenshot of our design.
Client and Market Researcher, August - October 2002.
I was successful in finding funding opportunities for my client, an international non-governmental organization.
In the initial stages of this complex project, I was given 962 printed survey documents, many of which were three feet wide and six feet long scrolls. My first task was to digitize the huge amount of information that was found on each one. In many cases, I chose to use an industrial/architectural-sized scanner to create high-resolution scans and then OCRed the data myself. I think it was the best solution, especially since I was working under a pretty demanding deadline. I then inputted all of the data into two separate Excel spreadsheets using assigned categories and additional ones that I developed. I read all of the survey answers and then made an intellectual decision as to which assigned category each of the answers best fell into. I basically summarized open-ended answers/thoughts into pre-assigned categories. Of course, accuracy and consistency were very important, especially for running the quantitative stats (pivot tables and crosstabs) later. I also created two separate Word files to hold almost 900 long answers for the qualitative data that helped draw a portrait of what the respondents thought. We were looking for themes, sub-themes, and patterns in their words. In addition, some online research and email correspondence was needed to complete the project. Here are some of the questions the reference librarians were asked in the survey: are you paid to read?, has current awareness helped you to provide reference service?, has television and radio helped you to answer reference queries?, do you watch TV news shows?, and do you read print papers and magazines on own time? The survey covered both academic reference librarians and public library reference personnel in the United States and Canada, asking them about their reading habits. We were interested in the extent to which librarians read newspapers, periodicals, fiction and non-fiction, and asked them to recount stories about how reading has made them better librarians. A lot of work, but a very exciting, and fulfilling project.
I helped my client with photographic research for a large-scale government mural contract in Camden, New Jersey. I took advantage of New Jersey's digital image collections and Camden's historical societies' online photographic archives to do my research for this floodwall mural project. I then created an online tool that allowed my client to view and download the images. He used the photographs as a point of departure for his painting.
Researcher for a Vermont company, March 2002.
For this contract, I did market research for a firm that specializes in mediating and resolving architectural and construction legal disputes. I also did some preliminary search engine optimization for them, including the creation of meta tags and title tags.
Researcher for Elike Solutions, February - March 2002.
My research work for this job was associated with a patent that will help to prevent kitchen fires from even starting. My client was interested in identifying victims of fires that were caused by unattended cooking. He needed recent (within the last two years) victims of fires from the Washington DC area, Virginia suburbs (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax), Maryland suburbs (Montgomery County, Prince Georges County, Bethesda, Silver Spring), or as close as possible to DC. Anywhere in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York was acceptable. I was asked to find newspaper articles and press accounts, with the names, addresses or other identifying information of victims so that a Product Liability lawyer could work with them to obtain compensatory damages from stove and range manufacturers.
Researcher for an Information Science Study on Deselection Policies in Libraries, January - April 2002.
This project set out to uncover what policies libraries follow when weeding (deselecting books), how they do it, if there are complaints, what the librarians think of weeding, and if they have ever saved any books that were to be weeded out of the library system. My first task was to take 300 multi-page paper surveys that consisted of open-ended questions and transfer them to digital format. I used a scanner and OCR software to do it. In total, there were nineteen questions covering every aspect of weeding. I then entered all data into nineteen separate Word files, a file for each of the survey questions. Librarians gave many different answers to all of the questions, so I had to analyze them to generate enough categories to fit each answer into. For instance, when looking at the answers for 'reasons for weeding' I came up with the following categories: accuracy, condition, space, circulation, duplicates, vital resource, age, superseded editions, scope, and alternative form. For 'what is done with weeded books' I used the categories of sell, trash, recycle, donate, give to other libraries, and put into storage. Not all the answers fit perfectly into the categories, but it was important to generate meaningful stats from the data. Each set of answers were analyzed and categories were chosen for each one. I then created Excel graphs with the information from the reports. I was also asked to pick out the most interesting responses for each of the nineteen questions, so the author could highlight them in his final write-up. The top three reasons librarians gave for deselecting books were accuracy of the information, the condition of the books, and space restrictions. In answer to what is done with the weeded books, the top three answers were sell them, throw them away, and donate the books. One thing that kept coming to my mind during this project was how book jobbers and standing orders, etc. affect deselection in the long run. Are the best books chosen to begin with? It takes a very intuitive smart person to set up those types of contracts correctly. I wonder how often they use reviews in the process. I believe one library director had weeding built into the review process, which forced the librarians to do more. Overall, there seemed to be some lack of understanding that weeding is an essential component for a circulating public library. In part, that might be blamed on library school programs that barely touch upon this aspect of collection management. In addition, some of the librarians seem to lack any knowledge of what their library's mission is. They see libraries as historical archives and believe they should hang onto every book ever purchased. As the pre-eminent futurist Paul Saffo has pointed out, "libraries were originally created in an era of scarce information . librarians were sort of mad information hoarders, who were hoarding in the public interest." Not so anymore, the days when libraries could collect everything "just in case" are over. There is an increased necessity for librarians to visualize a rebirth that emphasizes a library connected to a network of electronic information and to other libraries that can offer them interlibrary loan services for their clients. I guess the striking thing for me is the difference in philosophy amongst the librarians. Some are very concerned that the patrons receive misinformation by reading dated materials, especially scientific, medical and legal, while others say they weed to make space for new books. Other librarians do admit to weeding when crowding is an issue, but that is not a norm. For example, they wouldn't just weed out books that didn't meet the criteria just to make more room. That is good. Many librarians are reluctant to weed. They have a problem with the process for many reasons, including the worry attached to what patrons will say about getting rid of books that were bought with tax payers money, and not having the resources available to replace the items they weed, thus, leaving holes in the collection. Some libraries get around this by weeding as new books come in, so the process is seamless and there are no complaints by the public. Librarians also fear they will make a mistake or weed books that other librarians or members of staff feel should remain in the system. Many believe books should be given 'second chances' and marketed better since they were placed too high or too low on the shelves and the public just couldn't find them or notice them as they made their way through the stacks. They remember how much the books cost and really think it is better to give the books another round in the circulation process before the items go out the door, never to return. They don't think they have the expertise to do a good job and are overwhelmed by other duties. Many of them just don't want to weed because it takes so much time. From reading the survey answers, it seemed that some librarians use this as an excuse - they say they don't like the concept, but it might be because they just don't have the time to do it properly. I think some of the best library directors interviewed recognize that the reluctance is based on ignorance. Librarians just don't realize how important weeding is to the management of the collection and to the satisfaction of the patrons. One of the main factors cited is the trouble associated with getting rid of the books. They feel their hands are tied when it comes to disposing of the materials. They have no real space to put the books when they come out of the collection, but must find room since the main avenue for disposal is the Friends of the Library sales, which only occur once or twice a year. It seems like a very frustrating process for them because besides the time it takes to actually find the books that need to come out of the collection and making sure the materials meet the criteria to be weeded, they run up against opposition with other staff members disagreeing on their choices; members of the public looking for books they miss; finding room to store the books for the sales; worrying that the funds won't be available to replace the information that is lost by weeding; and the problems associated with what to do with the books that do not sell. There seems to be so much red tape involved that you can hardly blame them for thinking that weeding is a big problem, which some of them are unequipped to deal with. Even when they put the leftovers in the dumpsters, they have members of the public complaining about the waste of government money and even those who will drag the books out of the garbage and demand they be put back in the collection. They would like to have more options when it comes to disposing of books that don't sell, but are hesitant about sending non-fiction books to schools that may be filled with misinformation.
Researcher, Survey Designer, and Project Manager for a Study on Multi-Cultural Library Services, January - March 2002.
This research study is being used as a vehicle to find out how major public library systems in Canada purchase materials for their ethnic populations. Diverse communities need diverse types of materials in their public libraries, not just what has traditionally been available. Is the changing face of the Canadian population reflected in public libraries by incorporating the library and information needs of a diverse community of public library patrons? Are libraries committed to diversity through management decision-making, by educating staff of the needs of changing communities, and by diversifying staff so that the communities' ethnic populations are represented by library employees? My part: I searched for and read a couple of hundred public library collection development policies. I then worked with my client and the original concept he had for the study, to generate a series of questions for the survey. I placed them into ten separate categories. Working with a web programmer, I helped to design and create an online survey, a nation-wide survey of public libraries of all sizes, including branches. A sample of the survey questions can be read here. Almost all questions could be answered using drop-down menus and clickable multiple-choice answer boxes. I then did an Internet search for appropriate listservs where I could post the survey. A summary of the project and the web address to the survey were uploaded. The survey was also emailed to over 1600 Canadian public librarians. Results/answers were emailed to me. I used Excel for the data entry and to run the statistics. I also did a partial literature review for the project.
Project Manager and Researcher for an Academic Research Project on Email Reference, January - March 2002.
This research project was developed to find out the condition of email reference service in Canadian public libraries. With more and more libraries offering to answer questions electronically, the researchers were interested in studying the timeliness and correctness of the answers supplied by librarians, and the overall effectiveness of digital reference desks. This study was originally undertaken in 1999 and was repeated for comparison purposes. I helped develop the reference questions, sent the emails, corresponded with the librarians, compiled the answers, and ran the stats, also generating graphs.
Designer, Content Researcher, and Writer for a Corporate Website, December 2001 - January 2002.
I designed the website and developed the information architecture. I then did a lot of research into what types of content should appear on the website and wrote the copy.
Client and Market Researcher for Higher Mind Productions, October 2001 - January 2002.
On this project, it was my job to identify corporations and individuals that might need the various services my client offered. I also made the initial contact, wrote proposals, negotiated fees, and managed projects.
Project Manager for the Redesign and Enhancement of the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Center's Website, July - October 2001.
This project began for me in January of 2001 when I identified the international association as a possible client for my employer. Three months later, I wrote the proposal that won the company the contract for the redesign. I came onboard as project manager, working with the web committee to establish milestones, keeping everything on track, and acting as the main contact person. Later in the project, additional roles for me were content checker, quality controller, and researcher for the public domain images used on the site. I had a contract to maintain the site, edit the content, and upload new information until 2004.
Market Researcher and Event Organizer (NDA in Place), June 2001.
My role was to locate a large number of people who might like to attend a seminar on learning how to create targeted resumes. The seminars took place across the United States and were developed to teach job searchers how to focus on their desired position; how to spotlight their skills and experience; how to create a highly focused format for their resumes; how to ensure that their resume rises to the top of the stack; how to catch the attention of headhunters, corporate recruiters, hiring managers; how to analyze their skills and experience; how to impress the hiring manager; figure out if their dream job is realistic for them; and the secret of getting past the screeners. Professional consulting services were also made available to enrollees at discounted prices.
My job was to locate the contact information for product managers or product marketing managers working for companies located in New York City and the immediate vicinity. These companies had to sell products in the knowledge management, library/information science, information retrieval, computational linguistics or natural language processing fields.
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution is a book that details how the rise of pervasive mobile communications combined with always-on Internet connections produces new kinds of ad-hoc social groups. Smart mobs emerge when social networks use mobile communication devices, pervasive computation, peer to peer, and reputation management methodologies to coordinate collective action - political, social, economic. This great job began in April 2001. One of my first assignments was to help design an online database that would meet our research requirements and find a host that was cost-effective, allowing more than one person to work at the same time. The database has really been successful and presently contains almost 1000 records, complete with bibliographic information, thesis statements, quotes, and notes. My work also included finding interesting and knowledgeable people from all over the world, who are doing work in various fields and contacting them to set up interviews. To date, we have met with people in Canada, Seattle, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Stockholm, London, Helsinki, Surrey, Palo Alto, San Jose, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. I also did original research, summarized our research materials, compiled sources, wrote, fact-checked, formatted Word files for the publisher, and created tables of content and endnotes (including formatting them into the Chicago Style). In addition, I edited and critiqued the work in progress, and made the bibliography.
Project Manager and Researcher for an Upcoming Book on Third-World NGOs (University of Toronto), March - May 2001.
There has been a steady growth in the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society movements and coalitions in the last decade of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st century. NGOs, especially large international NGOs, and civil society movements often fill the vacuum left by governmental actors in such diverse fields as the environment and social justice. Large international NGOs adopt causes in third-world countries and bring their resources to bear on issues that local governments often do not want to deal with. In addition, NGOs typically make use of information communication technologies (ICTs) to further their aims. The proliferation of large international NGOs and the use of ICTs by large international NGOs has been examined in a number of studies. What has been neglected, however, are NGOs operating in the so-called 'developing' or 'third-world' countries. This research project therefore has a twofold purpose. First, it explores the relationship of 'third-world' NGOs with large international NGOs. Has that relationship been fruitful, or has it been fraught with tensions and conflicts based on philosophical differences? Second, has the introduction of ICTs been a panacea for third-world NGOs or do ICTs bring with them a host of problems and concerns that are not obvious at first glance? This book is about third-world or Southern NGOs, ones that operate mostly in Africa, South America, and the less-developed countries. The focus of the book is two-pronged: the relationship that third-world NGOs have with their bigger brother/sister NGOs in the developed world. Do they get along? Do they feel they are being treated as equals by first world NGOs. AND, how do third-world NGOs get their information? How do they use information technology? My work for this project included the design and implementation of an international online survey, deciding which NGOs to include in the study, collecting articles on the subject, and data analysis. I also project managed. I needed a definition for Southern NGOs. I found that they are mostly those operating in Asia, Africa, South America, and other less - developed countries, including those in countries such as Turkmenistan. One of the first things I did was to search for third-world or Southern NGOs concerned with such issues as environment, social justice, and economic rights. Later, when I was further into the project, I added some centered on women and their issues because they are often fighting for human rights, economic freedom, and environmental improvements. Once I had a good starting point, I searched in the Yearbook of International Organizations , however, almost immediately I saw a problem using just this resource to compile a list of 150 NGOs that fit the bill since so many smaller regional organizations had no profiles in the database. It is possible that some NGOs do not realize that they can submit their contact information and mission statement. One of the aims of the Union of International Associations is to "facilitate the evolution of the activities of the world-wide network of non-profit organizations, especially non-governmental or voluntary associations," not just the larger international organizations that get the lion's share of media attention in the First World. Since my mission was to find smaller, regionalized, down-to-earth non-governmental organizations, I spent many hours sweeping the Internet using a variety of search strings and a series of online maps to make sure I was being comprehensive. I used maps of Asia, Africa, and South America and researched out each country separately to see if they had NGOs that fit the category. Many that I discovered on portal sites or in directories and wanted to include in the study had no web presence, nor email address. Since I needed to find a website so that I could establish a profile and was also required to have an email for each NGO so that they could be contacted, I had to leave those out of the study. As a result, there are some countries that were not included because the required information was not found. The survey we conducted was meant specifically for small and medium-sized NGOs who work in Africa, South America, or Asia. Email messages were sent to a random selection of 120 southern NGOs in March-April 2001 inviting them to go to a website that had a copy of the survey and to complete a series of questions using the web form. They could also answer the survey by hitting reply to the email we sent. In addition to three preliminary questions that elicited basic demographic data, the survey consisted of sixteen questions on two topics: (i) the way in which southern NGOs perceived and used information and communication technologies (ICTs) and (ii) the relationship of southern NGOs with international NGOs. One of the outcomes we were hoping for was to improve the relationship between small local NGOs and larger international ones. Here is a sampling of the questions we asked: About how many times would you say that your NGO has had "significant working contact on a specific issue" with large international NGOs in the past 12 months?; Do you feel that your NGO is sufficiently consulted by large international NGOs on matters of local concern about which your local NGO has special expertise?; Has the use of ICTs affected internal working relationships within your NGO? In other words, has it caused any changes in the decision-making process or organizational structure of your NGO?; and Has the introduction of ICTs, especially the Internet, eroded your NGO's use of indigenous and informal communication channels? All questions were accompanied with a request for specific examples.
Cybrarian and Facilitator for OSN 2001, an Online Event Sponsored by Group Jazz and Rheingold Associates, March 28 to April 11, 2001.
Online Social Networks 2001 brought together the most experienced designers and instigators of online think-tanks, virtual team communication spaces, and virtual communities to discuss the art of designing, launching, growing, and maintaining online social networks. For two weeks, from March 28 to April 11, registered participants, speakers, and workshop leaders joined together in structured conversations about practical issues related to online social networks. Caucus web conference software enabled registered participants to interact at any time during the event, from anywhere in the world, using text and images, through a net-connected web browser.
Market Researcher for an International Artist, March - April 2001.
I was contracted to compile a list of prospects that might be interested in buying art. The target market was Interior Designers who specialize in hotel, restaurant, corporate, and high-end residential custom art work, with a first preference given to east coast designers. Email addresses, websites, and telephone numbers were collected for each. I also put together a list of interior design trade shows, conferences, annual meetings, and other gatherings of interior designers who specialize in high-end markets, basically any where my client could make contact with these professionals.
I was hired to find magazine circulation managers, circulation directors, and circulation specialists for a successful direct marketing company which has a growing catalog division and a need for an experienced manager to oversee marketing and promotions, generate new business, design renewal campaigns, develop email and direct mail campaigns, do list selection, and integrate innovative technologies to their circulation operations.
Archival Researcher for a Small Publishing Firm in Switzerland, March 2001.
I was hired to collect the names of old and new catalogues of publishing houses from all over the world. My client then planned to request hard copies of each or at least a facsimile. Catalogues from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxemburg, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, and the USA were some of the ones I discovered. National libraries and archives were important sources for the information I was asked to find, but I also made contact with private collectors to do my research. Another component to this project was researching the history of publishing and advertising. The collection of catalogues helps to preserve the business history of publishing and provides us with a pictorial history of catalogue design, as well as insight into the evolution of books and what people read the last number of decades.
Researcher and Writer for the National Research Council of Canada, January - March 2001.
My research work centered on taking a look at where people and virtual communities believe interactive digital video and visualization/VR/virtualized reality will be by 2010. I used online resources, communicated with some of the finest scientists in the field, and conducted a small survey during the course of the project. I then wrote a report that summarized my findings.
Researcher and Writer (NDA in Place), January - February 2001.
I did value-added research and some writing for an international cosmetics corporation.
Client and Market Database Researcher and Creator (NDA in Place), December 2000 - February 2001.
My job was to sweep the Internet to uncover a large number of appropriate contacts to be used by an Internet start-up as a foundation for the generation of contracts. I then created a multi-field online database and inputted all the data.
Website Accessibility/Usability Evaluator for Seven Federally-Controlled Canadian Corporations, December 2000 - January 2001.
I was hired to evaluate seven websites to check for barriers to accessibility. Corporations such as CBC wanted to know if their website had limitations that prevented people with certain disabilities from using it to the fullest extent. They wanted to make sure that they had strategies in place to help the disabled overcome the limitations of the media. Some of the things I checked for were text equivalents for every non-text element, including images, image maps, and animations; ensure that all information conveyed with color was also available without color; use of descriptive link text, not just "click here" to ensure that each link made sense when it was read out of context, or by a screen reader; and the provision of clear and consistent navigation and links. In addition, I ran usability tests on all sites, checking for over-use of cutting-edge technology, long scrolling pages, illogical navigation structure, long download times, and dead links. Finally, I checked to make sure that the websites had a privacy statement; that the privacy policy used the word "privacy" in the link name; that there was a link to the privacy policy from the home page; the privacy policy identified exactly what data was being collected; and that the privacy policy identified the intended use of the collected data. My findings were collated into reports and sent to the corporations for next steps.
Researcher for Cameron Halifax Associates, December 2000.
I was hired to find the contact information for a Grammy-award winning song writer, living in Nashville, Tennessee. My client was interested in hiring him to work on a Broadway musical play. After many false starts, I was able to get his private phone number and put him in contact with my client.
Meta Tag Creator and Web Content Reviewer for Rheingold Associates, December 2000.
I created customized meta tags and keywords for every page of the new home of Howard Rheingold's international group of associates. I also reviewed the content, assisting the editorial staff with website copy revisions.
Researcher for Cameron Halifax Associates, November 2000.
I was contracted to find library science listservs and library school alumni organizations. These resources will be used by a head hunter to identify possible candidates with MLIS degrees to fill positions in Silicon Valley start-ups.
Researcher for Cameron Halifax Associates, November 2000.
I was hired to find advertising sales managers or advertising salespeople working in the magazine industry. The client is a dynamic publishing and direct marketing concern with unique products in print and online.
Website Accessibility Consultant for GEIS, October - December 2000.
I was hired to redesign the site and make the changes necessary to obtain Priority 1 Accessibility status.
Client and Market Researcher for Cameron Halifax Associates, October 2000.
My client specializes in recruiting talent in Information Science, Knowledge Engineering, Ontology, and related fields. His clients are primarily in Cupertino, Mountain View, and San Francisco. My job was to identify a number of possible candidates for various positions, including a copy of their resumes and their contact information.
Researcher and Writer for AOL, October 2000.
I researched and created a PowerPoint deck and a five-page handout for a business presentation on the provision of accessible Internet-related products and services for people with disabilities and the development and implementation of AOL services that would enable deaf people to communicate via the Internet using TTYs and Internet appliances. Since text telephones (TTYs) use outdated and incompatible technology, many deaf people have no access to the Internet. As a result, companies and governments are looking for cost-effective and cutting-edge ways to provide accessible services to deaf consumers. Providing access requires significant annual expenses, but there is significant pressure on organizations to become accessible to people with disabilities with the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Internet offers huge potential to the deaf population for education, training, employment, and empowerment, a new kind of freedom and independence. The creation of a deaf global village can be a reality. The timing is great for moving the entire deaf population onto the Internet. An Internet-TTY Gateway would enable deaf consumers to switch to the Internet without losing contact with the TTY-using community. The deaf population would benefit by having more opportunities for education, training, and employment, without all of the expense. Providing a way to communicate with hearing people via email and messaging would also make deaf people more employable. The anticipated parallel development of wireless instant messaging extends this model to enable direct TTY-to-wireless-phone messaging capability.
Researcher for Rheingold Associates, September 2000.
I was hired to collect and format public domain images for a corporate strategy game based on Charles Cameron's thought tool, HipBone Games. The deliverables were used during an international online conference.
Researcher for the National Research Council of Canada, August - November 2000.
I collaborated with a senior strategist to develop an online survey that focused on an innovation-oriented group, aged 35 years old or younger to explore what their assumptions and expectations were in regards to the driving factors for Science and Technology (S&T) for the first decade of the 21st century. I, as the researcher, carried out and oversaw the survey study. I had to decide where to post the survey and research which individuals I would email it to directly. I also collected some informed intellectual speculations from experts and scientists in the area of future scenario work, and some of the latest information gleaned from Internet sources. I collocated them into a ten page report, highlighting some of the more important trends, insights, and issues. Additional deliverables included a copy of the survey questionnaire, all completed surveys, the reports generated from the survey software, and a collocation of answers for each essay-type question included in the survey. The purpose of the project was to survey a group of Science and Technology future-oriented individuals, focusing on those who are young and actively involved in leading edge developments in S&T fields. The survey included questions about the dominant issues and controversies involved in S&T, their impact on research facilities, such as the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), and the critical priorities for technology and skill development. Furthermore, it endeavored to ascertain the most innovative or consequential fields/sub-fields of S&T, as well as the changes needed to improve the S&T system for the world of the 21st Century, along with other queries. The links between science and research outcomes and socio-economic progress are complex and uncertain, however, future scenario work offers promise as a means to help ensure that science, engineering, and technology contribute to national objectives through the identification of priority areas in research and development for both economic and social benefit. There is value in using scenarios as a tool in managing change and to address broad issues of skills, culture, innovation, and communications, so as to develop alternative perspectives on Canada's longer-term requirements for science and technology and how we might better position ourselves to respond to the challenges of shaping our future. It allows managers to consider strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a dynamic context provided by long-term perspectives, bringing together many factors crucial to competitiveness and innovation, such as helping to identify commercially valuable research areas and indicating emerging market needs. By looking forward to possible future developments and their implications for research, the economy, and society, we can obtain valuable alternative perspectives on our present activities. We live in a complex world where technologies that did not exist a few decades ago are playing key roles in our social and economic life. We now understand that the development, acquisition, and application of knowledge through science, technology, and innovation can create new sources of wealth and improve the quality of our lives. Knowledge and skills have become key factors in developing and sustaining international competitiveness. Research in science and engineering gives Canada a strategic capacity to compete in the knowledge-based global economy, an economy whose rapid pace of change owes much to the pace of advances in science and technology. Scientific discoveries are key drivers of economic growth and have a vital influence on the quality of our lives in providing personal success and prosperity, and for economic growth and social development. Accordingly, scientific and technological research is one of the best investments government can make for the future because it contributes to growing an economy that has more high-skilled workers, high-wage jobs, a cleaner environment, a healthier population, advanced information technology infrastructures, a stronger, more competitive private sector able to maintain a place in world markets, an educational system that is challenging, and an inspired scientific and technological research community focused on improving the quality of life and on successfully meeting global problems through cooperation with other countries. The most important measure of success for S&T is the ability to make a difference in the lives of people: to harness S&T to improve the quality of life and the economic strength of a country. Science and technological industries have changed the way people work, live, and learn. There is a need to build a forward-looking science and technology system. Since the strategic direction, skills and knowledge generated by S&T will impact on our ability to meet our future needs, our S&T system must look ahead and be open and responsive to early and possibly weak, signals of change. Collecting and combining information and gathering opinions in such a survey will help to build perspectives on possible futures to 2010, providing a broad context for identifying future needs, while enabling us to assess how well our current science, engineering, and technology system is positioning itself to meet these needs. We need a society that can make informed choices, one that is technologically literate, and one able to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship. This study will aim to provide an information base to assist NRC in making better informed longer-term decisions on the development and application of science and technology.
Researcher and Senior Editor for Internet Start-Up, Good Enough Information Systems, July 2000 - April 2001.
My work focused on helping organizations and corporations integrate the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Guidelines into their website designs and content structure to allow a high degree of usability for people with disabilities. Other duties included performing website usability assessments and helping non-profits and small businesses employ technology to become more effective, primarily using the ASP/Webware model. I also researched and wrote internal reports, developed and templated company processes, and wrote or edited articles, press information, and proposals. I was also the manager of the website. Good Enough Information Systems Inc. is a completely virtual consulting company that is dedicated to making organizations, particularly non-profits and small businesses, more effective through the appropriate use of technology. We focus on providing solutions that offer impact and simplicity rather than over-elaborate code or animated extravaganzas. We work for clients all over Canada and the United States on individual consulting and development projects. One of the big problems with technology investments is that cutting-edge today is obsolete tomorrow, and the solution you spent $50,000 on this year will cost $1,000 in two years. Good Enough Information Systems Inc. specializes in helping an organization build a 'good enough' system to meet its requirements without paying for more than it really needs.
Researcher for University of Toronto (NDA in Place), April - June 2000.
Researcher for an Upcoming Book on Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Other Civil Society Movements, February - March 2000.
My role was to examine the information that was available online, in academic journals, newspapers, and books on the international organization, La Francophonie. I evaluated sources, summarized findings, and wrote a lengthy report to facilitate the author's work. In this age of globalization, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society movements and coalitions have become vastly more diverse and influential. This book explores the crucial role that efficient, skilful use of information and communications technology and news media has played in increasing the influence and enhancing the work of civil society organizations. Rich in case study material, it examines NGOs and other civil society organizations in the policy fields of development, security, international law, human rights, and humanitarian action. In addition, the book examines the relationship between civil society and intergovernmental institutions such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the G7/G8. Informação é poder. In the last twenty years, citizens' movements have used information to expose, mobilize, and persuade. By doing so, they have irreversibly altered the relationship between citizens and those who govern.
Designer and Website Content Developer for a Conference Center and Reception Hall, Lafayette, LA, January - February 2000.
Client and Market Researcher for Higher Mind Productions, December 1999.
The age old problem of not having enough time or money to identify new markets is a real challenge for many companies, not just start-ups. Lack of trained in-house staff and not enough time for them to learn market research methodologies, has many companies hiring freelance client researchers like me to find new clients and to recommend new business directions. Working on a limited budget, I considered my client's current priorities, did some research, and identified new markets for the company. I also delivered strategic market and customer insights by analyzing impacts on marketing and product strategy.
Website Designer and Content Developer for a Real Estate Firm in Jennings, Louisiana, November - December 1999.
Researcher for Howard Rheingold's Revised Edition of his Best-Selling, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier that was released in November 2000 by MIT Press, October 1999 - April 2000.
My work consisted of compiling an extensive new bibliography that is meant to serve as a guide to further research on virtual communities and the issues that surround online life. In addition, I carried out a literature review, wrote a report, was a fact checker, and acted as a bibliographic assistant to the author.
Researcher and Project Manager for an Academic Study, October 1999 - February 2000.
This research project was developed to find out the condition of email reference service in Canadian public libraries. My part of the project included working with the principal researcher to develop the questions used in the study; deciding which libraries to include and collecting their 'ask a librarian' contact information; creating the email addresses that were used to send the inquiries to the libraries; sending out the email reference questions each week and collecting the answers; researching articles written about email reference and compiling an annotated bibliography based on them. I also asked the libraries used in the study for their email reference service policy if they had one. I then compiled all the answers. With more and more libraries offering to answer questions electronically, the researchers were interested in studying the accuracy of the answers that were supplied by the surveyed librarians, their timeliness in answering, and the overall effectiveness of digital reference desks and 'ask a librarian' programs. We were also interested in finding out why libraries were offering email reference and if its integration changed reference departments. The offering of email reference service is a significant step in the development of the concept of a virtual library. The continuing growth in the number of libraries with access to electronic data networks is beginning to impact the way these organizations conduct their business. For library clients, this promises both more convenient access to information and to library professionals. Clients will increasingly expect to access information and the services of librarians at work and at home. Libraries will increasingly have new opportunities to deliver services, such as reference services, to users who now find it difficult or inconvenient to visit the library. However, if remote reference services are to become common, it is necessary for the information profession to prepare now by identifying both advantages and problems for clients and reference intermediaries alike. One problem in providing reference service over an electronic data network is replacing the face-to-face reference interview, which allows for immediate clarification because of its interactive nature. Can an electronic interaction be equally effective? Verbal and non-verbal channels, such as inflections and paralinguistic devices are often equally important in a reference interview. Many of these cues are, of course, not present in an electronic interview. New and rich protocols for communicating non-verbal signals will no doubt develop to fill the void. Here is a sample of the questions used in the study: When did Kitchener, Ontario change its name from Berlin?; Would you happen to know what the date was for the so-called Fog Bowl? It was a football game in the Canadian Football League (CFL).; Would you able to tell me how many Grammy Awards that Celine Dion has won?; I am looking for the postal address of the British Records Office in London, England. It is the office that handles public records.; On what date will Easter 2067 fall?; Could you tell me what the Consumer Price Index was for September 1999 in Canada?; and I am trying to find out the date when and the place where the tidal wave hit Newfoundland. For comparison purposes, this unobtrusive study was repeated during the Winter of 2002.
Meta Tag Creator, Search Engine Optimizer, Website Content Developer, and Editor for a South Louisiana Arts Portal, September - October 1999.
I created a series of meta tags, including the Dublin Core sets, for a large number of websites under the umbrella of the portal, and wrote content/edited all websites.
Researcher for the National Research Council of Canada, July - December 1999.
This was an extensive research project that included a sweep of the Internet, academic databases, and library OPACs for the latest information on virtual communities, scenario planning, online culture, innovation, future scenarios, systems thinking, and avatar technology. I read all materials, wrote several reports, and developed a series of PowerPoint slide decks for use in federal government departments.
Researcher and Website Content Developer for a Louisiana Art Consortium, July - August 1999.
Primarily, my job was to research American copyright law as it pertains to artists. I also helped to design the website, create the content, and develop the meta tags. Search engine submission and optimization were also a part of the project.
Researcher for the CanLearn Educational Database, February - September 1999.
The nature of my work was to sweep the Internet for websites featuring Canadian educational businesses, organizations, associations, scholarships, student loans, schools, indices, language training courses, literacy centers, and other education choices, such as home schooling and private school programs. I also helped to develop the categorization schema used for classification, and worked with the programmers to create the interface for an online database that was eventually used to input all websites. Once I found an appropriate website, I created an annotated record for it and then inputted the data into the database. I was also expected to evaluate the process on an ongoing basis. CanLearn is the only online post-secondary education resource that provides Canadians with the information and services they need to decide what and where to study and how to cover the costs. The CanLearn site was developed by the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments and Canadian learning and career development organizations. It provides all the necessary resources, from interactive planning tools to information about savings programs, student loans, and scholarships, to Canadians facing important decisions when saving for, selecting and financing their post-secondary education. It also provides Canadian governments, learning institutions, and other organizations with the means to collaborate on the provision of information and planning tools for Canadians.
For this project, I was required to perform both a literature review and a sweep of the Internet for particular deliverables that helped to prepare a strategic government analyst for a European conference on information and knowledge management. I read all the articles and pulled important points from each. I then wrote a paper on KM to summarize my findings. The literature review, the articles, and the report were all sent to the client. Above all, companies, governments, and large corporations often do not know what they know. Knowledge management attempts to prevent problems such as lost knowledge or lost income by establishing human and technological networks capable of harnessing a company's collective expertise and experience. The move from an industrial-based economy to a knowledge or information-based one demands a top-notch knowledge management system to secure a competitive edge and a capacity for learning. An organization's ability to quickly tap into its internal wisdom gives it a competitive edge in the marketplace. As a result, knowledge is displacing capital, natural resources, and labor as the basic economic resource. Governments know this all too well.
Researcher for the Canadian Directorate of Museums, December 1998 - January 1999.
My job was to find out how many international museums have an online presence and then establish what these institutions offered as far as web-based educational materials. I was also required to do a literature review for the latest research on visual literacy, in hopes of making a case for including visual art in school curricula, regardless of the size and means of the school district. I printed off all relevant articles and mailed them to the executive director. Part of the research was used in preparation for a speech given at an American Association of Museums conference for educators in the United States.
This project was centered around finding out how many United States public and academic libraries index their local newspapers. I visited hundreds of library websites looking for the information and made several phone calls to library directors asking if their libraries indexed the local newspapers. Many did. The information was needed for the value-added component of a proposal submitted to the federal government for a major legacy indexing project of American newspapers. I also ran some statistics and wrote a report of the findings.
The nature of my work was to conduct a literature review of the latest materials published on a wide range of topics, including reference services and American and Canadian government information policies. Primarily, I used Dialog, LexisNexis, Library Literature, the Internet, and library catalogues for the various literature reviews I compiled, but also manually reviewed many journals and books for the needed information. I then read, evaluated the materials, and wrote one to two page summaries for over two hundred separate works. You can view some of my research notes for this book at Government Documents Research. If democracy is dependent upon governments providing equitable, free, and easy access to its information resources, then programs such as the Federal Depository Library Program must be considered integral components of the government's dissemination machine. The most important argument against a one hundred percent electronic universe for government information is that it prevents many users from having access to important government information. From lack of technological finesse, lack of money to buy the necessary equipment, to lack of training, there are many reasons why individuals will be prevented from having access. Furthermore, many depository libraries do not have the needed equipment, the infrastructure, nor enough trained staff to facilitate the transition to electronic government information. There has been inadequate federal planning and policy directives to ensure that libraries and their staff can move from a traditional model of librarianship to one which makes resources available to the public in electronic formats. Librarians need to be able to access, use, and communicate network literacy to the population, if the strategies of NII and NREN (National Research and Education Network) are to be successful and widespread throughout society. Therefore, strategies must be developed to ensure that electronic technologies will become integral in the 21st Century, as well as capable of bringing different segments of society together (i. e. the haves and the have-nots); able to promote social equity in terms of network literacy; and enhance the role of libraries and educators to bring about the desired objectives.
Researcher and Writer, Current Events Awareness Study, February - August 1998.
The study attempted to find out the state of information access to current event inquiries as it pertains to national newspaper articles in public library settings. My duties included assisting in developing the areas of inquiry, helping to create the questions used in the study, and making over three hundred phone calls to a series of public libraries across Canada. Subsequently, I wrote a detailed report of the findings. In this study, we discuss, from a historical perspective, the value of reading newspapers as an integral part of reference service provision. We then examine, through an unobtrusive test of telephone reference service at twenty-one public libraries in Canada, whether reference staff are paying attention to newspapers in their work. We drew questions requiring short factual answers from the national paper of record, The Globe and Mail . We asked these questions 231 times. We found that respondents answered 19.5 percent of these questions accurately, and made referrals to external agencies about one quarter of the time. When we followed up on these referrals, we found that 60 percent of them led to accurate answers. Patrons who ask telephone reference questions can therefore expect to get an accurate answer at a rate of 34.2 percent, including successful referrals to external sources. This relatively low level of accuracy could cause the loyalty of patrons to their public libraries to erode, since at least one management study of high-level business executives has suggested that accuracy is the most important factor in determining service quality. Libraries might want to institute policies that provide time for their reference staff to read newspapers and magazines. Schools of library and information science might wish to stress the value of keeping up with current events in the syllabi of any reference courses that they offer. Patrons have many reasons for making a telephone reference inquiry rather than a physical visit to the library. Certainly, many patrons could come into the library, but there are just as many patrons who are unable to visit the library. They might be strapped for time, or they might be unable to get to the library because of physical constraints or the lack of transportation. In these instances, a reference staff member who suggests that a patron come into the library to look for an answer might not be offering a real alternative. In the study reported here, 36.4 percent of telephone reference inquiries ended in the patron being told to visit the library. In light of this, Canadian public libraries may wish to consider instituting a telephone reference system of the kind Tour described, when visiting the library to get an answer is not a requirement. These are the eleven questions used in the study. Following each question is the bibliographical information for each news story: 1.) Do you know where I could find a copy of the official CIA report about the Bay of Pigs? ("C. I.A. Bares Own Bungling in '61 Report on Bay of Pigs," New York Times , Feb. 22, 1998, A1, A6; "Secret Report Blames CIA for Bay of Pigs Fiasco," The Globe and Mail , Feb. 23, 1998, A11.) ; 2.) Can you give me some information about whether the musical work Symphony No. 3 by the British composer Sir Edward Elgar has ever been finished? ("A Change of Heart Brings a New Elgar Work," New York Times , Mar. 12, 1998, B1, B9; "Pomp and Circumstance," The Globe and Mail , Mar. 14, 1998, C17.); 3.) Can you tell me the name of the architect for the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC? ("Museum of the Indian Drops its Designer," New York Times , Apr. 4, 1998, A13, A15; "Cardinal Ignores Dismissal Notice," The Globe and Mail , Apr. 7, 1998, C1, C2.); 4.) Could you provide me with any kind of list of all the plants that are endangered globally? ("One in Every 8 Plant Species is Imperiled, a Survey Finds," New York Times , April 9, 1998, A1, A22; "Plant Species Threat Cited," The Globe and Mail , Apr. 9, 1998, A15.); 5.) Has there ever been a credit union owned by blacks in Canada? If so, could you provide me with some details? ("A Community Loses its Line of Credit," The Globe and Mail , May 1, 1998, A2.); 6.) Do you know of any publication that provides a list of abandoned communities (towns, villages, outports) in Newfoundland? ("What's Lost and What's in Danger," The Globe and Mail , May 4, 1998, A13 [op-ed page].); 7.) Are there any statistics available on how many children have been using Ritalin in Quebec in the last few years? ("Ritalin Raises Alarm in Quebec," The Globe and Mail , May 27, 1998, A1, A5.); 8.) Are you aware of any studies that link how well CEOs of companies play golf with how well their companies perform on the stock market? ("Duffers Need Not Apply," New York Times , May 31, 1998, Section 3, p. 1+; "Study Links Golf to Great Returns," The Globe and Mail , Jun. 2, 1998, B12.); 9.) Can you give me some information about the first person to circumnavigate the world solo? ("A Hero Except Back Home," The Globe and Mail , Jul. 17, 1998, A2; "Canada's Own Ancient Mariner," The Globe and Mail , Jul. 18, 1998, D16 [front page of weekend book section].); 10.) Could you give me some information as to whether it is legal to sell the manganese-based gasoline octane booster MMT in Canada? ("Threat of NAFTA Case Kills Canada's MMT Ban," The Globe and Mail , Jul. 20, 1998, A1, A5; " Gas War: The Fall and Rise of MMT," The Globe and Mail , Jul. 24, 1998, A1, A5.); 11.) I'd like some information about the approximate number of native artifacts that have to be returned by Canadian museums under the terms of the Nisga'a treaty with the federal government and British Columbia. ("A Time for Giving Back," The Globe and Mail , Aug. 1, 1998, C1, C8.) See findings in: Dilevko, J. and E. Dolan. Reference Work and the Value of Reading Newspapers: An Unobtrusive Study of Telephone Reference Service . Reference & User Services Quarterly 39 , no. 1 (1999): 71-81.
Researcher, Website Evaluation Study, Fall 1997/Summer 1998.
With the assistance of students from two government documents classes at the University of Western Ontario library school, a comparative study was done on a large number of American and Canadian government information websites. We were investigating how well the sites did when it came to scope, currency, accuracy, ease of use, organization, appeal, search capabilities, quality of online materials, and learning factors. My primary duties included entering the data into Excel, creating graphs and charts, and collocating the written summaries. For statistical purposes, the websites were classified into the following categories: 1. Finance: treasury, finance, commerce, auditor general, management and budget, privatization, management board secretariat, the GAO, and revenue; 2. Justice: crime, attorney general, justice, and solicitor general; 3. Public Services: transport, health, social services, communications, education, census, energy, consumerism, citizen and culture, housing, travel, heritage, statscan, defense, veteran affairs, and women; 4. Environment: environment, natural resources, fisheries, the department of the interior, Indian affairs, agriculture, and the EPA; 5. International Affairs: foreign, international industry, immigration, and international trade; and 6. Economic Development: opportunity agency, labour, economic development, human resources, industry, and ACOA.
Research Assistant, November 1997 - May 1998.
I was the researcher for a study carried out on behalf of the Federal Depository Services Program, Public Access Services Division (Bruno Gnassi). Providing Canadian citizens with free, equitable, timely, and uncomplicated access to federal government information is a national and worthy goal. Now that official publications in print form are gradually being replaced by electronic documents increasingly available on the Internet, systematic examination of the capabilities of federal depository libraries to provide permanent access and quality reference service to the Canadian public is essential. The study reported here was funded by the Depository Services Program (DSP), Public Works and Government Services, Canada, and undertaken by researchers in the Program of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario. For this investigation, a set of government documents-related questions were developed and tested for use in an unobtrusive evaluation of full and selective depositories in academic and public libraries located across the five geographic and socio-cultural regions of Canada. The purpose of this study was to investigate how well library staff members in Canadian federal depository libraries are answering government documents reference questions and whether they are using Internet-accessible and web-based sources to do so. Research questions were formulated as follows: what is the degree of accuracy of government reference service in Canadian academic and public libraries that participate in the Depository Services Program, as measured by the number of complete answers supplied by library personnel to specific questions?; To what extent do staff members in these libraries make use of electronic information sources such as CD-ROMs and the range of websites made available by the Canadian federal government?; and which categories of government reference questions are the most difficult to answer for library personnel at depository libraries? While there are legislative libraries with full depository status in most provinces, public access to government documents is most readily achieved through public and academic libraries. Accordingly, the research questions developed for this study were examined through the lens of four categories of depository libraries: academic full depositories, academic selective depositories, public full depositories, and public selective depositories. This study was conducted using paid proxies in a cross-country unobtrusive evaluation of reference service at academic and public depositories. The quality of reference service was operationally defined as the percentage of complete or combined complete and partially complete answers to 15 government documents questions. Selection of tested libraries was based on a proportionally stratified cluster sample. In the first instance, proportional stratification was effected on the basis of the five geographic areas of Canada. On the second level, clusters of cities and towns within the geographic areas were identified, and a sample of public and academic depository libraries was taken to reflect the proportion of these libraries in the depository system as a whole. Fifteen different questions were asked a total of 488 times at 104 libraries in 30 metropolitan census areas as defined by Statistics Canada. Each proxy package consisted of 15 different questions and a brief survey form. Proxies were recruited from students enrolled in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program of the University of Western Ontario (UWO). Questions were asked from 10 December 1997 to 10 February 1998 - a period during which many students traditionally return to their hometowns for the holiday season. To a certain extent, cities chosen for the study were determined by the travel plans of the proxies. My specific duties included collection of the survey data, inputting it all into Excel, creating a series of tables and charts, and helping to analyze the findings. In addition, I was expected to follow-up on over two hundred referrals received from the initial inquiries made by our proxies. ( See findings in the government document entitled: Government Documents Reference Service in Canada: Implications for Electronic Access Ottawa, Ont.: Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 1999. - vii, 100 p., 111 p., vii).

Posted in Kawasaki Concours.
Thank God for Starbucks and lane splitting. Sitting still in 88 degree weather on the freeway is not my idea of a good time. Seems like everyone else in the world is escaping to Lake Tahoe. Well, at least a rider can get hydration, caffeine, a healthy snack and WiFi thanks to the Pequod’s chief mate.
Possibly the best $29 I have ever spent was on an evaporative cooling vest. After a two minute soak in the bathroom sink at Starbucks (which was immaculately clean) the vest is “charged” com água. You then blot off the inside fabric barrier that stays dry against your shirt, and put it on under your riding jacket. I was then able to ride in complete comfort in 90 degree heat. Surpreendente.
After stocking up on pita, avocado, bananas, water and a salad bowl at the Grass Valley Safeway, I headed north on Hwy 49 towards Downieville. This road is listed in the Destination Highways moto-map book as DH9 and carries a score of 81/100, and it deserves it. It is wonderfully scenic, twisty and empty of traffic. Downieville itself looked very cute, like a preserved gold rush era town. I decided to camp instead of finding a room, but on some future trip, I’m definitely going to stay in Downieville.
I timed my ride so that I could set up camp while it was still light, but only just. I use a great iPhone App named “Sol” that tells you times for sunset, dusk, dawn and sunrise wherever you are. This allowed me to keep riding until I found Chapman Meadows campground around 8:00 P. M.
Getting old is terrible. I remember when hotel rooms were $6.00 at Motel 6, so it makes it painful to pay $21 for one night at an unimproved campground. Well, at least it had “nice” pit toilets. The mosquitoes quickly drove me into my tent where I fell fast asleep straightaway.
The great thing about traveling alone is that you don’t need to cater to anyone else’s schedule. So, at 4:45 A. M., I rousted myself out of my down cocoon, performed my morning ablutions, and started breaking camp. I got on the road a little before six and headed over the Yuba Summit to be treated to a gorgeous sunrise over the Sierra Valley. I left Hwy 49 a little before Sattley and turned north on Hwy 89, headed towards Quincy and Lassen Volcanic National Park beyond. Although I was bundled up in layers, winter gloves, and TurtleFur neck warmer, I was freezing when I arrived at the Express Coffee Shop. Nothing that a spinach omelet and 10 cups of coffee couldn’t cure. Something tells me MyConnie is going to get a few more RPMs now that MY motor is running.
Can you ever overdose on the beautiful conifer forests of the High Sierra? I think not, but you certainly get your fill traveling through the Tahoe and Plumas National Forests. But every once in a while, the trees are interrupted by a glorious body of water like Lake Almanor. I crossed over Canyon Dam and marveled at this man-made interruption to the Feather River. The outlet tower shown behind MyConnie sends the product of this 90 foot deep reservoir to two smaller reservoirs and others downstream to powerhouses capable of creating a total of 360 megawatts of electricity!
I had been to Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park years ago but wanted to experience it’s burbling mudpots and sulphur-spewing springs anew. So I checked my trusty map book and found that the roads to, through, and around Lassen are included in their lists of great motorcycle roads. Without any hesitation I pointed MyConnie north along the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.
One of the troubles of blogging “live” from my AT&T iPhone is how poor their rural mobile phone service is. However, after paying my $10 park entrance fee, I noticed this sign and for a fleeting moment hoped that the U. S. Park Service had embraced modern technology by installing WiFi thorough the park. Alas, it was the icon for an amphitheater I mistook for WiFi symbol. D’Oh!
The Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center shows a great 20 minute documentary film every half hour that explains the history and formation of the park which is the only place on earth with all four types of volcanos.
A mile north is The Sulphur Works where you can smell noxious fumes and see bubbling mud.
After that, it seemed that every quarter mile were increasingly beautiful places that beckoned me to stop and take a photo.
Unfortunately, the walking trails to “Bumpass Hell” which take you right next to all of the bubbling water and mudpots were closed due to safety concerns. But the ride up and over the ridge at around 8,500 feet elevation was spectacular as was the ride down and around to the north end of the park.
At this point, I had enough of solitude and decided to head home. I took a few more “Destination Highways” that were perfect for motorcycles on the way, but most was spent traveling 75 MPH on Hwy 5 in 90 degree heat. Once again, thank God for my evaporative cooling vest and the many rest stops and convenience marts along the way.
Volcano Ride ‘n Photo Tour.
As for this trip, I racked up 671 miles from noon Friday to 6:30 P. M. Saturday, a bit over 30 hours. Not bad for my first Father’s Day weekend solo trip. It’s not often I get so much “me” time to think about life without the distractions of other people (no matter how pleasant) or social media (no matter how addictive – then again, I am writing this post!). I might just have to make this an annual pilgrimage.
Note to fellow bloggers and those thinking about blogging: I took all of the photos above and wrote all of the text during the trip itself using the WordPress App for iPhone. This made ‘capturing the moment‘ much more spontaneous and added to my enjoyment of the ride. I went back later on my computer and added the sections below.
Ride Map: Click here for Google map.
& # 8211; Roads: Since this trip covered so much territory, I encountered: 20 miles of lane splitting to get around everyone headed for Tahoe, wonderfully engineered and paved roads, nicely paved but less well-engineered roads, and tight curves with limited sight lines on the roads between Shingletown and Dales.
& # 8211; Scenery: What can I say, I have been living in California my whole life and I am still awestruck in seeing its majesty. If you are from some other state, COME HERE AND RIDE!
& # 8211; Weather: The weather was absolutely perfect on this Father’s Day weekend, albeit a little warm at times (high 80s) at the lower elevations. The sky was a sapphire blue with those intense puffy white clouds you want to photograph because they are so perfect.
& # 8211; Challenge: Intermediate throughout with the biggest challenge being not getting run over my a semi-truck on Hwy 5.
& # 8211; Food: Plenty of choices along this route. I stopped at Safeway in Grass Valley and stocked up on healthy food and snacks this time – what a concept!
& # 8211; Gas: There were no problems finding gas, but then again, with my 7.5 gallon tank, I could have done the whole thing on way less than three tanks.
& # 8211; Rating: 5-stars (out of 5) for scenic beauty. with a few most excellent motorcycle roads thrown in along the way.
For you aficionados of Bosworth & Sanders excellent book “ Destination Highways of Northern California ” this trip included these DHs & TEs:
Note: I bought the Destination Highways of Northern California book at the last International Motorcycle Show I attended. It is pretty expensive at $60, but I have to say that it is absolutely worth it. I use it to plan all of my northern california trips to ensure I get the most out of my time on the road. Although it is pricey for a map book, they actually put in the time and effort to bring the value to the rider than exceeds your expectation. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to ride in northern california.
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A Trip to Virginia City, Nevada: Motorcycle Gold — Part One.
For the third year in a row, my motorcycle buddies and I planned a trip to the High Sierras over the first weekend in October. We have found that this weekend the traffic is nonexistent, the weather is perfect, and the aspens are all turning gold over the mountain passes. This year, our destination was the old west town of Virginia City and we had something special happen. One of our group entered a raffle and won a brand new motorcycle!
Frequent readers of this blog know that my brother-in-law and frequent riding partner, “Bocci,” rides a Triumph T100 Bonneville that he bought in 2010 as his get-back-into-motorcycling ride. He and I have been all over California and Oregon on my 1,000cc Connie and his 865cc Bonnie. But a while ago, Bocci started to have a wandering eye, making true the sentiment that motorcycling has never really been about monogamy. Bocci was first thinking that a pair of KLR650s would be a nice addition to our stable, allowing us to wander farther afield down forest roads. But I knew that in his heart of hearts, he really has always wanted a Moto Guzzi.
Being a mechanical engineer by trade, Bocci was not afraid of exotic Italian iron and he has talked himself into how the Guzzi’s transverse vee-twin design would make engine maintenance a breeze. So we put the KLR idea on hold and Bocci started lusting after a dual-sport Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX.
Some months later, and without mentioning anything to me, Bocci noticed that the Pro Italia Moto Guzzi dealership in Los Angeles was holding a charity raffle to publicize the opening of their new Triumph franchise. He bought a dozen raffle tickets for $10 each in hopes of winning a brand new Triumph that was a replica of the one Steve McQueen rode in The Great Escape .
As fate would have it, a week before our High Sierra trip, Bocci was washing his Bonnie and missed a phone call. When he noticed the missed call on his mobile phone, he saw that the area code was from Los Angeles. He told me that his hands started to shake a bit before he returned the call, and sure enough, he found out that he had won the replica Triumph, worth $10,000!
The only problem was that it was almost identical to the Triumph he already owned except that it was painted olive drab. Knowing that Pro Italia was also a Guzzi dealership, he asked if he could trade in the Triumph and put the full value towards the Stelvio. Pro Italia was more than accommodating and set him up with the Guzzi of his dreams for a few thousand more.
This hit Bocci like a ton of bricks because now instead of prepping the Bonnie for our annual 600 mile High Sierra tour, he was going to fly to L. A., get a motel room, arrange to be picked up by the dealership, pose for press photos with the replica Triumph, then do the paperwork to buy the Moto Guzzi. He was then going to pack up the Stelvio with his gear for the trip, swing his leg over a new and foreign bike, and head into SoCal traffic towards the back side of the Sierras where we arranged to meet him in Walker, CA the next day. What an adventure!
As for me, I hooked up with my moto-partner in crime, “Ace,” and we headed out to meet Bocci at a Walker barbecue place that we found online. Our fourth rider, Des, was coming south from Jackson and would meet us in Walker, as well.
As we expected for an October trip over the Sonora Pass, Ace and I had great pavement, no traffic, perfect weather and gorgeous scenery. But I got a little surprise when I followed Ace as he pulled off at the unmarked Donnell Lake scenic overlook to stretch. As we dismounted, two other riders joined us in the parking lot, both of whom had BMWs like Ace. So after a bit of Beemer-banter, we took a few photos at the quite spectacular overlook and started to mount up. Just then, another Kawasaki Concours rider rolled in. I stopped my gearing up to be neighborly to a fellow Connie owner when he came up to me and said, “ Hello, P Radsliff .” Never having met him before, I was somewhat taken aback, and Ace was positively dumbfounded. As it turned out, the rider was a member of the Concours Owners Group (COG) and he recognized me from the many photos I posted on the COG forum and from my Me and MyConnie blog. Whereas I don’t think this was my 15 minutes of fame, I still rode out of the parking lot sitting a little bit taller in the saddle, lording my “celebrity” over my riding buddies whenever I got the chance in the following days: see video.
It was really great meeting “ GF-in-CA ” (his COG forum ‘handle’), whose posts I have read and whose opinion I have come to respect. I found out that he is a mechanical engineer and knows what he is doing with motorcycle maintenance. It was great seeing him roll in on his Connie and that it had a bunch of “farkles” on it — i. e. a loose acronym for owner modifications that stands for: F ancy A ccessory R eally K ool L ikely E xpensive . He was riding with his wife two-up which was also great to see. After more pleasantries and a promise to follow up via the COG forum, Ace and I headed east towards Sonora Pass.
As the road got steeper and twistier, we knew we were getting close to the pass. But before reaching the 9,624 ft. summit, we rode through a small valley with a dense copse of aspen trees that were all shimmering brilliant gold. We’ve seen this valley in its gold plumage in years past but it was no less breathtaking seeing it once again. It’s the kind of experience where you find yourself yelling “ Oh my God, this is incredible ” out loud inside your helmet just because you have to share it outside of your inner monologue.
In traversing up and over this formidable High Sierra pass, one can’t help but think of the first wagon train that crossed these jagged peaks in 1841. I wonder how different the roads here might have been if these mountains didn’t form a barrier between the gold and silver mines of Nevada to the east, and the international port of San Francisco to the west. All I know is that the many mountain passes that cross the High Sierras make some of the best motorcycle rides in the world, and they are all in my own back yard.
Ace and I continued down the eastern side of the Sierras into climate and country that is very different than the west side of the summit. Out here it’s all high desert scrub, not the verdant evergreen forests we just left behind. An interesting point of interest we encountered before turning north on Hwy 395 was the Marine Corps Mountain Training Warfare Center which is spread out on the left side of Hwy 108 at Pickel Meadow, CA. It’s not uncommon to see lots of military vehicles running around here, and aircraft as well.
Hwy 395 is a U. S. route that starts in Hesperia, CA about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, and crosses the Oregon border 557 miles later. It continues through Oregon and Washington all the way to the Canadian border. However, in California, state route 395 crosses through terrain that is arguably the most varied and beautiful in the state. Bocci was making the trek from the Los Angeles area up Hwy 395 so he was able to enjoy the stark but beautiful Mojave desert, followed by the spectacular Owens Valley which is just 60 miles west of famed Death Valley. The Owens Valley is framed by mountain escarpments that include Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505 ft. The Owens Valley even features glaciers! Bocci stayed the night in Mammoth Lakes before heading north towards Walker and our rendezvous at Mountain View Barbecue.
We meandered alongside the Walker River which parallels Hwy 395 through deep canyon gorges and wide open high desert plains, eventually coming into the little town of Walker and our new rally point. We were greeted by a parking lot made from two-inch deep pea gravel which always makes for interesting maneuvers on a motorcycle. We saw two bikes parked at the restaurant, an orange Triumph Speed Triple that we knew belonged to Des, and a behemoth of a bike: the Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX: see video.
Approaching the Stelvio from the rear was kind of amazing. With its aluminum panniers, it measures in at 42″ wide—that’s quite a bustle on its hustle! My first thought was that we wouldn’t be lane splitting anytime soon. As I walked around the bike, it was truly a thing of beauty—in a rough and tumble kind of way. Like a HumVee, but as if it were designed by Italians. The Guzzi had interesting angular lines with utilitarian bolt-ons, like the panniers and skid plates. As I walked around the bike, Bocci approached and greeted me by saying, “ She’s a stout beast. ” No doubt, I thought.
During our excellent BBQ lunch, Bocci regaled Des, Ace and myself with stories of his adventures: doing the winner’s photo shoot, packing the Stevio, and heading off into L. A. traffic. He told us about the Guzzi’s massive low-end torque and how well it handled for such a big bike. He bragged about its massive 8.5 gallon gas tank that gave him almost 350 miles range. I guess I can’t boast about the “ measly” 7.5 gallon tank on MyConnie anymore.
But Bocci had a few problems, too. A snap-in turn signal cover vibrated loose and fell off somewhere along his ride. And he felt a strange vibration that he couldn’t tell whether it was intermittent, and/or even normal for this bike that was new to him. He also experienced first hand a characteristic that is prevalent with transverse vee-twins: rev the engine while stopped at a light and the bike lurches sideways from the torque. Still, nothing could wipe off the ear-to-ear grin from a guy who had just won the bike of his dreams. Damn! Attaboy, Bocci.
Next Installment: Part Two – Virginia City.
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International Motorcycle Show: Oppa San Matean Style.
Not many motorcycle enthusiasts are as lucky as I am in that I live five blocks away from the San Mateo Expo Center, home each November to the Progressive International Motorcycle Show. So each year, my riding buddies and I, pay homage to our favorite pastime by getting together to visit the show and see what’s new in the moto world. This year I make a point of taking a lot of photos of the show so that the readers of Me and MyConnie who weren’t able to make it to one of the shows. Hope you enjoy the photos…
Nice Ural in the parking lot! I hope I win it! The raffle Hayabusa. The Twisted Throttle guys always have a great booth.
Lots of exhibitors Nice to try on new helmets from many manufacturers for fit. Lots of contests, as well.
Wild! Chome-OUT Looks like it’s from Toontown.
That’s a lot of chrome Let the good times roll! Great detail.
You could ride a Harley inside the exhibit hall on rollers Nice touch Crazy fancy.
Other side Nice Ninja Lots of MotoGP bikes. Neat to see them up close.
Lots of chopper, too. I’m a sucker for nose art. More contests.
Fun for the kiddies. I’m really thinking about buying a tire mounting setup. All the major manufacturers were there.
I bought the book. It’s fantastic! All the Bay Area Kawi dealers. More inside demo rides.
Red Bull stunt team Driftin’ Crazy!
Backwards wheelies. Incrível.
A young man’s first motorcycle show tradition: booth babe photos Bocci and the Geico Gecko Tire changing contest.
Cool Brit gear A superhero themed bike Dan-O is looking for his first ride.
Ace tried on a few bikes for size Everyone was getting into the act! Now I’ve seen it all: a Warn winch on a bike.
GREAT bike lifting demo Success!! Those Ducatis are sure sweet!
Des like the Ducs, too Or maybe a Honda But there is this guy selling a used Kawi Ninja…
Stones tries on a new Connie for size Ace tries the Connie, as well Maybe a dual-sport?
Another fun part of the show, the food vendors The Twinkies sold out in a few hours after the announcement of bankruptcy Kenny Roberts legendary Yamaha.
About KR It wouldn’t be a show without Flo’
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Four Perfect Motorcycle Days.
Labor Day weekend 2012 will go down in my personal record book as the most epic of motorcycle trips on MyConnie…so far. Four days of motorcycle camping from San Mateo, California to Eugene, Oregon and back, taking the best motorcycle roads in between. This was by far the most ambitious and arduous trip I have made on a bike in my life, racking up 1,455 miles and more than 29 hours in the saddle over four days.
This may not sound like a lot to members of the Iron Butt Association, but these weren’t just flat-out highway miles. We went out of our way to choose a route that wrung the best out of our bikes and riding skills. We started by planning the route around four goals: 1) visiting my son in Eugene, Oregon where he is starting freshman year as an University of Oregon “Duck,” 2) going to my Dad’s property in Chiloquin, Oregon near Klamath Falls to put sealant on his roof prior to winter, 3) choosing awesome motorcycle roads that were recommended by Tim Mayhew of Pashnit, and 4) ending each day at a campground that had beer.
The third requirement was of particular interest to me because I am an avid reader of Pashnit’s California Motorcycle Roads website where I found that there were wonderful places in the state that I had never visited, all connected by roads that are great for bikes. The fourth and final requirement was at the request of my riding buddies who would go along with the interminably long days in the saddle, but only if they didn’t have to ride somewhere to have a beer and then ride back somewhere else to bed down for the night. SInce I was also trying to experience what motorcycle camping was like and cut down on lodging bills, this meant one thing: KOA Kampgrounds.
What’s not to love about a KOA? They have a store with ice cold beer, nice campsites, food within walking distance, online registration…oh, and did I mention ice cold beer? To top it off, the one we were going to stay at has an espresso machine and a gas pump. What more could three motorcyclists want?
We experienced some amazing motorcycle roads and some still more amazing scenery—learning a bit more about ourselves along the way. Here are the highlights of our adventure:
• Avenue of the Giants – Home of the giant redwoods.
We decided to head north taking Highway 101 all the way to Fortuna and then turn east so that we could experience Highway 36 which drew raves on Pashnit. As we entered redwood country, we took a side-route called The Avenue of the Giants which parallels Highway 101 and crosses under it in serpentine fashion for about 20 miles or so. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous with massive redwoods trees, the largest living things on earth, lining both sides of the road. Here is a link to a brief video of us riding through the redwoods along The Avenue of the Giants.
• Highway 36 – One of the best motorcycle roads anywhere.
One interesting item of note, at one point nearing the junction with Highway 3, we came across a sign that read, “ Road Ends 500 Feet. ” We thought, “ What the heck?! ” After riding about an hour and a half just to then find what seemed to be an impenetrable obstacle, we were dumfounded. As it turned out, the road wasn’t impenetrable, just incredibly nerve-wracking. There was road construction going on and for about a quarter mile. The asphalt had been removed and we were faced with what was essentially a gravel road. With no other real options, we sucked up our courage, stood up on our pegs, and let the bikes wiggle crazily beneath us as we drove slowly but confidently over the loose terrain. As it turned out, it was easy-cheesy, but something to remember for sure.
• Highway 3 – Gateway to the Trinity Alps.
Highway 3 north through the Trinity Alps did not disappoint. Like Highway 36, it was a gorgeous road, both in ride-ability and scenery. It didn’t hurt that we were traveling during the time of day photographers know as “the golden hour” right before sundown. It was a strikingly beautiful day with the golden sun low in the sky at our backs or on our left, illuminating the mountains and small towns along the way. After winding an hour more along Highway 3 we rolled into the Trinity Lakes KOA “Kampground.” It was nice to find extremely pleasant staff, a well-stocked store, beer, ice, firewood and a nice little campsite for our three tents and bikes.
After a well-deserved meal at the adjacent food shack (pizza for me, fish ’n chips for Bocci and Ace), we built a fire and started settling in for the evening. The next morning, I woke before dawn to see if I could get any great photos of Trinity Lakes. It was a short mile walk to the shoreline, and I wasn’t disappointed when I was presented the setting moon over hills lit by morning glow.
I sought out a cup of espresso from the Kampground store, after which, we packed up camp, gassed up, and headed north up Highway 3 towards Yreka. We found that rolling through the Trinity Alps provided an entirely different environment than the rolling valleys of Highway 36. After emerging from the mountains, enjoying some wonderful curvy roads with sweeping vistas, we entered a very large flat high-altitude valley dotted with little towns. I had no idea that a mere 30 miles to the west of Highway 5 on the way to Oregon was this idyllic sub-alpine farming area. It was truly breathtaking to roll mile after mile through these valleys surrounded by mountains all around, and such a nice change from the monotonous drone of Highway 5, California’s main north-south route. I highly recommend taking Highway 3 if you are going from the San Francisco Bay Area to points in Oregon and can afford the extra time.
• Roseburg, Oregon – A quaint jewel along the Umpqua river.
• Eugene, Oregon – Home of the University of Oregon Ducks.
We had a great visit with my son after he got off of work delivering pizzas and he introduced us to Voodoo Doughnuts, an experience not to be missed. It seems like my 18 year old is settling into college life as a freshman nicely.
Oregon Hwy 138 – The Umpqua River Valley.
I should mention that Oregon is a mecca for gorgeous motorcycle roads and we certainly spent too much time on Highway 5 when we could have been exploring other river valleys and redwood forests. But we only had four days and needed to accomplish certain goals, so we would just have to leave more Oregonian exploration for a later date.
Oregon Highway 138 towards Crater Lake through the Umpqua River Valley is a gorgeous route. There is a long section where the road is low, twisty and adjacent to the river, and other sections where we cut across vast forests at relatively high speed. All of this led us to the north entrance of Crater Lake National Park, but before we could get in, we found ourselves at the back of a long line of cars stopped dead on the highway. We were surprised at this, and decided that this many people must have the right idea, so we inched forward in line for 45 minutes just to pay our entrance fee to get into the park.
• Crater Lake – Deepest lake in America and possibly the most beautiful.
What a sight! We took a lot of photos at various points around the rim and then decided to skip the lodge as traffic was a mess. It was well worth the trip and the wait in line, though, for the sheer beauty of the lake. We stopped at the Annie Creek Restaurant and waited FOR-EVER for our food, which was mediocre at best. A much better idea would be to continue on to Highway 97, gas up and eat at the KlaMoYa Casino near Chiloquin.
Our goal in visiting the little village of Chiloquin was because I own property there which previously belonged to my parents, and their roof was in bad need of some sealer prior to winter. We quickly found that our bikes did not like the red rock road that led to the house as the Bimmer and MyConnie got stuck. So we hoofed it with my tools to the house and Ace—a contractor by trade—helped me out by shinnying up onto the roof without the help of a ladder and spread the gooey tar over the offending seam.
We finally extracted ourselves from the slippery red rocks by riding out into the meadow, working tenaciously to avoid the holes and cowpies that abounded under shin-high grass. It was already getting late in the afternoon and we had many miles to go to our next campsite, so we decided to leave a visit with the neighbors for my next trip and got back on the road towards Klamath Falls.
• Lava Beds National Monument – California’s overlooked pearl.
We accidentally split up for a short time and I found myself riding a causeway through the middle of Tule Lake trying to find the elusive campground. Do you know what you get at dusk next to a large shallow lake? BUGS! I don’t think I’ve ever tucked-in so tightly on MyConnie, trying to shield my helmet from this entomological onslaught.
After regrouping with my fellow riders, they led the way to the campground, but it was now very dark and we had to fumble our way around to find a site and then set up our tents. However, sometimes luck shines on the ill-prepared because we found a campsite that overlooked the lava beds area and were treated to a blood-red full moon, made that way by the smoke from many California wildfires raging in nearby counties. We came to find out from the campground host that this was the only site left, and it was the best of the lot. And although there was no store with cold beer, there was a nice, clean bathroom building and someone kindly left firewood at our site which Bocci quickly lit ablaze with some help from his camp stove gas. We dined on turkey chili, beef jerky and washed it down with hot chocolate—all-in-all, a nice end to a long day.
At dawn, the views were amazing. We came to find out that there are over 700 lava tubes in the national monument area, 25 of which are open to the public and have trails leading through them. Two campers on adventure bikes told us of one caves is 1.5 miles long with ice in the bottom! This is an area we definitely want to visit again to do some exploring. Not only to see more of this unique geology, but also to experience the incredible light of dawn over the lava beds one more time.
• The Modoc Plateau – California’s upper right corner.
One disappointment was that we didn’t have time to get to Glass Mountain, an entire mountain made of large chunks of obsidian. Not only were we not sure of how to get there, but we knew that the last couple of miles to its over 7,000 foot peak were a dirt and gravel road. So we decided to “punt” on Glass Mountain this time, but affirmed our desire to return there in the not-too-distant future.
Turning south on Highway 139 led us on a high-speed trip through beautiful high country ranch land for quite some distance. We came to a decision point of whether to head west down Highway 299 towards Mount Lassen, or to head east towards Alturas and Highway 395. Bocci’s less-than-bottomless fuel tank on the Triumph made the decision for us as it was only 20 miles to Alturas, so off we went in search of gasoline.
We noticed on Highway 139 and then on the road to Alturas that most of the cars traveling in the opposite direction were all covered with white dust. I noticed this but didn’t think much about it until we reached the gas station. After refueling, I went into the store to buy a map. In walked a very attractive young woman wearing an abbreviated halter and Daisy Dukes. Most notably, she had a foxtail clipped to her backside and was covered with the same white dust that we had seen on the passing traffic. Hmmmmmm…what was going on here?
As I exited the store, we noticed a few other strangely dressed individuals and a large van that had the eastern-Indian greeting “Namasté” emblazoned across the hood. Finally it hit me, these people were all returning from Burning Man! I have heard a lot about this festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where 50,000 people converge to create a sustainable “city” for one week and then leave without any trace that they had been there. I aspire to attend Burning Map someday, but the exhausted look on the white dust-coated people’s faces may make me rethink that position. My main regret now is that I didn’t have the presence of mind to take photos of these desertified miscreants before we left.
Rather than backtrack towards Lassen, we decided to run directly south on Highway 395 to Susanville and then head south and west first on Highway 36, and then on Highway 32 to Chico which sits astride Highway 99. One thing was sure, we were still a very long way from the Bay Area and needed to let our war ponies run.
The run from Alturas to Susanville leads across the Modoc Plateau, a mile-high expanse of lava flows, cinder cones, juniper flats, pine forests, and seasonal lakes. Highway 395 here is dead straight with only intermittent towns along the way. The flat, straight roads and 90 degree heat led to our decision to make the hundred mile run to Susanville a constant 80 mph. Never having been to this part of California before, I was struck with the immensity of the surrounding land and just how remote it was from where most people traverse the state. I’m sure the Modoc Plateau holds many more treasures that we will explore on future trips.
• The High Sierras – The mountains in my back yard.
After reaching Susanville and having a very nice lunch at the Chinese Kitchen, we headed off to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains. We would have liked to have gone through the heart of Lassen National Forest, but different wildfires were still being contained so we consulted the California statewide fire map and devised a route around them because we wanted to avoid any entanglements with fire crews. As it turned out, we found a beautiful route back to the central valley passing by the north shore of Lake Almanor and then down through spectacular pine forests to the town of Chico.
• The “Back Way” Home – Taking roads less travelled.
Bocci and I finally did run into holiday traffic at Vacaville where there was a big traffic jam. We did a little end-around using Google maps and surface streets and eventually got back on track. Our fourth day ended when I arrived home around 9:00 P. M. thoroughly exhausted but exhilarated as well.
Looking back over the previous four days I was just amazed at the different climates and types of geography we traversed. And this from a native Californian who has traveled extensively throughout the state and thought he knew most of its attractions. What I learned is that there is much more to the Golden State than what lies close to major points of interest such as Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and Disneyland. And for those willing to explore on two wheels, there is yet a wide wonderful world to discover within their easy reach while enjoying the journey as much as reaching the destination.
I find myself now less interested in planning for trips to faraway lands and intrigued instead with thoughts of Death Valley, the Salton Sea, Desolation Wilderness, Plumas National Forest, Glass Mountain, Lassen National Park, Big Sur and all points in between. We Californians are truly blessed to enjoy topography this spectacular and year ’round riding weather to keep enjoying it all.
I think I’ll now log in to Pashnit and start planning my next adventure.
Friday August 31st — Monday September 3rd, 2012.
1,455 miles ( day 1 = 424, day 2 = 293, day 3 = 289, day 4 = 449 )
& # 8211; 2001 Kawasaki Concours ZG1000.
& # 8211; 2010 Triumph Bonneville T100.
& # 8211; 1998 BMW R1100RT.
Day One: San Mateo > Trinity Lake KOA Campground = 424 Miles @ 8.5 hours.
Day Two: Trinity Lake KOA Campground > Eugene, Oregon = 293 Miles @ 5.5 hours.
Day Three: Eugene, OR > Lava Beds Nat’l Monument = 289 Miles – 6.25 hours.
Day Four: Lava Beds Nat’l Monument > San Mateo, CA = 449 Miles @ 8.75 hours.
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Me and MyConnie: First Year, First 10,000 Miles.
One Year Down, 10,000 Miles in the Mirror.
I’ve only owned three bikes in my life: a 1967 Honda CL350 Scrambler, a 1979 Suzuki GS750LX Cruiser, and my current ride, the 1,000cc Kawi Concours. I’ve only ever ridden three others: a 2010 BMW R1100RS that I rented, an 80s-era GPz550 I rode at Laguna Seca during Keith Code’s California Superbike School, and my friend’s 2009 Triumph Speed Triple. But it was the advice of an ex-CHP friend of mine that steered me towards the Concours, and I’m so glad he did.
My limited experience with different motorcycles hasn’t allowed me to have much of an opinion about other bikes like v-twins, dual-sports, or the like. In fact, all I really know is Japanese iron with one luscious weekend on a German boxer. So when I reflect on the specs of the rides I have owned, it shows me the following:
What this also tells me is that in terms of power-to-weight ratio (HP/LBS), my Honda was loads o’ fun—something I already knew. But even at a more sedate PTW ratio of 0.16, MyConnie will still impress any Porsche Carrera driver off-the-line, considering their PTW ratio is 0.19. Still, comparing motorcycles to cagers is a fools game as any biker knows. What got me thinking about the past year’s travels was more what I’ve learned, where I’ve gone, and where I’m going.
What I’ve Learned.
I’ve also learned that the old saying that “ you’ll never see a motorcycle parked in front of a psychiatrist’s office ” is really true. Spending a minimum of 1.5 hours a day riding to the office and back has given me the ability to shed tension like no other activity. Seeing the beautiful sights and smells when I take the back roads to the office has put me in the best frame of mind of my entire working career. I can’t even believe I’ve missed out on this for the past twenty years.
And I’ve learned—no… remembered — how great it is to take up an activity that has a huge learning curve with resulting stellar rewards, and also serious penalties. There is no greater learning than putting yourself in a situation where you will be tested. I think it is that, more than all the rest, that I enjoy the most. To challenge myself and see whether I will rise to the occasion, or fall down trying…only to get up, and try all over again. Call it my own “hero’s journey” of sorts. But one where there is no brilliant flash of heroism, only the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from mastering a complex endeavor.
I’ve spend the last year exploring the wonders of Northern California including the golden passes of the High Sierra, the windswept bluffs of the North Coast, and the twisty backroads of San Francisco Bay. The sheer magnificence of our natural surroundings is something that you take for granted when driving inside a cage of steel. Air conditioning masks the smell of eucalyptus, tinted glass dulls the glow of aspen groves, and soft suspension separates us from the hand-hewn roads originally carved by rough men across our great land. More than just a vehicle, my motorcycle has been the vehicle through which my five senses have been reignited.
There has been an incredible amount of information that has helped me from an unlikely source, the Concours Owners Group. Besides being the quintessential knowledge bank for the Kawasaki Concours motorcycle, the group also represents hundreds of years of riding experience through its members who share their wisdom freely, with good humor and camaraderie. Their motto: “ Join for the bike, stay for the people ” couldn’t be more true. And besides the colloquial wisdom of serious amateurs, there is also a potent community of motorcycle professionals within the ranks of COG, both vendor companies like Murph’s Kits and regular people like Shoodabeen Engineering who have raised the level of home wrenching to an art form, and a business that Kawasaki could learn a few things from.
I have found in life that it is never good to drink your own bathwater. Meaning, all of the skill I have regained in the past year has really only served to make me more dangerous by potentially becoming too cocky. Now that a year has passed, it’s time to take stock and plan for the next year of learning, and trying to get rid of that last inch of chicken strip that defines my contact patch like bookends. A few predictions…
I predict that I…
– will watch Keith Code’s A Twist of the Wrist II DVD another 4 times…at least.
– will re-read David Hough’s book, Proficient Motorcycling to bone up on what I missed the first time.
– will start doing overnighter rides where I camp instead of staying in a motel.
– will do a dozen farkles to MyConnie.
– and I predict I will only increase my love for riding and hopefully my skill level, as well.
Until then, I’ll be the one flashing two fingers to you as we pass each other by…but only if you are on two wheels.

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