He loves the Cub Scout uniform shirt, he loves the idea of camping, but he is especially fascinated with the idea of earning badges (I guess this ties in pretty well with all of those behavioral positive reinforcement charts we've had over the years).  So, every couple of nights we look through the Wolf book and complete a few of the badge requirements. 

"Let's go to my work now, Mommy."

     "Your work, Sweetie?"

"My Wolf work, Mommy.  I need some badges!"

So we work on earning some badges.  The first was the "Family Fun" badge, then the "Duty to God" badge.  Accomplishing these requirements is a source of great pride for my son.  In a world where he is usually labeled as "behind" and "delayed", where play dates are superceded by therapy sessions, and where he is starting to realize that there are significant differences between him and his typical peers, he has found a place where he can earn tokens of accomplishment just like other kids.  Tokens that mean something to his typical peers.  Tokens that show he can participate in their world.  These are a big deal, my friend.  They are proof that he belongs.  

As we mark off each item, he supervises my signature on each line to make sure I get it right.  "Very good letters, Mommy," he says, repeating the phrase that we parrot night after night, encouraging him to mind his handwriting while he does his school homework.

The night that he finished these two badge requirements he made sure he included a report in his bedtime prayers... "I earned two badges God!  I did (what were they Mommy?)... I did the Fun badge and my Duty to you badge!  Are you proud of me, God?"

I think my son is proud of his work... and God is proud of HIS work, too.

Wanted: Branch bloggers: If you're interested in being a branch blogger, please leave me a comment, with a valid email address, and I'll get back to you. I'll need a few people who want to update regularly, with branch happenings, episode recaps, or anything "Office" related.

Branch Badges: I'm in the process now of making badges for everyone, so if you haven't already sent me your information, please do.  More information can be found on the forum: http://boards.dundermifflininfinity.com/index.php?showtopic=16138
If you think of something that the blog is missing or needs, let me know!

DizzyGirl

The most popular items were the magtastic grill badges and double badge holders from Cooperflags, the Small World Christmas ornaments, the RC cars, beads of all types, badge lanyards, magnetic badge cases and the die-cast MINI keychain flashlights.

One unpleasant thing was losing some items to the old "five finger discount." One of those items was a $25 Cooper Flags badge holder. To the folks who took those things, I hope it was worth it!

The event itself was fantastic and everyone had a great time. It was the biggest ever with more than 270 registered participants and over 150 MINIs/minis!

The MINI crowd bought a ton of stuff and I will be making a donation to the Wolfson Children's Hospital from a portion of the bead sales. So thanks for that!

I still have some items left and need to clear them out, so below I've listed my remaining items with reduced prices and links to photos of each item. PM me on SSM (MINIBee) or NAM (MINI_Bee) to let me know what you want from the list.

• Cooper Flags magtastic badges.  photo 1   photo 2    REDUCED $5 each
• Rectangular fridge magnets      photo    REDUCED $1 each
• Round fridge magnets      photo      $1 each      
• Assorted beads      photo      $1 each
• Badge reels (assorted colors)       photo        $4 each
• MINI embroidered patches     photo      $3 each
• "It really is a small world after all" Christmas ornament     photo       $6 each
• MINI "Jibbitz" for your Crocs      photo      $1 each
• Magnetic grill badge cases       photo      SOLD OUT!
• MINI die-cast keychain, flashlight & pull-back toy     photo   $9 each
• MINI diecast pull-back toy pen      photo       REDUCED $5 each
• Motoring "E-Ticket Ride" ringer shirt      photo   REDUCED    $8 each
• MINI Peace baseball shirt       photo    REDUCED   $10 each
• MINI "Small World" ringer shirt        photo    REDUCED   $8 each
• Thumb-sized RC MINI w/ custom MM4 roof graphic (only silver left)    photo    $10 each

The exciting Here and Now Gallery in Falmouth is now stocking these too.

The Steve Harvey Show made a public service announcement today: "Please do not wear any Obama paraphernalia, such as buttons, shirts, hats, etc., to the polls on Election Day."

If it is visible, you CAN and WILL be turned away because wearing anything that supports a candidate is prohibited inside of the polling place. Because this election is so critical, they will do any and everything to turn us away if they can.  You will be asked to remove items before signing in to vote.

Yes, we are proud, very proud! Let's prove that by showing up and voting for our candidate, but leave the buttons and t-shirts in the car or at home.

Please pass this on. We do not want to give them a platform to turn voters away.

(Thanks to Paulette at Let Us Talk for sharing this message)

UPDATE:

I received an email stating that the above information is not accurate.  To be on the safe side, avoid wearing tee shirts with candidates names on it unless you can cover it with a jacket or sweater.  If you are wearing a button or hat, you can easily remove it.  You won't be turned away, you will be asked to remove the item.  In Pennsylvania, you are allowed to bring in candidate literature with you inside the polls.

For more details, visit this link (PA Voters ONLY).

When in doubt, contact your local Board of Elections.

The Bruce Blog has many different links to other resources.

(Special thank you to Rachel Steward and her friends from Reading High School for making this great video.)

Underneath the name badge is a device that's a little longer than an iPhone. It is connected via wireless to a home server. They know which sessions you've attended and they can ask you survey questions (speakers can use the devices to get feedback in real time from the audience). But you can also use them to exchange an electronic business card. My device shows me I've exchanged cards with eight people so far. It's weird, I don't like using the device for that as much as just gathering a paper card. Partly because you have to hold the devices together to exchange cards.

Anyway, the coolest thing is that you can study how audiences interact with each other. Over on the NTAG blog they have interesting posts about whether men or women are better networkers or how people from the same company hang out together at events around the world and lots more.

They've also done a quick analysis of the people at the MIT conference.

Also on the device you can send messages to other attendees, plan your schedule, and more.

The one problem is that events are too short. Just when you figure out how cool the device is and how useful it might be you need to turn in the device and head to the airport, which is what I'm doing after I finish this post. We're flying from Boston to San Francisco tonight.

Oh, and why doesn't this add data to Dopplr and other services? Also, any photos I took could be matched up with data from this device to make tags on Flickr or other photo sharing service. My friends think I'm geeky when I ask for such things, but someday our devices WILL talk to such services.

One last thing: privacy is dead. Get over it. Off to the airport now.

Thanks to Will Hudson at It's Nice that for the opportunity to get involved. I won't make it but will be getting some photos sent over but if you go, email me an let me know how it goes.

It's Nice That // Original Format  24 September — 24 October 2008

Shedko Software in association with Va-deam's Lab presents "Badges".

Badges - the program, allowing placing handy emblems upon familiar Windows icons. From now there is no need to invent sophisticated file names, to drag icons to different corners of the screen or to seek new ico-files for having fast access to a folder with recent projects or with latest images. Place a badge on the desired icon and you will notice it immediately!

10 different kinds of badges, each represents its own semantic category: certified, cool, danger, delete, distinguished, favourite, important, new, personal and web. This will satisfy even exacting users. The quantity of the placed badges is unlimited.'

Key Features:

· Custom themes support. Badges uses special format SBZ as themes. These files are automatically associated with the program and are fully-processed (intuitive drag'n'drop). Want to create your own theme? You are welcome! Check out the "Badges Icon Design Guidelines", delivered in English and Russian languages.

· Seamless integration with Windows Explorer and core services. Badges adds handy items both to contextual menus and also to the file/folder properties tab. You can use simultaneously both options, but there is an opportunity to turn off unwanted one.

· Interaction with all Windows applications. If you place a badge upon a file, it can be seen not only in Explorer. Your badge will be shown in any "Open, "Save" etc. dialogue window.

· Exquisite design. Badges can brag of the refined interface and corporate identity by Va-deam's Lab. The style will not disappoint both Vista Aero fans and Mac OS X Aqua adherents. The "Mellow" badges theme was specially created and is exclusively distributed with Badges. Mellow features bright colors, glass shine, clear lines and contrast. It looks brilliant at any size.

· Convenient manager for maintenance and control over all the badges you placed. If you put a lot of badges and moreover in various places, and then want to remove them, the built-in manager will come to the help! Use fully functional sorting for comfort display of the library and removal of unwanted badges.

· Unlike other programs, which operate with icons, Badges can place a badge even on removable disks, hard disks and network drives! Any badge can be shown even in the system tray if your storage device appears to be full.

Download : Here

Themes : Here

Create Your Own Themes : Here

Kidspeak event button design 2

I have completed my Masters in Illustration, and earlier this month I had an exhibition up along with all the other finishing students.

For my show, I hung all the drawings from two of my recent, mostly-wordless comic books. Viking Weatherman is one, and among my favourite things I've produced in the past year. It concerns a troubled tenth-century voyager, who hunts for the gigantic 'world serpent' of Norse myth, but relies on a fraudulent meteorologist, who predicts conditions for the voyages simply by rolling dice.

In The Jumble Paradox, a time-travelling circus elephant visits prehistory, where he befriends a woolly mammoth and recklessly creates a chronological contradiction.

I have been selling a small print run of Viking Weatherman, along with badges, two designs taken from the cover roundels of the books, at the show. I love badges, so it was particularly exciting for me to get some made with my drawings on!

All of those things will be available when the shop comes back very soon! Watch this ace space. There should be a few even newer things to buy after that too. Thankyou for reading and commenting on my ghost comics so far, they will be carrying on soon. I've just moved back to the Midlands from Cornwall, and I've got my desk shipshape so I can settle into drawing lots again! New business cards:

Ciao!

These nameplates will be an excellent addition to any public service individual's uniform.  They are the highest quality.  Each nameplate is engraved (not laser engraved or silk screened) to a depth on .014 of an inch, then polished to a glossy or satin finished and then they are plated either gold or silver.  These are not the quick ship type nameplates that wear out quickly or fall apart easily.  They will last for a long time but that is why they will not be shipped in 3 days.  Those type of nameplates will fall apart because they are not made to last the type of ear and tear that occurs when you are in public service.

Once again, check out the other sites and see that ValorGear.com

has the same styles and brands but at the best prices.

When you have completed the activities, you print off a certificate to give to your leader.
http://www.itbadge.org.uk/

Those of you who were lucky enough to get tickets to the handover party in London last month, will have had the chance to buy one of the many 2012 pin badges available as limited editions.
Coming in all shapes and sizes, the badges were sold for around £7 each. Theres no telling when or where they will become available to buy again. An official online shop for merchandise is sheduled to open in 2009. However those Ebay sellers are hard at work making a healthy profit selling them for around £18- £50 and beyond. If your interested take a look at all the 'memorabilia' HERE. (but watch out for those fakes!)

Photo by mac morrison

The many stalls at the protest site gives the whole place a funfair feel. The stalls sells anti-government demonstration paraphernalia. Only in Thailand where the enterprising thai mixes politics and enterprise, creating merchandises from political protests.

Vendor selling towels for the protesters

Head banners

Locals buying protest demonstration parapanelia

Thai University student protesters displaying their political street art.

To complete the Chief Scout's Silver Award, you must:

1. Hold the Outdoor Challenge
2. Hold any other two Challenges
3. Complete a personal challenge

Click here to download a sheet to help you  (from 33rd Gleniffer Scouts)

Please note after the award ceremony in November, it is very likely that the requirement will change to gaining:

• the Outdoor Challenge, plus
• the Promise Challenge, plus
• the Creative Challenge, plus
• the Fitness Challenge, plus
• the Global Challenge, plus
• the Community Challenge

Wanted poster of Khunying Potjaman Shinawatra, wife of former Prime Minister Thaksin. Potjaman played a key role in the development of Thaksin's commercial enterprises. Potjaman fled the country with her husband to Britain.